The Latin Irish Lives of Ciaran | Page 4

the same story arose. The composition of
hymns to the founder and patron would surely be a favourite literary
exercise in Clonmacnois. In such hymns the different incidents would
be told and re-told, the details varying with the knowledge and the
metrical skill of the versifiers. There are excerpts from such hymns, in
Irish, scattered through VG: and LB ends with a pasticcio of similar
fragments in Latin. As a number of different metres are employed, both
in the Irish and in the Latin extracts, there must have been at least as
many independent compositions drawn upon by the compilers of the
prose Lives: and it is noteworthy that there are occasionally
discrepancies in detail between the verse fragments and their present
prose setting. Most probably the prose Lives were based directly on the
hymns; one preacher would use one hymn as his chief authority,
another would use another, and thus the petty differences between them
would become fixed, perhaps exaggerated as the prose writer filled in
details for which the exigencies of verse allowed no scope. It is
probably impossible to carry the history of the tradition further.
In order to facilitate comparison between the four documents, I have
divided them into incidents, and have provided titles to each. These
titles are so chosen that they may be used for every presentation of the
incident, however the details may vary. The titles are numbered with
Roman numerals, whilst the successive incidents within each of the
Lives are numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. The Harmony
of the Four Lives, which follows this Introduction, will make

cross-reference easy.
No modern biography, no edition of the ancient homiletic Lives, of
Ciaran could be considered complete without a history of Clonmacnois,
through which being dead he yet spake to his countrymen for a
thousand years. It was the editor's intention to include such a history in
the present volume; and this part of the projected work was drafted. But
as it progressed, and as the indispensable material increased in bulk, it
became evident that it would be impossible to do justice to the subject
within the narrow limits of a volume of the present series. A slight or
superficial history of Clonmacnois would be worse than none, as it
would block the way for the fuller treatment which the subject well
deserves. The materials collected for this part of the work have
therefore been reserved for the present: it is hoped that their publication
will not be long delayed.
[Footnote 1: The name is pronounced as a dissyllable, something like
_Kyee-raun_, with a stress on the second syllable.]
[Footnote 2: The Bollandists long ago remarked as the special
characteristics of Irish Saints' Lives, their doubtful historicity, their late
date, and their continual repetition of stock incidents. (_At priusquam
id agam, lectorem duo uniuersim monitum uelim; primum est, quod
Hibernorum sanctorum acta passim dubia sint fidei, et a scriptoribus
minime accuratis ac aetate longe posterioribus conscripta; alterum est,
quod in iisdem frequens occurrat rerum simillimarum narratio, quas
uariis sanctis adscribunt, ita ut nescias cui tuto adscribi possint._--Acta
Sanctorum, September, vol. iii, p. 372).]
[Footnote 3: Even the date of Ciaran's death may have been
manipulated, in order to make his age conform to the age of Christ. As
we shall see below, traditions vary.]
[Footnote 4: The end of the world is not actually mentioned in the
Annals, but the expected plague referred to was undoubtedly the
apparition of the mysterious Roth Ramhach, or "oar-wheel," an
instrument of vengeance that was to herald the end of all things. For the
references to this prophecy see O'Curry's Manuscript Materials of

Ancient Irish History (index, sub voce "Roth Ramhach"), and the
present writer's Study of the Remains and Traditions of Tara
(Proceedings Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxxiv, sect. C, p. 231 ff.).]
[Footnote 5: The following corrections may be noticed. Page 201 of
printed text, line 7, for Et cum read Cumque. Same page, line 24, for
factum read factam (_sic_). Page 202, line 6, after vitulum add ilico
canis famelicus iruit (_sic_) in uitulum. Same page, line 25, after fregit
add et fracto capite effussoque cerebro canis periit. Same page, line 33,
after narrabant add hoc. Same page, lines 35, 38, for vaccam read
vacam. Page 203, line 35, for Angeli read Angli. Same page, line 39,
insert et after generis. Page 204, line 7, Innsythe appears to be written
in the MS. as one word. Same line, insert uidit before zabulum. Same
page, line 18, after flumen add et ibi mersum est. Page 205, line 32,
read est ostensum. Page 206, line 18, after libri add ad locum. Same
page, line 32, after manducans add in illa die. Same page, line 38, read
Kyaranus. Same page, line 40, read Maelgharbh. Page 207, line 13,
after recepit