In connexion with the conclusion that Loigaire was influenced by the prestige of the Empire, I referred to his predecessor Dathi’s expedition to Gaul. Dathi, son of Fiachra, and nephew of king Niall, succeeded Niall as king of Ireland in 405, and was killed by lightning near the Alps, according to the Irish Annals, in 428 (see _Ann. Ult. s.a._ 445: through some error the entry has been inserted under a wrong year). There is a notice of his death in the _Lebor na hUidre_, p. 38, where he is said to have been killed in Gaul, while besieging a town of king Fermenus (_rí Tracia_), whose name suggests (as others have pointed out) the Faramund of the Merovingian genealogy.[410] Zimmer (_Nennius Vindicatus_, p. 85) dismisses the story as a reminiscence of the death of an Attacottic chief in Roman service. But this does not account for the data, and for the consistent tradition that Dathi met his death on the continent; I can see no reason to doubt the tradition, there was no motive for its invention. Accepting it, we are obliged to infer that Dathi went, with Irish troops, by the invitation of the Romans. The date of the Annals for Dathi’s death and Loigaire’s succession, A.D. 428, harmonises with the inference; for just in this year the General Aetius, on whom the defence of Gaul at this time rested, was engaged in war with the Franks. Prosper, _s.a._ 428, _pars Galliarum propinqua Rheno quam Franci possidendam occupaverant Aetii armis recepta_. The name Fermenus supplies a remarkable confirmation. As has been said, it seems to represent Faramund, the father and predecessor of Chlojo, according to Merovingian tradition. Chlojo, who appears a year or two later on the scene, is the first Merovingian monarch who has a clear place in history. Faramund has always been regarded as shadowy. The independent survival of his name in Irish tradition in connection with an event of 428, shortly before the first appearance of his son Chlojo, may be fairly brought forward as a piece of evidence for his historical reality. The transference of the scene from the lower Rhine to the regions of the Alps (due originally to vague knowledge of Gallic geography) makes the evidence more valuable, as it shows that the name Fermenus was not introduced into the story from Merovingian sources; the Alps would not have suggested to any antiquarian a connexion with a war against the Franks in north-eastern Gaul. It is said that the corpse of Dathi was brought back by his companions to Ireland and buried in the cemetery of Rathcrochan. See the poem of Torna-Éices on the famous men and women who lay there, published by M. d’Arbois de Jubainville in _Revue Celtique_, 17, 280 _sqq._ Under thee is the king of the men of Fail [Ireland], Dathi son of Fiachra, the good; Croghan, you have hidden him from the Galls, from the Goidels. Under thee is Dungalach the swift who led the king [Dathi] beyond the sea of seas. 12. _The Senchus Mór_