2. FRENCH HISTORY B.C. 58 TO A.D. 1796. The quadrilateral of Gaul has possessed a geographical and political unity from pre historic times and the inhabitants of that quad rilateral have inherited and transmitted certain political, rather than racial, qualities uninter ruptedly throughout the historical period. But the first state in which we find them, when the great mass of them were but barbarians, exte rior to the civilization of the Mediterranean Basin, was, of course, far different from that strictly organized and disciplined unity which 2,000 years ago and again to-day is associ ated with the territory in question.
The Gallic tribes were a set of loosely or ganized clans dependent one upon the other in a sort of semi-feudal organization. It would seem that no one clan ever rose to a complete hegemony over the rest and again that any small or dwindling clan, long before it per miffed itself to be absorbed, would seek de fense by recommending itself to some superior neighboring clan. The classic instance of such a dependence is the association of the Parisii, who inhabited the neighborhood of Paris, with the large and powerful neighboring clan of Senones, whose capital was Sens on the Yonne higher up the Seine Valley. It is curious to note that ecclesiastical arrangements, always the most conservative of institutions, preserved a relic of this relation as late as the early 17th century, for until the see of Paris was raised to an archbishopric in 1622 the bishops of Paris were suffragan to the archbishops of Sens.
The languages spoken by these clans we know little of. We know that the civilized observers of antiquity regarded Gaul as pre senting three very clearly marked divisions, which the Romans called (going from east to west), Belgic, Celtic and Aquitanian Gaul. It has been conjectured that the tribes of the first spoke a variety of Teutonic dialects. It may be asserted without fear of error that those of the second spoke a variety of Celtic. As to the Aquitanian or southwestern portions, some will have it that the Basque language once extended throughout its territory; others that its original language was Celtic like that of the central portion. On all this nothing can be certainly known. As to the origins of this
stock we are again in complete ignorance and it would be idle to linger upon the many con jectures of migrations on an (Aryan race' (the very existence of which is but an hypothesis) or of a ((Mediterranean race,' a piece of pedan try converse to and only one degree less futile than the last.
The inhabitants of Gaul have in common from the earliest times a national character and a religion which, though they may have sprung from 20 different remote racial sources, gave them a common aspect. This character, which is dealt with under FRENCH CIVILIZATION, may chiefly be defined as military. In the earli est, as in the latest, of European history, the Gaul appears marching eastward in quest of military adventure. The religion professed by these people is a more precise matter. It was of a definite and highly organized kind, although its mysteries specifically forebade its propagation by anything but oral tradition. It had for its organs a hierarchy of priests known as druids, and professed, as Gaul has always professed in a manner which seems a necessity to her people, specific dogmas the adherence to which was guaranteed by penalty and the expression of which was exclusively confined to the priestly caste. Among these dogmas the im mortality of the soul, the necessity for sacri fice and, we may presume, a universal Gold, were prominent. A sacrament of bread and wine distinguished this cult and a ritual holiness attached to certain objects and shrines, as the mistletoe among vegetables and the Grotto of Chartres among places.
The reader must here note the surprising continuity of French institutions, a continuity the like of which is not to be discovered in any other part of the Western world. Indeed it would seem as though the prodigious revolu tions in philosophy which in ancient times made Gaul Christian. and in modern times have moved her to a great though perilous experi ment in democracy, did little but recolor the substantial framework of the nation, and that under every regime national unity, a priestly caste, affirmed dogma and the sanctity of special shrines distinguished the nature of this people.