Before we descend to language, I shall collect the historical concordances
that bear upon this investigation.
Beo, a poetess of Delphi, mentions in the fragment of a poem, quoted by
Pausanias, that three individuals, sons of Hyperboreans, and named _Olen_,
_Pagasus_, and _Agyeus_, had founded the oracle of Delphi. Will it be
credited that those three names are but representatives of three several
orders of our Irish priests, viz. Ollam, Pagoes, and Aghois?[511]
At Delos the same tradition is to be encountered, with but a few local
alterations: such as that of Latona having arrived there from the
Hyperboreans, in the form of a _she-wolf_; Apollo and Diana, with the
virgins Arge and Opis, following afterwards. Two other virgins, viz.
Laodice and Hyperoche, succeeded, and with them five men, who were called
_peripherees_, or carriers, from their bringing with them offerings of
first-fruits, wrapt in bundles of wheaten straw.
But is this embassy altogether a fiction? “There is not a fact in all
antiquity,” says Carte, “that made a greater noise in the world, was more
universally known, or better attested by the gravest and most ancient
authors among the Greeks, than this of the sacred embassies of the
Hyperboreans to Delos, _in times preceding_, by an _interval of ages_,
the voyages of the Carthaginians to the north of the Straits of
Gibraltar.” “No argument to the contrary,” says Müller, “can be drawn from
its not being mentioned either in the _Iliad_ or _Odyssey_, these poems
not affording an opportunity for its introduction: moreover, the
Hyperboreans were spoken of in the poem of the Epigoni, and by Hesiod....
Stephanus quotes here a supposed oracle of a prophetess named _Asteria_,
that the inhabitants and priests of Delos came from the Hyperboreans.” So
that we are by no means dependent, as implied before, upon Diodorus
Siculus, for the narrative.
On this subject Herodotus says that “the suite of this Hyperborean embassy
having been ill-treated by the Greeks, they took afterwards another method
of sending their sacred presents to the temples of Apollo and Diana,
delivering them to the nation that lay nearest to them on the continent of
Europe, with a request that they might be forwarded to their next
neighbour: and thus they were transmitted from one people to another,
through the _western_ regions, till they came to the _Adriatic_, and
there, being put into the hands of the Dodoneans, the first of the Greeks
that received them, they were conveyed thence by the Melian Bay, Eubœa,
Carystus, Andras, and Tenos, till at last they arrived at Delos.”
Could he, I ask, more geographically pourtray their route from Ireland?
Alcæus, in a hymn to Apollo, says that “Jupiter adorned the new-born god
with a golden fillet and lyre, and sent him in a chariot drawn by swans to
Delphi, in order to introduce justice and law among the Greeks. Apollo,
however, ordered the swans first to fly to the Hyperboreans. The
Delphians, missing the god, instituted a pæan and song, ranged choruses of
young men around the tripod, and invoked him to come from the
Hyperboreans. The god remained an entire year with that nation, and, at
the appointed time, when the tripods of Delphi were destined to sound, he
ordered the swans to resume their flight. The return of Apollo takes place
exactly in the middle of summer; nightingales, swallows, and grasshoppers
sang in honour of the god; and even Castalia and Cephisus heave their
waves to salute him.”
Now Mr. Bryant assures us that--
“The Celtic sages a tradition hold,
That every drop of amber was a tear
Shed by Apollo, _when he fled from heaven_,--
_For sorely did he weep_,--and _sorrowing passed
Through many a doleful region_, till he reached
The sacred Hyperboreans.”[512]
Words could not convey a more direct delineation of the first arrival of
the Tuath-de-danaans amongst us, with their mysterious worship, after
their ejectment from _Iran_, their paradise, or earthly _heaven_, for the
loss of which they “sorely wept,” until at length they found a substitute
in _Irin_. The _lyre_ or _harp_ which they brought with them, and solely
for celebrating the praises of Apollo, continues still our national
emblem; and those swans which are said to have drawn his chariot formed so
essential a part of our ceremonial, that you shall be presented by and by
with one of his magic implements, to which they are still attached, as
they are similarly figured upon the painted vases, remaining after our
allied Etrurians in the south of Italy.
As to the embassy of Abaris, the direct fact is so completely
authenticated by our ancient records, which narrate the circumstance, with
no view to decide an historical controversy, but with indifference
thereto, and as in ordinary course,--that it is inevitable but that, when
the Greeks say that this philosopher had gone to them from the
_Hyperboreans_,--and when we produce proofs to show that a man of the
_same name_ had repaired on the _errand_ alluded to, from _our_ country to
_Greece_, it is inevitable, I say, but that, when both statements so
perfectly tally, the island of the _Hyperboreans_ and that of the
_Hibernians_ must be one and the same.
I shall now subjoin from General Vallancey’s works, as he translates it
from an old Irish poem, the authentic narrative of this our Hyperborean
embassy.
“The purport of the Tuath-de-danaans journey was in quest of knowledge,
And to seek a proper place where they should improve in Druidism.
These holy men soon sailed to Greece. The sons of Nirned, son of Adhnam,
Descendant of Baoth, from Bœotia sprung. Thence to the care of skilful
pilots,
This Bœotian clan, like warlike heroes, themselves committed,
And after a dangerous voyage, the ships brought them to Loch Luar.
Four cities of great fame, which bore great sway,
Received our clan, in which they completed their studies.
Spotless Taleas, Goreas, majestic Teneas and Mhuiras,
For sieges famed, were the names of the four cities.
Morfios and Earus-Ard, _Abhras_, and Lemas, well-skilled in magic,
Were the names of our Druids; they lived in the reign of Garman the
Happy.
Morfios was made Fele of Falias, Earus the poet in Gone dwelt,
Samias dwelt at Mhurias, but _Abhras_, the Tele-fionn, at Teneas.”
A quarrel, it would seem, ensued between them and the Fir-Bolgs on their
return: and the Seanneachees, in their incapacity to separate any two
events of a similar character from each other, confounded the differences
which arose herefrom with the battles fought _six hundred years before_,
between the ancestors of both parties, on the plains of _Moye-tureadh_!
At page 67 I have stated that this event took place about B.C. 600. And
this very circumstance it was--I mean the lateness of the date--which
rendered the expedition at all needful.
The Tuath-de-danaans having been for a long time humiliated, and allowed
but a mere nominal existence in a remote canton of the realm, their ritual
got merged into that of the Druids. A corresponding decay had vitiated
their taste for letters, while the Greeks, in proportion, rose in the
scale.
Pythagoras had by this time returned from his tour to Egypt, and the fame
of his acquirements had reached the Tuath-de-danaans. Naturally solicitous
to court the acquaintance of an individual who had derived his information
from the kindred of their ancestors,[513] they had address enough to
obtain leave from the several States of the kingdom to repair to Greece,
on the alleged plea of returning the visit[514] of the _Argonauts_ to our
shores many ages previously,[515] but actually with a view to gratify
their predilections by philosophical inquiry.
When the _meteors met_, it is difficult now to decide which orb it was
that emitted the greater light. But without being too much biassed by the
links of patriotism, I think we may very fairly aver that our countryman
communicated, _depressed even as was his order at that day_, as much
information as he had received.[516]
Who then can any longer doubt but that this was the island of the
Hyperboreans? Even the _peculiarity_ of our language mingles in the chain
of proof; as Diodorus states that “the Hyperboreans use _their own_
natural tongue.” But were all other arguments wanting, I would undertake
to prove the identity by an admission from this transcriber himself. “The
sovereignty of this city,” says he, “and the care of the temple belong to
the _Boreades_.”[517]
Now, nothing ever has puzzled etymologists so much to explore as the
origin of the Irish term _Bards_.[518] The _guesses_ which they have made
thereat are so exceedingly amusing, that I will take leave to _refresh_
myself, exhausted and languid as I now wellnigh am, with the outline of a
few.
First, Bochart would derive it from _parat_, to speak!!! Wilford from the
Sanscrit, _varta_!!! But “some learned friends of his are of opinion that
it comes from _bhardanan_, to burthen!!! because burthened with the
internal management of the royal household”!!!
I shall spare my reader any more of those _caricatures_, and submit to his
own candour to adjudicate whether _Bards_ could, by possibility, be
anything else than the modern Englification for our ancient _Boreades_?
Doubtless, Professor Müller, your astonishment has now subsided as to
Hecatæus’s credulity in the existence of the Hyperboreans. Diodorus
Siculus, who, though, as Granville Penn has affirmed, he “has transmitted
to us many _scattered_ and important truths,” yet does the same judicious
commentator add, that it was in a condition “intermixed with much idle
fiction, _equivocation_, and anachronism,”[519] was herein your guide! But
the _manes_ of the Hyperboreans now speak from the tomb, and vindicate
their _existence_ as well as their _locality_!
I come now to prove this by another mode.
Plato, in his _Cratylus_, represents Hermogenes as proposing several terms
to Socrates for solution, when the following acknowledgment transpires:--
“I think,” says the philosopher, “that the Greeks, especially such of them
as lived subject to the dominion of foreigners, adopted _many foreign
words_; so that, if anyone should endeavour to resolve those words by
reference to the _Greek language_, or to any other _than that from which
the word_ was received, he must needs be involved in error!”
The _foreign_ extraction, then, of _many_ of the Greek words being
admitted, it devolves upon me to establish this extraction to be purely
_Irish_.
To begin with Dodona--“In Eustathius and Steph. Byzantius,” says
Vallancey, “we meet with three different conjectures in regard to the
derivation of the name Dodona, which, they say, owes its origin either to
a daughter of Jupiter and Europa, or one of the nymphs, the daughter of
Oceanus; or, lastly, to a river in Epirus, called Dodon. But, as Mr.
Potter observes, we find the Greek authors all differ, both as to the
etymology of the name and the site of this oracle. In my humble opinion,
Homer and Hesiod have not only agreed that it was not in Greece, but in
Ireland, or some island, at least, as far westward.”
The passages to which the General refers in those ancient poets are--
“Σευ ανα Δωδωναιε Πελασγικε τηλοθι ναιων
Δωδωνης μεδεων δυσχειμερου.”[520]
That is,--
Pelasgian Jove, who _far from Greece_ resid’st
In cold Dodona.
“Δωδωνην Φηγονν τε Πελασγων εδρανων ηκεν.”[521]
That is,--
To Dodona he came, and the hallowed oak, the seat of the Pelasgi.
Valuable as are those authorities, the General needed not to have had
recourse to them at all, had he but been apprised of the origin of the
word _Dodona_.
One of the religious names of Ireland, which I have purposely left
unexplained till now, was _Totdana_.[522] This it derived immediately from
the _Tuath-de-danaans_, as indeed it did all its ancient names, with the
exception of Scotia. _Tuath-de-danaans_ I have shown to mean the
_Magic-God-Almoners_,[523] and _Totdana_, by consequence, must denote the
_Magic-almonry_.[524]
Now, the Greeks, having been initiated in all their religious mystery by
the Irish, did not only enrich their language with the vocabulary of our
ceremonial, but adopted the several epithets of our island as the
distinctive names for their various localities, so that our
_Muc-inis_[525] became their _Myc-ene_, our _Tot-dana_, their Do-dona,
etc. etc. And even the names of our lakes, with all their legends of
_hydras_ and _enchantments_, found their way to them also, so that from
our Lough-Erne was formed, by a crasis, their L-Erna.
The change from _Tot-dana_ to _Do-dona_ is much more obvious than may seem
at first sight. _T_ and _D_ being commutable, _Tot_-dana was at once made
_Dot_-dana; the intermediate _t_ was then left out for sound’s sake,
making it Do-dana; and, lastly, the penultimate _a_ was transformed into
_o_ for the “ore rotundo,”[526] completing the _Grecism_ of Do-dona.
You see, therefore, from this that the origin of _Dodona_ was exclusively
Irish! that _Dodona_ and _Ireland_ were, in fact, one and the same!--a
circumstance of which Homer was perfectly well assured when he styled it
Δωδωνη δυσχειμερος, or the _Hyperborean Tot-dana_.[527]
Neither was it in _name_ only, but in _sanctity_ also, that the Greek
_Myc-ene_ strove to imitate our _Muc-inis_. To this hour is to be found
one of the ancient Pelasgian temples, vulgarly termed the _Treasury of
Atreus_, from the mere circumstance, as Dr. Clarke well remarks, “of there
being found a few _brass nails_ within it, and evidently for the purpose
of fastening on _something_ wherewith the _interior surface was formerly
lined_, and that many a long year before Atreus or Agamemnon!” The
Doctor, however, was perfectly astray in supposing it a _sepulchre_! In
form it is a hollow cone, fifty feet in diameter, and as many in height,
composed of enormous masses of a very hard _breccia_, a sort of
pudding-stone, the very material whereof most of our Round Towers are
constructed, and the property of which is to indurate by time. The _Dune
of Dornadella_ in Scotland is _identically_ the _same kind of structure_,
built by our Tuath-de-danaans, and for the solemn purpose of _religion_
alone. This is so accurately described in an article in the _Edinburgh
Magazine_, copied into _Pennant’s Tour_, that I too will make free to
transcribe it.
“It is,” says the reviewer, “of a circular form, and now nearly resembling
the frustum of a cone: whether, when perfect, it terminated in a point, I
cannot pretend to guess; but it seems to have been higher, by the rubbish
which lies round it. It is built of stone, without cement, and I take it
to be between twenty and thirty feet still. The entrance is by a low and
narrow door, to pass through which one is obliged to stoop much; but
perhaps the ground may have been raised since the first erection. When one
is got in, and placed in the centre, it is open overhead. _All round the
sides of the walls are ranged stone shelves, one above another, like a
circular beaufait, reaching from near the bottom to the top._ The stones
which compose these shelves are supported chiefly by the stones which form
the walls, and which project all round, just in that place where the
shelves are, and in no others; each of the shelves is separated into
several divisions, as in a bookcase. There are some remains of an awkward
staircase. _What use the shelves could be applied to I cannot conceive._
It could not be of any military use, from its situation at the bottom of
a sloping hill, which wholly commands it. The most learned amongst the
inhabitants, such as the gentry and clergy, who all speak the _Irish_
language, could give no information or tradition concerning its use, or
the origin of its name.”
Now, our _Round Towers_ have similar _shelves_, or recesses in the wall,
and “reaching, like a circular beaufait, from near the bottom to the top”!
Wherever these do not appear, their place is supplied by _projecting
stones_, for the evident purpose of acting as supporters.[528] And as the
_Mycenian_, the _Caledonian_, and the _Hibernian_ edifices thus far
correspond, the only thing that remains is _to explain to what purpose
could those recesses_ serve.
I thus solve the question--_They were as so many cupboards for containing
the idols of Budha_, as the structures themselves for _temples_ of his
worship, etc. Nor is this their use yet forgotten, in the buildings of the
like description in Upper India, as appears from the following statement
by Archer. “In the afternoon,” says he, “I went to look at a _Jain
temple_. It was a neat building, with an upper storey. _The idol is
Boadh._ There is a lattice verandah of brick and mortar round the shrine,
and there are _small cupboards, in which numerous figures of the idol are
ranged on shelves_.”
Arguments crowd upon me to establish these particulars; the only
difficulty is in the compression. I shall, however, continue to prove this
from another source, even by showing that when Ezekiel declared, in
allusion to Tyre, that “the men of _Dedan_ were thy _merchants_,”[529] he
meant the men of _Ireland_.
First let me refer you to page 4, by which you will be reminded of our
ancient possession of a _naval equipment_. Secondly, let me quote to you
an extract from Vallancey, when directing the result to a different
application. His words are: “Another proof of the ancient Irish being
skilled in the art of navigation, I draw from a fragment of the Brehon
laws in my possession, where the payment, or the reward, for the education
of children, whilst under the care of fosterers, is thus stipulated to be
paid to the ollamhs, or professors, distinguishing private tuition from
that of public schools. The law says: ‘If youth be instructed in the
knowledge of cattle, the payment shall be three eneaclann and a seventh;
if in husbandry and farming, three eneaclann and three-sevenths; if in
milrach, _i.e._ _glais-argneadh as tear_, that is, _superior navigation_,
or the best kind of knowledge, the payment shall be five eneaclann and the
fifth of an eanmaide; if in _glais-argneadhistein_, that is, second, or
inferior (branch of) navigation, two eneaclann and a seventh.’ And this
law is ordained because the pupils must have been previously instructed in
_letters_, which is the lowest education of all.”
Thus you see, at all events, that we were _qualified_ for the duties
required. Now, I will _demonstrate_, and that too by the aid, or rather at
the expense, of Mons. Heeren, that we were the actual persons pointed to
by the prophet.
“Deden,” says the professor, “is one of the Bahrein, or rather more
northerly one of Cathema. The proofs, which to detail here would be out of
place, may be found in Assemani, _Bib. Orient._ tom. ii. par. ii. pp. 160,
564, 604, and 744. Difficulties arise here, not merely from want of maps,
but also from the variation and confusion of names. _Daden_, or _Deden_,
is also frequently called _Dirin_; and it may be conjectured that from
hence arose the name of Dehroon, which is given to one of the Bahrein
islands in the map of Delisle. If that were the case, then Dedan would not
be Cathema, as Assemani asserts, but the island mentioned above; and this
is rendered probable by the _resemblance of names, which is a certain
guide_.”
If the “_resemblance_ of names” be “a certain guide,” _identity_ of names
must be still more certain; and then must my _proofs_ already prevail, and
the professor’s _conjectures_ fall to the ground! Surely he cannot say
that there is any even resemblance between _D-Irin_ and _Dehroon_! But he
admits that the place alluded to is called indifferently _Dedan_[530] and
_D-Irin_; and have I not shown that each of those names, identical and
unadulterated, belonged _properly_ to Ireland? Ireland, therefore, _alone_
can be the country alluded to by the inspired penman.
In denying, however, a _Dodona_ to the Greeks, and an oracle also, General
Vallancey was quite incorrect. What he should have maintained was, that
both _name_ and _oracle_ had their _prototypes_ in Ireland; but that, so
remote was the date at which the transfer occurred, all insight into the
mysteries had long since perished.
Indeed, their priests very frankly acknowledged the fact to Herodotus,
when, in his thirst for information, he waited upon them at Dodona. “We do
not,” said they, “know even the _names_ of the deities to whom we make our
offerings--we distinguish them, it is true, by titles and designations;
but these are all adventitious and modern in comparison of the worship,
which is of great antiquity.” Upon which the historian very truly
concludes, “that their _nature_ and _origin had been always a secret_; and
that even the Pelasgi, who first introduced them and their rites, had been
equally unacquainted with their history.”
Like a true Greek, however, he must set about _coining_ an origin for
them; and so he tells us _a cock-and-a-bull_ story of two _pigeons_
(Peleiai) having taken flight from Thebes in Upper Egypt, and never
stopped until they perched, one upon the top of Dodona, and the other God
knows where; and then he flatters himself he has the allegory solved, by
_imagining_ that those _pigeons_ were _priestesses_, or _old women_,
carried off by Phœnician pirates, and sold into the land of Greece!
In this he has been followed by thousands of imitators, and quoted
miraculously at all the public schools. Nay, his disciples would fain even
_improve_ upon the _thing_; and Servius has gone so far as to say that the
_old woman’s_ name was _Pelias_!
Now, here is the whole mystery unravelled for you.
When the Greeks established an oracle of _their_ Dodona, subordinate to
our master one, they adopted, at the same time, one of the orders of our
priesthood. This was that of the _Pheeleas_, the meaning of which being to
them an enigma, they _bent it_, as usual, to some similar sound in their
own language.[531] This was that of _Peleiai_, in the accusative
_Peleias_, which, in the dialect of Attica, signifies _pigeons_, and in
that of Epirus, _old women_; and so the whole metamorphosis was forthwith
adjusted!
[Illustration]
“The very extraordinary piece of antiquity, represented in the annexed
woodcut, was found,” says Mr. Petrie, “in a bog at Ballymoney, county of
Antrim, and exhibited to the Royal Irish Academy, by the Lord Bishop of
Down, in March 1829. Its material is that description of _bronze_ of which
all the ancient Irish weapons, etc., are composed, and its actual size is
four times that of the representation. It is a tube, divided by joints at
A and B into three parts, which, on separating, were found to contain
brass wire, in a zigzag form, a piece of which is represented in _Fig._ G.
This wire appears to have been originally elastic, but when found was in a
state of considerable decomposition. At E and F are two holes, about
one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and seem intended for rivets or pins to
hold the instrument together. The birds move on loose pins, which pass
through the tube, and on the other end are rings. The material and style
of workmanship of this singular instrument leaves no doubt of its high
antiquity. But we _confess ourselves totally unable to form even a
rational conjecture as to its probable use_, and should feel obliged to
any antiquary who would throw light upon it.”[532]
Had the antiquarian _high-priest_ to this _magnanimous_ assemblage been
equally modest in former cases, and courted _instruction_, instead of
erecting _himself_ into a _Pheelea_, he would not cut the figure which he
now does. Ignorance is no fault: it is only its vagaries that are so
ridiculous!
However, he has said--I beg pardon, he is in the _plural_ number--well,
then, _they_ have said, that they would feel obliged to any _antiquary_
who would throw light upon the subject.
To be sure, I am no _antiquary_. The Royal Irish Academy have made _that_
as clear as the sun at noonday. Nay, they have even strove to make their
_brethren_ at this side of the water to think so also! But their brethren
at this side of the water are too _honest_ a people, and too _noble_ in
their purpose, to make history a trade, and to stifle _truth_ at the
unhallowed dictates of interest or partiality.
No matter; I will tell all what this piece of antiquity was. _It was the
actual instrument through which the oracle of Dodona was announced!_ You
see upon it the _swans_ by which Apollo was brought to the Hyperboreans!
The _bulbul of Iran_ also attends in the train; and the affinity of this
latter bird to the species of _pigeons_, convinced the Greeks that they
had really hit off the interpretation of the word _Pheelea_! and that
_pigeons_ were, in truth, the _deliverers_ of the oracle.
This was the block upon which Abbé Bannier was stumbling. Having learned
from some quarter, I believe from Aristotle, that there were some _brass_
appendages contiguous to Dodona, he converts those appendages into
_kettles_--a worthy friend of mine would add, _of fish_--“which,” says he,
“being lashed with a whip, clattered against one another until the oracle
fulminated”!!!
As to those oracles themselves, with the registries of which antiquity is
so replete, I will here articulate my individual belief. No one who knows
me can suppose that I am superstitious; and, for those who know me not,
the sentiments herein delivered will scarcely foster the imputation. Yet
am I as thoroughly persuaded as I am of my personal consciousness, that
some prescience they did possess, conducted partly by human fraud, and
partly by spiritual co-operation.
There is no question but that there must have been some _supernatural_
agency in the business; for _human_ skill and human sagacity could never
penetrate the deep _intricacies_ of doubt, and the important _pregnancies_
of time which they have _foreshown_.[533]
Porphyry, in his book _De Dæmonibus_, and Iamblichus in his _De
Mysteriis_, expressly mention that _demons_ were in every case the authors
of oracles. Without going all this length, we may readily allow that they
had perhaps a great share in them; neither will the ambiguity in which
their answers were sometimes couched detract anything from this admission,
because the spirits themselves, when ignorant of any contingency, would,
of course, try to screen their defect by the vagueness of conjectures, in
order that if the issue did not correspond with their advice, it may be
supposed owing to misinterpretation. The instance of Crœsus and the
Delphian oracle was an interesting event. He sent to all the oracles on
the same day this question for solution, viz. “What is Crœsus, the son of
Alyattes, King of Lydia, now doing?” That of Delphi answered thus: “I know
the number of the sand of Libya, the measure of the ocean--the secrets of
the silent and dumb lie open to me--_I smell the odour of a lamb and
tortoise boiling together in a brazen cauldron; brass is under and brass
above the flesh_.”
Having heard this reply, Crœsus adored the god of Delphi, and owned the
oracle had spoken truth; for he was on that day employed in _boiling
together a lamb and a tortoise_ in a _cauldron of brass_, which had a
cover of the same metal. He next sent, enjoining his ambassadors to
inquire whether he should undertake a war against the Persians? The oracle
returned answer, “If Crœsus passes the Halys, he will put an end to a vast
empire.”
Not failing to interpret this as favourable to his project, he again sent
to inquire, “If he should long enjoy the kingdom?” The answer was, “That
he should till a mule reigned over the Medes.” Deeming this impossible, he
concluded that he and his posterity should hold the kingdom _for ever_.
But the oracle afterwards declared that by “a _mule_” was meant _Cyrus_,
whose parents were of different nations--his father a Persian, and mother
a Mede. By which _mule_, says a facetious writer, the good man Crœsus was
thus made an _ass_!
That the priests, however, used much deception in the business, and that
this deception did not escape the notice of the learned men of the time,
is evident from the charge which Demosthenes had brought against the
_Pythia_, of her being accustomed to _Philippise_, or conform her notes to
the tune of the Macedonian emperor. The knowledge of this circumstance
made the prudent at all times distrust their suggestions, whilst the
rabble, without gainsay, acquiesced as blindly in the belief of their
infallibility.
But it was not only as to the meaning of the word _Pheelea_ that the
Greeks were unapprised, they knew not the import of their own name
_Pelargi_![534] It is compounded of this same term _pheelea_, an _augur_
or a _diviner_; and _argh_, the symbolic _boat_, or yoni! And, mind you,
that this was the great difference between the Pelargi--which is but
another name for Pish-de-danaans--and the Tuath-de-danaans, that the
latter venerated the _male_ organ of energy, and the former the _female_;
therefore in no country occupied by the former do you meet with _Round
Towers_, though you invariably encounter those _traces_ of _art_, which
prove their descent from _one common origin_.
As presiding over the _diviners_ of the _symbolical boat_, Jupiter was
called _Pelargicus_.[535]
_Agyeus_ was another term in their religious vocabulary, as applied to
Apollo, of which the Greeks knew not the source. They could not, indeed,
well mistake, that it was derived immediately from αγυια, _via_; but that
did not expound the fact, and they were still in ignorance of its proper
import. It is merely a translation of our _Rudh-a-vohir_, that is,
_Apollo-of-the high-roads_, not, what the Greeks understood it, as
_stationary_ thereon, but, on the contrary, as _itinerant_; and to whom
_Venus the stranger_ corresponded on the other side; the especial province
of both being to ensure the comforts of _hospitality_, of _protection_,
and of _love_, to all emigrants and all travellers.
_Grunie_ was another epithet applied to _Apollo_, as we may read in a hymn
composed by Orpheus, which they could not comprehend. It is derived from
_Grian_, one of our names for the _Sun_.
But, beyond comparison, the most inexplicable of all the epithets applied
to this divinity is _Lycæus_; which, though--as has been the case, you
perceive, in _every subject yet discussed_--it can be explained only in
the _Irish_!--yet, even _there_, it opposes some difficulties to
discourage, but not more than what give way to sagacity and to
perseverance.
At Glendalough, in the county Wicklow, one of the proudest abodes of
Budhism, are found, amongst other sculptures, upon the dilapidated ruins,
those which you see opposite.
The _wolf_ is the most frequent in the multitude of those hieroglyphics.
His character is exhibited in more attitudes than one--and all
mysteriously significant of natural designs.
In one place you observe his tail gracefully interwoven with the long hair
of a young man’s head. That represents the youth Apollo, controlling by
his efficacy--alias, the sun’s genial rays--the most hardened hearts, and
so revolutionising the tendency of the inborn system, as from antipathy
often to produce affection and love!
[Illustration]
Of this illustration, the practical proof is afforded in _Bakewell’s
Travels in the Tarentaise_, to the following purpose, viz.:--
“By way of enlivening the description of the structure of animals, he
(M. de Candolle, Lecturer on Natural History at Geneva), introduced many
interesting particulars respecting what he called _leur morale_, or their
natural dispositions, and the changes they underwent when under the
dominion of man. Among other instances of the affection which wolves had
sometimes shown to their masters, he mentioned one which took place in the
vicinity of Geneva. A lady, Madame M----, had a tame wolf, which seemed to
have as much attachment to its mistress as a spaniel. She had occasion to
leave home for some weeks; the wolf evinced the greatest distress after
her departure, and at first refused to take food. During the whole time
she was absent, he remained much dejected: on her return, as soon as the
animal heard her footsteps, he bounded into the room in an ecstasy of
delight; springing up, he placed one paw on each of her shoulders, but the
next moment he fell backwards and instantly expired.”
Elsewhere you discern two wolves unmercifully tearing at a human head! And
this is symbolical of a species of disease, of which there is published an
account in a work called _The Hospitall of Incurable Fooles_, translated
from the Italian by Todd, to the following effect, viz.:--
“Amongst these humours of Melancholy, the phisitions place a kinde of
madnes, by the Greeks called _Lycanthropia_, termed by the Latines
_Insania Lupina_, or _Wolves furie_: which bringeth a man to this point
(as Attomare affirmeth), that in Februarie he will goe out of the house in
the night _like a wolfe_, hunting about the graves of the dead with great
howling: _and plucke the dead men’s bones out of the sepulchres, carrying
them about the streets_, to the great fear and astonishment of all them
that meete him: And the foresaide author affirmeth, that melancholike
persons of this kinde have pale faces, soaked and hollow eies, with a weak
sight, never shedding one tear to the view of the world,” etc.
And that this was epidemic amongst the Irish is proved by _Spenser’s_
testimony, when, drawing a parallel between the Scythians and the Irish of
his day, he says: “Also, the Scythians said, that they were once a year
turned into wolves; and so it is written of the Irish: though Martin
Camden, in a better sense, doth suppose it was a disease, called
lycanthropia, so named of the wolf: and yet some of the _Irish doe use to
make the wolf their gossip_.”
Thus it appears, that the Irish were not only acquainted with the _nature_
of this _sickness_, but also with the knack of _taming_ that _animal_ of
which it bore the name. All this was connected with the worship of Apollo,
and with Eastern mythology. Nay, the very _dogs_, for which our country
was once famous,[536] and which were destined as protectors against the
ravages of the _wolf_, are clear, from Ctesias, to have had their
correspondents in India.
The epithet _Lyceus_, I conceive, now elucidated; and so leave to yourself
to _penetrate_ the rest of those devices. But I shall not, at the same
time, take leave of the “_Valley of the Two Lakes_.”[537]
On one of the loose stones, which remain after this wreck of
magnificence, you will see a full delineation of “The history of
Dahamsonda, King of Baranes (_modern Benares_), who, as his name implies,
was a zealous lover of religious knowledge; and was _incarnated_, in order
to be tried between his _attachment to religion_ and his zeal for the
_salvation of the world_ on the one side, and his love to _his own life_,
and his _attachment to his kingdom_ and wealth, as well as his kindred and
friends, on the other; for which purpose the gods had gradually and
completely _withdrawn the light of religious knowledge_ from the world by
the time of his accession to the throne.”[538]
This king, in his anxiety to regain the _lost_ condition of mankind--to
recover their literature and their _ancient_ knowledge of religion,
instructs his courtiers to proclaim the offer of a casket of gold, “as a
reward to any person” who would instruct his majesty in the mysteries of
the _Bana_,[539] that is, the Budhist _Gospel_, with a view to its
salutary repropagation.
The officers proceeded in quest of such a phenomenon; but, _in the extent
of their own realms, he was not to be found_!
This excites the uneasiness of the king, who “having by degrees _increased
his offers_ to thousands and millions of money, high titles, possessions
of land and great privileges; and, at last, offering his own throne and
kingdom, but still finding no instructor, _leaves his court, resolved to
become private traveller, and not to rest till he has found one who could
communicate to him the desired knowledge_. Having _for a length of time
travelled_ through many _kingdoms_, towns, and villages, enduring
hardships, he is, at last, by providential interference, led through _a
delightful valley_ (which affords him subjects for consideration and
recreation of mind) into a dismal forest, the habitation of frightful
demons, _venomous reptiles_, and beasts of prey.
“_Sekkraia_ having on the occasion come down from heaven, in the disguise
of a _Raksha_, meets _Bodhesat_ (the king) in the wilderness, who
fearlessly enters into conversation with him, and informs him of the
object of his wanderings. The disguised deity undertaking to satisfy the
king, if he will sacrifice to him his flesh and blood in exchange for the
sacred knowledge, _Bodhesat_ cheerfully ascends a steep rock, shown him by
the apparition, and throws himself headlong to the mouth of the _Raksha_.
The king’s zeal being thus proved, _Sekkraia_, in his own heavenly form,
receives him in his arms, as he is precipitating himself from the rock,”
and has him initiated in the desired information.[540]
Now, waiving for a moment the latter part of this legend--every word of
which, however, is still chronicled in our country, though transferred by
the _moderns_ to _St. Kevin_ and the _monks_--I return to add, that, on
the above-mentioned stone, you will see a representation of the
_ambassadors offering this caske of riches to a professor of letters
seated in his “doctor’s chair”_!!!
This stone itself is engraved in _Ledwich’s Antiquities_, where in his
ignorance of its meaning, as well as of everything else which formed the
subject of his libellous farrago, he perverts it into the _bribing_ of a
_Roman Catholic priest_!--as if the priests would so emblazon
themselves!--and quotes Chaucer to _prove_ the fact, when he says of one
them, that--
“He would suffer, for a quart of wine,
A good fellow to have his concubine”!
How inconsistent is error! Elsewhere this Reverend Doctor has asserted,
and, accidentally, _with truth_, that there was no such thing at all to be
met with at this place, as “Christian symbols.” I wonder was he one of
those who consider _Roman Catholics_ not to be _Christians_?
However, again from _this_ he diverges! And, when called upon to decipher
the _hieroglyphics upon a stone-roofed Tuath-de-danaan chapel, of the same
character as that at Knockmoy_, and discovered here a few years ago,
beneath the Christian piles which the early missionaries had built over
it, by way of _supersedence_, he throws himself, in his embarrassment,
into the arms of _St. Kevin_! associates _him_ with the whole! and that,
too, after he had fatigued himself, _until half choked with spleen_, in
bellowing out the _ideality_ and utter _non-existence_ of such a
personage!
On the front of the cathedral erected out of the fragments of the
Tuath-de-danaan dilapidations, you will find _Budha_ embracing the _sacred
tree_, known _in our registries_, by the name of _Aithair Faodha_, which
signifies literally the _tree_ of _Budha_.[541]
The _pomegranate_ of _Astarte_--the medicinal apple of
_affection_[542]--presents itself, also, in the foliage! The _mouldings_
upon the arch of the western window refer likewise to _her_. And, to
complete the union of Sabian symbolisation, the _serpent_ mingles in the
general tale! while the traditional story of the adjoining _lake_ having
been infested by the presence of that reptile, has a faithful parallel in
one of the lakes of Syria!
Will it not be believed, therefore, that the _valley_ at which Dohamsonda
had alighted, _after he had traversed many realms far away from his own_,
was that of Glendalough? And where, I ask, would he be more likely to
obtain the object of his peregrination, viz. initiation into _gospel_
truth, than in that country which, from its pre-eminent effulgence in its
beatitudes, was exclusively denominated the _Gospel-land_?
This, sir, is no _rhetoric_,--no _declamatory exaggeration_. I will reduce
it for you, in its simple elements, to the perspicuity of vision.
_Bana-ba_ is one of the names of our _sacred island_, which, like all the
rest of our _history_, has been heretofore a _mystery_ to literary
inquirers!
The light bursts upon you!--does it not already? Need I proceed to
separate for you the constituent parts of this word?
It is compounded, then, be it known, of _Bana_, which indicates good
tidings, or gospel, and _aba_, land--meaning, in the aggregate, the
_Gospel-land_! And accordingly the pilgrim, when he set out upon his
journey in quest of the _Bana_, very naturally betook himself to
_Bana-ba_, or the _land of the Bana_, where alone it was to be found!
And you presume to say that _Christianity_ is a thing which only commenced
last week?
“Great God! I’d rather be
A _Pagan_ suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I standing on this pleasant lea,
Have _glimpses_ that would make me _less forlorn_;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.”
WORDSWORTH.