156 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



But I confess that I do not feel quite satisfied with this explanation 

 ©f the notable coincidence between Yita 3, Vita 4, and the Tripartite. 

 It is the only possible explanation if we assume that the text of 

 Tfrechan'is right, as it stands in the Liber Armachanus. But there 

 are grounds for questioning this assumption. In the first place, there 

 is some corruption, whether large or small, in the passage quoted 

 ahore {mittens autem . . . in Deo uera) ; for there is no finite verb for 

 the subject Patricius. The scribe of the Armagh Ms. noted the 

 difficulty of the passage by his symbol z in the margin. In the 

 second place, it seems strange that Tirechan should not have 

 mentioned explicitly that the purpose of the mission of Patrick's 

 follower was to take charge of a church which had been founded at 

 Rath Slecht. This is evidently implied; but we expect it to be 

 stated. Combining these two considerations, we cannot avoid the 

 conclusion that there is a lacuna here. For the sense, it is necessary 

 only to asume a short lacuna ; the sentence might have been completed 

 by a few words referring to Domnach Maige Slecht. But the 

 suspicion forces itself upon us that the lacuna may have been of larger 

 compass, and that the original text of Tirechan may have contained 

 a notice of the visit to the Field of Adorations. 



§3. Having brought Patrick to the bank of an alueus Sinone in 

 Book i., Tfrechan thus resumes his journey in Book ii. : — 



Uenit ergo Patricius sanctus per alueum fluminis Sinnae per uadum duonim 

 auium in campum'Ai(3122i) ; 



et uenierunt per alueum fluminis Sinnae quae dicitur Bandea ad tumuliim 

 Gradi (31 82) ; 



uenierunt ad campum Glais et in illo posuit celolam magnam quae sic uocatur 

 .cellula magna (ib. 10) ; 



deinde uenit ad Assicum et Bitteum et ad magos qui fuerunt de genere 

 .Corcuclioiiiuain Hono et Ith fratres. Alter suscepit Patricium et sanctos eius cum 

 gaudio et immolauit sibi domum suam. Et exiit ad Imbliueh Hornon . , . Et 

 posuit ibi Assicum &c. (ib. 13). 



Patricius uero uenit de fonte Alofind ad Dumecham nepotum Ailello etfundauit in 

 illo loco aeclessiam quae sic uocatur Senella Cella Dumicbe usque tunc diem (314i()). 



Patrick is thus said to have proceeded to Mag Ai by crossing the 

 Shannon at Vadutn Duarum Auium, the Latin equivalent of the Irish 

 Snamh-da-en. The plain known as Mag 'Ai comprises a large part of 

 County Roscommon, stretching from the town of Roscommon 

 northward beyond Elphin. It is in the north part of this plain that 

 we find Patrick when he has crossed the river ; first of all, he does 

 certain things in Mag Glais, a district whose name still survives (as 



