Page:Writings of Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland.djvu/129

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are slight verbal changes in his translation here which are of little importance.

1. Dr. Todd's translation is 'which blinds the soul of man,' the Trinity College MS. saying nothing of man's body (corp).
2. So Dr. Whitley Stokes renders. The words are an imitation of Eph. iii, 18, 19, 'That ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.' The original in the Trinity College MS. is Crist illius, Crist issius [ipsius in the Bodleian MS.], Crist inerus. Dr. Whitley Stokes, in his Goidelica (2nd edit., London, 1872, p. 153), regards lius as a derivative of leth 'breadth'; sius as derived from sith, 'long'; and erus as a derivative of 'er,' which is glossed by uasal. This Irish gloss is decisive, and shows the reference to be to Eph. iii. The words in the original have not yet been discovered elsewhere in old Irish. The former version was 'Christ in the fort, Christ in the chariot-seat, Christ in the poop,' and was explained to mean: Christ with me when I am at home; Christ with me when I am travelling by land, and in the ship when I am travelling by water. The Irish words were formerly explained: lius as dat. sing. of les, 'fort'; sius as dat. of ses cognate with suidim, 'I sit'; erus as dat. sing. of eross, 'poop.'
3. See note 5.
4. The original of this antiphon is in Latin, the rest of the hymn is in Irish. The last stanza is—

   Domini est salus, Domini est salus, Christi est salus,
   Salus tua, Domine, sit semper nobiscum.

THE CONFESSION OF PATRICK.

CHAPTER I.

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1. This is the title given in three manuscripts. Some have 'the beginning of the Confession of St. Patrick, Bishop.'
2. Patrick or Patricius was a common name among the Romans of Britain. It occurs in Hübner's volume of British Inscriptions in Mommsen's great Corpus of Latin Inscriptions, Tom. vii., Nos. 1198 and 1336. Like many persons mentioned in the Scriptures, Patrick had many names. Patrick was his