Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

»»<e ^'Fra of Ossian. 1 3
the ''Son of the King of the World." Tlie space
of time between 211, the year Severus died, and
the bei,auning of the fourth century, is not so great,
but Ossian, the son of Fingal, might liave seen the
Christians whom the persecution under Dioclesiao
had driven beyond the pale of the Roman empire.
In one of the many lamentations on the death oi
Oscar, a battle which he fought against Caros,
king of'ships, on the banks of the winding Carun,
is mentioned among his great actions. It is more
than probable, that the Caros mentioned here, is
the same with the noted usurper Carausius, who
assumed the purple in the year 287, and seizing on
Britain, defeated the emperor Maximinian Hercu-
hus in several naval engagements, which gives
propriety to his being called the " King of Ships."
The winding Carun is that small river retaining
still the name of Can-on, and runs in the neigh-
bourhood of Agricola's wall, which Carausius re-
paired to obstruct the incursions of the Caledonians.
Several other passages in traditions allude to the
wars of the Romans ; but the two just mentioned
clearly fix the epocha of Fingal to the third cen-
tury ; and this account agrees exactly with the
Irish histories, which place the death of Fingal,
the son of Comhal, in the year 283, and that of
Oscar and their own celebrated Cairbre, in the
year 296.
Some people may imagine, that the allusions to
the Roman history might have been derived, by
tradition, from learned men, more than from
ancient poems. Tliis must then have happened
at least three ages ago, as these allusions are men*
tioned often in the compositions of those times.
Every one knows what a cloud of ignorance and
barbarism overspread the north of Europe thre«
hundred years ago. The minds of men, addicted
to superstition, contracted a narrowness that
destroyed genius. Accordingly we find the com-