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A new edition of Toland's History of the druids: - Free History Ebooks

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—NOTES.2o7iionibus coeuni^ casoque puhlice hoviine^ celehrant Barlari ritushorrenda primordia. Est et alia luco rcverentia. JScmo nisiVinculo ligatus ingredttur^ tit minor et petcstatcm iiuminis prceseferens. Siforte pj olapsus est; attolli et insurgere haut liciium,Perhumitm evolvuntur, coque omnis superstiiio respicit,tanquaminde iniiia gentis^ ihircgnator omnium Deus, cceiera suhjecta at^que pareniia^ i. e, ^' The Simnones give out that <strong>the</strong>y are <strong>the</strong>most noble and ancient <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Suevi ;and <strong>the</strong>ir antiquity derivescredibility and support from <strong>the</strong>ir religion. At a statedseason <strong>of</strong> »he year, all <strong>the</strong> nations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> same blood meet by appointment,in a wood rendered sacred by <strong>the</strong> auguries <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>irancestors, and by long established fear; and having slain (sacrificed)a man publicly, <strong>the</strong>y celebrate <strong>the</strong> horrid beginning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>irbarbarous rites. There is also ano<strong>the</strong>r piece <strong>of</strong> reverence paidto this grove. Nobody enters it unless bound, by which he isunderstood to carry before him <strong>the</strong> emblems <strong>of</strong> his own inferiority,and <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> superior power <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Deity.If any one chancesto fall, he must nei<strong>the</strong>r be lifted up nor arise, but is rolled alongupon <strong>the</strong> ground till he is without <strong>the</strong> grove. The whole superstitionhas this meaning—that <strong>the</strong>ir God, who governs all things,shall remain with <strong>the</strong> first founders <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> nation;o<strong>the</strong>rs shall be obedient and subject to <strong>the</strong>m."and that allDe Morib,Germ. cap. 12.The same author, speaking <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Germans in general, says,Deorum maxime Mercurium, coliint^ cut certis diehus^ humanisquoque host'iis Utarefas habent, Sfc. i, e. " Of all <strong>the</strong> Gods, <strong>the</strong>chief object <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir worship is Mercury, to whom, on certaindays, <strong>the</strong>y hold it lawful to <strong>of</strong>fer human sacrifices." In <strong>the</strong>same chapter he informs us, that a part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> suevi sacrifice toIsis, and calls this advectam religionem^ i. e. a foreign religion.—D^ Morib. Germ, cap, 4.Est in insula ocsani castum ncmus^ dicatum in eo vehiculumveste coniectiim^ atfmgere uni sacerdoti concessum, Sfc. i. e. Thereis, In an island <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ocean, a consecrated grove, and in it achariot dedicated to some goddess, and covered with a veil, which

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