Page:Writings of Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland.djvu/87





HE following Dicta Patricii, or Sayings of St. Patrick, are given in Latin in the Rolls edition of the Tripartite Life, p. 301, as contained at the end of the Notes by Muirchu Maccu-Machtheni in the Book of Armagh, fol. 9, a. i. They are, as Dr. Whitley Stokes observes, disconneded from the context in that MS., with the simple heading Dicta Patricii, and are in very rustic Latin. The character of their Latinity renders it highly probable that they may be genuine remains of the saint, while the manner in which the Greek (Lord, have mercy on us) is transliterated into Latin (in Sayings No. 4 and 5) is sufficient to show how slight an acquaintance Patrick had with the Greek language. The latter point confutes Nicholson's arguments (on pp. 84, 85, 168 of his work), in which he seeks to 81