326 Proceedings of the Royal lri*h Academy. 



thing that had been said of the fertilizing river-god, if we had not something 

 analogous in the life of St. Findian. We there read that a barren patch of 

 land was made fruitful by sprinkling it with water in which a eulogy of the 

 saint had been steeped. 1 



The divine king has been studied fully by Sir James Frazer in his 

 monumental work The G< This study is based on the remarkable 



instituti'jii of the 7 s, the priest-king of the sacred grove of 



Aricia at Xemi. It is not for nothing that !:■ Temorensis differs by a single 

 letter only from 7.' bhe analogies which the two kingships 



present markable that it is impossible to escape from the conclusion 



that they belong to i order of ideas, if indeed they are not more 



closely connected still. 



The candidate for the priesthood of the grove at Aricia challenged the 

 existing incumbent t<> single combat by the rite of breaking the "Golden 

 Bough,'' and if in the combat lie succeeded in killing the priest, he ipso facto 

 succeeded t" the office, sii James Frazei has convincingly Bbown that this 



on the desire to have the strongest man available. 

 One who from weakness or want <>f vigilance permitted himself bo be killed 

 learly unsuitable for the responsible office of royal deity. 



It is perfectly obvions from the history, as it is enshrined in the works of 



the "official historian: the king of Temair, like the king of the grove 



at Aricia, t i by virtue of having slain his predecessor. This point. 



which Dr. Ban have ui one of the most important 



- in favour of th<- thesis which both he and 1 sustain. 



Omitting the kings of the Fii I of the Tuatha D& Danann, I find 



110 kings ■•numerated in F having reigned from Eremon 



down to < !onn Ce*t-chathach, the grandfather of < fcn mac mac Airt. Of these, 

 80 are said to 1. a killed by their sin As we have already 



seen, the "official historians" explained this as a blood-feud, going back to 

 the time when Eremon, t _ killed his brother Ebei at the battle of 



Geashill. But this explanation will i. i whole scheme of 



relationships on which it i- based is utterly irreconcilable with the data. 

 Any group >>i the kings will show this: the following Be at 



random, will serve as an illustration . — 



Finn _ 22 years and was killed by Setna. 



Setna 20 - omon Brecc. 



Siom6n 6 Dui son of Setna. 



1 Lisnvre Lives, ed. 5 



5 Surely no one wil'. ronic a* t«> take thin remark for anything; but ; , ;,„ 



d'tsp, I 



