Ossian Collection > Thoughts on the origin and descent of the Gael

451
Ossian.
" Tbuil coille fo chomhrag nach geilleadh
Thioundaidh smith, 's chrionaich an carnn."
Latin version.
" Cecidit sylva sub conflictu, qui non cedebat;
Yerterunt se rivi, et tremuit saxea moles."
Literally.
" Wood fell under the unyielding conflict.
Streams turned aside, and the cairn shook."
Compare these simple words with the transla-
tor's amplified unauthorized description. We see
no rocks falling from their place, nor rivulets
flying, murmuring, from the side of the comba-
tants. Virgil's refluitque exterritus amnis may
in some measure apply to the translation, but are
totally inapplicable to the simple description in
the original.
Criticism, p. 15. — " Or yield green Erin to Lochlin."
" Ireland, so called from a colony that settled
" there called Falans. Innisjail, the island of the
" Fail or Falans.'^ — Macpherson.
" Or yield green Imiisjail,'' in the first edition,
"and these capricious alte:ations, which have
'* rendered the notes so frequently irreconcileable
" with the text, are a proof that the supposed
" translator had no prototype to adhere to."