Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

TEMORA 291
the wind. Raise high his praise, in mine ear, while yet
he shines in war.
"Leave, blue-eyed Clatho, leave thy hall! Behold
that early beam of thine ! The host is withered in its
course. No further look, it is dark. Light-trembling
from the harp, strike, virgins, strike the sound. No
hunter he descends from the dewy haunt of the bound-
ing roe. He bends not his bow on the wind ; nor sends
his gray arrow abroad.
"Deep-folded in red war I See battle roll against his
side. Striding amid the ridgy strife, he pours the
deaths of thousands forth. Fillan is like a spirit of
heaven, that descends from the skirt of winds. The
troubled ocean feels his steps, as he strides from wave
to wave. His path kindles behind him. Islands shake
their heads on the heaving seas ! Leave, blue-eyed
Clatho, leave thy hall ! "
BOOK VL
ARGUMENT
This book opens with a speech of Fingal, who sees Cathmor
descending to the assistance of his flying army. The
king despatches Ossian to the relief of Fillan. He himself
retires behind the rock of Cormul, to avoid the sight of
the engagement between his son and Cathmor. Ossian
advances. The descent of Cathmor described. He rallies
the army, renews the battle, and, before Ossian could
eloquence in silence with propriety. A minute detail of the
circumstances of an important scene is generally cold and insipid.
The human mind, free and fond of thinking for itself, is disgusted
to find everj-thing done by the poet. It is, therefore, his
business only to mark the most striking outlines, and to allow
the imaginations of his readers to finish the figure for themselves.
The book ends in the afternoon of the third day from the
opening of the poem.