The Latin Irish Lives of Ciaran | Page 5

add ipse. Page 208, line 16, for complebit read implebit.
Page 209, line 23, delete et after clamor; and in the next line for
impediebant read -bat. Page 211, line 14, insert in before istis. Same
page, line 16, read loco isto. Same page, line 40, read edifficio. Page
212, line 2, read
edifficiorum. Page 213, line 10, after ignem insert
nostrum. Same page, line 21, for ipsi read ipsum. Same page, line 37,
after paciencie insert nostre. Page 214, footnote 3, note that the first
"uas" is struck out. Same page, footnote 7, the first "sanctus" is
expuncted.]
[Footnote 6: _Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie_, vol. v, p. 429.]
[Footnote 7: Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore, Oxford, 1890,
pp. 117-134.]
[Footnote 8: Four Ancient Books of Wales, i, 124.]
[Footnote 9: _Descriptive Catalogue of Materials for the History of
Great Britain,_ vol. i, p. 102.]
[Footnote 10: Forbes. Kalendars, s. v. Queranus; Bollandist Acta.]

* * * * *

A HARMONY OF THE FOUR LIVES OF SAINT CIARAN
To the incidents of Ciaran's life VG prefixes--
I. The Homiletic Introduction (VG I)
not found in any of the Latin Lives.
=A.= Ciaran was born A.D. 515. The first section of his life, his
Childhood and Boyhood, may have covered the first ten or twelve years
of his life--say in round numbers 515-530. Fifteen incidents of this
period are recorded, which are found in the Lives as under--
LA LB LC VG II. _The origin and birth of Ciaran; the wizard's
prophecies_ 1 1 1 2 III. How Ciaran raised the steed of Oengus from
death 2 2 2 3 IV. How Ciaran turned water into honey 3 3 3 4 V. How
Ciaran was delivered from a hound 6 9 4 5 VI. _How Ciaran and his
instructor conversed, though distant from one another_ 4 - - 6 VII.
Ciaran and the fox - - - 7 VIII. _How Ciaran spoiled his mother's
dye-stuff_ - - - 8 IX. How Ciaran restored a calf which a wolf had
devoured 5 8 5 9 X. How Ciaran was delivered from robbers 7 - 6 10
XI. How Ciaran gave a gift of cattle 8 - - - XII. _How Ciaran gave a
gift of a plough-coulter_ 9 - - - XIII. How Ciaran gave a gift of an ox
10 - - - XIV. _How Ciaran gave the king's cauldron to beggars and was
enslaved_ 11 - 7 11 XV. How Ciaran reproved his mother 13 - 9 - XVI.
_The breaking of the carriage-axle_ 14 - 10 -
The boyhood legend probably consisted originally of the five incidents
common to all, II-V, IX. It is noteworthy, however, that LB transfers V,
IX, to a position after the second phase of the Life. This is possibly due
to a misplaced leaf in the exemplar from which our copies of LB are
derived. X-XIII, variants on the theme of XIV, are probably
interpolations in LA, and VIII, a valuable fragment of folk-lore, is an
interpolation in VG. VI and VII are conflations of two varieties of one
incident, as is pointed out in the Annotations. These observations will

show how complex is the criticism of the Ciaran tradition.
=B.= The second phase of the life is the Schooling of Ciaran at Clonard;
perhaps about 530-535, still using round numbers. This part of the life
is most fully told in VG; it is very fragmentary in all the Latin Lives.
There are thirteen incidents--
LA LB LC VG XVII. How Ciaran went with his cow to the school of
Findian 15 4 11 12 XVIII. The angels grind for Ciaran 16 - 12 13 XIX.
_Ciaran and the king's daughter_ 17 - - 14 XX. How Ciaran healed the
lepers - - - 15 XXI. Ciaran and the stag - - - 16 XXII. _The story of
Ciaran's gospel_ 18 - - 17 XXIII. _The blessing of Ciaran's food_ 19 - 8
- XXIV. _The story of the mill and the bailiff's daughter_ - 6 - 18 XXV.
The story of Cluain - - - 19 XXVI. How Ciaran freed a woman from
servitude 20 5 - 21 XXVII. How Ciaran freed another woman from
servitude 21 - - 22 XXVIII. Anecdotes of Clonard - - - 20 XXIX. The
parting of Ciaran and Findian - - - 23
=C.= The third phase may be called the Wanderings of Ciaran. From
Clonard he made his way to the monastery of Ninnedh on the island in
Loch Erne now called Inismacsaint (it is to be noted that VG knows
nothing of this visit). From Loch Erne he went to Aran, thence (after a
visit to Saint Senan on Scattery Island) to his brother's monastery at Isel,
a place not certainly identified. After