The Poem-book of the Gael/The Saltair na Rann/The Creation of the Universe

by Oengus the Culdee

THE SALTAIR NA RANN, OR PSALTER
OF THE VERSES

Attributed to Oengus the Culdee, ninth century; but the date is probably the close of the tenth century.

I. THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE

MY own King, King of the pure heavens,without pride, without contention,who didst create the folded^[1] world,my King ever-living, ever victorious.

King above the elements, surpassing the sun,King above the ocean depths,King in the South and North, in the West and East,with whom no contention can be made.

King of the Mysteries, who wast and art,before the elements, before the ages,King yet eternal, comely His aspect,King without beginning, without end.

King who created lustrous heaven,who is not arrogant, not overweening,and the earth, with its multitudinous delights,strong, powerful, stable.

King who didst make the noble brightness,and the darkness, with its gloom;the one, the perfect day,the other, the very perfect night.

King who fashioned the vast deepsout of the primary stuff of the elements,who . . . . . . . .the wondrous formless mass.

King who formed out of it each element,who confirmed them without restriction, a lovely mystery,both tempestuous and serene,both animate and inanimate.

King who hewed, gloriously, with energy,out of the very shapely primal stuff,the heavy, round earth,with foundations, … length and breadth.^[2]

King who shaped within no narrow limitsin the circle of the firmamentthe globe, fashionedlike a goodly apple, truly round.

King who formed after that with fixitythe fresh masses about the earth;the very smooth currents above the worldof the chill watery air.

King who didst sift the cold excellent wateron the earth-mass of the noble cliffsinto rills, with the reservoirs^[3] of the streams,according to their measures, with moderation.

Creation of the winds with their colours

King who ordained the eight windsadvancing without uncertainty, full of beauty,the four prime winds He holds back,the four fierce under-winds.

There are four other under-winds,as learned authors say,this should be the number, without any error,of the winds, twelve winds.

King who fashioned the colours of the winds,who fixed them in safe courses,after their manner, in well-ordered disposition,with the varieties of each manifold hue.

The white, the clear purple,the blue, the very strong green,the yellow, the red, sure the knowledge,in their gentle meetings wrath did not seize them.

The black, the grey, the speckled,the dark and the deep brown,the dun, darksome hues,they are not light, easily controlled.

King who ordained them over every void,the eight wild under-winds;who laid down without defectthe bounds of the four prime winds.

From the East, the smiling purple,from the South, the pure white, wondrous,from the North, the black blustering moaning wind,from the West, the babbling dun breeze.

The red, and the yellow along with it,both white and purple;the green, the blue, it is brave,both dun and the pure white.

The grey, the dark brown, hateful their harshness,both dun and deep black;the dark, the speckled easterly windboth black and purple.

Rightly ordered their form,their disposition was ordained;with wise adjustments,^[4] openly,according to their position and their fixed places.

The twelve winds,Easterly and Westerly, Northerly and Southerly,the King who adjusted them, He holds them back,He fettered them with seven curbs.

King who bestowed them according to their posts,around the world with many adjustments,each two winds of them about a separate curb,and one curb for the whole of them.

King who arranged them in habitual harmony,according to their ways, without over-passing their limits;at one time, peaceful was the space,at another time, tempestuous.

Measurements of the Universe

King who didst make clear the measure of the slope^[5]from the earth to the firmament,estimating it, clear the amount,along with the thickness of the earth-mass.

He set the course of the seven Stars^[6]from the firmament to the earth,Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars,Sol, Venus, the very great moon.

King who numbered, kingly the space,from the earth to the moon;twenty-six miles with a hundred miles,they measure them in full amount.

This is that cold aircirculating in its aerial series (?)which is called … with certaintythe pleasant, delightful heaven.

The distance from the moon to the sunKing who measured clearly, with absolute certainty,two hundred miles, great the sway,with twelve and forty miles.

This is that upper ethereal region,without breeze, without greatly moving air,^[7]which is called, without incoherence,the heaven of the wondrous ether.

Three times as much, the difference is not clear (?)between the firmament and the sun,He has given to calculators;^[8]my King star-mighty! most true is this!

This is the perfect Olympus,motionless, immovable,(according to the opinion of the ancient sages)which is called the Third Holy Heaven.

Twelve miles, bright boundary,with ten times five hundred miles,splendid the star-run course, separatelyfrom the firmament to the earth.

The measure of the spacefrom the earth to the firmament,it is the measure of the differencefrom the firmament to heaven.

Twenty-four mileswith thirty hundred milesis the distance to heaven,besides the firmament.

The measure of the whole spacefrom the earth to the Kingly abode,is equal to that from the rigid earthdown to the depths of hell.

King of each Sovereign lord, vehement, ardent,who of His own force set going the firmamentas it seemed secure to Him over every space, He shaped them from the formless mass.

The poem goes on to speak of the division of the universe into five zones, a torrid, two temperate, and two frigid zones, and of the earth revolving in the centre of the universe, with the firmament about it, "like a shell encircling an egg." The passage of the sun through the constellations is then described, each of the twelve divisions through which it passes being provided with six windows, with close-fitting shutters, and strong coverings, which open to shed light by day. The constellations are then named, and the first section of the poem ends as follows:—

For each day five items of knowledgeare required of every intelligent person,from every one, without appearance of censure,^[9]who is in ecclesiastical orders.

The day of the solar month, the age of the moon,the sea-tide, without error,the day of the week, the festivals of the perfect saints,after just clearness, with their variations.

1. Whitley Stokes gives "lawful."
2. Comp. the parallel passage in Senchus mòr, Ancient Laws of Ireland, vol. i. intro. p. 26.
3. This is Dr. Whitley Stokes' reading. Dr. R. Thurneysen reads "sextarii."
4. It is not clear what the word glés, gléssib, which occurs frequently in the following passage, means. In mod. Irish, gléas, in one meaning, is a means or instrument for doing a thing. The verb gléasaim="to harness." It seems to have some such meaning here. The winds were apparently harnessed, curbed, or fettered two and two, the whole being held together in one fetter. In another sense gléas means "harmony."
5. Or "track."
6. i.e. the Planets.
7. Or "impure air"?
8. Cf. the parallel passage in the Senchus mòr astronomica tract, Anc. Laws of Ireland, vol. i., Introduction, p. 28.
9. Perhaps "boasting."