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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 6, 2008 23:49:05 GMT -5
This thread is to record the accounts of the Classical scholars on the subject of the Celts and Druids. It should be remembered that these are second hand accounts and should be taken with a grain of salt.
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 6, 2008 23:49:56 GMT -5
Julius Caesar 100 - 44 b.c. They [the Druids] preside over sacred things, have the charge of public and private sacrifices, and explain their religion. To them a great number of youths have recourse for the sake of acquiring instruction, and they are in great honor among them. For they generally settle all their disputes both public and private; and if there is any transgression perpetuated, any murder committed or any dispute about inheritance or boundaries - they decide in respect of them; they appoint rewards and penalties; and if any private or public person abides not by their decree, they restrain him from sacrifices, this with them is their most severe punishment. Whoever are so interdicted, are ranked in the number of the impious and wicked; all forsake them, and shun their company and conversation, lest they should suffer disadvantage from contagion with them: nor is legal right rendered to them when they sue it, nor any honer conferred upon them. But one presides over all these Druids, who possesses the supreme authority among them, at his death if any one of the others excels in dignity, the same succeeds him: but if several have equal pretensions, the president is elected by the votes of the Druids, sometimes they contend about the dignity by force of arms. At a certain time of year they assemble in session on a consecrated spot in the confines of the Carnutes, which is considered the central region of the whole of Gaul. Thither all, who have any disputes come together from every side, and acquiesce in their judgments and decisions. The institution of Druids is thought to have originated in Britain, and to have thence introduced into Gaul, and even now, those who wish to become more accurately acquainted with it generally repair thither for the sake of learning it. The Druids usually abstain from war, nor do they pay taxes together with the others; they have exemption from warfare, and the free use of all things. Instigated by such advantages, many resort to their school, even of their own accord, whilst others are sent by their parents and relations. They are said to learn thoroughly a great number of verses; On that account some continue their education for twenty years. Nor do they deem it lawful to commit those things to writing; though generally in other cases and in their public and private accounts, they use Greek letters. They appear to me to have established this custom for two reasons; because they would not have their tenants published, and because they would not have those who learn them by trusting to letters neglect the exercise of memory; since it generally happens, that, owing to the safeguard of letters they relax their diligence of learning, as well as their memory. In particular they wish to inculcate this idea; that the soul does not die, but pass after death from one body to another; and they think that by these means men are very much instigated to the exercise of bravery, the fear of death being despised. They also dispute largely concerning the stars and their motion, the magnitude of the world and the Earth, the nature of things, the force and power of the immortal gods and instruct the youth in their principals... The whole nation of Gauls is very much given to religious observances, and on that account, those who afflicted with grievous diseases, and those who are engaged in battles and perils, either immolate men as sacrifices or vow that they will immolate themselves, and they employ the Druids as ministers of those sacrifices; because they think that if the life of a man is not given for the life of a man the immortal gods can not be appeased; they have also instituted public sacrifices of the same kind. Some have images of immense size, the limbs of which, woven from twigs, they fill with living men, the same being set on fire. The men, surrounded by flames, are put to death. They think that the punishment of those caught in theft or pillage, or any other wicked act is more acceptable to the immortal gods; but when there is such deficiency of such evil doers, they have recourse, even to the punishment of the innocent. They chiefly worship the god Mercury; of him they have many images, him they consider to be the inventor of all the stars, as a guide of ways and journeys, and as possessing the greatest power for obtaining money and merchandise. After him they worship Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva. Concerning them they have almost the same opinion as other nations, namely: that Apollo wards off diseases; that Minerva instructs them in principles of works and arts; that Jupiter holds the empire of heaven; and that Mars rules wars. To him, when they have determined to engage in battle, they generally vow those things which they shall have captured in war. When they are victorious, they sacrifice the captured animals; and pile up the other things in one place. The Gauls declare that they have sprung from their father Pluto, and this they say was delivered to them by the Druids. De Bello Gallico, VI 13 - 18 Translated by J. Williams ab Ithel
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 6, 2008 23:50:55 GMT -5
Cicero 106 - 43 b.c. Nor is the practice of divination disregarded even among uncivilized tribes, if indeed there are Druids in Gaul - and there are, for I knew one of them myself, Divitiacus, the Aeduan, your guest and eulogist. He claimed to have that knowledge of nature which the Greeks called 'Physiologia' and he used to make predictions, sometimes by the means of augury and sometimes by the means of conjecture. De Divinatione, I 41 translated by T.D. Kendrick
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 0:43:02 GMT -5
Diodorus Siculus 21 b.c. The Pythagorean doctrine prevails among them [the Gauls], teaching that the souls of men are immortal and live again for a fixed number of years inhabited in another body. And there are among them (the Gauls) composers of verses called Bards; these singing to instruments similar to a Lyre, applaud some while they vituperate others. They have among them philosophers and theologians who are held in much honor and are called Druids; they have soothsayers of great renown who tell the future by watching the flights of birds and by the observation of the entrails of victims; and everyone waits upon their word. When they attempt divination upon important matters they practice a strange and incredible costume, for they kill a man by a knife stab in the region above Midriff, and after his fall they foretell the future by the convulsions of his limbs and the pouring of his blood, a form of divination in which they have full confidence, as it is of the old tradition. It is a custom of the Gauls that no one preforms a sacrifice without the assistance of a philosopher, for they say that offerings to the gods ought only be made through the meditation of these men, who are learned in the divine nature and, so to speak, familiar with it, and it is through their agency that the blessings of the gods should properly be sought. It is not only in times of peace, but war also, that these seers have authority, and the incantations of the Bards have effect on friends and foes alike. Often when the combatants are ranged face to face and swords are drawn, spears bristling, these men come between the armies and stay the battle, just as wild beasts are sometimes held spellbound. Thus even among the most savage barbarians anger yields to wisdom, and Mars is shamed before the muses. Histories, V 28 - 31 translated by T.D. Kendrick
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 0:45:55 GMT -5
Starbo 64/3 b.c. - 21 a.d. Among [the Gauls] there are generally three classes to which special honor is paid, vis. the Bards, the Uatis, and the Druids. The Bards composed and sung odes; the Uatis attended to the sacrifices and studied nature; while the Druids studied nature and moral philosophy. So confident are the people in the justice of the Druids that they refer all public and private disputes to them; and these men on many occasions have made peace between armies actually drawn up for battle. All murder cases in particular are referred to them. When there are a large number of these cases they imagine that the harvest will be plentiful. Both these and others (i.e. the Bards and the Uatis) assert that the soul is immortal, and that the world is indestructible, although sometimes great changes are brought about by fire and water. To their simplicity and vehemence they add much folly, arrogance and love of ornament. Around their necks they wear gold collars, on their arms and wrists they have bracelets, and those of good position among them clothe themselves in dyed garments worked with gold. Their fickle impressionable nature makes them intolerable in victory and faint hearted in defeat. Besides their arrogance they have a brutal and senseless custom - common among the Northern nations - of hanging the heads of their enemies from the neck of their horses when returning from battle, and nailing them as an exhibition before their doors when they arrive home. Poseidonius says he witnessed this in many different places, and was shocked at first, but in time the frequency made him familiar with it. The heads of illustrious men were embalmed with Cedar [oil], and exibited to strangers; but they would not sell them for their weight in gold. The Romans however put a stop to these customs as well as their manner of offering sacrifices and manner of divination, which were quite contrary to our established ritual. They would strike the victim in the back with a sword, and divine from his convulsive throes. They never sacrifice without Druids. They are said to have other manners of sacrificing their human victims; that they pierce some with arrows, crucify others in their temples, and they prepare a stack of hay and wood which they set on fire after having placed cattle, all kinds of animals, and men in it. Geographica, IV, 4, 197-8 Translated by W. Dinan
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 0:47:16 GMT -5
Ammianus Marcellinus A.D. c.330 - 395 According to the Druids, a part of the population [of Gaul] was indigenous, but some of the people came from outlying islands and lands beyond the Rhine, driven from their homes by repeated wars and by the inroads of the sea. In these regions, as people gradually became civilized , attention to the gentler arts became commoner, a study introduced by the Bards and the Euhages (Orates), and the Druids. It was custom for the Bards to celebrate the brave deeds of their famous men in epic verse accompanied by the sweet strains of the lyre, while the Euhages strove to explain the high mysteries of nature. Between them came the Druids, men of greater talent, members of the intimate fellowship of the Pythagorean faith; they were uplifted by searchings into secret and sublime things and with grand contempt for the mortal lot they professed the immortality of the soul. Works, XV, 9, 4 - 8 Translated by T.D. Kendrick
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 0:47:59 GMT -5
Diogenes Laertius 3rd century a.d. Some say the study of philosophy was of barbarian origin. For the Persians had their Magi, the Babylonians or Assyrians the Chaldeans, the Indians their Gymnosophists, while the Kelts and the Galatae had seers called Druids and Semnotheoi, or so Aristotle says in the 'magic', and Sotion in the twenty third book of his 'succession of philosophers'. Those who think philosophy is the invention of the barbarians explain the systems prevailing among each people. They say that the Gymnosophists and Druids make pronouncements by means of riddles and dark sayings, teaching that the gods must be worshiped, and no evil done, and manly behavior maintained. Vitae, introduction, I, 5 translated by T.D. Kendrick
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 0:49:45 GMT -5
Suetonius A.D. c. 70 - 140 He [the Emporer Claudius] very thoroughly suppressed the barbarous and inhumane religion of the Druids in Gaul, which at the time of Augustus had merely been forbidden to Roman citizens. Claudius, 25 translated by T.D. Kendrick
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 0:51:28 GMT -5
Pomponius Mela A.D. 18 - 75 There still remain traces of atrocious customs no longer practiced, and although they now refrain from outright slaughter, though they still draw blood from victims led to the alter. They have however their own kind of eloquence and teachers of wisdom called Druids. These profess to know the size and shape of the world, the movments of the heavens and the stars, and the will of the gods. They teach many things to the nobles of Gaul in a course of instruction lasting as long as twenty years, meeting in secret, ether in cave or secluded dales. One of their dogmas has come to common knowledge, namely, that souls are eternal and there is another life in the infernal regions, and that this has been permitted manifestly because it makes the multitude readier for war. And it is for this reason too that they burn or bury their dead, things appropriate to them in life, and that in times past, they even used to defer the completion of business and payments of debts until their arival in another world. Indeed there were some who flung themselves willingly on the funeral piles of their relitives in order to share the new life with them. De Situ Orbis, III, 2, 18, & 19 translated by T.D. Kendrick
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 0:54:08 GMT -5
Lucan A.D. 39 - 65 And you, O Druids now that clash of battle is stilled, once more have you returned to your barbarous ceremonies and to the savage use of your holy rites. To you alone it is given to know the truth about the gods and deities of the sky, or else you alone are ignorant of this truth. The innermost groves of far off forests are your abodes. And it is you who say the shades of the dead seek not the silent land of Erebus and the pale hales of Pluto; rather you tell us that the same spirit has a body again elsewhere, and that death, if what you sing is true, is but mid-point of long life. Pharsalia, I 450 - 8 translated by T.D. Kendrick
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 0:55:09 GMT -5
Pliny the Elder A.D. 23 - 79 Here we have to mention the awe felt for this plant by the Gauls. The Druids - for so their magicians are called - held nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree that bares it, always supposing that tree to be the oak. But they chose groves formed of oaks for the sake of the tree alone, and they never preform any of their rites except in the presence of a branch of of it; so that it seems probable that the priests themselves may derive their name from the Greek word for that tree. In fact, they think that everything that grows on it has been sent from heaven and is proof that the tree was chosen by the god himself. The mistletoe however is found but rarely upon the oak; and when found is gathered with due religious ceremony, if possible on the sixth day of the moon, for it is by the moon that they measure their months and years and also their ages of thirty years. They choose this day because the moon, though not yet in the middle of her course has already considerable influence. They call the mistletoe by a name meaning, in their language, 'all-healing'. Having made the preparation for sacrifice and a banquet beneath the trees, they bring thither two white bulls, whose horns were bound then for the first time. Clad in a white robe, the priest ascends the tree and cuts the mistletoe with a golden sickle, and it is received by others in a white cloak. Then they kill the victims, praying that god will render this gift of his propitious to those to whom he has granted it. They believe that the mistletoe, taken in drink, imparts fecundity to barren animals, and that it is an antidote for all poisons. Such are the religious feelings that are entertained towards trifling things by many people. Historia Naturalis, XVI, 249 Similar to savin is the plant called selago. It is gathered without using iron and by passing the right hand through the left sleeve of the tunic, as though in the act of committing a theft. The clothing must be white, the feet washed and bare, and an offering of wine and bread made before the gathering. The Druids of Gaul say that the plant should be carried as a charm against every kind of evil, and that the smoke of it is good for diseases of the eyes. Historia Naturalis, XXIV, 103 The Druids, also, also use a certain marsh plant that they call samolus. This must be gathered with the left hand, when fasting, and is a charm against the diseases of cattle. But the gatherer must not look behind him, nor lay the plant anywhere except the drinking troughs. Historia Naturalis, XXIV, 104 There is also another kind of egg, of much renown in the Gallic provinces, but ignored by the Greeks. In the summer, numberless snakes intertwine themselves into a ball, held together by a secretion from their bodies and by their spittle. This is called anguinum. The Druids say that hissing serpents throw this up into the air, and that it must be caught in a cloak, and not allowed to touch the ground; and that one must instantly take flight on horse back, as the serpents will pursue until some stream cuts them off. It may be tested, they say, by seeing if it floats against the current of a river, even though it is set in gold. But it is the way of magicians to cast a cunning veil about their frauds, they pretend that these eggs can only be taken on a certain day of the moon, as though it rested with mankind to make the moon and the serpents accord as to the moment of the operation. I, myself however, have seen one of these eggs; it was round and about as large as a smallish apple; the shell was cartilaginous, and poked like the arms of a polypus. The Druids esteem it highly. It is said to ensure success in law suits, and a favorable reputation with princes; but this is false, because a man of the Vocontii, who was also a Roman knight, kept one of these eggs during a trial, and was put to death by the Emperor Claudius, as far as I can see, for that reason alone. Historia Naturalis, XXIX, 52 It [magic] flourished in the Gallic provinces, too, even down to a period within our memory; for it was in the time of the Emperor Tiberius that a decree was made against their Druids and their whole tribe of diviners and physicians. But why mention all this about a practice that has even crossed the ocean and penetrated even the utmost parts of the earth? At the present day, Brittannia is still fascinated by magic, and preforms it's rights with so much ceremony, that it almost seems as though that it was she who imparted the cult to the Persians. To such a degree do peoples through out the whole world, although unlike and quite unknown to one another, agree upon this one point. Therefore we cannot too highly appreciate our debt to the Romans for having put an end to this monstrous cult, whereby to murder a man was an act of the greatest devoutness, and to eat his flesh most beneficial. Historia Naturalis, XXX, 13 translated by T.D. Kendrick
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 0:56:32 GMT -5
Tacitus A.D. c. 55 - c. 115 On the shore stood the opposing army with it's dense array of armed warriors, while between the ranks dashed women in black attire like Furies, with hair dishevelled, waing brands. All around, the Druids, lifting up their hands to heaven and pouring fourth dreadful imprecations, scared our soldiers by the unfamiliar sight, so that, as if their limbs were paralyzed, they stood motionless and exposed to wounds. Then urged by the Generals appeal and mutual encouragements not to quail before the troop of frenzied women, they bore the standards onwards, smote down all resistance, and wrapped the foe in the flames of his own brands. A force was next set over the conquered, and their groves, devoted to inhuman superstitions, were destroyed. They deemed it, indeed, a duty to cover their alters with the blood of captives and to consult their deities through human entrails. Annals, XIV, 30 The Gauls, they remembered, had captured the city in former days, but, as the abode of Jupiter was uninjured, the Emporer had survived; where as now the Druids declared, with the prophetic utterances of an idle superstition, that this fatal conflagration (of the capitol) was a sign of the anger of heaven, and the portended universal Empire for the Transalpine nations. Histories, IV, 54 translated by A.J. Church and T.D. Broadribb
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 0:57:36 GMT -5
Dion Chrysostom A.D. 354 - 407 The Persians, I think have men called Magi... the Egyptians, their priests... and the Indians their Brahmins. On the other hand the Kelts have men called Druids, who concern themselves with divination and all branches of wisdom. And without their advice, even kings dare not resolve upon nor execute any plan, so in truth, it was they who ruled, while the kings sat on golden thrones and fared sumptuously in their places, became mere ministers of the Druid's will. Orations, XLIX translated by T.D. Kendrick
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 0:58:45 GMT -5
Lampridius 3rd century A.D. While he [Alexander Severus] was on his way, a Druidess cried out to him in the Gallic tongue, 'Go forward, but hope not for victory, nor put trust in thy soldiers'. Alexander Severus, LIX, 5 Translated by T.D. Kendrick
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Post by Fool Coyote on Apr 7, 2008 1:00:34 GMT -5
Vopiscus 3rd century A.D. When Diocletian, so my grandfather told me, was sojourning in a tavern in the land of the Tongri in Gaul, at the time when he was still of humble rank in the army, and had occasion to settle the daily account for his keep with a certain Druidess, this woman said to him. 'You are far to greedy and far to economical, O' Diocletian.' Where to he replied jestingly, 'I will be more liberal when I am Emperor,' to which the Druidess answered, 'Laugh not, Diocletian, for when you have killed the Boar, you will indeed be Emperor.' Numerianus, XIV translated by T.D. Kendrick He [Asclepiodotis] that on certain occasion Aurelian consulted the Gaulish Druidesses to find out if his descendants would remain in possession of the imperial crown. These women told him that no name would become more illustrious in the state annals than that of the line of Claudius. It is true, of course, that the present Emporer Constantius is of the same stock, and I think that his descendants will assuredly attain the glory foretold by the Druidesses. Aurelianus, XLIII, 4 and 5 translated by T.D. Kendrick
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