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Rh islanders said that some of the mighty had passed away. For as a lamp on being lit, they said, brings with it no danger, while on being extinguished it is grievous to many, just so with regard to great souls, their beginning to shine forth is pleasant and the reverse of grievous, whereas the extinction and destruction of them frequently disturb the winds and the surge as at present; often times also do they infect the atmosphere with pestilential diseases. Moreover, there is there, they said, an island in which Cronus is imprisoned, with Briareus keeping guard over him as he sleeps; for, as they put it, sleep is the bond forged for Cronus. They add that around him are many deities, his henchmen and attendants.”

To return to the Black Book, I may mention that another of the Stanzas of the Graves is worth citing here, though it does not name Arthur. It alludes, however, to Camlan, the Camelot of Malory and the romances, and that in the same strain of apparently historical definiteness as the entry in the Annales Cambriæ cited as mentioning Camlan. The lines in question run thus —

We next come to a poem headed Gereint filius Erbin, which describes a battle at a place called Llongborth. Gereint is the poet’s hero, but he introduces Arthur as Gereint’s superior and lord, as follows :—