Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/286

 274 T^^i^ Ancient Teutonic Priesthood.

unknown among the ancient Germans. Yet whenever we find reference to such matters in early authorities^ it is always by women that we find them practised. Tacitus {Germ., 8) makes mention of Veleda and other celebrated prophetesses, and states that the Germans believed their women generally to possess a certain inherent prophetic power. Caesar {B. G., i., 50) says that the matrons in Ariouistus' host prophesied defeat to their own side if they fought before the new moon. Strabo (vii., p. 294) says that in the camp of the Cimbri there were grey-haired prophetesses, who sacrificed prisoners, and practised divina- tion from the flowing of their blood and the contortions of their bodies.^ In the Langobardic saga, Gambara, the mother of the chiefs Ibor and Aio, seems to have been regarded as a prophetess."'* It is noteworthy that in the North also, in later times, it is usually women who are endowed with prophetic powers [cf. p. 298), though men also are occasionally mentioned. But the terms ' priest ' or ' priestess ' are never applied to such persons. There is no reason for supposing that among the ancient Germans also the two classes were not kept distinct. They have no feature in common except the offering of sacrifice. This however, could probably — in later times certainly — be performed by any person without reference to priestly office or prophetic powers.

So far, therefore, as the records give us any guidance, it appears that the priest of the ancient Germans was a tribal official, who had to perform public ceremonies and preserve the traditional tribal law. They do not give us any ground for supposing that the priest laid claim to secret knowledge through divine inspiration.

' This passage is to be compared with Diodorus' account of the sacrificial duties of the GaUic Vates. The two rites are indeed exactly analogous. But I do not think it has yet been proved beyond doubt that the Cimbri were a Germanic tribe.

^ Htstoria Langobardonun, Cod. Goth., i. ; cf. Paulus, Hist. Lang., i., 3 Further examples are given by Golther, Germ. Myth., p. 621 f.