116 
The carn, or sacred fire-mounts, are still traced through all the 
Celtic nations, particularly in the British Isles. There is, in 
Auvergne, one called by St. Gregory of Tours, in his book De Glo- 
ria Confessorum, c. 3, mons Belenatensis, “ the mount of Beal,” 
the Apollo of the Greeks and Romans, who from Carn, had the name 
of Carnus, and certain feasts, in honour of him, Carnea, which 
were celebrated in May, thence called the Carnean month, as were 
the priests of Apollo callen Carnean priests. The Greeks learned 
these terms and ceremonies among the Gauls. The Lothian in- 
cription to Apollo Grannus, by the Procurator Quintus Lucius La- 
binianus, can be explained only by Celtic references: it means, 
“to Apollo the sun,” Grian being one of the Celtit appellations of 
that luminary. At the Druidic sacrifices, it was customary with the 
Lord of the place, or some person of distinction, to take the en- 
trails of the sacrificed animal in his hands; and, walking bare-footed 
over the coals, after the flames had ceased, to carry them to the of- 
ficiating Druid, who waited at the altar. If the nobleman escaped 
unhurt, it was reckoned auspicious ; if injured, it was considered 
unlucky, both to himself and to the community. To this sort of 
purifying ordeal the cattle were periodically submitted, as they are 
to this day in the Isles of Aran and other parts of Ireland. With- 
out a knowledge of those practices, it would be impossible to ex- 
plain the speech of the Consul Flaminius to Equanus the Sabine, at 
the battle of Thrasimenus, as related by Silius Italicus,* who 
mentions the BuRNING HEAPS of divine Apollo. The mountain 
Soracte, now Monte di San Sylvestro, about twenty miles to the 
North of Rome, and situated in the country of the Falisci, was one 
of those places, where sacrifice was annually offered to Apollo. 
* 1.5. 
