OF THE ADVENTURES OF GAEDEL, AS FOLLOWS.

The learned of the Gaels give the following account of the adventures of their ancient chiefs. There was a certain nobleman in exile in Egypt, after he had been banished out of the kingdom of Scythia, at the time when the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea, and Forann Pharoah, with his host, was drowned. The army that escaped without being drowned, banished out of Egypt the aforesaid noble exile, because he was the son-in-law of the Forann that was drowned there; i. e. Forann Cincris.

Afterwards the Scythians went, with their children, into Africa, to the altars of the Philistines, to the wells of Salmara, and between the Ruiseagde, and Mount Iasdaire, and across the River Mba1b, through the Mediterranean to the pillars of Hercules, beyond the sea of Gadidon to Spain; and they dwelt in Spain afterwards, until the sons of Miled Milesius of Spain came to Eri, with thirty boats, with thirty couples in each boat, at the end of a thousand and two years after Forann was drowned in the Red Sea. Rex autem eorum mersus est, i. e. the king, viz., Donn, was drowned at Tigh-Duinn. Three goddesses at that time held the sovereignty of Eri, namely, Folla, and Banba, and Eire, until three battles were gained over them by the sons of Milead, so that the sons of Milead afterwards took the kingdom.

Contentio magna facta est, i. e. there grew up a great dispute between the two sons of Milead, concerning the kingdom, until their Brehon pacified them, viz. Amergin of the white knee, son of Milead; and he was their poet. And this is the peace which he made, viz., to divide Eri into two parts, and Eber took the northern half, Herimon, the southern half, and their descendants inhabit this island to the present day.

Now the Britons took possession of this island in the third age of the world. But it was in the fourth age of the world that the Gaels seized upon Eri. In the same age the Cruithnians took the northern quarter of the island of Britain. But it was in the sixth age that the Dalriada came, and took the district of the Cruithnians, and it was at that time also that the Saxons took their portion of the island from the Britons.

But after many ages the Romans took the sovereignty of the world, and they sent an ambassador to the island of Britain, to demand hostages and pledges, such as they had taken from every other country. The ambassadors, however, went away displeased without hostages; and the king, viz., Julius Caesar, was enraged with the Britons, and came with sixty ships to the mouth of the river Tames. Now Bellinus was king of the island of Britain at that time. And Dolabellus, pro-consul of the King of Britain, went to meet Julius Caesar, and the soldiers of the king were cut down; in the meantime tempestuous weather and storm broke his ships, and the king was driven back without victory to his country. He came again, however, at the end of three years, with three hundred ships, to the same bay; but Dolobellus put spikes of iron in the fording place of the river, in preparation for the battle, so that the Roman soldiers fell by this invisible stratagem, i. e., by the seeds of battle.

Notwithstanding, a rally was made by Julius, and battle was given in the land which is called Tinnandrum, so that he broke that battle before him, and took the sovereignty of the island, forty-seven years before the birth of Christ, ab initio mundi 5035.

Now Julius, the first king of the Romans, who took the island of Britain, was killed in his own senate; and it was in his honour that the Romans gave the month of July its name, at the end of seven and forty years after the birth of Christ.

ii. Cluid Claudius was the second king that took possession of Britain, at the end of forty and four years after the birth of Christ, and he brought a great slaughter upon the Britons, and he penetrated to the islands of Orc, after causing a slaughter of his people, and after a great loss of his people by the chieftain whose name was Cassibellaunus. He reigned thirteen years and seven months, when he died in Magnantia of the Longobards, as he was going to Rome from the island of Britain.

After one hundred and forty-seven years from the birth of Christ, the Emperor and the Pope, viz., Eleutherius, sent clerks from them with letters to Lucius King of Britain, in order that the king might be baptized, and the other kings of Britain in like manner.

iii. Severus was the third king that came to Britain; and it was by him was made the Saxon ditch against the barbarians, i. e. the Cruithnians, 2130 paces long, and the name of that ditch among the Britons was GUAUL. And he commanded another ditch to be made against the Gaels and the Cruithnians, i. e. Cladh na muice, and he was afterwards killed by the Britons, with his chieftains.

iv. Carausius afterwards came bravely to avenge Severus on the Britons, so that the King of Britain fell by him, and he assumed the royal robes in spite of the king, i. e. of the emperor; so that Alectus, the Roman champion, killed him, and he himself viz. Alectus seized the kingdom afterwards for a long time.

v. Constantinus, son of Constantine the Great, son of Helena, took the island of Britain, and died, and was buried at Caersegeint, i. e. Minantia, another name for that city; and letters on the gravestone point out his name, and he left three seeds in the green of that city, so that there is not a poor man in that city.

vi. Maxim was the sixth emperor that took Britain. It was at that time that the consulship was begun among the Romans, and no king was called Caesar from thenceforth. It was in the time of Maxim that the noble venerable prelate St. Martin flourished; he was of Gaul of Ulexis.

vii. Maximian took the kingdom of Britain, and he led the armies of Britain against the Romans, so that Gratian, the emperor, fell by him, and he himself took the empire of Europe; and he did not suffer the armies he had brought with him to go back to their wives and their children, nor to their lands, but gave them many lands, from the place where there is the lake on the top of Mount Jove, to Canacuic on the south, and westward to the Mound Ochiden, a place where there is a celebrated cross, and these are the Britons of Letha, and they remained in the south ever since, and it was for this reason that foreign tribes occupied the lands of the Britons, and that the Britons were slaughtered on the borders of their land.

But Gratian, with his brother Valentinian, reigned conjointly six years. It was in his time lived the noble prelate in Milan, a teacher of Catholicity, viz. Ambrose.

Valentinian and Theothas Theodosius were in joint sovereignty eight years. It was in their time was assembled the synod in Constantinople of three hundred and fifty clerks, to banish the heresy of Macedon, viz., the denying the Holy Ghost. And it was in their time the noble priest Cirine Hieronymus flourished at Bethlehem Judah, the catholic interpreter.

The same Gratian, as we have said, and Valentinian, reigned until Maximen Maximus was made king by the soldiers in the island of Britain, and went across the sea to France; and the king, Gratian, was set at liberty by the treacherous counsel of the master of the soldiers, Parassis Merobladis; and the king fled to Lugdon, and was taken there and put to death.

Maximen and his son Victor reigned jointly. Martin was at Torinis at that time. But Maximen was stripped of his royal robes by the consuls, i. e. by Valentinen and Theothas, at the third stone from the city Eigilia Aquileia, and his head was cut off in that place. His son Victor also fell in France by the hand of the count whose name was Arguba; from the creation of the world are 5690 years, to this event, according to all the chronicles.

It is thus the elders of the Britons have recorded their history, viz., that there were seven Roman emperors who had dominion over Britain. But the Romans say that there were nine of them over the Britons: that is to say, that the eighth was Severus the second, who died as he was going to Rome from the island of Britain. The ninth was Constantine, who was sixteen years in the kingdom of the island of Britain when he died. Four hundred and nine years were the Britons under Roman tribute. But afterwards the Britons drove out the Roman power, and did not pay them tax or tribute, and they killed all the Roman chiefs that were in the island of Britain.

Immediately, however, the power of the Cruithnians and of the Gaels advanced in the heart of Britain, and they drove them to the river whose name is Tin Tyne. There went afterwards ambassadors from the Britons to the Romans with mourning and great grief, with sods on their heads, and with many costly presents along with them, to pray them not to take vengeance on them for the chiefs of the Romans who were put to death by them. Afterwards Roman chiefs and consuls came back with them, and they promised that they would not the less willingly receive the Roman yoke, however heavy it might be.

Afterwards the Roman knights came, and were appointed princes and kings over the island of Britain, and the army then returned home. Anger and grief seized the Britons from the weight of the Roman yoke and oppression upon them, so that they put to death the chieftains that were with them in the island of Britain, the second time. Hence the power of the Cruithnians and Gaels increased again over the Britons, so that it became heavier than the Roman tribute, because their total expulsion out of their lands was the object aimed at by the northern Cruithnians and Gaels.

After this the Britons went in sorrow and in tears to the Roman senate, and thus we are told they went with their backs foremost for shame; and a great multitude returned with them, i. e. an innumerable army of Romans, and sovereignty and chieftainry was assumed over them afterwards. But again the Roman tribute became oppressive to the Britons, so that they slew their kings and chieftains the third time.

Afterwards there came Roman chieftains across the sea, and gained a very great victory over the Britons, so that they vindicated the honour of their people upon them, and they plundered the island of Britain of its gold, and of its silver, and took from it its satin, and its silk, and its vessels of gold and silver, so that they returned home with victory and triumph.