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Imtheachta Aeniasa's Lúireacha Re-Visited

2023; Royal Irish Academy; Volume: 73; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/eri.2023.a913553

2009-0056

Erich Poppe,

Irish and British Studies

Imtheachta Aeniasa's Lúireacha Re-Visited Erich Poppe* In a note in a previous volume of this journal (Poppe 2004), I suggested that the phrase lúirech thrédúalach in Imtheachta Aeniasa—translated by Calder, quite sensibly, as we will see, as 'a triple-looped shirt of mail'—is based on Virgil's lorica trilix in the corresponding passage of the Aeneid. In this note, I will expand and refine my earlier discussion of lúirecha in Imtheachta Aeniasa by taking account of some recent insights into the technical side of their construction, and of the contexts in which references to lúirecha appear.1 The following passage served as my starting point in 2004: Dobeir do Menestus luirigh tredhualaigh cona cathbarr oir & airgit. (Aen. 1030–1) 'He [Aeneas] presented to Mnestheus a triple-looped shirt of mail with its helmet of gold and silver.' (Calder, Aen., p. 65) levibus huic hamis consertam auroque trilicem / loricam … / donat habere …. (v. 259–62) 'to him a corselet of hooked chain-mail and three-leash golden weave … he gives to keep.' Here, the lúirech is linked with a cathbarr 'helmet'. The latter has no analogue in the Latin text, and in my earlier study I did not consider the relationship between the two items (see now below). I listed five further instances of the phrase lúirech thrédúalach in Imtheachta Aeniasa, always qualified by trebraid 'plaited/woven' (see below) and with a reference to a cathbarr 'helmet' (which is always characterised as forórda 'gilded/gold-coloured').2 Two of these (Aen. 2459–60, 2497–8) have no parallel in the Aeneid. In two other instances a lorica is mentioned in the Aeneid (Aen. 1957 = viii. 621–2, Aen. 3028 = xii. 432), but is not specified as trilix. Charles (2004, 136) considers it possible that in both a reference to a muscle cuirass (lorica musculata) is intended. The fifth example has no lorica in the immediately corresponding Latin passage (xii. 164–5); I did not notice, however, that the Irish passage is probably an elaboration of the much shorter description of Turnus's arming [End Page 89] earlier in the Latin text;3 this includes a lorica, which according to Charles (2004, 137) could possibly be a scale cuirass (lorica squamata):4 Tic dono Tuirn & luirech trebraid tredualach alaind umaide uime cona cathbarr [fh]ororda [fh]uirri co cir d'or oirloiscthi, & cloidim ordhuirnd airgdide fora cris, sciath sechtfillti fora muin, & gai romor rocoimnert ina dheslaim. (Aen. 2945–9) 'Turnus also came clad in a magnificent triple-braided triple-looped hauberk of brass with its gilded helmet upon it, with a crest of burnished gold, and a sword, gold-hilted, inlaid with silver, at his girdle, a sevenfold shield on his back, and a huge, stout spear in his right hand.' (Calder, Aen., pp 183, 185) ipse dehinc auro squalentem alboque orichalco / circumdat loricam umeris, simul aptat habendo / ensemque clipeumque et rubrae cornua cristae. (xii. 87–9) 'Next he [Turnus] binds upon his shoulders a corslet stiff with gold and pale mountain-bronze [i.e., brass]; withal, he fits for wear sword and shield and the horns of his ruddy crest.' Whatever about the type of armour in the Latin source, Calder translates luirech trebraid tredualach in these five instances as 'triple-braided, triple-looped (once "triple-linked") hauberk'. For trebraid he follows Windisch (TBC, p. 752 N 3), who tentatively suggested that it contains tre- 'triple' and bréit 'strip, cloth' (Calder, Aen., p. 229 'thrice-braided?', TTebe, p. 426 'three striped, three-ringed'); DIL and LEIA (s.vv.) analyse it as attributive gen. sg. of trebrad 'act of weaving'. I can now add two formerly overlooked instances of lúirech thrédúalach in Imtheachta Aeniasa, in identical phrases in the context of a spear (gai) piercing a lúirech, both without a reference to a cathbarr. In the first of these, the Latin source mentions armour made of cloth and leather, rather than of metalwork: … co ndeachaid triasin sciath sechtfillti, & triasin luirigh tredualaigh im Menesdensius. (Aen. 2627–8) '… it went through the sevenfold shield, and through the triple-looped hauberk about Mezentius.' (Calder, Aen., p...