TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY. - Centrostudirpinia.it

PEIESTESSES. 95
them from holy offices, such as sacrificing (see Suppl.), or from a
good deal of influence over the people. Tacitus, after telling us
how mightily the German women wrought upon the valour of their
warriors, and that the Eomans for greater security demanded noble
maidens from particular nations, adds : Inesse quin etiam sanctum
et providum (feminis) putant 1
, nee aut consilia earum aspernantur,
aut responsa negligunt. And before that, Caesar 1. 50 : Quod
apud
Germanos ea consuetude esset, ut matres fam. eorum sortibus et
vaticinationibus declararent, utrum proelium comnritti ex usu esset,
necne ; eas ita dicere : non esse fas Germanos superare,, si ante
novain lunam proelio contendissent (see Suppl.).
While history has not preserved the name of one German vates,
it has those of several prophetesses. Tac. Germ. 8 : Vidimus sub
divo Vespasiano Veledam (as a prisoner in his triumph) diu apud
mrgo nationis
plerosque numinis loco habitant. Hist. 4, 61 : Ea
Bructerae, late imperitabat, vetere apud Germanos more, quo
plerasque feminarum/afoVfoms, et augescente superstitione arbitrantur
deas. Tuncque Veledae auctoritas adolevit ; nam prosperas
Germanis res et excidium legionum praedixerat. In 4, 65, when
the people of Cologne were making an alliance with the Tencteri
made the offer : Arbitrum habebimus Civilem et Veledam
they
apud quos pacta sancientur. Sic lenitis Tencteris, legati ad Civilem
et Veledam missi cum donis, cuncta ex voluntate Agrippinensium
perpetravere. Sed coram adire, alloquique Veledam negatum.
Arcebantur aspectu, quo venerationis plus inesset. Ipsa edita in
turre ; delectus e propinquis consulta responsaqiie ut intermmtius
numinis portabat. 5, 22 : Praetoriam triremem flumine Luppia
donum Veledae traxere. 5, 25 ; Veledam propinquosque monebat.
Her captivity was probably related in the lost chapters of the fifth
book. 2
This Veleda had been preceded by others : Sed et olim
Auriniam (hardly a translation of any Teutonic name, such as the
ON. Gullveig, gold-cup ; some have guessed Aliruna, Olrun,
Albruna) et complures alias venerati tamquam
sunt, non adulatione nee
facerent deas, Germ. 8. A later one, named Ganna, is
1 A wild force of phantasy, and the state called clairvoyance, have shown
themselves preeminently in women.
2 Statius silv. I. 4, 90 : Captivaeque pieces Veledae ; he scans the first
two syllables as short, which seems more correct than Dio s BeX^da. Zeuss 436
thinks BeXeSa, BeXtSa = Vilida. Graff has a n. prop. Wallodu 1, 800. I would
suggest the Gothic fern, name Valadamarca, in Jornancles cap. 48, and the Thuringian
name of a place Walada ia Pertz I. 308.