On Mon, 04 Sep 2000, Jim Dixon wrote:
an invasion and the way the Saxons were treated; but the Normans were just copying the Romans, and the Romans were just copying the Greeks.
It's easy to look at history in this way, seeing some people as villians and other as victims. But do remember that St Patrick wasn't Irish at all. He was an English boy, stolen by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. And for centuries English kings used Irish mercenaries to subdue their unruly subjects.
Actually, St. Patrick is mostly a mythical creature constructed from the actual Roman ruling family Patricias. The whole St. Patrick chasing out the snakes is clearly a metaphor for the Roman church killing off the pagans. As is typical amonst the Roman church, the peasants, once suitably under control are made to believe the destruction of the old way of life was actually a blessing. The Romans pushed this on them until the old ways faded into the memory hole.