HEROES AND HEROINES

New Zealand Tablet, 19 September 1912, Page 19

HEROES AND HEROINES

(II). KING OLLAMH FODHLA OF TARA ‘ The learned Ollamh Fodhla first ordained The great assembly, where the nobles met, And priests, and poets, and philosophers, To make new laws, and to correct the old, And to advance the honor of his country.’ At a time when the two celebrated cities, Carthage and Rome were but coming into existence, when Sparta and Athens had scarcely seen the splendid days of Lycurgus and of Solon, it is. extraordinary to find among the Milesians an excellent civil and political government, an antiquity that doubtless caused Plutarch to give to Ireland the name of 4 Ogygia.’ For the institution of the Feis Feamhrach, or Irish Parliament, Ollamh Fodhla deserves our greatest admiration. Prior to the reign of this great son of Fiachadh Fionnsgothach, the Milesians had followed the laws dictated by nature only. Among other ancient peoples, we find the same thing occurring; for instance, the Greeks were a nation long before the time of Draoon and Solon, their first legislators, and the Romans were a people for at least three hundred years before receiving from the Athenians the laws of the Twelve Tables. Ollamh Fodhla’s predecessors had labored hard to improve the condition of their , island home, but he, being possessed of a fine, exalted spirit, believed it to be degrading to mankind to think only of sustaining life. Among men born for society, it was necessary, he said, to establish fixed laws regulating morals and justice. Having in imitation of King Eithrial, collected and recorded the history of Ins ancestors, he instituted a general and triennial assembly of all the states at Tara, in Meath. , This assembly or parliament was known as the Feis Feamhrach, that is the assembly of the nobility, druids, historians, and other learned men, all such being bound, under certain penalties, to attend these triennial meetings. Six days before the session really opened, all came to Tara, and the intervening time was spent in exchanging tokens of goodwill, for it was strictly forbidden that during the assembly one member should kill, or in any way injure, another. Then, in a long, narrow room of Tara, they gathered. ‘ The king was seated on a royal throne, And in his face majestic greatness shone. A monarch for heroic deeds designed For noble acts become a noble mind. About him summoned by his strict command The peers, the priests, and commons of the land, In princely state and solemn order stand; The poets likewise are indulg’d a place, And men of learning.the assembly grace.’ A trumpet was sounded three times, to summon first the shield-bearers of the princes and the highest nobility ; then the target-bearers ; and lastly, the general concourse itself. In order to prevent confusion and to enable a knight to be at any time easily distinguished, Ollamh

Fodhla caused each noble to adopt some particular device or coat of arms. The use of these banners is frequently denied the Irish by English writers who, nevertheless, admit of their use among other ancient peoples. "" Homer tells us that upon the shield of Achilles were raised such strange devices as the motions of the sun and moon, and the ebb and flowing of the sea. We have read how that frail, old, but gloriously heroic man, Pope Leo, arrayed in his pontifical robes, the indication of his rank, went forth alone to stay the awful wrath of Attila. Augustus Caesar sometimes bore an image of Alexander, whose own banner showed a lion rampant. Seeing how common among the old nations were these marks of distinction, it is absurd for writers to gainsay their usage in Ireland from the time of Ollamh Fodhla. Before the business of their meeting was commenced, the whole company sat down to a splendid feast. Keating surely is mistaken when he says ! that as the debates were to be kept strictly secret, no woman was admitted. The remains of the repast having been removed, the antiquities of the kingdom were brought forward and scrupulously examined. To guard against prevarication, all false statements were severely punished, and the king would not accept the power of annulling any penalty inflicted. Then all the acts thus examined or corrected were registered in the great book, the ‘Psaltuir Teavair,’ or Psalter of Tara, written in a kind of riming prose. - This custom of examining the annals of private families continued without interruption until the twelfth century of Christianity, and without change, except that in the fifth century, the pagan recorders were replaced by Christian bishops. St. Patrick himself examined this great Psalter, and his approval is testimony of its truthfulness. There are other proofs of the greatness of King Ollamh. Milesius, whom we might call the father of the Milesians, had endeavored to secure for his people some knowledge of the sciences and arts ? but, as was only natural, the fruits of his labor were well-nigh lost among his descendants, who, during the first years of their coming, were entirely occupied in cultivating the land of their adoption. Ollamh Fodhla resolved that no longer learning should be neglected, and established schools, ‘ MurOllavan,’ ‘ houses of the learned/ where might be studied philosophy, astronomy, poetry, medicine, and history. Thus none can deny the greatness of the Milesians or refuse them honor. None can fail to offer to their noble Ollamh Fodhla the deepest admiration. All can but marvel at the brilliancy of that king’s intellect, a brilliancy which at that early dawn illumined for his people the path that led them upward towards the heights of true renown. Angela Hastings.