"De Bello Gallico" and Other Commentaries
more powerful; for none [of those leaders] suffers his party to be
oppressed and defrauded, and if he do otherwise, he has no influence
among his party. This same policy exists throughout the whole of Gaul;
for all the states are divided into two factions.
XII.--When Caesar arrived in Gaul, the Aedui were the leaders of one
faction, the Sequani of the other. Since the latter were less powerful
by themselves, inasmuch as the chief influence was from of old among the
Aedui, and their dependencies were great, they had united to themselves
the Germans and Ariovistus, and had brought them over to their party by
great sacrifices and promises. And having fought several successful
battles and slain all the nobility of the Aedui, they had so far
surpassed them in power, that they brought over, from the Aedui to
themselves, a large portion of their dependants and received from them
the sons of their leading men as hostages, and compelled them to swear
in their public character that they would enter into no design against
them; and held a portion of the neighbouring land, seized on by force,
and possessed the sovereignty of the whole of Gaul. Divitiacus urged by
this necessity, had proceeded to Rome to the senate, for the purpose of
entreating assistance, and had returned without accomplishing his
object. A change of affairs ensued on the arrival of Caesar, the
hostages were returned to the Aedui, their old dependencies restored,
and new acquired through Caesar (because those who had attached
themselves to their alliance saw that they enjoyed a better state and a
milder government), their other interests, their influence, their
reputation were likewise increased, and in consequence, the Sequani lost
the sovereignty. The Remi succeeded to their place, and, as it was
perceived that they equalled the Aedui in favour with Caesar, those, who
on account of their old animosities could by no means coalesce with the
Aedui, consigned themselves in clientship to the Remi. The latter
carefully protected them. Thus they possessed both a new and suddenly
acquired influence. Affairs were then in that position, that the Aedui
were considered by far the leading people, and the Remi held the second
post of honour.
XIII.--Throughout all Gaul there are two orders of those men who are of
any rank and dignity: for the commonality is held almost in the
condition of slaves, and dares to undertake nothing of itself and is
admitted to no deliberation. The greater part, when they are pressed
either by debt, or the large amount of their tributes, or the oppression
of the more powerful, give themselves up in vassalage to the nobles, who
possess over them the same rights without exception as masters over
their slaves. But of these two orders, one is that of the Druids, the
other that of the knights. The former are engaged in things sacred,
conduct the public and the private sacrifices, and interpret all matters
of religion. To these a large number of the young men resort for the
purpose of instruction, and they [the Druids] are in great honour among
them. For they determine respecting almost all controversies, public and
private; and if any crime has been perpetrated, if murder has been
committed, if there be any dispute about an inheritance, if any about
boundaries, these same persons decide it; they decree rewards and
punishments if any one, either in a private or public capacity, has not
submitted to their decision, they interdict him from the sacrifices.
This among them is the most heavy punishment. Those who have been thus
interdicted are esteemed in the number of the impious and the criminal:
all shun them, and avoid their society and conversation, lest they
receive some evil from their contact; nor is justice administered to
them when seeking it, nor is any dignity bestowed on them. Over all
these Druids one presides, who possesses supreme authority among them.
Upon his death, if any individual among the rest is pre-eminent in
dignity, he succeeds; but, if there are many equal, the election is made
by the suffrages of the Druids; sometimes they even contend for the
presidency with arms. These assemble at a fixed period of the year in a
consecrated place in the territories of the Carnutes, which is reckoned
the central region of the whole of Gaul. Hither all, who have disputes,
assemble from every part, and submit to their decrees and
determinations. This institution is supposed to have been devised in
Britain, and to have been brought over from it into Gaul; and now those
who desire to gain a more accurate knowledge of that system generally
proceed thither for the purpose of studying it.
XIV.--The Druids do not go to war, nor pay tribute together with the
rest; they have an exemption from military service and a dispensation in
all matters. Induced by such great advantages, many embrace this
profession of their own accord, and [many] are sent to it by their
parents and relations. They are said there to learn by heart a great
number of verses; accordingly some remain in the course of training
twenty years. Nor do they regard it lawful to commit these to writing,
though in almost all other matters, in their public and private
transactions, they use Greek characters. That practice they seem to me
to have adopted for two reasons; because they neither desire their
doctrines to be divulged among the mass of the people, nor those who
learn, to devote themselves the less to the efforts of memory, relying
on writing; since it generally occurs to most men, that, in their
dependence on writing, they relax their diligence in learning
thoroughly, and their employment of the memory. They wish to inculcate
this as one of their leading tenets, that souls do not become extinct,
but pass after death from one body to another, and they think that men
by this tenet are in a great degree excited to valour, the fear of death
being disregarded. They likewise discuss and impart to the youth many
things respecting the stars and their motion, respecting the extent of
the world and of our earth, respecting the nature of things, respecting
the power and the majesty of the immortal gods.
XV.--The other order is that of the knights. These, when there is
occasion and any war occurs (which before Caesar's arrival was for the
most part wont to happen every year, as either they on their part were
inflicting injuries or repelling those which others inflicted on them),
are all engaged in war. And those of them most distinguished by birth
and resources, have the greatest number of vassals and dependants about
them. They acknowledge this sort of influence and power only.
XVI.--The nation of all the Gauls is extremely devoted to superstitious
rites; and on that account they who are troubled with unusually severe
diseases and they who are engaged in battles and dangers, either
sacrifice men as victims, or vow that they will sacrifice them, and
employ the Druids as the performers of those sacrifices; because they
think that unless the life of a man be offered for the life of a man,
the mind of the immortal gods cannot be rendered propitious, and they
have sacrifices of that kind ordained for national purposes. Others have
figures of vast size, the limbs of which formed of osiers they fill with
living men, which being set on fire, the men perish enveloped in the
flames. They consider that the oblation of such as have been taken in
theft, or in robbery, or any other offence, is more acceptable to the
immortal gods; but when a supply of that class is wanting, they have
recourse to the oblation of even the innocent.
XVII.--They worship as their divinity, Mercury in particular, and have
many images of him, and regard him as the inventor of all arts, they
consider him, the guide of their journeys and marches, and believe him
to have very great influence over the acquisition of gain and mercantile
transactions. Next to him they worship Apollo, and Mars, and Jupiter,
and Minerva; respecting these deities they have for the most part the
same belief as other nations: that Apollo averts diseases, that Minerva
imparts the invention of manufactures, that Jupiter possesses the
sovereignty of the heavenly powers; that Mars presides over wars. To him
when they have determined to engage in battle, they commonly vow those
things they shall take in war. When they have conquered, they sacrifice
whatever captured animals may have survived the conflict, and collect
the other things into one place. In many states you may see piles of
these things heaped up in their consecrated spots; nor does it often
happen that any one, disregarding the sanctity of the case, dares either
to secrete in his house things captured, or take away those deposited;
and the most severe punishment, with torture, has been established for
such a deed.
XVIII.--All the Gauls assert that they are descended from the god Dis,
and say that this tradition has been handed down by the Druids. For that
reason they compute the divisions of every season, not by the number of
days, but of nights; they keep birthdays and the beginnings of months
and years in such an order that the day follows the night. Among the
other usages of their life, they differ in this from almost all other
nations, that they do not permit their children to approach them openly
until they are grown up so as to be able to bear the service of war; and
they regard it as indecorous for a son of boyish age to stand in public
in the presence of his father.
XIX.--Whatever sums of money the husbands have received in the name of
dowry from their wives, making an estimate of it, they add the same
amount out of their own estates. An account is kept of all this money
conjointly, and the profits are laid by: whichever of them shall have
survived [the other], to that one the portion of both reverts, together
with the profits of the previous time. Husbands have power of life and
death over their wives as well as over their children: and when the
father of a family, born in a more than commonly distinguished rank, has
died, his relations assemble, and, if the circumstances of his death are
suspicious, hold an investigation upon the wives in the manner adopted
towards slaves; and if proof be obtained, put them to severe torture,
and kill them. Their funerals, considering the state of civilization
among the Gauls, are magnificent and costly; and they cast into the fire
all things, including living creatures, which they suppose to have been
dear to them when alive; and, a little before this period, slaves and
dependants, who were ascertained to have been beloved by them, were,
after the regular funeral rites were completed, burnt together with
them.
XX.--Those states which are considered to conduct their commonwealth
more judiciously, have it ordained by their laws, that, if any person
shall have heard by rumour and report from his neighbours anything
concerning the commonwealth, he shall convey it to the magistrate and
not impart it to any other; because it has been discovered that
inconsiderate and inexperienced men were often alarmed by false reports
and driven to some rash act, or else took hasty measures in affairs of
the highest importance. The magistrates conceal those things which
require to be kept unknown; and they disclose to the people whatever
they determine to be expedient. It is not lawful to speak of the
commonwealth, except in council.
XXI.--The Germans differ much from these usages, for they have neither
Druids to preside over sacred offices, nor do they pay great regard to
sacrifices. They rank in the number of the gods those alone whom they
behold, and by whose instrumentality they are obviously benefited,
namely, the sun, fire, and the moon; they have not heard of the other