and the 12th verse—
He read the Canon with Germanus, this is what writings narrate,
expressions which show that the sources of the author were written documents, and that he could not have been a contemporary. There is also in v. 44 a reference to an event which occurred in A.D. 561, the abandonment of Tara, but this (see below) was probably not part of the original poem.[313]
The hymn was acutely analysed by Professor Zimmer in his Keltische Studien, ii. 162 sqq.,[314] and more soberly and judiciously by Professor Atkinson in the Introduction to the Liber Hymnorum (ed. Bernard and Atkinson, vol. ii.), pp. xl. sqq. Professor Atkinson submits it to a careful criticism from the metrical side, dealing also with linguistic points and the literary construction, and his analysis leads to the same general conclusion as Professor Zimmer’s, namely, that the hymn has been largely interpolated, and that its original compass was very much smaller. I examined the work independently, from the literary side, and found that most of the stanzas which from this point of view arouse suspicion are those which Professor Atkinson, applying his objective metrical tests, branded as interpolations. It may be useful to give here the original uninterpolated hymn, as it emerges from these criticisms. It contained 15, instead of 34, stanzas.[315] I have adopted Professor Atkinson’s translation, but with some changes, using the new lights furnished in the version of Dr. Stokes and Professor Strachan.
Hymn Genair Patraicc
1. Patrick was born in Nemthur, this is what he narrates in stories;
A youth of sixteen years, when he was brought under tears.
2. [Sucat his name, it was said; what his father was, were worth knowing;
Son of Calpurn, son of Potid, grandson of deacon Odisse.]
3. He was six years in bondage; men’s good cheer he shared not.