Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 3

AK EPIC POEM. 199
gCT. Shuddering, he stops in his journey, and looks
up for the beam of the morn !
" Why * delights Foldath," said the king, " to
pour the blood of foes by night ? Fails his arm in
battle, in the beams of day ? Few are the foes be-
fore us, why should we clothe us in shades ? The
valiant delight to shine, in the battles of their land !
Thy counsel was in vain, chief of IMoma ! The eyes
of Morven do not sleep. They are watchful, as
eagles, on their mossy rocks. Let each collect, be-
neath his cloud, the strength of his roaring tribe.
To-morrow I move, in light, to meet the foes of
Bolga ? INIighty f was he, that is low, the race of
Borbar-Duthul!"
" Not unmarked ! said Foldath, "were my steps
before thy race. In light, I met the foes of Cairbar.
The warrior praised my deeds. But his stone was
raised without a tear ? No bard J sung over Erin's
* From this passage, it appears, that it was Foldath who
had advised the night attack. The gloomy character of Fol-
dath is properly contrasted to the generous, the open Cath-
mor.
t By this exclamation, Cathmor intimates that he intends
to revenge the death of his brother Cairbar.
tTo have no funeral elegy sung over his tomb, was, among
tiie Celtae, reckoned the greatest misfortune that could bcfal
a man ; as his soul could not otherwise be admitted to the
tirij hall of his fathers.