THE DESCENT OF BALLADS 107

discovers an 'Epopee commagenienne' (taking Philopappos as
Antiochus Philopappos, the last king of Commagene, whose tomb
was erected in front of the Athenian Acropolis in A.D. 114-16).
This Commagenian epos would link the Byzantine to the Persian,
since Kinnamos was a rival of Artabanes III, whose son Gotarzes
or Goderz is a personage of the Shahnama.

We can indulge in such remote conjectures only at our peril.
They are not unlike equally hardy theories about western epics,
which have been discarded in favour of more restricted statements.
We may retain chiefly the impression that the epics and epical
ballads of Greece are somehow linked, as they are in the west, so
that there is no absolute separation between oral and written
literature.

Finally, there is the evidence of Russia. This also is inconclu-
sive. We have already noticed that certain Germanic sources seem
to be intimately related with the Russian 'byliny'. Detlev and
Hildebrand are heroes who resemble IFja of Murom; he, in his
turn, is the centre of a cycle of stories which might have had, at
one time, a formal unity. To the compilers of the Thidrekssaga and
of Ortnit, IPja is a hero of epic mould associated with Vladimir of
Kiev; but he is also connected with a Hertnit and an Osantrix quite
unknown to the Russians. Some knowledge of French literature
may have penetrated as far as Russia, since the rich Indian king-
dom of Djuk Stepanovic reminds us of Prester John's realm and
Charlemagne's pilgrimage; while A7asilii Buslaev's evil-doings are
like those of Robert le Diable. The Greek Amouris and Tsamados
are analogues of Saur Vanidovic and IVja and his Son. An eclectic
criticism1 would go farther and enumerate, as well as those given,
Yugoslav, Caucasian, Iranian, and Finnish elements in the 'byliny';
but in these remoter fields it is not always easy to feel confident as
to the relationship of cause and effect. Some international ballad
themes have also penetrated as far as medieval Russia: the rings of
Marianson or Imogen, and the Noble Moringer's return home.
There are too many unknown quantities to allow definite conclu-
sions, but the evidence seems to indicate that the Russian 'byliny1
arose with some knowledge of Germanic poems, whether German
or Scandinavian, and that western and Balkan elements continued
to penetrate so far.

1 V. A. Keltujala, Kurs Istorii Russkol Literatury, St. Petersburg, 1913, i,
pp. 824-5.