136 ProccedmffS of the Royal Irish Academy. 



ar tus cusin coicedh ri do G/'^ccaib 7 book, from the reign of I^inus son of 

 Yorrtholon mc. Sera dno ro gab Erind Belus -who first took the kingship of the 

 ar tus iar ndilind cusin coiced blia. flatha world to the fifth king of the Greeks, 

 Tigemmuis mc. Follai^ ro gab rigi and from Partholon son of Seir also who 

 liEienn co cenn .c. blia. ut alii aiunt. Is first took Ii-eland after the Flood to the 

 ferr dunn dno co sgribam comamserad fifth year of the reign of Tigemmas son 

 nacin ior leith onuso. of Follach who took the kingship of 



Ireland till the end of [i.e. throughout] 

 100 years itt alii aiunt. It is better for 

 us now that we write the synchronism 

 on a separate sheet here." 



The succession of the " Greek " rulers is then resumed at Philopatur (see 

 end of VIII) and continued to the time of Julius Caesar. From him the 

 Koman " kings of the world " are continuously enumerated down to the reign of 

 Leo III, wlio is declai-ed to be contemporary with Fergal son of Mael Diiin, 

 king of Ireland. 



Then the writer returns to the synchronization of the Eomau emperors 

 with the kings of Ireland, but on a dififerent plan from the preceding section. 

 Instead of taking the dynasties reign by reign, he takes them by centuries, 

 naming the emperors and the Irish kings in each centurj'. The centuries 

 are reckoned from the accession of Julius Caesar (i.e. from the battle 

 of Pharsalia), 48 ac, until the mission of St. Patrick is reached. From this 

 event the reckoning by centuries begins anew. The periods are' : — 



1. To the 12th year of Claudius A.D. 52 



2. 



II 



14th 



IP 



Antoninus Pius, 



151 



3. 



l» 



1st 



II 



Claudius II, 



268 



4. 



n 



18th 



II 



Constantius II, 



354 



5. 



It 



last 



II 



Theodosius I, 



450 



Theodosius I is confused with Theodosius II, who died in 450. Here a 

 fresh start is made in the reckoning, leading — 



6. To the 1st year of Patrick in Ireland, A.D. 432 



7. „ 5th „ Justinian, 531 



8. „ 20th „ Heraclius, 629 



Last comes a period of 84 years, calculated to the date of writing of 

 the original tract. 



' The end of the third century ia miscalcuU*cd. Perhaps the writer unwittingly substituted the 

 first year of Claudius, 26S, for the first of Valerian, 2.53. The other and small'-r errors may be 

 due to TariatioDS in chronopaphy or to a misreading of the Roman numerals. 'J'he a.d. reckoning 

 doea not appear in the tract, a.u. dating appears not to have displaced the older melboda in Ireland 

 until the ninth century (MacCarthy, Introduction to Annalt of Ultler, vol. iv., p. xciv). 



