wrecked on the pillar-stone of Clegliile, and the warriors would all be cut off in the reign of Flann Ciothach.[1] For a reason not assigned, Cleghile appears to have been fixed upon as the terminus for the course of the Wheel, which is called in such legends the Roth Rámach; but the allusion to Cleghile enables one to recognize a reference to the same thing in Cormac's Glossary, namely, under the word Foi, which is explained to have meant the place called Cnámchoill, 'Cleghile.' So far as it can be translated without context as it stands, the passage represents the druid Mog Ruith saying that somebody or something would perish because the Roth Fáil would come as far as the king of Durlas west of Foi, i.e. west of Cnámchoill.[2] I am not aware that the Wheel is called Roth Fáil anywhere else; the passage in the Glossary, however, proves the identity of the Roth Fail with the Roth Rámach.
But what, you will ask, does all this mean, and especially the introduction of Simon Magus? The appearance of Simon on Celtic ground is not very difficult to
- ↑ O'Curry, loc. cit.
- ↑ See the Stokes-O'Donovan ed. of Cormac, p. 74, and Stokes' Old Irish Glossaries, p. 20, where the passage, which is partly Latin and partly Irish, reads: 'Item Mog Ruith peribit quod Roth Fáil perveniet dicens cori Durluis find iar Foi . i. iar Cnámchaill.' Here dicens refers to the sentence beginning with peribit, which is used in Irish fashion for periturum esse, and the whole is introduced as an instance of the occurrence of the name Foi. I translate accordingly: 'Also Mog Ruith saying, that it (he or she) will perish because Roth Fáil will come to the king of fair Durlas [Thurles] west of Foi, that is, west of Cnámchoill.' The place called Thurles is not west of Cleghile, though the king of Thurles may at any given time have been; Durlas was, however, not an uncommon place-name, so it is not certain that the one now called Thurles was intended.
