Close — CosmograpMcal Tractate in the Irish Language. 459 



with the title De Scientia Motiis Orhis. A copy of this is in the 

 Library of the Academy. It was afterwards edited by Joachim Heller, 

 and printed at the same place in 1549, with the title De Elementis et 

 Orhihus Coelestibus. But the Latin version fi'om which the Irish 

 translator worked was quite different fi'om Gerard's translation. This 

 appears at once when the Latin words, mentioned already at the begin- 

 ning of each chapter in the Irish and in the English translation, are 

 compared with the leading words of the corresponding chapters in 

 Gerard's translation. 



ARABIC Arabic 



of Mess. of Duodec. 



Latin A Latin B 



I 

 Irish 



I 

 English 



The above genealogical scheme shows the relations of the various 

 works, or translations, to each other. " Arabic of Mess." is Messaha- 

 lah's original work, whence is derived, on one hand, Latin A, by 

 Gerard, and on the other hand, in connection with the ' ' Arabic of 

 Duodec," Latiu B, by the compiler of the Cosmography; of whose 

 existence we have tokens in the leading Latin words in the Irish (and 

 in the English) translation. "We may conclude from the nearness of 

 these Latin words to the corresponding words in the Irish text, that 

 the Irish is a close translation of the Latiu. That the English is such 

 of the Irish can be seen by comparing them. 



Some pairs of corresponding chapters in Latin A and in the Irish 

 agree pretty closely : although there are three versional steps between 

 them. Others are related to each other like free translations, and a 

 few like free paraphrases. This is clearly due to the compiler of the 

 cosmography or the waiter of Latin B, whose main object was evidently 

 not to give a translation or a new edition, of Messahalah's work; but 

 simply to use him, as he pleased, as one of the sources of his own com- 

 pilation. In some places Gerard's Latin A is superior to the Irish ; 

 in some the Irish is the better of the two. 



The meteorology of Messahalah and of Duodecimalis, the original 

 author, or authors of the twelve chapters above mentioned, is Aristo- 

 telian ; the astronomy is Ptolemaic, which, of course, is perfectly 



