Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/17



PART I.

inhabitants of ancient Gaul were the earliest Celts of whose religion we possess any knowledge: the sources of our information are twofold, namely, the testimony of ancient authors and that of votive tablets or other epigraphic monuments. Of the ancients who touch on Gaulish religion, Caesar, in his account of the Gallic War, may be regarded as far the most important for our propose, partly because he wrote at a time when the process of assimilating the gods of Gaul to those of Italy was only beginning, and partly because he, who was pontiff at home, had opportunities of understanding likewise much about Gaulish religion, not the least of which consisted in his having the druid Diviciacus as his constant companion and intimate friend throughout the war; still there are many reasons for accepting Caesar's account of the Gaulish pantheon with great caution. His words, so far as they bear on the individuality and respective rank of what he considered to be the chief divinities of the Gauls, are to the following effect: They worship Mercury, he says, above all others, and of him they have