GALLIC MYTHOLOGY. 77 
of secular Bards, for we find that persons with that title were the constant 
attendants of kings and nobles, whom they accompanied even in war in the 
capacity of minstrels. 
An important part of the worship of the Gauls consisted in sacrificing to 
the gods, and not only animals but often human victims bled upon their 
altars. Some of these sacrifices were of a public and others of a private 
character, for some were offered by the state, while others were brought by 
families or private individuals. When any one was dangerously sick or 
engaged in war, or otherwise exposed to imminent danger, it was customary 
to vow or sacrifice a human life, for by such means only it was thought that 
the gods could be appeased and satisfied ; it was as if a life was given for the 
life granted. The victims offered by the state were generally thieves, mur- 
derers, and other criminals, though in the absence of such they had no 
scruples in slaying innocent persons. Some Gallic tribes were in the habit 
of preparing for such an occasion a colossal figure of wicker-work, which they 
filled with human beings, and then destroyed the whole by burning the 
figure. The victims selected by families and individuals were generally 
slaves and clients or dependents. Besides the sacrifices of thanksgiving or 
atonement, they had also their funeral sacrifices, when all that the departed 
valued most, even his animals and favorite slaves and dependents, were 
burned with him upon the funeral pile. 
Under the head of public sacrifices ought also to be mentioned the savage 
custom which condemned all prisoners who had been confined for more 
than ‘five years to be hung upon posts and to be burnt on a pyre with other 
offerings, and the law which condemned prisoners of war and animals taken 
during an incursion to be killed by the sword or by fire. 
We have already said that it was the business of the Druids to predict 
future events from the flight of birds and the entrails of the victims; the 
latter were therefore also frequently selected for this purpose, but instead 
of disembowelling them, they were slain by a different process. If an 
important subject seemed to require a divination, they selected a victim 
who was killed by a stab through the heart, and then suffered to fall 
down; from the manner of his fall, his last agonies, and the blood as it 
flowed, they then determined the probable result of the matter in question. 
The altars were generally erected in sacred groves, particularly beneath 
oak trees, for the oak was esteemed above all other trees. The priests never 
officiated without chaplets of oak leaves upon their heads, and oak groves 
were always selected for their residences and tribunals. 
All parts of the oak, as well as its parasites, were therefore considered as 
favorite gifts bestowed by the gods upon man, as a mark of their approval 
and favor. Distinguished above the rest was the mistletoe; and the 4th of 
January, the day on which it was searched for, was celebrated as a high 
festival. Pl. 13, jig. 26, represents a part of the ceremonies attending the 
search. The priest has just discovered the sacred parasite, and is in the 
act of severing it from the tree, surrounded by a breathless audience, eager 
to possess themselves of a part of it. A great importance was attached to 
this annual search for and distribution of the mistletoe. The Druids 
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