Part 8 of Bethada Náem nÉrenn

Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

Bethada Náem nÉrenn (Author: [unknown])

Life 9

{folio 278a}

Life of Coemgen as written by a monk named Solomon who was his own disciple

1] Search made Coemgen through great part of Erin
2] With the angel duly,
3] To find a place in which to perform (ascetic) devotion;
4] He did not rest till he found it.
5] Coemgen crossed the summits
6] With the angel — 'twas great swiftness —
7] He built a monastery among the glens;
8] The heavenly Father blessed it from above.
9] Wherever Coemgen performed ascetic devotion,
10] He planted Gaels beside him,
11] Henceforth they fast dangerously
12] Right often in the sacred dwelling.
13] A glen without threshing floor or corn rick,
14] Only rugged rocks above it;
15] (Yet) a glen where no one is refused entertainment,
16] (For) the grace of the Lord is there.
17] A glen dreadful, monster-haunted, frightful,
18] Glen da Loch (Glen of the two lakes) was (its name) once
19] Finn of the hundred heroes prophesied,
20] That it would be a cemetery at last.
21] Patrick the son of Calpurnius prophesied
22] (Saying) that the glen of the cliffs pleased him,
23] 'On the side of it, (in spite of) whoever shall reproach,
24] A saint will make his abode there.'
Search.

1] Thirty years exactly
2] After the prophecy of him by the tonsured one,
3] Was the time that was born
4] The saint named Coemgen.
5] The mother of the child did not feel
6] Heartburn or pain in her conception;
7] Women take him without question or vexation
8] To Cronan to have him baptized.

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9] God sent an angel from heaven
10] Before the infant was baptized,
11] Who persuaded through pure intent
12] That his name should be Coemgen.
13] The angel met the women,
14] He said to them without contention:
15] 'The loving God has persuaded me
16] To come to baptize the infant.
17] 'God confides most in me
18] In respect of the infant who will be a high saint;
19] I am the mighty untiring angel,
20] Who will be perpetually accompanying him.
21] 'Take up the infant, O women!
22] It is I who entreat it,
23] I will baptize it without ... without ...⁹⁸
24] In the high name of the Trinity.'
25] Twelve angels, as was fitting,
26] God sent after them in his honour;{folio 278b}27] A taper of gold with pure flame
28] Was in the hand of each angel.
29] This was his attendance from heaven,
30] While his baptism was being performed;
31] He who bound his lot aright,
32] (Was) his own guardian angel.
33] This is the name which God fashioned in heaven,
34] Which shall cleave to the child;
35] Consider, O women of fair attendance,
36] That this is his baptismal name, Coemgen.

1] ‘The angel said to the women:’
2] ‘Do not neglect the matter of Cronan;’
3] ‘Show the infant to him;’
4] ‘He will tell you the truth.’
5] (Cronan said) ‘Why have ye brought, O women,’
6] ‘Your little infant to me?’
7] ‘Nobler than I is he who baptized him,’
8] ‘So that I cannot do it.’

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9] ‘The baptism which the God of Heaven ordained’
10] ‘Is that which was conferred upon the infant;’
11] ‘His own angel knows it;’
12] ‘'Tis he that will be at his disposal in perpetuity.’
13] Cronan made a prophecy
14] And welcome for the infant,
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15] And said: ‘The lands shall be’
16] ‘Zealously under Coemgen's tribute.’
17] ‘I give in behalf of the King of heaven’
18] ‘Myself to thee specially,’
19] ‘So that thy estimation may be greater with all men,’
20] ‘If I am thy first servant.’
21] Then his own angel gave
22] After this a wise commission;
23] He was like the pure sun,
24] Like strongly blazing fire.
25] When the business of the infant was finished,
26] He was taken to his loving angel.
27] The melodious gentle women take him
28] With them to the fort in which he was born.
29] Sacred the fort in which Coemgen was born,
30] 'Tis the grace of the infant which causes it;
31] Never did frost nor snow conceal
32] The sod on which he was brought forth.
33] The snow of winter when it comes,
34] Hinders grazing for every one's kine;
35] Through the grace of God in his (Coemgen's) fort unconcealed
36] A herd will find abundant pasture.
37] There was further sent for his nourishment
38] To the infant a pure white cow;
39] A cow of which it was not known whence it came,
40] Nor to what herd it went.
{folio 279a}41] Till the hour of refection every Friday,
42] And each privileged fast-day,
43] The breasts of his mother, sacred the rule,
44] He would only suck once.
45] There would come moreover to visit him
46] His own angel delightfully;
47] He would be continually perceiving
48] That it was time for him to be put to study.
49] He parted from friends — better the business —
50] His own angel guiding him;
51] For seven years, it was a prosperous (?) craft,
52] He was in an order of monks being instructed.

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53] He followed his order, though harsh the rule,
54] He remained in retirement studying it;
55] He received the noble orders of a priest;
56] He acquired every serviceable accomplishment.
57] The angel said to him steadfastly:
58] 'Here shall not be thine abiding,
59] Remain not thus in a desert glen
60] Of whom Finn prophesied.'
61] The prophecy of Finn was fulfilled,
62] And that of Patrick son of Calpurnius;
63] He reached the slope of the loughs afterwards,
64] As was destined for Coemgen.
65] 'Now it is pleasant to my heart,
66] I give thanks therefor to God,
67] My going to the glen is a good fortress,
68] And only my angel will be at my disposal.'
69] He was fleeing from the world,
70] Fear of its peril possessed him;
71] He would have preferred, had it not been wrong,
72] To go from it forthwith to heaven.
73] Afterwards he slept not on a couch,
74] But a pillow of hard stone under his head;
75] As if every pasture were without hardness, (?)
76] He was concealing himself in a hard hollow.
77] Coemgen was among stones
78] On the border of the lake on a bare bed,
79] With his slender side on a stone,
80] In his glen without a booth over him.
81] Hard was his bed on the flag-stone,
82] Stretched out till morning without beauty;
83] He did not seek for anything easier in the world,
84] Though it were harder (still), he would persevere in it.
85] In the dread valley of the branching trees
86] Not beauteous was the clothing of the saint;
87] (With) skins of wild animals about him,
88] He would be among the mountains.
89] Coemgen would go on the broad pool
90] Without boat or ferry daily,
91] To say Mass on his skerry,
92] A place well-pleasing to God.

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93] He would be with no one near him,
94] All alone under the tops of the branches;
95] The angels were his clerks,
96] Right melodious to them was the service of the saint.
97] Fearless and undismayed he would be
98] In his cave responding to God,
99] And the lough below him like the ocean
100] Scoring the rocks near by.

⁹⁹

1] Dread was the monster of the miry lough
2] In wreaking harm and slaughter;
3] Often did it defeat the ‘fían’,
4] And Finn himself with great terror.
5] Coemgen took up his position in the lough of the scald-crow
6] Early, as was pleasing to God,
7] And drove the monster into the lesser lake;
8] It will not be listening to the canonical hours.
9] Coemgen would recite diligently
10] His psalms around it early;
11] The good saint expelled without any residue
12] The drop-poison of the monster from the lough.
13] This was the baneful black lough
14] In which was the furious monster;
15] To-day it is the sacred wonder-working lough,
16] Which overcomes every trouble.
17] Plagues were removed from the kine of the Gaels
18] By Coemgen — holy was the scion —
19] And (by) driving them through the lough to cleanse them,
20] They do not carry their sickness away with them.
21] The gracious lough removes from them
22] Their sickness with (its) great anguish,
23] It (the sickness) goes into the stream towards (lit. to visit) the monster,
24] Water without any residue (of the poison) remaining.
Dread.

1] Strong was the bond which Coemgen imposed,
2] He defeated the monster of the fair lough;
3] He imprisoned tight and fast
4] Its body in the lair in which it is.

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5] When turns from one side to the other
6] Each year the monster that is there,
7] The lough rises on high blood-red
8] Level with the crags above it.

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9] (It is one) of the wonders of the lesser lough,
10] (Great the danger to him who sees it,)
11] Not another day nor night afterwards
12] Will he remain alive.
13] ¹⁰⁰Gidh iomdha na fagbála
14] Do fhácc Caoimhgin 'na ghlendaibh
15] Se féin ar tí a thárthála,
16] Ar gach áon n-achar chennaigh.¹⁰¹
{folio 279b}17] Seven years in tangled deserts
18] Wert thou in gentle sort,
19] Dwelling beside thy people,
20] Without food, except (the fruits of) Cáel Fáithe.
21] Coemgen (was) for length of years
22] Among deserts in woods,
23] And he saw no man,
24] Nor did any man see him there.
Strong.

1] Far from his friends was Coemgen
2] Steadfastly among the crags;
3] Nobly and alone he saw the order
4] Which was brought to the brink of the fair lough.
5] At night he would rise without fear
6] To perform his devotion in his fort;
7] There he would early recite his hours
8] (Standing) habitually in the lough up to his girdle.
9] At the end of night on a surface of snow
10] He would arise, as he was wont, early;
11] After he had victoriously recited his psalms,
12] His psalter fell into the lough.
13] The psalter fell headlong
14] From (the hands) of Coemgen of the hard devotion,
15] No letter nor lesson was the worse
16] For (all) the water or gnawing which it got.¹⁰²

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17] The angel came to converse
18] With Coemgen full of grace;
19] He remained with him till an otter brought
20] His little book to him from the lough.
21] The holy angel said to him:
22] ‘Thou shalt not be in the glen alone,’
23] ‘Since it is thy destiny to be seen of men,’
24] ‘Thou shalt not conceal thyself any longer.’.
Far.

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1] There was a hundred-cow farmer
2] On the borders of sea-girt Leinster;
3] He was a prudent hero
4] Named Dima son of Fergna.
5] To him it had been prophesied
6] That he should light on Coemgen in the glen;
7] It was not long after this
8] That the patron saint was found by him there.
9] One of Dima's cows lighted
10] On Coemgen in the hollow of a tree;
11] An angel came to protect him,
12] When he turned his back on men.
13] The cow did not remain on the pasture of the wilderness,
14] But (was) licking the feet of the saint;
15] She yielded more milk
16] Than half the cows of the place where she was (put together).
17] Dima wondered greatly
18] At the way the cow had grazed;{folio 280b}19] He bade his herdsman follow her,
20] And find out for him the cause of it.
21] Dima told his household
22] To follow the cow early;
23] They did not find its track before them
24] On the slope above Glendalough.
25] When the kine of Dima came
26] Eagerly to graze in the glen,
27] Their herdsman lighted on a fruitful tree,
28] He found Coemgen easily in it.
29] There was offered by Coemgen to the herdsman
30] A reward in return for concealing him from every one;
31] He offers him heaven — he had power to do that —
32] And not to go to pasture¹⁰³ for ever.
33] ‘The cow of Dima comes,’, said the herdsman,,
34] ‘Going backwards and forwards to thee in the glen;’
35] ‘To conceal thee is not in (my) power’
36] ‘After seeing thee clearly there.’.

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37] Sooner did the cow than the herdsman
38] Find Coemgen in the green wood in which he was,
39] She having remained with (Coemgen) continually,
40] And returning home at night.
41] Not willingly did the herdsman confess,
42] To Dima the movement of the cow,
43] Till he bound him closely in his fort,
44] So that he told the matter to him.
45] Dima said to his noble offspring
46] That they would go to the glen where the cow was found,
47] That they might bring with them the pure saint,
48] And that they would all believe him.
49] In Dima's mind was great gladness
50] That he should be found in his hollow in his (Dima's) time;
51] He said to his children courteously:
52] ‘Let us make neatly a litter for him’.
There was.

1] ‘Fulfilled is now Finn's prophecy,’
2] ‘And that of Patrick son of Calpurnius’
3] Said Dima to them severally,
4] ‘And it is we who have found the promised one.’
5] ‘O Coemgen, to us was the destiny,’
6] ‘To bear thee from thy little hollow;’
7] ‘Let us go forth further into the glen’
8] ‘In which thou wilt be without limit or end.’.
9] As he went in his course through the trees,
10] Dima spoke the gracious matter,
11] That the litter should not be allowed to be destroyed
12] Through the thick compact wood.
13] Then the trees of the oak wood bow themselves
14] To the generous scion — divine was the vision —
15] Through the miracles of the patron saint lay down
16] The forest, and rose up again.
17] To Coemgen to be at his disposal came
18] The noble angel, as he was wont;
19] He kept the green wood prostrate
20] Till he (Coemgen) found a straight road through it.
21] Hell and shortness of life
22] Coemgen bequeathed to any one
23] Till doom, who should burn either its fresh wood
24] Or its dry wood from thenceforth.

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25] They lift Coemgen into the litter
26] The children of Dima of the fierce onset,
27] Till he reached the bottom of the glen,
28] Where he performed the functions of his order.
29] The saint wrought a miracle forthwith
30] On the most mad son of Dima,
31] The one who opposed his full will,
32] He brought his body to a cruel pass.
33] He left not his hunting for the patron saint,
34] The insensate Dima son of Dima;
35] Inasmuch as he did not believe on him — it was no prosperous omen —
36] He became a portion for his own hounds.
37] Have ye heard of Cellach son of Dima,
38] How he died unweariedly in suffering (lit. on the cross)?
39] Coemgen, with his gifts of grace, sent him
40] To his home alive again.
41] Though he found that the litter was destroying him,
42] Not the slower was his rush in his course;
43] 'Twas Coemgen helped him, though he died;
44] He did not give up his effort through faintness.
45] When the youth had arisen from death,
46] The first word he said to every one (was):
47] ‘The man who rescued me from every need,’
48] ‘I will not forsake him till the judgement comes.’
49] This counsel he gave to his friends,
50] His speech was pleasing to Coemgen;
51] They came gently to entreat him,
52] And his heart was full of their love.
Fulfilled.

1] ‘O Dima, seeing that to thee it was destined’
2] ‘To bring me out of my little hollow,’
3] ‘Desert me not through any other matter,’
4] ‘For no lie was the prophecy.’
5] ‘Though against my will ye have brought’
6] ‘Myself from my little hollow in the tree,’
7] ‘Yet will I show kindness’
8] ‘To thee and to thy offspring’.
9] ‘If my counsel were performed,’
10] ‘There would be help with you moreover;’
11] ‘My church and my coarb-ship (would be)’
12] ‘With the Leinstermen habitually.’.

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13] Dima said — a stranger was he
14] From afar, from the regions of Meath — {folio 281b}15] ‘Here are we to do the will’
16] ‘Of thee, O tonsured one of the King of Heaven.’
17] ‘All that we have (is thine)’
18] ‘to support thee Against the unquiet world;’
19] ‘Here are we to entreat thee’
20] ‘To build thy city (monastery).’.
21] Great questioning with the sons of Dima
22] Held Coemgen in his hollow,
23] As to going with them and with their father
24] And quitting his accustomed seat.
25] Coemgen heard the questioning of the sons
26] And the cause by which they might gain his love;
27] Coemgen forgave to the son of Fergna
28] Earnestly the wrong which they had done.
29] Lo, here is what they established,
30] The descendants of Dima with Coemgen;
31] He gave them all that they entreated
32] Till the end of the world shall come.
33] ‘At a time when men were few’
34] ‘On this side of the world,’,
35] ‘God granted,’, said Coemgen,
36] ‘That a stranger should come to my help.’.
37] Coemgen makes erenachs
38] Of the seed of the fair kings;
39] He did not forsake them, though it was lawful;
40] They were the true foundation of his church.
41] ‘It is I, Coemgen, that will protect them,’
42] ‘The seed of which the men came’;
43] To Dima — since near their kinship —
44] To his steward he gave what he asked.
O Dima.

1] Coemgen used to perform a kind of devotion,
2] Such as no saint before was ever wont to do;
3] He would go into a pen every Lent,
4] A decision from which he found profit from God.
5] He would stand on a rough bare flag-stone,
6] Though the cold hurt his feet;
7] The chant of angels was round about him,
8] To him in his strong pen it was refection.

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9] A fortnight and a month without food,
10] Or somewhat longer, was he, though great the effort
11] Suddenly a blackbird hopped from a branch,
12] And made a nest in the hand of the saint.
13] Coemgen remained in the pen
14] Alone, though great was the pain,
15] And the nest of the blackbird on his palm,
16] Till her birds were hatched.
17] God sent an angel to say
18] To Coemgen of the hard devotion,
19] That he should go out of his narrow pen promptly
20] To fight against the wretched world.
{folio 282a}21] ‘Alas 'tis a pain more than the requital,’
22] ‘My hand like a log under the blackbird;’
23] ‘The blood of His hands, of His side, of His feet,’
24] ‘The King of Heaven shed for my sake.’.
25] The angel said expressly:
26] ‘Thou shalt not be torturing thyself any longer;’
27] ‘Depart from thy bondage without delay,’
28] ‘Thy business is ready with God.’.
29] Coemgen said to the angel:
30] ‘From my captivity I will not go before my time,’
31] ‘Till I obtain for my tributaries’
32] ‘Freedom from Jesus the Son of God.’.
33] ‘Thou shalt have that,’ said the angel,
34] ‘Go forth from thy bondage without making excuse;’
35] ‘Seven times the full of thy glens on every side’
36] ‘Shall be under thy judgement in the day of doom.’
37] This was the reward of Coemgen,
38] As the Gaels shall hear in his day;
39] He will receive in the day of doom without delay
40] All that was promised to him.
41] Whatever matter God granted to Coemgen,
42] And his angel asked for in heaven,
43] He gives to him to-day without dishonour
44] In perpetuity whatever he sought.
45] God gave power to Coemgen
46] Such as He gave not¹⁰⁴ to every saint in the world,
47] That he should be strong in His assemblies,
48] Where the children of Adam will be trembling.

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49] When the judgement of doom shall come,
50] Dread will be the power over every one;
51] The people of the glen will not be decreed to imprisonment,
52] But (will be) like mist on the tops of twigs.
53] Coemgen takes with him to paradise
54] His own true family without condition;
55] After the judgement of the mighty King,
56] And (with) a spear of red gold in his hand.
57] This is the high banner of Coemgen,
58] Each one would be the better who shall have it
59] In his hand nobly at the day of judgement,
60] The company would be pleasing to God.
61] Whoever has heard of the might of Coemgen,
62] If during his life in the world
63] He is not tributary to the patron saint,
64] He never committed greater folly.
Coemgen used.

1] God granted to him everything he asked
2] Till the end of the world comes;
3] He granted heaven to the soul of every fair body
4] That should be (buried) under the pure soil of Coemgen.
5] On every noble Saturday nine
6] Of the souls of his tributaries{folio 282b}7] Go with fair pleadings
8] Among the holy angels of Jesus.
9] Whoever is buried on Saturday
10] Under the wall of the true prince,
11] They will be free from hell truly
12] In their death on Friday.
13] The kings of Erin chose
14] And her queens customarily
15] To be buried in his noble church,
16] Where are triumphs till doom.
17] There are the relics of the bishops
18] Under the soil till the day of the vast judgement;
19] Near the pen of Coemgen of the devotion,
20] Till they go with him in the assemblies.
21] To go with him in the Day of Judgement,
22] This was their hearts' desire,
23] And that their cause should be with Coemgen,
24] For angels will be awaking him.

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25] The angels used to follow him
26] In his life (lit. business) under the tops of the bushes;
27] He was the true fount unfailing,
28] 'Twas afar that his miracles were heard.
29] Afar were the miracles of Coemgen heard
30] Throughout Erin, east and west;
31] God never did for any other saint
32] Of them all more than He did for him.
33] Coemgen went to the court of Rome,
34] And brought back with him the wondrous earth,
35] And received openly from the pope
36] (Right of) pilgrimage and excellent honour.
37] Great is the pilgrimage of Coemgen,
38] If men should perform it aright;
39] To go seven times to his fair is the same
40] As to go once to Rome.
God granted.

1] It is thy church with its hundreds,
2] O pleasant, furrowed (?) Coemgen,
3] That is a Rome of Latium without mire
4] In the west of the hovel-like world.
5] In the four quarters of Erin
6] They desired to go aright
7] On their errand to Coemgen's pilgrimage,
8] To take part in their fairs which he established (lit. made).
9] Coemgen brought with him the earth of Rome,
10] To place it triumphantly in his cemeteries;
11] And he made of his fair glen without concealment
12] A church of saints on whom the hosts believe.
13] One of the four havens for cleansing souls
14] The best that exist across the sea to the west,
15] (Patrick and Finn prophesied it),
16] Coemgen sought out for his friends.
{folio 283a}17] Glendalough would be full of angels,
18] The glen of the hard troublous fight;
19] A glen which God did not despise,
20] A glen which is the Lord's very own.
21] High above every church is the seat of Coemgen,
22] The (bond of) alliance between Leinster and Leth Cuinn;
23] A place triumphant with its cemeteries, wild,
24] Lofty, compact, with its harbours and woods.

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25] Great is the character of the church of Coemgen,
26] Sad the story that Gaels should be devouring it;
27] A gracious Rome, city of the angels,
28] Rightly did his hand bless it.
29] There he made the beginning of his devotion,
30] Before any saint ventured on it;
31] And he made of the glen of the sharp-weaponed fíans
32] A church in which there would be no mean fair.
33] The glory of Leinster is the fair of Coemgen,
34] The triumph of the Gaels, 'tis a goodly show,
35] Though any one should search through the sorrowful world,
36] (He would find) every fair a sorry thing compared with it.
37] Whoever shall spend aught on my fair
38] For the love of Coemgen, as is fit,
39] (Long) life, and luck and ease,
40] And heaven at last (shall be) his reward.
41] He left with his school of melodious monks,
42] And with the clerks of his relics,
43] The collection of his tribute without enslavement,
44] Since God gave freedom for his sake.
45] No fight may be dared at his fair,
46] Nor challenge of wrong nor of rights,
47] No quarrel, nor theft, nor rapine,
48] But going and coming in security.
49] To whoever should violate his fair,
50] Coemgen left — no weak force —
51] Hell and shortness of life,
52] And never to be free from danger till doom.
53] Three glories Coemgen procured
54] For the host of his lively fair,
55] Heaven and (long) life, and health,
56] And welcome from God, as he requested.
57] Coemgen desired to be in the desert
58] To be satiated by the fair angel;
59] He remained under the crags of the rocks,
60] Many other quarters he explored.
61] Here are some of the doings of Coemgen,
62] The God of Heaven was not displeased with them;
63] And the angels (were) directing him,
64] And instructing him as he explored.

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65] I am Solomon, pupil of Coemgen,
66] I was in danger in the eastern land,{folio 283b}67] When my tutor came to my help,
68] 'Tis a large part of the world that he searched.
It is.

1] Though many be the bequests
2] Which Coemgen bequeathed in his glens,
3] He himself strove to protect them
4] For every one for whom he acquired (lit. bought) them.
5] There is no tradition of ancient men,
6] And no learned men among them;
7] Nothing is now there regarded,
8] Except that their robe be fine and elegant.
9] Neither asceticism nor celebration¹⁰⁵
10] Do the clerks perform in their churches;
11] They are (all) through the evil of their mind
12] Intent on destroying one another.
13] There are far more foreigners in his church
14] Than native erenaghs;¹⁰⁶
15] Their true origin has gone
16] With his miracles into oblivion (lit. stifling).
17] There the triumphs and miracles
18] Of Coemgen (are) unknown in their history,
19] Because there no longer remain narrators
20] To tell of their virtues.
21] But unless they are found written
22] On paper in other lands,
23] It is certain that they will be forgotten
24] In the sanctuary of Coemgen of the glen.
25] The young clerics of every holy church
26] Go with the relics continually,
27] Not like Coemgen of the glen,
28] With his relics in decay (?) till doom.
29] For he himself when alive bequeathed
30] (Some) of his miracles — sacred the cause —
31] His relics are stored up;
32] To leave them needlessly is strange.

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33] Give an offering to the young clerk
34] By whom the relics are being carried,
35] For the love of the great saint without reproach,
36] 'And thou shalt receive deliverance (lit. acknowledgement) when thou art plundered.
37] Here is the vengeance belonging to the relics of Coemgen,
38] Woe to him who goes to swear by them without excuse;
39] They leave permanently, if there be occasion,
40] Their trace furiously upon every one (who does so).
41] Woe to him who hastily incurs
42] A curse from the relics of Coemgen;
43] Unless there be a doomed man who prefers
44] To quit the world without delay.
45] Whoever it be that shall be smitten
46] By the fingers of my monks with my relics,
47] Whether it be prince of Fal with power (?)
48] Or ecclesiastic, or servant;
{folio 284a}49] If it be a curse direct,
50] It will split stock and stone,
51] (Even) if he be for awhile in his usual form,
52] He will be a weakling who shall not be comely.
53] If my church be outraged —
54] Which will be a danger to kings —
55] Their punishment yonder (in the next world) is certain.
56] And shortness to their life (here).
Though many.

1] ‘Whatever wrong was done,’
2] ‘Is being done, or shall be done,’
3] ‘Vengeance for it falls unerringly’
4] ‘On the might of him by whom it is done.’.
5] Coemgen made this stave
6] (Not falsely did he make it)
7] To leave freedom to his poor
8] Against the evils of every period.
9] The Gaels left honour
10] To Coemgen without (exacting) due or tribute;
11] The church to which they gave freedom
12] Is reduced to slavery again.
13] There will come a time at the end of the world,
14] Though to me it will be a sore trespass,
15] When my beloved church will be ravaged,
16] And will be left under its full of treachery.

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17] ‘I will come after the ravaging,’
18] ‘I, Coemgen, with the might of my wrath¹⁰⁷;’
19] ‘Their kings shall not remain in this world,’
20] ‘And I will take vengeance for their expedition.’
21] ‘Afterwards I will slay without quarter’
22] ‘Them on the peak on high;’
23] ‘Woe to him who incurs before going thither,’
24] ‘Shortness of life and hell.’
25] ‘Every king who breaks our compact,’
26] ‘And does not fulfil to me what he promised,’
27] ‘Shall be dragged among devils,’
28] ‘And his soul tortured in the next world.’
29] ‘Every king who dies in submission to me,’
30] ‘I will be there myself to meet him,’
31] ‘And I will give welcome to his soul’
32] ‘Through the kindness wherewith he protects the church.’
Whatever.

1] Coemgen chose four diseases,
2] Not for his friend did he do it,
3] (But) to bind the ravagers of his church,
4] To destroy them all by his will.
5] Ulcer, and scrofula,
6] White anthrax with great destruction,
7] Madness which brings ruin to hosts,
8] Through the virtues of (his) relics and bells.
9] These are the cruel diseases
10] For which they find no surgery (lit. cutting) here;{folio 284b}11] The man whom they (these diseases) wound,
12] No leech or herb can help.
13] A spark which burns stock and stone,
14] And checks the noise of every fierce stream
15] (Is) the wrath of Coemgen on every servant
16] Who shall ravage his high church.
17] He will place the sign of the church
18] On the gentiles of Glen Giadail;
19] Their faces turned backwards behind them,
20] He will not conceal them from the desires of the devil.

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21] Strong moreover is the might
22] Which God the Father conferred on Coemgen,
23] To drive awandering the wretches
24] Who treat not his holy church as sanctuary.¹⁰⁸
25] The Gaels shall not hastily desert
26] The honour of Coemgen without exacting it;
27] (If they do), he will leave them feeble,
28] (And) sorrowful above every Gael.
29] Woe to the Gael who admits into his camp
30] The plunder of Coemgen of the hard asceticism;
31] He tramples on his prosperity and fortune,
32] All his good goes from him (and is turned) into misfortune.
33] He (i. e. Coemgen) gives short life to their body,
34] And their soul to the black devil;
35] Diseases for which there is no healing
36] In the presence of the multitude he inflicts.
Coemgen chose.

1] His tutor was angry with Coemgen —
2] For long the matter was not forgotten —
3] Because he did not bring fire with nimble diligence
4] To him for the saying of Mass.
5] A vessel in which he might bring it to him
6] He asked of his tutor, and did not obtain it:
7] ‘If thou findest no other place,’
8] ‘Bring the fire with thee in thy bosom.’
9] In accord with his tutor's bidding
10] Did Coemgen through love, and he brought
11] To him, since he flinched not from the embers,¹⁰⁹
12] As much of them as he could carry in his bosom.
13] He who put heat into the fire,
14] (Conceal it now from none,)
15] The angel came to help him,
16] And protected the thread (of his garment) from burning.
17] ‘To thee He listened, and not to me,’
18] ‘It is thou who art dearer to God;’
19] ‘Thou art full of the Holy Spirit,’
20] ‘I will not be beside thee (any longer).’

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{folio 285a}21] ‘It is clear that there is, as I hoped,’
22] ‘Love of thee in perpetuity with God;’
23] ‘Since the course of our sacred converse is not the same,’
24] ‘We will not be in the same place any longer.’
25] Excellent of guidance to Coemgen
26] That an angel of God was his guide
27] Both by day and by night,
28] To bring him to the royal mansion in which he shall be.
29] This was the beginning of his career,
30] To Coemgen without error or deceit;
31] God sent the angel to help him,
32] And he protected him from wrong and wrath.
His tutor.

1] One day when he himself was going,
2] Coemgen, with his sheep onto the hill,
3] There came to him a troop of poor men,
4] Starving for want of food.
5] As soon as ever they came to him,
6] They asked alms for the love of God;
7] Coemgen answered regretfully
8] That there in the wilderness he had no food.
9] They set out to go at once
10] Without delaying at his request,
11] He stopped them for refection — divine was the means —
12] And gave them food abundantly.
13] He gave the seven wethers to the poor,
14] Coemgen, without any defect in the tale of them;
15] Not diminished was the herd when numbered,
16] And God saved him Himself from shame.

1] To the monks each single day
2] A little otter — great its kindness —
3] In Cell Iffin without early delay (?)
4] Brought a salmon during the whole of Lent.
5] When Cellach sees the otter
6] Bringing a salmon for the community,
7] He thought that it would be good for the church
8] To make a glove of its skin.
9] It brought dispersal on the saints
10] The thing which Cellach had consented to;
11] Thenceforth the otter made off
12] And brought no salmon to the monk.

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13] Cellach confessed his sins
14] To the nobly wise elders;
15] Afterwards, though hard the judgement,
16] Coemgen sent Cellach away.
Each

1] Coemgen made a prosperous device
2] For his monks because of their goodness,
3] To free himself from shame,
4] And from the complaint of the mercenaries.
5] The seed that was sown in the morning
6] In Cell Iffin — divine was the grace —
7] From it without withering at night
8] Were fed the elders in turn.
9] More than foolish the musicians
10] Who would not stop with Coemgen at his request;
11] When they did not find food prepared,
12] They refused to remain as he arranged.
13] Coemgen made stones
14] Of their sweet-voiced wooden instruments,
15] And brought sorrow on the men who played them,
16] Who did despite to him which gained nought.
17] Foolish was it of the musicians
18] Who did not remain steadfastly to be satisfied;
19] Their wooden instruments are — not as an offering —
20] Turned into a little stone-heap under the feet of all.
21] He did not give them a decree of refusal,
22] But they went away of their own free will;
23] Well did this protect Coemgen from shame,
24] And a theme of laughter he made.
Coemgen made.

1] To Coemgen for baptism was sent
2] By the good king of Ui Faelain his son,
3] And to be with him as his foster-child,
4] To him he desired that he should go.
5] There were neither cows nor boolies
6] With the people who were in the glen,
7] From which they might get milk for the foster-child,
8] There was scarceness of milk there.
9] Coemgen saw a doe
10] And a little fawn following her;
11] He prayed to God for half her milk
12] To nourish his fosterling.

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13] The doe came to the place
14] To the monk — an unaccustomed thing —
15] To the gentle fawn and to his foster-child it gave
16] Their fill of milk exactly.
17] It would drop its milk completely
18] Into a hollow stone till it was full;
19] This is the name of the place distinctly,
20] 'The Doe's Milking-stead,' from that time forth.
21] One day when it came from the crag,
22] Though long (the distance) it came in a short time,
23] A wretch of a ravening wolf killed
24] The one fawn of the doe, and ate it.
25] A miracle was wrought by Coemgen
26] On the wolf, though hideous its appearance,
27] He put under the doe actually
28] The wolf in place of the fawn.
29] The doe would remain motionless
30] With the holy monk beside her,
31] And the wolf before her,
32] As if she were giving suck to her fawn.
{folio 286a}33] Caineog, a fairy witch,
34] Followed the king's son thither;
35] She and her company of women, (turned) into stone,
36] Are there above the lough of the churches.
37] The fairy folk carried off the children
38] Of the king, though strong the tower;
39] (But) this child to be baptized to Coemgen
40] Through fear of the fairies he sent.
To

1] The heads of two women upon their trunks
2] Coemgen did plainly set,
3] He brought them back safe from death to life,
4] Though the field was full of their blood.
5] ‘O Coemgen, who earnest so promptly’
6] ‘To bring us back safe from a violent death,¹¹⁰’
7] ‘We will be at thy will while we remain,’
8] ‘And will not part from thee all our lifetime.’
9] Coemgen brought home alive
10] The women whose heads had been cut off,
11] And made of them black nuns
12] Devout and proper in his church.

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13] Thus he remedied the murder
14] Which enemies did in his church;
15] After all the evils which they (the women) received,
16] He welded their heads to their bodies.
The heads.

1] Coemgen the fitting, the mindful, saw
2] A poor clerk, though evil was his appearance,
3] Come running across the crags,
4] His voice was trembling on his lips (lit. head).
5] Coemgen recognized the voice of a sinner,
6] Though he had never seen him before,
7] He perceived clearly by his snarl
8] That he had killed his companion on the hill.
9] ‘O clerk who didst not shrink from (lit. refuse) murder,’
10] ‘'Tis no wonder though ill be thy look;’
11] ‘Guide me to the cliff’
12] ‘On which thou didst leave thy companion dead.’
13] Had Coemgen not come at that time,
14] Wolves would have eaten his body;
15] As his soul came (again) into the dead man,
16] 'Tis clear that he (Coemgen) made good his injury.
17] Coemgen found his profit in this matter;
18] He helped him against the wolves though fierce,
19] He took them¹¹¹ to his house — it was a prosperous omen —
20] And made of them monks in (his) order.
21] The first time that Coemgen came across the mountain
22] And remained in solitude under thatch,
23] There was store of contests on the skerry,
24] Many a wonder he saw there.
He saw.

¹¹²

1] Fruits that are healing to men
2] Coemgen left for them,
3] To whomsoever they shall come,
4] It will not be long before he gets help.

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5] Blackberries in winter,
6] Apples of a sallow branch.
7] And shoots from the rock
8] Which heal sicknesses without delay.

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9] They remain — and great is the marvel¹¹³ —
10] Often has it been proved,
11] Blackberries from a root
12] Which grows on rough rocks.
13] They are not found at this time
14] In other parts of the world,
15] (Nor) shoots growing on stones,
16] But (only) on the brink of Coemgen's lough.
17] God gave openly to Coemgen
18] That they should grow on rocks in the winter
19] Methinks 'tis a cause of joy,
20] The fruits that are healing to men.

1] Great was the speed of the wild boar
2] With the hounds yelping at him all day long;
3] When the hour of its danger came,
4] It took refuge with Coemgen.
5] Coemgen easily wrought
6] At once upon the dogs
7] The binding of their feet to the ground,
8] That they should follow was not likely.
9] When the hunters came
10] To the glens to seek their hounds,
11] They wondered, and without wounding them to death,
12] By what contrivance he had bound them.
13] They marvelled much at the miracle,
14] And all men marvelled much,
15] That a wild boar in peril
16] Should take refuge with Coemgen.
17] ‘Release our hounds, O Coemgen;’
18] ‘After we have given satisfaction for it,’
19] ‘Here for thyself without oppression’
20] ‘Is the boar; great was the speed.’
. . . (Something wanting.)

Great.

1] ‘O monk yonder, what is the reason’
2] ‘That thou art so hard upon us?’
3] ‘They are not cheeses but webs (of cloth)’
4] ‘That we carry on our back.’

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5] The cheeses were concealed by the women
6] From the saint, though foolish the proceeding;
7] And Coemgen made of the white curds
8] Stones as a reproach to the women.
9] Coemgen was pleased to see this,
10] To deceive him was no good matter;
11] The cheeses turned to stones
12] Are on the hillock for all to see.
13] To the work people Cellach meeted out
14] Their hire in pure silver;
15] Coemgen was displeased with their answer,
16] And punished the contention of the women.
O monk

xxiv

¹¹⁴

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