Ossian Collection > Works of Ossian, the son of Fingal > Volumes 3 and 4

54 TEMORA: Book I.
ven ! It was the pride of an hundred *'^) kings,
the death of heroes of old. Yield it, fon of Os-
{ian^ yield it to car -borne Cairbar.
Shall I yield, Ofcar replied, the gift of
Erin's injured king; the gift of fair -haired Coi--
mac , when Ofcar fcattered his foes ? I came to
Cormac's halls of joy, when Swaran fled from
Fingal. Gladnefs rofe in the face of youth: he
gave the fpear of Temora. Nor did he give it
to the feeble, o Cairbar , neither to the weak
in foul. The darknefs of thy face is no fiorm
to me; nor are thine eyes the flames of death.
Do I fear thy clanging iliieid ? Tremble I at
Olla's fong? No: Cairbar, frighten the feeble;
Ofcar is a rock.
And wilt thou not yield the fpear? replied
the rifing pride of Cairbar. Are thy words fo
mighty ,
'' ) l-hrtidveri here is an indefiuite number , and is
only uiteiided to exprefs a great many. It was
probably the hyperbolical phrafes of bards , that
gave the firft hint to the Irifh Senachies, topkce
the origin of their monarchy in fo remote a pe-
viodj as they have done.