CHAPTER III THE MILESIANS THE sixteenth-century scholar, O'Flaherty, fixes the Milesian invasion of Ireland at about 1000 B. C.-the time of Solomon. Some modern writers, including MacNeill, say that they even came at a much later date. There are, however, philologists and other scientific inquirers, who to some extent corroborate O'Flaherty's esti mate. It is proven that the Celts whencesoever they came, had, before the dawn of history, subjugated the German people and established themselves in Central Europe. At about the date we have mentioned, a great Celtic wave, breaking westward over the Rhine, penetrated into England, Scotland, and Ireland. Subsequently a wave swept over the Pyrenees into the Spanish Peninsula. Other waves came westward still later. The studies of European scholars have shown that these Celts were an eminently warlike people, rich in the arts of civilized life, who subdued and dominated the ruder races, wherever they went on the Continent. They were possessed of "a high degree of political unity, had a single king, and a wise and consistent external policy." Mostly, however, they seem to have been a federation of patrician republics. At various times they had allied themselves with the Greeks to fight common enemies. They gave valuable service to, and were highly esteemed by Philip, and by his son, the great Alexander. In an alliance which they made with Alexander, before he left on his Asiatic expedition, it was by the ́elements they swore their fealty to the pact-just as we know they continued to swear in Ireland, down to the coming of Christianity in the fifth century. They piqued Alexander's pride by frankly telling him that they did not fear him-only feared Heaven. They held sway in Central Europe through long centuries. A Celtic cemetery discovered at Hallstatt in upper Austria proves them to have been skilled in art and industries as far back as 900 B. C.-shows them as miners and agriculturists, and blessed with the use of iron instruments. They invaded Italy twice, in the seventh and in the fourth centuries before Christ. In the latter time they were at the climax of their power. They stormed Rome itself, 300 B. C. The rising up of the oppressed Germans against them, nearly three centuries before Christ, was the beginning of the end of the Continental power of the Celt. After that they were beaten and buffeted by Greek and by Roman, and even by despised racesbroken, and blown like the surf in all directions, North and South, and East and West. A fugitive colony of these people, that had settled in Asia Minor, in the territory which from them (the Gaels) was called Galatia, and among whom Paul worked, was found to be still speaking a Celtic language in the days of St. Jerome, five or six hundred years later. Eoin MacNeill and other scientific enquirers hold that it was only in the fifth century before Christ that they reached Spain-and that it was not via Spain but via northwestern France and Britain that they, crushed out from Germany, eventually reached Ireland. In Cæsar's day the Celts (Gauls) who dominated France used Greek writing in almost all their business, public or private. The legendary account of the origin of the Gaels and their coming to Ireland is as follows: They came first out of that vast undefined tract, called Scythia -a region which probably included all of Southwest Europe and adjoining portions of Asia. They came to Ireland through Egypt, Crete, and Spain. They were called Gaedhal (Gael) because their remote ancestor, in the days of Moses, was Gaodhal Glas. When a child, Moses is said to have cured him of the bite of a serpentand to have promised, then, that no serpent or other poisonous thing should infest the happy western island that his far posterity would one day inhabit. Niul, a grand-son of Gaodhal, who had been invited as an instructor into Egypt by one of the Pharaohs, married Pharaoh's daughter Scota-after whom Ireland was, in later ages, called Scotia. And the Irish Scoti or Scots are the descendants of Niul and Scota. In Egypt Niul and his people grew rich and powerful, resented the injustice of a later Pharaoh, were driven from the land, and after long and varied wanderings, during succeeding ages, reached Spain. When, after they had long sojourned in Spain, they heard of Ireland (perhaps from Phanician traders) and took it to be the Isle of Destiny, foretold for them by Moses, their leader was Miled or Milesius, whose wife also was a Pharaoh's daughter, and named Scota. Miled's uncle, Ith, was first sent into Ireland, to bring them report upon it. But the Tuatha De Danann, suspecting the purpose of his mission, killed Ith. Miled having died in Spain, his eight sons, with their mother, Scota, their families and followers, at length set out on their venturous voyage to their Isle of Destiny.1 In a dreadful storm that the supposedly wizard De Danann raised up against them, when they attempted to land in Ireland, five of the sons of Milesius, with great numbers of their followers, were lost, their fleet was dispersed and it seemed for a time as if none of them would ever enjoy the Isle of Destiny. Ancient manuscripts preserve the prayer that, it is said, their poet, Amergin, now prayed for them "I pray that they reach the land of Eirinn, those who are riding upon the great, productive, vast sea: "That they be distributed upon her plains, her mountains, and her valleys; upon her forests that shed showers of nuts and all fruits; 1 Inisfail, one of many ancient names for Ireland, signifies Isle of Destiny. Of "The Coming of the Milesians," Moore sang: They came from a land beyond the sea, And now o'er the western main "Oh, where's the isle we've seen in dreams, Thus sang they, as by the morning beams, And lo, where afar o'er ocean shines As though in that deep lay emerald mines Rings o'er the echoing sea; While, bending to heaven, the warriors hail Then turned they unto the Eastern wave A look of such sunny omen gave As lighted up sea and sky. No frown was seen through sky or sea, When first on their Isle of Destiny Here let us understand that the ancient historical legends of Ireland are, generally speaking, far from being baseless myths. The Irish people are a people who eminently cling to tradition. Not only were the great happenings that marked great epochs enshrined in their memory forever, but even little events that trivially affected the history of their race, were, and are, seldom forgotten. We know that away back to the remotest antiquity, the seanachie (shanachy, the historian) and the poet were honored next to the king, because of the tremendous value which the people set upon the recording and preserving of their history. The poet and the seanachie following the fashion of the time, took advantage of their artist privilege to color their narrative to an extent that to the modern mind would seem fantastic. But it was with the details of the story that they were granted this liberty. The big, essential facts had to remain unaltered. The things of importance no poet of repute, however highly he might color, could or would dare to falsify. upon her rivers and her cataracts; upon her lakes and her great waters; upon her spring-abounding hills: "That they may hold their fairs and equestrian sports upon her territories: "That there may be a king from them in Tara; and that Tara be the territory of their many kings: "That noble Eirinn be the home of the ships and boats of the sons of Milesius: "Eirinn which is now in darkness, it is for her that this oration is pronounced: "Let the learned wives of Breas and Buaigne pray that we may reach the noble woman, great Eirinn. "Let Eremon pray, and let Ir and Eber implore, that we may reach Eirinn." Eventually they made land-Eber with the survivors of his following landing at Inver Sceni, in Bantry Bay; and afterwards defeating a De Danann host under Queen Eiré but losing their own Queen Scota in the fray-and Eremon with his people at Inver Colpa (mouth of the Boyne). When they had joined their forces, in Meath, they went against the De Danann in general battle at Taillte, and routed the latter with great slaughter. The three kings and the three queens of the De Danann were slain, many of them killed, and the remainder dispersed. The survivors fled into the remote hills and into the caves. Possibly the glimpses of some of these fugitive hill-dwellers and cave-dwellers, caught in twilight and in moonlight, by succeeding generations of Milesians, coupled with the seemingly magical skill which they exercised, gave foundation for the later stories of enchanted folk, fairies, living under the Irish hills. Though, a quaint tale preserved in the ancient Book of Leinster says that after Taillte it was left to Amergin, the Milesian poet and judge, to divide Eirinn between the two races, and that he shrewdly did so with technical justice-giving all above ground to his own people, and all underground to the De Danann! Another pleasant old belief is that the De Danann, being overthrown, were assembled by their great immortal Mannanan at Brugh of the Boyne, where, after counselling together, it was decided that, taking Bodb Derg, son of the Dagda, as their king, and receiving immortality from Mannanan, they should distribute themselves in their spirit land under the happy hills of Ireland-where they have, ever since, enjoyed never-ending bliss.2 2 Here is the ancient story-teller's description (from the Táin Bo Cuailgne) of the cavalcade of Bodb Derg, in after ages, coming from his palace under Sliab Of the Milesians, Eber and Eremon divided the land between them-Eremon getting the Northern half of the Island, and Eber the Southern. The Northeastern corner was accorded to the children of their lost brother, Ir, and the Southwestern corner to their cousin Lughaid, the son of Ith. An oft-told story says that when Eber and Eremon had divided their followers, each taking an equal number of soldiers and an equal number of the men of every craft, there remained a harper and a poet. Drawing lots for these, the harper fell to Eremon and the poet to Eber-which explains why, ever since, the North of Ireland has been celebrated for music, and the South for song. The peace that fell upon the land then, and the happiness of the Milesians, was only broken, when, after a year, Eber's wife discovered that she must be possessed of the three pleasantest hills in Eirinn, else she could not remain one other night in the Island. Now the pleasantest of all the Irish hills was Tara, which lay in Eremon's half. And Eremon's wife would not have the covetousness of the other woman satisfied at her expense. So, because of the quarrel of the women, the beautiful peace of the Island was broken by battle. Eber was beaten, and the high sovereignty settled upon Eremon. It was in his reign, continues the legend, that the Cruitnigh or Picts arrived from the Continent. They landed in the southwest, at the mouth of the River Slaney (Inver Slaigne). A tribe of Britons who fought with poisoned arrows were at the time ravaging that corner of the Island. The Picts helped to drive out the marauders, and in reward were granted a settlement there, from Crimthann, the chief of that quarter. Afterwards they had an outfall with Crimthann-and it was decided that they should be na-mban to pay a visit to the De Danann chief, Ochail Oichne, who resided under Cruachan (in Roscommon)-"Seven score chariots and seven score horsemen was their number. And of the same colour were all their steeds; they were speckled; they had silver bridles. There was no person among them who was not the son of a king and a queen. They all wore green cloaks with four crimson pendants to each cloak; and silver cloak-brooches in all their cloaks; and they wore kilts with red interweavings, and borders or fringes of gold thread upon them, and pendants of white bronze thread upon their leggings or greaves, and shoes with clasps of red bronze in them. Their helmets were ornamented with crystal and white bronze; each of them had a collar of radiant gold around his neck, with a gem worth a newly calved cow set in it. Each wore a twisted ring of gold around him, worth thirty ounces of gold. All had white-faced shields, with ornamentations of gold and of silver. They carried flesh-seeking spears, with ribs of gold and silver and red bronze in their sides; and with collars (or rings) of silver upon the necks of the spears. They had gold-hilted swords with the forms of serpents of gold and carbuncles set in them. They astonished the whole assembly by this display." |