Page:The Celtic Review volume 3.djvu/157

142 impeded by dress, though in some instances we find that they entered the ford in full fighting array.

The courage of the Celt, and his utter disregard of danger, was frequently commented upon by his enemies. There is a fine story told by Cæsar in the Gallic War (Book VII. xxv.) of an incident observed by himself during his contest with Vercingetorix, when the Gauls were making their brave defence of the town of Avaricum. He says ‘that he was watching a Gaul before the gate of the town flinging lumps of grease and pitch into the fire with which they were endeavouring to burn down the besieging Roman tower. The materials were passed from hand to hand, and while he was pouring them on to the flames, he was shot through on the right side by a scorpion and fell lifeless. Undaunted, the man next to him stepped into his place over his prostrate form, and quietly continued his work; he was immediately struck down, and a third succeeded to his place, and a fourth to the third, nor was the spot left empty by the defenders before the fire on the embankment had been put out, the enemy dislodged from every side, and an end made of the fighting.’

Cæsar ascribes their reckless disregard of death to the teaching of the druids that souls do not cease to exist after death, but pass from one body to another, which they looked upon as the greatest incentive to valour, and it is quite possible that this may have been one motive, but a more certain one is the fatalism of the Irish character, which comes out again and again in all their tales. ‘What must be, must be,’ is the perpetual undertone. ‘There are two things that cannot be avoided, the time of birth and the time of death,’ is a favourite saying. Congal Claen, before the battle of Moira, from which he knows full well that he can never return alive, replies to his druid who counsels him to avoid the battle and make peace with his adversary, with a spark of the courage of his ancestors; ‘Tell me now, O druid, who of all my forbears has escaped dying at the last? It is profitless to fly from death, for flight never yet saved a