Series 1 > Grameid: an heroic poem descriptive of the campaign of Viscount Dundee in 1689, and other pieces

129
127-140] SCOTI GRAMEIDOS LIB. IV.
Hi rigidam gestant tereti mucrone securem,
Lucida gesa alii, et nodosam robore clavam,
Dextra alii frameam ostentant, clypeumque sinistra,
Machinaque horrisono tonat omnibus aerea bombo.
His ducibus claro Donaldi sanguine cretis
Illi inter sese bis denas ordine turmas
Constituunt, pubemque una facto agmine jungunt,
Et paria arma ferunt, gentisque insigne paternae
Fascem in bella gerunt omnes silvestris ericae
Suspensum tremuli summa de cuspide conti.
Atque alacres, junctis aeterno foedere dextris
Agmina sub patriis mittunt socialia signis.
Hinc procul arctoi veniens a littore ponti
Evenus Cameronus Eques, Marte inclytus Heros,
delight. These carry the hard axe with keen point, and others
the gleaming javelin and the knotty club. Others again show in
their right hand the spear, in their left the shield; and the brazen
gun thunders in the hands of them all with loud report. These
all being chiefs sprung from the blood of Donald, they among
themselves form twenty companies, and unite the clansmen in one
battalion. They all bear similar arms, and carry into battle, as the
emblem of their race, a bunch of wild heather1 hung from the
point of a quivering spear. All briskly—having clasped right
hands in eternal bond—send forth their allied bands under their
country’s standard.
Here now Sir Ewen Cameron,2 a hero of martial fame, coming
1 The badge of the Macdonells is ‘Heath.’ The force apparently sent by
them was 1900. In 1427 they mustered 2000; in 1715, 2800; in 174$, 2350.
Skene’s Highland Clans, chap. iv. As to the carrying of a bunch of heather on
the top of a pole, cf. Ovid, Fasti, Lib. iii. 117, ‘ Pertica suspenses portabat
longa maniplos.’ The axe with tapering point refers to Lochaber axe.
a The celebrated Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, chief of clan Cameron, the
most remarkable Highland figure of the time. He was the grandson of Alan
M'Conell Dhu, the fierce chief, ‘warrior and seer’ of James vi.’s time and the
Regencies. Sir Ewen was born at Kilchum Castle in February 1629, his
mother being a Campbell of Glenorchy. His father, John Cameron, died soon
after, leaving the child in the hands of old Alan. His fosterage was with the
head of the Cameron tribe of M'Martin of Letterfinlay till he was twelve years
old, when he was handed over to the astute Marquis of Argyll. This nobleman’s
kind, careful, and generous treatment of the boy comes as a pleasant surprise
among the recognised features of the character of ‘ Gillespie Grumach. ’
The principles of his guardian—if they ever had any chance of success with
such a mind as Lochiel’s—not only failed to influence him, but through their