74 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
VI. THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE GAULS. © 
More obscure even than the mythology of the Germans is that of the 
Gauls; partly because their early history is very little known, in part 
because their religion in the course of time has undergone a number of 
changes owing to foreign influence. The Celts, to whom the Gauls belonged, 
were known among the nations long before the Germans had any historical 
existence. They were already possessed of a considerable degree of cultiva- 
tion, and had even commenced to decline when the latter made their 
appearance as active participants in the affairs of nations. Subdued by 
the Germans and the Romans, all traces of their mythology were lost, except 
such portions as were transmitted to us by the Romans in their accounts 
of the worship and religious ceremonies of the Gauls, who had also adopted 
much of the religion of their conquerors. 
From the sources just mentioned we learn that a few gods only were 
universally worshipped by the whole nation, the greater number were 
merely local gods whose worship was confined to particular districts; they 
paid also divine honors to a kind of inferior spirits subordinate to the 
regular gods. ‘Tacitus informs us that Mercury was their chief god. But his 
form (pl. 13, fig. 20), so very different from that of the Roman god, as well 
as some of his offices, would lead us to suppose that the name given him by 
the Roman historian was probably not the proper one. He was represented 
in a great variety of shapes, sometimes even with breasts like those of a 
woman. The popular creed considered him as the inventor of all arts, the 
guide of travellers, and the god of merchants and particularly traders. One 
of his statues, evidently modelled after the Roman type (the one to the right 
in jig. 23), represents him with a winged helmet upon his head, in his right 
hand a money bag, in his left the caduceus (a staff around which two 
serpents are euaeied: and which served him as a herald’s staff and also as 
a wizard’s wand to aie sleep, to make himself invisible, or to transform 
himself), and upon his shoulders sits the cock, a symbol of watchfulness and 
active courage. 
Next to Mercury i in power was Vehalennia (pl. 11, fig. 16), a goddess of 
Belgium. She is sometimes represented standing, but more frequently in 
a sitting posture, and holding a basket filled with fruit in her lap. Her 
hair is thick and parted over the forehead; over her ample dress she wears 
a cloak without sleeves, and the collar around her neck is fastened over her 
breast by a button. At her left is a dog watching the contents of the 
basket, and on her right is a larger basket made of wicker-work and 
supplied with a handle. She was the goddess of commerce and navigation. 
Magusanus (pl. 12, jig. 16) was another of the Belgian idols. He is 
often represented by the side of Nehalennia, upon votive tablets. Under his 
right arm he holds a dolphin, and in his left hand a forked club. A 
scaly little monster of the deep seems to bite the little toe of his left foot. 
These attributes make him certainly appear as nearer allied to the water 
gods than to the Roman Hercules. 
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