298 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 



obsoluet dominio." Patrick here alludes to 1 Tim. iii. 7, \i. 9, 

 Laqueum diaboli." 



P. 254, 1. 23. Mmicipahunt. — I had rendered this ' will possess 

 hell,' as though mancipare = manu capere, i. e. 'take hold of.' 

 Dr. Gwynn has suggested to me that it might be an ungrammatical 

 expression for 'become slaves {mancipia) of hell.' This view i& 

 supported by seruus^ which follows. 



P. 254, 1. 1. Quapropter, &c. — Ferguson {op. cit., p. 100) calL atten- 

 tion to the fact that Patrick here and in § 7 is exercising episcopal 

 jurisdiction in placing Coroticus under the minor excommunication. 



P. 255, 1. 2. Patricida^ &c. — The sing, here and in § 21 refers to 

 Coroticus. 



P. 255, 1. 15. Bonec crudeliter, &c. — Prof. Bury thinks that here 

 " words have obviously fallen out, as crudeliter gives no sense. Com- 

 paring p. 254, 1. 17, we must restore pro crudeliter interfectis, or 

 trucidatis, or something of the kind." 



P. 256, 1. 12. Pecorione. — A decurio or curialis was a member of 

 the Curia of a town under the Eoman Empire. " The Curia consisted 

 of a certain number of the richest landowners who were responsible 

 to the treasuiy for a definite sum, which it was their business to 

 collect from all the proprietors in the district." (Pury, History of the 

 Later Roman Empire, vol. i., p. 27). Gibbon, in his remarks on the 

 Theodosian code, which was promulgated in a.d. 438, says : " The 

 laborious offices, which could be productive only of envy and reproach, 

 of expense and danger, were imposed on the Pecurions, who formed 

 the corporations of the cities, and whom the severity of the Imperial 

 laws had condemned to sustain the burthens of civil society.'* 

 [Pecline and Fall, Ed. Bury, vol. ii., p. 192.) 



P. 256, 1. 14. Genti exterae — i.e. the Picts. This follows fi'om a 

 comparison of p. 257, 1. 13, " Uendis illos genti exterae," and 1. 25, 

 " Christiani in seruitutem redacti sunt, praesertim . . . Pictorum." 



P. 257, 1. 7. Sicut Eua non intellexit. — Cf. Milton's " knew not 

 eating death." Par, Lost, ix. 792. 



P. 257, 1. 10, Romanorum Gall. Christ. This means Gallic Christians 

 in communion with Bome ; and the apparently superfluous epithet 

 Romanorum is added to emphasize the contrast between their conduct 

 and that of Coroticus and his men, who were nominally Romani in 

 this sense. 



P. 257, 1. 11. Francos et caeteras yentes. — The Pranks, who are 

 here spoken of as heathen, were converted en masse to Christianity 

 with Clovis in 496 a.d. 



