178 Druidism in connection with Wiltshire. 
Biar nar ob siladh umhal; o nimh! ibhim a frotha! 
Beith liom! mo theine noctaithe, neil ach tan ti daisie mac coinne ; 
Is i de leabhraim tatach leith chi lis con teampluibh ulla.” 
English translation of the Irish version of the Punic in Plautus. 
Omnipotent much dreaded deity of this country! assuage my troubled mind, 
Thou the support of feeble captives: being now exhausted with fatigue, of thy 
free will guide to my children. 
O let my prayers be perfectly acceptable in thy sight. 
An inexhaustible fountain to the humble; O Deity! let me drink of its streams! 
Forsake me not! my earnest desire is now disclosed, which is only that of re- 
covering my daughters. 
This was my fervent prayer, lamenting their misfortunes in thy sacred temples. 
From this collation it would appear that the Punic or Libyan of 
Plautus is no other than the Irish or Celtic. The affinity of the 
Trish and Punic to Hebrew is another point of interest, which has 
induced us to give it insertion. 
CHAPTER VI. 
ORIGIN AND NATURE oF DruIDIsM. 
““Tantum Religio potuit.” 
“Druidical monuments,” says Grose,! “ consist of Obelisks, being 
large stones or pillars set up perpendicularly, carnes or carnedes, 
(hence cairns or stones of all dimensions in a conical form) crom- 
lechs or cromleches, stones not closed up at the end and sides, Kist 
Vaens or Stone Chests of four flags or thin stones, Rocking Stones, 
Tolmen or Stones of Passage, Rock Basons and circles or ovals, 
similar to the temples at Abury and the smaller one on Overton 
Hill.” “The great temple at Abury in Wiltshire,” says Taylor, 
“it is said, described the figure of a seraph, or fiery flying serpent, 
represented by circles and right lines. Some,” (as Abury) “ besides 
circles, have avenues of stone pillars: most, if not all of them, have 
pillars or altars within their penetralia or centre. In the article 
of magnitude and number of stones, there is the greatest variety ; 
some circles being only of twelve feet diameter and formed only of 
twelve stones, while others, such as Stonehenge and Abury, con- 
tained, the first one hundred and forty, and the second” (or Abury) 
“six hundred and fifty-two, and occupied many acres of ground.” 
‘ Quoted by Taylor in Calmet, vol. iv. 502. 
y 
