There is some difference in opinion as to the means whereby the Irish discovered the use of letters. One thing is certain, the Ogam alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet. Some think that the Irish first became acquainted with the Roman alphabet through direct trade with the Continent, but it is more probable as MacNeill has shown[26] that this knowledge was acquired from the Romanized Britons from the first or second century onward. But how or why they invented the Ogam alphabet instead of using the Roman letters, or else Greek ones like the Gauls, is a profound mystery. There can, however, be no doubt that the Ogam alphabet at whatever time invented, is the peculiar possession of the Irish Gael and is to be found only where he had his settlements. SUMMARY: From the preceding discussion we may safely conclude: 1. That long before the Christian era the Ancient Irish had developed many useful arts and were skilled and artistic craftsmen. 2. That they had a code of laws that was well suited to the state of society that then existed, and that with slight alterations it was well adapted to meet the requirements of the higher civilization of Christianity. (A corroboration of this view is the well-known fact that at a much later date many of the Anglo-Norman settlers abandoned their own code of laws and adopted the Brehon Code to which they became as much attached as the Irish themselves). 3. That native learning was actively cultivated and systematically developed before the introduction of Christianity. 4. That there was a learned class called druids who were the priests, teachers, poets, historians and judges. (The same man in early times combined in himself all these functions, but in later times there was a tendency to specialize). 5. That the Pagan Irish had a knowledge of letters and that they wrote their learning or part of it in books and cut Ogam inscriptions on stone and wood, but how they obtained this knowledge we have no certain means of determining. CHAPTER II THE BEGINNINGS OF CLASSICAL LEARNING