Particular Triads

The Barddas of Iolo Morganwg, Vol. I., ed. by J. Williams Ab Ithel, [1862], at sacred-texts.com

PARTICULAR TRIADS.

1. There are three Persons in heaven: the Father; the Son; and the Holy Ghost.

2. There are three particular ones: the one true element, the necessary deluge; the one element, from which all men proceed, namely, the earth; and the one element of life, namely God.

3. There are three particular twos: the two particular stars, namely, the sun and moon; and the two elements, into which all men will go, namely, the heaven and the earth. ¹

4. There are three particular threes, namely: the three days that Adam and Eve were taken from. ²

p. 396 p. 397

5. There are three particular fours: the four materials of man, namely, fire, air, water, and earth.

6. There are three particular fives: the five senses of man; the five books of Moses; and the five zones of the earth. ¹

7. There are three particular sixes, namely: the six ages of the world; the six stone vessels, the water in which Jesus turned into wine, at the marriage feast of John the Evangelist; ² and the six perceptions of man.

8. The three particular sevens: the seven sacraments of the Church; the seven petitions of Pater Noster; and the seven days of the week.

9. The three particular eights: the eight deadly sins; the eight that went with Noah into the ark; and the eight winds.

10. The three particular nines: the nine waves of the ocean; the nine graces of heaven; and the nine months of gestation.

11. Three particular tens: the ten commandments; the ten lengths of numeration; ³ and the ten degrees of God.

Footnotes

395:1 p. 394 It will be observed that this and the two following Triads are imperfect.

395:2 The meaning of this statement is not very clear. We are not sure whether it is intended that our first parents were expelled from Paradise within three days of their creation, or whether they were deprived of the holy enjoyment of three days, or portions of days, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, that closed the first week of time. Or are we to understand that Adam and Eve were formed out of the constituents or elements of three days? The first notion would not be consistent with the opinion that generally prevailed in the middle ages, which represents them as having continued but seven hours in their state of p. 395 innocency. " Et ut tradunt historiagraphi eos fuisse in Paradiso per vii. horas et non ultra et statim ejecti sunt." Eulog. Hist. c. viii.

397:1 p. 396 Pump gwregys terra.--The five zones of the earth.
                 Taliesin. Ap. My v. Arch. i. p. 25.

397:2 Though, according to the ancients, St. John always led a single life, many of the middle writers of the Church, assert that he was married, and that it was his marriage which our Lord was at in Cana of Galilee. Bed. Prœf. in Ioan. Rupert. Tuit. Comm. in Ioan. lib. ii. in fin. Cyr. in Ioan, cap. 2, et alii.

397:3 "There is no number beyond ten."--Laws of Howel the Good.