paid the greatest regard to their advice, not only in civil affairs but also in those of war. He adds that they would sometimes step in between hostile armies while standing ready for battle, and by their exhortations would prevent the effusion of blood, and effect the restoration of peace. * We learn from Strabo that women sometimes took part in the performances of the Druids; and that in an island near the mouth of the Loire ceremonies were performed similar to the orgies of Bacchus, in which females were alone employed.+ Vopiscus declares, from the testimony of contemporary writers, that British Druidesses predicted the death of Diocletian. He also relates that Aurelian consulted Gaulish Druidesses. In the life of Numerian he says that Diocletian first conceived the hope of his future greatness from the prediction of a Gaulish Druidess. The several states of Gaul were aristocratical republics. In these it was customary to elect a prince or chief governor annually, and a general was likewise appointed by the * Diodor. Biblioth. lib. v. + Strabo, lib. iv. p. 198. Dionys. Perieg. v. 570. This last writer was struck with some analogy between the rites of the Celtic people and those of Eastern nations. He says: Οὐχ οὕτω Θρήικος ἐπ' ἠόσιν ̓Αψίνθοιο ὡς κεῖνον κατὰ χῶρον ἀνευάζουσι γυναῖκες. This story, as related by Dionysius, had probably some connection with the report given by Hecatæus of Abdera, and preserved in a curious passage of Diodorus, which, obscure as it is, may perhaps be the earliest notice to be traced among the Greek writers of the British Isles. "Hecatæus and some others relate, says Diodorus, that there is an island opposite Celtica not less than Sicily. It lies in the North Sea, inhabited by people termed Hyperboreans. It is said to be fertile and abundant, of temperate climate, and producing two harvests in a year. Latona is fabled to have been born there, and hence Apollo is worshipped by the people more than the other gods. In that island there is a grove sacred to Apollo, and a magnificent temple, of a circular form, ornamented with many votive gifts; likewise a city consecrated to Apollo, the inhabitants of which are mostly musicians, and sing perpetual hymns, with stringed instruments, to their god. He adds that the Hyperboreans have a peculiar language." Has this fabulous story, prevalent so early as the time of Hecatæus the Abderite, who probably lived before Pytheas visited the North, any foundation in vague stories spread through Western Europe respecting Britain and the Druids? (See Diodor. Sic. lib. ii. cap. 47.) VOL. III. N multitude to take the command in war. Strabo says that they had one peculiar custom in their assemblies. If any person present made a noise and disturbed the speaker, a beadle was sent to him with a drawn sword, who at first by threats endeavoured to enforce silence, and if not obeyed, cut off a part of the cloak of the offender. It was a trait common to the Gauls and other barbarians, adds Strabo, "to distribute between the two sexes the offices of life in a manner different from our customs." Paragraph 2.-Of their temper and personal character. Boldness, levity, and fickleness, a want of firmness and selfcommand, are by the old writers universally ascribed to the Gauls as their prominent characteristics. Dio Cassius says that their leading faults are expressed in three words—τὸ κουφὸν, τὸ δειλὸν Kai Tò Opaσú.* Strabo describes them in rather a favourable point of view. He says that "the Gauls in general are irascible and always ready to fight; but otherwise, honest and good-natured. When irritated they speedily hasten in crowds to a fight openly and without circumspection, so that they are easily circumvented and defeated by stratagem, for at all times and places it is easy to provoke them by any pretence to engage in quarrels, to which they bring no other resources than violence and boldness. They are likewise easily persuaded to a good purpose, and are ready for instruction and intellectual culture. Their impetuosity may be ascribed partly to their great stature and partly to the multitude of people, who habitually run together, through simplicity, and having no restraint, whenever they fancy that any of their neighbours have suffered injury. The Gauls are all naturally fond of war: they fight better on horseback than on foot; and the best cavalry the Romans have is from them; the further they live towards the north and the ocean, the more warlike they are: the Belgæ are said to be the most valiant of all, and they alone were able to resist the attacks of the Germans, the Cimbri, and Teutones. Among the Belgæ the Belovaci are the bravest, and next to them the Suessiones."* All the ancient writers ascribe to the Gauls the greatest degree of unchastity and impurity in their manners. * Strabo, lib. iv. p. 196. Dio dorus, Athenæus, and other writers have preserved accounts of them, which indicate that they lived in a state of almost universal prostitution, and were literally devoid of all sense of modesty or shame. This relates to the Gauls. The Britons in particular lived in a state of incestuous concubinage, which is thus described by Cæsar: "Uxores habent deni duodenique inter se communes, et maxime fratres cum fratribus parentesque cum liberis sed, si qui sunt ex his nati, eorum habentur liberi, quo primum virgo quæque deducta est.”* From such customs we should expect to find resulting the greatest degree of physical and moral degradation, and we may thus account in part for the great inferiority of the Celtic nations whenever they came into collision with the Germans, which terminated in a complete and final subjugation of the former in every country. : Paragraph 3.-Arts of life. The Gauls practised agriculture, and were not unskilful in tillage, otherwise their country would not have supported so great a multitude of people as it is said to have maintained. Strabo declares that Gallia Narbonensis produced all the same fruits of the earth as Italy. "To the northward of the Cevennes," he adds, "olives and figs are wanting, but the soil is fertile in other productions, though it hardly brings grapes to full maturity. Every other produce abounds throughout Gaul, which bears much corn, millet, acorns, and supports herds of all kinds. There is no waste land, except some tracts occupied by forest and morass, and even these are not desert, but contain inhabitants whose number is greater then their civilization, for the women are fruitful and excellent nurses. The men are fonder of war than of agriculture, but they are now obliged to lay aside arms and cultivate the land."+ The Belgæ, according to Cæsar, were ruder and less luxurious than the rest of the Gauls, being further removed from intercourse with the Roman province.‡ "Most of the Gauls," says Strabo, "are accustomed to sleep upon the ground, and they sit on couches when they take their meals. Their food is chiefly of milk, and flesh of various kinds, especially of swine, either fresh or salted. Their hogs, which are kept in the fields, are of remarkable height, strength, and swiftness, and as dangerous to those who approach them without heed as wolves. They build their houses of planks and hurdles of a round form, with large roofs. So numerous are their herds of oxen and swine, that not only Rome but the rest of Italy is supplied from them with salt provisions."-"To the open and impetuous disposition of the Gauls belong much folly and boastful arrogance, and a remarkable fondness of ornament and of display. They wear bracelets around their arms and wrists; and those who are in office have robes dyed and embroidered with gold. From their levity of disposition they are intolerably arrogant when they conquer, and when defeated they become dismayed. They have the barbarous and strange habit, common to many northern tribes, of carrying, when they return from battle, the heads of their enemies suspended from their horses' necks, and of hanging them up against the gates of their towns. This Posidonius declares that he had frequently seen.' The dress and personal habit of the Gauls were so remarkable as to afford epithets for national distinctions. Gallia Comata, or Gaul whose inhabitants wore their hair uncut, and Gallia Braccata, where the people wore hose and breeches, were early designations of the Roman province, in contrast with the Cisalpine or Gallia Togata, whose inhabitants wore a toga or cassock.* Like the long-haired princes of the house of Merovey, the warriors of ancient Gaul were celebrated for their long flowing locks of flaxen or yellow hair, which they kept tied in tufts behind their heads. The Gallic sagum or cloak was particoloured and embroidered. Not only the women but the men ornamented their necks and arms with a profusion of golden chains, rings, and bracelets. The whole nation are said to have been remarkable for personal cleanliness.‡ The arms of the Gauls were battle-axes and swords.§ The * Mannert, Geograph. Gallin. 49. + Diodor. v. 28. Mela, iii. 3. Plin. iv. 17. Ritson, Mem. of Celts, p. 147; where, as usual, he cites numerous authorities § Ammian. Marcell. * chariots, armed with scythes, used by the Britons in battle, were not peculiar to them; some of the Gauls had a similar custom of fighting, as Strabo informs us. The gæsum or heavy javelin of the Gauls was their most remarkable weapon. From its use originated the epithet of Gæsatæ. The Britons, though, as Strabo assures us, they resembled the Celts in manners, were more rude and barbarous. Some of them were so ignorant, that though they had abundance of milk they had not learnt the art of making cheese;† neither had they any knowledge of gardening or of agriculture. But Strabo admits that some parts of Britain produced plenty of corn. Cæsar when he landed found the ground covered with standing corn. The Britons therefore were acquainted with agriculture; but this appears to refer to the southern parts, inhabited by Belgic Gauls who had crossed the Channel. "Of all the Britons," says Cæsar, "by far the most civilized are those who inhabit Cantium, a maritime country, who differ but little in their manners from the Gauls. Most of the people of the interior," he adds, "never sow corn, but live upon milk and flesh and are clothed with skins." It must be observed, that Cæsar described the Britons of the interior from hearsay, as he did not penetrate their country. In other respects the Britons are described as generally a people of very barbarous manners. Cæsar says that they were accustomed to fortify with a wall and ditch places of retreat in the woods difficult to penetrate, and to term such places towns. Strabo makes a similar observation, remarking that they cut down trees and make a wide circuit in the woods, in which they erect their cabins—καλυβοποιοῦνται—and cots for their flocks, and to which they give the name of a city. Cæsar says that the houses of the Britons were similar in construction to those of the Gauls. In their domestic and social habits, the Britons were as degraded as the most savage nations now existing. They were clothed with skins; they wore the hair of their Strabo, lib. iv. p. 200. Casaub + It is curious that the Welsh had a peculiar word for butter, viz. ymenyn. Caus, cheese, was perhaps derived from Latin. M. Rühs has made the same remark respecting the Finnish language. It has a peculiar word for butter, but borrows the Swedish word for cheese. Strabo, ibid. |