Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

285CHAPTER VIII: MYTHS ANDTALES OF THE CYMRYBardic PhilosophyThe absence in early Celtic literature of any world-myth, or anyphilosophic account of the origin and constitution of things, wasnoticed at the opening of our third chapter. In Gaelic literaturethere is, as far as I know, nothing which even pretends to representearly Celtic thought on this subject. It is otherwise in Wales.Here there has existed for a considerable time a body of teachingpurporting to contain a portion, at any rate, of that ancient Druidicthought which, as Caesar tells us, was communicated only to theinitiated, and never written down. This teaching is principallyto be found in two volumes entitled “Barddas,” a compilationmade from materials in his possession by a Welsh bard andscholar named Llewellyn Sion, of Glamorgan, towards the endof the sixteenth century, and edited, with a translation, by J.A.Williams ap Ithel for the Welsh MS. Society. Modern Celticscholars pour contempt on the pretensions of works like this toenshrine any really antique thought. Thus Mr. Ivor B. John:“All idea of a bardic esoteric doctrine involving pre-Christianmythic philosophy must be utterly discarded.” And again: “Thenonsense talked upon the subject is largely due to the uncriticalinvention of pseudo-antiquaries of the sixteenth to seventeenthand eighteenth centuries.” 205 Still the bardic Order was certainlyat one time in possession of such a doctrine. That Order hada fairly continuous existence in Wales. And though no criticalthinker would build with any confidence a theory of pre-Christian [333]205 “The Mabinogion,” pp. 45 and 54.