Page:Foras feasa ar Éirinn - Keating; Comyn, Dinneen.djvu/45

Rh of the Scotic race in Scotland, namely,, son of Earc; and moreover, that it was by the Scots and the Picts King Arthur himself was slain. This Feargus, whom I have mentioned, was the first king of Scotland of the Scotic race: for, notwithstanding that Hector Boetius, in his history of Scotland, enumerates thirty-nine kings to have ruled over Scotland before this Feargus, yet, according to the ancient record, there was not any king of the Scotic race in Scotland before him: and it is not true for him where he says that it is Feargus, son of Fearchar, king of Ireland, who was the first king of Scotland of the Scotic race, for there never was a king of Ireland named Fearchar, and so Feargus, son of Fearchar, was not king of Scotland, as Hector Boetius says: and, granted that Muircheartach the Great wished his brother Feargus (son of Earc) to become king of Scotland, yet, withal, the title which is given to Muircheartach himself, in the annals of Ireland, is 'King of Scots,' to signify that he had supremacy over the Scots, both in Ireland and in Scotland; and it is not conceivable that he, who was in so much power, should have been tributary to King Arthur. And, moreover, Speed says in his chronicle, that it was not tribute King Arthur had from the king of Ireland, but an alliance of friendship in war, so that whichever of them should be attacked by enemies, it was obligatory on the other party to send an auxiliary force to him who should be attacked: and the name Speed calls this co-operation is "mutual obligation of war," such as exists between the king of Spain and the Emperor; for each of these sends aid in time of need to the other, and it is not to be understood from this that the Emperor is tributary to the king of Spain, or the king of Spain to the Emperor. In like manner, if there existed a close alliance of

, C;, F and H.; sic C.43. , C;, F; , H; , N.44. , MSS.45. Sic in C, N, and H. 47. al.