165 



from patriarchal times in the east, and more especially referrible 

 to this period, when primeval customs and usages must have been in 

 the full maturity of tradition. 



As to the manners of the tribes who then inhabited Ireland, they 

 may be deduced from the little history contained in the above sec- 

 tions ; it is, however, but candid to notice what the Greeks and 

 Romans have said on this subject. Diodorus Siculus, speaking of the 

 ferocity of the Gauls north of the Hercynian forest, (" FaXariov rtjv 

 VKO rag apicrovg KuroiKovvTCJv,'") is said to compare them with the 

 people of Ireland in the words (" ^aat tivuq avOpcovrovg saOieip 



UXTTtEQ Kai T(Ol> BpSTTaVO)V TOVQ KaTOlKOVVTaQ Tr]V ovofiaZ,o}ievi]v 



Iqiv.")* Strabo speaks of its people as altogether barbarous, 

 (" Ayptojj/ reXewf avOguivoiv ;")'t and again, he alleges ridiculous 

 reports of their brutality, but with such reservations as shew he did 

 not himself confide in them. " Concerning Ireland, (lerne,) we have 

 no certain accounts, except that its inhabitants are less civilized than 

 those of Britain, being cannibals and gluttons, making a merit of 

 eating their dead parents, and of promiscuous concubinage even with 

 their mothers and sisters. We mention these things, however, with- 

 out having any witnesses of them worthy of credit."% The Latin 

 writers do not much amend this national character. Mela says, 

 (lib. 3. p. 193,) " the inhabitants of Ireland (Hibernia,) are more 

 rude and ignorant of every virtue than any other nation, shrewd in 

 some points however, but very destitute of piety. "§ According to 



* Lib. 6. ^ Geog. lib. 2. p. 153. 



X " Hsgi Df (IsjHis) ouSs* e;^«^ei> Myut <r«?i»j, icM' tri my^iUTi^ot tuv Bj£TT«y«» VTrctf^ovo-n ci 

 K*ruKtviri^, ccvrrit, »>6^a7rc(p»y<ii n o»te; x»i ^(iXv(p*yoi, rovi re TrxTi^x; rnXiuTn<r»ir»i Kxria-^nti 

 (y KxXXu TiSlfCivci, x«i (pans^a; fiic-yis-Scti T»ig n ctXXaif yutm^i, xcci finr^xin K»i aiiXipai;. Kou t«ut« 

 a' tuTti Xiytfia af evic i^omi cc^ioTriirrtivi ftagrujas." — Geog. lib. 4. pp. 281-2. 



§ "Cultores ejus (Hiberniae) inconditi et omnium virtutum ignari, magis quam aliae 

 gentes, aliquatenus tamen gnari, pietatis admodum expertes." 



