Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

DRUIDS. 255
priest was elective, possessing- " sutnmam auctoritatem"
over the whole body. When he died, the next in " dig-
nitate" succeeded ; but if there were many competitors
for this honour, it seems that the elections led to factions,
and even to fighting :
" de principatu armis contend unt."
The same author says, that they worshipped Mercury
chiefly, and " hunc omnium artium auctorem ferunt."
With respect to their tenets, we learn from Valerius Maxi-
mus, AmmianusMarcellinus, and Lucan, that they be-
lieved in the immortality of the soul and in transmigration.
Respecting their mode of worship, we must have re-
course to the less valuable authority of Pliny, Lucan, and
Diodorus. The latter calls them Saronides; the priests of
the oak groves. Lucan also speaks of their " nemora"
and "luci"; and, when they were abolished, Suetonius
Paulus cut down their groves. On this subject, Pliny is
more full. He also speaks of their veneration for the
oak ; nihil robore sacratius ;" and from him also we learn
the regard which they paid to the " viscum," which is
supposed to be our misletoe. Of this plant he says, that
it was " rarum admodum inventu, et, repertum, magna
religione petitur, et ante omnia sexta luna." The priest
was also dressed in a white robe on this occasion, and he
cut it with a golden knife. It was held a remedy against
all evils; whether from its magical or medicinal virtues,
we are not told. The line of Ovid, in which he speaks
of the viscum, is supposed by Keysler to be spurious. I
may add to this account, that the Druids had annual
meetings; but whether these were of a religious or apo-
litical nature, does not appear, as the Druids acted in
both capacities. Pliny speaks of the " ovum anguinum "
as if he had seen it ; but as to that tale, and the glass
beads, still called Druidical,and the respect paid to ver-
vain, even could we know what the '• verbena" of the
ancients was, there is nothing worth repeating.