Note 7 — Chapter XXIX

With this thunderous description, all sound and fury, and signifying very little, compare the Homeric description of a like scene, clear, accurate, cut like a gem:

τοῖσιν δ᾿ἴκμενον οὖρον ἵει ἑκάεργος Ἀπόλλων, οἱ δ᾿ἱστὸν στήσαντ᾿, ἀνά θ᾿ ἱστία λευκὰ πέτασσαν ἐν δ᾿άνεμος πρῆσεν μέσον ἱστίον, ἀμφὶ δὲ κῦμα στείρῃ πορφύρεον μεγάλ᾿ ἴαχε, νηὸς ἰούσης ῾η δ᾿ ἔθεεν κατὰ κῦμα, διαπρήσσυσα κέλευθα. ILIAD I., p. 480.

But the Irish passage, though quoted here to exemplify a common feature of the Fenian tales, really dates from a time of decadence.