1898.1 SMYTH — PERICLES AND APOLLONIUS. 291 



often proceed in medieval romance in strangely assorted com- 

 panies. Solomon and Mercury seems an oddly chosen companion- 

 ship. In the stories of Solomon we find him frequently engaging 

 in conflicts with djinns or demons. He overpowers and holds in 

 subjection all but Sachr (or Asmodeus), whom he finally conquers 

 by artifice and from whom he learns how to obtain possession of 

 the worm Schamir which cuts stones without noise — an obvious 

 reminiscence of the building of the temple of Solomon, without the 

 sound of a hammer ("like a tall palm the silent temple grew"). 

 With the conception of Solomon as the wisest and most eloquent of 

 men and the most powerful conqueror of spirits, there must have 

 come a moment in the evolution of the story in which he would 

 measure his prowess with the demons of the classic world. Mer- 

 cury excelled in discourse. It was therefore but natural that with 

 him Solomon should enter into argument. When Paul and Bar- 

 nabas preached in Lystra, the people cried, " The gods have come 

 down to us in the likeness of men," and they called Barnabas, 

 Jupiter, because of his stature, and Paul, Mercury because of his 

 eloquence. 



In the Vienna Apollonius, MS., 480, occurs the following note : 



*^ Nota quod de isto Apollonio tyro magister in scolastica ystoria 

 in libro tercio regum in rubrica de opidis datis yram a Salomone. 

 Testatur Josephus Menandrum fenicem ystoriographum scripsisse 

 quod Salomon et yram mutuo sibi scripserunt enigmata et figuras 

 quod qui non solueret tercam daret alteri pensionean cumque artar- 

 etur yram in solucione conpelebat tyrum juvenem abdimum abde- 

 monis filium qui omnino de facili explicabat." 



A deeply interesting theory, set forth with much learning and in- 

 genuity by A. Vesselovsky — Iz istorii literaiurnavo obstchenia 

 vostoka i ZapadUf Slavianskaia Skazania. Solomonge i Kiiovrase i 

 Zapadnya legendy Marolfe i Merline, St. Petersburg, 1872 — 

 seeks to identify Markolf with Merlin, and so associate the ancient 

 disputatio with the Celtic story of Arthur. In Elie de Saint-Giles 

 (early thirteenth century) the abduction of Solomon's wife as nar- 

 rated in Solomon and Markolf is described, and the names of Ar- 

 thur, Gawain and Mordred appear. 



Arnold de Guisnes, Chronique de Guisnes et d* Ardres, par Lam- 

 bert, cure d'Ardres ed. par le Marquis de Godefroy Menilglaisey 

 Paris, Renouard{i2>^^, Cxcvi, pp. 215-217) reads "cognatumsuum 

 Walterum de Clusa nominatum, qui de Anglorum gestis et fabulis. 



