Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/219

194 "The fourth was, that he should not turn his back on (that is, fly from) any less than nine foemen."

"Additional conditions Finn Mac Cumhaill attached to the military degrees, which every man was obliged to accept before he was received into the Fianna.

"The first was, that no person was admitted into them at the great meetings of Uisneach, nor at the fair of Tailten, nor at the feast of Tara, until his father and mother and relatives gave security that they would never avenge his death on another person, in order that he should not expect any one to avenge him but himself, and no matter what evils he might commit, that his friends were not to be sued for them.

"The second condition was, that candidates should have read the Twelve Books of Philosophy, or Poetry.

"The third condition was, that no man was received into the Fianna until a wide pit had been dug for him, in which he was to stand up to his knees, with his shield in one hand, and a hazel stake, the length of the champion's arm, in the other. Nine warriors armed with nine slejhs (or spears), came to within the distance of nine ridges (of ground) of him, and these used to throw their nine spears all at once at him; and should he be wounded despite the shield and the hazel staff, he was not received into the order of the Fianna.

"The fourth condition, no man was received into the Fianna until his hair was first plaited, and until he was then chased by selected runners through a forest, the distance between them at the start being but one tree. If they came up with him, he could not be taken into the Fianna.

"The fifth condition, no man was received into the Fianna if the weapons trembled in his hands.

"The sixth condition, no man was received into the Fianna if a single braid of his hair had been loosened out of its plait by a branch in the wood (as he ran through It).

"The seventh condition, no man was received into the Fianna whose foot had broken a withered branch in his course, (This to insure light and watchful runners.)

"The eighth condition, no man was received into the Fianna