Quotations: War
 

Ba h-álgen curmthigi is ba dúr debtha.

((he) was * gentle * of ale-house * and * (he) was * hard * of * strife)

He was a gentle man in the ale house and a tough one in battle.

This description of the ideal prince, which has the feel of a cliché, is found in "Tochmarc Ferbae" (LL 33716-7).

Bid co h-eistechtach cailli,
bid co féchsanach muigi,
oir ní fedrais, mór in mod,
nach biad t' escara it fharrad.

(be * hearingful * of forest /
be * watchful * of plain /
for * not * you know - great * the * deed /
that not * would be * your * enemy * in your * presence)

Keep your ears open in the forest
and your eyes open on the plain,
for you don't know -- this is important --
whether your enemy is near.

This is the eleventh stanza in the poem "Fionn's Advice to Mac Lugach" at the beginning of "Acallam na Senórach". See also "Dá trian do mhíne re mnáibh" in this collection.

Deog a topur éca itib
i cath Detna la Lagnib.

(draught * from * well * of death * he drank /
in * battle * of Detna * with * Leinstermen)

He took a drink from the well of death
in the Battle of Detna against Leinster.

This half-stanza is from the poem "Mide magen clainne Cuind" by Flann Mainistreach. It is found in the Metrical Dindshenchas in LL (23881-2).

Doilig dán láechdacht:
ní suthain a mbí,
ifernnaig a mairb.

(grim * profession * warriorship *
not * long-lived * their * living ones *
hell-damned * their * dead ones)

Warriors have a hard profession:
their life is short and then they go to hell.

The ecclesiastical and scholarly view of the profession of war, edited by Kuno Meyer at ZCP vi.261. For another instance of "short life and hell after", see "Goirde shaogail duit abhus 7 ifrenn thall" in this collection.

Ferr síd sochocad.

(better * peace * (than) a successful war)

Peace is better than a successful war.

This three word maxim is found in "Bríathra Flainn Fína maic Ossu".

Gal chon for otrach sin.

(battle fury * of dogs * on * dunghill * that)

That's the sound and fury of dogs on a dung heap.

Congal uses this proverbial image of empty valour to belittle the might of the Leinstermen in "Cath Muigi Rath" (p. 124 in FDG). He goes on to describe the forces of Connacht as a boiled cow's udder, and the men of Ossory as a pig's belly hanging between its flanks.

Íbait fíaich lúgbairt lacht!

(will drink * ravens * of (battle) garden * milk)

Ravens will drink the milk of battle!

From a poem of foreboding that Dubthach chanted to the army of Medb and Ailill at the outset of the Táin (LU & YBL). It employs two deceptively domestic metaphors for battle. "Lubgort" (here metathesized to "lúgbart") was used poetically in the sense of "garden of heroism" = battlefield, and "lacht" (milk) here becomes "blood".

Immgaib ág ocus not·imgéba.

(avoid * battle * and * it will avoid you)

Avoid a fight and it will avoid you.

Given in "Passions and Homilies" as the Irish equivalent of "Devitabis periculum et devitabit te." An almost identical version of the maxim is used as the first line of a poem in FDG (p. 172): "Imgaib ágh 's rod imgéba." Compare both "Is cian ó ghuasacht cech faitech" and "Ná hinguib, ná hindsaig ág" in this collection.

Isat craebsa nar craithead fa cnomheas.

(you are * branch * that not * was shaken * for its * nut-mast)

You are a branch that has not been shaken for its nut crop.

When Congal says this to Maelduin in "Cath Muighe Rath" (FDG, p. 294), he means that Maelduin is an untested warrior, unhardened by battle.

Láech cach fer co forragar.

(warrior * every * man * until * is overcome)

Every man is a hero until he meets defeat.

One line, a quarter-stanza, from a long poem of good advice edited by Kuno Meyer in ZCP iv.468.