Dalton — Cromm Cruaich of 3Iagh Sleacht. 61 



Some' have impugned the credit of the Diunsenchus poem because it 

 affirms that the tribute rendered to Crom by his votaries included the sacri- 

 fice of " their piteous, wretched offspi'ing," even to the extent of " one-third 

 of their healthy issue." - But a priori considerations will not suffice for 

 rejecting the obnoxious stanzas of the document, even in such a worthy 

 cause as that of clearing the reputation of our heathen ancestors from an 

 odious stigma. Questions of this kind had better be avoided if they are not 

 tried by strict methods of historical inquiry ;^ and, indeed, in the present 

 instance sentimental scepticism can but lead to the rednctio ad absurdum 

 that the early colonizers of Ireland had fled hither in protest against the 

 sacrificial observances which, on Csesar's testimony, we know prevailed in 

 their own cradle-lands of Gaul. 



Even when the horrible rite had been discontinued,^ the worship of Crom 

 must have been a most dismal function, an ordeal which imposed the 

 severest strain on the physical endurance of his devotees. " They all pros- 

 trated themselves before him," says the Eennes Dindsenchas, " so that the 

 tops of their foreheads, and the gristle of their noses, and the caps of their 

 knees, and the ends of their elbows broke, and the three-fourths of the men 

 of Erin perished at these prostrations. "° 



Following the prose versions of the Dinnsenehus, both Colgan' and 

 O'Flaherty,' in their Latinized rendering, " Campus Adorationis," refer the 

 etymology of the name Magli Sleacht lo those prone congregations of sup- 

 pliants. Though their derivation, having been approved by O'Donovan,* is now 

 universally accepted, it must be admitted nevertheless that Charles O'Conor's 

 interpretation of Magh Sleacht as Campus Stragis, or Campus Uxcidii, is by 

 no means in conflict with the metrical, or original, Dinnsenehus :' — 

 ' ' To him noble Gaels would prostrate themselves, 

 From the worship of him, with many manslaughters, the plain is called Mag Slecht." 



' Dr. Joyce, e.g., " Soc. Hist.," i, 281-4. 



2 " Voyage of Bran," ii, 394. See also " Rev. Celt.," xvi, p. 36. 



3 " That human sacrifices were commonly offered by the ancestors of the civUized 

 races of North Europe, Celts, Teutons, and Slavs, is certain " (Frazer's " Golden 

 Bough," vol. iv., p. 214.) 



■* The practice could hardly have survived the enlightened reign of Cormac Mac Airt, 

 if it had not ceased before that date. No Dinnsenehus tract affirms the continuance 

 of human sacrifice here until St. Patrick's time. 



5 " Revue Celtique," vol. xvi, pp. 35, 36. 



6 "Tr. Thaum.,"p. 133. 



' " Ogygia," ?• 196. The ''Four Masters " {anno 3656 B.C.) and Keating (Dineen's 

 Edition, ii, 123) render the words similarly. 



* O'Donovan would make the name mean "plain of genuflexions" ("F.M." loc. 

 cii.). " Plain of prostrations " seems to be a closer translation. 



^ It might appeal also to the name Porturlaa, standing for a to^vnland right'under 

 Crom's hillock (vide supra, p. 35). 



