Ib. 30: 29, Tria sunt quae bene gradiuntur, et quartum quod incedit feliciter: 30 leo fortissimus bestiarum, ad nullius pavebit occursum, 31 gallus succinctus lumbos, et aries, nec est rex qui resistat ei.
Ecclus. 26: 5, A tribus timuit cor meum, et in quarto facies mea metuit: 6 delaturam civitatis, et collectionem populi, 7 calumniam mendacem, super montem, omnia gravia, 8 dolor cordis et luctus mulier zelotypa.
A Tetrad.
Proverb. 30, 24: Quattuor sunt minima terrae, et ipsa sunt sapientiora sapientibus: 25 formicae, populus infirmus qui praeparat in messe cibum sibi, 26 lepusculus, plebs invalida qui collocat in petra cubile suum.
A Hexad and Heptad.
Proverb. 6. 16 Sex sunt quae odit Dominus, et septimum detestatur anima eius: 17 oculos sublimes, linguam mendacem, manus effundentes innoxium sanguinem, 18 cor machinans cogitationes pessimas, pedes veloces ad currendum in malum, 19 proferentem mendacia testem fallacem, et eum qui seminat intra fratres discordias.
An Ennead.
Ecclus. 25, 9: Novem insuspicabilia cordis magnificavi, et decimum dicam in lingua hominibus, &c.
The question arises whether these biblical sayings were the direct source from which the Irish imitations are derived, or whether the Irish became acquainted with the numerical Proverb through the medium of Greek and Latin literature. As the Irish clerics ever since the days of St. Patrick were diligent students of the Bible, there would be nothing strange in the former assumption. But there exists at least one early document which renders the latter equally possible. Under the title of Proverbia Grecorum we possess a collection of sayings translated by some Irish scholar in Ireland from the Greek into Latin before the seventh century.[14] Among them we find three triads,[15] two pentads,[16] three heptads,[17] and two octads.[18]
[14] This is the opinion of S. Hellmann, their latest editor. See his Sedulius Scottus, p. 135, in Traube's Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters, vol. i.: München, 1906.