Chapter III: Part II: 1. the Classical Tradition

Sources of the mediæval legend of the Vision of the
Otherworld--The Classical Tradition--The Otherworld in
the Greek poets--Influence of the Mysteries--The effect
of initiation on the future life--Ethical teaching of the
Mysteries--Plato’s _Vision of Er_--Plato’s opinion of the
Mysteries--Description of Elysium in the _Axiochus_--The
_Frogs_ of Aristophanes; visit to Hades by Dionysos;
light thrown on the Greek views of the Mysteries of the
next world--Plutarch’s _Vision of Thespesios_--Plutarch’s
eschatology--Rebirth theory in Plato and Plutarch--The Vision
in Latin literature--The _Somnium Scipionis_--Virgil’s
description of the Otherworld--Literary character of his
treatment--Composite nature of his eschatology--His authority
in the Middle Ages 48-67

2. THE ORIENTAL TRADITION

Dante’s attitude towards Virgil--His scheme in the
Commedia--Non-classical elements thereby necessitated--Process
of accretion in the later Jewish Church--The Chaldæan
eschatology--Visits to Hades of Ishtâr and Gisdubar--The
Chaldæan Elysium--Arali, the Chaldæan Hades--Aristocratic
conception of Elysium--The effect of the Median conquest--The
Avestan eschatology--The soul after death--The Chinvât
Bridge--Judgment--The Avestan Elysium--The Tree of Life and
the World-Sea--The bird Karshipta--the Vara of Yima--Yima
and the Indian Yama--Allegoric tendencies of the Avesta--Its
adoption of earlier animism--The question of its influence
on Judaism--Darmesteter on Neo-Platonic elements in the
Avesta--Older elements in the Avestan theory of the Otherworld;
Achæmenian, Indian and Chaldæan--The Amesha Spentas and the
Philonic emanations--Their probable connection with the
Chaldæan Spirits of Earth--Chaldæan and Persian influences
upon Jewish speculation--Oriental conceptions present in the
Vision of Adamnán: the seven Heavens, the mystical Bird, the
Tree of Life, the World-Sea, the Bridge--Rebirth theory absent
from the Avestan religion--Egypt and Neo-Judaism--The Jewish
colony in Alexandria; its culture mainly Hellenic; interchange
of ideas with the Egyptians--Egyptian cults in the Hellenic
world--Egyptian eschatology; Judgment, the ‘Eater of the Dead,’
Elysium--Purgatorial and kindred theories of the Rabbis and
early Christians--Special treatment of half good, half wicked
souls--Greek and Oriental influences on the Otherworld conceptions
of the Christian Church--Rebirth rejected by the Jews, and by the
ancient Egyptians 67-94

3. THE ECCLESIASTICAL TRADITION

The Vision of the Otherworld a favourite subject in the Jewish
apocryphal scriptures--The _Book of Enoch_--Parallels to Christian
Visions--Care for topographical details--Dissertations as in
Dante--Purgatorial theory--Descriptions of Hell and Heaven--The
Celestial Mountain--Sheol--The Tree of Life--Judgment--The _Gospel
of Nicodemus_--The _Vision of Esdras_ in the Old Testament
Apocrypha--Another _Vision of Esdras_ in the Christian apocryphal
books--The _Vision of Isaiah_--Little information respecting the
Otherworld in the canonical books of the New Testament--Details
in the Epistles of St. Jude and St. Peter and the
Revelation--Græco-Roman speculations during the early ages of the
Church--The Sibylline books--The ‘Harrowing of Hell’ legend--Spread
of eschatological writings--The _Shepherd of Hermas_--An
anticipation of Dante and Beatrice--Its scope rather anagogical
than eschatological--The Apocalypse of St. Peter--The Revelation
of St. Paul--Their influence apparent in the _Fis Adamnáin_--The
_Transitus Mariæ_--Blending of Hebraic and Hellenic conceptions of
the Otherworld--Persistence of the moral teaching in the Mysteries;
and of the popular belief in Tartarus--The Vision legend little
affected by Pagan cults or Neo-Platonic speculation--The Vision
legend in the Western Church--Instances recorded by St. Augustine
and St. Gregory--Minor importance of the legend in the West until
developed by the Irish Church 94-113

4. THE LEGEND IN IRELAND

Relations of the Irish Church with Southern Gaul and the
East--Irish Pilgrimages to Egypt--The Egyptian _Book of Adam and
Eve_ preserved in Ireland only--Resemblances between the Irish
and Oriental monastic systems--Irish knowledge of Greek writers
and intercourse with the Greeks--The ecclesiastical conception of
the Otherworld influenced by cognate ideas in Irish literature
and mythology--Dignity of the Irish literary profession;
its classifications--Categories of the Irish historical and
romantic tales--Tolerance of the Irish clergy--Survival of
the Imram and Fis, and their influence upon the literature of
mediæval Europe--The Otherworld a favourite subject in Irish
legend--Elysian realms of the Irish Gods; of the Dagda and
Oengus Óg, of Mider, of Manannán Mac Lír--Poetic description
in the _Voyage of Bran_--Tethra, king of the dead--His
messengers to summon mortals to him--The story of Connla--The
Orpheus myth in Ireland--The _Serglige Conchulaind_--No
Tartarus in the Irish mythology--Malignant powers--Sinister
aspects of the Otherworld--The realm of Scathach--The Bridge
of the Cliff--Whether of Norse origin, or ecclesiastical, or
native--Parallels in the Avesta and among primitive peoples--The
_Adventures of Nera_--The legend in the Finn Cycle--Late
survivals--The legend in the Conn Cormac Cycle--Conn’s visits to
the Tír Tairngire--Christian redactions of Pagan stories--The
adventures of Árt in the Tír Tairngire, and the courtship
of Delbchaem--The visit of Cormac to the Tír Tairngire--The
introduction of allegory--First rudimentary ethical conceptions
in connection with the Otherworld--Whether original or due to
clerical redactors--Interpolations by the redactors--Increasing
prominence of eschatological ideas in the Christian Imrama--The
chastity ideal existing side by side with its opposite in the
Tír Tairngire--Cuchulainn and the children of Doel Dermait--The
enchanted castle and its Otherworld origin--The _Voyage of
Maelduin’s Curach_--Greek influences--Elysian islands--Infernal
elements--The ‘Miller of Hell’--Picture of Elysium--Adaptation
of the Phœnix legend to old Irish myths--Bird souls--Island
hermits--The cook of Torach--The _Voyage of the Curach of
the Ui Corra_--Eschatology in the ascendant--Influences of
Nature--Purgatorial theory introduced into the Imram--The _Voyage
of Snedgus and Mac Ríagla_--Transition from Pagan to Christian
conceptions of the Otherworld--Visions of the Otherworld in
Ireland--Visions of St. Colm Cille--St. Fursa; his Vision--Vision
of Laisrén--The _Scél Lái Brátha_--The fourfold division of human
souls--The _Dá Brón Flatha Nime_ 113-174

5. THE FIS ADAMNÁIN

Its structural and literary superiority to other Visions
before Dante--The general plan--Indications of composite
authorship--Authorities followed by the writer of the Vision--The
guide to the Otherworld--The author’s use of old Irish
imagery--His ecclesiastical treatment of the subject--Pictorial
grouping and imagery--Parallels to the Imrama--The Cockayne
idea and the ascetic idea--The state described to continue
to the Last Judgment only--Deferred Judgment of certain
spirits and their Limbo--The soul’s progress through the seven
Heavens--The Purgatorial theory--Dante parallels--Judgment--The
fate of the reprobate--Insistence on the spiritual side of
their sufferings--The further description of Hell apparently
interpolated--The Bridge incident--Fourfold division of the
souls--The punishments of the reprobate--Increasing minuteness
of these descriptions by successive Vision writers--Attempts
at classification--Dante parallels--Temporary punishment of
certain sinners--The region of the damned after the Last
Judgment--Characteristics of northern and southern writers
respectively--The four rivers of Hell--Adamnán’s message--Enoch
and Elias with the Bird-flocks about the Tree of Life--Rhapsodical
description of Heaven 174-206

6. LATER DEVELOPMENTS

Irish influences upon Continental writers--Enduring effect of
St. Brendan’s legend--The _Voyage of St. Brendan_--Old Irish
incidents preserved therein--The Paradise of Birds and the
rebel angels--Cessation of the Imram and continuance of the
Fis--The _Vision of Tundale_--Great development of Purgatorial
incidents--The Bridge episode--Hell described as the mouth of a
dragon--Description of Hell--The half righteous--Converse with
persons whom Tundale had known in life--King Cormac--Paradise--The
Tree of Life and Bird-flocks--Blending in this vision of Irish
and ecclesiastical elements--Influence of the result upon
European literature--Relations to the _Fis Adamnáin_ and to
the St. Patrick’s Purgatory legend--Dante probably acquainted
with the Vision of Tundale--Comparison between the _Vision_
and the _Commedia_--Prevalence of the Vision legend on the
Continent--Foreign Visions derived from Irish sources--The
_Vision of Drihthelm_--St. Patrick’s Purgatory--The Vision of
Owen--Doubtful origin of the legend of St. Patrick’s Purgatory--Its
popularity on the Continent--Treatment by Continental
writers--The _Vision of Alberic_--Waning influence of the Irish
school--Increased number but diminished importance of the
Otherworld stories--Lack of originality 206-241

7. CONCLUSION

Recapitulation--No theory propounded as to Dante’s indebtedness
to the Irish school--His probable acquaintance with the later
Visions of that school--Probable nature and limitations of their
influence--Tendency of each school to drop the more characteristic
traits of its predecessors--Dante’s rejection of many conventional
incidents--The literary qualities of the _Fis Adamnáin_--Irish
susceptibility to the beauties of Nature and to music--Absence of
dissertations from the _Fis Adamnáin_--Interruption of the Irish
national literature--Modern renaissance 242-249

INDEX 251

AN IRISH PRECURSOR OF DANTE