DRUIDISM. This institution was, perhaps, common to all Celtic nations, but we have detailed accounts only of the form under which it existed in Gaul. Cwsar gives the following description of the character and functions of the Druids: "They attend to divine worship, perform public and private sacrifices, and expound matters of reli gion. A great number of youths are gathered round them for the sake of education, and they enjoy the highest honor in that nation; for nearly all public and private quar rels come under their jurisdiction ; and when any crime has been committed, when a murder has been perpetrated, when a controversy arises about a legacy, or about land marks, they are the judges too. They fix rewards and punishments; and should any one, whether a private individual or a public man, disobey their decrees, then they exclude him from the sacrifices. This is with them the severest punishment. The persons who are thus laid under interdict are regarded as impious and wicked people; everybody recoils from them, and shuns their society and conversation, lest he should be injured by associating with them. They cannot obtain legal redress when they ask for it, nor are they admitted to any honorable office. All these Druids have one chief, who enjoys the highest authority amongst them. When he dies, he is succeeded by the member of the order who is most prominent amongst the others, if there be any such single individuals; if, however, there are several men equally distinguished, the suc cessor is elected by the Druids. Sometimes they even go to war about this supremacy. At a certain time of the Sear, the Druids assemble on the territory of the Carnutes, which is believed to be the center of all Gaul, in a sacred place. To that spot are gath ered from everywhere all persons that have quarrels, and they abide by their judgments and decrees. It is believed that this institution was invented in Britannia, and thence transplanted into Gaul. Even nowadays, those who wish to become more intimately acquainted with the institution, generally go to Britannia for instruction's sake.
" The Druids take no part in warfare; nor do they pay taxes like the rest of the peo ple; they are exempt from military service, and from all public burdens. Attracted by such rewards, many come to be instructed by their own choice, while others are sent by their parents. They are reported to learn in the school a great number of verses, so that some remain there twenty years. They think it an unhallowed thing to commit their lore to writing, though in the other public and private affairs of life they frequently make use of the Greek alphabet. . . . Beyond all things, they are desirous to inspire a
belief that men's souls do not perish, but transmigrate after death from one individual to another; and they hold that people are thereby most strongly urged to bravery, as the fear of death is thus destroyed. Besides, they hold a great many discourses about the stars and their motion, about the size of the world and of various countries, about the nature of things, about the power and might of the immortal gods; and they instruct the youths in these subjects." It is easy to comprehend that this powerful priesthood did all they could to uphold the national cause against the Roman conquerors, and urged the people_to rebellion; so much so, that the emperor Claudius found it necessary to interdict fiermally the prac tieing of Druidical rites, which seem, however, to have continued down to the extinc tion of paganism. Besides being priests and teachers of religion, the Druids appear also to have been adepts in the magic arts, and were versed in the mysterious powers of animals and plants. The oak-tree was especially sacred among the Druids. In oak groves, they frequently performed their rites, and they even derived their name from this custom. See the article CELTS. They also had a special reverence for the mistletoe, when growing on an oak. According to Pliny, a Druid, clothed in white, mounted the tree, and with a knife of gold, cut the mistletoe, which was received by another, stand ing on the ground, in his white robe. The same author gives a curious account of the " serpent's egg," worn as a distinguishing badge by the Druids. It was formed, be says, by the poisonous spittle of a great many serpents twined together. Gathered at moonlight, and afterwards worn in the bosom, it was a mighty talisman. All these particulars refer properly to the Druids of Gaul, but Cwsar's testimony leaves no doubt that the Druidism of Britain was essentially the same.
In all the countries anciently inhabited by Celts, there-are found rude structures of stone, one of the most common forms of which is the so-called dolmen (see that article). The older arcluxologists assumed that these were Druidical altars, but there is no proof that such was their destination or origin: similar structures are found in Scandinavia and many parts of Germany, and to assume in all these countries the presence of Celts, seems too hazardous. The same doubts prevail as to the larger monuments of this kind —the supposed Druidical temples of Amesbury, of Carnac in Brittany, and of Stone henge (see that article).