The Saltair na Rann, Psalter of the Staves or Quatrains, a collection of 162 Early-Middle-Irish poems now for the first time printed, is contained in its entirety only in the Bodleian MS. Rawl. B. 502, ff. 19-40. But there is a copy of one of the poems (No. 10) in the Lebar Brecc, a MS. of the fifteenth century; and corrupt and modernised copies of poems 4, 5, and 6 are to be found in a MS. also belonging to the Royal Irish Academy, marked 23. G. 25, written by one O'Longan about seventy years ago. The Lebar Brecc version of No. 10 will be found at p. 111b of the lithographic facsimile of that MS., Dublin, 1876.
The Saltair, like the Oengusso and other pseudonymous matter, is attributed to Oengus the Culdee, who flourished in the beginning of the ninth century; and his nameis me Oengus cele Dé, I am Oengus the Culdee actually occurs in line 8009. But that this attribution is erroneous follows, first, from the numerous Middle-Irish forms which the poem contains1 and which cannot possibly be due to the transcriber, and, secondly, from its mention, in l. 2342, of an eventthe murrain which began A.D. 985 and in ll. 2349-2365 of certain contemporary kings, as well as of Dub-dá-lethe, one of S. Patrick's successors in the see of Armagh, who died A. D. 1061.
Our MS., Rawl. B. 502, is a large quarto, now containing 83 leaves of vellum in a hand of the twelfth century, and 20 leaves of paper. The vellum portion has been so fully described by the late Dr. Todd ( Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 5, pp. 164-168) and by Mr. Macray ( Catal. Codd. MSS. Bodl., Part V., fasc. J, cols. 719-722) as to render further description unnecessary. Only this opportunity may be taken to note that the Short Tract on Irish Grammar stated to occur at fo. 63b is really one of the so-called Brehon law treatisesCoic
According to the scribe's note following line 7788 the poems now printed fall into four divisions, (1) the Psalter, (2) the poem on repentance, (3) the poem on confession, and (4) the ten poems on the Resurrection. That note means: Thus far the body of the Psalter of the Quatrains, to wit, the thrice fifty poems (duana). Two after, (one) for confession, and (the other) for repentance; and ten to set forth the Resurrection; so that there are twelve and thrice fifty poems altogether. The thrice fifty poemsequal in number to the psalms, and hence the Psalterdeal for the most part with incidents from the Old Testament. But the first poem contains a kind of description of the universe; poems XI (on the penance of Adam and Eve) and 12 (on the death of Adam) are founded on the Vita Adae et Euae, two texts of which have been published by W. Meyer (München, 1879); and poems 42-50 relate to the life of Christ. Poem 151 expresses repentance for transgression and prays for forgiveness. No. 152 is an expression of ignorance of God and his various works. Nos. 153 to 159 describe the events on each day of the week before the last Judgment. Sense here is so completely sacrificed to metrical requirements that these seven poems are, to a large extent, unintelligible to me. 160 deals with the seven resurrectionsnamely, (1) that of the apostles, (2) of the prophets, (3) of the confessors, (4) of the martyrs, (5) of the saints, (6) of the virgins; penitents, and baptized infants, and (7) of the rest of the human race. Poem 161 treats of the coming of the demons out of hell to earth, the fall of the idols, etc. The last poem, 162, describes the triumph of the angels over their foes, the rewards of the righteous, the punishments of the wicked.
It may be well to give a précis of the three most important of the poems, namely, 1, 11, and 12.
1.2 The creation of the world (line 3), the sun (5), heaven (13), earth (15), light and darkness (17,18), day and night (19, 20), the earth separated from the primal material (29, 30), surrounded by the firmament (34), the world like an apple (36), the mists, the current of the cold watery air (44), the four chief winds, the eight sub-winds (45-52), the colours of the winds (53-80), the distance from the earth to the firmament (97-101), the seven planets (101-104), the distance from the earth to the moon (105-112), the radiant heaven, that from moon to sun (113-116), the windless, ethereal heaven, the distance between the firmament and the sun (121), the motionless Olympus or third heaven (125-128), the distance from the firmament to heaven (133-136), from earth to the depths of hell (141), the five zones, the firmament round the earth like its shell round an egg (165-169), the seventy-two windows in the firmament (181, 182), with a shutter on each (188), the seventh heaven revolving like a wheel (199), with the seven planets from the creation (204), the signs of the zodiac (205-220), the time30 days, 10 hoursthat the sun is in each, the day of the month on which it enters each, the month in which it is in each sign (233-256), the division of the firmament into twelve parts, the five things which every intelligent man should knownamely, the day of the solar month, the age of the moon, the height of the tide, the day of the week, saints' festivals.
11. The Penance of Adam and Eve. For a week after the expulsion Adam was without fire, house, drink, food, or clothing (1483-1486). He laments to Eve their lost blessings (1491-1530), and admits his fault (1531-1534). Eve asks Adam to kill her, so that God may pity him the more (1535-1546). Adam refuses to destroy his own flesh and blood (1547-1560). Then, at Eve's request, Adam goes to seek for food and finds nought but herbs (1561-1572), 'the food of the lawless beasts.' He proposes to Eve to do penance, to adore the Lord in silence, Eve in the Tigris for thirty days, Adam in the Jordan for forty and seven, a flagstone under their feet, the water up to their necks, Eve's hair dishevelled and her eyes directed to heaven in silent prayer for forgiveness (1573-1628). Adam prays the Jordan 'to fast with him on God' (co troisced lais for Dia) with all its many beasts, that pardon
12. Adam's death. Adam, being 930 years old and feeling his death at hand, tells Eve of his approaching end (2021-2032). Eve regrets that she does not die first (2033-2037). Adam comforts her by saying she will die in nine months, and tells her how to act after his death (2040-2076). Michael comes at Eve's entreaty to cleanse Adam's soul and take it to heaven (2077-2152). God comes to receive Adam's soul, which remains in the third heaven, named Ficconicia (2153-2208), till the Resurrection. Adam's body is anointed with the Oil of Mercy and buried in Hebron (2217-2228), where it remained
The tradition mentioned in lines 7529, 7530, that Christ was born from the crown of the Virgin's head, is worth noting3; and the description of some of the signs at the Crucifixion (7761-7772) may be quoted as a specimen of the style of the poem (I omit two chevilles), and as illustrating Sophus Bugge's theories about the Baldr-saga:
The metre in which the bulk of the Saltair is composed is deibide, each line of the quatrain consisting of seven syllables, the second and
- Darkness sprang over every plain:
Earth's dead arose:
Dear God's elements were afraid
When the veil of the temple was rent.
Every creature wailed
Heaven and earth trembled:
The sea proceeded to go over (its) bounds:
Hearts of black rocks split.
The King who suffered in (his) fair clay,
A cross for sake of Adam's children,
Thereafter took a prey (of redeemed souls),
So that he overcame Hell.
The text has been printed with the utmost care. It is right to say that in the MS. several of the marks of length are so faded that they can be discerned only by the keenest eyes and in the most favourable light. I may, therefore, have undesignedly omitted some of these marks. Contractions have been extended, and the extensions represented by italics. The text has also been punctuated, proper names spelt with initial capitals, apostrophes have been used where vowels have been omitted, and hyphens introduced to separate the transported t and lt from words beginning with vowels.
In conclusion, though several of the words are explained in the Index, it contains so many new vocables as to the meanings of which I am either doubtful or quite in the dark, that I have called it an Index Verborum rather than a Glossarial Index. It will, it is hoped, be useful to future Irish lexicographers.