The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran Part 15

_Parallels._--The nuns of Brigit made a similar complaint against the excessive charity of their abbess (LL, 1598). For the stag compare incident XXI; also the tale of how Brenainn was on one occasion guided by a hound (CS, 116). Ruadan, having given in alms his chariot-horses to lepers, found two stags to take their place (CS, 328).

_The Stanza in VG._--The metre is one of the numerous forms of _debide_, seven-syllable lines with echo-rhymes in which the rhyme-syllable is stressed in the first line, unstressed in the second (as _men_, _taken_). The stanza before us is in _debide scailte_, where the two couplets of the stanza are not linked by any form of sound a.s.sonance. The literal translation is: "Although it be low it would have been high / had not the murmuring come // the murmuring, had it not come / it would have been high though it be low."

_The Geographical Names in LA._--Loch Rii (properly Loch Rib) is Loch Ree on the Shannon, above Athlone. The island called Inis Aingin has now the name of Hare Island; it is at the south end of the lake near the outlet of the river. There are some scanty remains of a monastic establishment to be seen upon it.

x.x.xVIII. CIARAN IN INIS AINGIN (LA, LB, VG)

_The Presbyter Daniel._--For the presence here of a Welsh or British priest, see the remarks in Plummer, VSH, i, p. cxxiv. But it is probable that in the original form of the story the presbyter Daniel was a fict.i.tious ecclesiastic, perhaps the Evil One disguised. We may compare the two false bishops that came to expel Colum Cille from Iona (LL, 1007). Biblical names were sometimes used in the early Irish Church, though native names were preferred. There is actually the monument of a person called Daniel at Clonmacnois; it is a slab, bearing an engraved cross and inscription, probably of the ninth or tenth century.

_The Gift._--This is said in VG to have been a cup adorned with birds.

Such forms of decoration seem to have been common, and are sometimes referred to in Irish romances, though few, if any, examples that may be compared with the descriptions have come down to us. In LA a word _antilum_ is used, which does not appear to occur anywhere else, and is unknown to our lexicographers. It is possibly a corruption for _an(n)ulum_, "a ring." Naturally this tale of the gift must be a later accretion to the story, if it had the origin just suggested.

Note, in the long eulogy of the saint which the author of LB gives us here, that the writer has not hesitated to introduce reminiscences of Phil, ii, 7, 8, thus hinting at the general _Tendenz_ of the Lives of Saint Ciaran. The rest of the eulogy is a free paraphrase of Rom. xii, 9 ff. There is extant a metrical "Monastic Rule" attributed to Saint Ciaran, which was edited by the late Prof. Strachan in _Eriu_ (The journal of the Dublin "School of Irish Learning") vol. ii, p. 227.

The subject-matter of this composition is a series of regulations on morality and mortification of the flesh, but the language is so obscure, and the text of the single MS. which alone contains it is so corrupt, that even the pre-eminent Celtist who edited the poem would not venture on a translation.

x.x.xIX. THE COMING OF OENNA (LA, LB, VG)

_Parallels._--As Ciaran recognised Oenna by his voice, so Colman picked out by his voice one of a number of soldiers destined for a religious life (VSH, i, 261). With the incident of the consecration, as successor, of an unprepossessing intruder, compare the tale of Findian consecrating for the same purpose a raider whom he caught hiding in the furnace-chamber of his kiln (LL, 2628 ff.; CS, 198).

The version in LB conveys the impression that Oenna's learning was imparted to him miraculously, as Oengus the Culdee inspired an idle boy with a miraculous knowledge of his neglected lesson.[22]

The story of Oenna is told rather differently in the glosses to the _Martyrology of Oengus_ (Bradshaw edn., pp. 48 ff.). Oenna with two companions was going for military service to the King of Connacht.

They came to the embarking-place, not of Inis Aingin, but the larger Inis Clothrann (now sometimes called Quaker Island), where there are extensive ancient monastic remains. Ciaran was at the time in Inis Clothrann. He summoned Oenna to him, and asked him whither he was faring. "To the King of Connacht," answered Oenna. "Were it not better rather to contract with the King of Heaven and earth?" asked Ciaran.

"It were better," said Oenna, "if it be right to do so." "It is right," answered Ciaran. Then Oenna was tonsured and began his studies. Here the miraculous insight which recognised in the warrior youth the future abbot is ignored. The tract _De Arreis_[23] tells us of the penance which Ciaran imposed upon Oenna: briefly stated it was as follows. He was to remain three days and three nights in a darkened room, not breaking his fast save with three sips of water each day.

Every day he was to sing the whole Psalter, standing, without a staff to support him, making a genuflexion at the end of each Psalm, reciting _Beati_ after each fifty, and _Hymnum dicat_ after every _Beati_ in cross-vigil (_i.e._, standing upright with his arms stretched out sideways horizontally). He was not to lie down but only to sit, was to observe the canonical hours, and was to meditate on the Pa.s.sion of Christ and upon his own sins.

The author of LA betrays his Irish personality by a phrase which he uses of Oenna. Ciaran bids his followers to fetch _materiam abbatis uestri_--"the makings of your abbot." This is a regular idiom for an heir-apparent, and it shows that if the writer be not actually translating from an Irish doc.u.ment, he is at least thinking in Irish as he writes in Latin.

XL. HOW CIARAN RECOVERED HIS GOSPEL (LA, VG)

There is another story of a gospel recovered from a lake, but without any mention of a cow as the agent for its rescue (CS, 556). The tale may be founded on fact. The "Port of the Gospel" is now forgotten.

Books preserved as relics (_e.g._ the gospels belonging to a sainted founder) were kept in metal shrines, and valuable books which were in use were hung in satchels of leather on the walls of the library or scriptorium. Two specimens of such satchels still remain.

XLI. HOW CIARAN WENT FROM INIS AINGHIN TO CLONMACNOIS (LA, LB, VG)

_Parallels._--As Ciaran gave up his monastery to Donnan, in like manner Munnu surrendered his settlement to the virgin Emer (CS, 495).

The list of equipments delivered by Ciaran to Donnan introduces us to the "human beast of burden," Mael-Odran, a servile functionary occasionally met with in Irish literature. A well-known incident of St. Ad.a.m.nan introduces him travelling "with his mother on his back"

(see Reeves, _Vita Columbae_, p. 179). As to the bell, it may be worth noting that my friend Mr. Walter Campbell, formerly of Athlone, has informed me that an ancient bronze ecclesiastical bell, found on the lake sh.o.r.e opposite Hare Island, was long preserved, and used as a domestic bell, in the cottage of a man named Quigley. The owner believed that it was the bell of St. Ciaran, possibly that mentioned in VG: this is not impossible, though hardly likely, as a bell of such antiquity would most probably be of iron, and rendered useless by corrosion. Unfortunately, the bell in question is no longer forthcoming: it disappeared one day from Quigley's house, stolen, he believed, by a tourist who chanced to pa.s.s by.

Note Donnan's relations.h.i.+p to Senan as set forth in VG. He was brother's-son of Senan, but had the same mother as Senan. Clearly this indicates a _menage_ such as that indicated by Caesar as existing among the wilder tribes of Britain; a polyandry in which the husbands were father and sons (_De Bello Gallico_, V, xiv). These people were probably pre-Celtic, and this strengthens the arguments already put forward for a pre-Celtic origin for the Protagonist of our narrative.

On the subject of the burial of the chieftains of Ui Neill and the Connachta at Clonmacnois, see Plummer, i, p. cx. Neill is the genitive of Niall.

_Ard Manntain_ is now unknown.

The chronological indications contained in VG are sufficiently close to accuracy to show that they have been calculated, though the computor has made a miscount of a year. The eighth of the calends of February (25th January) in A.D. 548 was actually a Sat.u.r.day, but it was two days before new moon. The same day in A.D. 549 was the tenth day of the moon, but it fell on a Monday.

Of the companions of Ciaran, Oengus (properly Oenna) succeeded him as abbot, dying in A.D. 569; Mac Nisse, who was an Ultonian, followed him, and died 13 June 584 (aliter 587). The others, however, do not appear to have found a place in the martyrologies. Mo-Beoc is a different person from the famous Mo-Beog of Loch Derg in Co. Donegal.

XLII. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH (LA, VG)

The two versions are independent. But though there are no wizards or druids in the VG version, they appear in another story connecting Diarmait with the foundation of Clonmacnois. This is to the effect that Diarmait was at a place on the Shannon near Clonmacnois, called Snam da en, and saw the glow of the first camp-fire lighted on the site of the future monastery by Ciaran and his followers. The druids who were with Diarmait told him that unless that fire were forthwith quenched, it would never be put out. "It shall be quenched immediately," said Diarmait; so with hostile purpose he advanced on Clonmacnois, but instead of doing what he proposed, he suffered himself to be pressed into the service of the builders, as the story in VG narrates. The tale in LA is interesting, as showing (1) the existence of a calendar of seasons lucky and unlucky for various enterprises, and (2) a spirit of kindly tolerance on the part of the pagan wizard.

The wiles of wizards were exposed by various saints, _e.g._ by Aed and by Cainnech. These tales are curious; the wizard in each case appeared to pa.s.s through a tree, but the saint opened the eyes of the spectators, so that they saw him actually pa.s.sing round it (CS, 353, 368; VSH, i, 156). This reads like the exposure of hypnotically induced hallucinations.[24]

Diarmait mac Cerrbeil, or more properly mac Fergusa Cerrbeil, was grandson of Conall Cremthainne, son of Niall Noi-giallach, the ancestor of the royal line of Ui Neill. The reigning king, Tuathal Moel-Garb, of whom we have already heard, was grandson of Coirpre, another son of Niall. As a possible rival for the kings.h.i.+p, Tuathal had driven him into banishment. Mael-Moire, or Mael-Morda, who murdered Tuathal, was Diarmait's foster-brother. When Diarmait was installed on the throne, he summoned the convention of Uisnech--one of the places where from time immemorial religious Pan-Iernean a.s.semblies, resembling in character the Pan-h.e.l.lenic Olympic gatherings, had been held. How Diarmait afterwards offended Ciaran, was cursed by him, and met his death in consequence of that curse, may be read in the tale printed in _Silua Gadelica_, No. vi, from which we have just quoted the version of the story of setting up of the corner-post.

There are chronological discrepancies, difficult if not impossible to reconcile, between the annalist's dates for Diarmait and those for Ciaran. The _Annals of Ulster_ places the death of Tuathal in 543, the accession of Diarmait in 544, and the death of Ciaran in 548, seven years after founding Clonmacnois. Some MSS. of these Annals, however, omit the reference to the seven years, and place the accession of Diarmait in 548, evidently to reconcile the stories. According to the _Annals of the Four Masters_, Tuathal was slain in 538, Diarmait succeeded in 539, and Ciaran died in 548. The _Annals of Clonmacnois_ is more consonant with the chronology of the Life of Ciaran. It tells the tale so picturesquely that we transcribe it here, as before modernising the spelling--

"535. Tuathal Moel-Garb began his reign, and reigned eleven years....

He caused Diarmait mac Cerrbeil to live in exile and in desert places, because he claimed to have right to the crown....

"547. King Tuathal having proclaimed throughout the whole kingdom the banishment of Diarmait mac Cerrbeil, as before is specified, with a great reward to him that would bring him his heart, the said Diarmait for fear of his life lived in the deserts of Clonmacnois, then called Ard Tiprat: and meeting with the abbot Saint Ciaran, in the place where the church of Clonmacnois now stands, who was but newly come thither to live or dwell from Inis Aingin, and having no house or place to reside or dwell in, the said Diarmait gave him his a.s.sistance to make a house there, and in thrusting down in the earth one of the pieces of the timber or wattles of the house, the said Diarmait took Saint Ciaran's hand and did put it over his own head or hand in sign of reverence to the saint: whereupon the saint humbly besought G.o.d of His great goodness that by that time to-morrow ensuing that [_sic_]

the hands of Diarmait might have superiority over all Ireland.

Which fell out as the saint requested, for Mael-Moire o hArgata, foster-brother of Diarmait, seeing in what perplexity the n.o.bleman was in [_sic_], besought him that he might be pleased to lend him his black horse, and that he would make his repair to Greallach da Phuill, where he heard King Tuathal to have a meeting with some of his n.o.bles; and there would present him with a whelp's heart on a spear's head, instead of Diarmait's heart, and so by that means get access to the king, whom he would kill out of hand and by the help and swiftness of the horse save his own life whether they would or no. Diarmait, listing to the words of his foster-brother was amongst two extremities, loath to refuse him and far more loath to lend it him, fearing he should miscarry and be killed, but between both, he granted him his request; whereupon he prepared himself, and went as he was resolved, mounted on the said black horse, a heart besprinkled with blood on his spear, to the place where he heard the king to be; the king and his people seeing him come in that manner, supposed that it was Diarmait's heart that was to be presented by the man that rode in post-haste; the whole mult.i.tude gave him way to that king, and when he came within reach to the king as though to tender him the heart, he gave the king such a deadly blow of his spear that the king instantly fell down dead in the midst of his people, whereupon the man was beset on all sides and at last taken and killed, so as speedy news came to Diarmait, who incontinently went to Tara, and there was crowned king as Saint Ciaran prayed and prophesied before.... Diarmait was not above seven months king, when Saint Ciaran died in Clonmacnois, where he dwelt therein but seven months before, in the thirty-third year of his age, on the 9th of September."

_The Stanzas in VG._--The metre is _ae freslige_. Literally: "I shall speak witness truly / though single is thy numerous train // thou shalt be a king pleasant, dignified / of Ireland this time to-morrow /// The slaying of chosen Tuathal / Moel-Garb, it was a crying without glory // thence is the choice saying / 'it was the deed of Moel-Moire'

/// Without rout and without slaughter / he took Uisnech, it was not after an a.s.sembly // Diarmait the eminent gave / a hundred churches to G.o.d and to Ciaran."

_The Episode of Tren_ (VG).--This story ill.u.s.trates a belief in sympathetic magic. What Tren had done to deserve this punishment is unknown, nor is the site of Cluain Iochtar identified. Possibly he had endeavoured to prevent Ciaran from founding his church; compare the story of Findian and Baeth (LL, 2624). Patrick had a dispute with a certain Trian, but the details of the story are different (TT, p. 45, ch. lx.x.x, etc.). It is difficult for us to put ourselves into the position of people who thought to honour their saint by telling a story about him which we should consider not only silly but immoral.

But such an attempt must be tried if we are to understand anything of ancient writings, in whatever language and from whatever countries they may come down to us. Even when we read so modern and so universal an author as Shakspere we must for the moment imagine ourselves sixteenth-century Elizabethans; the more we succeed in doing so, the better do we understand what we read. So, in criticising a story like this, we must rid ourselves of all our twentieth-century prejudices, and accept it in the simple faith of those to whom it was intended to be told.

On one of the great carved crosses still to be seen in Clonmacnois--that erected in memory of Flann King of Ireland (ob.

914)--there is a panel representing an ecclesiastic and a layman holding an upright post between them. It has been plausibly conjectured that this represents the erection of the corner-post of the church, as described in our text.

XLIII. HOW CIARAN SENT A CLOAK TO SENAN (LA, VG)

The "Cloak of Senan" must have been an actual relic preserved on Inis Cathaig; tradition said that it had been floated on the river to the saint of the island, though there were various opinions as to which saint had done the miracle; it is attributed to Brigit daughter of Cu Cathrach (LL, 2399) and to Diarmait (CS, 753). For parallels to the automatic transfer of objects by water, see Plummer, VSH, i, p.

clx.x.xvi, note 2.

XLIV. CIARAN AND THE WINE (LA, LB, VG)

The choice laid before the monks is curious, and hardly consonant with the usual spirit of abjuring the world; it may be aetiological, designed to explain, and perhaps to excuse, the opulence and temporal importance of Clonmacnois at the time when it was written. A similar but not identical story appears in the life of Munnu (VSH, ii, 227).

It is quite obvious that the story as we have it is a conflation of two versions of the anecdote. In the one version the wine was brought by Frankish merchants and acquired by purchase; in the other it was provided by miracle. The composite story appears in LA and VG; LB knows the miraculous version only.

That Frankish merchants should have sailed up the Shannon and delivered a cargo of wine at a settlement in the heart of Ireland in the middle of the sixth century, is no mere extravagance. The subject of ancient Irish trade has been very fully investigated by the late Prof. Zimmer, and he has brought a large number of facts together which show that such an episode is a quite credible fragment of history.[25]

The second version, though LB calls it _miraculum insolitum_, is one of the commonplaces of hagiography. Water was turned to wine by a host of saints, such as Colum Cille (LL, 839), Fursa (CS, 111), Findian (CS, 205), Lugaid (CS, 283), Aed (CS, 339), and others needless to specify. Fintan (CS, 404), and Munnu (CS, 503), blessed a cup in such wise that one of their followers, while appearing, in self-abnegation, to drink nothing but water for thirty years, was in reality enjoying the best wine! Saint Brynach drew wine from a brook and fishes from its stones (_Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 12, 298), Brigit (LL, 1241) and Colman Elo (CS, 441) turned water into ale; the former (LL, 1368) as well as Lugaid (CS, 269, 280) and Fintan (CS, 404) turned water into milk.

I have not found any exact parallel to the incident of the scented thumb.