(Pp. 252-263)
Assuming that the Tuath-de-danaans originally occupied Iran, or Persia, their migration to Ireland is thus explained. An internecine variance, arising out of a purely religious question, sprang up among them. They became divided into two sects—one maintaining that the male influence was dominant in the production of offspring; the other that female influence was more effective. Each adopted a distinguishing title, emblematic of the sex whose virtues it proclaimed. The former did not find it necessary to change the name Tuath-de-danaan, since the esoteric meaning of Tuath (i.e. Budh) was the emblem of masculinity; but the others adopted the title of Pish-de-danaans, because Pish, or Pith (synonymous with Yoni), denoted that of femininity. The war which resulted from this variance of opinion was waged with all the bitterness which usually marks polemic differences; and the Pish-de-danaans, proving completely victorious, expelled their rivals from the sacred soil of Iran. The Tuath-de-danaans, or at least a portion of them (cf. p. 443), fled westward, and after many vicissitudes reached Europe, where traces of them are found in parts of Greece, Italy, and Spain; and from the country last named (by help of the Phœnicians, who were the great sea-carriers of those days), they made their way to Ireland. It is remarkable that a parallel account appears in Hindu records of the severance which took place between the Lingajas and the Yonijas on a precisely similar question.
(Pp. 264-284)
Although the Persian historians maintain silence, the evidence of other authorities in support of this episode is not wanting. For instance, when referring to Buddha, Oriental writers agree that he was born in Maghada; also that he was the son of Suad-de-dana—Suad being convertible with Tuath, and both resolvable into Budh. Without professing to map out the exact route by which the Tuath-de-danaans made their way to Ireland, the author maintains that the fact of their having occupied that country for a considerable time is incontrovertible. As for their rivals, the Pish-de-danaans, it has already been stated that they, in their turn, had to leave Persia when Kaimours was called to the throne; and the presumption is that they were identical with those Uksi, or Shepherd Kings, who overran Egypt, and to whom the erection of pyramids emblematical of the female nature is ascribed. Their distinctive views may, it is pointed out, have prevailed among them from the time when they formed a portion of the Noachidæ; for the “Ark” was typical of the dominant idea in their belief, and the same idea was typified under another form in the pyramids. A variant symbol of this idea is the crescent (or lunar boat), of which certain Irish ornaments are representative. It is further possible that the Pish-de-danaan tradition of the deluge may have been communicated to Moses during his stay in Egypt, and that the narrative is more figurative than historical.
(Pp. 285-304)
Among the sculptured symbols of the faith held by the ancient Irish, that of the Cross stands pre-eminent; but it would be a mistake to infer from this circumstance the existence of Christianity in Ireland at the time when these sculptures were wrought. The cryptogram of the Cross is found everywhere, both in the Old and New World, among the relics of nations whose paganism does not admit of doubt, and it dates from a period long antecedent to Christianity. Buildings of cruciform structure, and evidently devoted to religious uses, exist all over the East and West; and both they and the Mithratic caves, for which no one has ever claimed any but a pagan origin, partake of the same character. To aver that the Cross was emblematical of a vicarious sacrifice by which the redemption of mankind was accomplished, is merely to say that it expresses a belief common to many Sabaic faiths of the pagan world—a belief of which it was the recognised emblem in Egypt, India, Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and America, as well as in Ireland.