Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/86

 62 Reviews.

to the Greek Emperor Anastasius. In the reign of Justinian they revolted under the following circumstances : they slew their king Ochon, but repented shortly afterwards and sent to Thule for a prince of the old royal stock, which had taken refuge there with another section of the dispersed Heruli ; the first prince that accompanied the messengers died before reaching the end of the journey, whereupon they returned for a second king, named Datius. Meanwhile the Heruli, tired of waiting, had accepted a king from Justinian ; but on learning the approach of their own king, they abandoned the emperor's nominee and threw off the Greek overlordship. These events took place in the first quarter of the sixth century. No'.v, Irish legend relates how, after the death of Crimhthann, a.d. 9, the kingship was seized by Cairbre Cinncait, heading a revolt of the Aithech Tuatha (a name which has been interpreted as the subject or rent-paying folk) against the Milesian rulers. These were treacherously slain at a banquet, save three, one of whom, Feradach, was, after Cairbre's death, invited back from his oversea refuge to take up the rightful sovereignty of Ireland. According to Mr. Borlase, the story of the Heruli related by Procopius found its way to Ireland sometime in the late sixth or seventh century, was completely Hibernicised by the Irish story-tellers, was thrown back into the first century of our era, and worked into a series of annals which assumed their present shape, in outline at least, as early as the eighth century. It would be almost impossible to imagine an hypothesis more insecurely founded, more unconvincingly worked out.

I would not be supposed to condemn this part of Mr. Borlase's work as worthless. Far from it. In his endeavour to support his thesis he has ransacked the obscure and confused records of bar- barian Europe in the Invasion period. The byeways of history into which he leads his readers are full of interest and fascination. I have trodden them gladly and thankfully at his bidding ; but gratitude cannot prevent me from declaring that they do not, and cannot, lead to the goal aimed at by the author. My conviction on this point is all the stronger because, as a matter of principle, I see no reason to object to possible Continental influence on Irish legend, whether exercised during the prc-historic times when the kinsmen of the Irish Celts were overrunning all Europe, or during the historic period when the Irish were taking their part in the demolition of the Roman Empire. In the first case, this