154 



routed Cervill, the general of their nation. ****** 

 The king distributed the spoil among his soldiery, evincing that he 

 was devoid of avarice and cupidity, and actuated by the thirst of 

 glory only."* Saxo, in his account of the Danish incursion in Ire- 

 land in the time of Frotho the Fourth, mentions two Irish generals 

 who excelled in military operations, and carried on the war with in- 

 credible valour; "^conspicuo militarum operum fulgore pollebant, 

 * * * * incredibili bellum virtute gesserunt f-f while Solinus 

 calls the Irish a warlike nation, "bellicosa gens,"|. and makes express 

 mention of their ornamented arms, their ivory whiteness, and the 

 proud care with which they were kept, "Qui student cultui, dentibus 

 mari nantium belluarum insignicunt ensium capulos ; candicant enim 

 ad eburneam claritatem, nam praecipua viris gloria est in armorum 

 nitela." 



Here is a strong testimony to the military taste and ornamental 

 arts of the Irish, from an author in other respects no wise favourable 

 to them ; while his mention of swords is an evidence against the opi- 

 nion of some antiquaries, that swords were not known to the Irish 

 before the settlement of the Danes. The country itself has cast up 

 some memorials of these times, and hatchets of basalt, spearheads of 

 grey granite, and arrow-heads of flint, have been frequently discovered, 



* " Interea Hiberni, crebrescente Danicae fortitudinis fama perculsi,quo difficilioiem partium 

 suorum irruptionem praestarent, ferreos terrae murices intraverunt, quibus littorum vetaretur 

 accessus. Utitur autem Hiberaorum gens levi et parabili armatui-a. Novaculis comam exte- 

 nuat, totum occipitii crinem abradit, ne fugiens capellitio teneatur. Ceterum telorum cuspides 

 obvertit instantibus, mucronumque acumina insequentibus de industria opponere assolet ; ac 

 pleramque post tergum lanceas jaculari, doctior fugd superare quam bello; quo fit, ut cum vic- 

 toriam tibi cessisse putes discrimen immineat. Tarn insidiosam hostium fugam Frotho, consi- 

 deratius quam cupidius insectatus, ducem gentis Cervillum (qr. O'Carrol ?) acie fudit. * * * 

 Captivam Rex praedam militi dispartivit, uti se totius avaritiae expertem, et a nimia rerum cupi- 

 ditate aversum solius glorise lucrum appetere testaretur."— Sax. Gram. Hist. Dan, lib. 5. p. 95. 

 fid. lib. 6. t See pos<, sixth section of this period. 



