Rhetoric of Myth, Magic, and Conversion: A Prolegomena to Ancient Irish Rhetoric

Abstract

Ancient Ireland presents an interesting case for rhetorical study. While the island is usually considered a part of geographic Europe, it long resisted the influence of cultural Europe. Unlike Britain, for example, Ireland was never conquered by Rome, and its pre-literate culture flourished beyond the fall of the Empire. Consequently, the Irish maintained a mythopoetic rhetoric based in narrative. Their stories recounted not only the deeds of their heroes, but also their words. And, like ancient Greece, ancient Ireland also had a class of sophistic rhetors, the Druids. When Patrick arrived around the end of the fourth century, he eschewed the Ciceronian rhetoric of Augustine and instead adapted Christian theology to fit Irish rhetoric.

Notes

¹The authors thank RR reviewers George Kennedy and William Covino for their revision suggestions.

²The Fenian Cycle is also referred to as the Ossianic Cycle. We have decided to use the title “Fenian” because of the controversy over James Macpherson's eighteenth-century “translations” of Scots Gaelic poetry. Macpherson claimed to have discovered manuscripts written by Ossian, and he published them as The Works of Ossian in 1765. Their authenticity was hotly debated by Irish historians, Samuel Johnson, and Hugh Blair. Today, they are generally believed to be collections of Scots Gaelic ballads with significant alteration (and probably invention) by Macpherson.

³The origin of the name “Milesian” is a curiosity. In myth, the name is traced to King Milesius of Spain, whose two sons lead the Milesian Celts to colonize Ireland. However, as reviewer George Kennedy pointed out to us, it could also refer to the city of Miletus, one of the twelve Ionian cities in Asia Minor (present day southwestern Turkey). The Milesians from Miletus had built a maritime empire in the 6th century BC. We haven't been able to make a historical connection between the Ionian Milesians and the Milesian Celts, but it is possible and worth exploring.

⁴The name “Danaan” was also used to identify the Greeks, specifically Achaeans, in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (thanks to George Kennedy for bringing this fact to our attention). The use of this name for both the Greeks and Irish is probably more than a coincidence, but we haven't been able to find a direct link. Our closest link is found in the Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, a compilation of Irish annals from the seventeenth century. In the Annals, Nemed, leader of the first Danaans, sails from the Caspian Sea to settle Ireland in about 2350 BC. So the Irish and Greek names may have originated in a similar geographic area. Another interesting note is that Nemed's wife, Macha, dies twelve days after they make landfall in Ireland, and her burial ground becomes Armagh (Ard Macha).

⁵The name “Ultonian” refers to the Latin name for this region, Ultonia.

⁶In the Book of Leinster edition of the Táin Bó Cúalnge, Mebd says, “It was certain that he would not be given freely if he were not given by force, and he shall so be given” (O'Rahilly 141). Medb's statement in this version is less ominous but still evokes the same sense that she is crossing a threshold.

⁷Here, we might recall the scene from Book IX of the Iliad in which Phoenix, Achilles' childhood tutor, admonishes him to return to battle. Phoenix reminds him, “The old horseman Peleus … dispatched me to teach you all of these things, / to make you a man of words and a man of action too” (IX.533–38).

⁸This suggestion that Patrick learned Druidism from his master comes to us from the earliest existent biography of St. Patrick, written by Muirchu in the seventh century. A translation of this biography can be found in Hood's St. Patrick: His Writings and Muirchu's Life. Though many twentieth-century scholars are skeptical of Muirchu's accuracy, it seems plausible that Patrick had significant contact with Druids during his captivity, and that this contact gave him insight into how best to present himself when he returned to Ireland as a bishop.

⁹For an excellent translation of Patrick's Life and Confessions, see Hanson's The Life and Writings of the Historical Saint St. Patrick. All passages from Patrick's writings come from Hanson unless otherwise indicated.