is remarkable,” adds Professor Sayce, “that a French range of hills in
the neighbourhood of Vienne bears the same name as the Swiss mountain,
and from the same cause. Vienne, however was actually the place to
which Pilate was banished; and the accidental coincidence is a striking
example of the impossibility of our discovering historic truth in a
myth, although we may know from other sources that it has accidentally
attached itself to a real event. Close to Vienne is a ruin called the
‘Tour de Mauconseil,’ from which, it is said, Pilate threw himself in
despair. But the value of the legend may be easily estimated when we
learn that the tower is really a _tête-du-pont_ built by Philippe de
Valois.”
[24] _Emanuel Swedenborg; his Life and Writings._ By William White.
(Simpkin, Marshall and Co., 1868.) P. 197, _sq._
[25] _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube der Gegenwart._ Dr. Adolf Wuttke.
Berlin, 1869.
[26] _Deutsche Mythologie_, xiii. 5, 6. (Tr. by J. S. Stallybrass.
Sonnenschein and Allen, 1880.)
[27] _The Gentleman’s Magazine_, July, 1880. _Wodan, the Wild Huntsman,
and the Wandering Jew._
[28] See Knight’s _Shakspeare_, notes to the _Merchant of
Venice_.--Blanco White, in his _Letters from Spain_ (1806), speaking
of the Passion Week shows, says: “The dress of the Apostle John is
green, that of Judas yellow; and so intimately associated is this
circumstance with the idea of the traitor, that it has brought that
colour into universal discredit.... The Inquisition has adopted it for
the _Sambeníto_, a coat of infamy, which persons convicted of heresy
are compelled to wear. The red hair of Judas, like Peter’s baldness,
seems to be agreed upon by all the painters and sculptors of Europe.
_Judas’ hair_ is a usual name in Spain; and a similar appellation,
it should seem, was used in England in Shakspeare’s time. ‘His hair’
says Rosalind, ‘is of the dissembling colour.’ To which Celia answers
‘Something browner than Judas’s.’”
[29] _English and Scottish Ballads_, viii. 78.
[30] Morrison’s translation (Bohn).
[31] Robert Browning: “Holy-Cross Day.”
[32] “Quel est donc l’origine et la date de cette légende? Je la
crois, comme celle du voile de sainte Véronique et généralement comme
toutes les histoires relatives à la Passion, née vers le quatrième
siècle, à Constantinople, et contemporaine de sainte Hélène et de
la découverte de la vraie croix. Mais ces traditions sont restées
longtemps orales.”--_Revue des Deux Mondes_, Dec. 1, 1833. Published as
introduction to Quinet’s “Ahasuerus.” Goethe connects Saint Veronica
with Ahasuerus in the plan of his intended work elsewhere given.
Veronica, whose name means the _true portrait_ (_i.e._ of Christ
which was retained on the apron with which she wiped the sweat from
his face), would be a natural counterpart of the man who refused all
succour to the fainting sufferer. In enthusiasm about the _true cross_
might be born a myth of the _true image_, and of a “witness” to both.
[33] _Nineteenth Century_, May, 1880.
[34] “_Study of Shakspeare._” (Chatto and Windus.)
[35] _Le Mahabarata_, p. 241.
[36] The ‘omnificent,’ who offered up all worlds in a general
sacrifice, and ended by sacrificing himself.
[37] _Madoc_, xi. This, however, is contrary to Welsh orthodoxy. I
remember being present at a dinner-company in Wales, given to Ralph
Waldo Emerson, when a gentleman present was sceptical enough to assure
the eminent American that though he had often passed the traditional
spot of Merlin’s aërial prison, he had never heard any voice from the
air, and did not believe the story. Emerson answered: “You must be a
bold man.”
[38] _Folk-lore of the Northern Counties._ Published for the Folk-lore
Society by Satchell, Peyton and Co. 1879. P. 82.
[39] The outlines of German poems that follow, are condensed from
a pamphlet entitled:--_Die Sage vom ‘Ewigen Juden,’ ihre poetische
Wandlung und Fortbildung_. Von Friedrich Helbig. Berlin, 1874. For this
pamphlet and assistance in its translation I am indebted to Fräulein
Almata Jacobi (Bremen).
[40] _Superstition and Force._ By Henry C. Lea, p. 26. Philadelphia,
1878.
[41] _Nathan the Wise._ From the German, with an introduction, by R.
Willis, M.D. London: Williams and Norgate.
Transcriber’s Note
Some inconsistencies in spelling, hyphenation, and punctuation have
been retained.
This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text and =equals= to
indicate bold text. Small capitals changed to all capitals.
p. 5: changed “rimće” to “rimée” (the Chronique rimée of Philippe de
Mousket)
p. 44: changed “prononnced” to “pronounced” (destiny pronounced by his
father)
p. 79: changed “nside” to “inside” (serpents and iron prongs inside)
p. 121 (footnote 32): changed “généralment” to “généralement” (et
généralement comme toutes)
p. 148: changed “Shylook’s” to “Shylock’s” (his part of Shylock’s
penalty)
p. 230: changed “guage” to “gauge” (Nor in security scrupulous to gauge)
p. 254: changed “taughthim” to “taught him” (had taught him otherwise)
p. 269: changed “rest” to “test” (the test and register of civilisation)