[132]. Scotorum a circione, Pictorum ab aquilone.
[133]. Revertuntur ergo impudentes grassatores Hiberni domum post non multum temporis reversuri (§ 21). The author considers this the correct reading in preference to ‘ad hibernas domos,’ as it is supported by the best MSS.
[134]. The MSS. differ so much that it is impossible to give a correct quotation, and the reader is referred to any of the recent additions of Nennius. The settlement of the Dam Hoctor, or company of eight, was probably that in Gwyned or North Wales, which he afterwards states was driven out by Cuneda, as was the settlement in ‘regione Dimetorum’ or S. Wales. That by Istoreth in Dalmeta or Dalrieta was the same as that described by Bede. The Irish translator, in transferring the first to Ireland, and in connecting the latter with the Picts, is probably making alterations at his own hand; but is right in identifying the settlers of Builc in Eubonia with the Firbolg who fled to the isles of Man, Arran, and others.
[135]. Bede, Hist. Ec. B. i. c. 1.
[136]. Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 18.
[137]. Feargus mor mac Earca cum gente Dalriada partem Britanniæ tenuit et ibi mortuus est.—Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 66.
[138]. The tripartite life of St. Patrick contains an account of the conversion of Erc and his people by St. Patrick.—Ib. p. 17.
[139]. The tale told by the Irish historians is this:—Conare, son of Mogalama, chief of a tribe of Munster Scots called the Degada, became king of Ireland, and reigned eight years, from 158 to 165. He had three sons: Cairbre Musc, from whom descend all the septs of the Muscraidhe in Munster; Cairbre Baschaein, from whom descend the Baiscnidh of Corco Baiscinn in Munster; and Cairbre Riada, who established himself with his sept in Ulster, and whose possessions there were termed Dalriada. He is said to have passed over to Argyll and settled the Scots there, and is the Reuda of Bede. Pinkerton adopts this story, and dates their earliest colony in 258. He identifies it with the Attacotti, which he absurdly explains to mean—Hither Scots, and in this Mr. Burton seems disposed to follow him; but this part of his argument is based entirely upon the spurious Richard of Cirencester. Chalmers, with more judgment, rejects it, and in fact there is no authority for it in the Irish Annals. The Scotch Chronicles are opposed to it. The oldest which gives the Dalriadic history expressly says of Fergus, son of Erc, ‘ipse fuit primus qui de semine Chonare suscepit regnum Alban.’ The Albanic Duan knows of no earlier colony than that under the sons of Erc. Flann Mainistrech and Tighernac know nothing of it, nor do the Irish additions made to Nennius. Gildas, too, knows nothing of it. It is to be found in Nennius and Bede alone, and the Irish translator neutralises Nennius’s statement of a settlement of Scots in Dalrieta under Istoreth, son of Istorinus, by converting it into a settlement of Picts, while he removes the colony of Dam Hoctor, or the company of eight, from Britannia to Erin. The only Irish authority which at all points to an earlier settlement is the curious legend contained in Cormac’s Glossary, under the word Mog-Eime (a lap-dog). It is there said, ‘Cairbre Musc, son of Conaire, brought it from the east from Britain, for when great was the power of the Gael in Britain, they divided Alban between them into districts, and each knew the residence of his friend; and not less did the Gael dwell on the east side of the sea than in Scotia (Ireland), and their habitations and royal forts were built there. Inde dicitur Duin Tradui, i.e. Dun Tredui, i.e. the triple fort of Crimthan mor, son of Fidach, king of Erin and Alban, to the Mur n-Icht (Straits of Dover), et inde est Glasimpere of the Gael, i.e. a church on the borders of Mur n-Icht ... and it is in that part is Duin Map Lethain in the land of the Cornish Britons, i.e. the Fort of Mac Liathain, for Mac is the same as Map in the British. Thus every tribe divided on that side, for its property to the east was equal (to that on the west).’—Goidilica Sanas Cormaic, p. 29. But it will be remarked that in this passage the legend is attached to Cairbre Musc, and there is no mention of Cairbre Riada; there is also no allusion to a settlement of Dalriada, and it evidently points to an occupation of the whole country by the Scots. The reference to Duin Map Liathan connects it with Nennius’s list of the Scottish colonies in Britain, one of which was by the sons of Liathan, while the reference to Crimthan mor mac Fidach, king of Erin and Alban, who is said to have reigned over Ireland from 366 to 378, as clearly connects it with the invasion of the Scots who occupied Britain for eight years, from 360 to 368, when they were expelled by Theodosius. The occasional occurrence of names in their Welsh form seems to point to a British origin for this legend; and the author considers that the tradition of an earlier settlement in Dalriada is a British and not an Irish legend; that it arose when the Britons and Angles came in contact with Dalriada as a settled kingdom in Britain; that it is not older than the seventh century; and that its sole historical foundation is the temporary occupation of Britain by the Scots during the last fifty years of the Roman province.
[140]. Tighernac terms these three kings ‘Ri Alban,’ which implies a considerable extent of territory; but in 560 he has ‘Bass (death of) Gabrain mic Domanguirt, Ri Albain. Teichedh do Albanchaib ria (flight of the people of Alban before) m-Bruidi mic Maelchon Ri Cruithnech (king of the Picts),’ and he terms Conall and the subsequent kings Ri Dalriada, or kings of Dalriada only.—Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 67.
[141]. Ib. p. 82.