Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 2

302 A CRITICAL DISSERTATION
" armour. The ci^ows around the Indirian
•* iflands had an ample prey. It were difficult
*' to fingle out one among fo many deaths. At
" the rifmg of the fun I beheld the fpears pler-
" cing the bodies of foes, and the bows throwing
" forth their fteel-polnted arrows. Loud roared
" the fwords in the plains of Lano. — The vir-
" gin long bewailed the flaughter of that morn-
" ing." — In this ftrain the poet continues to
defcribe feveral other military exploits. The
images are not much varied : the noife of arms,
the ftreaming of blood, and the feafting the
birds of prey, often recurring. He mentions
the death of two of his fons in battle ; and the
lamentation he defcribcs as made for one of
tliem is very fmgular. A Grecian or Roman*
poet would have introduced the virgins or
nymphs of the wood, bewailing the unthnely
fall of a young hero. But, 1-iys our Gothic
poet, " When Rogvaldus was flain, for hhn
^' mourned all the hawks of heaven," as lament-
ing a benefa6^or who had fo liberally fupplled
them with prey; '' for boldly," as he adds,
*' In the ftrife of fwords, did the breaker of hct-
** mets throw the fpcar of blood."
Thk poem concludes with fentlmcnts of the
higheft bravery and contempt of death. " What
** is more certain to the brave man than deatli,
3 " though