Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

4^ Irish D7^tnds.
in the time of Pliny tradition
pretended to be the product
of the foam of a quantity of serpents, grouped and interlaced
together. This ^gg has been the origin of a crowd
of superstitions, which, up to a century ago, were in vo-uc
in
Cornwall, Wales, and the mountains of Scotland
•
they
continued to carry these balls of glass, called serpent ^stones,
to which they attributed particular virtues."
Druidesses of Gaul had a sanctuary on the Isle of Sena
Finisterre. Druidism in France was condemned as late
as 658, by the Council of Nantes ; and, later on, by the
Capitularies of Charlemagne. Renan supposed that
Druidism remained a form exclusively national. Justin's
remark, that "the Greek colony of Marseilles civilized the
Gauls," may help to explain how Gaulish Druids knew
Greek, and how some French writers traced Druidism to
the Phocians of Southern Gaul. Then, again, we have
Ammianus Marcellinus saying, ''
The Druids were formed
into fraternities as the authority of Pythagoras decreed."
Caesar, in his account of Gaulish Druids, had clearly in his
mind his own country's faith. They were like his own
augurs, and their Archdruid was his pontifex vtaximus,
D'Arbois de Jubainville, in his account of Irish Mythology,
has, of course, references to the Druids. He lays
emphasis on the difference between those of Gaul and
those of our islands. The judicial authority was vested
in the File. These need not, like the Druids proper
celebrate sacrifices. He traces the word file, a seer, from'
the same root as the Breton givelout, to see.
The French author records that Polyhistor, Timagenus,
Valerius Maximus, and others wrote of the north-western
men holding Pythagorean doctrines; but he adds that
^vhile a second birth was regarded by the Pythagoreans
as a punishment of evil, it was esteemed by the others as
a privilege of heroes.