BOOK
of Leuktra justified the hopes of Aristomenes, the Argive Epiteles
saw a vision which bade him recover the old woman who was well-
nigh at her last gasp beneath the sods of Ithome. His search was
rewarded by the discovery of a water-jar, in which was contained
a plate of the finest tin. On this plate were inscribed the mystic
rites for the worship of the great gods.^ The same wonderful ewer
or goblet of the sun was bestowed in the Persian legend on Jemshid,
and explained the glories of his magnificent reign. The same vessel
is the divining cup of Joseph;- and in late traditions it reappears in
the tale which relates how Rehoboam inclosed the book containing
his father's supernatural knowledge in an ivory ewer and placed it in
his tomb. The fortunes of this vessel are related by Flegetanis, who
is said to have traced up his genealogy on the mother's side to
Solomon; nor need it be a " matter of surprise to those who remember
the talismanic eftect of a name in the general history of fiction, that
a descendant of this distinguished sovereign should be found to write
its history, or that another Joseph should be made the instrument of
conveying it to the kingdoms of Western Europe."^ This mystic
vessel, the Sangreal of Arthurian legend, is at once a storehouse of
food as inexhaustible as the table of the Ethiopians, and a talismanic
test as effectual as the goblets of Oberon and Tristram. The good
Joseph of Arimathaea, who had gathered up in it the drops of blood
which fell from the side of Jesus when pierced by the centurion's
spear, was nourished by it alone through his weary imprisonment of
two and forty years; and when at length, having either been brou^-ht
by him to Britain, or preserved in heaven, it was carried by angels to
the pure Titurel and shrined in a magnificent temple, it supplied
to its worshippers the most delicious food, and preserved them in
perpetual youth. As such, it differs in no way from the horn of
- Paus. iv. 20, 26. With this may heir, and even raised the dead. It was
be compared the legend of the great in fact the counterpart of the .Sangreal. wizard .Michael Scott. In this case the The cruder form of the myth is seen in Mighty Book is found not in an ewer, the legend of the Caldron of Ccridwen, but in the hand of the magician. Still the Keltic Demeter. This story is "iven the boat-shaped vessel is not wanting. by Mr. Gould {Curious Myths, ii. 335), The magic lamp (it is a lamp in the who adds that " this vessel of the liquor- story of Allah-ud-deen) is at his knee ; of wisdom had a prominent place in and as the sepulchre is opened, the light British mytholog)-." Sir Walter Scott bursting forth, remarks, that in many Scottish legends Streamed upward to the chancel roof, ^ drinking horn will prove a cornu- And through the galleries far aloof. ^OP^ o' good fortune to any one who No earthly flame blazed e'er so bright, ?=i" ^"^tch it from the fairies and bear It shone like heaven's own blessed light. it across a runnmg stream. As an emblem this cup is combined with the %coX, Lay of the Last Minstrel, . 18. serpent in the representations of St.
- Thesame vessel in Taliesin imparts John,
to its possessor the wisdom of lamos. ' hit rod. to IVartoti's Hist, of En^. It healed all the evils to which flesh is Poetry.
