For the race of Gael, from the land of Greece
There is no place where they can rest;
Doubtless thou would’st much prefer
To raise the Gaelic race on high.
Now that thou risest ’gainst the Saxon,
Let not thy rising be a soft one;
Have your swords with sharpened blades,
Let your spears stand by your sides,
Let us not forsake our country,
Let us fiercely, bravely fight.
It is said by the Gael of Banva,[224]
Our fathers did the tale repeat,
And I have heard there was a time,
Long ago, that Innis Aingin[225]
Was ruled by the Fomorian[226] race,
Who raised from it a heavy tax.
Thus for a while the Saxons have
Our country burdened heavily;
And now each clan is full of fear,
And we are plunged in grievous doubt.
But now that a gathering’s begun,
There’s need that chiefs should rouse them up;
For with them, ’tis my opinion,
We will share a common fate.
Who is the man, whom we can tell,
Will from the Saxon save the Gael?
Who in our day has won much fame,
And whose house is truly noble?
Know a man, were he but willing,
Of whom we readily might tell,
His power in Banva widely known,
Men all bound with him to gather.
Archibald of the pointed head,
Of thee it is that men now speak.
Earl of Argyle,[227] I thee beseech,
Be as a hero in the conflict;
A hero who shall reign supreme
O’er Gael from the famous land;
Noble, high-born prince of the Gael,
Thou’lt in apportioned Albin reign.
Hero, who’ll desert no fight,
With sword, so long as right remains,
Who for the Gael from Greece, subjection
Ne’er suffer would at Saxon’s hand.
The very roots from whence they grow,
Pluck them that thou may’st us deliver;
Suffer not a Saxon hence to live,
After that thou overcom’st them.
Burn all their women, ugly in form;
Burn their children, every one;
Burn their black huts, burn them all;
And crush their enmity to us.
Drown their warriors in their streams,
When their accoutrements are burnt.
Cease not, while a Saxon lives,
To drown them weakened in their streams.
Remember thou, of ruddy cheeks,
The claims we on the Saxon have;
Oppression and beggary all thy days,
When that their oppression throve.
Remember thy own father Colin;[228]
Remember Archibald,[229] father to him;
Remember Duncan,[230] the prosperous,
He who was liberal and friendly;
Remember thou that other Colin;[231]
Remember Archibald[232] as well;
Remember Colin[233] first of all,
He who was brave amongst the Gael.
Remember that they never gave
Their tax from terror of the Saxon;
Much more it now belongs to thee
To see that thou bear’st not this tax.
Now that there is but thy sire’s blood,
Of Gael from the famous land,
Let the men together come,
Let them fill with fear their foes.
Let them attack the Saxon now,
Wake thee up then, son of Colin,
Golden-haired one, war is begun,
’Tis not good to sleep too much.
Great.
[223] There is a portion of the beginning of this ode wanting, and we
have no means of knowing who the poet was. A reference to the history
of the time, and the names introduced into the poem, however, suggest
very emphatically the occasion of it. It is addressed to Archibald,
Earl of Argyle, Chancellor of Scotland, who was killed at the battle of
Flodden in 1513. The Saxons assailed so virulently by the poet are, in
all likelihood, not the Lowland Scotch but the English, and the poem
is probably a “Brosnachadh catha,” or incitement to the rising of the
Scotch, and particularly the Argyle men, previous to the disastrous
battle of Flodden. This invests the fragment with peculiar historical
interest. There seems not to be much of the poem wanting, probably only
a few lines.
[224] Ireland.
[225] There was an Innis Aingin, an island in the Shannon, famous as
being the place to which St. Ciaran retired to spend the latter part
of his life. It is here apparently taken to represent a portion of
Ireland. See Mr. O’Curry’s Lect. p. 58.
[226] An early race of pirates, said to have infested the Irish coasts.
The word is said to be derived from “fo mhuir,” _under the sea_, and is
supposed to indicate their coming from the low sea coasts of Holland or
Denmark.
[227] Archibald, Earl of Argyle, Chancellor of Scotland, who was killed
at Flodden in 1513. He is called Iarla “Oirthir Ghaidheal,” _The
sea-coast of the Gael_, which would seem to be the true etymology of
“Argyle.”
[228] Colin, second Earl of Argyle, and Chancellor of Scotland, who
married Isabella, second daughter of Stewart, Lord of Lorn.
[229] Sir Archibald, first Earl of Argyle, called “Gillespuig Ruadh,”
_Archibald the red_.
[230] Sir Duncan of Argyle, commonly called “Dunchadh an aigh,” or
_Duncan of good fortune_.
[231] Sir Colin of Argyle, called “Cailean iongantach,” _wonderful
Colin_, and also “Cailean maith,” _good Colin_.
[232] Sir Archibald of Argyle, called “Gilleaspuig mòr,” _Archibald the
great_.
[233] Sir Colin of Argyle, called “Cailean òg,” _young Colin_, son of
Neil, son of Colin, called “Cailean mòr,” from whom the family take the
patronymic of “Mac Chailein mhòir,” _The son of great Colin_. Cailean
mòr was also called “Cailean na Sreang,” from a mountain between Loch
Awe and Lorn, where he was killed in a feud with the Macdougalls. (MS.
Gen. not. of fam. of Argyle, pen. Ed.)