Notes and Queries, Number 38, July 20, 1850 | Page 4

O'Halloran, "we find in Ireland females devoted to celibacy. There was in Tara a royal foundation of this kind, wherein none were admitted but virgins of the noblest blood. It was called Cluain-Feart, or the place of retirement till death," &c ... "The duty of these virgins was to keep up the fires of Bel, or the sun, and of Sambain, or the moon, which customs they borrowed from their Phoenician ancestors. They both [i.e. the Irish and the Phoenicians] adored Bel, or the sun, the moon, and the stars. The 'house of _Rimmon_' which the Phoenicians worshipped in, like our temples of Fleachta in Meath, was sacred to the moon. The word '_Rimmon_' has by no means been understood by the different commentators; and yet, by recurring to the Irish (a branch of the Phoenician) it becomes very intelligible; for '_Re_' is Irish for the moon, and '_Muadh_' signifies an _image_, and the compound word '_Reamhan_,' signifies prognosticating by the appearance of the moon. It appears by the life of our great S. Columba, that the Druid temples were here decorated with figures of the sun, the moon, and stars. The Phoenicians, under the name of _Bel-Samen_, adored the Supreme; and it is pretty remarkable, that to this very day, to wish a friend every happiness this life can afford, we say in Irish, 'The blessings of Samen and Bel be with you!' that is, of the seasons; Bel signifying the sun, and Samhain the moon."
--(See O'Halloran's _Hist. of Ireland_, vol. i. P. 47.)
J. SANSOM.
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
Presages of Death.--The Note by Mr. C. FORBES (Vol. ii., p. 84.) on "High Spirits considered a Presage of impending Calamity or Death," reminded me of a collection of authorities I once made, for academical purposes, of a somewhat analogous bearing,--I mean the ancient belief in the existence of a power of prophecy at that period which immediately precedes dissolution.
The most ancient, as well as the most striking instance, is recorded in the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis:--
"And Jacob called his sons and said, Gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.... And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into his bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people."
Homer affords two instances of a similar kind: thus, Patroclus prophesies the death of Hector (Il. [Greek: p] 852.)[1]:--
[Greek: "Ou thaen oud autos daeron beae alla toi aedae Agchi parestaeke Thanatos kai Moira krataiae, Chersi dament Achilaeos amnmonos Aiakidao."][2]
Again, Hector in his turn prophesies the death of Achilles by the hand of Paris (Il. [Greek: ch.] 358.):--
[Greek: "Phrazeo nun, mae toi ti theon maenima genomai Aemati to ote ken se Pharis kai phoibus Apollon, Esthlon eont, olesosin eni Skaiaesi pulaesin."][3]
This was not merely a poetical fancy, or a superstitious faith of the ignorant, for we find it laid down as a great physical truth by the greatest of the Greek philosophers, the divine Socrates:--
[Greek: "To de dae meta touto epithumo humin chraesmodaesai, o katapsaephisamenoi mou kai gar eimi aedae entautha en o malist anthropoi chraesmodousin hotan mellosin apothaneisthai."][4]
In Xenophon, also, the same idea is expressed, and, if possible, in language still more definite and precise:--{117}
[Greek: "Hae de tou anthropou psuchae tote daepou theiotatae kataphainetai, kai tote ti ton mellonton proora."][5]
Diodorus Siculus, again, has produced great authorities on this subject:--
[Greek: "Puthagoras ho Samios, kai tines heteroi ton palaion phusikon, apephaenanto tas psuchas ton anthropon uparchein athanatous, akolouthos de to dogmati touto kai progignoskein autas ta mellonta, kath hon an kairon en tae teleutae ton apo tou somatos chorismon poiontai."][6]
From the ancient writers I yet wish to add one more authority; and I do so especially, because the doctrine of the Stagirite is therein recorded. Sextus Empiricus writes,--
[Greek: "Hae psuchae, phaesin Aristotelaes, promanteuetai kai proagoreuei ta mellonta--en to kata thanaton chorizesthai ton somaton."][7]
Without encroaching further upon the space of this periodical by multiplying evidence corroborative of the same fact, I will content myself by drawing the attention of the reader to our own great poet and philosopher, Shakspeare, whose subtle genius and intuitive knowledge of human nature render his opinions on all such subjects of peculiar value. Thus in Richard II., Act ii. sc. 1., the dying Gaunt, alluding to his nephew, the young and self-willed king, exclaims,--
"Methinks I am a prophet new inspired; And thus, expiring, do foretel of him."
Again, in _Henry IV.,
Part I._, Act v. sc. 4., the brave Percy, when in
the agonies of death, conveys the same idea in the following words:--
"O, I could prophesy, But that the earthy and cold hand of death Lies on my tongue."
Reckoning, therefore, from the time of Jacob, this belief, whether with or without foundation, has been maintained upwards of 3500 years. It was