THE DRUIDS.
Pliny thought that the name "Druid" was a Greek appellation derived from
the Druidic cult of the oak ([Greek: _drus_]).[1002] The word, however,
is purely Celtic, and its meaning probably implies that, like the
sorcerer and medicine-man everywhere, the Druid was regarded as "the
knowing one." It is composed of two parts--_dru_-, regarded by M.
D'Arbois as an intensive, and _vids_, from _vid_, "to know," or
"see."[1003] Hence the Druid was "the very knowing or wise one." It is
possible, however, that _dru_- is connected with the root which gives
the word "oak" in Celtic speech--Gaulish _deruo_, Irish _dair_, Welsh
_derw_--and that the oak, occupying a place in the cult, was thus
brought into relation with the name of the priesthood. The Gaulish form
of the name was probably _druis_, the Old Irish was _drai_. The modern
forms in Irish and Scots Gaelic, _drui_ and _draoi_ mean "sorcerer."
M. D'Arbois and others, accepting Cæsar's dictum that "the system (of
Druidism) is thought to have been devised in Britain, and brought thence
into Gaul," maintain that the Druids were priests of the Goidels in
Britain, who imposed themselves upon the Gaulish conquerors of the
Goidels, and that Druidism then passed over into Gaul about 200
B.C.[1004] But it is hardly likely that, even if the Druids were
accepted as priests by conquering Gauls in Britain, they should have
affected the Gauls of Gaul who were outside the reflex influence of the
conquered Goidels, and should have there obtained that power which they
possessed. Goidels and Gauls were allied by race and language and
religion, and it would be strange if they did not both possess a similar
priesthood. Moreover, the Goidels had been a continental people, and
Druidism was presumably flourishing among them then. Why did it not
influence kindred Celtic tribes without Druids, _ex hypothesi_, at that
time? Further, if we accept Professor Meyer's theory that no Goidel set
foot in Britain until the second century A.D., the Gauls could not have
received the Druidic priesthood from the Goidels.
Cæsar merely says, "it is thought (_existimatur_) that Druidism came to
Gaul from Britain."[1005] It was a pious opinion, perhaps his own, or
one based on the fact that those who wished to perfect themselves in
Druidic art went to Britain. This may have been because Britain had been
less open to foreign influences than Gaul, and its Druids, unaffected by
these, were thought to be more powerful than those of Gaul. Pliny, on
the other hand, seems to think that Druidism passed over into Britain
from Gaul.[1006]
Other writers--Sir John Rh[^y]s, Sir G.L. Gomme, and M. Reinach--support
on different grounds the theory that the Druids were a pre-Celtic
priesthood, accepted by the Celtic conquerors. Sir John Rh[^y]s thinks
that the Druidism of the aborigines of Gaul and Britain made terms with
the Celtic conquerors. It was accepted by the Goidels, but not by the
Brythons. Hence in Britain there were Brythons without Druids,
aborigines under the sway of Druidism, and Goidels who combined Aryan
polytheism with Druidism. Druidism was also the religion of the
aborigines from the Baltic to Gibraltar, and was accepted by the
Gauls.[1007] But if so, it is difficult to see why the Brythons, akin to
them, did not accept it. Our knowledge of Brythonic religion is too
scanty for us to prove that the Druids had or had not sway over them,
but the presumption is that they had. Nor is there any historical
evidence to show that the Druids were originally a non-Celtic
priesthood. Everywhere they appear as the supreme and dominant
priesthood of the Celts, and the priests of a conquered people could
hardly have obtained such power over the conquerors. The relation of the
Celts to the Druids is quite different from that of conquerors, who
occasionally resort to the medicine-men of the conquered folk because
they have stronger magic or greater influence with the autochthonous
gods. The Celts did not resort to the Druids occasionally; _ex
hypothesi_ they accepted them completely, were dominated by them in
every department of life, while their own priests, if they had any,
accepted this order of things without a murmur. All this is incredible.
The picture drawn by Cæsar, Strabo, and others of the Druids and their
position among the Celts as judges, choosers of tribal chiefs and kings,
teachers, as well as ministers of religion, suggests rather that they
were a native Celtic priesthood, long established among the people.
Sir G.L. Gomme supports the theory that the Druids were a pre-Celtic
priesthood, because, in his opinion, much of their belief in magic as
well as their use of human sacrifice and the redemption of one life by
another, is opposed to "Aryan sentiment." Equally opposed to this are
their functions of settling controversies, judging, settling the
succession to property, and arranging boundaries. These views are
supported by a comparison of the position of the Druids relatively to
the Celts with that of non-Aryan persons in India who render occasional
priestly services to Hindu village communities.[1008] Whether this
comparison of occasional Hindu custom with Celtic usage two thousand
years ago is just, may be questioned. As already seen, it was no mere
occasional service which the Druids rendered to the Celts, and it is
this which makes it difficult to credit this theory. Had the Celtic
house-father been priest and judge in his own clan, would he so readily
have surrendered his rights to a foreign and conquered priesthood? On
the other hand, kings and chiefs among the Celts probably retained some
priestly functions, derived from the time when the offices of the
priest-king had not been differentiated. Cæsar's evidence certainly does
not support the idea that "it is only among the rudest of the so-called
Celtic tribes that we find this superimposing of an apparently official
priesthood." According to him, the power of the Druids was universal in
Gaul, and had their position really corresponded to that of the pariah
priests of India, occasional priests of Hindu villages, the determined
hostility of the Roman power to them because they wielded such an
enormous influence over Celtic thought and life, is inexplainable. If,
further, Aryan sentiment was so opposed to Druidic customs, why did
Aryan Celts so readily accept the Druids? In this case the receiver is
as bad as the thief. Sir G.L. Gomme clings to the belief that the Aryans
were people of a comparatively high civilisation, who had discarded, if
they ever possessed, a savage "past." But old beliefs and customs still
survive through growing civilisation, and if the views of Professor
Sergi and others are correct, the Aryans were even less civilised than
the peoples whom they conquered.[1009] Shape-shifting, magic, human
sacrifice, priestly domination, were as much Aryan as non-Aryan, and if
the Celts had a comparatively pure religion, why did they so soon allow
it to be defiled by the puerile superstitions of the Druids?
M. Reinach, as we have seen, thinks that the Celts had no images,
because these were prohibited by their priests. This prohibition was
pre-Celtic in Gaul, since there are no Neolithic images, though there
are great megalithic structures, suggesting the existence of a great
religious aristocracy. This aristocracy imposed itself on the
Celts.[1010] We have seen that there is no reason for believing that the
Celts had no images, hence this argument is valueless. M. Reinach then
argues that the Celts accepted Druidism _en bloc_, as the Romans
accepted Oriental cults and the Greeks the native Pelasgic cults. But
neither Romans nor Greeks abandoned their own faith. Were the Celts a
people without priests and without religion? We know that they must have
accepted many local cults, but that they adopted the whole aboriginal
faith and its priests _en bloc_ is not credible. M. Reinach also holds
that when the Celts appear in history Druidism was in its decline; the
Celt, or at least the military caste among the Celts, was reasserting
itself. But the Druids do not appear as a declining body in the pages of
Cæsar, and their power was still supreme, to judge by the hostility of
the Roman Government to them. If the military caste rebelled against
them, this does not prove that they were a foreign body. Such a strife
is seen wherever priest and soldier form separate castes, each desiring
to rule, as in Egypt.
Other writers argue that we do not find Druids existing in the Danube
region, in Cisalpine territory, nor in Transalpine Gaul, "outside the
limits of the region occupied by the Celtæ."[1011] This could only have
weight if any of the classical writers had composed a formal treatise on
the Druids, showing exactly the regions where they existed. They merely
describe Druidism as a general Celtic institution, or as they knew it in
Gaul or Britain, and few of them have any personal knowledge of it.
There is no reason to believe that Druids did not exist wherever there
were Celts. The Druids and Semnotheoi of the Celts and Galatæ referred
to _c._ 200 B.C. were apparently priests of other Celts than those of
Gaul, and Celtic groups of Cisalpine Gaul had priests, though these are
not formally styled Druids.[1012] The argument _ex silentio_ is here of
little value, since the references to the Druids are so brief, and it
tells equally against their non-Celtic origin, since we do not hear of
Druids in Aquitania, a non-Celtic region.[1013]
The theory of the non-Celtic origin of the Druids assumes that the Celts
had no priests, or that these were effaced by the Druids. The Celts had
priests called _gutuatri_ attached to certain temples, their name
perhaps meaning "the speakers," those who spoke to the gods.[1014] The
functions of the Druids were much more general, according to this
theory, hence M. D'Arbois supposes that, before their intrusion, the
Celts had no other priests than the _gutuatri_.[1015] But the
probability is that they were a Druidic class, ministers of local
sanctuaries, and related to the Druids as the Levites were to the
priests of Israel, since the Druids were a composite priesthood with a
variety of functions. If the priests and servants of Belenos, described
by Ausonius and called by him _oedituus Beleni_, were _gutuatri_, then
the latter must have been connected with the Druids, since he says they
were of Druidic stock.[1016] Lucan's "priest of the grove" may have been
a _gutuatros_, and the priests (_sacerdotes_) and other ministers
(_antistites_) of the Boii may have been Druids properly so called and
_gutuatri_.[1017] Another class of temple servants may have existed.
Names beginning with the name of a god and ending in _gnatos_,
"accustomed to," "beloved of," occur in inscriptions, and may denote
persons consecrated from their youth to the service of a grove or
temple. On the other hand, the names may mean no more than that those
bearing them were devoted to the cult of one particular god.
Our supposition that the _gutuatri_ were a class of Druids is supported
by classical evidence, which tends to show that the Druids were a great
inclusive priesthood with different classes possessing different
functions--priestly, prophetic, magical, medical, legal, and poetical.
Cæsar attributes these to the Druids as a whole, but in other writers
they are in part at least in the hands of different classes. Diodorus
refers to the Celtic philosophers and theologians (Druids), diviners,
and bards, as do also Strabo and Timagenes, Strabo giving the Greek form
of the native name for the diviners, [Greek: ouateis], the Celtic form
being probably _vátis_ (Irish, _fáith_).[1018] These may have been also
poets, since _vátis_ means both singer and poet; but in all three
writers the bards are a fairly distinct class, who sing the deeds of
famous men (so Timagenes). Druid and diviner were also closely
connected, since the Druids studied nature and moral philosophy, and the
diviners were also students of nature, according to Strabo and
Timagenes. No sacrifice was complete without a Druid, say Diodorus and
Strabo, but both speak of the diviners as concerned with sacrifice.
Druids also prophesied as well as diviners, according to Cicero and
Tacitus.[1019] Finally, Lucan mentions only Druids and bards.[1020]
Diviners were thus probably a Druidic sub-class, standing midway between
the Druids proper and the bards, and partaking of some of the functions
of both. Pliny speaks of "Druids and this race of prophets and
doctors,"[1021] and this suggests that some were priests, some diviners,
while some practised an empiric medical science.
On the whole this agrees with what is met with in Ireland, where the
Druids, though appearing in the texts mainly as magicians, were also
priests and teachers. Side by side with them were the _Filid_, "learned
poets,"[1022] composing according to strict rules of art, and higher
than the third class, the Bards. The _Filid_, who may also have been
known as _Fáthi_, "prophets,"[1023] were also diviners according to
strict rules of augury, while some of these auguries implied a
sacrifice. The Druids were also diviners and prophets. When the Druids
were overthrown at the coming of Christianity, the _Filid_ remained as a
learned class, probably because they had abandoned all pagan practices,
while the Bards were reduced to a comparatively low status. M. D'Arbois
supposes that there was rivalry between the Druids and the _Filid_, who
made common cause with the Christian missionaries, but this is not
supported by evidence. The three classes in Gaul--Druids, _Vates_, and
Bards--thus correspond to the three classes in Ireland--Druids, _Fáthi_
or _Filid_, and Bards.[1024]
We may thus conclude that the Druids were a purely Celtic priesthood,
belonging both to the Goidelic and Gaulish branches of the Celts. The
idea that they were not Celtic is sometimes connected with the
supposition that Druidism was something superadded to Celtic religion
from without, or that Celtic polytheism was not part of the creed of the
Druids, but sanctioned by them, while they had a definite theological
system with only a few gods.[1025] These are the ideas of writers who
see in the Druids an occult and esoteric priesthood. The Druids had
grown up _pari passu_ with the growth of the native religion and magic.
Where they had become more civilised, as in the south of Gaul, they may
have given up many magical practices, but as a class they were addicted
to magic, and must have taken part in local cults as well as in those of
the greater gods. That they were a philosophic priesthood advocating a
pure religion among polytheists is a baseless theory. Druidism was not a
formal system outside Celtic religion. It covered the whole ground of
Celtic religion; in other words, it was that religion itself.
The Druids are first referred to by pseudo-Aristotle and Sotion in the
second century B.C., the reference being preserved by Diogenes Laertius:
"There are among the Celtæ and Galatæ those called Druids and
Semnotheoi."[1026] The two words may be synonymous, or they may describe
two classes of priests, or, again, the Druids may have been Celtic, and
the Semnotheoi Galatic (? Galatian) priests. Cæsar's account comes next
in time. Later writers gives the Druids a lofty place and speak vaguely
of the Druidic philosophy and science. Cæsar also refers to their
science, but both he and Strabo speak of their human sacrifices.
Suetonius describes their religion as cruel and savage, and Mela, who
speaks of their learning, regards their human sacrifices as
savagery.[1027] Pliny says nothing of the Druids as philosophers, but
hints at their priestly functions, and connects them with magico-medical
rites.[1028] These divergent opinions are difficult to account for. But
as the Romans gained closer acquaintance with the Druids, they found
less philosophy and more superstition among them. For their cruel rites
and hostility to Rome, they sought to suppress them, but this they never
would have done had the Druids been esoteric philosophers. It has been
thought that Pliny's phrase, "Druids and that race of prophets and
doctors," signifies that, through Roman persecution, the Druids were
reduced to a kind of medicine-men.[1029] But the phrase rather describes
the varied functions of the Druids, as has been seen, nor does it refer
to the state to which the repressive edict reduced them, but to that in
which it found them. Pliny's information was also limited.
The vague idea that the Druids were philosophers was repeated
parrot-like by writer after writer, who regarded barbaric races as
Rousseau and his school looked upon the "noble savage." Roman writers,
sceptical of a future life, were fascinated by the idea of a barbaric
priesthood teaching the doctrine of immortality in the wilds of Gaul.
For this teaching the poet Lucan sang their praises. The Druids probably
first impressed Greek and Latin observers by their magic, their
organisation, and the fact that, like many barbaric priesthoods, but
unlike those of Greece and Rome, they taught certain doctrines. Their
knowledge was divinely conveyed to them; "they speak the language of the
gods;"[1030] hence it was easy to read anything into this teaching. Thus
the Druidic legend rapidly grew. On the other hand, modern writers have
perhaps exaggerated the force of the classical evidence. When we read of
Druidic associations we need not regard these as higher than the
organised priesthoods of barbarians. Their doctrine of metempsychosis,
if it was really taught, involved no ethical content as in
Pythagoreanism. Their astronomy was probably astrological[1031]; their
knowledge of nature a series of cosmogonic myths and speculations. If a
true Druidic philosophy and science had existed, it is strange that it
is always mentioned vaguely and that it exerted no influence upon the
thought of the time.
Classical sentiment also found a connection between the Druidic and
Pythagorean systems, the Druids being regarded as conforming to the
doctrines and rules of the Greek philosopher.[1032] It is not improbable
that some Pythagorean doctrines may have reached Gaul, but when we
examine the point at which the two systems were supposed to meet,
namely, the doctrine of metempsychosis and immortality, upon which the
whole idea of this relationship was founded, there is no real
resemblance. There are Celtic myths regarding the rebirth of gods and
heroes, but the eschatological teaching was apparently this, that the
soul was clothed with a body in the other-world. There was no doctrine
of a series of rebirths on this earth as a punishment for sin. The
Druidic teaching of a bodily immortality was mistakenly assumed to be
the same as the Pythagorean doctrine of the soul reincarnated in body
after body. Other points of resemblance were then discovered. The
organisation of the Druids was assumed by Ammianus to be a kind of
corporate life--_sodaliciis adstricti consortiis_--while the Druidic
mind was always searching into lofty things,[1033] but those who wrote
most fully of the Druids knew nothing of this.
The Druids, like the priests of all religions, doubtless sought after
such knowledge as was open to them, but this does not imply that they
possessed a recondite philosophy or a secret theology. They were
governed by the ideas current among all barbaric communities, and they
were at once priests, magicians, doctors, and teachers. They would not
allow their sacred hymns to be written down, but taught them in
secret,[1034] as is usual wherever the success of hymn or prayer depends
upon the right use of the words and the secrecy observed in imparting
them to others. Their ritual, as far as is known to us, differs but
little from that of other barbarian folk, and it included human
sacrifice and divination with the victim's body. They excluded the
guilty from a share in the cult--the usual punishment meted out to the
tabu-breaker in all primitive societies.
The idea that the Druids taught a secret doctrine--monotheism,
pantheism, or the like--is unsupported by evidence. Doubtless they
communicated secrets to the initiated, as is done in barbaric mysteries
everywhere, but these secrets consist of magic and mythic formulæ, the
exhibition of _Sacra_, and some teaching about the gods or about moral
duties. These are kept secret, not because they are abstract doctrines,
but because they would lose their value and because the gods would be
angry if they were made too common. If the Druids taught religious and
moral matters secretly, these were probably no more than an extension of
the threefold maxim inculcated by them according to Diogenes Laertius:
"To worship the gods, to do no evil, and to exercise courage."[1035] To
this would be added cosmogonic myths and speculations, and magic and
religious formulæ. This will become more evident as we examine the
position and power of the Druids.
In Gaul, and to some extent in Ireland, the Druids formed a priestly
corporation--a fact which helped classical observers to suppose that
they lived together like the Pythagorean communities. While the words of
Ammianus--_sodaliciis adstricti consortiis_--may imply no more than some
kind of priestly organisation, M. Bertrand founds on them a theory that
the Druids were a kind of monks living a community life, and that Irish
monasticism was a transformation of this system.[1036] This is purely
imaginative. Irish Druids had wives and children, and the Druid
Diviciacus was a family man, while Cæsar says not a word of community
life among the Druids. The hostility of Christianity to the Druids would
have prevented any copying of their system, and Irish monasticism was
modelled on that of the Continent. Druidic organisation probably denoted
no more than that the Druids were bound by certain ties, that they were
graded in different ranks or according to their functions, and that they
practised a series of common cults. In Gaul one chief Druid had
authority over the others, the position being an elective one.[1037] The
insular Druids may have been similarly organised, since we hear of a
chief Druid, _primus magus_, while the _Filid_ had an _Ard-file_, or
chief, elected to his office.[1038] The priesthood was not a caste, but
was open to those who showed aptitude for it. There was a long
novitiate, extending even to twenty years, just as, in Ireland, the
novitiate of the _File_ lasted from seven to twelve years.[1039]
The Druids of Gaul assembled annually in a central spot, and there
settled disputes, because they were regarded as the most just of
men.[1040] Individual Druids also decided disputes or sat as judges in
cases of murder. How far it was obligatory to bring causes before them
is unknown, but those who did not submit to a decision were interdicted
from the sacrifices, and all shunned them. In other words, they were
tabued. A magico-religious sanction thus enforced the judgments of the
Druids. In Galatia the twelve tetrarchs had a council of three hundred
men, and met in a place called Drunemeton to try cases of murder.[1041]
Whether it is philologically permissible to connect _Dru_- with the
corresponding syllable in "Druid" or not, the likeness to the Gaulish
assembly at a "consecrated place," perhaps a grove (_nemeton_), is
obvious. We do not know that Irish Druids were judges, but the _Filid_
exercised judgments, and this may be a relic of their connection with
the Druids.[1042]
Diodorus describes the Druids exhorting combatants to peace, and taming
them like wild beasts by enchantment.[1043] This suggests interference
to prevent the devastating power of the blood-feud or of tribal wars.
They also appear to have exercised authority in the election of rulers.
Convictolitanis was elected to the magistracy by the priests in Gaul,
"according to the custom of the State."[1044] In Ireland, after
partaking of the flesh of a white bull, probably a sacrificial animal, a
man lay down to sleep, while four Druids chanted over him "to render his
witness truthful." He then saw in a vision the person who should be
elected king, and what he was doing at the moment.[1045] Possibly the
Druids used hypnotic suggestion; the medium was apparently clairvoyant.
Dio Chrysostom alleges that kings were ministers of the Druids, and
could do nothing without them.[1046] This agrees on the whole with the
witness of Irish texts. Druids always accompany the king, and have great
influence over him. According to a passage in the _Táin_, "the men of
Ulster must not speak before the king, the king must not speak before
his Druid," and even Conchobar was silent until the Druid Cathbad had
spoken.[1047] This power, resembling that of many other priesthoods,
must have helped to balance that of the warrior class, and it is the
more credible when we recall the fact that the Druids claimed to have
made the universe.[1048] The priest-kingship may have been an old Celtic
institution, and this would explain why, once the offices were
separated, priests had or claimed so much political power.
That political power must have been enhanced by their position as
teachers, and it is safe to say that submission to their powers was
inculcated by them. Both in Gaul and in Ireland they taught others than
those who intended to become Druids.[1049] As has been seen, their
teachings were not written down, but transmitted orally. They taught
immortality, believing that thus men would be roused to valour,
buttressing patriotism with dogma. They also imparted "many things
regarding the stars and their motions, the extent of the universe and
the earth, the nature of things, and the power and might of the immortal
gods." Strabo also speaks of their teaching in moral science.[1050] As
has been seen, it is easy to exaggerate all this. Their astronomy was
probably of a humble kind and mingled with astrology; their natural
philosophy a mass of cosmogonic myths and speculations; their theology
was rather mythology; their moral philosophy a series of maxims such as
are found in all barbaric communities. Their medical lore, to judge from
what Pliny says, was largely magical. Some Druids, e.g. in the south of
Gaul, may have had access to classical learning, and Cæsar speaks of the
use of Greek characters among them. This could hardly have been general,
and in any case must have superseded the use of a native script, to
which the use of ogams in Ireland, and perhaps also in Gaul, was
supplementary. The Irish Druids may have had written books, for King
Loegaire desired that S. Patrick's books and those of the Druids should
be submitted to the ordeal by water as a test of their owners'
claims.[1051]
In religious affairs the Druids were supreme, since they alone "knew the
gods and divinities of heaven."[1052] They superintended and arranged
all rites and attended to "public and private sacrifices," and "no
sacrifice was complete without the intervention of a Druid."[1053] The
dark and cruel rites of the Druids struck the Romans with horror, and
they form a curious contrast to their alleged "philosophy." They used
divination and had regular formulæ of incantation as well as ritual acts
by which they looked into the future.[1054] Before all matters of
importance, especially before warlike expeditions, their advice was
sought because they could scan the future.
Name-giving and a species of baptism were performed by the Druids or on
their initiative. Many examples of this occur in Irish texts, thus of
Conall Cernach it is said, "Druids came to baptize the child into
heathenism, and they sang the heathen baptism (_baithis geintlídhe_)
over the little child", and of Ailill that he was "baptized in Druidic
streams".[1055] In Welsh story we read that Gwri was "baptized with the
baptism which was usual at that time".[1056] Similar illustrations are
common at name-giving among many races,[1057] and it is probable that
the custom in the Hebrides of the midwife dropping three drops of water
on the child _in Nomine_ and giving it a temporary name, is a survival
of this practice. The regular baptism takes place later, but this
preliminary rite keeps off fairies and ensures burial in consecrated
ground, just as the pagan rite was protective and admitted to the tribal
privileges.[1058]
In the burial rites, which in Ireland consisted of a lament, sacrifices,
and raising a stone inscribed with ogams over the grave, Druids took
part. The Druid Dergdamsa pronounced a discourse over the Ossianic hero
Mag-neid, buried him with his arms, and chanted a rune. The ogam
inscription would also be of Druidic composition, and as no sacrifice
was complete without the intervention of Druids, they must also have
assisted at the lavish sacrifices which occurred at Celtic funerals.
Pliny's words, "the Druids and that race of prophets and doctors",
suggest that the medical art may have been in the hands of a special
class of Druids though all may have had a smattering of it. It was
mainly concerned with the use of herbs, and was mixed up with magical
rites, which may have been regarded as of more importance than the
actual medicines used.[1059] In Ireland Druids also practised the
healing art. Thus when Cúchulainn was ill, Emer said, "If it had been
Fergus, Cúchulainn would have taken no rest till he had found a Druid
able to discover the cause of that illness."[1060] But other persons,
not referred to as Druids, are mentioned as healers, one of them a
woman, perhaps a reminiscence of the time when the art was practised by
women.[1061] These healers may, however, have been attached to the
Druidic corporation in much the same way as were the bards.
Still more important were the magical powers of the Druids--giving or
withholding sunshine or rain, causing storms, making women and cattle
fruitful, using spells, rhyming to death, exercising shape-shifting and
invisibility, and producing a magic sleep, possibly hypnotic. They were
also in request as poisoners.[1062] Since the Gauls went to Britain to
perfect themselves in Druidic science, it is possible that the insular
Druids were more devoted to magic than those of Gaul, but since the
latter are said to have "tamed the people as wild beasts are tamed", it
is obvious that this refers to their powers as magicians rather than to
any recondite philosophy possessed by them. Yet they were clear-sighted
enough to use every means by which they might gain political power, and
some of them may have been open to the influence of classical learning
even before the Roman invasion. In the next chapter the magic of the
Druids will be described in detail.
The Druids, both in Gaul (at the mistletoe rite) and in Ireland, were
dressed in white, but Strabo speaks of their scarlet and gold
embroidered robes, their golden necklets and bracelets.[1063] Again, the
chief Druid of the king of Erin wore a coloured cloak and had earrings
of gold, and in another instance a Druid wears a bull's hide and a
white-speckled bird headpiece with fluttering wings.[1064] There was
also some special tonsure used by the Druids,[1065] which may have
denoted servitude to the gods, as it was customary for a warrior to vow
his hair to a divinity if victory was granted him. Similarly the Druid's
hair would be presented to the gods, and the tonsure would mark their
minister.
Some writers have tried to draw a distinction between the Druids of Gaul
and of Ireland, especially in the matter of their priestly
functions.[1066] But, while a few passages in Irish texts do suggest
that the Irish Druids were priests taking part in sacrifices, etc.,
nearly all passages relating to cult or ritual seem to have been
deliberately suppressed. Hence the Druids appear rather as magicians--a
natural result, since, once the people became Christian, the priestly
character of the Druids would tend to be lost sight of. Like the Druids
of Gaul, they were teachers and took part in political affairs, and this
shows that they were more than mere magicians. In Irish texts the word
"Druid" is somewhat loosely used and is applied to kings and poets,
perhaps because they had been pupils of the Druids. But it is impossible
to doubt that the Druids in Ireland fulfilled functions of a public
priesthood. They appear in connection with all the colonies which came
to Erin, the annalists regarding the priests or medicine-men of
different races as Druids, through lack of historic perspective. But one
fact shows that they were priests of the Celtic religion in Ireland. The
euhemerised Tuatha Dé Danann are masters of Druidic lore. Thus both the
gods and the priests who served them were confused by later writers. The
opposition of Christian missionaries to the Druids shows that they were
priests; if they were not, it remains to be discovered what body of men
did exercise priestly functions in pagan Ireland. In Ireland their
judicial functions may have been less important than in Gaul, and they
may not have been so strictly organised; but here we are in the region
of conjecture. They were exempt from military service in Gaul, and many
joined their ranks on this account, but in Ireland they were "bonny
fechters," just as in Gaul they occasionally fought like mediæval
bishops.[1067] In both countries they were present on the field of
battle to perform the necessary religious or magical rites.
Since the Druids were an organised priesthood, with powers of teaching
and of magic implicitly believed in by the folk, possessing the key of
the other-world, and dominating the whole field of religion, it is easy
to see how much veneration must have been paid them. Connoting this with
the influence of the Roman Church in Celtic regions and the power of the
Protestant minister in the Highlands and in Wales, some have thought
that there is an innate tendency in the Celt to be priest-ridden. If
this be true, we can only say, "the people wish to have it so, and the
priests--pagan, papist, or protestant--bear rule through their means!"
Thus a close examination of the position and functions of the Druids
explains away two popular misconceptions. They were not possessed of any
recondite and esoteric wisdom. And the culling of mistletoe instead of
being the most important, was but a subordinate part of their functions.
In Gaul the Roman power broke the sway of the Druids, aided perhaps by
the spread of Christianity, but it was Christianity alone which routed
them in Ireland and in Britain outside the Roman pale. The Druidic
organisation, their power in politics and in the administration of
justice, their patriotism, and also their use of human sacrifice and
magic, were all obnoxious to the Roman Government, which opposed them
mainly on political grounds. Magic and human sacrifice were suppressed
because they were contrary to Roman manners. The first attack was in the
reign of Augustus, who prohibited Roman citizens from taking part in the
religion of the Druids.[1068] Tiberius next interdicted the Druids, but
this was probably aimed at their human sacrifices, for the Druids were
not suppressed, since they existed still in the reign of Claudius, who
is said to have abolished _Druidarum religionem dirae
immanitatis_.[1069] The earlier legislation was ineffective; that of
Claudius was more thorough, but it, too, was probably aimed mainly at
human sacrifice and magic, since Aurelius Victor limits it to the
"notorious superstitions" of the Druids.[1070] It did not abolish the
native religion, as is proved by the numerous inscriptions to Celtic
gods, and by the fact that, as Mela informs us, human victims were still
offered symbolically,[1071] while the Druids were still active some
years later. A parallel is found in the British abolition of S[=a]ti in
India, while permitting the native religion to flourish.
Probably more effective was the policy begun by Augustus. Magistrates
were inaugurated and acted as judges, thus ousting the Druids, and
native deities and native ritual were assimilated to those of Rome.
Celtic religion was Romanised, and if the Druids retained priestly
functions, it could only be by their becoming Romanised also. Perhaps
the new State religion in Gaul simply ignored them. The annual assembly
of deputies at Lugudunum round the altar of Rome and Augustus had a
religious character, and was intended to rival and to supersede the
annual gathering of the Druids.[1072] The deputies elected a flamen of
the province who had surveillance of the cult, and there were also
flamens for each city. Thus the power of the Druids in politics, law,
and religion was quietly undermined, while Rome also struck a blow at
their position as teachers by establishing schools throughout
Gaul.[1073]
M. D'Arbois maintains that, as a result of persecution, the Druids
retired to the depths of the forests, and continued to teach there in
secret those who despised the new learning of Rome, basing his opinion
on passages of Lucan and Mela, both writing a little after the
promulgation of the laws.[1074]. But neither Lucan nor Mela refer to an
existing state of things, and do not intend their readers to suppose
that the Druids fled to woods and caverns. Lucan speaks of them
_dwelling_ in woods, i.e. their sacred groves, and resuming their rites
after Cæsar's conquest not after the later edicts, and he does not speak
of the Druids teaching there.[1075] Mela seems to be echoing Cæsar's
account of the twenty years' novitiate, but adds to it that the teaching
was given in secret, confusing it, however, with that given to others
than candidates for the priesthood. Thus he says: "Docent multa
nobilissimos gentis clam et diu vicenis annis aut in specu aut in
abditis saltibus,"[1076] but there is not the slightest evidence that
this secrecy was the result of the edicts. Moreover, the attenuated
sacrificial rites which he describes were evidently practised quite
openly. Probably some Druids continued their teaching in their secret
and sacred haunts, but it is unlikely that noble Gauls would resort to
them when Greco-Roman culture was now open to them in the schools, where
they are found receiving instruction in 21 A.D.[1077] Most of the Druids
probably succumbed to the new order of things. Some continued the old
rites in a modified manner as long as they could obtain worshippers.
Others, more fanatical, would suffer from the law when they could not
evade its grasp. Some of these revolted against Rome after Nero's death,
and it was perhaps to this class that those Druids belonged who
prophesied the world-empire of the Celts in 70 A.D.[1078] The fact that
Druids existed at this date shows that the proscription had not been
complete. But the complete Romanising of Gaul took away their
occupation, though even in the fourth century men still boasted of their
Druidic descent.[1079]
The insular Druids opposed the legions in Southern Britain, and in Mona
in 62 A.D. they made a last stand with the warriors against the Romans,
gesticulating and praying to the gods. But with the establishment of
Roman power in Britain their fate must have resembled that of the Druids
of Gaul. A recrudescence of Druidism is found, however, in the presence
of _magi_ (Druids) with Vortigern after the Roman withdrawal.[1080]
Outside the Roman pale the Druids were still rampant and practised their
rites as before, according to Pliny.[1081] Much later, in the sixth
century, they opposed Christian missionaries in Scotland, just as in
Ireland they opposed S. Patrick and his monks, who combated "the
hard-hearted Druids." Finally, Christianity was victorious and the
powers of the Druids passed in large measure to the Christian clergy or
remained to some extent with the _Filid_.[1082] In popular belief the
clerics had prevailed less by the persuasive power of the gospel, than
by successfully rivalling the magic of the Druids.
Classical writers speak of _Dryades_ or "Druidesses" in the third
century. One of them predicted his approaching death to Alexander
Severus, another promised the empire to Diocletian, others were
consulted by Aurelian.[1083] Thus they were divineresses, rather than
priestesses, and their name may be the result of misconception, unless
they assumed it when Druids no longer existed as a class. In Ireland
there were divineresses--_ban-filid_ or _ban-fáthi_, probably a distinct
class with prophetic powers. Kings are warned against "pythonesses" as
well as Druids, and Dr. Joyce thinks these were Druidesses.[1084] S.
Patrick also armed himself against "the spells of women" and of
Druids.[1085] Women in Ireland had a knowledge of futurity, according to
Solinus, and the women who took part with the Druids like furies at
Mona, may have been divineresses.[1086] In Ireland it is possible that
such women were called "Druidesses," since the word _ban-drui_ is met
with, the women so called being also styled _ban-fili_, while the fact
that they belonged to the class of the _Filid_ brings them into
connection with the Druids.[1087] But _ban-drui_ may have been applied
to women with priestly functions, such as certainly existed in
Ireland--e.g. the virgin guardians of sacred fires, to whose functions
Christian nuns succeeded.[1088] We know also that the British queen
Boudicca exercised priestly functions, and such priestesses, apart from
the _Dryades_, existed among the continental Celts. Inscriptions at
Arles speak of an _antistita deae_, and at Le Prugnon of a _flaminica
sacerdos_ of the goddess Thucolis.[1089] These were servants of a
goddess like the priestess of the Celtic Artemis in Galatia, in whose
family the priesthood was hereditary.[1090] The virgins called
Gallizenæ, who practised divination and magic in the isle of Sena, were
priestesses of a Gaulish god, and some of the women who were "possessed
by Dionysus" and practised an orgiastic cult on an island in the Loire,
were probably of the same kind.[1091] They were priestesses of some
magico-religious cult practised by women, like the guardians of the
sacred fire in Ireland, which was tabu to men. M. Reinach regards the
accounts of these island priestesses as fictions based on the story of
Circe's isle, but even if they are garbled, they seem to be based on
actual observation and are paralleled from other regions.[1092]
The existence of such priestesses and divineresses over the Celtic area
is to be explained by our hypothesis that many Celtic divinities were at
first female and served by women, who were possessed of the tribal lore.
Later, men assumed their functions, and hence arose the great
priesthoods, but conservatism sporadically retained such female cults
and priestesses, some goddesses being still served by women--the
Galatian Artemis, or the goddesses of Gaul, with their female servants.
Time also brought its revenges, for when paganism passed away, much of
its folk-ritual and magic remained, practised by wise women or witches,
who for generations had as much power over ignorant minds as the
Christian priesthood. The fact that Cæsar and Tacitus speak of Germanic
but not of Celtic priestesses, can hardly, in face of these scattered
notices, be taken as a proof that women had no priestly _rôle_ in Celtic
religion. If they had not, that religion would be unique in the world's
history.
FOOTNOTES:
[1002] Pliny, _HN_ xvi. 249.
[1003] D'Arbois, _Les Druides_, 85, following Thurneysen.
[1004] D'Arbois, _op. cit._ 12 f.; Deloche, _Revue des Deux Mondes_,
xxxiv. 466; Desjardins, _Geog. de la Gaule Romaine_, ii. 518.
[1005] Cæsar, vi. 13.
[1006] Pliny, _HN_ xxx. 1.
[1007] Rh[^y]s, _CB_{4} 69 f.
[1008] Gomme, _Ethnol. in Folk-lore_, 58, _Village Community_, 104.
[1009] Sergi, _The Mediterranean Race_, 295.
[1010] Reinach, "L'Art plastique en Gaule et le Druidisme," _RC_ xiii.
189.
[1011] Holmes, _Cæsar's Conquest of Gaul_, 15; Dottin, 270.
[1012] Diog. Laert. i. 1; Livy xxiii. 24.
[1013] Desjardins, _op. cit._ ii. 519; but cf. Holmes, 535.
[1014] _Gutuatros_ is perhaps from _gutu_-, "voice" (Holder, i. 2046;
but see Loth, _RC_ xxviii. 120). The existence of the _gutuatri_ is
known from a few inscriptions (see Holder), and from Hirtius, _de Bell.
Gall._ viii. 38, who mentions a _gutuatros_ put to death by Cæsar.
[1015] D'Arbois, _Les Druides_, 2 f., _Les Celtes_, 32.
[1016] Ausonius, _Professor._ v. 7, xi. 24.
[1017] Lucan, iii. 424; Livy, xxiii. 24.
[1018] Diod. Sic. v. 31; Strabo, iv. 4. 4; Timagenes _apud_ Amm. Marc.
xv. 9.
[1019] Cicero, _de Div._ i. 41. 90; Tac. _Hist._ iv. 54.
[1020] _Phars._ i. 449 f.
[1021] _HN_ xxx. i.
[1022] _Filid_, sing. _File_, is from _velo_, "I see" (Stokes, _US_
277).
[1023] _Fáthi_ is cognate with _Vates_.
[1024] In Wales there had been Druids as there were Bards, but all trace
of the second class is lost. Long after the Druids had passed away, the
fiction of the _derwydd-vardd_ or Druid-bard was created, and the later
bards were held to be depositories of a supposititious Druidic
theosophy, while they practised the old rites in secret. The late word
_derwydd_ was probably invented from _derw_, "oak," by some one who knew
Pliny's derivation. See D'Arbois, _Les Druides_, 81.
[1025] For these views see Dottin, 295; Holmes, 17; Bertrand, 192-193,
268-269.
[1026] Diog. Laert. i. proem. 1. For other references see Cæsar, vi. 13,
14; Strabo, iv. 4. 4; Amm. Marc. xv. 9; Diod. Sic, v. 28; Lucan, i. 460;
Mela, iii. 2.
[1027] Suet. _Claud._ 25; Mela, iii. 2.
[1028] Pliny, xxx. 1.
[1029] D'Arbois, _Les Druides_, 77.
[1030] Diod. Sic. v. 31. 4.
[1031] See Cicero, _de Div._ i. 41.
[1032] Diod. Sic. v. 28; Amm. Marc. xv. 9; Hippolytus, _Refut. Hær._ i.
22.
[1033] Amm. Marc. xv. 9.
[1034] Cæsar, vi. 14.
[1035] Diog. Laert. 6. Celtic enthusiasts see in this triple maxim
something akin to the Welsh triads, which they claim to be Druidic!
[1036] Bertrand, 280.
[1037] Cæsar, vi. 13.
[1038] _Trip. Life_, ii. 325, i. 52, ii. 402; _IT_ i. 373; _RC_ xxvi.
33. The title _rig-file_, "king poet," sometimes occurs.
[1039] Cæsar, vi. 14.
[1040] Cæsar, vi. 13; Strabo, iv. 4. 4.
[1041] Strabo, xii. 5. 2.
[1042] Their judicial powers were taken from them because their speech
had become obscure. Perhaps they gave their judgments in archaic
language.
[1043] Diod. Sic. v. 31. 5.
[1044] Cæsar, vii. 33.
[1045] _IT_ i. 213; D'Arbois, v. 186.
[1046] Dio, _Orat._ xlix.
[1047] _LL_ 93.
[1048] _Ancient Laws of Ireland_, i. 22.
[1049] Cæsar, vi. 13, 14; Windisch, _Táin_, line 1070 f.; _IT_ i. 325;
_Arch. Rev._ i. 74; _Trip. Life_, 99; cf. O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 201.
[1050] Cæsar, vi. 14; Strabo, iv. 4. 4.
[1051] _Trip. Life_, 284.
[1052] Lucan, i. 451.
[1053] Diod. v. 31. 4; cf. Cæsar, vi. 13, 16; Strabo, iv. 4. 5.
[1054] See p. 248, _supra_.
[1055] _RC_ xiv. 29; Miss Hull, 4, 23, 141; _IT_ iii. 392, 423; Stokes,
_Félire_, Intro. 23.
[1056] Loth, i. 56.
[1057] See my art. "Baptism (Ethnic)" in Hastings' _Encyclopædia of
Religion and Ethics_, ii. 367 f.
[1058] Carmichael, _Carm. Gadel._ i. 115.
[1059] See p. 206, _supra_.
[1060] _IT_ i. 215.
[1061] O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 221, 641.
[1062] _RC_ xvi. 34.
[1063] Pliny, _HN_ xvi. 45; _Trip. Life_, ii. 325; Strabo, iv. 275.
[1064] _RC_ xxii. 285; O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 215.
[1065] Reeves' ed. of Adamnan's _Life of S. Col._ 237; Todd, _S.
Patrick_, 455; Joyce, _SH_ i. 234. For the relation of the Druidic
tonsure to the peculiar tonsure of the Celtic Church, see Rh[^y]s, _HL_
213, _CB_{4} 72; Gougaud, _Les Chrétientés Celtiques_, 198.
[1066] See Hyde, _Lit. Hist. of Ireland_, 88; Joyce, _SH_ i. 239.
[1067] Cæsar, vi. 14, ii. 10.
[1068] Suetonius, _Claud._ 25.
[1069] Pliny _HN_ xxx. 1; Suet. _Claud._ 25.
[1070] _de Cæsaribus_, 4, "famosæ superstitiones"; cf. p. 328, _infra_.
[1071] Mela, iii. 2.
[1072] Mommsen, _Rom. Gesch._ v. 94.
[1073] Bloch (Lavisse), _Hist. de France_, i. 2, 176 f., 391 f.; Duruy,
"Comment périt l'institution Druidique," _Rev. Arch._ xv. 347; de
Coulanges, "Comment le Druidisme a disparu," _RC_ iv. 44.
[1074] _Les Druides_, 73.
[1075] _Phars._ i. 453, "Ye Druids, after arms were laid aside, sought
once again your barbarous ceremonials.... In remote forests do ye
inhabit the deep glades."
[1076] Mela, iii. 2.
[1077] Tacit. iii. 43.
[1078] Ibid. iv. 54.
[1079] Ausonius, _Prof._ v. 12, xi. 17.
[1080] Nennius, 40. In the Irish version they are called "Druids." See
p. 238, _supra_.
[1081] Pliny, xxx. 1.
[1082] Adamnan, _Vita S. Col._, i. 37. ii. 35, etc.; Reeves' _Adamnan_,
247 f.; Stokes, _Three Homilies_, 24 f.; _Antient Laws of Ireland_, i.
15; _RC_ xvii. 142 f.; _IT_ i. 23.
[1083] Lampridius, _Alex. Sev._ 60; Vopiscus, _Numerienus_, 14,
_Aurelianus_, 44.
[1084] Windisch, _Táin_, 31, 221; cf. Meyer, _Contributions to Irish
Lexicog._ 176 Joyce, _SH_ i. 238.
[1085] _IT_ i. 56.
[1086] Solinus, 35; Tac. _Ann._ xiv. 30.
[1087] _RC_ xv. 326, xvi. 34, 277; Windisch, _Táin_, 331. In _LL_ 75_b_
we hear of "three Druids and three Druidesses."
[1088] See p. 69, _supra_; Keating, 331.
[1089] Jullian, 100; Holder, _s.v._ "Thucolis."
[1090] Plutarch, _Vir. mul._ 20.
[1091] Mela, iii. 6; Strabo, iv. 4. 6.
[1092] Reinach, _RC_ xviii. 1 f. The fact that the rites were called
Dionysiac is no reason for denying the fact that some orgiastic rites
were practised. Classical writers usually reported all barbaric rites in
terms of their own religion. M. D'Arbois (vi. 325) points out that Circe
was not a virgin, and had not eight companions.