Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-21
ANCIENT CUSTOMS
Tara the Seat of Authority for
All ireland.
CORMAc MAC ART KING
The Greatest Warrior and Scholar
That the Irish Knew.
MOORE'S FAMOUS BALLAD
Original of "The Psalter Of Tara"
Lost or Destroyed Many Years
Ago.
C0RMAC MAC ART KING
MOORE'S FAMOUS BALLAD
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
ecial Correspondence of The Star and the


Chicago Record Herald.
TARA, July Is. 1905
Cambrensis, one of the Oldest ana
earliest writer's of Ireland, says: There
| is in Meth a hill called the Hill of Tarash
! wherein is a plane twelve score long
| which was named the King His Hail.
where the countrie had their meetings
and folkmotes, as a place that was &C
| counted the high place of the monarch.
The historians hammer mamie fables III
| this forge of Fin Mac Cole and his
champions
While Tara was the seat of authority
for all Ireland, and the. center of military
education and display, it was also the
place where the bards used to assemble
in early times for competitions in poetry
and melody. Each year the troubadors OF
Ireland gathered there to recite heorlc
epics in praise Of their patrons and sing
the ballads they had composed for prizes.
These musical and literary tournaments
reached their greatest fame and influence
during the days when Cormac Mac Art
was king. He was not only the greatest
warrior, but the greatest scholar and
legislator and Judge that the Irish knew
during the period of which Tara was their
capital The poems and chronicles OF
his time describe him as model of
majesty, maRnif1cence and manly beauty.
He founded three colleges in the neighbor-
hood Of Tara; one for the teaching OF
law. one for poetry, literature. history
and music and the third for military
science. He organized what was known
as the "Fena Of Erin" body of militia
remarkable in many respects. which was
under the command Of Fin Mac Cool.
his son-in-law, who, of all the ancient
heroes of Ireland, is best remembered in
tradition and who combined the qualities
of Hercules, Julius Caesar and Solomon
Tom Moore's Famous Ballad.
But no reference in literature to this
sacred place is more familiar than one of
the ballads of Tom Moore. Indeed the
great majority of people never heard of
Tara from any other source.
The harp that once through Tara's halls
The soul Of music shed
Now hangs mute on Tara's walls
AS If that soul were fed.
And 6earte.> that once beat high for praise.
Now feel that pulse no more!
No more to chiefs and ladies bright
The harp Of Tara swels;
The chord alone that breaks at night
Its tale Of ruin tells
Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes
The only throb she gives
Is when some heart indignant breaks
To show that etill she lives.
The Psalter Of Tara.
The history Of Tara. the proceedings Of
the mobiles, kings and learned men who
met there at intervals, with the Ard-Ri
at their head, to devise laws and promote
the welfare of the kingdom and to trans
act other important business were all
written down In a book called the Psalter
of Tara. This book also contained
record of the "fes' or tournaments. both
military and athletic, that were held
there, and contained list Of the prize
winners but although the Psalter Of Tara
is frequently quoted by early writer's the
original Of the book was lost or destroyed
ages ago.
There are, however. many venerable
ton es, epic poems as we'll as history.
that illuminate what are usually termed
the prehistoric times in Ireland. The
history of this country does not fairly
the introduction of Christianity and mod
ern learning. Since then the records are
practically complete. The many monas-
teries were filled with scriveners who
detail and probable accuracy. But the
more interesting period lies farther back.
when the kings Of Tara were in their glory
and the sun shone upon the exploits of
half savage clans that lived by the chase
and not by agriculture, as their descend
| ants do 1t is familiar joke to say that
ones ancestors were kings Of Ireland but
| there is more truth than Witticism in such
| remarks.
Conn-of-the-Hundred Battles.
| There is no reliable authority for the ex-
istence of any national military organiza-
ton of professional fighting men in Ireland
other than chiefs down to the reign of
| "Conn-of-the-H Hundred Battles" who was
monarch at Tara from 123 AID. to 157
AID, in which year he was slain. Still. it
is stated that Com himself came to the
| throne from the command Of the cele-
grated national militia. popularity known
as the "Fianna Eireann.'' of whom the
great Finn, MacCumhaill, and his father
Cumhaill were the most famous COM
manders, just as many of the Roman en-
perors rose to the purple through the
backing and from the command OF the
Pretorian Guards.
This militia of ancient Ireland comprised
accomplished athletes to a man, and their
preparation and competition for enlistment
were most arduOus and remarkable. The
name Fianna thence the modern "Fe-
nians'O is explained in an antique CLOS
sary preserved in volume Of the famous
.'Brehon Laws The following is a.
translation from the Gaelic:
''Fianna Venatione, i'd est 1t was
from the hunting which they practised
they were 80 named. Oh. Fianna; that is,
fineadha tfamilies),. because it was In
that is, feinneadha (champions), because
they were the champions of the monarch
of Erinn.'
A Spacious Barrack.
In a poem written in Gaelic by bard
named Cinnearh O'Hartigan. in 975 DID,,
while the remains of the royal palace at
Tara were still distinct and intact and