210 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [ Vot. II. 
al 
In his Oran Ghlinn-Urchaidh this excellent specimen of alliteration 
occurs: 
Cinnidh arbhar craobhach ann 
Cho caoin gheal ris a’ ghruth, 
Gu reachdmhor biadhmhor, brioghmhor, 
Trom, torrach, liontach, tiugh. 
In the first verse of that extract cennzdh and craobhach begin with the 
same letter, c; avbhar and ann begin with the same vowel, a. In the 
second verse the initial ¢ of czwnzdh and craobhach in the first verse occurs 
in cho and caoin; gheal and ghruth begin with the same letter or letters 
gh, inthe third verse the two last words begin with 4, and the three 
last words end in the same syllable shor. In the last verse trom, torrach, 
tiugh begin with the same letter. Ac forms the termination of forrach 
and /iontach. \n a section which he has entitled Consonantia Latzna, 
Zeuss shows how the peculiarities of Celtic poetry found their way into 
Latin poetry, and influenced it to an extent of which many Celts have 
no adequate knowledge. St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, composed 
hymns in Iambics into which he introduced the concord or correspondence 
(consonantia) which obtains in the ancient Celtic poetry. A variety of 
vowels that agree among themselves is allowable. The demands of cor- 
respondence are satisfied by such terminations as ws, zs, es, as, and zm, 
am, em. 
Lucan in the opening of his Pharsalia has alliteration, and concord, é.g.- 
Bella per Emathios plus quam civilia campos 
Iusque datum sceleri canimus populumque potentem. 
In the first verse which has been cited, the last two words begin with ¢, 
and the third, fourth and last words have correspondence, while the same 
thing obtains in the case of Bella and civilia. In the second verse, the first 
two letters in populum and potentem are identical. There is a correspon- 
dence between the gue of /usque, the z of scelert, and the gue of populum- 
gue, and between the wm of datum and em in potentem. St. Ambrose 
composed his hymns in Iambic Tetrameters. While he is faithful to the 
classical requirements of his metre, he introduces the correspondence 
which he found in Celtic poetry, e. g.- 
Somno refectis artubus spreto cubili surgimus 
Nobis pater canentibus adesse te deposcimus. 
Not only is alliteration present in these verses, the two last syllables of 
both verses terminate in the same manner, and there is a correspondence 
between the last syllable of the first Hemistich in each verse, z. e., between 
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