Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum Part 37

The first night he stopped with St. Barrind (or Barrindeus) of Drumcullen, in the barony of Eglish. The name is still retained as that of an old parish church, about four miles north-east of Parsonstown. Drumcullen is about three miles east of Eglish old church at the foot of the mountain.

It cannot be more than ten miles from Rahan, and thus marks the extent of the first day's journey.

But the saint was now in his native Munster, and could proceed with greater leisure and more security. The second night he rested in the famous old monastery of St. Ciaran of Saigher. This was one of the cradles of Christianity in Ireland. If we may accept the statement in the _Life of St. Ciaran_, he was directed by G.o.d's Angel to go to a well in the middle of Ireland, and found his church at the place where his bell would ring of itself. The saint obeyed, and travelled onward until he came to the place now called Bell Hill, near the fountain Huaran. There his bell tolled, and close at hand he founded his church, at Saigher, now called Seir Ciaran, which is not more than two miles south of Drumcullen, under the western shadow of the mountain. There was every reason why St. Carthach the Younger should rest at Seir Ciaran. His old master, St. Carthach the Elder, to whom he owed so much, had been once bishop of that ancient See, in succession to Ciaran himself. It was about the year A.D. 540, before Carthach the Younger was born, for it appears that it was after leaving Seir Ciaran, about A.D. 560, that Carthach the Elder came to his native Kerry, and there met with his younger disciple of the same name.

There was reason why Carthach should love that old monastery, under the shadow of the morning sun when rising over Slieve Bloom, where his beloved master had spent so many years, and where the first-born of the Celtic Saints of Erin had gone to his rest.

It was a short stage from Seir Ciaran to Roscrea--some seven or eight miles; but Roscrea had become even then, in A.D. 635, so famous a retreat for saintly men, that it could not be pa.s.sed by without a visit. There was no town of Roscrea there at the time; all the low-lying lands were constantly flooded, and formed the _Stagnum Cre_ frequently mentioned in the Lives of the Saints of that district. The _Ros_, or wooded promontory, on which St. Cronan founded his monastery, rose up from these flooded lowlands. At first he established himself at Seanros, a wooded hill in Corville Demesne, where his church is still to be seen; but afterwards, about the year A.D. 606, he founded a second monastery on the Ros of Lough Cre, the site of which is now occupied by the Catholic Church of the town of Roscrea. It is probable that he was dead before the visit of St.

Carthach; but all the same, his monastery and his spirit were there on the great Munster highway.

Leaving Roscrea the saint seems to have made his way to the royal rath of Failbhe Flann, King of Magh Femhin, as he is called in the _Annals of Ulster_. Magh Femhin was the fertile and picturesque plain stretching from Cashel to Slievenamon on the east, and on the south to the Knockmealdown Mountains, which separated it from the territory of the Desii. It was a rich and fertile land, watered by swelling rivers, and bounded towards the south and east by bold and savage mountains.

Failbhe Flann, the ancestor of the MacCarthys, was then king at Cashel, and kindly received Carthach, who showed his grat.i.tude by curing the king's son of a sore eye. The king offered Carthach a site for a monastery in his own territory of Magh Femhin; but Carthach knowing that this was not G.o.d's will in his regard, declined the prince's generous offer, and resolved to go further southward. It is likely that the saint met at the court of Failbhe that prince's son-in-law, Maeloctraigh, Chief of the Desii of Waterford, who offered to Carthach a large territory beyond the mountain (of Knockmealdown), where he might establish himself and his brother monks in peace beside the Great River, and without any fear of further disturbance during the brief span of his remaining life.

The saint gladly accepted this offer, and stopping for a brief rest at Ardfinnan, which was destined for another saint later on, he crossed the rugged hills that rose up before him, probably by the pa.s.s leading southward from Clogheen, and coming down the southern slopes of the hill he saw stretched before him that beautiful valley through which the Blackwater forces its way from Lismore to Cappoquin. "Here shall be my rest, for I have chosen it," exclaimed the saint, and crossing, not without miraculous aid, it is said, the swelling waves of the Avonmore, he crept up the wooded heights that overhung the southern bank of the stream, and sat down on Magh Sciath--the Plain of the s.h.i.+elds--close to what Keating calls Dunsginne--the great rath surmounting the height to the east of the present town of Lismore.

Many writers have a.s.serted that there was a monastery at Lismore before St. Carthach's arrival there. Mention is certainly made of the death of Lugaid of Lismore in the _Ulster Annals_, A.D. 591; and the Four Masters record the death of Neman, Abbot of Lismore, in A.D. 610. In A.D. 634 the _Annals of Ulster_ tell us that Eochaidh of Lismore died. O'Donovan thinks these entries refer to Lismore on the Blackwater; it is more probable, however, that the reference is to Lismore--an island near Oban in Scotland--where an Irish saint called Molua or Moluag had founded a famous monastery much celebrated in later times.

a.s.suming with the _Ulster Annals_ that Carthach came to Lismore after Easter of the year A.D. 635, he cannot have lived there more than two years--and probably died on the 14th of May, A.D. 637. The _Ulster Annals_ fix his death in A.D. 636; but from the statements in his Life we gather that he must have spent at least two years at Lismore. We are told that on his arrival there he at once proceeded to mark out the site of his monastery, surrounding it as usual with a strong fence and ditch.

Thereupon the holy virgin Coemell, whose cell was not far off, came to see the saint, and finding him at work she inquired what the saint and his monks were doing. They replied that they were building for themselves a small habitation--_Lios-beg_, it would be in Irish. "Not so," replied the virgin saint; "this place will be called Lios-mor," "which," says the writer of the Life, "means in Latin atrium magnum," or Great Hall; "and her prophecy," adds the author, "was verified by the event. For Lismore is now a large city, half of which is an asylum where no female is allowed to enter, for it is full of cells and other monastic buildings, and a great number of holy men always dwell there. For they come there in great numbers, these saintly persons, not only from every part of Ireland, but also from England (Anglia), and from (Britannia) Britain." This distinction between Anglia, or Saxon land, and Britannia, or the country from the Clyde to the Severn inhabitated by the native Britons, shows that this Life was written at a very early date--probably in the seventh or eighth century.

Having founded his monastery, the saint wished to retire from community life for some time to prepare himself for death by undivided communion with G.o.d. The great fame of Carthach was attracting numbers of monks and students to this new foundation, so that he was frequently disturbed by this great influx of pious visitors. Labour and old age too were telling on his emaciated frame, and he knew that the end was not far off. Then he retired to a lonely cave, which was under the monastery, and there for one year and six months gave himself up to the service of G.o.d in solitude. The monks, however, especially the older ones, were still allowed to visit their beloved father; and he seeing the difficulty they had in reaching the high ground on which the monastery was built, resolved to return to the community once more. So the brethren came to carry him up the steep ascent, and now they had reached the middle of the ravine, when the old man seeing a ladder reaching up to the open heavens told the brethren to lay him on the ground and administer to him the last sacraments. Tenderly and piously they did so, "and having partaken of the sacrament of the Lord's Body and Blood and given his last injunctions to the brethren, he bade them all a tender farewell, and giving to each of them the kiss of peace he died in their arms on the day before the Ides of May," in the year A.D. 637, which seems to be the true date.

Like St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, Carthach spent only a very short time with his monks in this monastery that was afterwards to become so famous.

He laid, however, the foundations of the spiritual edifice as well as of the material building. During his long residence at Rahan, he wrote a Rule for the guidance of his monks, which no doubt was the same that was adopted at Lismore. Many of the monks of Rahan, too, when expelled by the Hy-Niall, accompanied their beloved father to Lismore. These were no doubt the holy 'Seniors,' who used to visit him in his cell in the lonely valley; and who ruled the community after his death in the same spirit and in obedience to the same Rule.

Many striking miracles are recorded in the _First Life of St. Carthach_, to only one of which we shall make reference here.

When Carthach and his companions were coming to Lismore--the place given by the prince of the Desii, "where they might live on the fruits of their own labour, and serve G.o.d in peace, without becoming a burden to anyone"--they saw from the high lands a great impetuous river, swollen by the tide of the neighbouring estuary, barring the way, so that there was no means of crossing to the southern bank. Then, whilst the others were in doubt what to do, Carthach, with his friends, Colman-elo and Molua (of Kyle), bent their knees in earnest prayer to G.o.d, and lo! the waves were divided on the right hand and on the left, opening a pa.s.sage for the saints to cross over on dry ground. And so these true Israelites, with hymns of praise to G.o.d, crossed the bed of the Avonmore, and came to Lismore, as it was afterwards called--the place which G.o.d himself had prepared for them. The word _lis_, anciently _les_, properly signifies the mound surrounding the buildings, and also by a secondary signification, the s.p.a.ce enclosed within. Here it includes both--the defending mound and the enclosed s.p.a.ce which contained all the ecclesiastical buildings--the church, the cells, the refectory, the stores and other necessary adjuncts to a great monastery. In those early days these buildings were of rude materials and simplest structure; but all the same they were the choice abodes of learning and holiness.

The most interesting literary monument connected with Lismore is the Rule of St. Carthach. It is one of the eight Monastic Rules of our early Church still extant in Dublin ma.n.u.scripts, and, in the opinion of O'Curry, is certainly authentic. The language, the style, the matter, are all such as might be expected from the person to whom they are attributed at the time it is supposed to have been composed. We know, too, from other sources that these saints really did compose what are called Monastic Rules, and hence, when we find these Rules in ancient MSS. bearing their names, we are not justified in rejecting their authenticity without some tangible reason.

It is to be regretted, although it is an additional proof of their authenticity, that almost all these ancient rules have been written in verse. The construction of these verses is very intricate and artificial, and as a consequence, the matter was, to some extent, sacrificed to the form--we lose in precision what we gain in harmony.

The Rule of Carthach, or Mochuda, is much more than a Monastic Rule in the ordinary sense. It gives precepts for the spiritual guidance of almost all cla.s.ses of persons. The entire poem, as translated by O'Curry, consists of 135 four-lined stanzas. The first eight of these stanzas contain a general exhortation addressed to all Christians, urging on them the observance of the great law of charity, as well as of all the other commandments of G.o.d.

The next nine stanzas are addressed to 'Bishops,' and contain some judicious and wholesome admonitions. The Bishop is responsible to Christ, and must be a vigilant shepherd and an orthodox teacher, checking the pride of kings, resisting evil-doers, and conciliating the lay mult.i.tude.

He is to be skilled in Holy Scripture, for if he is not a learned man he is only a step-son of the Church. He is bound to condemn all heresy and crime, for it is certain that on the Day of Judgment he will have to answer not only for his own faults, but for the sins of those under his government.

Then the Rule for an abbot is prescribed. It is a n.o.ble office to be 'Chief of a Church,' but the holder must be worthy of it, and set his subjects a good example by his own deeds. He is to exhort the aged, and to instruct the young; to reprove the silly, and censure the disorderly--but in all patience, modesty, and charity. He must be constant in preaching the Gospel, and "in offering the Sacrifice of the Body of the great Lord upon the altar." Otherwise he will be the enemy of G.o.d, and cannot become the Heir of the Church of G.o.d.

The "priest," as distinct from the abbot, is enjoined to lead a truthful, laborious life, and to offer up worthily the BODY OF THE KING. His learning should be correct, and he should be accurate in the observance of the rule and of the law. When he goes to give Communion, at the awful point of death, he must receive the confession without shame and without reserve.

The 'soul's-friend' is admonished not to be a blind leader of the blind, but to teach the ignorant, to receive their confessions, not their alms, candidly and devoutly; and not lead them into sin in imitation of himself.

If he has not Ma.s.s on every day, he will, at least, on Sunday and Thursday, to banish every wickedness far from him.

Still more minute prescriptions are given to regulate the conduct of a "monk." All the faults he is to avoid, and all the virtues he is to practise are described in great detail; but as they really contain nothing new, we need not further refer to them here.

The special duties of the _Cele De_, or Culdee, are also defined, and, if we may judge from this Rule, they were not 'recluses' living alone, nor yet monks, supporting themselves by the labour of their hands in the fields; but regular clergy, living in community, engaged in the celebration of Ma.s.s, the recitation of the Divine Office, the instruction of the ignorant in the church, and the teaching of the novices and students in their schools. The statements, however, are so vague that, to some extent at least, they would apply to all the clergy, whether secular, regular, or monastic.

"The order of the Refectory" is prescribed with great minuteness, but as we have already referred to this subject, we shall not deal further with it here. Taken in all its parts this Rule of St. Carthach is a highly interesting, and most important monument of the early Irish Church.

II.--ST. CATHALDUS OF TARENTUM.

The great glory of the School of Lismore was St. Cathaldus. Like many other Irishmen, who left home and died abroad, he has been almost forgotten by our native writers. But the country of his love and of his adoption has not been ungrateful to Ireland. With one accord all foreign writers, following the testimony of Tarentum itself, proclaim that Cathaldus, its second apostle and patron saint, was an Irishman and a scholar of the great School of Lismore.

Lismore is far away from Taranto, as it is now called. It was a city of ancient Magna Graecia, frequently hostile to Rome, and at the best of times yielding only a reluctant obedience to the Queen of the Seven Hills.

She preferred Pyrrhus and Hannibal to the Curii and Scipios. Seated on the southern sea that looks towards Greece, its cultured and pleasure-loving inhabitants had more affection for their ancient motherland than for their stern mistress by the Tiber. Even in the days of the Empire they were more loyal to Byzantium than to Rome. Strange that this Greek-Italian city, situated in the very heel of Italy, should get its apostle from a Munster monastery. Yet such is the fact, to which its own writers bear unanimous and grateful testimony.

The _Life of St. Cathaldus_ has been written by two Tarentines--the brothers Bartholomew and Bonaventure Morini--of whom the former wrote his account of the saint in prose, and the latter in poetry. Both being citizens of Taranto, were acquainted with all the traditions of the place in reference to their patron saint, and, moreover, formally appeal to the testimony of the ancient public records of the Church and of the city in all those things to which these ancient records could bear witness, and also to the Office for the Feast of St. Cathaldus, which was published at Rome in the year A.D. 1607, by the Cardinal Archbishop of Taranto, with the sanction of the Holy See. The brothers Morini shortly afterwards wrote the Life of the Saint. The poetic Life by Bonaventure Morini was first written in eight books; and is greatly and justly praised for the elegance of its Latin style. Bartholomew Morini gives a briefer, but more authentic narrative in prose, which he hoped would help to make known beyond the bounds of their own city the labours, and virtues, and miracles of the saint, whom his brother had already celebrated in verse, and whom Providence had sent from the remotest sh.o.r.es of Ireland (Hibernia) to be the patron and protector of their native city. Unfortunately we have, as I observed before, no account of St. Cathaldus in our domestic Annals; and we must, therefore, follow the guidance of those foreign writers, who, whilst unanimous as to the place of birth and education of our saint, so render the uncouth Irish names in the Latin tongue, that it is very difficult to identify the persons and places to whom they refer. The substance of their account is as follows:--

Cataldus, or Cathaldus, which is the Latin form of Cathal, a very common Irish name, "came from Hibernia, which is an island beyond Britain, in the western sea, smaller in area, but fully equal to it in fertility of soil and productiveness of cattle; whilst in the warmth of the land, in the temperature of the climate, and the salubrity of the air, it is even superior to Britain."

Some say, continues Morini, that Rachau was the Irish city in which he was born, because in many books he is called Cathaldus of Rachau; but the writer rather thinks his native town was Cathandum, which by a change of letter would be Cathaldum, the town of Cathal. He was, he thinks, called Cathaldus of Rachau, because he was bishop of that place in Ireland; but the name Cathaldus he got from his native town, so that the saint's name would be a patronymic.

It is very difficult to ascertain where these two places were. Colgan, a very high authority, seems to think that Cathaldum or Cathandum was Baile-Cathail (_i.e._, Ballycahill) in Ormond, which was the birthplace of the saint, and that Rachau was the foreign way of expressing Rahan, the original monastery and See of St. Carthagh, and of which Cathaldus might have become bishop on the expulsion of its holy founder by the Hy-Niall.

On the whole, we think this is a probable explanation, and not inconsistent with the facts narrated in the Lives both of St. Carthagh and of St. Cathaldus.

For all the accounts agree that the native place of Cathaldus was in Momonia, or as some call it, Mumenia, which in the Office of the saint is changed by mistake of a letter into Numenia. But the reference is clearly to Munster, in Irish Mumhan, which is usually latinized Momonia, or more accurately, perhaps, Mumonia. There are three townlands in North Tipperary called Ballycahill, one of which gives its name to the parish of Ballycahill, west of Thurles, in the barony of Eliogarty. Seeing that this church took its name from Bally-Cahill, it is highly probable that the village itself got its name from a saint who was a native of the place, and under whose protection, too, the church of his native village would naturally be placed. There is every reason to a.s.sume that Cathaldus was of the royal blood of the Munster kings, and that he lived not very far from Lismore; both of which circ.u.mstances would very well apply to Ballycahill.

Cashel, the royal residence of the Munster kings, is about twelve miles further south; and Ballycahill itself was on the highway from north to south Munster, the very road that Carthagh and his monks would follow in their flight from the North to the court of Failbe Flann at Cashel, on their way to Lismore.

His father's name was Euchus, and his mother's name is rendered Achlena or Athnea. Euchus is an attempt at latinizing the Irish Eochaidh. Achlena was a not unfrequent Irish female name, which was borne by the mothers of St.

Fintan and St. Columba.n.u.s. More likely, however, the original name was the Irish form Ethnea--a very common name--which the Tarentines, with their Greek tastes, would very naturally render Athnea in Latin.

As to the date of the saint's birth there is more difference of opinion.

The Morini, who speak, however, doubtingly, seem to think the saint was born in the reign of the Emperor Adrian, and came to Tarentum during the reign of Aurelius, or Antoninus Pius. In this, however, they appear to have merely made a conjecture, having no ancient authority to follow. They were anxious to make this second foundation of the Tarentine Church after St. Peter and St. Mark, who were said to have first preached the Gospel there, as ancient as possible. It is evident, however, even from their own narrative that a much later date must be a.s.signed to the advent of Cathaldus to Tarentum. For he came there on his return from Jerusalem, where with his companions he had been to visit the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord. But the Holy Sepulchre was not discovered until the time of St.

Helen, in A.D. 336, after which this pilgrimage became common in Christendom, so that we cannot a.s.sign by any possibility this early date to the mission of Cathaldus at Tarentum.

Of course, too, the history of the Irish Church is entirely inconsistent with so early a date for the apostolate of this Irish saint. For we are told that he studied and taught at Lismore; that he was Bishop of Rachau; that he preached the Gospel successfully in Ireland before he left for the Holy Land--facts which more clearly mark the seventh than the second century as the period during which he lived and flourished.

The young Cathal, who seems to have been born about the year A.D. 615, grew up in holiness and grace before G.o.d and men; and, according to the author, was whilst yet a youth sent to study in the great monastic school of Lismore (Lesmoria). It was, as we have seen, founded by St. Carthach in the year A.D. 635. Indeed, Morini's account of our saint at Lismore would seem to imply that he was a professor there as well as student, for he tells us that the fame of his learning and virtues attracted many disciples to the new college,[333] and what is more, raised up against himself some powerful enemies. He not only taught in the schools, but he preached the Gospel most successfully in all the country of the Desii, working many miracles too, and building churches--one of which dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, is specially mentioned in his Life as the glory of Lismore. The author even exaggerates his labours, for he adds, that no one was left throughout all Ireland whom Cathaldus did not instruct in the saving truths of the Gospel.

Now the king (of Munster no doubt), was jealous of the great popularity of the saint, and fearing that Cathal, relying on the good will of the people, might aspire to the throne, he _sailed_ to Lismore, intending to seize and imprison the saint. But G.o.d protects His own. This evil-minded prince was warned by two Angels in a vision not to touch Cathaldus at his peril; but rather to make him successor to Meltrides, the regulus of the Desii, who had inflamed by evil counsel the king's mind against Cathaldus; and lo! whilst the king was narrating this vision in the morning to his counsellors a messenger came to announce the sudden death of this Meltrides, the king's evil counsellor. The king, now filled with terror, asked pardon of Cathaldus, who was then a deacon, and was going to make him ruler over the Desii; but Cathaldus modestly refused the honour, preferring to serve G.o.d in religion. Thereupon he was made bishop, and the king a.s.signed him mensal lands around Lismore, in the territory of Meltrides, and he became not only bishop, but even an archbishop, with twelve suffragan sees subject to him as metropolitan! The facts here seem much exaggerated, but were probably quite true in substance.

Meltrides seems to have been that prince of the Desii, who gave Lismore to St. Carthach in A.D. 635. His death is recorded under date A.D. 670. If Cathaldus were a deacon, in A.D. 670, he can hardly have been a disciple of St. Carthach, who died thirty-three years before. Colga, son of Failbe Flann, was King of Munster at this period, for his death is noticed, in A.D. 674 by the accurate _Chronicon Scotorum_. It is not unlikely then that Cathaldus, the professor of Lismore, who was supposed to be aiming at the crown of Munster, was a member of the rival line sprung from Fingin, the elder brother of Failbe Flann. Fingin died in A.D. 619, leaving the crown to Failbe; but of course his sons would have a better claim than Failbe's, when they grew up to man's estate. These two princes, Fingin and Failbe Flann, were respectively the heads of the great rival families of Munster, the O'Sullivans and M'Carthys; and although the latter rose to greater power, the former was, it is said, the senior branch of that royal stock, and retained their lands in the Golden Vale down to the advent of the Anglo-Normans, when they were driven to the mountains of Kerry. It was Colga, therefore, King of Munster, in A.D. 670, who caused Cathaldus the deacon to be elected Bishop, and not only endowed his See of Rachau with the lands of the Desii, but also subjected to his authority all the Bishops of the South, whose sees were within the kingdom of Cashel. In this way we can explain the statement in the Life that Cathaldus was made an archbishop with twelve suffragan prelates subject to his authority.

Colga would lend himself all the more readily to this project, because there would be now less danger of Cathaldus, after he became a bishop, aiming at the crown of Munster.

But where was the See of Rachau? We cannot agree with Colgan that it was Rahan. Rahan was in Meath in the territory of the Southern Hy-Niall, and we may a.s.sume it as certain that the spirit of jealousy, which in A.D.

635, drove St. Carthach from Rahan would never tolerate the appointment of this Munster prince as bishop in any part of Meath. It is, of course, still more improbable that the same jealous rivals would consent to give him metropolitan jurisdiction over the princes and prelates of their own race.

From the narrative in the saint's Life, if it can be relied upon, it is quite evident that Rachau was not far from Lismore, that it was in the territory of the Desii, and like the see of Sletty, it may, for a while, have attained to a certain pre-eminence in Munster in consequence of the learning and virtue of Cathaldus. Still it is very difficult to ascertain the exact locality of this 'city of Rachau.' There was, as we know from the Four Masters, a mountain in this district, about six miles north of Dungarvan, which was called Slieve Cua, now Slieve Gua. There must have been an old church in the district also, for there is a parish called Slievegue; and if there was a rath named from the territory, it would be Rath-cua, or Rachau, as any Irish scholar will readily admit. There was a pa.s.s through the valley beneath Slieve Cua, which, as it led from Magh Femhin into Decies without the Drum, was in ancient times the scene of many a b.l.o.o.d.y battle. We are inclined to think that Rachau of the saint's Life is simply another form of Rath-cua, which was doubtless the ancient name of the residence of the family of Cathaldus, who were probably the rulers of the district. The old church might have once had the same appellation, although so far as we know it is now lost. After the departure of Cathaldus, this church would lose its pre-eminence like many another church in Ireland which was once the seat of a bishop, and at present does not rank even as a parochial church. Clonenagh is an example, as we have seen when treating of its history. However, we merely offer this as a conjecture, for we can find no reference to the church or district of Rachau in our domestic Annals.

After Cathaldus had ruled the See of Rachau for some years, with his brother Donatus and several companions, he went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem--a journey that it was by no means unusual for the fervent saints of Erin to accomplish even at that early period. On their return from Palestine, their vessel was wrecked in the Gulf of Taranto, not far from the city of the same name.

Taranto, the cla.s.sical Tarentum, was an ancient and famous city, beautifully situated on the northern sh.o.r.e of the bay. It was founded by a Spartan colony of young men, who left their native country because they were branded with the stigma of illegitimacy. But they selected a beautiful site for their city, under the shadow of the Iapygian hills, and surrounded by the sun-lit waters of that s.p.a.cious bay. The climate was delightful, the air bracing and salubrious; for the summer's heats were tempered by the sea breezes, and the mountains sheltered them from the biting winds of winter. The hills were clothed with olive trees and vineyards, which were specially prized; the wool of their sheep was of the finest quality; the inner harbour was filled with sh.e.l.l-fish; and their honey was equal to that produced by the bees of Hymettus. Horace, in a well-known Ode, extols its mild winter and lingering spring; and declares that its rare products and smiling bowers woo him to make his sojourn in that happy land.[334]

But its inhabitants, even in the days of Pyrrhus, were said to be an effeminate and licentious people, more devoted to the pleasures of peace than to the arts of war. They had heard the Gospel from the lips of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Mark; but during the disturbances succeeding the fall of the Western Empire, they became once more practically pagans.

Such was the state of things when Cathaldus and his companions were wrecked on the sh.o.r.e of the Tarentine Gulf.