assigned to each. The numerous distinctions of rank, and the special
honours paid to the learned, are subjects worthy of particular notice.
The "_saoi_ of literature" and the "royal chief" are classed in the same
category, and were entitled to a _primchrochait_, or steak; nor was the
Irish method of cooking barbarous, for we find express mention of a spit
for roasting meat, and of the skill of an artificer who contrived a
machine by which thirty spits could be turned at once.[176] The five
great Celtic roads[177] have already been mentioned. Indistinct traces
of them are still found at Tara. The _Slighe Mor_ struck off from the
Slope of the Chariots,[178] at the northern head of the hill, and joined
the Eiscir Riada, or great Connaught road, from Dublin _via_ Trim. Dr.
Petrie concludes his Essay on Tara thus: "But though the houses were
unquestionably of these materials [wood and clay, with the exception of
the Tuatha De Danann Cathair], it must not be inferred that they were
altogether of a barbarous structure. It is not probable that they were
unlike or inferior to those of the ancient Germans, of which Tacitus
speaks in terms of praise, and which he describes as being overlaid with
an earth so pure and splendid, that they resembled painting." And the
historian Moore, writing on the same subject, observes: "That these
structures were in wood is by no means conclusive either against the
elegance of their structure, or the civilization, to a certain extent,
of those who erected them. It was in wood that the graceful forms of
Grecian architecture first unfolded their beauties; and there is reason
to believe that, at the time when Xerxes invaded Greece, most of her
temples were still of this perishable material."

But the cursing of Tara was by no means the only misfortune of
Diarmaid's reign. His unaccountable hostility to St. Columba involved
him in many troubles; and, in addition to these, despite famine and
pestilence, the country was afflicted with domestic wars. It is said
that his war with Guaire, King of Connaught, was undertaken as a
chastisement for an injustice committed by that monarch, who, according
to an old chronicle, had deprived a woman, who had vowed herself to a
religious life, of a cow, which was her only means of support. It is
more probable, however, that the motive was not quite so chivalric, and
that extortion of a tribute to which he had no right was the real cause.
The high character for probity