186 Druidism in connection with Wiltshire. 
knowledged by most philosophical writers of both Greece and Rome. 
The Abbé Banier in his work on the Mythology of the ancients has 
the following remarks on this subject. ‘As I have already proved,” 
he says, “that it is very probable the Northern Celtae, the fathers 
of our Gauls, had derived a part of their doctrines from the Persians 
or their neighbours, so we may pronounce that the Druids had 
formed themselves upon the model of the Magi; and to be sure 
they have a more remarkable resemblance to them than all the 
other philosophers in the world. Accordingly several of the an- 
cients were of this opinion, without troubling themselves to consider 
by what way the Persian religion may have penetrated into the 
extremity of the West. After all, the origin of the Druids is lost 
in the darkness of antiquity; and all we can know, is, that the 
Greek philosophers, Aristotle, Sosion, and others before them, by 
whom they are mentioned, (for they were known in the earliest ages,) 
speak of them as of a wise sort of people, very knowing in matters of 
religion, and as consummate philosophers in speculation. So high a 
notion had they of their knowledge, that Cicero says it was by them 
Mythology was invented, and consequently they ought to pass for 
the teachers of the Greeks and Romans.’”! 
The same writer proceeds to give some account of the Druidical 
office and authority. “So great was their authority, that no 
affair of importance was undertaken till they were consulted. They 
presided in the estates, determined peace or war as they pleased, 
punished delinquents, and their power sometimes went the length 
of deposing the magistrates, and even the kings, when they did 
not observe the laws of the country. They were the first of the 
nobility of whom the commonwealth was composed and all bowed 
before them. As they formed a body distributed through all the 
provinces of the Gauls, by means of their colleges, so they were 
entrusted with the education of the youth of first quality in the 
kingdom.” 
1 Banier’s Myth. of Ancients. vol. iii. b. 6. p. 228. 
2This subject is further referred to in a work entitled ‘Traces of Primitive 
Truth,’ (in the press) by the writer of this article: the connection of the Druids 
with Abury in Wiltshire is likewise referred to in a recent description of the 
Druidical Temples, &c., at Abury, by the same writer. 
