(Pp. 412-431)
These proofs of an adventitious civilisation bearing the marks, not of gradual growth, but of full development, point to the colonisation of the island by a highly-cultured race, such as were the ancient people of Iran (Persia). The round towers, for instance, could not well have been the work of the Phœnicians, who were a maritime and mercantile race, by no means prone to arts and letters, and in none of whose admitted settlements is any trace of similar buildings to be found. Neither the Firbolgs (or Celtic inhabitants of Ireland), nor the Fomorians, nor the Scythians, Scoto-Milesians, nor Danish invaders, were at all given to the refinements of civilisation, and simply regarded the construction of permanent buildings as unworthy of a race of warriors. Everything, in fact, goes to show that the Tuath-de-danaan settlers alone could have erected these towers, introduced the Boreadan ceremonial, and given to the country of their adoption a name taken from that of their native land. With the Scythian conquest, it became, of course, inevitable that this name (Irin or Eirin) should be changed into Scuitte or Scotia (the land of the Scythians), and that there should have been a partial exodus of the vanquished Tuath-de-danaans—some of whom, settling in what is now Scotland, gave it the name of Iran or Eran (which survives in Erne or Erse), which was afterwards changed into Scoitte or Scotia, out of compliment to the Scythian rulers of the adjacent island, with whom its Pictish inhabitants had formed alliance.
(Pp. 432-444)
As for the unfounded theory,—that Ireland was colonised by Phœnicians arriving from Spain, whose last settlement in the island was established by Heber and Heremon, sons of Milesius, and descendants of Feni an fear soid, “the Phœnician wise man,”—it is pointed out that Heber and Heremon (brothers of Amergin, the bard) were in reality the sons of Gallamh, and invaded Ireland at the head of a Scythian, not Phœnician, colony (p. 393). Upon historical evidence, the date of this invasion is fixed at B.C. 1002; while it is agreed on all hands that the Tuath-de-danaans had landed about two hundred years before, or B.C. 1202, which latter date exactly corresponds with that given by most Oriental authorities for the exodus of the Buddhists from India. About this time, indeed, Ireland seems to have borne the character of an Oriental asylum—a circumstance to which may be attributed the Eastern costumes and aspect of the figures depicted in its ancient sculptures, the Eastern character of traditional religious and ceremonial usages, and the national reverence for the shamrock, corresponding with that shown to the trefoil (or trisula) in Persia (Iran).
(Pp. 445-474)
The duration of Tuath-de-danaan supremacy may have been some six centuries, dating from the first battle of Moytura, in B.C. 1202 (p. 435), to the second battle, in or about B.C. 600, between the Firbolgs, or Celts (who had been gradually reasserting themselves), and a reinforcement of Tuath-de-danaans, coming this time, not from Persia, but from India, whence they had been expelled by the Brahmins (p. 443). Although this second invasion proved successful, the power of the Tuath-de-danaans was now on the wane, and the height of civilisation to which they had raised the island rapidly declined before the inroads of the Scythians. Their ritual became merged in that of the Druids, and their taste for letters vitiated. Possibly, with a view to arrest this decadence, they began to cultivate intercourse with Greece, the result being a strong reciprocal influence, exercised by the languages of the two countries on each other, and more especially by Irish upon Greek. A corresponding influence resulted from the migration of discontented Tuath-de-danaans into Scotland. Nor was it confined to language; for certain peculiarities of ancient Irish architecture are found reproduced in Mycenian and Caledonian structures, as, for example, in the Treasury of Atreus (Mycenæ) and the Dune of Dornadilla (Scotland); and that religion was not wholly unaffected is proved by the discovery of Irish relics showing that the oracular superstitions of Dodona had their counterpart in Ireland.