THE RELIGION OF THE DRUIDS.

In the earlier stages of tribal organizations among the Aryans and other races, the chief was priest as well as king. But the Celts appear to have already passed into a higher political stage before they came within the light of history, and to have established a distinct priesthood known to us as that of the Druids,

As to the origin of the Celtic Druids there have been two or three distinct theories advanced, prominent among which is that of Mr. Godfrey Higgins, who has attempted, in his characteristically elaborate way, to show that the original Druids were the priests of Oriental Colonies; who emigrated from India, and were the introducers of the first or Cadmean System of Letters, and the builders of Stonehenge, of Carnac, and other Cyclopean works in Asia and Europe. For this deduction of Higgins, Mr. Maurice had already largely paved the way in his "Indian Antiquities," where he "derives the British immediately from the Indian superstition."

Without for the present, inquiring into the verifiable validity of these and other theories on the highly interesting subject, we shall at once attempt to discover, from classic and Celtic and especially Cambrian documentary evidence, as already unraveled and interpreted by Celtic and Cymric scholars, what is supposed to be known about Druidism after it had already become the national cult of Gaul and Britain.

Druidism, then, is the designation generally, given to the religious system and sub-systems of the ancient Britons, Gaels, and Gauls. The derivation of the word Druid is still hidden in a haze of uncertainty. Its derivation from the Greek drus, an oak, though as old at least as the days of the elder Pliny, is probably somewhat fanciful; but several Welsh scholars still maintain that Derwydd (the old British form of the word) bas plainly for its etymons the word derw, "an oak," and

wydd (the euphonious form, in a compound, of gwydd), “a wise man," "a vaticinator," or "prophet." And we know that it is a British tradition nearly as old as the hills that the Druids celebrated their most sacred rites in the dark recesses of the groves. Most probably, however, the word has nothing to do directly with the oak, but is quite manifestly derived from dar, very, or, as we might say, par excellence, and wydd (for gwydd) a wise man. But still, the latter member of the compound, that is to say gwydd, has evidently the primary meaning of wood, or a grove, and the way it came to mean a wise man was from the ancient British manner of writing, viz. knife-carving their angular, "notchy" letters on small three or four-sided oblong pieces of wood, as well as, perhaps, from the grove being the natural contemplative haunt of the old Celtic student and scholar as well as the rite performing "open temple" (temenos) of the ancient Celtic priest.

But be this as it may, the word Druid, one form or other of which is used in early Celtic records, was used to designate a class of priests and philosophers corresponding to the Brahmans of India and the Magi or "wise men" of the ancient Persians, not to mention the hierophants and scholars of other ancient and modern peoples.

As far as the so-called classical writers are concerned, we find in Cæsar the first and at the same time the most circumstantial account of the Druids. In the digression on the manners and customs of Gaul and Germany which occupies a portion of the sixth book of his De Bello Gallico, he tells us that all men of any rank or dignity in Gaul were included. among either the Druids or the Equites, that is, the nobles. The former were the religious guides of the people as well as the chief expounders and guardians of the law. On those who refused to submit to their decisions they had the power of inflicting severe penalties, of which excommunication from society was the most dreaded. As they were not an hereditary caste, and enjoyed exemption from service in the field as well as payment of taxes, admission to the order was eagerly sought after by the youth of Gaul. The course of training to which a novice had to submit was protracted, extending sometimes over twenty years. All instruction was communi

cated orally, but for certain purposes they had a written language in which they used the Greek characters. The president of the order, whose office was elective and who enjoyed the dignity for life, had supreme authority among them. They taught that the soul was immortal. Astrology, geography, physical science, and natural theology were their favorite studies. Britain was the headquarters of Druidism, but once every year a general assembly of the order was held within the territories of the Carnutes in Gaul, probably in the neighborhood of the modern Dreux. The Gauls in extreme cases offered human sacrifices, usually criminals. Their chief deity was identified by Cæsar with the Mercury of the Romans.

Writing a few years later, Cicero, in his treatise on divination, introduces his brother Quintus as remarking on the existence among the Gauls of augurs or soothsayers, known by the name of Druids. With one of these-Divitiacus, an Eduan-Quintus says he was well acquainted. Cicero's contemporary Diodorus Siculus informs us that there were among the ancient Gauls bards, certain philosophers and theologians named Druids, and soothsayers. He also hints at some connection between their philosophy and that of. Pythagoras. Strabo and Pomponius Mela, the geographers, add little to our knowledge of the Druids.

Lucan, in his Pharsalia, mentions, among the Gallic and other tribes that relapsed into their former ways upon Cæsar's crossing the Rubicon, "the worshipers with bloody rites of Teutates, Hesus, and Taranis," and refers immediately afterward to the Bards and Druids.

Something more noteworthy is told by the elder Pliny. According to him the Gallic Druids held the mistletoe in the highest veneration. Groves of oak were their chosen retreats. Whatever grew on that tree was thought to be a gift from heaven, more especially the mistletoe. When thus found the latter was cut with a golden knife by a priest clad in a white robe, two white bulls being sacrificed on the spot. The name given to it by the Druids signified in their language All-Heal, and its virtues were believed to be very great. Two other herbs, called selago and samolus, were likewise greatly valued

by them for their medicinal efficacy. But the most remarkable of all the Druidical charms was the anguineum, or snake's egg. It was said to be produced from the saliva and frothy sweat of a number of serpents writhing in an entangled mass, and to be tossed up in the air as soon as formed. The fortunate Druid who managed, as it fell, to catch it in his sagum, or cloak, rode off at full speed on a horse that had been in waiting for him, pursued by the serpents till they were stopped by the intervention of a running stream. A genuine specimen of this egg, when thrown into the water, would float against the current, even if incased in gold. Pliny declares. that he had seen one. "It is," he says, "about the size of a moderately large round apple, and has a cartilaginous rind studded with cavities like those on the arms of a polypus."

Tacitus, in describing the attack made on the island of Mona (Anglesea) by the Romans under Suetonius Paulinus, represents the legionaries as being awe-struck on landing by the appearance of a band of Druids who, with hands uplifted toward heaven, poured forth terrible imprecations on the heads of the invaders. The courage of the Romans, however, soon overcame such fears; the Britons were put to flight; and the groves of Mona, the scene of many a sacrifice and bloody rite, were cut down.

The annalists Lampridius and Vopiscus, two of the Scriptores Historia Augusta, introduce us-if the "Dryas" of these writers be connected, as is probable, with the "Druides" of Cæsar and others-to a new branch of the order-Druidesses, who, however, are simply prophetic women. For example, Vopiscus tells us, on the authority of his grandfather, who had the story from the future emperor himself, that it had been foretold to Diocletian by one of these women that he would wear the purple after he had slain a wild boar. Many years afterward, when Diocletian found himself, on the death of Numerian, unexpectedly declared emperor by the troops, he at once cut down with his sword Arrius Aper, regarding whom dark suspicions were afloat, exclaiming, "At length I have slain the fated wild boar," and thus fulfilled the proph ecy delivered to him in Gaul by the weird woman.

Ausonius of Bordeaux, tutor of Gratian, son of the Emper