Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

64 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race
[81]
The classical writers felt rightly that the Celtic idea of
immortality was something altogether different from this. It
was both loftier and more realistic; it implied a true persistence
of the living man, as he was at present, in all his human relations.
They noted with surprise that the Celt would lend money on a
promissory note for repayment in the next world. 60 That is an
absolutely Egyptian conception. And this very analogy occurred
to Diodorus in writing of the Celtic idea of immortality—it was
like nothing that he knew of out of Egypt. 61
The Doctrine of Transmigration
Many ancient writers assert that the Celtic idea of immortality
embodied the Oriental conception of the transmigration of souls,
and to account for this the hypothesis was invented that they
had learned the doctrine from Pythagoras, who represented it in
classical antiquity. Thus Cæsar: “The principal point of their
[the Druids'] teaching is that the soul does not perish, and that
after death it passes from one body into another.” And Diodorus:
“Among them the doctrine of Pythagoras prevails, according to
which the souls of men are immortal, and after a fixed term
recommence to live, taking upon themselves a new body.” Now
traces of this doctrine certainly do appear in Irish legend. Thus
the Irish chieftain, Mongan, who is an historical personage,
and whose death is recorded about A.D. 625, is said to have
made a wager as to the place of death of a king named Fothad,
slain in a battle with the mythical hero Finn mac Cumhal in
the third century. He proves his case by summoning to his aid
a revenant from the Other-world, Keelta, who was the actual
slayer of Fothad, and who describes correctly where the tomb is
to be found and what were its contents. He begins his tale by
saying to Mongan, “We were with thee,” and then, turning to
the assembly, he continues: “We were with Finn, coming from
60 Valerius Maximus (about A.D 30) and other classical writers mention this
practice.
61 Book V.