CELTIC RELIGION
180
CENCHREA
appeared on the batMe-fleld, firing the soldiers to deeds of heroic valor. By the touching tones of their l3rres and songs the j often stayed the flow of blood between hostile clans. In the early ages the bards stood in the highest esteem. At Cesar's time they had sunk to be beggar-poets, seelcing their living by singing flatter- ing songs in the palaces of rich men and princes.
The reHgioH of the Druids seems to have been origin- ally a monotheism, which developed later into the dei- flcation of the powers of Nature, and tlie final incor- poration of them as deities. Tavaim (the Thunderer) was the god of heaven, the ruler of the universe, the highest judge, scattering the thunderbolts of his ven- geance among mortals. Belen was the benevolent son of God, who gives life to the vegetable world and heal- ing power to plants, ffetus^ Eeus or J7u, originally the ibunder of the religion of the Druids, was the god of war and of agricultural labor. TeukUes waa the god of manufactures, the arts, and trade, therefore was identified by the Romans as Mercury. Fairies, "moth- erly virgins," were female deities who spun out the thread of life and of fkte, and who were guardian an- gels of both lands, cities, and individual persons, and in the minds of the people were clothed with all attrac- tions and virtues. Many places had also their local female deities.
The instruction in the schools of the priests consisted largely in tracing out the attributes of their deities. This was done with, a surprising completeness. In- struction was also given concerning the stars and their courses, the size of the universe, the nature of matter and of existence, and especially of the human soul. The Druids taught the immortdUitf of the soul ; that after death it enters into another body, and that it leads in a more beautiAil world than this a happy life, like the earthly life in its better phases, with the same occupations and enjoyments, so that the dead and liv- ing stand hi a certain communication. At burial, let- ters were thus often thrown into the flames, that the dead might read them. This belief gave the Celts a high regard for tiieir dead, and spurred them to deeds of great bravery. But it also brought with it deeds of horrible cruelty. In thehr earlier history it was not unusual, on the death of a man of station, for some of his nearest friends to throw themselves intocthe flames of his funeral pile. This led to tragic results. Thus, after the feudal system of the late Celtic period had developed itself, it was not rare, on the death of a chieftain, for some of his finvorite slaves or followers to be killed and burned on his pile or buried in his grave. The warrior's favorite steed, his arms, dress, and orna- ments, were also buried with him, that he might lack nothing in the other lifd.
Sacrifices formed the chief part of the Celtic relig- ious rites. Human sacrifices were frequent, being re- garded as the most efi^ectual and acceptable way. of ap- peasing Deity. It was l>elieved that one human life could only be redeemed by the life of another human being. Thus, a person suffering flrom a dangerous sickness, a person in danger or in battle, ofi^Eured to the deities instead of animals a human being, or vowed to do so, avaiUhg' themselves of the Druids to fulfil the vow for them. In behalf of the state also the Druids offered human sacrifices. Great figures in the human form, made of wicker-work, were filled with hu- man beings and then set on fire. The sacrifice of criminals was considered especially grateful to the del- ties. When they were lacking, innocent persons were offered up. For a long time also prevailed the custom of sacrificing all prisoners of war, accompanying the dreadful offering with loud songs and wild music, and out of the flowing blood and quivering members to di- vine the fbture.
The Celts also had Druidessesj or female priests, who, however, had less respect and privileges than the Dru- ids. Companies of iJiese priestesses inhabited certain
uds, which no man dared to set foot upon. When
they wished to have intercourse with the people of tlw main land, they had to come in boats, and then return to their islands. These islands were avoided by 8aikn«, as their fSsncy attributed to the Dmideases the power of sending tempests to destroy them. Onoe each year these priestesses had to remove the roofs from their houseSf and to restore a new one before the setting of the sun. If one of them, crowned with ivy and otiier leaves, let a stick ML while at this work, the odien fSell upon her with wild cries and tore her to piecea.
All kgcd questions were decided by the Druids. All the Druids gathered every year at Chartrea, and there decided all matters of dispute, both public and pri- vate. They appointed the punishment for murder and other crimes, and decided all disputes of inherit- ance and boundaries of estatea. If any private person or chieftain reftised to stand by their decision, he was refused permission to attend the religious ritw the most severe punishment they could inflict. He was an outcast, a godless criminal, avoided by all, and de- prived of all rii^ts at the hand of his fellow-man or of the law itself.