[1] As to the divisions and sub-divisions of the ancient Irish people, I prefer to give the following statement of Dr. Sullivan:--'The unit territory was the _Tuath_, each of which had a _Ri_, or chief. Three, four, or even more _Tuatha_ were connected together for military and other purposes as a _Mór Tuath_; the king or chief of the confederacy, who acted as Commander-in-Chief, was the _Ri Mór Tuatha_, or great chief. This group corresponded to the Gothic _Thiuda_, old Norse _Thjoth_. The Irish unit _Tuath_ corresponded to the Norse _Fylk_, the Teutonic _Gavi_ or _Gau_, the Greek _Phyle_, and the old Latin _Tribus_; it was at first genealogical, but acquired a geographical and political signification. The tribe or _Tuath_ consisted in some cases of a _Clann_, the progeny or descendants of a chief. Sometimes a _Clann_ embraced several _Tuatha_. _Clann_ was strictly genealogical, _Tuath_ both genealogical and geographical. The _Clann_ consisted of families or houses called _Fine_, equivalent to _Cognatio_--the Anglo-Saxon _Maegth_. The head of a _Fine_ was the _Cendfinne_ or chieftain. The _Fine_ was a sept. The _Clann_ therefore consisted of several septs, and the land of the tribe or _Tuath_ was divided between the septs or _Fine_ composing it. The _Fine_ or sept is one of the most important parts of the Irish organisation, but the word is used in several senses: thus, the relatives of a chief or other tribesman to the fifth degree constituted the true _Cognatio_ or _Geilfine_, i.e. Hand-_fine_. The _Fine_ or sept was in fact an independent unit, which paid _Erics_ for all its members, and received _Erics_ or fines for the killing of one of its own members, and also took possession of the _Dibad_ or property of its deceased members. But when the sept did not fulfil its obligations, the _Ri_ of the _Tuath_ was bound to enforce justice. So when the _Tuath_ itself failed in its obligations and duties, the _Ri Mór Tuatha_ or superior chief was bound to enforce justice in the recalcitrant tribe. The _Ri Mór Tuatha_, or _Ri buiden_, or king of companies, corresponded to the Anglo-Saxon _Heretoga_ or Dux. The King of the Great Tribe received hostages from the sub-reguli of his territory for their _Ceílsine_ or fealty, and he might call upon them to support him with a levy of their tribes.' [2] 'The existence of the Irish Pentarchy,' says Dr. Sullivan, 'was as real as that of any similar confederacy among nations in a tribal stage, and the means of enforcing the orders of the over-king were not very different or less effective than in many federal states--ancient, mediæval, and modern.'