VI. MANTLES OF THE IMMORTALS.

We have already seen that in the Gospel of Nicodemus (xxv.), Enoch and Elias are represented as welcoming those who arrive in Paradise. In an Arabian legend Grässe finds an important form of this tradition. It is said that Enoch and Elias came to the Land of Darkness, and there drank of the fountain of Perpetual Youth; and thenceforth, one on land, the other on sea, they went about to watch over pilgrims, much the same as Castor and Pollux, who guarded wanderers. In the intervals of such services they rest in gardens amid all earthly joys. Towards the end of the world they will appear to prepare the way for the Messiah. But in the sixteenth year of the Hegira, Elias had not yet found the Fountain. When the Arabians had conquered a certain city they rested between two mountains of Syria. At night when Fadilah, their commander, began to pray, “Allah Akbar,” a voice pronounced the words and continued to the end of the prayer. Fadilah at first thought it an echo, but presently knew it could not be such, and appealed to him who had spoken, if man and not a ghost, to appear. Then an aged man with a staff appeared, and said, “I am here by command of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has left me in this world until his second coming. Therefore I await this Lord who is the source of all happiness.” He gave his name as Zerib Ben Bar Elia. Fadilah having asked if the end of the world were near or far, Elia answered, “When there shall be no difference in sex between men and women; when the blood of innocents shall be shed; when abundance of food shall not lessen its price; when the poor beg alms without finding anything to live on; when love to man shall be lost; when the Holy Scriptures shall be put into songs; when temples dedicated to the true God are filled with idols—then be sure that the Day of Judgment is near!” Whereupon the old man disappeared.⁠[18]

Occasionally the cant of persons pretending to be the Wandering Jew has faintly echoed this Eastern specimen. As for the “two witnesses,” it may be remembered that we have already noticed (I.) efforts made in the seventeenth century to prove that two survivors from the time of the Crucifixion existed. This could be done by regarding Cartaphilus (‘the famous Joseph’) and Ahasuerus as different persons. Or it may have been that Joseph and Malchus were thought of, especially in Italy, where these seem to have been the corresponding figures.

Jewish superstitions of this character were reinforced from another direction. The Greeks had their legend of the long sleep of Epimenides on the Isle of Knossus. Epimenides being one of the Seven Sages, there might easily grow from his legend that of the Seven Sleepers.

The familiar form of this legend is that given by Gibbon (xxxiii.), who follows Gregory of Tours, as an incident of the Decian persecution. It is also in the Koran (xviii.). Goethe follows the Koran mainly in his poem on the subject, but assigns the legend to a pre-Christian period, no doubt on good grounds. According to this version the Sleepers were youths of Cæsar’s household who refused to worship that emperor when he proclaimed himself a god; saying they would worship him alone who had created the sun, moon, and stars. Thereupon they departed, but Cæsar pursued them; and when they had taken refuge in a cavern near Ephesus, the emperor walled up the entrance, so that they could not escape. After the lapse of some centuries the wall gave way, and one of them entered Ephesus to buy bread. He offered an ancient coin; was suspected of having found treasure; but by telling of various things hidden about the city, unknown before, the story of the miraculous slumber was confirmed. When the king and others went out to visit the youths, the Angel Gabriel appeared, closed the cavern, and led the Seven into Paradise. According to the version which Goethe used, one of the Seven was a faithful dog which had accompanied the six young men, and passed into paradise with them.⁠[19]

The tale of the Wanderings of Odysseus would appear to have touched the Spanish variant of the Seven Sleepers myth, which probably influenced the mind of Columbus. According to this story, Seven Bishops, flying from persecution, sailed westward and reached a beautiful island where they built seven splendid cities. This was dreamed of as the ‘Island of the Seven Cities’ (Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, ii. 277). A legend told by Washington Irving relates that Don Fernando was wafted to this island, where he dwelt in great happiness, until he one day sank into unconsciousness. When he awakened from this Circe spell, he found himself on his ship near the Iberian coast. He repaired to the house of a lady to whom he was affianced; she disclaimed all knowledge of him; and when he addressed her by name it appeared that he was thinking of her great-grandmother, whom she closely resembled.⁠[20]

These mingled Greek and Jewish traditions came into Christendom mainly through the words Jesus is reported to have said concerning John, “If I will that he tarry till I come.” It was on St. John that the mantle of the undying saints first fell in the Christian period. The place of his slumber was located beside that of the Seven Sleepers, at Ephesus. The story stands well-framed in the fossil English of the fourteenth century traveller, Sir John Maundeville.

“From Pathmos men gon unto Ephesim, a fair citie, and nyghe to the see. And there dyede Seynte Johne and was buryed behynde the highe Awtiere, in a Toumbe. And there is a fair Chirche. For Christene Mere weren wont to holden that place aiweyes. And in the Tombe of Seynt John is noughte but Manna, that is clept Angeles Mete. For his Body was translated in to Paradys. And Turkes holden now alle that Place and the citee and the Chirche. And ail Asie the lesse is y cleped Turkye. And zee shulle undrestonde, that Seynt Johne leet make his Grave there in his Lyfe, and leyd him self there inne alle quyk. And therefore somme Men seyn, that he dyed noughte, but that he restethe there till ten Day of Doom. And forsothe there is a gret Marveyle: For Men may see there the Erthe of the Tombe apertly many tymes steren and meven, as there weren quykke thinges undre.”

The legends concerning Saint John given by St. Hippolyte, followed by Eusebius, and Augustine, and the ordeals he survived—such as drinking hemlock—were suggestive of the potency of the words spoken by Christ, however casually, “Tarry till I come.” The same formula spoken to the Wandering Jew made him as indestructible as the disciple “whom Jesus loved.” Despite the ingenuity of the theory, one can hardly doubt that M. Schoebel is right in supposing that the Wanderer’s early name, Cartaphilus, is formed of the Greek κάρτα φίλος, signifying “the Beloved.”