Amongst the Easterns themselves we find corresponding traditions, wrapt up, as usual, in allegory, of this primordial departure. The Phrygians, who were one of the most ancient and considerable nations of Asia Minor, complain of Apollo having wandered from them, in company with Cybele, to the land of the Hyperboreans.[496] The costume of the archers upon our Knockmoy frescoes is strictly Phrygian, and confirms their testimony better than any written memorial! “Hercules,” says Cedrenus, “first taught philosophy in the western parts of the world.” This was our Ogham, which the Gauls had borrowed from us, as you will see by note, p. 420. “In Egypt,” says Ausonius, “they called him Osiris, but in the island of Ogygia they gave him the name of Bacchus.” If we will remember the form under which Osiris was worshipped, viz. that of our Round Towers,[497] and then recollect that the name of Bacchus is still found amongst our ancient inscriptions;[498] and in addition to all these, bear in mind that Plutarch[499] expressly designates the island, from its extreme antiquity, as Ogygia, all qualms as to the situation alluded to by Ausonius must for ever evaporate?
Let us now glance at the institutions of this island, the personal appearance of its inhabitants, and their popular customs, as compared with ancient Persia.
To begin with the aspect, which often proves decisive in more interesting applications, I refer you to our real figures at p. 330, as a fair outline of Irish contour; with this, if you will compare what Captain Head affirms, in reference to the settlers at Bombay, viz. that “the ancient inhabitants of Persia were superior, not inferior, in looks, to the present, who belong to a hundred mixed races, which have poured upon that kingdom since the overthrow of Yezdijerd,” no disparity will present itself, at least in that quarter.
As to institutions, I will instance that of our ancient clans,[500] and place by them in juxtaposition what Sir John Malcolm delivers on the subject of Persia. “Jemsheed” (a prince of the Pish-de-danaan dynasty, founder of Persepolis, called after him, Tucht-e-jemsheed, which, in Irish, signifies the Couch-of-Jemsheed) “divided,” says he, “according to Persian authors, his subjects into four classes. The first was formed of learned and pious men, devoted to the worship of God; and the duty ascribed to them was to make known to others what was lawful and what otherwise. The second were writers, whose employment was to keep the records and accounts of the state. The third soldiers, who were directed to occupy themselves in military exercises, that they might be fitted for war. The fourth class were artificers, husbandmen, and tradesmen. The authorities on which we give the history of Jemsheed make no mention of Mah-abad; but, if we are to give credit to the Dabistan, the institution of Jemsheed can only be deemed a revival of that lawgiver.”[501]
In respect to religion, Herodotus states that, “from his own knowledge, the Persians had neither statues, temples, nor altars, but offered on the tops of the highest mountains sacrifices to Jove, by which they meant the deity of the air; that they adored the sun, moon, earth, fire, water, and the winds, but that they sacrificed to these only from of old, according to ancient custom, and that they gave the preference to Trefoil, whereon they laid their offerings.”[502]
Now, two considerations are to be observed, as involved in this last quotation: one is, that the historian attributes the usages of this nation to two distinct periods of time. From ocular inspection, he avows that they had no temples, etc., because such were long exploded. And he knew not what to make of the Round Towers. Part, however, of the ceremonial appertaining to those edifices still remained, such as the worship of the sun, moon, earth, fire, water, and the winds; and “to these,” he frankly acknowledges, “they sacrificed only from of old,” or in deference to the practice of their predecessors—I will not say forefathers.
Contemplate now the reverence shown to the herb Trefoil, our national shamrock, and will you not see another link of that great concatenation uniting the two Irans, and triumphing at once over supposition and over scepticism? I have already deplumed St. Patrick of the serpent expulsion; or, rather, I have done honour to his memory, by saving it from the fabrications of pious impostors. I now continue my course of justice, by showing that he had as little to do with the veneration paid to this plant. It was worshipped in the Emerald Island, and imported, you perceive, by the Tuath-de-danaans, centuries upon centuries before the apostle was born: and the cause of this devotion was, not alone that it symbolised the Trinity, which was an article of Budhist doctrine, even before the incarnation of Christ, but because that it blended with it, in mystery as well as in gratitude, the Alibenistic cross, the seal of their redemption, and their passport to eternity! Here then are the shamrocks, or Free-masonic devices, upon the crowns of our Irish kings explained; and those upon the Persian crowns, by and by to be inserted, are similarly expounded![503]
Lastly, the funerals of the Persians—after the soul’s liberation from its tenement of clay, at the summons of its God—are described by Herodotus[504] with so striking a similtude, that you would imagine he had witnessed, and expressly referred to, the like scenes in Ireland.[505]
Oh! “if the human mind can ever flatter itself with having been successful in discovering the truth, it is when many facts, and these facts of different kinds unite in producing the same result.”[506]
In truth, the island was altogether an Oriental Asylum,[507] until, for a moment broken in upon by the Fir-Bolgs, or Celts. Their usurpation, however, was only that of a day, amounting, by all records, but to fifty-six years;[508] after which, a new army of the Tuath-de-danaans, driven now, not from Persia, but from India, by the Brahmins, laid claim to the sceptre to which their brethren had invited them, and reinstated themselves afresh in our kindred Iran.