BOOK I. FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY INTO IRELAND TO THE SYNOD OF RATHBREASAIL. A. D. IIIO. B ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF IRELAND. CHAPTER I. THE EARLY HISTORY OF IRELAND AND ITS APOSTLE PATRICK. THE early history of Ireland, like that of most other countries, is buried in obscurity. As its mountain ridges are visible from the opposite coasts, it is probable that its first colonists passed over to it from England and Scotland. But all accounts concur in representing the ancient Hibernians as a mixed population. Those who maintain that a portion of them were the descendants of emigrants from Phoenicia can support the statement by a variety of very plausible arguments. Some of the settlers came from Spain; some, perhaps, from Gaul; and some, it may be, from Scandinavia. There is satisfactory evidence that Ireland was known to the Greeks and Romans long before the birth of Christ.1 In the first century of our era its harbours were frequented by traders from distant shores.2 From a remote antiquity its inhabitants seem to have been distinguished by their attention to religious observances; as, even prior to the introduction of the Gospel among them, it was designated "The Sacred 1 See the authorities quoted by Hales in his Essay on the Origin and Purity of the Primitive Church of the British Isles, Appendix 3-4. London, 1819. 2 Tacitus, Life of Agricola, xxiv. Island." It has often been affirmed that the Pagan Irish were unacquainted with the elements of literature; but the accuracy of this assertion may well be questioned; and, if the Druids of Gaul and Britain could commit their thoughts to writing, we may fairly presume that the religious guides of the people of the Western Isle were not altogether ignorant of the use of letters. Shortly after the settlement of the Romans in England, Hibernian malcontents began to solicit their assistance. About A.D. 82, a petty Irish King, who had been driven from his throne, attracts our notice as a petitioner for their intervention. Nor was his application disregarded. Agricola-the Roman general, who at this time so greatly signalised himself by a a career of successful aggression in Britain-listened to the complaint of the royal suppliant, and afforded him protection.3 The refugee supplied the victorious commander with important information relating to his native country: its subjugation was regarded as an affair of no great difficulty; and, for a time, the addition of the Emerald Isle to the Empire of the West appears to have been seriously contemplated. "I have often heard Agricola declare," says Tacitus, his son-in-law, "that a single legion, with a moderate band of auxiliaries, would be sufficient to complete the conquest of Ireland." The progress of the Roman arms in Britain created much anxiety across the channel; and the Irish warriors made various preparations for meeting an expected invasion. But as the Romans never 1 Hales, Appendix 5, 24. See also Phelan's Remains, ii. 61–62 2 "Neque fas esse existimant ea literis mandare, cum in reliquis fere omnibus, publicis privatisque rationibus, Graecis utantur literis."-CÆSAR, De Bello Gallico, lib. vi. c. 14. It is highly probable that the Ogham, a species of writing consisting of lines variously combined and of various lengths and inclinations, was known in Ireland before the Christian era. 3 Tacitus, Life of Agricola, xxiv. In the Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 240, we read of "the fleet of Cormac," the chief monarch of Ireland; and at the same time flourished the famous Finn Mac Cumhail, and his Irish militia. He was the father of Oisin or Ossian. Finn's soldiers were called Phenians or Fenians. This militia, as Pinkerton has observed, seems to have been a rude imitation of the Roman legions in Britain. The idea shows prudence . . . for such a force alone could have coped with the Romans, had they invaded Ireland."-Enquiry into Scottish History, ii. 77. |