Sladbrad ocus guin duine...

Sladbrad ocus guin duine,
gáir cloc, gáir ceall, gáir ngloine,
saint, feall, fingal co féighe,
báthuidh féli sin uile.

(pillage-robbery * and * killing * of man /
cry * of bells * cry * of churches * cry * of purities /
greed * treachery * kin-slaying * with * eagarness /
drowns * generosity * that * all)

Pillage, robbery, and murder,
the church’s curse and excommunication,
greed, treachery, eagar kin-slaying,
generosity wipes all that clean!

This is the third stanza from a poem from the MS Laud 615, known by its first line as “Eineach úaisle ná gach dán”. The poem extols “enech” (face, reputation, honor) and “féile” (generosity) as the greatest virtues, and tends to see them as equivalent. A modern proverb from Galway, quoted in “A Miscellany”, says “Go dtéidh grian go grinneall, ní rachaidh fial go hifreann.” (Until the sun goes to the bottom of the sea, a generous man will not go to hell.)

Topics: Verse Maxims & Wise Counsel Generosity