Revue celtique - National Library of Scotland

1
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on S. Martin of Tours. 585
Translation of the Irish.
Nemo, etc. Hard it is for anyone to serve two lords at the same
time. For he will bear hatred to one of them and he will love the other :
or he will endure the sway of the one lord and will revile
' the other
lord. Even so, it is hard for men to serve God and the World at the
same time.
2. Jésus Christ, Son of the living God, to wit^ the Lord of ail lords,
Giver of every goodness, Saviour of Adam's seed, He it is that spake
thèse words to instruct and to teach the folk of the Church and to sup-
press^ (?) the serving of two lords, to wit, God and the World.
3 Now it was Matthew son of Alpheus that wrote thèse words in the
gospel canon, and left them in remembrance with the Christian Church,
saying after Jésus « Nemo potest, » etc.
4. The part, then, that is in union with this déclaration is as far as
the place at which he before said this to his Apostles « Nolite, » etc.
« I give counsel to y ou, » says Jésus : « Gather you neither coffers nor
treasures on the earth, » etc. So that in accordance with those words he
said this, to wit, to refuse the earthly treasure. There is, however, a com-
mand to gather the heavenly treasure.
5. Jésus declared thèse words to suppress the serving of God and the
World, and said « Nemo potest, » etc. For the mind is unable to delight î
at the same time in the things perishable and the blessings eternal. Aut
enim, etc. And he will bear hatred and abhorrence to the Devil, as is
meet, but he will give love of heart and mind unto God. Aut enim, etc.
i.e. he will cleave to and adore 4 the Devil's counsel, for lust and désire
of the things worldly. Et alterum, etc. i.e. he will make naught of the
counsel of the Lord.
6. Non dixit, etc. It was from vigilance and watchfulness that Jésus
said not hère that any one hâtes the Lord, but only that he outrages and
reviles him. Sicut soient, etc. Now the two lords of whom Jésus spoke
before, He himself manifests them when he says Non poteris, etc. i.e.
(' thou canst not serve God and the World, » Maman, etc. Mammon,
then, is the name of the démon who is chief over the treasures of the
world and over the pitiless rich. Et tamen, etc. Not the possession of
1. Comainsigfid, }d sg. b-fut. act. of a verb cognate with ainsem » accusatio, » ainsid
« accusativus, » Z. 735. The verbal noun comansiugud occurs in paragr. 6.
2. Doinge 'also in parag. j) seems cognate v/hh for-dengat (gl. opprimentes), Ml. 29a,
for-dengar :'gl. deprimiturj, Ml. ^jd.
}. Oenaigid : cf. a-haithle an-oenaig 7 an-aniusa oc-pianad nan-anmand « after their
delight and their enjoyment in torturing the soûls. » Vision of Adamnan. Cognate perhaps
with the vedic adjective vena u lieb. »
4. Aidera, ^d sg. redupl. fut. ol adraimm.
Rey. Celt. Il 26