276 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



28. Half the dignity of each man to his wife, or to his dutiful son, or to his 

 administrator, or to his prior.' 



V. 76. — 29. A hospitaller is equal in grade to a ruling noble if he have 

 besides the double of each grade's amount of land and husbandry. It is by 

 reason of the ruler's kindred and house-custom that he excels.^ 



V 76. — 30. He is no hospitaller who is not hundredful. He repels no 

 condition (of person). He refuses no company. He reckons against none 

 howso often he may come. This is the hospitaller who is equal in dire to the 

 king of a tuath.^ 



V 78. — 31. The superior hospitaller, this man has double wealth, he has 

 an ever-stocked cauldron, he has three roads.* 



V 78. — 32. The classes of worth, now: inol a,\\dL flescach d,uA. garid &n& fer 

 midboth — it is he whose foot and hand are not restrained— and mruigfer 

 and second bdairc and first ocairc.^ 



V 80. — 33. The d/re of an inol, a fleece of wool, or a ball of yarn, or a hen 

 without secret.^ 



V 84. — 34. A lamb of (the value of) a sack (of corn) for a flescach, and a 



' Cidn, " dignity," is here said of a measure of free status. Gormacc, "dutiful son," 

 a son who does his duty to his parents, especially the duty of maintenance, gaire, in their 

 old age. Eechtaire, "administrator," ace. to the gloss, "of a king in the tuath." 

 Sechnahh, "prior," lit. " second abbot." 



' "Hospitaller," fcrm^fw. He provided open hospitality, it is not clear within what 

 limits. To be equal in grade to a ruling noble, it was necessary that he should have 

 twice the qualifying wealth of the noble's grade. A freeman of the non-ruling class, in 

 order to rise to the grade of a ruling noble, unless his father and grandfather had been 

 ruling nobles, was required to have besides twice the number of clients (celi) proper to 

 the grade of ruling noble. The qualifications in regard to clients, land, and husbandry, 

 only mentioned generally in the present text, are specified for each grade in the com- 

 mentary and in C.G., but with diflferences. "House-custom," bes (taige), was the 

 food-provision to which a ruling noble (flaith) was entitled from his clients. " That he 

 excels " : fore/aid A. imarcraid ; the text probably contained the corresponding verb ; 

 the meaning may be "that he (the hospitaller) exceeds" the ruling noble in required 

 qualifications. 



^ " Hundredful," ce'tach, ace. to the commentary means " having a hundred men after 

 the manner of slaves" — note that they are not called slaves — "and a hundred of every 

 (kind of) cattle." 



'" Superior hospitaller," fcriu(/M leillech. Leittech is glossed by togaidi, " choaen, 

 choice." 



* " Classes of worth," fodla febe. These collectively are equivalent to the grad Fene, 

 " order of the Feni," of the glosses and commentaries passim. The list is peculiar to 

 this text, being doubtless a particular essay to produce a sevenfold classification of the 

 non-ruling grades. " Are not restrained," ?!(frf comat/iar : he is responsible for his own 

 " liability of foot and hand," cin coisse ocus Idime. 



' "A hen without secret," cejcc cen rim : the commentary, guessing, says that this 

 means either a hen that is not hatching, or a hen that is not laying. 



