Page:The Gaelic State in the Past & Future.djvu/20

 a time with the Roman legions in Britain. The dates are approximate; and Tuathal's first act on his return to Ireland suggests that he had not misspent his time? Fighting in Ireland prior to this time had mainly been that of contests between famous warriors, or from chariots. Henceforward it becomes that of trained legions existing as a standing militia. For Tuathal established the Fianna Eireann; and by means of this new weapon he restored the hegemony to Connacht.

It is right briefly to trace this dynastic struggle between Connacht and Uladh, because out of it, and out of the needs it created and the problems it raised, grew the national State. Tuathal, king of Connacht, with his palace at Cruachan Ai, came east to Uisneach, and from there exercised the hegemony of Ireland. It is said that he took the "necks" of the four provinces where they touched one another, and in each "neck" held a national festival for each quarter of the year. At Tar a a special festival was held, at which the Brehons discussed and collated the laws, and at which the local rulers discussed and compared the local administration of the country. In other words, a general tendency towards uniformity was set up because of a direct central authority; and it was undoubtedly because of this tendency that Tuathal's son, Fedhlimidh, who succeeded him, received the title of Reachtmhar, the Law-giver.

Tuathal, however, did not come east to Tara, except to the festival. Tara was the seat of the kings of Leinster, with an elder glory and