Ossian Collection > Temora, an ancient epic poem, in eight books

A P O E M. 175
They met a boar, at a foamy ftream: each pierced it with his
fpear. They flrove for the fame of the deed : and gloomy battle
rofe. From ifle to ifle they fent a fpear, broken and ftained with
blood, to call the friends of their fathers, in their founding arms.
Cathmor came, from Bolga, to Culgorm, red-eyed king : I aided
Suran-dronlo, in his land of boars.
We rufhed on either fide of a ftream, which roared thro' a blait-
ed heath. High broken rocks were round, with all their bending
trees. Near are two circles of Loda, with the flone of power;
where fpirits defcended, by night, in dark-red rtreams of fire.
There, mixed with the murmur of waters, rofe the voice of aged
men, they called the forms of night, to aid them in their war.
- * Heedless I ftood, with my people, where fell the foamy
ftreamfrom rocks. The moon moved red from the mountain. My
fong, at times, arofe. Dark, on the other fide, young Cathmor
heard my voice ; for he lay, beneath the oak, in all his gleaming
arms. Morning came; we rufhed to fight: from wing to wing
is the rolling of ilrife. They fell, like the thiftle's head, beneath
autumnal winds.
In armour came a {lately form : I mixed my ftrokes with the
king. By turns our fliields are pierced : loud rung our fleely mails.
His helmet fell to the ground. In brightnefs (hone the foe. His
* From the clrcumrtance of Offian not ledonians were not originally a colony of
being prefent at the rites, defcribed in the Scandinavians, as fome have imagined,
preceding paragraph, we may foppofe that Concerning fo remote a period, mere con-
he held them in contempt. This difFe-' jeflure muft fupply the place of argument
rencc of fentiment, with regard to reli- and pofitive proofs.
gion, is a fort of argument, that the Ca-
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