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

A P O E M. 21
fori of Nuath, with a thoufand of thy heroes?
Why doft thou not defcend with thy hoft^ be-
fore the warriors fly? Their blue arms are
befiming to the rifing- light, and their fleps are
before us on the heath.
Son of the feeble hand , faid Lathmon^
iliall my hoft delcend? They *) are but two,
fon
is not eafily ascertained , at this diftance of time.
A river in Scotland , whicia falls in*o the fea at
Banff, ftili retains the name of Duvran. If that
is meant, by Ofllan , in thispaflage, Lnthinoa
muft have been a prince of the Piftifh nation ,
or thofe Caledonians who inhabited of old the
eaftern coalt of Scotland.
*) Oflian feldom fails to give his heroes, though
enemies, that generofity of temper, which , it ap-
pears from his poems , was a confpituous part
of his own charafter. Thofe who too much
defpife their enemies, do not reflect, that, the mo-
re they take from the valour of their foes, the
lefs merit they have themfelves in conquering
them. The cuftom of depreciating enemies is
not altogether one of the refinements of modern
heroilm. This railing dlspolition is one of the
cspiial faults ill Homer's characters, which, by