288 Proceedings of the Royal Irkh Academy, 



Patrick from the honey to abstinence from all food, on the ground 

 that it had been offered to idols : Ille autem sanctus Patricius 

 nichil gustans de his cibis, immolaticum enim erat, nee esuricns, 

 nec sitiens, mansit illesus." In this he is followed by Vita iii. 16. 

 Deo gr alias is a favourite expression with St. Patrick. It occurs 

 twice in the Dicta Patricii; cf. also Conf. 30, Gratias ago ei" ; 34, 

 Indefessam gratiam ago Deo meo" ; "Deo gratias semper agere"; 

 46, " Sine cessatione Deo gratias agere" ; and the story in Muirchu (A), 

 cap. 23, of St. Patrick's constant repetition of gra%acham, i.e. Gratias 

 agamus. 



P. 241, 1. 16. Niliil memhrorum, &c. The reference to this in 

 Muirchu (B), cap. 2, is worth quoting: " Satan as . . . fingens saxa 

 ingentia, et quasi comminuens iam membra ; sed inuocato Helia bina 

 uoce, ortus est ei sol," &c. The reading of Boll., et omnium meorum 

 memhrorum uires ahstulit, is taken from Vita iv. as well as saxim ingens 

 (so A) and inuocarem. Ferguson, explaining sed as equivalent to the 

 Irish acht = nisi, renders it hut so much. 



" So that in all my limbs 

 Remained not but so much of power as brought 

 Into my mind the thought to cry, ' Helias.' " 



However, Sed unde mihi uenit . . , ut uocarem ? is exactly parallel 

 to Sed unde uenit illi . . . ut . . . me . . . dehonestaref^ § 32. 



P. 241, 1. 17. Heliam. — There can be no doubt that Patrick regarded 

 his shouting of the name Helias as due to unconscious mental action, 

 and that the name was chiefly associated in his mind on this occasion 

 with the sun {Helios). Cf. the contrast between Christ, the true sun, 

 and the sun which we see with the eye of sense, in§ 60. On the 

 other hand, the name Helias can only mean Elijah, and in this 

 Muirchu and the Vitse are right. Probus alone has, ' Cum trina uoce 

 invocasset Christum, solem uerum." Todd {^St. Patrick, p. 371) 

 endeavours to prove that what Patrick really did say was JEU, My 

 God. 



P. 242, 1. 3. Pt iterum — capt. dedi. — Whether we interpret this, 

 with Ferguson, of a spiritual captivity, or of a second literal captivity, 

 the words must be taken as a parenthesis, as Prof. Bury rightly 

 points out {Guardian, Nov. 20, 1901); for the words Pa nocte, 

 &c., continue the narrative. It seems best to suppose that Patrick's 

 strange demeanour caused the sailors to treat him as a prisoner. The 

 following sentences certainly prove that he considered himself as 

 such. CF3F4 have a full stop after et iterum, as though a quotation 

 from Scripture should follow, as in §§ 7 and 25. 



