Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal > Volume 2

l^OokVL AN EPIC POEM. 181
ribic were removed : Luhar •' winds again in tlieir host,
Cathmor was that beam fi-om heaven which shone when
his people were dark. He was honoui cd in the midst.
Their souls rose trembling around. The king alone
ro gl;;dness showed : no strane^L-r he to war !
* Why is the king so sad ?" saidMalthos eagle-eyed,
" Remnins there a foe at Lubar ? Lives there among
them who can lift the spear ? Not so peaceful \tos thy
father, Barbar-dud:iul a, sovereign of spears. His rage
disconsolate. At length he was discovered, by means of his dog,
vl\o sat on a rock beside the body, for some days. The poem is
net just now in my hands, otherwise it* poetical merit might induce
IKC to present the reader with a translation of it. The stanza con-
cernir'.g the dop, wliose name was Duchos, or Blackfoot, is very de-
scriptive.
" Dark-sided Dti-chos ! feet of wind I cold is thy .seat on rocks.
He (the dog) sees the roes ; his ears are high ; and ha If h ? bounds a-
M'ay. He looks ariTupd; but LMlin sleeps : he droop^ again his head.
The vrinds come past; dark Du-chos thinks that Ul'.ii's voice is there.
Put still he beholds hun silent, laid amidst the waving heath. Dark-
sided Du-chos, his voice no more shall send thee over the heath !"
In order to illustrate this passage, it is proper to lay before the
reader tnc scene of the two preceding battles. Between the hills of
Mora ar'.d Lona lay the plain cf Moi-lena, threagh which, ran the ri-
ver Lubar. The first battle, wherein Gaul the son of Morni, com-
manded on tlic CaJedonian .side, was fought on the banks of Lubir.
; tlirre was little advantage obtained, on either side, the armies,
ter tie battle, retained tlieir former positions.
in the second battle, wherein Fillan commanded, the Irish, after
the fall of Foldath^ere driven up the hill of Lona ; but, upon the
coming of Cathmor to their aid. tJiey regained their former aitua-
, and drove back the Caledoaians in their turn : so that Lubar
winded again in their host
Eorbar-duthul, the father of Cathmor, was the brother of that
Colculla, who is said, ir. the beginning of tl.e fourth book, to have
rebelled against Cormac king of Ireland. Borbar-duthul .seems to
fiave retained all the prejudice of his family against tliC succession of
the posterity of Con^r. on the Irish tl.ror.e. From this *hort episode
•we learn some facts, which tend to throw light on the !\istory of the
times. It appears, that when Swaran invaded Ireland, he was only
opposed bytlie Cael, who possessed LMster, and the north of that
island. Crilmar,thesonofMatha, whose gallant behaviour and death
arc related in the thirdbookof Fingal, was the only chief of the race
cf the Firbolg that joined the Cael, or hish Caledcnhius, during the