her she desires him to
go--a land of women, not of men. Moreover, the rulers of Elysium are
always members of the Tuatha De Danann or the _sid_-folk, never a
Fomorian like Tethra.[1266]

M. D'Arbois also assumes that "Spain" in Nennius' account of the Irish
invasions and in Irish texts means the land of the dead, and that it was
introduced in place of some such title as Mag Mor or Mag Mell by "the
euhemerising process of the Irish Christians." But in other documents
penned by Irish Christians these and other pagan titles of Elysium
remain unchanged. Nor is there the slightest proof that the words used
by Tuan MacCaraill about the invaders of Ireland, "They all died," were
rendered in an original text, now lost according to M. D'Arbois, "They
set sail for Mag Mor or Mag Mell," a formula in which Nennius saw
indications of a return to Spain.[1267] Spain, in this hypothetical
text, was the Land of the Dead or Elysium, whence the invaders came.
This "lost original" exists in M. D'Arbois imagination, and there is not
the slightest evidence for these alterations. Once, indeed, Tailtiu is
called daughter of Magh Mor, King of Spain, but here a person, not a
place, is spoken of.[1268] Sir John Rh[^y]s accepts the identification
of Spain with Elysium as the land of the dead, and finds in every
reference to Spain a reference to the Other-world, which he regards as a
region ruled by "dark divinities." But neither the lords of Elysium nor
the Celtic Dispater were dark or gloomy deities, and the land of the
dead was certainly not a land of darkness any more than Elysium. The
numerous references to Spain probably point to old traditions regarding
a connection between Spain and Ireland in early times, both commercial
and social, and it is not impossible that Goidelic invaders did reach
Ireland from Spain.[1269] Early maps and geographers make Ireland and
Spain contiguous; hence in an Irish tale Ireland is visible from Spain,
and this geographical error would strengthen existing traditions.[1270]
"Spain" was used vaguely, but it does not appear to have meant Elysium
or the Land of the Dead. If it did, it is strange that the Tuatha De
Danann are never brought into connection with it.

One of the most marked characteristics of the Celtic Elysium is its
deathlessness. It is "the land of the living" or of "the Ever-Living
Ones," and of eternal youth. Most primitive races believe that death is
an accident befalling men who are naturally imm