These grammatical treatises were much more than books on formal grammar. They dealt with the principles of rhetoric and the art of versification and when enriched by commentaries they must have occupied a prominent place in the educational literature of their own as well as of the succeeding centuries; for we should remember that in those days scholars were inclined to supplement existing works by adding commentaries rather than to attempt anything along original lines. However, many of the Irish monks were accomplished scholars and authors as well as commentators. In this connection many names might be cited, one of the most versatile being Sedulius who taught at Liège from 840 to 860 A.D.[349] Besides writing commentaries on the Scriptures, a grammatical treatise, and a work on the theory of government, he composed numerous poems of much merit.[350] With Sedulius we might rank Donatus (824–874 A.D.), bishop of Fiesole, who was also a poet. Among his poems there is one in which he gives a beautiful description of Ireland and shows that he has a high ideal of the mission of his race. He describes himself as _Scottorum sangine creatus_ and tells how he united the duties of bishop to those of teacher of grammar and poetry.[351]
Such varied activities as copying and glossing the writings of classical authors, teaching poetry, and writing treatises on grammar are sufficient to suggest that the literary interests of the Irish monks extended beyond psalm-singing and a study of the writings of the Fathers. Even if their primary interest was the study of the Scriptures this very interest created a need for an abundance of correct texts. This naturally led to a careful study of orthography and the production of treatises on grammar in the broad sense in which we have defined the term. Possibly at first the rudiments of grammar were all that was necessary, but as Mr. Roger so aptly remarks,[352] “l’émulation créée par l’expansion du monachisme, la hardiesse et la curiosité naturelles des Irlandais, le désir d’approcher de plus en plus la pensée divine en pénétrant le sens d’Écriture, le goût pour l’étude qui n’était pas une nouveauté en Irlande, les entraînent au delà de ces éléments.” Thus having surmounted preliminary difficulties it was but natural that they whose literary taste had been developed by the study of their vernacular literature should not hesitate to study the classical authors. There was no fear of the return of paganism; to the Irish the Greek and Latin deities made no appeal. As they were not likely to sacrifice their faith to pagan rhetoric there was no necessity to confine themselves to rustic Latin as was the custom with the early Christians on the Continent who were daily drawing farther and farther away from correct classical forms. Hence _a priori_ there are many reasons why we should expect to find traces of the classics in the writings of the Irish monks. This view is confirmed by an actual analysis of the existing works of writers of this period.