That it
preceded
in
Britain the race which spoke the Cymric.
Britain the race which spoke the Cymric.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
(In Armoric
ten means "a covering;" and in Gaelic lein signifies
? ? "a soldier's cloak. "--Compare the Latin lorn* and
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? OALLIA.
<<. ) The Gauls also prepared various kinds of fer-
mented drinks; such as barley-beer, called ceremna.
(Plin. , 22, 15. --In old French, Cervoise; in Cynv
raig, CiiTC. ); and likewise another kind of beer, made
from corn, and in which honey, cumin, and other in-
gredients were mingled. (Postdon. , ap Alhen. , 4, 13. )
In', froth of beer was employed as a means for leav-
ening bread: it was used also as a cosmetic, and the
Gallic females frequently applied it to the visage, un-
der the belief that it imparted a freshness to the com-
plexion. (Plin. , 32, 25. ) As regarded wine, it was
to foreign traders that the Gauls and Ligurians were
indebted for its use; and it was from the Greeks of
Massilia that they learned the process of making it, as
well as the culture of the vine. --The dwellings of the
Gauls, spacious and of a round form, were construct-
ed of posts and hurdles, and covered with clay both
within and without; a large roof, composed of oak-
shingles and stubble, or of straw cut and kneaded with
clay, covered the whole. (Slrabo, 196. --Vitruv. , 1,1. )
--Gaul contained both open villages and cities: the
latter, surrounded by walls, were defended by a system
of fortification, of which we find no example elsewhere.
Cassar gives the following description of these ram-
parts (B. G. , 7, 23). "Straight beams, placed length-
wise at equal intervals, and two foet distant from each
other, are laid along the ground. These are mortised
together on the inside, and covered deep with earth; but
r. he intervals are stopped in front with large stones.
These being fixed and cemented together, another
range is put over, the same distance being preserved,
and the beams not touching each other, but intermit-
ting at equal spaces, and each bound close together
by a single row of stones. In this manner the whole
work is intermixed till the wall is raised to its full
height. By this means the work, from its appearance
and variety, is not displeasing to the eye: the beams
and stones being placed alternate, and keeping their
own places in exact right lines: and besides, it is of
great advantage in the defence of cities; for it is se-
cured by the stone from fire, and from the battering-
ram by the wood, which, consisting of entire beams,
forty feet long, for the most part mortised on the in-
side, could neither be forced in nor torn asunder. "--
Such would seem to have been the fortifications of the
cities in the civilized and populous part of Gaul. To
the north and east, among the more savage tribes,
there were no cities properly so called; the inhabi-
tants resided for the most part in large enclosures,
formed of trunks of trees,'and calculated to repel by
these rude intrenchments the assaults of a disciplined
as well as undisciplined foe. --Besides his habitation in
the city, the rich Gaul generally possessed another in
the country, amid thick forests and on the banks of
some river. (Cats. , B. G. , 6,30. ) Here, during the
heat of summer, he reposed from the fatigues of war;
but he brought along with him, at the same time, all
his equipments and retinue, his arms, his horses, his
esquires. In the midst of the storms of faction and
the civil dissensions, which marked the history of
Gaul in the first and second centuries, these precau-
tions were anything else but superfluous.
2. General habits of the Gillie race.
It was, as we have already remarked, in war, and
in the arts applicable to war, that the genius of the
Gauls displayed itself to most advantage. This peo-
ple made war a regular profession, while the manage-
ment of arms became their favourite employment. To
? ? have a fine martial mien, to retain for a long period
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? GALLIA
GALLIA.
? one with th>> trophies of the chase, a Gallic village
bore no faint resemblance to a large charnel-house.
Carefully embalmed, and saturated with oil of cedar,
tie heads of hostile chieftains and of famous war-
rior* were deposited in large coffers, and arranged by
their possessor according to the date of acquisition.
(Strabo, 198. ) This was the book, in which the
young Gallic warrior loved to study the exploits of
bis forefathers; and each generation, as it passed on-
ward, strove to add to the contents. To part, for
money, with the head of a foe. acquired either by
one's own exertions or those of his ancestors, was
regarded as the height of baseness, and would have
fixed a lasting stain on him who should have been
guilty of the deed. Many even boasted of having re-
fused, when offered by the relations or countrymen of
the deceased, an equal weight of gold for a head thus
obtained, (Diod. Sic. , 6, 29. ) Sometimes the scull,
cleansed and set in gold or silver, served as a cup in
the temples, or circulated in the festivities of the ban-
quet, and the guests drank out of it to the glory of the
victor and the triumphs of their country. These fierce
and brutal manners prevailed for a long period over
the whole of Gaul. Civilization, in its onward march,
abolished them by degrees, until, at the commence-
ment of the second century, they were confined to the
savage tribes of the North and West. It was there
that Posidonius found them still existing in all then-
vigour. The sight of so many human heads, disfig-
ured by outrages, and blackened by the air and the
rain, at first excited in his bosom the mingled emo-
tions of horror and disgust: "however," adds the
stoic traveller, with great naivete, "my eyes became
gradually accustomed to the view. " (Slrabo, 198. )--
The Gauls affected, as more manly in its character, a
strong and rough tone of voice (Diod. Sic, 5, 31), to
which, moreover, their harsh and guttural idioms
greatly contributed. They conversed but little, and
by means of short and concise phrases, which the con-
sUnt use of metaphors and hyperboles rendered ob-
scure and almost unintelligible to strangers. (Diod.
Sic. , I. e. ) But, when once animated by dispute, or
incited by something that was calculated to interest
or arouse, at the head of armies or in political assem-
blies, they expressed themselves with surprising co-
piousness and fluency, and the habit in which they in-
dulged, of employing figurative language, furnished
them, on such occasions, with a thousand lively and
picturesque images, either for exalting their own
merit or putting down an opponent. --The Gauls, in
general, wore accused of drinking to excess; a habit
which took its rise both in the grossness of their man-
ners and in the wants of a cold and humid climate.
The Massilian and Italian traders were not slow in fur-
nishing the necessary aliment for the indulgence of this
baneful vice. Cargoes of wine found t^ir way, by
means of the navigable rivers, into the very heart of
the country. The tempting beverage was also con-
veyed over land in wagons (Diod. Sic. , 5, 26), and in
various quarters regular establishments were opened
for vending the article. To these places the Gauls
flocked from every part, and gave, in exchange for the
wines of the south, their metals, peltries, grain, cattle,
and slaves. So lucrative was this traffic to the ven-
der, that oftentimes a young slave could be procured
for a jar of the inebriating liquor. (Diod. Sic ,5,26. )
About the first century, however, of our era, this vice
? ? began gradually to disappear from among the higher
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? GALLIA.
GALLIA.
ir. his presence, before the latter could wield a sabre
aid make a figure on the list of warriors. (Cos. , B.
G. , 6, 18. )--Among some nations of Belgic Gaul,
where the Rhine was an object of superstitious adora-
tion, a whimsical custom prevailed; the river was
made the means of testing the fidelity of the conjugal
state. When a husband had doubts respecting his pa-
ternity, he took the new-born infant, placed it on a
board, and exposed it to the current of the stream. If
the plank and its helpless burden floated safely upon
the waters, the result was deemed favourable, and all
the father's suspicions were dissipated. If, on the
contrary, the plank began to sink, the infant perished,
and the parent's suspicions were confirmed. (Julian,
Epist. , 15, ad Maxim, philos. --Id. , Orat. , 2, in Con-
stant. imp. --Anlhol. Gr. , 1, 43, 1. )
3. Civil and Religious Institutions of the Cauls.
Two privileged orders ruled in Gaul over the rest of
the population: the priests and nobles. The people
at largo were divided into two classes, the inhabitants
of the country and the residents of cities. The former
of these constituted the tribes or clients appertaining
to noble families. The client cultivated his patron's
domains, followed his standard in war, and was bound
to defend him with his life. To abandon his patron in
the hour of peril was regarded as the blackest of crimes.
The residents of cities, on the other hand, found them-
selves beyond the control of this system of clientship,
and, consequently, enjoyed greater freedom. Below
the mass of the people were the slaves, who do not
ippear, however, to have been at any time very nu-
merous. The two privileged orders of which we have
just made mention, imposed each in its turn a heavy
yoke of despotism upon Gaul; and the government of
this country may be divided into three distinct forms,
prevailing at three distinct intervals of time; that of
the priests, or a theocracy; that of the chieftains of
tribes, or a military aristocracy; and that, finally, of
ho popular constitutions, founded on the principle of
frae choice by a majority of voters. --When we exam-
ine attentively the character of the facts relative tn the
religious belief of Gaul, we are led to acknowledge
the existence of two classes of ideas, two systems of
symbols and superstitions entirely distinct from each
>>ther; in a word, two religions: one, altogether sen-
sible in its character, based on the adoration of nat-
ural phenomena, and recalling by its forms much of
the polytheism of Greece; the other, founded on a
material, metaphysical, mysterious, and sacerdotal
pantheism, presenting the most astonishing conformity
with the religions of the East. This latter has re-
ceived the name of Druidism, from the Druids, who
were its first founders and priests; the other system
has been called the Gallic Polytheism. Even if no
other testimony existed to prove the priority of the lat-
ter, in point of time, to Druidism, the natural and in-
variable progress of religious ideas among all the na-
tions of the globe would tend to establish the fact.
It is not so, however. The old and valuable traditions
of tho Cymric race attribute to this people, in the most
formal and exclusive manner, the introduction of the
Druidical doctrines into Gaul and Britain, as well as
the organization of sovereign priesthood. According
to these traditions, it was the chief of the first invasion,
Hu, Heus, or Hesus, surnamed " the powerful," who
implanted in this territory, which had been conquered
by his horde, the religious and political system of Dru-
? ? idism. A warrior, a priest, and a legislator during his
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? GALLIA.
GALLIi.
eti to :tdins of gold and amber, which proceeded
? ram la mouth. He was named Ogmius. (Lucian,
Hire. -- Opp. , cd. Hip, vol. 7, p. 312. --Compare
Hitter, Vorkallc, p. 368, scqq. )--Coincidencea of so
unking a nature with their own mythology could not
fail to surprise Roman observers, nor was it difficult
for them to discover, as tbey thought, all their own
gods in the polytheism of Gaul. Caesar consequently
nfotms us; that they acknowledged among their divin-
ities Mercury, Apollo, Mara, Jupiter, and Minerva.
''Mercury," observes this writer, "is the deily whom
>>hey chie. 'j adore: they have many images of him:
. hey * :ccunt him the inventor of arts; their guide in
ravelling and journeys; and imagine that he has a
very great influence over trade and merchandise. After
lim they adore Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva,
? >f whom they have the same opinion with other na-
tions: that Apollo averts diseases; that Minerva first
introduced needlework and manufactures; that Jupiter
holds the supreme power of the heavens; that Mars
presides over war. To him. wbentver they have de-
termined on going to battle, they usually devote the
spoil they have taken. " (Cat. , P. G. , 6, 17. ;--This
resemblance between the two systems of religion
changed into identity when Gaul, subjected ti the do-
minion of Home, had felt for some years the influence
of Roman ideas. It was then that the Gallic polythe-
ism, honoured and favoured by the emperors, ended its
career by becoming totally merged in the polytheism
of Italy; while, on the other hand, DruHism, its mys-
teries, its doctrine, and its priesthood, were cruelly
proscribed, and extinguished amid streams of blood.
4. Origin of the Gauls.
The question to be considered here is this, whether
there existed a Gallic family distinct from the other
families of nations in the West, and whether it was di-
vided into two races. The proofs which we shall ad-
duce in favour of the affirmative are of three kinds:
1st, philological, deduced from an examination of the
primitive languages of the west of Europe: 2d, his-
torical, drawn from the Greek and Roman writers:
3d, likewise historical, deduced from national tradi-
tions among the Gauls.
I. Proofs drawn from an examination of languages.
In the countries of Europe, called by the ancients
Transalpine Gaul and Britain, embracing, at the pres-
ent day, France, Switzerland, the Low Countries, and
the British Isles, various languages are spoken, which
all, however, range themselves under two great classes:
one, that of the languages of the South, draws its ori-
gin from the Latin, and embraces all the dialecta of
the Romans and French; the other, that of the North-
ern languages, is descended from the ancient Teutonic
or German, and prevails in a part of Switzerland and
the Low Countries, in England, and in the lowlands
of Scotland. Now we know historically that the Latin
language was introduced into Gaul by the Roman
arms: we know, also, that the Teutonic languages,
spoken in Gaul and in Britain, may be in like manner
traced to the conquests of the Teutonic or German
tribes: these two main languages, therefore, intro-
duced from without, are strangers to the primitive
population, that is to say, to the population which oc-
cupied the countries in question anterior to these con-
quests. But in the midst of so many new-Latin and
cew-Teutonic dialects, we find in some parts of France
and Britain the remains of primitive languages, com-
? ? pletely distinct from the two great classes of which we
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? GALLIA.
GALLIA.
in h portion of the south, and in all the east of Gaul,
in upper Italy, in Illyria, and in central and western
? Spain. It is tbo eastern and southern provinces, how-
ever, of Gaul that bear the most evident marks of the
passage of this tongue. It is only by the aid of a
Gaelic glossary that we can discover the signification
of geographical names, dignities, institutions, individu-
als, &c, belonging to the primitive population of this
country. Still farther, the patois of the east and south
of France at the present day swarms with words that
are strangers to the Latin, and which are discovered
to bo taken from the Gaelic tongue. From these
facts we may deduce the following inferences: 1. that
the race which spoke Gaelic, in distant ages, occu-
pied the British isles and Gaul, and that from this
centre the language spread itself over many cantons
of Italy, Spain, and Illyria. 2.
That it preceded in
Britain the race which spoke the Cymric.
3. Of the Cymric tongue.
That part of Britain which is called (he country or
principality of Wales, is inhabited, as is well known,
by a people who bear in their mother-tongue the name
of Cymri or Kymri; and from the most distant period
they have known no other. Authentic literary monu-
ments attest that thiB language, the Cymraig or Cym-
ric, was cuhivated with great eclat about the sixth
century of our era, not only within the actual limits of
the principality of Wales, but along the whole west-
ern coast of England, while the Anglo-Saxons, a Ger-
manic population, occupied by conquest the centre and
the east. An examination of the geographical and his-
torical nomenclatures of Britain, anterior to the arrival
of its German invaders, proves also, that, before this
epoch, the Cymric prevailed throughout the whole
southern part of the island, where it had succeeded to
the Gaelic, which had been banished to the north. We
have already stated, that the Bas-Breton, or Armoric
tongue, spoken in a part of Brittany, was a Cymric
dialect. The intermixture of a great number of Latin
and French words has altered, it is true, the aspect
of this dialect; yet historical monuments bear full tes-
timony to the fact, that, about the fifth century, it was
almost identically the same with that of the island of
Britain, since the natives of this island, who fled to
Armorica to escape from the Anglo-Saxons, found in
this latter country, it is said, a people who spoke the
same language with themselves. (Adclung, Muhra-
dates, vol. 2, p. 157. ) The names, moreover, drawn
from geography and history, clearly show, that this
idiom was spoken anterior to the fifth century in the
whole of the west and north of Gaul. This tract of
country then, as well as the southern portion of the
isle of Britain, must have been anciently peopled by
the race that spoke the Cymric tongue. But what
is the generic name of this race? la it the Armari-
um ? --Is it the Breton ? --Armorican, which signifies
"maritime,'* is a local, not a generic, appellation;
while, on the other hand, Breton appears to have been
nothing more than the name of a particular tribe. We
will adopt then, provisorily, as the true name of this
race, that of Cymri, which from the sixth century has
served to designate it in the isle of Britain. --As re-
gards the two idioms of the Cymric and Gaelic, it may
not be amiss to state the following general particulars.
The basis of both is undoubtedly the same, and both
apring from some common tongue. By the side, how-
ever, of this striking similitude in the roots and in the
? ? general system of the composition of words, we can-
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? GALLIA.
GALLIA.
thin between the former and the Gauls, who were
separated from them merely by the Garonne; in fine,
that their virtues and their vices were assimilated in
the closest manner to that standard of good and evil
qualities which appears to have constituted the moral
type of the Iberian race. We find, then, a concordance
between the proofs drawn from history and those de-
duced from an examination of languages: the Aqui-
ani were, beyond doubt, an Iberian population.
2. Ligures.
The Ligures, whom the Greeks call Ligyes, are des-
ignated by Strabo as strangers to Gaul. Sextus Avi-
enus, whose labours were based upon documents which
had been left by the Carthaginians, and who, conse-
quently, must have been put tn possession of i. iuch
valuable natter connected with the ancient history of
Iberia, places the primitive seats of the Iberi in the
southwest of Spain, whence, after a long succession
of conflicts, the invasion of the conquering Celts had
compelled them to remove. (. Inn. , v. 132, teqq. )
Stepbanus of Byzantium also places in the southwest
of Spain, near Tartessus, a city of the figures, which
he calls Ligystinc (Aiywrrtvir). Thucydides subse-
quently shows us the Ligures, expelled from the south-
western part of the peninsula, arriving on the eastern
borders of the Sicoris or Segre, and driving away in
their turn the nation of the- Sicani. (Thutyd. , 6, 2. )
He does not give this as a simple tradition, but as
an inrontestible fact. Ephorus and Philistus of Syra-
cuse held the same language in their writings, and Stra-
bo believes that the Sicani were originally Iberians.
The Sicani, driven from their country, forced their
way through the eastern passes of the Pyrenees, trav-
ersed the Mediterranean shore of Gaul, and entered
Italy. The Ligures must have followed them, since
we find the latter nearly at the same time spread over
tie whole (lallic and Italian coasts, from the Pyrenees
as far as the Arno. We know, by the unanimous tes-
timony of the ancient writers, tkat the west and the
centre of Spain had been conquered by the Celts or
Galli; but wo are uninformed as to the period when
this took place. The movements of the Sicani and
Ligures show us that the invasion was made by the
western passes of the Pyrenees; and that the Iberian
tribes, driven back on the eastern coast, began to move
onward into Gaul and even Italy. They furnish us
also with an approximation to the date when this took
place: the Sicani, expelled from Italy, as they had
been from Spain, seized upon the island of Sicily about
the year 1400 B. C. (Frerel, (Euvr. compl, vol. 4. p.
200), which places the irruption of the CclUe into Ibe-
ria about the sixteenth century before the Christian
era. --Although, after what has been said, the Iberian
origin of the Ligures appears to be placed beyond the
reach of doubt, it must nevertheless be acknowledged,
that their manners did not bear so strong an Iberian
stamp as those of the Aquitani: the reason would
seem to be, that they did not preserve themselves
from foreign intermixture. History tells us of power-
ful Celtic tribes intermingled with them in Celto-Li-
p'i:ia. between the Alps and the Rhone; at a still la-
ter period, Ihero-Liguria, between the Rhone and
Spain, was subjugated almost entirely by a people who
were total strangers to the Ligures, and who bore the
Dame of Volcae. The date of this invasion of the
Volcx* into Ibero-Liguria (now Languedoe) cannot be
filed with any precision. The most ancient recitals,
? ? whether mythological or historical, and the peripluses
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? GALLIA
GALLIA.
1 the A. vernian Mountains to me west, and the ocean
to the noith: all tin > tract, and the coast likewise of
the Mediterranean, so unproductive and arid at the
present day, were for a long time covered with dense
t'orests. (Lib. , 5, 34. ) Plutarch places also between
the Alps and the Pyrenees, in the earliest ages, a people
called Celtorii. (Vit. Camill. ) This race is thought
? >/ some to have formed part of the league or confeder-
ation of the Celts, for tor signifies " elevated," and also
"a mountain," and hence Cellar is supposed to desig-
nate an inhabitant of the woody mountains. Thus it
would seem that the Celtic confederation, in the time
of its greatest power, was subdivided into Celts of the
plain and Celts of che mountain. Historians unani-
mously inform us, that it was the Celts who conquered
the west and the centre of Spain; and, in fact, we
find their name attached to great masses of the Gallo-
Iberian population, such as the Celt-Ibcri, a mixture of
Celts and Iberians, who occupied the centre of the
peninsula; and the Celtici, who had seized upon the
northwest. It is easy to perceive that the invasion
must have commenced with the Gallic tribes nearest
the Pyrenees. The Celtic confederation, however, did
not alone accomplish this conquest; other Gallic tribes
either accompanied or followed them: witness, for ex-
ample, the people established in what is now Gallicia,
and was anciently denominated Galloecia, and who, as
la well known, belonged to the general Gallic race.
Thus much for Spain. --As for upper Italy, though
twice inundated by transalpine nations, it presents no
trace of the name of Celt: no tribe, no territory, no
river, recalls their peculiar appellation. Everywhere
and on every occasion we meet merely with the gen-
eral name of Gauls. The word Celts became known
to the Romans only at a late period. --As to the asser-
tion of Cesar, that the Gauls were called in their own
language Celts? , it is possible that the Roman com-
mander, more occupied with combating the Gauls than
studying their language and institutions, and finding,
in effect, that the word Celt was Gallic, and recog-
nised by the Gauls for one of their national denomi-
nations, may, without farther investigation, have con-
cluded that the two terms were synonymous. It is
possible, too, that the Gauls of the eastern and central
sections may have adopted, in their commercial and
political relations with the Greeks, a name by which
the latter were accustomed to designate them ; just as
we sec, in our own days, some of the tribes of Amer-
ica and Africa, accepting, under similar circumstances,
appellations which are either quite inexact or else totally
erroneous. --From what has thus far been remarked, it
would seem to follow, 1. That the name Celt had,
among the Gauls, a limited and local application. 2.
That the confederation of the tribes denominated Cel-
tic dwelt in part among the Ligurcs, in part between
the Cevennes and the Garonne, and along the Arver-
nian plateau and the ocean. 3. That the Celtic con-
federation exhausted its strength in the invasion and
conquest of Spain, and took no share consequently in
two successive invasions of Italy.
4. Bdgce.
The Belga are unanimously acknowledged by the
ancient writers as forming part of the Gallic race.
The word Belga belongs to the Cymric idiom, in which,
under the form Belgiaidd, the radical of which is Belg,
:t signifies " warlike. " It would seem, then, that this
was not a generic appellation, but a title of some mili-
? ? tary expedition, some armed confederation. It is a
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? GALI. iA.
GALLIA.
(Orig. , 9, 2) ; as did also Solinus and Scrvius. The
Greek writers also followed in the same train, with
few exceptions, notwithstanding an etymology very
popular in Greece, which made the word Umbrian
(Ombrian) to be derived from *0/ity>>r, "a shower,"
"rain. " because the nation in question had, according
to some, escaped from a deluge. The Umbrians were
regarded as one of the most ancient nations of Italy.
{Plin. , 2,14. --Florut, 1,17. ) After long and bloody
conflicts, they drove the Siculi from the country around
tne Pa Now, aa the Siculi passed into Sicily about
1364 D. C. , the Umbrian invasion may have taken
nlace in the course of the 15th century. They be-
came a very powerful race, and their sway extended
from the upper to the lower sea, as far south as the
mouths of the Tiber and Trento. The Etrurian power
eventually put an end to their wide-spread dominion.
The words Umhri, Ombri. and Ombrici, by which the
Romans and the Greeks designated this people, would
seem to have been nothing else but the Gaelic Ambra
or Amhra, which signifies " valiant," "noble;" and to
have been appropriated to itself as a military title by
some invading horde. --The geographical division es-
tablished by the Umbrians is not only in conform :*v
with the customs of the Gallic race, but belongs to
their very language. Umbria was divided into three
provinces: OU-Ombria, or "High Umbria," which
comprised the mountainous country between the Apen-
nines and the Ionian Sea: Is-Ombria, or " Low Um-
bria," which embraced the country around the Po:
and Vil-Ombria, or " Umbria along the shore," which
tut, at a later period, became Etruria. A lthough the
Etrurian influence produced a rapid change in the lan-
guage, religion, and social order of the Umbrians,
there still were preserved among the mountaineers of
C. 'li-Ombria some remarkable traces of the character
and customs of the Gauls: for example, the gsesum or
fail, a weapon both in its invention and name pointing
to a Gallic origin, was always the national Javelin of
the Umbrian peasant. {Liv. , 9, 36. ) The Umbrians,
who had been dispersed by the Etrurian conquerors,
were received as brothers on the banks of the Sadne
md among the Helvetian tribes, where they perpetu-
ated their name of Insubres (Isombres). "Insulres,"
t observes Livy, "pagus AZduorum" (5, 23). Others
found a hospitable reception among the Ligurians of
the Maritime Alps {Plin. . 3, 17, seqq), and carried
thither their name of Ambrones. This alone can ex-
plain a point which has occasioned much perplexity to
historians, and has given rise to numerous contradic-
tory theories; how, namely, a tribe of Alpine Ligurians,
snd another of Hclvetii, warring against each other
under the respective banners of the Romans and the
Cimbri, found, to their great astonishment, that they had
each the ssme name and the same war-cry. {Pint. ,
Vit. Mar. )--From what has been said, it would seem
to result, that upper Italy was conquered in the 15th
century before our. era by a confederation of Gallic
tribes bearing the name of Ambra or Ambrones. --Sa-
nd conquest. The first invasion had been made en
swue, with something of order, and by a single con-
federation ; the second was successive and tumultuous.
During the space of sixty-six years, Gaul poured her
population upon Italy by the Maritime, the Graian, and
the Pennine Alps. If we bear in mind that, about the
same epoch (B. C. 587), an emigration not less consid-
erable took place from Gaul tc Illyria, under the con-
? ? duct of Sigovcsus, we cannot but believe that these
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? GALLI. '.
GALLIA
h'ubeas ; beyond this they styled it Cronium. (Plin. ,
i, 13) These two names are easily explained by the
Cymric language: mar there signifies " sea;" marts,
"to die ;" marwsis, " death ;" and crumn, "congeal-
ed," " frozen :" in Gaelic, croin has the same force:
Murchroinn is "the frozen sea. " (Adelung, altcstc
Gesch der Teutscken, p. 48. --Toland's icveral pieces,
pt. 1, p. 150. )--Ephorus, who lived about the same
period, knew the Cimbri, and gives them the name of
Celts; but in his geographical system, this very vague
denomination designates at the same time a Gaul and
an inhabitant of Western Europe. (Strabo, 803. )
When, between the years 113 and 101 before our era,
a deluge of Cimbri poured its desolating fury on Gaul,
Spain, and Italy, the belief was general, that they came
from the extremities of the West, from the frozen re-
gions bordering on the Northern Ocean, from the Cim-
bric Chersonese, from the shores of the Cimbric The-
tis. (Floras, 3, 3. --Polyatn. , 8,10. --Ammian. Mar-
tell. , 31, 5. --Claudian, BcU. Get. , v. 638. --Plul. , Vit.
Mar. ) In the time of Augustus, the Cimbri occupied
portion of Jutland, and they acknowledged them-
selves to be tho descendants of those who, in a pre-
ceding age, had committed so many ravages. Alarmed
at the conquests of the Romans beyond the Rhine, and
supposing that their object was to inflict vengeance
upon them for the inroad of their ancestors, ihey sent
hi embassy to the emperor to supplicate for pardon.
(Strabo, 292. ) Strabo and Mela (3, 3) place these
Cimbri to the north of the Elbe. Tacitus found them
there in his own time. (Germ. , c. 37. ) Pliny gives
a much more extensive signification to this name of
Cimbri; he would seem to make it a generic term.
He not only, for example, recognises the Cimbri of the
present Jutland, but he speaks also of tho Mediterra-
nean Cimbri (4, 3) in the vicinity of the Rhine, com-
prehending, under . this common appellation, various
Tribes which in other writers bear widely different
names. These Cimbri, inhabiting Jutland and the
countries round about, were generally regarded as
Gauls, that is to say, as belonging to one of the two
races which then held possession of Gaul. Cicero, in
speaking of the great invasion of Cimbri, says in many
places that Marius had conquered the Gauls. In like
manner. Sallust (Bell. Jug. , c.
ten means "a covering;" and in Gaelic lein signifies
? ? "a soldier's cloak. "--Compare the Latin lorn* and
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? OALLIA.
<<. ) The Gauls also prepared various kinds of fer-
mented drinks; such as barley-beer, called ceremna.
(Plin. , 22, 15. --In old French, Cervoise; in Cynv
raig, CiiTC. ); and likewise another kind of beer, made
from corn, and in which honey, cumin, and other in-
gredients were mingled. (Postdon. , ap Alhen. , 4, 13. )
In', froth of beer was employed as a means for leav-
ening bread: it was used also as a cosmetic, and the
Gallic females frequently applied it to the visage, un-
der the belief that it imparted a freshness to the com-
plexion. (Plin. , 32, 25. ) As regarded wine, it was
to foreign traders that the Gauls and Ligurians were
indebted for its use; and it was from the Greeks of
Massilia that they learned the process of making it, as
well as the culture of the vine. --The dwellings of the
Gauls, spacious and of a round form, were construct-
ed of posts and hurdles, and covered with clay both
within and without; a large roof, composed of oak-
shingles and stubble, or of straw cut and kneaded with
clay, covered the whole. (Slrabo, 196. --Vitruv. , 1,1. )
--Gaul contained both open villages and cities: the
latter, surrounded by walls, were defended by a system
of fortification, of which we find no example elsewhere.
Cassar gives the following description of these ram-
parts (B. G. , 7, 23). "Straight beams, placed length-
wise at equal intervals, and two foet distant from each
other, are laid along the ground. These are mortised
together on the inside, and covered deep with earth; but
r. he intervals are stopped in front with large stones.
These being fixed and cemented together, another
range is put over, the same distance being preserved,
and the beams not touching each other, but intermit-
ting at equal spaces, and each bound close together
by a single row of stones. In this manner the whole
work is intermixed till the wall is raised to its full
height. By this means the work, from its appearance
and variety, is not displeasing to the eye: the beams
and stones being placed alternate, and keeping their
own places in exact right lines: and besides, it is of
great advantage in the defence of cities; for it is se-
cured by the stone from fire, and from the battering-
ram by the wood, which, consisting of entire beams,
forty feet long, for the most part mortised on the in-
side, could neither be forced in nor torn asunder. "--
Such would seem to have been the fortifications of the
cities in the civilized and populous part of Gaul. To
the north and east, among the more savage tribes,
there were no cities properly so called; the inhabi-
tants resided for the most part in large enclosures,
formed of trunks of trees,'and calculated to repel by
these rude intrenchments the assaults of a disciplined
as well as undisciplined foe. --Besides his habitation in
the city, the rich Gaul generally possessed another in
the country, amid thick forests and on the banks of
some river. (Cats. , B. G. , 6,30. ) Here, during the
heat of summer, he reposed from the fatigues of war;
but he brought along with him, at the same time, all
his equipments and retinue, his arms, his horses, his
esquires. In the midst of the storms of faction and
the civil dissensions, which marked the history of
Gaul in the first and second centuries, these precau-
tions were anything else but superfluous.
2. General habits of the Gillie race.
It was, as we have already remarked, in war, and
in the arts applicable to war, that the genius of the
Gauls displayed itself to most advantage. This peo-
ple made war a regular profession, while the manage-
ment of arms became their favourite employment. To
? ? have a fine martial mien, to retain for a long period
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? GALLIA
GALLIA.
? one with th>> trophies of the chase, a Gallic village
bore no faint resemblance to a large charnel-house.
Carefully embalmed, and saturated with oil of cedar,
tie heads of hostile chieftains and of famous war-
rior* were deposited in large coffers, and arranged by
their possessor according to the date of acquisition.
(Strabo, 198. ) This was the book, in which the
young Gallic warrior loved to study the exploits of
bis forefathers; and each generation, as it passed on-
ward, strove to add to the contents. To part, for
money, with the head of a foe. acquired either by
one's own exertions or those of his ancestors, was
regarded as the height of baseness, and would have
fixed a lasting stain on him who should have been
guilty of the deed. Many even boasted of having re-
fused, when offered by the relations or countrymen of
the deceased, an equal weight of gold for a head thus
obtained, (Diod. Sic. , 6, 29. ) Sometimes the scull,
cleansed and set in gold or silver, served as a cup in
the temples, or circulated in the festivities of the ban-
quet, and the guests drank out of it to the glory of the
victor and the triumphs of their country. These fierce
and brutal manners prevailed for a long period over
the whole of Gaul. Civilization, in its onward march,
abolished them by degrees, until, at the commence-
ment of the second century, they were confined to the
savage tribes of the North and West. It was there
that Posidonius found them still existing in all then-
vigour. The sight of so many human heads, disfig-
ured by outrages, and blackened by the air and the
rain, at first excited in his bosom the mingled emo-
tions of horror and disgust: "however," adds the
stoic traveller, with great naivete, "my eyes became
gradually accustomed to the view. " (Slrabo, 198. )--
The Gauls affected, as more manly in its character, a
strong and rough tone of voice (Diod. Sic, 5, 31), to
which, moreover, their harsh and guttural idioms
greatly contributed. They conversed but little, and
by means of short and concise phrases, which the con-
sUnt use of metaphors and hyperboles rendered ob-
scure and almost unintelligible to strangers. (Diod.
Sic. , I. e. ) But, when once animated by dispute, or
incited by something that was calculated to interest
or arouse, at the head of armies or in political assem-
blies, they expressed themselves with surprising co-
piousness and fluency, and the habit in which they in-
dulged, of employing figurative language, furnished
them, on such occasions, with a thousand lively and
picturesque images, either for exalting their own
merit or putting down an opponent. --The Gauls, in
general, wore accused of drinking to excess; a habit
which took its rise both in the grossness of their man-
ners and in the wants of a cold and humid climate.
The Massilian and Italian traders were not slow in fur-
nishing the necessary aliment for the indulgence of this
baneful vice. Cargoes of wine found t^ir way, by
means of the navigable rivers, into the very heart of
the country. The tempting beverage was also con-
veyed over land in wagons (Diod. Sic. , 5, 26), and in
various quarters regular establishments were opened
for vending the article. To these places the Gauls
flocked from every part, and gave, in exchange for the
wines of the south, their metals, peltries, grain, cattle,
and slaves. So lucrative was this traffic to the ven-
der, that oftentimes a young slave could be procured
for a jar of the inebriating liquor. (Diod. Sic ,5,26. )
About the first century, however, of our era, this vice
? ? began gradually to disappear from among the higher
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? GALLIA.
GALLIA.
ir. his presence, before the latter could wield a sabre
aid make a figure on the list of warriors. (Cos. , B.
G. , 6, 18. )--Among some nations of Belgic Gaul,
where the Rhine was an object of superstitious adora-
tion, a whimsical custom prevailed; the river was
made the means of testing the fidelity of the conjugal
state. When a husband had doubts respecting his pa-
ternity, he took the new-born infant, placed it on a
board, and exposed it to the current of the stream. If
the plank and its helpless burden floated safely upon
the waters, the result was deemed favourable, and all
the father's suspicions were dissipated. If, on the
contrary, the plank began to sink, the infant perished,
and the parent's suspicions were confirmed. (Julian,
Epist. , 15, ad Maxim, philos. --Id. , Orat. , 2, in Con-
stant. imp. --Anlhol. Gr. , 1, 43, 1. )
3. Civil and Religious Institutions of the Cauls.
Two privileged orders ruled in Gaul over the rest of
the population: the priests and nobles. The people
at largo were divided into two classes, the inhabitants
of the country and the residents of cities. The former
of these constituted the tribes or clients appertaining
to noble families. The client cultivated his patron's
domains, followed his standard in war, and was bound
to defend him with his life. To abandon his patron in
the hour of peril was regarded as the blackest of crimes.
The residents of cities, on the other hand, found them-
selves beyond the control of this system of clientship,
and, consequently, enjoyed greater freedom. Below
the mass of the people were the slaves, who do not
ippear, however, to have been at any time very nu-
merous. The two privileged orders of which we have
just made mention, imposed each in its turn a heavy
yoke of despotism upon Gaul; and the government of
this country may be divided into three distinct forms,
prevailing at three distinct intervals of time; that of
the priests, or a theocracy; that of the chieftains of
tribes, or a military aristocracy; and that, finally, of
ho popular constitutions, founded on the principle of
frae choice by a majority of voters. --When we exam-
ine attentively the character of the facts relative tn the
religious belief of Gaul, we are led to acknowledge
the existence of two classes of ideas, two systems of
symbols and superstitions entirely distinct from each
>>ther; in a word, two religions: one, altogether sen-
sible in its character, based on the adoration of nat-
ural phenomena, and recalling by its forms much of
the polytheism of Greece; the other, founded on a
material, metaphysical, mysterious, and sacerdotal
pantheism, presenting the most astonishing conformity
with the religions of the East. This latter has re-
ceived the name of Druidism, from the Druids, who
were its first founders and priests; the other system
has been called the Gallic Polytheism. Even if no
other testimony existed to prove the priority of the lat-
ter, in point of time, to Druidism, the natural and in-
variable progress of religious ideas among all the na-
tions of the globe would tend to establish the fact.
It is not so, however. The old and valuable traditions
of tho Cymric race attribute to this people, in the most
formal and exclusive manner, the introduction of the
Druidical doctrines into Gaul and Britain, as well as
the organization of sovereign priesthood. According
to these traditions, it was the chief of the first invasion,
Hu, Heus, or Hesus, surnamed " the powerful," who
implanted in this territory, which had been conquered
by his horde, the religious and political system of Dru-
? ? idism. A warrior, a priest, and a legislator during his
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? GALLIA.
GALLIi.
eti to :tdins of gold and amber, which proceeded
? ram la mouth. He was named Ogmius. (Lucian,
Hire. -- Opp. , cd. Hip, vol. 7, p. 312. --Compare
Hitter, Vorkallc, p. 368, scqq. )--Coincidencea of so
unking a nature with their own mythology could not
fail to surprise Roman observers, nor was it difficult
for them to discover, as tbey thought, all their own
gods in the polytheism of Gaul. Caesar consequently
nfotms us; that they acknowledged among their divin-
ities Mercury, Apollo, Mara, Jupiter, and Minerva.
''Mercury," observes this writer, "is the deily whom
>>hey chie. 'j adore: they have many images of him:
. hey * :ccunt him the inventor of arts; their guide in
ravelling and journeys; and imagine that he has a
very great influence over trade and merchandise. After
lim they adore Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva,
? >f whom they have the same opinion with other na-
tions: that Apollo averts diseases; that Minerva first
introduced needlework and manufactures; that Jupiter
holds the supreme power of the heavens; that Mars
presides over war. To him. wbentver they have de-
termined on going to battle, they usually devote the
spoil they have taken. " (Cat. , P. G. , 6, 17. ;--This
resemblance between the two systems of religion
changed into identity when Gaul, subjected ti the do-
minion of Home, had felt for some years the influence
of Roman ideas. It was then that the Gallic polythe-
ism, honoured and favoured by the emperors, ended its
career by becoming totally merged in the polytheism
of Italy; while, on the other hand, DruHism, its mys-
teries, its doctrine, and its priesthood, were cruelly
proscribed, and extinguished amid streams of blood.
4. Origin of the Gauls.
The question to be considered here is this, whether
there existed a Gallic family distinct from the other
families of nations in the West, and whether it was di-
vided into two races. The proofs which we shall ad-
duce in favour of the affirmative are of three kinds:
1st, philological, deduced from an examination of the
primitive languages of the west of Europe: 2d, his-
torical, drawn from the Greek and Roman writers:
3d, likewise historical, deduced from national tradi-
tions among the Gauls.
I. Proofs drawn from an examination of languages.
In the countries of Europe, called by the ancients
Transalpine Gaul and Britain, embracing, at the pres-
ent day, France, Switzerland, the Low Countries, and
the British Isles, various languages are spoken, which
all, however, range themselves under two great classes:
one, that of the languages of the South, draws its ori-
gin from the Latin, and embraces all the dialecta of
the Romans and French; the other, that of the North-
ern languages, is descended from the ancient Teutonic
or German, and prevails in a part of Switzerland and
the Low Countries, in England, and in the lowlands
of Scotland. Now we know historically that the Latin
language was introduced into Gaul by the Roman
arms: we know, also, that the Teutonic languages,
spoken in Gaul and in Britain, may be in like manner
traced to the conquests of the Teutonic or German
tribes: these two main languages, therefore, intro-
duced from without, are strangers to the primitive
population, that is to say, to the population which oc-
cupied the countries in question anterior to these con-
quests. But in the midst of so many new-Latin and
cew-Teutonic dialects, we find in some parts of France
and Britain the remains of primitive languages, com-
? ? pletely distinct from the two great classes of which we
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? GALLIA.
GALLIA.
in h portion of the south, and in all the east of Gaul,
in upper Italy, in Illyria, and in central and western
? Spain. It is tbo eastern and southern provinces, how-
ever, of Gaul that bear the most evident marks of the
passage of this tongue. It is only by the aid of a
Gaelic glossary that we can discover the signification
of geographical names, dignities, institutions, individu-
als, &c, belonging to the primitive population of this
country. Still farther, the patois of the east and south
of France at the present day swarms with words that
are strangers to the Latin, and which are discovered
to bo taken from the Gaelic tongue. From these
facts we may deduce the following inferences: 1. that
the race which spoke Gaelic, in distant ages, occu-
pied the British isles and Gaul, and that from this
centre the language spread itself over many cantons
of Italy, Spain, and Illyria. 2.
That it preceded in
Britain the race which spoke the Cymric.
3. Of the Cymric tongue.
That part of Britain which is called (he country or
principality of Wales, is inhabited, as is well known,
by a people who bear in their mother-tongue the name
of Cymri or Kymri; and from the most distant period
they have known no other. Authentic literary monu-
ments attest that thiB language, the Cymraig or Cym-
ric, was cuhivated with great eclat about the sixth
century of our era, not only within the actual limits of
the principality of Wales, but along the whole west-
ern coast of England, while the Anglo-Saxons, a Ger-
manic population, occupied by conquest the centre and
the east. An examination of the geographical and his-
torical nomenclatures of Britain, anterior to the arrival
of its German invaders, proves also, that, before this
epoch, the Cymric prevailed throughout the whole
southern part of the island, where it had succeeded to
the Gaelic, which had been banished to the north. We
have already stated, that the Bas-Breton, or Armoric
tongue, spoken in a part of Brittany, was a Cymric
dialect. The intermixture of a great number of Latin
and French words has altered, it is true, the aspect
of this dialect; yet historical monuments bear full tes-
timony to the fact, that, about the fifth century, it was
almost identically the same with that of the island of
Britain, since the natives of this island, who fled to
Armorica to escape from the Anglo-Saxons, found in
this latter country, it is said, a people who spoke the
same language with themselves. (Adclung, Muhra-
dates, vol. 2, p. 157. ) The names, moreover, drawn
from geography and history, clearly show, that this
idiom was spoken anterior to the fifth century in the
whole of the west and north of Gaul. This tract of
country then, as well as the southern portion of the
isle of Britain, must have been anciently peopled by
the race that spoke the Cymric tongue. But what
is the generic name of this race? la it the Armari-
um ? --Is it the Breton ? --Armorican, which signifies
"maritime,'* is a local, not a generic, appellation;
while, on the other hand, Breton appears to have been
nothing more than the name of a particular tribe. We
will adopt then, provisorily, as the true name of this
race, that of Cymri, which from the sixth century has
served to designate it in the isle of Britain. --As re-
gards the two idioms of the Cymric and Gaelic, it may
not be amiss to state the following general particulars.
The basis of both is undoubtedly the same, and both
apring from some common tongue. By the side, how-
ever, of this striking similitude in the roots and in the
? ? general system of the composition of words, we can-
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? GALLIA.
GALLIA.
thin between the former and the Gauls, who were
separated from them merely by the Garonne; in fine,
that their virtues and their vices were assimilated in
the closest manner to that standard of good and evil
qualities which appears to have constituted the moral
type of the Iberian race. We find, then, a concordance
between the proofs drawn from history and those de-
duced from an examination of languages: the Aqui-
ani were, beyond doubt, an Iberian population.
2. Ligures.
The Ligures, whom the Greeks call Ligyes, are des-
ignated by Strabo as strangers to Gaul. Sextus Avi-
enus, whose labours were based upon documents which
had been left by the Carthaginians, and who, conse-
quently, must have been put tn possession of i. iuch
valuable natter connected with the ancient history of
Iberia, places the primitive seats of the Iberi in the
southwest of Spain, whence, after a long succession
of conflicts, the invasion of the conquering Celts had
compelled them to remove. (. Inn. , v. 132, teqq. )
Stepbanus of Byzantium also places in the southwest
of Spain, near Tartessus, a city of the figures, which
he calls Ligystinc (Aiywrrtvir). Thucydides subse-
quently shows us the Ligures, expelled from the south-
western part of the peninsula, arriving on the eastern
borders of the Sicoris or Segre, and driving away in
their turn the nation of the- Sicani. (Thutyd. , 6, 2. )
He does not give this as a simple tradition, but as
an inrontestible fact. Ephorus and Philistus of Syra-
cuse held the same language in their writings, and Stra-
bo believes that the Sicani were originally Iberians.
The Sicani, driven from their country, forced their
way through the eastern passes of the Pyrenees, trav-
ersed the Mediterranean shore of Gaul, and entered
Italy. The Ligures must have followed them, since
we find the latter nearly at the same time spread over
tie whole (lallic and Italian coasts, from the Pyrenees
as far as the Arno. We know, by the unanimous tes-
timony of the ancient writers, tkat the west and the
centre of Spain had been conquered by the Celts or
Galli; but wo are uninformed as to the period when
this took place. The movements of the Sicani and
Ligures show us that the invasion was made by the
western passes of the Pyrenees; and that the Iberian
tribes, driven back on the eastern coast, began to move
onward into Gaul and even Italy. They furnish us
also with an approximation to the date when this took
place: the Sicani, expelled from Italy, as they had
been from Spain, seized upon the island of Sicily about
the year 1400 B. C. (Frerel, (Euvr. compl, vol. 4. p.
200), which places the irruption of the CclUe into Ibe-
ria about the sixteenth century before the Christian
era. --Although, after what has been said, the Iberian
origin of the Ligures appears to be placed beyond the
reach of doubt, it must nevertheless be acknowledged,
that their manners did not bear so strong an Iberian
stamp as those of the Aquitani: the reason would
seem to be, that they did not preserve themselves
from foreign intermixture. History tells us of power-
ful Celtic tribes intermingled with them in Celto-Li-
p'i:ia. between the Alps and the Rhone; at a still la-
ter period, Ihero-Liguria, between the Rhone and
Spain, was subjugated almost entirely by a people who
were total strangers to the Ligures, and who bore the
Dame of Volcae. The date of this invasion of the
Volcx* into Ibero-Liguria (now Languedoe) cannot be
filed with any precision. The most ancient recitals,
? ? whether mythological or historical, and the peripluses
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? GALLIA
GALLIA.
1 the A. vernian Mountains to me west, and the ocean
to the noith: all tin > tract, and the coast likewise of
the Mediterranean, so unproductive and arid at the
present day, were for a long time covered with dense
t'orests. (Lib. , 5, 34. ) Plutarch places also between
the Alps and the Pyrenees, in the earliest ages, a people
called Celtorii. (Vit. Camill. ) This race is thought
? >/ some to have formed part of the league or confeder-
ation of the Celts, for tor signifies " elevated," and also
"a mountain," and hence Cellar is supposed to desig-
nate an inhabitant of the woody mountains. Thus it
would seem that the Celtic confederation, in the time
of its greatest power, was subdivided into Celts of the
plain and Celts of che mountain. Historians unani-
mously inform us, that it was the Celts who conquered
the west and the centre of Spain; and, in fact, we
find their name attached to great masses of the Gallo-
Iberian population, such as the Celt-Ibcri, a mixture of
Celts and Iberians, who occupied the centre of the
peninsula; and the Celtici, who had seized upon the
northwest. It is easy to perceive that the invasion
must have commenced with the Gallic tribes nearest
the Pyrenees. The Celtic confederation, however, did
not alone accomplish this conquest; other Gallic tribes
either accompanied or followed them: witness, for ex-
ample, the people established in what is now Gallicia,
and was anciently denominated Galloecia, and who, as
la well known, belonged to the general Gallic race.
Thus much for Spain. --As for upper Italy, though
twice inundated by transalpine nations, it presents no
trace of the name of Celt: no tribe, no territory, no
river, recalls their peculiar appellation. Everywhere
and on every occasion we meet merely with the gen-
eral name of Gauls. The word Celts became known
to the Romans only at a late period. --As to the asser-
tion of Cesar, that the Gauls were called in their own
language Celts? , it is possible that the Roman com-
mander, more occupied with combating the Gauls than
studying their language and institutions, and finding,
in effect, that the word Celt was Gallic, and recog-
nised by the Gauls for one of their national denomi-
nations, may, without farther investigation, have con-
cluded that the two terms were synonymous. It is
possible, too, that the Gauls of the eastern and central
sections may have adopted, in their commercial and
political relations with the Greeks, a name by which
the latter were accustomed to designate them ; just as
we sec, in our own days, some of the tribes of Amer-
ica and Africa, accepting, under similar circumstances,
appellations which are either quite inexact or else totally
erroneous. --From what has thus far been remarked, it
would seem to follow, 1. That the name Celt had,
among the Gauls, a limited and local application. 2.
That the confederation of the tribes denominated Cel-
tic dwelt in part among the Ligurcs, in part between
the Cevennes and the Garonne, and along the Arver-
nian plateau and the ocean. 3. That the Celtic con-
federation exhausted its strength in the invasion and
conquest of Spain, and took no share consequently in
two successive invasions of Italy.
4. Bdgce.
The Belga are unanimously acknowledged by the
ancient writers as forming part of the Gallic race.
The word Belga belongs to the Cymric idiom, in which,
under the form Belgiaidd, the radical of which is Belg,
:t signifies " warlike. " It would seem, then, that this
was not a generic appellation, but a title of some mili-
? ? tary expedition, some armed confederation. It is a
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? GALI. iA.
GALLIA.
(Orig. , 9, 2) ; as did also Solinus and Scrvius. The
Greek writers also followed in the same train, with
few exceptions, notwithstanding an etymology very
popular in Greece, which made the word Umbrian
(Ombrian) to be derived from *0/ity>>r, "a shower,"
"rain. " because the nation in question had, according
to some, escaped from a deluge. The Umbrians were
regarded as one of the most ancient nations of Italy.
{Plin. , 2,14. --Florut, 1,17. ) After long and bloody
conflicts, they drove the Siculi from the country around
tne Pa Now, aa the Siculi passed into Sicily about
1364 D. C. , the Umbrian invasion may have taken
nlace in the course of the 15th century. They be-
came a very powerful race, and their sway extended
from the upper to the lower sea, as far south as the
mouths of the Tiber and Trento. The Etrurian power
eventually put an end to their wide-spread dominion.
The words Umhri, Ombri. and Ombrici, by which the
Romans and the Greeks designated this people, would
seem to have been nothing else but the Gaelic Ambra
or Amhra, which signifies " valiant," "noble;" and to
have been appropriated to itself as a military title by
some invading horde. --The geographical division es-
tablished by the Umbrians is not only in conform :*v
with the customs of the Gallic race, but belongs to
their very language. Umbria was divided into three
provinces: OU-Ombria, or "High Umbria," which
comprised the mountainous country between the Apen-
nines and the Ionian Sea: Is-Ombria, or " Low Um-
bria," which embraced the country around the Po:
and Vil-Ombria, or " Umbria along the shore," which
tut, at a later period, became Etruria. A lthough the
Etrurian influence produced a rapid change in the lan-
guage, religion, and social order of the Umbrians,
there still were preserved among the mountaineers of
C. 'li-Ombria some remarkable traces of the character
and customs of the Gauls: for example, the gsesum or
fail, a weapon both in its invention and name pointing
to a Gallic origin, was always the national Javelin of
the Umbrian peasant. {Liv. , 9, 36. ) The Umbrians,
who had been dispersed by the Etrurian conquerors,
were received as brothers on the banks of the Sadne
md among the Helvetian tribes, where they perpetu-
ated their name of Insubres (Isombres). "Insulres,"
t observes Livy, "pagus AZduorum" (5, 23). Others
found a hospitable reception among the Ligurians of
the Maritime Alps {Plin. . 3, 17, seqq), and carried
thither their name of Ambrones. This alone can ex-
plain a point which has occasioned much perplexity to
historians, and has given rise to numerous contradic-
tory theories; how, namely, a tribe of Alpine Ligurians,
snd another of Hclvetii, warring against each other
under the respective banners of the Romans and the
Cimbri, found, to their great astonishment, that they had
each the ssme name and the same war-cry. {Pint. ,
Vit. Mar. )--From what has been said, it would seem
to result, that upper Italy was conquered in the 15th
century before our. era by a confederation of Gallic
tribes bearing the name of Ambra or Ambrones. --Sa-
nd conquest. The first invasion had been made en
swue, with something of order, and by a single con-
federation ; the second was successive and tumultuous.
During the space of sixty-six years, Gaul poured her
population upon Italy by the Maritime, the Graian, and
the Pennine Alps. If we bear in mind that, about the
same epoch (B. C. 587), an emigration not less consid-
erable took place from Gaul tc Illyria, under the con-
? ? duct of Sigovcsus, we cannot but believe that these
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? GALLI. '.
GALLIA
h'ubeas ; beyond this they styled it Cronium. (Plin. ,
i, 13) These two names are easily explained by the
Cymric language: mar there signifies " sea;" marts,
"to die ;" marwsis, " death ;" and crumn, "congeal-
ed," " frozen :" in Gaelic, croin has the same force:
Murchroinn is "the frozen sea. " (Adelung, altcstc
Gesch der Teutscken, p. 48. --Toland's icveral pieces,
pt. 1, p. 150. )--Ephorus, who lived about the same
period, knew the Cimbri, and gives them the name of
Celts; but in his geographical system, this very vague
denomination designates at the same time a Gaul and
an inhabitant of Western Europe. (Strabo, 803. )
When, between the years 113 and 101 before our era,
a deluge of Cimbri poured its desolating fury on Gaul,
Spain, and Italy, the belief was general, that they came
from the extremities of the West, from the frozen re-
gions bordering on the Northern Ocean, from the Cim-
bric Chersonese, from the shores of the Cimbric The-
tis. (Floras, 3, 3. --Polyatn. , 8,10. --Ammian. Mar-
tell. , 31, 5. --Claudian, BcU. Get. , v. 638. --Plul. , Vit.
Mar. ) In the time of Augustus, the Cimbri occupied
portion of Jutland, and they acknowledged them-
selves to be tho descendants of those who, in a pre-
ceding age, had committed so many ravages. Alarmed
at the conquests of the Romans beyond the Rhine, and
supposing that their object was to inflict vengeance
upon them for the inroad of their ancestors, ihey sent
hi embassy to the emperor to supplicate for pardon.
(Strabo, 292. ) Strabo and Mela (3, 3) place these
Cimbri to the north of the Elbe. Tacitus found them
there in his own time. (Germ. , c. 37. ) Pliny gives
a much more extensive signification to this name of
Cimbri; he would seem to make it a generic term.
He not only, for example, recognises the Cimbri of the
present Jutland, but he speaks also of tho Mediterra-
nean Cimbri (4, 3) in the vicinity of the Rhine, com-
prehending, under . this common appellation, various
Tribes which in other writers bear widely different
names. These Cimbri, inhabiting Jutland and the
countries round about, were generally regarded as
Gauls, that is to say, as belonging to one of the two
races which then held possession of Gaul. Cicero, in
speaking of the great invasion of Cimbri, says in many
places that Marius had conquered the Gauls. In like
manner. Sallust (Bell. Jug. , c.
