Ossian Collection > Fingal of Ossian

Book II. F I N G A L. 103
And that Cuthullin (who, in open Field,
Has daringly oppos'd the fame) will yield
200 His Spoufe, the faireft of the Female Kind,
And fav'rite Dog that overtakes the Wind.
If you to thefe Conditions will agree,
Your Lives and Properties are left you free.
To this Cuthullin^ fir'd with juft Difdain ;
205 Go tell the haughty Tyrant of the Main,
That I rejedl his proffer'd Terms with Scorn,
Nor yield to him or any Man yet born.
Then
V. 198. And that Cuthullin, ^c.'\ Morla, in requiring Cuthullin to give
up his Wife, and his favourite Dog, goes beyond his CommilTion, unlefs
we fuppofe, that thefe Conditions were virtually included in Swaran's In-
ftruftion to the Herald : he told him in general Terms, they muft yield
on fuch Conditions as were ufually given to People overcome in Battle ;
which, perhaps, according to the common Pradtice of thofe Times, might
prefuppofe thefe Concefllons to be made on the Part of the Leader of the
vanquiflied Party. Conformable to this Opinion, I have ventured to omit
the Repetition of Swaran's Words to Morla, being in the Senfe I have
mentioned, only an Anticipation of the Conditions fpecified afterwards.