Chapter XXXIII (5)

[421] Some say he belonged to the _fifth_ century. All agree that it was not later than the _ninth_.

[422] See p. 61.

[423] July 1833.--This gentleman’s name was Pareira.

[424] _Religious Rites and Ceremonies._

[425] The Gaurs themselves did not build those towers, but finding them to their hand, and knowing them to have been formerly reverenced, they converted them to this purpose.

[426] One called _Jachen_, that is, _he shall establish_; and the other _Boaz_, or, _in it is strength_. This was all emblematical, which, without giving Solomon any participation therein, may be accounted for on the principle that the building was conducted under the superintendence of Hiram, a Sidonian, who naturally had exercised the taste of his own country in the discretion here allowed him. Nor will the circumstance of those pillars having been made of _metal_ oppose any barrier--the _design_ is the thing to be considered, not the _material_. And besides, we find them of metal elsewhere also.

“An iron pillar,” says Archer, “stands in a sort of courtyard, having the remains of cloisters on the four sides. Its history is _veiled in darkest night_. There is an inscription on it, which nobody can decipher: nor is there any account, historical or traditional, except we may refer to the latter class, a prevalent idea of all people, that the pillar is on the most sacred spot of the old city, which spot was also its centre. It is also said that as long as the pillar stood, so long would Hindustan flourish. This was the united dictum of the Brahmins and astrologers of the day. The pillar is fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter.”

[427] ανθρωπος εστι των παντων μετρον (PROTAGORAS).

[428] 1 Kings viii. 27.

[429] _Antiquities of Ireland_, vol. ii. p. 134.

[430] _Antiquities of Ireland_, vol. ii. p. 129.

[431] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 20th July 1833.

[432] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 10th June 1833.

[433] _Dublin Penny Journal_, 20th July 1833.

[434] _Ibid._ 5th October 1833.

[435] Colgan.

[436] _Melpomene_, ch. 46.

[437] “Oppidum vocant Britanni cum silvas impeditas vallo atque fossâ munierunt. The Britons call a town an encumbered wood, fenced in with a rampart and a ditch” (CÆSAR’S _Comment._ lib. 5).

[438] Of whom O’Flaherty gives this character from an Irish poem, writ by one G. Comdeus O’Cormaic, which he thus translates into Latin:--

“Primus Amerginus genu candidus anthor Jern
Historicus, judex lege, poeta, sophus.”

That is,--

Fair-limbed Amergin, venerable sage,
First graced Ierne’s old historic page;
Judge of the laws, for justice high approved,
And loving wisdom by the muse beloved.

And he quotes this hemistich as another fragment of his poetry--

“Eagna la heagluis aidir
Agus feabtha la flaithibh.”

That is,--

Let those, who o’er the sacred rites preside,
Take wisdom for their guardian and their guide;
Let those, whose power the multitude obey,
Support by conduct their imperial sway.

[439] The above stanza, I should observe, belongs to that species of poetry called in Irish _con-a-clon_, wherein the final word of each line is the initial one of the following.

[440] Or “Tarah,” says the _Dinn Seanchas_, compiled by Amergen Mac Amalgaid in the year 544, “was so called from its celebrity for melody.”

[441] “Once occupied by a celebrated queen!” (_Asiatic Researches_).

[442] “Heremon was the first of the _Scots_ who held the dominion over all Ireland” (_Psalter of Narran_).

[443] “For, in the first place, the general tradition of the old Irish handed down to us by all our historians and other writers, imports that when the Scots arrived in Ireland, they spoke the same language with that of the Tuath-de-danaans” (Preface to _O’Brien’s Irish Dictionary_).

[444] The Egyptian epithets are not very dissimilar: “Besides these first inhabitants of Sancha-dwipa, who are described by the mythologists, as _elephants_, _demons_, and _snakes_, we find a race called Shand-ha-yana, who are the real Troglodites; they were the descendants of Abri, before named, whose history being closely connected with that of the _Sacred Isles in the West_, deserves peculiar attention” (_Asiatic Researches_).

[445] Nearly similar things, we find, have occurred in the East. “The natives of the place (Mavalepuran, in Indian) declared to the writer of this account, that the more aged people among them remembered to have seen the tops of several pagodas far out in the sea; a statement which was verified by the appearance of one on the brink of the sea, already nearly swallowed up by that element” (_Asiatic Researches_).

[446] Αναθηματα,--things dedicated to the gods.

[447] In March.

[448] In September.

[449] See p. 120.

[450] _Trans. Roy. Ir. Acad._ vol. xvi. p. 166.

[451] Procopius calls them ανηκοι και αμελιτητοι, that is, heedless and indifferent to all culture.

Bishop Cormac also says that he “cannot sufficiently express his astonishment at the indifference which the Scottish nation evinced in his day to literature.”

Strabo calls them, Αγριων τελεως ανθρωτων, while M’Pherson asserts of their brethren, that “nothing is more certain than that the British Scots were an illiterate people, and involved in barbarism, even after the Patriarch’s mission to the Scots of Ireland.”

[452] In fact this writer had no other reason for this _mistake_ which he has committed, in describing it as “scarce habitable for cold,” than his knowledge of its Hyperborean situation. “The most remote navigation northward from the Celtic coast in our days,” says he, “is said to be into Ireland (Ierné), which being situated beyond Britain, is scarce habitable for cold, so that what lies beyond that island is thought to be not at all habitable” (_Geog._ lib. 2, ex vers. Gul. Xylandri).

[453] Orpheus also calls the sea dividing the north of Scotland from Ireland, “Mare Cronium, idem quod mare saturninum et oceanus septentrionalis” (VALLANCEY).

[454] Gerald. _Cambr. Hist._ i. cap. 19.

[455] A series of articles written under this head, in the columns of the _Dublin Penny Journal_, by Mr. Pebrie, antiquarian high-priest to the Royal Irish Academy!

[456] This Tubal-Cain was evidently the person from whom the Greeks manufactured their mythological Vul-can.

[457] “The griffin,” says Shaw, copying Ctesias, “is a quadruped of India, having the claws of a lion, and wings upon his back. His fore parts are red, his wings white, his neck blue, his head and his beak resemble those of the eagle; he makes his nest among the mountains, and haunts the deserts, where he conceals his gold.”

[458] “The ignorance of the European Greeks in geography was extreme in all respects during many ages. They do not even appear to have known the discoveries made in more ancient voyages, which were not absolutely unknown to Homer” (Mr. Gouget, _Origin of Arts and Sciences_, tom. 7, b. 3).

[459] “L’existence _de ce peuple antérieur_ est prouvée par le tableau qui n’offre que des débris, astronomie oubliée, philosophie mêlée à des absurdités, physique dégénérée en fables, religion épurée, mais cachée dans une idolatrie grossière. Cet ancien peuple a eu des sciences perfectionnées, une philosophie sublime et sage” (BAILLY).

[460] Amongst our antiquities also are found _nose-rings_ (nasc-srion), which, stronger than any other demonstration, shows the orientalism of our Tuath-de-danaan ancestors. Their ear-rings, also, are thus defined in Comrac’s _Glossary_: “Arc nasc--vel, a-naisc, bid im cluas--aibh na saoreland,” _i.e._ a ring worn in the ears of our gentry.

[461] _Dublin Penny Journal._

[462] “Si j’ai bien prouvé que Butta, Thoth, et Mercure ne sont également que le même inventeur des sciences et des arts” (BAILLY).

“The Buddhists insist that the religion of Buddha existed from the beginning” (_Asiatic Researches_).

[463] _Gentleman’s Magazine_, Nov. 1822.

[464] In the entire land of Phœnicia there was but one, and that comparatively a modern one, erected no doubt after their intercourse with the Tuath-de-danaans.

[465] The play above alluded to is that of the Pænulus, or Carthaginian, in which Haono is introduced in quest of his two daughters, who, with their nurse, had been stolen by pirates, and conveyed to Calydon, in Ætolia. Thither the father repairs on receiving intelligence of the fact, and addresses a supplication to the presiding deity of the country, to restore to him his children unstained by pollution. He is made to speak in his vernacular tongue, just as natives of France are represented in our drama by Shakespeare: and so _interesting_ is the whole--independently of the curiosity attaching to so rare a production--that I shall subjoin a portion of it for the reader.

1.

“Nith al o nim, ua lonuth secorathessi ma com syth.
An iath al a nim, uaillonac socruidd se me com sit.”
O mighty splendour of the land, renowned, powerful; let him quiet me
with repose.

2.

“Chin lach chunyth mumys tyal myethii barii imi schi.
Cim laig cungan, muin is toil, mo iocd bearad iar mo sgil.”
Help of the weary captive, instruct me according to thy will, to recover
my children after my fatigue.

_N.B._--The first line in each of these triplets is Phœnician, the second Irish, and the third, their import, in English.

[466] “How comes it then that they are so unlearned--still, being so old scholars? for learning (as the poet saith) _emollit mores_ nec sinit esse feros; whence, then, I pray you, could they have those letters?” He answers, “It is hard to say, for whether they at the first coming into the land, or afterwards by trading with other nations, learned them of them, or devised them amongst themselves, is very doubtful, _but that they had letters anciently is nothing doubtful, for the Saxons of England are said to have their letters and learning, and learned men, from the Irish_. And that also appeareth from the likeness of the character, for the Saxon’s character is the same with the Irish” (SPENSER).

[467] “Having been always free and independent of the empire of the Romans, they were unacquainted with the Roman language and its characters: there were, therefore, but two courses to adopt; either to translate the holy books into the language of the country, and celebrate the divine mysteries in it, which would have been contrary to the custom of the Church, or to teach the characters of the Roman language to those who were to instruct others; the holy apostle adopted the latter course” (ABBÉ MAC GEOHIGAN).

[468] Book of Cashel.

[469] Job viii. 8, and xix. 23.

[470] There is no Mohammedan of learning in Persia or India who is not an astrologer: rare works upon that science are more valued than any other; and it is remarkable that on the most trivial occasions, when calculating nativities and foretelling events, they deem it essential to describe the planets in terms _not unsuited to the account which the author of the Dabistan has given of these deities_ (SIR JOHN MALCOLM).

[471] Job xix. 23, 24.

[472] Job viii. 8.

[473] Since I have commenced this work, a very ancient manuscript of the abbey of Icolmkill has fallen into my hands; it was written by Cairbre-Liffeachair, who lived _six generations before St. Patrick_, and about the time of our Saviour; an exact account is given in it of Irish kings, from whence I infer, that as the Irish had manuscripts at that period, we must certainly have possessed them likewise.

[474] Æschylus would seem to refer to this, when he makes Prometheus say, “I invented for them the array of letters, and fixed the memory, the mother of knowledge, and the soul of life” (_Bloomfield’s edition_, v. 469).

[475] Τον Ἑρακλεα ὁι Κελτοι ΟΓΜΙΟΝ ονομαζουσι φωνη τη επιχωριῳ. LUCIAN.

[476] Whittaker’s, Manchester.

[477] See p. 332.

[478] An allegory, by the way, which I could explain satisfactorily, were it not that it would detain me.

[479] O Richard of Cirencester, oh! what pleasure it affords me to see the _moderns_ running after the chariot wheels of the _monks_, whenever they can pick out amongst their lucubrations any stray sentences to support their own fantasies!

[480] “Near the road (at a place called Margan) is an _old cross_, bearing an _inscription_, which has been doomed to serve as a bridge for foot passengers over a little rivulet; and in the village are fragments of a _most beautiful cross richly decorated with fretwork_.”--CAMBRENSIS.

[481] Some copies read _Scoto_, the meaning, however, is the same; the only difference being that the latter partakes of the modern enunciations of the word, as _Scots_, instead of _Scuits_ or _Scythians_.

[482] In the anxiety with which my translation of “Phœnician Ireland” was hurried through the press, it inadvertently escaped me that the Scythians had only _touched at Spain_. The above will correct the oversight; to which I shall add that, “as for entitling the _Spanish-Irish Scots_, there wants no authority, the Irish authors having constantly called the Spanish colony Kin-Scuit, or the Scottish nation.”--LHUYDH.

[483] “Every argument of the origin of emigrant nations must, after all, be referred to language.”--CAMDEN.

[484] The derivation of those two terms is not exclusively mine. It is but the repetition of the received interpretation of all men of letters.

[485] “For it is to be thought, that the use of all England was in the raigne of Henry the Second, when Ireland was planted with English, very rude and barbarous, so as if the same should be now used in England by any, it would seem worthy of sharpe correction, and of new lawes for reformation, for it is but even the other day since England grew civill” (SPENSER).

[486] The name of _Arran_ was given to this island as expressive of _the land of the unfaithful_, in opposition to our _Iran_, or _the land of the faithful_: both corresponding to the _Iran_ and _An-Iran_ of the Persians.

[487] This, however, did not happen at first; for the name of Ireland was not yet generally used among strangers, as Adam de Breme, who lived in the eleventh century, and Nubigensis, in the twelfth, were the first who mentioned it: the name of Scotland was by degrees appropriated to Albania, which was for some time called Little Scotland, “Scotia Minor,” to distinguish it from Ireland, which was called “Scotia Major,” whose inhabitants did not lose all of a sudden the name of Scots: they are so called in the eleventh century by Herman, in the first book of his chronicle; by Marianus Scotus, Florentius Wigorniensis, in his annals, in which, having inserted the chronicle of Marianus, in mentioning the year 1028, he says, “In this year was born Marianus, probably a Scot from Ireland, by whose care this excellent chronicle has been compiled from several histories.” We discover the same thing in a chronicle in the Cottonian library (_Abbé Mac Geoghegan_).

[488] The Picts, confiding in the happy omen of future friendship from the Scots, obtained wives from them, and thereby contracted so close an alliance, that they seemed to form but one people; so that the passage between the two countries being free, a number of Scots came and settled amongst the Picts, who received them with joy (BUCHANAN).

Britannia post Britones et Pictos tertiam Scotorum nationem in Pictorum parte, recepit, qui, duce Reuda, de Hibernia progressi, vel amicitiâ vel ferro, sibimet inter eos sedes quas hactenus habent, vindicârunt, à quo scilicet duce usque hodiè Dalreundini vocantur (Beda, _Hist. Eccles._ lib. i. cap. 1).

Cambrensis says, that in the reign of Niall the Great in Ireland, the six sons of Muredus, King of Ulster, with a considerable fleet, seized on the northern part of Britain, and founded a nation, called Scotia (_Topog. Hib._ dist. 3, cap. 16).

“It is certain,” says Camden, “that the Scots went from Ireland into Britain. Orosius, Bede, and Eginard, bear indisputable testimony that Ireland was inhabited by the Scots.” Elsewhere he calls the Irish the ancestors of the Scotch. “Hiberni Scotorum atavi.”

[489] Author of the _New Analysis of Chronology_, and late Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.

[490] See p. 376.

[491] This should have been Scythians.

[492] “Origin and Purity of the Primitive Churches of the British Isles.”

[493] Various colonies of the Tuath-de-danaans had settled here: but I talk now of the last one, immediately preceding the Scythians.

[494] See pp. 259, 264, 265.

[495] See pp. 385, 282, and 259.

[496] _Euseb. Præpar. Evang._ 1. ii. 4.

[497] Πανταχοῦ δὲ καὶ ἀνθρωπομορθον Οσιρίδος ἄγαλμαδεικνύουσιν ἐξορθιαζον τῶ’ αἰδοιω, διὰ το γόνιμον καὶ τὸ τρόφιμον.--_Plut. de Isid. et Osirid._

[498] See p. 265.

[499] De facie in orbe lunæ. Slatyr, also, an English poet, in his “Pale Albeone,” calls our island Ogygia. Rhodoganus explains the propriety of the word when he says, “Ogygium appellant poetæ tanquam pervatis dixeres.”

[500] The original, in fact, of the _Feodal System_.

[501] An act of daring impiety (not requiring to be added) disgusted Jemsheed’s subjects, and encouraged the Syrian prince, Zohauk, to invade Persia. The unfortunate Jemsheed fled before a conqueror, who was deemed by all, the instrument of divine vengeance. The wanderings of the exiled monarch are wrought into a tale, which is among the most popular in Persian romance. His first adventure was in the neighbouring province of Seistan, where the only daughter of the ruling prince was led, by a prophecy of her nurse, to fall in love with him, and to contract a secret marriage; but the unfortunate Jemsheed was pursued through Seistan, India, and China, by the agents of the implacable Zohauk, by whom he was at last seized, and carried before his cruel enemy, like a common malefactor. Here his miseries closed; for after enduring all that proud scorn could inflict upon fallen greatness, he was placed between two boards, and sawn asunder with a bone of a fish (SIR JOHN MALCOLM).

[502] _Clio_, chap. 130.

[503] “Now these _heathens_ in India, believe that an _atonement_ has been made for their sins,” says Dr. Hurd, in his _Religious Rites and Ceremonies_. Had the Doctor, or whoever he was that assumed his name, known that this was their reliance upon the _expiation_ “of the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world,” he would have spared his _heathens_, and spoken less irreverently.

[504] _Clio_, chap. 193.

[505] Cambrensis, in the twelfth century, says, the Irish then musically expressed their griefs; that is, they applied the musical art, in which they excelled all others, to the ordinary celebration of funeral obsequies, by dividing the mourners into two bodies, each alternately singing their part, and the whole, at times, joining in full chorus.

“The body of the deceased, dressed in graveclothes, and ornamented with flowers, was placed on a bier, or some elevated spot. The relations and _keeners_ (singing mourners) then ranged themselves in two divisions, one at the head, and the other at the foot of the corpse. The bards and croteries had before prepared the funeral caoinan. The chief bard of the head chorus began by singing the first stanza in a low doleful tone, which was softly accompanied by the harp: at the conclusion, the foot semichorus began the lamentation, or _ullaloo_, from the final note of the preceding stanza, in which they were answered by the head semichorus; then both united in one general chorus. The chorus of the first stanza being ended, the chief bard of the foot semichorus began the second gol, or lamentation, in which they were answered by that of the head, and, as before, both united in the full chorus. Thus, alternately, were the song and the choruses performed during the night. The genealogy, rank, possessions, the virtues and vices of the dead were rehearsed, and a number of interrogations were addressed to the deceased: as, Why did he die? If married, whether his wife was faithful to him, his sons dutiful, or good hunters or warriors? If a woman, whether her daughters were fair or chaste? If a young man, whether he had been crossed in love? or if the blue-eyed maids of Erin had treated him with scorn?” (_Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_, vol. iv. note 9).

[506] Baillie.

[507] A particular anecdote in the Persian history has such claims upon the feelings, and is otherwise so interesting, _as being, in fact, the elucidation of the origin and era of the Tyrrhenians, Etrurians, or Tuscans, in Italy_, that I am forced to transcribe it here at full length.

“Feridoon was the son of Ablen, an immediate descendant of Tahamurs. He had escaped, in almost a miraculous manner, from Zohauk, when that prince had seized and murdered his father. At the age of sixteen he joined Kâwâh, who had collected a large body of his countrymen: these fought with enthusiasm under the standard of the blacksmith’s apron, which continually reminded them of the just cause of their revolt; and the presence of their young prince made them invincible. Zohauk, after numerous defeats, was made prisoner, and put to a slow and painful death, as some punishment for his great crimes.

“Feridoon’s first act was to convert the celebrated apron into the royal standard of Persia. As such, it was richly ornamented with jewels, to which every king, from Feridoon to the last of the Pehlivi monarchs added. It was called the Derush-e-Kawanee, the Standard of Kawa, and continued to be the royal standard of Persia, till the Mohammedan conquest, when it was taken in battle by Saed-e-Wukass, and sent to the Caliph Omar.

“A Persian poet, alluding to the victories which the youthful Feridoon obtained over Zohauk, and to those enchantments by which the latter was guarded, and the manner in which they were overcome by his virtuous antagonist, beautifully exclaims, ‘The happy Feridoon was not an angel; he was not formed of musk or of amber; it was by his justice and mercy that he gained good and great ends. Be then just and merciful, and thou shalt be a Feridoon.’

“The crimes of his elder sons, which embittered the latter years of Feridoon, have given rise to one of the most affecting tales in Persian romance; and it is, indeed, only in that form that there remains any trace of these events. This virtuous monarch had, we are told, three sons, Selm, Toor, and Erii. The two former were by one mother, the daughter of Zohauk; the latter by a princess of Persia. All these three princes had been united in marriage to three daughters of a king of Arabia. Feridoon determined to divide his wide dominions among them. To Selm he gave the countries comprehended in modern Turkey; to Toor, Tartary and part of China; and to Erii, Persia. The princes departed for their respective governments, but the two elder were displeased that Persia, the fairest of lands, and the seat of royalty, should have been given to their junior, and they combined to effect the ruin of their envied brother. They first sent to their father to reproach him with his partiality and injustice, and to demand a revision of his act, threatening an immediate attack if their request was refused. The old king was greatly distressed; he represented to them that his days were drawing to a close, and entreated that he might be allowed to depart in peace. Erii discovered what was passing, and resolved to go to his brothers and to lay his crown at their feet, rather than continue to be the cause of a dissension that afflicted his father. He prevailed upon the old king to consent to this measure, and carried a letter from their common parent to Selm and Toor, the purport of which was, that they should live together in peace. This appeal had no effect, and the unfortunate Erii was slain by his brothers who had the hardihood to embalm his head and send it to Feridoon. The old man is said to have fainted at the sight. When he recovered, he seized with frantic grief the head of his beloved son, and, holding it in his raised hands, he called upon heaven to punish the base perpetrators of so unnatural and cruel a deed. ‘May they never more,’ he exclaimed, ‘enjoy one bright day! May the demon remorse tear their savage bosoms, till they excite compassion even in the wild beasts of the forest! As for me,’ said the afflicted old man, ‘I only desire from the God that gave me life, that he will continue it till a descendant shall arise from the race of Erii to avenge his death: and then this head will repose with joy on any spot that is appointed to receive it.’

“The daughter of Erii was married to the nephew of Feridoon, and their young son, Manucheher, proved the image of his grandfather; this child becoming the cherished hope of the aged monarch; and when the young prince attained manhood he made every preparation to enable him to revenge the blood of Erii. Selm and Toor trembled as they saw the day of retribution approach; they sent ambassadors with rich presents to their father, and entreated that Manucheher might be sent to them, that they might stand in his presence like slaves, and wash away the remembrance of their crimes by tears of contrition. Feridoon returned their presents; and in his reply to their message expressed his indignation in glowing terms. ‘Tell the merciless men,’ he exclaimed, ‘that they shall never see Manucheher, but attended by armies, and clothed in steel.’

“A war commenced; and in the very first battle Toor was slain by the lance of Manucheher. Selm retired to a fortress, from whence he was drawn by a challenge from the youthful hero, who was victorious in this combat, and the war restored tranquillity to the empire” (SIR JOHN MALCOLM).

[508] “Fifty-six years the Fir-Bolgs royal line were kings, and the sceptre they resigned to the Tuath-de-danaans” (KEATING).

[509] We have as yet no accounts of the persecution and expulsion of the Budhists from India; and this circumstance of itself would allow us to infer, with great probability, that those events must have taken place at a very remote period of antiquity.--_Asiatic Researches._

[510] Göttingen University.

[511] Vallancey, _Coll._ vol. iii. p. 163.

[512] Bryant’s _Anal._ vol. iii. 491-3.

[513] “The first origin of the _Danavas_” says Wilford, talking of the primeval inhabitants of Egypt, “is as little known as that of the tribe last mentioned. But they came into Egypt from the west of India, and are frequently mentioned in the Puranas, amongst the inhabitants near Cali.”

Is it not manifest that they were a colony of our Danaans? And is not this still more undeniable from the circumstance of a part of Egypt--doubtless that wherein the Danaans resided--having been called of old, as you will find by the same authority, by the name of _Eria_? See p. 68 of present volume.

[514] This explains what Hecatæus records, as to the ancient attachment between the Hyperboreans and the Grecians--“deducing their friendship from remote times.” And the offerings which the latter are said to have brought to the former were precisely of that nature (ανθηματα) which comports with the spirit of our Budhist pentalogue. See p. 112.

[515] As to the actuality of the visit, it is past anything like doubt, from Orpheus, or if you prefer Onomacretus’ poem called “Argonautica”; and his conviction of this it was which made Adrianus Junius, quoted by Sir John Ware, to characterise Ireland as an “insula _Jasoniæ_ puppis bene cognita nautis.”

[516] “Abaris ex Hyperboreis, _ipse quoque theologus fuit; scripsit oracula regionibus quas peragravit, quæ hodie extant; prædixit is quoque terræ motus, pestes, et similia ac cætera. Ferunt eum cum Spartam advenisset, Lacones monuisse de sacris mala avertentibus, quibus peractis nulla, postmodum Lacedæmone pestis fuerit_” (Apollonius, _Histor. Mirab._).

“They thought them gods and not of mortal race,
And gave them cities and adored their learning,
And begged them to communicate their art.”
KEATING (from an old Irish poem).

Turn back also to pp. 328, 67, and 66, and see what is there stated!

“An hundred and ninety-seven years complete
The Tuath-de-danaans, a famous colony,
The Irish sceptre swayed.”

[517] “A spiritual supremacy of this kind prevailed in several cities of Asia Minor, as, for instance, at Pessinus, in Phrygia. The origin of such constitutions is uncertain; but, according to tradition, was of very ancient date. The same cities were also great resorts of commerce, lying on the highway from Armenia to Asia Minor. The bond between commerce and religion was very intimate. The festivals of their worship were also those of their great fairs, frequented by a multitude of foreigners; all of whom (certain classes of females not excepted), as well as everything which had a reference to trade, were considered as under the immediate protection of the temple and the divinity. The same fact may be remarked here, which has obtained in several parts of Central Africa, namely, that the union of commerce with some particular mode of worship gave occasion at a very early period to certain political associations, and introduced a sacerdotal government” (Heeren, vol. i. p. 121).

[518] “This word is of uncertain etymology--their early history is uncertain. Diodorus (lib. v. 31) tells us that the Celts had bards who sung to musical instruments; and Strabo (liv. iv.) testifies that they were treated with respect approaching to veneration. The passage of Tacitus (Germ. 7) is a doubtful reading” (_American Encyclopædia_).

[519] See Oriental Collections.

[520] Homer’s _Iliad_, π. v. 233.

[521] Hesiod, _apud Strabo_, 1. 7.

[522] See Miege’s _Present State of Ireland_.

[523] See p. 257.

[524] On the pillar at Buddall, before alluded to, are these words, namely, “He had a womb, but it obstinately bore him no fruit. One like him can have no relish for the enjoyments of life. He never was blessed with that giver of delight, by obtaining which a man goes to _another Almoner_.” Upon which the learned translator (Sir Charles Wiggins) very correctly comments, that “he had no issue to perform _Sradh_ for the release of his soul from the bonds of sin.” See p. 113 of this work. By _another Almoner_ is meant the _Deity_.

[525] See p. 327.

[526] “Graiis, ingenium Graiis: dedit _ore rotundo_” (HORACE).

[527] This is still more evident by his making use of the word τηλοθι, that is, _far off_, meaning _from_ Greece! And Hesiod applies this identical topography to the _British Islands_, which he styles _sacred_, describing them as μαλα τηλε, an immeasurable distance off, towards the northern point of the ancient continent!

[528] See p. 71.

[529] Chap. xvii. 15.

[530] For _Dedan_, see last two pages; and for _D-Irin_, see p. 128. The prefixing of _D_ to the last word arose from confounding it with the former name; and thus it was embodied with it, as seen before in _L-Erne_.

[531] Or as the Rev. Cæsar Otway would say, in a similar embarrassment,--“I will _give_ (_i.e._ invent) you a motto and a motive for it.” Ha, ha, ha! (see _Dublin Penny Journal_, July 8, 1832).

[532] _Dublin Penny Journal_, April 6, 1833.

[533] “Elementorum omnium spiritus, utpote perennium corporum motu semper, et ubique vigens, ex his quæ per disciplinas varias affectamus, participat nobiscum munera divinandi, et substantiales potestates ritu diversa placatæ, velut ex perpetuis fontium venis vaticina mortalitati suppeditant verba” (Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 21).

“They then took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began to approach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching them sorcery, incantations, and the dividing of roots and trees” (Book of Enoch).

“I have collected fifty words in the Irish language relating to augury and divination: every one of them are oriental, expressing the mode of producing these abominable arts; they are, in fact, the very identical oriental words written in Irish characters” (VALLANCEY).

[534] Danaus, the sire of fifty daughters, leaving those fruitful regions watered by the Nile, came to Argos, and through Greece, ordained that those who erst were called Pelasgi, should by the name of Danai be distinguished (EURIPIDES).

[535] You will find in Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller’s writings, that those boats are still called, in that country, _arghs_, as they were in ours, and the people who man them are styled _Phut_, corresponding to our _Fo-morians_.

[536] “I thank you,” says Symmachus to his brother Flavianus, “for the present you made me of some _Irish dogs_ (_canes Scotici_), which were there exhibited at the Circensian Games, to the great astonishment of the people, who could not judge it possible to bring them to Rome otherwise than in iron cages.”

[537] This is the meaning of the name _Glen-da-lough_, and a faithful portraiture it is of the situation.

[538] Miniature of Budhism.

[539] “The _secret_, it was _lost_, but surely it was found” (_Freemason’s Song_).

[540] This account is found in _Satdharmalankare_, a very popular Budhist book, being a collection of histories, etc., from the writings of the _Rahats_, in which the original _Paly_ (_Pahlavi_) texts are preserved with the Singhalese (_Miniature of Budhism_).

[541] _Buddu_, the god of souls, is represented by several little images made of silver, brass, stone, or white clay, and these are set up in almost every corner, even in caverns and on rocks, to all which piles the devotees carry a variety of provisions, every new and full moon throughout the year; but it is in March they celebrate the grand festival of _Buddu_, at which time they imagine the new year begins. At this festival they go to worship in two different places, which have been made famous by their legendary stories concerning them. One of them is the highest mountain in the island, and called by the Christians _Adam’s Peak_; the other is in a place where _Buddu_ reposed himself under a _tree_, which planted itself there for the more commodious reception of the deity, who, _when he was on earth, frequently amused himself under its agreeable shade_, and _under that tree_ the pagans in Ceylon _adore_ their _Buddu_, whom they really believe to be a god (DR. HURD).

Bodhesat receives a few handfuls of grass presented to him by Soitha (a Brahmin), which grass, when strewed on the ground under the _Bo tree_, there arise from the earth miraculously a throne of diamond fourteen cubits high, covered externally with grass; on which Bodhesat takes his seat, reclining his back against the _tree_, in order to accomplish his last act of meditations. Buddha having ascended into the air, and displayed his glory to all the worlds in rays of six different colours, in order to afford the gods a proof of his perfection, stands seven days with his eyes fixed on the _Bo tree_, enjoying the _Dhyanes_ (_Miniature, etc._).

[542]

“Yes, love indeed is light from heaven,
A spark of that immortal fire,
With angels shared, by Allah given,
To lift from earth our low desire.
Devotion wafts the mind above,
But heaven itself descends in love,
A feeling from the Godhead caught,
To wean from self each sordid thought.”--BYRON.

[543] Book of Enoch, lxi. 8-10.

[544] Dr. Lawrence, present Archbishop of Cashel.

[545] Preface to translation of the Book of Enoch.

[546] “If this singular book be censured as abounding in some parts with fable and fiction, still should we recollect that fable and fiction may, occasionally, prove both amusing and instructive; and can then only be deemed injurious when pressed into the service of vice and infidelity. Nor should we forget that much, perhaps most, of what we censure, was grounded upon rational tradition, the antiquity of which alone, independent of other considerations, had rendered it respectable. _That the author was uninspired will be scarcely now questioned._ But, although his production was apocryphal, it ought not therefore to be necessarily stigmatised as necessarily replete with error; although it be on that account incapable of becoming a rule of faith, it may nevertheless contain much moral as well as religious truth, and may be justly regarded as a correct standard of the doctrine of the times in which it was composed. _Non omnia esse concedenda antiquitati_ is, it is true, a maxim founded upon reason and experience; but, in perusing the present relic of a remote age and country, should the reader discover much to condemn, still, unless he be too fastidious, he will find more to approve; if he sometimes frown, he may oftener smile; nor seldom will he be disposed to admire the vivid imagination of a writer who transports him far beyond the flaming boundaries of the world--

------‘Extra
Processit longe flammantia mœnia mundi’;

displaying to him every secret of creation; the splendours of heaven, and the terrors of hell; the mansions of departed souls, and the myriads of the celestial hosts, the seraphim, cherubim, and ophanim, which surround the blazing throne, and magnify the holy name of the great Lord of Spirits, the Almighty Father of men and of angels” (ARCHBISHOP OF CASHEL).

[547] See p. 475.

[548] John i. 10, 11.

[549] John i. 14.

[550] P. 478.

[551] But cf. Acts (Gr.) xxiv. 23, τῶν ιδιων.

[552] John i. 12.

[553] John i. 13.

[554] See p. 242.

[555] See p. 243.

[556] Rom. xi. 33.

[557] John i. 31.

[558] John xii. 28.

[559] Namely, the _secret_ of an Antediluvian Incarnation.

[560] Matt. ii. 1, 2.

[561] This woodcut is copied from one of the early block-books.

[562] See p. 440.

[563] I need not repeat to the reader, that by _Irish_ I mean the primitive _Persic_, indiscriminately common as well to _Iran_ as to _Irin_.

[564] Virgil’s _Æneid_, vi. 724.

[565] John viii. 12.

[566] John i. 1.

[567] John i. 29. See also p. 315 of this volume.

[568] See p. 288.

[569] In the Tartar language, which is a dialect of the Irish, it still retains this latter import, as appears from the following:--“Ce qu’il y a de remarquable, c’est que le grand prêtre des Tartares port le nom de _lama_, qui en langue Tartare signifie _la croix_; et les _Bogdoi_ qui conquirent la Chine en 1644, et qui sont soûmis au _delae-lama_ dans les choses de la religion, ont toujours des _croix_ sur eux, qu’ils appellent aussi _lamas_” (_Voyage de la Chine_, par Avril, lib. iii. p. 194).

[570] The words _Irish_ and _sacred_ are synonymous. See p. 129.

[571] See pp. 267, 268, 269.

[572] “The peculiar office of the Irumarcalim it is difficult to find out,” says Lewis, “only it is agreed that they carried the keys of the seven gates of the court, and one could not open them without the rest. Some add that there were seven rooms at the seven gates, where the holy vessels were kept, and these seven men kept the keys, and had the charge of them” (_Origines Hebrææ_, vol. i. p. 97).

[573] See p. 438, with the note thereon also.

[574] See _Dublin Penny Journal_, Nov. 10, 1833.

[575] Published by Berthoud, 65 Regent’s Quadrant, Piccadilly.

[576] See p. 361. At Monasterboice there are three very beautiful specimens of those Tuath-de-danaan crosses still remaining, and covered, as usual, with _hieroglyphic sculpture_. “The pillars in the Palencian city,” I find, “are also decorated with serpents, lizards, etc.”

[577] See Borlase, p. 162.

[578] See p. 36. I must not omit to mention that the Tuath-de-danaan cross at Armagh, noticed at p. 359, was pulled down some time back, to prevent the _squabbles_ between the Catholics and the Orangemen, neither of whom had any inheritance therein!

[579] _Vita prima S. Patricii_, Ap. Colgan.

[580] “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke ii. 10,11).

[581] “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men” (Luke ii. 13, 14).

[582] Matt. ii. 9.

[583] Gen. xiv. 18, 19, 20.

[584] Heb. vii. 4, 1, 2, 3. “Rex idem hominum, Phœbique Sacerdos” (VIRGIL).

[585] “Holy _mysteries_ must be studied with this caution, that the mind for its module be dilated to the amplitude of the _mysteries_, and not the mysteries be straitened and girt into the narrow compass of the mind” (BACON).

[586] Isa. lii. 7.

[587] John xvi. 33.

[588] Luke xix. 42.

[589] John xiv. 27.

[590] Heb. vi. 19, 20.

[591] _Christmas Carols._

[592] _Freemasons’ Song._

[593] Matt. iii. 7.

[594] John vii. 41.

[595] See p. 229.

[596] Keating’s _History of Ireland_, folio, p. 143.

[597] Pronounced _Sauv_. This was the Seva of the Hindoos, by which although they understood, indeed, as well _generation_ as _destruction_ to be symbolised; yet it is clear that they must have long lost the method of accounting for the _reason why_, otherwise than saying, that _death_ and _life_ meant the same thing; that is, that the cessation of existence in one form was but the commencement of existence in another.

[598] _Freemasons’ Song._

[599] Ashe’s _Masonic Manual_.

[600] See p. 282, note.

[601] See p. 268.

[602] Isa. vii. 14.

[603] “The countenance of Christ was placid, handsome, and ruddy, so formed, however, as to inspire the beholders, not so much with love and reverence as with terror; his locks were like the colour of a full ripe filbert nut (auburn), straight, and entire down to the ears, from thence somewhat curled down to the shoulders, but parted on the crown of the head after the manner of the Nazarites; his forehead was smooth and shining, his eyes blue and sparkling, his nose and mouth decorous, and absolutely faultless; his beard, in colour like his locks, was forked, and not long” (WASERUS, p. 63).

“At this time appeared a man, who is still living, a man endowed with great power, his name Jesus Christ. The people say that he is a mighty prophet; his disciples call him the Son of God. He quickens the dead, and heals the sick of all manner of diseases and disorders. He is a man of tall stature, well proportioned, and the aspect of his countenance engaging, with serenity, and full of expression, so as to induce the beholders to love and then to fear him. The locks of his hair are of the colour of a vine-leaf, without curl, and straight to the bottom of his ears, but from thence, down to his shoulders, curled and glossy, and hanging below his shoulders. His hair on the crown of the head disposed after the manner of the Nazarites. His forehead smooth and fair. His face without spot, and adorned with a certain tempered ruddiness. His aspect ingenuous and agreeable. His nose and his mouth in no wise reprehensible. His beard thick and forked, of the same colour as the locks of his head. His eyes blue and extremely bright. In reprehending and improving, awful; in teaching and exhorting, courteous and engaging; a wonderful grace and gravity of countenance; none saw him laugh, even once, but rather weep. In speaking, accurate and impressive, but sparing of speech. In countenance, the fairest among the children of men” (Attributed to Lentulus, predecessor of Pilate in the government of Judea, recorded by Fabricius in his _Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti_).

[604] The principal one I conceive to have been at the hill of _Tara_, which means the hill of the _Saviour_, and synonymous with mount _Ida_, which means the mount of the cross. See p. 453.

“The predominant style and character of the Pillar Tower,” says Montmorency, “in a great measure discloses the _secret_ of its origin.” It is astonishing how, after this, he and his pupils of the academy should labour to assimilate that secret to a dungeon.

“L’obélisque que les Phéniciens dédièrent au Soleil dont le _sommet sphérique_ et la matière étoient fort différens des obélisques d’Egypte” (AMMIAN. MARCEL.).

[605] Ex. xx. 26. The word _altar_ does not mean what it is generally taken to express, a _platform_, but a _high place_, or standing column, what the Septuagint renders by the Greek word στηλη, a pillar. And this was what the Israelites were forbid erecting to Jehovah, lest that their nakedness should be discovered while ascending by steps or ladders to the entrance overhead.

The Gaurs have _round towers_ erected of stone, and thither they carry their dead on biers; within the tower is a staircase with deep steps made in a winding form, and when the bearers are got within, the priests scale the walls by the help of ladders; when they have dragged the corpse gently up with ropes, they then let it slide down the staircase (Dr. Hurd’s _Rites and Ceremonies, etc._).

[606] See pp. 7 and 8.

[607] 1 Kings vi. 4.

[608] 1 Kings vi. 6.

[609] 1 Kings vi. 29.

[610] The Tower of Pisa bears no comparison to this edifice.

[611] The holy wells also, with the practice of hanging pieces of cloth upon the branches of an overhanging tree, all belonged to the Tuath-de-danaan ceremonial. The early Christians took possession each of them of one of these wells, and are now, by prescription, recognised as their patron saints, and even supposed to have been their founders?

[612] Μοῖσα δ’ οἰκ ἀποδαμει τρόποις επι σφετέροσι, παντα δε χοροὶ παρθένων λυρᾶν τε Βοαὶ καναχαί τ’ ανλων δονεονται δαφνᾳ τε χρυσεα κομος αναδησαντες εἰλαπινα ξοινιν εν φρονως. νοσοι δ’ οντε γηρας ονλομενον κέκρατα ἱερᾶ γενεᾶ· πονων δε καὶ μαχᾶν ἄτερ οικεοισι φυγοντες υπερδικον Νέμεσιν (Pyth x. 59).

[613] Even among the vegetables, they abstained from _beans_, as did the Pythagoreans after them, _ob similitudinem virilibus genitalibus_.

[614] See conditions of advertisement in Preface.

[615] “You may read in Lucian, in that sweet dialogue, which is entitled, _Toxaris; or, of Friendship_, that the common oath of the Scythians was by the _sword_, and by the _fire_, for that they accounted those two speciall divine powers, which should worke vengeance on the perjurers. So doe the Irish at this day, when they goe to battaile, say certaine prayers or charmes to their swords, making a crosse therewith upon the earth, and thrusting the points of their blades into the ground, thinking thereby to have the better successe here in fight. Also they use commonly to swear by their swords” (SPENSER).

[616] See pp. 81, 82.

[617] They were _afterwards_ degraded to every possible purpose they could be made to subserve: but I speak above of the time _immediately_ after their overthrow.

[618] “I had not been a week landed in Ireland from Gibraltar, where I had studied Hebrew and Chaldaic, under Jews of various countries and denominations, when I heard a peasant girl say to a boor standing by her, _Féach an maddin nag_ (Behold the morning star), pointing to the planet Venus, the _maddin nag_ of the Chaldean. Shortly after, being benighted with a party in the mountains of the western parts of the county of Cork, we lost the path, when an aged cottager undertook to be our guide. It was a fine starry night. In our way, the peasant pointing to the constellation _Orion_, he said that was _Caomai_, or the armed king; and he described the three upright stars to be his spear or sceptre, and the three horizontal stars, he said, were his sword-belt. I could not doubt of this being the _Cimah_ of Job, which the learned Costard asserts to be the constellation _Orion_” (VALLANCEY).

[619] At p. 305 of his work on the _Towers and Temples of Ancient Ireland_, Mr. Keane observes: “Lists of Irish Round Towers have been made to the number of one hundred and twenty; of these, the remains of about sixty-six are traceable.” The list given here includes some towers of which the site alone remains, as being possibly of interest to explorers.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Round Towers of Ireland, by Henry O'Brien