J. F. Campbell Collection > Temora, an ancient epic poem, in eight books

6 T E M O R A:
Do the chiefs of Erin ftand, he faid, filent as the grove of even-
ing ? Stand they, hke a filent wood, and Fingal on the coaft ?
Fingal, who is terrible in battle, the king of ftreamy Morvcn. —
Haft thou feen the warrior, faid Cairbar with a figh ? Are his he-
roes many on the coaft ? Lifts he the fpear of battle ? Or comes
the king in peace ?
I N peace he comes not, Cairbar. I have feen his forward fpear *.
It is a meteor of death : the blood of thoufands is on its fteel.
He came firft to the fhore, ftrong in the grey hair of age. Full
rofe his finewy limbs, as he ftrode in his might. That fword is
by his fide which gives no fecond -f- wound. His fliield is terrible,
like the bloody moon afcending thro' a ftorm. — Then came Oflian
king of fongs ; and Morni's fon, the firft of men. Connal leap^
forward on his fpear : Dermid fpreads his dark-brown locks.
Fillan bends his bow, the young hunter of ftreamy Moruth :|:. —
But who is that before them, like the terrible courfe of a ftream !
It is the fon of Oflian, bright between his locks. His long hair
falls on his back. — His dark brows are half-inclofed in fteel. His
* Mor-annal here alludes to the parti-
cular appearance of Fingal's fpear. If a
man, upon his firft landing in a ftrange
country, kept the point of his fpear for-
ward, it denoted in thofe days that he
came in a hoftile manner, and accordingly
he was treated as an enemy ; if he kept the
point behind him, it was a token of frieiid-
fliip, and he was immediately invited to
the fcaft, according to the hofpitality of
the times.
f Tliis was the famous fword of Fingal,
made by Luno, a fmith of Lochlin, and
after him poetically called the fon of Luno:
it is faid of this fword, that it killed a
man at every ftroke ; and that Fingal never
ufed it but in times of the greatefl danger.
X In fome traditions Fergus the fon of
Fingal, and Ufnoth chief of Etha, imme-
diately follow Fillan in the lift of the chiefs
of Morven ; but as they are not afterwards
mentioned at all in the poem, I look upon
the whole fentcnce to be an interpolation,
and have therefore rcjedkd it
fword