Hitherto our study has been limited to a discussion of native Irish culture influenced but slightly from the outside. Here the attempt is made to trace the beginnings of classical learning. In this connection it is worth noting that Ireland occupies the unique position of being the only part of the Celtic world that was not brought under the sway of Roman arms. The consequence is that she is one of the very few nations of Western Europe whose civilization was free to develop along native lines. Yet it must not be supposed that Ireland remained completely aloof from the Graeco-Roman culture to which the world owes so much.[27] The great difference between Ireland and the other Celtic countries such as Britain and Gaul lies in this: in Gaul the combined forces of Roman arms and Roman culture wiped out almost every trace of native culture, the same is true of the greater part of Britain.[28] In Ireland, on the other hand, Roman learning was introduced in a peaceful manner (at least as early as the fifth century, as will be shown later). Now as we have seen native learning was already developing along national lines, the result was that not only did the native learning continue to flourish unchecked by the arrival of the new learning but the former actually received a fresh impulse,[29] while classical learning was cultivated to an extent that is without parallel in contemporary Europe.[30] The precise way in which letters reached Ireland and the causes which led to “that remarkable outburst of classical learning towards the close of the sixth century”[31] are matters on which most writers express themselves vaguely, or assume that certain ill-defined influences emanating from Britain or Gaul somehow reached her shores, but at what time or by what means they have not been able to determine.