Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

12 Dissertation on
the part of Ossian, of the Cliristian tenets, shows,
that that religion had only been lately introduced,
as it is not easy to conceive, how one of the first
rank could be totally unacquainted with a religion
that had been known for any time in the country.
The dispute bears the genuine marks of antiquity.
The obsolete phrases and expressions peculiar to
ihe times, prove it to be no forgery. If Ossian
then lived at the introduction of Christianity, as
by all appearance he did, his epoch will be tlio
Litter end of the third, and beginning of the fourth
century. Tradition here steps in with a kind of
proof.
The exploits of Fingal against Caracul, the son
of the King of the World, are among the first brave
fictions of his youth. A complete poem, which
relates to this subject, is printed in this collection.
In the year 210 the emperor Severus. after
leturning from his expedition against the Caledon-
ians at York, fell into the tedious illness of which
Le afterwards died. The Caledonians and Maiatse,
lesuming courage from his indisposition, took arms
order to recover the possessions they had lost.
The enraged emperor commanded his army to
march into their country, and to destroy it with fire
and sword. His orders were but ill executed ; for
his son, Caracalla, was at the head of the army,
and his thoughts were entirely taken up with the
hopes of his father's death, and with schemes to
supplant his brother Geta. He scarcely had entered
the enemy's country, when news was brought him
that Severus was dead. A sudden peace is patched
•np with the Caledonians, and, as it appears from
Dion Cassius, the country they had lost to Severus
was restored to them.
The Caracul of Fingal is no other than Cara-
ralla, who, as the son of Severus, the emperor o{
Rome, wliose dominions were extended almost over
the known world, was not without reason called