he heroes of
the sagas in their conflicts or in time of distress, as when Morrigan
besought healing from Cuchulainn.

As in the case of early Greek and Roman kings, Celtic kings who bore
divine names were probably believed to be representatives or
incarnations of gods. Perhaps this explains why a chief of the Boii
called himself a god and was revered after his death, and why the Gauls
so readily accepted the divinity of Augustus. Irish kings bear divine
names, and of these Nuada occurs frequently, one king, Irel Faith, being
identified with Nuada Airgetlam, while in one text _nuadat_ is glossed
_in rig_, "of the king," as if _Nuada_ had come to be a title meaning
"king." Welsh kings bear the name Nudd (Nodons), and both the actual and
the mythic leader Brennus took their name from the god Bran. King
Conchobar is called _dia talmaide_, "a terrestrial god." If kings were
thought to be god-men like the Pharaohs, this might account for the
frequency of tales about divine fatherhood or reincarnation, while it
would also explain the numerous _geasa_ which Irish kings must observe,
unlike ordinary mortals. Prosperity was connected with their observance,
though this prosperity was later thought to depend on the king's
goodness. The nature of the prosperity--mild seasons, abundant crops,
fruit, fish, and cattle--shows that the king was associated with
fertility, like the gods of growth.[520] Hence they had probably been
once regarded as incarnations of such gods. Wherever divine kings are
found, fertility is bound up with them and with the due observance of
their tabus. To prevent misfortune to the land, they are slain before
they grow old and weak, and their vigour passes on to their successors.
Their death benefits their people.[521] But frequently the king might
reign as long as he could hold his own against all comers, or, again, a
slave or criminal was for a time treated as a mock king, and slain as
the divine king's substitute. Scattered hints in Irish literature and in
folk survivals show that some such course as this had been pursued by
the Celts with regard to their divine kings, as it was also
elsewhere.[522] It is not impossible that some at least of the Druids
stood in a similar relation to the gods. Kings and priests were probably
at first not differentiated. In Galatia twelve "tetrarchs" met annually
with three hundred assistants at Drunemeton as the great national
council.[523] This council at a consecrated place