DRUIDS. 



157 



Druids, also further exemplifies the firm hold which they pos- 

 ' W T"~' sessed over the superstitions of the people. According 

 to this writer, the priests of the temple within whose 

 district a family dwelt, exacted from all the members 

 of it certain annual dues ; and in order to insure the 

 punctual and regular payment, every family was obliged, 

 under the penalty of excommunication, to extinguish 

 their fires on the last day of October, and to attend at 

 the temple with their annual payment. If they paid 

 the tribute, they received some of the sacred fire from 

 the altar on the subsequent day ; but if they failed in 

 their payment, they were deprived of the use of fire 

 during the whole winter. In consequence of these 

 powers, privileges, and immunities, and of the great 

 wealth and influence which they possessed, princes 

 were ambitious of being admitted into their society, and 

 many children were dedicated to the service by their 

 parents. 



lelj. us VI. The Druids had two sets of religious doctrines 

 (on,. and opinions ; the one made known only to the initia- 

 ted, who, on their admission, took a solemn oath to 

 keep this system of doctrines a profound secret. In or- 

 der that these more sacred and mysterious doctrine* 

 might be still more carefully preserved from the vul- 

 gar, Pomponius Mela informs us, that they taught their 

 disciples in the caves of the earth, or in the deepest re- 

 cesses of the most gloomy and sheltered forests ; and 

 they never committed any of these doctrines to writing. 

 Of course, respecting the nature and purport of these, 

 we have no positive information, unless what Mela says 

 be correct. " There is one thing which they teach 

 their disciples, which has also been made known to the 

 common people, in order to render them more brave 

 and fearle.ss ; viz. that the soul is immortal, and that 

 there is another life after the present." According to 

 Csesar and Diodorus Siculus, they also taught, as one 

 of their esoteric doctrines, the transmigration of the 

 soul. To this doctrine we I u. ve already had occasion to 

 allude ; and we remarked, that it differed from that of 

 Pythagora*, in supposing that the transmigration was 

 only from one human body to another. \Ve also obser- 

 ved, at the same time, that there was some reason to 

 doubt, whether they actually did believe in transmigra- 

 tion of any kind. This doubt is founded on the passage 

 of Pomponius Mela, in which he states, that they belie- 

 ved in the immortality of the sold, and a future life; 

 and that when they buried the ashes of the dead, they 

 also buried their books of accounts, and the notes of 

 hand of the money they had lent when alive, that they 

 might be of service to them in the other world. This 

 practice was certainly very incompatible with the be- 

 lief, that their souls after death would pass into other 

 bodies, and again live on the earth. Their public reli- 

 gious doctrines were exceedingly numerous ; but they 

 chiefly related to the most ridiculous or trifling matters. 

 The sum of their moral doctrine, according to Dioge- 

 nes Laertius, consisted in doing good, worshipping 

 the gods, and exercising fortitude. 



Deities VII. ^ e h* ve no direct and clear evidence respecting 



whom they the gods whom the Druids worshipped ; but, from the 



ronhipped. accounts of the Celtic deities given us bv the ancients, 



if Dmidism were radically and essentially Celtic, we 



may suppose that the deities principally worshipped by 



the Druids, were Esus, afterwards called Jupiter, who, 



under his original character and name, was worshipped 



under the symbol of an oak, or even a shapeless stump 



of a tree; Mars, to whom they gave the name of Se- 



gonum, and who waa regarded as their chief protec- 



tor ; Apollo, who was worshipped under the name of Druids. 



Rictenus, whom they regarded, not only as the sun, but ""^iT"" 



as the god of medicine, and to whom they dedicated an 



herb called Belinunica, supposed to have been a species 



of henbane ; and Mercury, whom they called Ogmius, 



arel worshipped as the god of eloquence, and of trade, 



and as an infernal deity. 



VIII. The most horrid of the superstitious rites of the Supersti- 

 Druids consisted in human sacrifices. These, however, tlou * ntSl 

 were offered up only on the most solemn and important 

 occasions. The victim or victims, for there were some- 

 times several, were inclosed in a large figure resembling 

 a man, formed of osier twigs : or, according to some 

 authors, they were simply wrapped round with hay. 

 In this state, fire was applied, and they were reduced 

 to ashes. Pliny asserts, that they considered it as a 

 part of their most solemn and most obligatory religion, 

 to put men to death ; and that to feed upon their dead 

 bodies, they esteemed most wholesome. The human 

 victims were in general selected from among the crimi- 

 nals ; but when none of these were to be had, they did 

 not scruple to sacrifice innocent persons. In some in- 

 stances, it appears that this horrible superstition was 

 practised, even for persons of high rank, when they 

 were afflicted with any dangerous disease. The Druids 

 paid particular attention to the examination of the ani- 

 mals which they sacrificed ; and only the most perfect 

 and beautiful were selected for this purpose. They al- 

 so watched the manner in which the victim, whether 

 human or brute, fell when it was stabbed ; whether on 

 his right or left side, or on his face ; how the blood 

 flowed at the wound, &c. ; and from these circumstan- 

 ces, they pretended to foretell what was to happen. 



These superstitions, however, were not peculiar to 

 the Druids; but those which regarded the misletoe 

 vervain, selago, and the serpent's egg, were character- 

 istic of their religion. Respecting all these superstitions, 

 Pliny gives us a very particular account. According to 

 him, the Druids held nothing so sacred as the misletoe 

 of the oak : they believed that every thing which grew 

 upon that tree, came from heaven. Whenever the mis- 

 letoe was discovered upon it, they went, with great ce- 

 remony and respect, to gather it. The sixth day of the 

 moon was always chosen for this purpose. In their 

 own language, the Druids called the misletoe, a/I heal- 

 ing. As soon as they had prepared, under the oak, all 

 the apparatus for sacrifice, and the banquet which they 

 usually made, they tied, for the first time, two white 

 bulls to it, by the horns. Then one of the priests, cloth- 

 ed in white, ascends the tree, and with a golden knife, 

 cuts off the misletoe, which is received in a white gar- 

 ment: after this, sacrifices are offered up. In another 

 place 'he mentions tlie opinion of the Druids, that the 

 misletoe gave fertility to man and beast, and that it was a 

 specific against all kind of poison. The same author 

 says, that they pretended to predict future events, by 

 means of the vervain ; and that from it they extracted 

 an ointment, which was efficacious, not only in prevent- 

 ing or curing all diseases, but also in conciliating friend- 

 ships, and procuring the accomplishment of every wish. 

 This plant they gathered at the commencement of the 

 dog-day* 1 . an'd in a moonless night. The selago, a spe- 

 cies of savin, they esteemed a preservative again- 1 every 

 calamity, and the smoke of it beneficial for any com- 

 plaints in the eyes. Their notions respecting the ser- 

 pent's egg, (which are also detailed by Pliny,) were still 

 more credulous and absurd. This egg was formed from 

 the scum of a vast multitude of serpents, and secured 



