WISDOM TEXTSgnomic, or wisdom, literature. The wide variety of
wisdom texts and the large number of gnomic state-
ments scattered throughout tales and poetry give evi-
dence of the high esteem that the genre enjoyed in
Irish literature.
Tecosca
A distinct subgroup of Irish wisdom texts is called
tecosc(instruction), plural tecosca, consisting of
advice on the moral qualities appropriate to kings that
was usually attributed to legendary figures of the past
and directed at their pupils or foster sons. Tecoscacan
be equated with the later continental genre of specula
principum(Mirrors of Princes). These texts emphasize
moderate and considerate social conduct and encour-
age defense and maintenance of the traditional law. A
distinct lack of heroic, warriorlike ethics is noticeable.
The central theme of the tecoscais that of fír flathemon
(the ruler’s truth). By acting in accord with this con-
cept, the ruler secures peace, stability, and prosperity
for himself and for his people, since his justice and
righteousness correlates with the welfare of his coun-
try. The idea of fír flathemonhas been compared with
similar concepts in the Indo-Iranian world, such as
Vedicrtá- (right order) and Avestan a2a- (rightness).
Keating claims that tecoscawere recited at the inau-
guration of kings until the Norman period.
The oldest of these in the Irish language is Audacht
Morainn(AM) (The Testament of Morann), which on
linguistic grounds can be dated in its oldest recension
to the late seventh century. AM, which consists of 164
lines in sixty-three paragraphs, expresses the ideas of
fír flathemonin its most concise form of all tecosca,
cp. the catalogue of its beneficial effects introduced by
the phrase Is tre fír flathemon... “It is through the
ruler’s truth that... ” (§§ 12–28). AM shows affinities
in form and in substance with law tracts of the Bretha
Nemedschool. The probably ninth-century Tecosca
Cormaic(TCor) (The Instructions of Cormac), advice
given by the wise king Cormac in reply to questions
of his son and successor Cairpre, is the longest Irish
wisdom text. In some manuscripts it consists of thirty-
seven sections (746 lines), but only the first eighteen
are believed to make up the original part of the work.
Other paragraphs may have been borrowed from
Senbríathra Fíthail(SF) (The Old Sayings of Fíthal
(king Cormac’s judge)) (245 lines in thirteen sections).
The focus of SF, composed around 800, lies less on
political instruction than on statements of a general
nature (§§ 1–6, 9), which are cast to a large extent into
three-word maxims such as Dligid fír fortacht(Truth
should be supported) (§ 5.2) and Tosach éolais
imchomarc(Inquiry is the beginning of knowledge)
(§1.4). Sections 7–8 and 10–12 are, like TCor, in the
form of a dialogue between Fíthal and his son. AM,
TCor, and SF are frequently found combined in the
manuscripts.
The short Tecosc Cuscraid(TCus) (The Instruction
to Cuscraid (son of king Conchobar)) (26 lines), attrib-
uted to the Ulster hero Conall Cernach, forms part of the
taleCath Airtig (The Battle of Airtech). Bríatharthecosc
Con Culainn(BrCC) (The Precept-Instruction of Cú
Chulainn) to the future king Lugaid Réoderg (40 lines),
is included in the tale Serglige Con Culainn(The Sick-
Bed of Cú Chulainn). Middle-Irish compositions such
asDiambad Messe bad Rí Réil (If I were an Illustrious
King) (37 quatrains) and Cert Cech Ríg co Réil(The
Tribute of Every King is Clearly Due) (72 quatrains),
which draw on the older tradition, are cast into metrical
form. Close in sentiment to the tecoscais what the
seventh-century Latin tract De Duodecim Abusivis
Saeculi(The Twelve Evils of the World) has to say in
chapter 9 on the rex iniquus(unjust king) and the rex
bonus(good king). This chapter was also included in
theCollectio Canonum Hibernensis(XXV, 3–4) and
contributed strongly to the concept of the continental
specula principum. Sedulius Scottus, an Irish scholar
who lived in the Frankish empire in the ninth century,
drew on classical and Christian tradition for his Latin
Liber de Rectoribus Christianis(Book on Christian
Rulers) for king Lothair II.Gnomic Texts
Other wisdom texts contain general advice, not aimed
at specific social classes. Aibidil Luigne maic Éremóin
(ALE) (The Alphabet of Luigne Son of Éremón) (157
lines) is a miscellaneous collection of legal and pro-
verbial maxims in three distinct sections brought
together from various sources such as law tracts and
tecosca.Bríathra Flainn Fína maic Ossu(BFF) (The
Sayings of Flann Fína Son of Oswiu) is in its core
identical with sections 1–5 of SF, but has expanded
the number of maxims from 139 to 261. The ascription
of the authorship to Flann Fína, the Irish name for king
Aldfrith of Northumbria (d. 705), is doubtful since the
language of the collection is that of the eighth or ninth
century. Another collection with the title Roscada
Flainn Fína maic Ossu Ríg Sacsan(RFF) (The Maxims
of Flann Fína Son of Oswiu, King of the English) is
close in content to BFF, but the sections and maxims
have a different order. Colin Ireland, their most recent
editor, treats SF, BFF, and RFF as different recensions
of one original gnomic collection. For Trecheng Breth
Féine(TrBF) (The Triads of Ireland) see Triads. The
Prouerbia Grecorum(PG) (Proverbs of the Greek),
which may go back to the sixth or seventh century,
purports to be a Latin translation of some eighty prov-
erbs from Greek, but its Western manuscript tradition