Page:The Gaelic State in the Past & Future.djvu/19

 together by a fiscal system that was put to writing. The work has much of the simplicity due to the simpler conditions of the time, although in fact the result was highly complex and elaborate; but, almost alone among the nations or peoples of Europe, in Ireland the work of constructive State-building went forward. Strife abounded (and modern times have lost what little right they ever had to point an accusing finger at it); it abounded throughout Europe, and Ireland had its share; but in Ireland the State always held the national sense together, and it was always being revised to meet new needs. It is interesting briefly to survey the process.

Tuathal came at a strategic moment. The Ulster Cycle shows quite clearly a struggle between Connacht and Uladh for the hegemony of the five provinces of Ireland. The earlier parts of that cycle (though written to exploit Uladh) show that hegemony claimed and won by Connacht; the later parts show it passing to Uladh. Then there is a dark period, in which we have no literature to guide us and for which the records in the Annals of Tigernach give little help. During this time occurs the mysterious episode known as the Revolt of the Vassals. Whatever that episode meant, it appears that Tuathal's mother had to fly the country. He himself returned later to his province of Connacht to resume the dynastic struggle with the kings of Uladh for the rule of Ireland. Probably Tuathal was the Irish prince to whom Tacitus refers as being for