Sneaks
- snakes
Commentary
Saint Patrick (died March 17?, 492/493) is the patron saint of Ireland, along with Saint Brigid and Saint Columba. Pious legend credits Patrick with banishing snakes from the island, though post-glacial Ireland never actually had snakes; one suggestion is that snakes referred to the serpent symbolism of the Druids of that time and place, as shown for instance on coins minted in Gaul (see Carnutes), or that it could have referred to heretical beliefs such as Pelagianism, symbolized as "serpents."
The letter 'S' looks like a snake. In Joyce's notes and early drafts of FW, S is the siglum used to denote the Man Servant in HCE's tavern. He is sometimes identified with the serpent in the Garden of Eden (HCE and ALP being Adam and Eve), or with the snakes who dwelt in Ireland before the coming of Christianity. In some sense, he seems to represent the ancient indigenous inhabitants of Ireland and Dublin, who were conquered and enslaved by foreign invaders.
