Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER I: THE CELTS IN ANCIENT HISTORY 29DiodorusDiodorus Siculus, a contemporary of Julius Cæsar andAugustus, who had travelled in Gaul, confirms in the mainthe accounts of Cæsar and Strabo, but adds some interesting [42]details. He notes in particular the Gallic love of gold. Evencuirasses were made of it. This is also a very notable trait inCeltic Ireland, where an astonishing number of prehistoric goldrelics have been found, while many more, now lost, are knownto have existed. The temples and sacred places, say Posidoniusand Diodorus, were full of unguarded offerings of gold, whichno one ever touched. He mentions the great reverence paid tothe bards, and, like Cato, notices something peculiar about thekind of speech which the educated Gauls cultivated: “they arenot a talkative people, and are fond of expressing themselves inenigmas, so that the hearer has to divine the most part of whatthey would say.” This exactly answers to the literary languageof ancient Ireland, which is curt and allusive to a degree. TheDruid was regarded as the prescribed intermediary between Godand man—no one could perform a religious act without hisassistance.Ammianus MarcellinusAmmianus Marcellinus, who wrote much later, in the latterhalf of the fourth century A.D., had also visited Gaul, which wasthen, of course, much Romanised. He tells us, however, likeformer writers, of the great stature, fairness, and arrogant bearingof the Gallic warrior. He adds that the people, especially inAquitaine, were singularly clean and proper in their persons—noone was to be seen in rags. The Gallic woman he describesas very tall, blue-eyed, and singularly beautiful; but a certainamount of awe is mingled with his evident admiration, for hetells us that while it was dangerous enough to get into a fight witha Gallic man, your case was indeed desperate if his wife withher “huge snowy arms,” which could strike like catapults, cameto his assistance. One is irresistibly reminded of the gallery of [43]