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LEINSTER 51
rise of ground, seven or eight miles distant—the Hill
of Slane. That is where, on Easter Eve in the year
433, Patrick lighted the Paschal fire which gave menace
and warning to the High King and his druids, keeping
their state on Tara. It was a bold challenge, for a
great druidic festival was in preparation, and no
man in Meath was permitted to light a flame till Tara
itself should give the beacon signal; and the night of
that challenge is a marking-point in the history of
Ireland—even in the history of the world.
For in that period of the fifth century, all Europe,
as we know it to-day, was included within Rome's
Empire, save for two exceptions—the outlying retreats
of Scandinavia and of Ireland. Christianity was the
religion of the Empire, the religion of civilization,
and there is little doubt but that before Patrick's
coming Christianity had got some footing in the
south-eastern parts of Ireland, which were in closest
commerce with Great Britain.
Patrick, by birth a Briton (almost certainly of
Wales), was a Roman born in the same sense as St.
Paul; his father was an official of the Empire; and
from his father's house he was carried into captivity
by these outer barbarians of Ireland. In his captivity
he found his mission, escaped, with the fixed design
to prepare himself for it, and spent thirty years on
that preparation before, in 432, he came back to make