Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

383 THE POEMS OF OSSIAN.
The faint beam of the morning rose. The sound
of Cailhbat's buckler spread. Green Erin's warriors
convened, like the roar of many streams. The horn
of war is heard over Lego. The mighty Torlath
came ! " Why dost thou come with thy thousands, Cu-
thullin," said tlie chief of Lego. " I know the strength
of thy arm. Thy soul is an unextinguished fue. Why
fight we not on the plain, and let our hosts behold our
deeds ? Let them behold us like roaring waves, that
tumble round a rock ; the mariners hasten away, and
look on their strife with fear."
" Thou risest like the sun, on my soul, replied the
son of Semo. Thine arm is mighty, O Torlath ! and
worthy of my wrath. Retire, ye men of Ullin, to Sli-
mora's shady side. Behold the chief of Erin, in the
day of his fame. Carril, tell to mighty Connal, if Cu-
thullin must fall, tell him I accused the winds, which
roar on Togorma's waves. Never was he absent in
battle, when the strife of my fame arose. Let his
sword be before Cormac, like the beam of heaven.
Let his counsel sound in Temora, in the day of
danger !"
He rushed, in the sound of his arms, like the terrible
spirit of Loda, when he comes, in the roar of a thou-
sand storms, and scatters battles from his eyes. He
sits on a cloud over Lochlin's seas. His mighty hand
is on his sword. Winds lift his flaming locks ! The
waning moon half lights his dreadful face. His fea-
tures blended in darkness arise to view. So terrible
was Cuthullin in the day of his lame. Torlath fell by
his hand. Lego's heroes mourned. They gather
around the chief, like the clouds of the desert. A
thousand swords rose at once ; a thousand arrows flew ;
but he stood like a rock in the midst of a roaring sea.
They fell around. He strode in blood. Dark Slimora
echoed wide. The sons of Ullin came. The battle