ci episcopi Ciarani prespeteri
Columbaeque auxilia nos deffendat egregia
ut per illorum merita possideamus premia

Obviously the third stanza, with its reference to Colum Cille himself,
is a later addition, so that only the first two stanzas belong to the
original hymn. The sixth line, _quem tu Christe_, is quoted in the
section of VG referred to; but the three other excerpts, _lucerna_...,
_custodiantur_..., _propheta_..., do not appear in the text before us:
nor do the surviving stanzas justify the extravagant praise said to have
been heaped on the composition at Clonmacnois--though no doubt a
composition by Colum Cille, had it only the artless simplicity of a
nursery jingle, would have been sure of an appreciative audience.
However, the text seems to indicate something much more elaborate, and
probably the original composition was an acrostic, like Colum Cille's
great _Altus Prosator_.[30] The two authentic stanzas of the _Liber
Hymnorum_ are incorporated in the metrical patchwork at the end of LB.

Another version of the hymn was known to Colgan, and is given by him
in TT, p. 472. Unfortunately he quotes only one couplet--

Quantum Christe O Apostolum mundo misisti hominem
Lucerna huius insulae lucens lucerna mirabilis

which is evidently corrupt, and (as Colgan seems to regard it as the
opening stanza) must show that the whole text had become disturbed by
the time when Colgan wrote. Indeed, it does not appear that Colgan
knew any more of the hymn than these two lines.

LIII. THE ENVY OF THE SAINTS (VG)

Note how the Latin texts soften down the saying attributed in VG to
Colum Cille. A curious incident of disagreement between Ciaran and
Colum Cille is thus related by Colgan (TT, p. 396). "Once there
arose a petty quarrel between Kieranus and Columba, in which perhaps
Kieranus, jealous for the divine honour, appeared either to prefer
himself to Columba, or not to yield him the foremost place. But a good
Spirit, descending from heaven, easily settled the quarrel, whatever
it may have been, in this wise. He held out an awl, a hatchet, and an
axe, presenting them to Kieranus: 'These things,' said he, 'and other
things of this kind, with which thy father used to practise carpentry,
hast thou abjured for the love of God. But Columba renounced the
sceptre of Ireland, for which he might have hoped from his ancestral
right and the power of his clan, before he made off