Edmund Crosby Quiggin

“ As they were not a hereditary caste and enjoyed exemption from service in the field as well as from payment of taxes, admission to the order was eagerly sought after by the youth of Gaul. The course of training to which a novice had to submit was protracted, extending sometimes over twenty years. All instruction was communicated orally, but for ordinary purposes they had a written language in which they used the Greek characters. The president of the order, whose office was elective and who enjoyed the dignity for life, had supreme authority among them. They taught that the soul was immortal. ”

“ We find in Caesar the first and at the same time the most circumstantial account of the Druids to be met with in the classical writers. He tells us that all men of any rank and dignity in Gaul were included among the Druids or the nobles. In other words, the Druids constituted the learned and the priestly class, and they were in addition the chief expounders and guardians of the law. We are, however, informed by Diodorus and Strabo that this class was composed of Druids, bards and soothsayers. Hence Caesar seems to assign more extensive functions to the Druids than they actually possessed. ”

“ Britain was the headquarters of Druidism, but once every year a general assembly of the order was held within the territories of the Carnutes in Gaul. The Gauls were accustomed to offer human sacrifices, usually criminals. Cicero remarks on the existence among the Gauls of augurs or soothsayers, known by the name of Druids, with one of whom, Divitiacus, an Aeduan, he was acquainted. Diodorus informs us that a sacrifice acceptable to the gods must be attended by a Druid, for they are the intermediaries. Before a battle they often throw themselves between two armies to bring about peace. ”