Happy the king whom it makes victorious; unhappy the king who
was defeated.

Unhappy the host of Leat Cuin, to have fallen by the sprites
of Slain;

Happy the reign of great Aed, and unhappy the loss of Flann."

Aed the victorious king sang:

"The troops of Leinster are with him, with the added men of
swift Boyne;

This shows the treachery of Flann: the concord of Gentiles
at his side."

After ten years, a bard thus sings the dirge of Aed:

"Long is the wintry night, with rough gusts of wind;
Under pressing grief we meet it, since the red-speared king
of the noble house lives not.
It is fearful to watch how the waves heave from the bottom;
To them may be compared all those who with us lament him.
A generous, wise, staid man, of whose renown the populous
Tara was full.
A shielded oak that sheltered the palace of Milid's sons.
Master of the games of the fair hilled Taillten,
King of Tara of a hundred conflicts;
Chief of Fodla the noble, Aed of Oileac who died too soon.
Popular, not forgotten, he departed from this world,
A yew without any blemish upon him was he of the long-flowing
hair."

Nor must it be thought that these repeated raids which we have recorded
in any way checked the full spiritual life of the nation. It is true
that there was not that quiet serenity from which came the perfect
beauty and art of the old Book of Kells, but a keenness and fire kindled
the breasts of those who learned the New Way and the Ancient Learning.
The schools sent forth a host of eminent men who over all western Europe
laid the intellectual basis of the modern world. This view of Ireland's
history might well be expanded almost without limit or possibility of
exaggeration. Receiving, as we saw, the learning and traditions of Rome
while Rome was yet mighty and a name of old imperial renown, Ireland
kept and cherished the classical wisdom and learning, not less than the
lore of Palestine. Then the northern garrisons of Rome were beaten back,
and Britain and Gaul alike were devastated by hordes from beyond the
Rhine. The first wild deluge of these fierce invaders was now over, and
during the lull of the storm teachers went forth from Ireland to
Scotland, as we have seen; they went also to Britain; to Belgium; to
northern, central and southern Gaul; and to countries beyond the Rhine
and