d Achilles
fought, and Olympus helped the fray. Hence the Epic which has thrilled the
world, and which, long ages later, broke the chains of the Turk, and made
Greece a nation. That Epic stands alone, nor should we desire to have
ideas cast in the same mould. Such desire is the defect of stereotyped
thought, which does not understand that to have something diverse and
original is to possess a treasure. Our ancient literature must be judged
by itself, on its intrinsic merits as the articulate expression of
independent humanity. If a standard is required, let it be compared with
the non-classic literatures of the western world, and it will be found to
rise tall and fair above them, like an Alpine peak which has caught the
morning light whilst darkness reigns below.

It is certain that intellectual cultivation existed in Ireland long before
the coming of St. Patrick. We have the laws at the revision of which he
assisted, and I assert that, speaking biologically, such laws could not
emanate from any race whose brains had not been subject to the quickening
influences of education for many generations. Granting even that
Christianity came before his day, there are yet abounding proofs that our
ancient literature arose in pre-Christian days, so closely do its antique
characters cling to it. Unquestionably no nation ever so revered its men
of learning. They rewarded that reverence by giving immortal life to its
heroes, and by winning for that people the respect of modern scholarship.
I wish I could say of modern Ireland. But our people, generally, drink no
more at the high head-fountains of their island-thought. This is one of
the greatest losses which can befall a nation, for it loses thus its
birthright, that central core of ideas round which new ideas would develop
naturally, grow and flourish, as they never can on alien soil. There is a
tone of sincerity in the ancient narratives which cannot exist in imported
thought, and we are apt to lose inspiring examples of manful striving,
loyal comradeship, truthful lives, chivalric courtesy, and great-minded
heroism. It is true that so we escape some crude conceptions and
improbable wonders. But, as in the physical order, each man seems to pass
through various phases of racial development, so the individual in youth
has tastes similar to those manifested by the race in its youth. Every
people has at first its ideals, simple, sincere, and great, mingled with
myths that stimulate the