162 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



ambiguity jWill be removed from tbe narrative, which, at this point, is 

 not quite clear. It is not made evident which of the two brothers 

 received Patrick ; but if Imbliuch Sonon is the true reading, it will 

 follow that it was Hono (as the Tripartite Life assumes). 



Another ambiguity lies in exiit. The sentence reads as if Sono 

 were the subject ; but if this means, as it would naturally mean, that 

 Hono went thither alone without Patrick, a difficulty arises as to the 

 reference of ihi which occurs just after. The text is : — 



et immolauit sibi doiuiaii suain et exiit ad imbliuch _ hoinon et dixit illi 

 Patricius Semen tuum erit benedictum et de tuo semine erunt sacerdotes domiui et 

 principes digni in mea eliinoysina et tua hereditate et posuit ibi assicum et betbeum 

 filium fratris assifi et eipiain matreni bethei episcopi. 



The awkwardness is increased when, reading on, we find that the 

 place from which Patrick started when lie had thus set up Assicus 

 and Betheus was a place which he was not said to have reached — 

 fans Alofind{3l4io)- 



Now, it seems certain that ibi means Alofind, for there can be 

 little doubt that Assicus was stationed there. ^ The inference might 

 seem to be that one sentence at least has fallen out, in which the 

 coming of Patrick to Alofind was mentioned. But if we turn to the 

 Tripartite Life, we find a solution which may enable us to dispense 

 with the assumption of a lacuna. There we find Alofind identified 

 with Imbliuch Honon (943o). This interpretation implies that 

 Patrick, received by Hono somewhere in the territory of Coreu- 

 chonluain, went with him to Imbliuch Honon — that is, Elphin — and 

 founded a church there. 



It must be allowed that the text of Tirechan, just as it stands, 

 admits of this interpretation. A different punctuation from tliat 

 adopted in the EoUs text will make it clear : — 



Alter suscepit Patiicium et sanctos eius cum gaudio et immolauit sibi domum 

 siiam. Et exiit ad Imbliuch Homon et dixit illi Patricius : " Semen tuum erit — 

 hereditate." Et posuit ibi Assicum, &c. 



The subject of exiit is Patricius, who proceeds to the Imbliuch of 

 Hono ; and it is to be observed that, with this interpretation, the pro- 

 bability that Sonon, to which the following illi would refer, is a true 

 correction for Hornon, approaches certainty. 



^ Compare Tirechan, 31328. 



