[2] He transcribed, we are told,
over three hundred copies of the Gospels or the Psalter--a
magnification of a saint's powers by a devout biographer,
but significant as it testifies to Columba's love of
studious labours, and shows how highly these ascetics
thought of work of this kind. On two occasions, being a
man as well as a saint, he broke into violence when crossed
in his love of books. One story tells how he visited a holy
and learned recluse named Longarad, whose much-prized
books he wished to see. Being denied, he became wroth
and cursed Longarad. "May the books be of no use to
you," he cried, "nor to any one after you, since you withhold
them." So far the tale is not improbable, but a little
embroidery completes a legend. The books became unintelligible,
so the story continues, the moment Longarad
died. At the same instant the satchels in all the Irish
schools and in Columba's cell slipped off their hooks on to
the ground.
[1] Joyce, i. 478
[2] Adamnan, lib. ii. c. 29, iii. c. 15 and c. 23.
A quarrel about a book, we are told, changed his
career. He borrowed a Psalter from Finnian of Moville,
and made a copy of it, working secretly at night.
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