The History of England, Volume I | Page 9

superstition, varied only by those small
differences which time or communication with the bordering nations
must necessarily introduce. The inhabitants of Gaul, especially in those
parts which lie contiguous to Italy, had acquired, from a commerce

with their southern neighbours, some refinement in the arts, which
gradually diffused themselves northwards, and spread but a very faint
light over this island. The Greek and Roman navigators or merchants
(for there were scarcely any other travellers in those ages) brought back
the most shocking accounts of the ferocity of the people, which they
magnified, as usual, in order to excite the admiration of their
countrymen. The south-east parts, however, of Britain had already,
before the age of Caesar, made the first, and most requisite step
towards a civil settlement; and the Britons, by tillage and agriculture,
had there increased to a great multitude [a]. The other inhabitants of the
island still maintained themselves by pasture: they were clothed with
skins of beasts. They dwelt in huts, which they reared in the forests and
marshes, with which the country was covered: they shifted easily their
habitation, when actuated either by the hopes of plunder, or the fear of
an enemy: the convenience of feeding their cattle was even a sufficient
motive for removing their seats: and as they were ignorant of all the
refinements of life, their wants and their possessions were equally
scanty and limited. [FN [a] Caesar. lib. 4.]
The Britons were divided into many small nations or tribes; and being a
military people, whose sole property was their arms and their cattle, it
was impossible, after they had acquired a relish for liberty, for their
princes or chieftains to establish any despotic authority over them.
Their governments, though monarchical [b], were free, as well as those
of all the Celtic nations; and the common people seem even to have
enjoyed more liberty among them [c] than among the nations of Gaul
[d], from which they were descended. Each state was divided into
factions within itself [e]: it was agitated with jealousy or animosity
against the neighbouring states: and while the arts of peace were yet
unknown, wars were the chief occupation, and formed the chief object
of ambition among the people. [FN [b] Diod. Sic. lib. 4. Mela, lib. 3.
cap. 6. Strabo, lib. 4. [c] Dion. Cassius, lib. 75 [d] Caesar. lib. 6. [e]
Tacit. Agr.]
The religion of the Britons was one of the most considerable parts of
their government; and the Druids, who were their priests, possessed
great authority among them. Besides ministering at the altar, and
directing all religious duties, they presided over the education of youth;
they enjoyed an immunity from wars and taxes; they possessed both the

civil and criminal jurisdiction; they decided all controversies among
states as well as among private persons, and whoever refused to submit
to their decree was exposed to the most severe penalties. The sentence
of excommunication was pronounced against him: he was forbidden
access to the sacrifices or public worship: he was debarred all
intercourse with his fellow-citizens, even in the common affairs of life:
his company was universally shunned, as profane and dangerous. He
was refused the protection of law [f]; and death itself became an
acceptable relief from the misery and infamy to which he was exposed.
Thus, the bands of government, which were naturally loose among that
rude and turbulent people, were happily corroborated by the terrors of
their superstition. [FN [f] Caesar, lib. 6. Strabo, lib. 4.]
No species of superstition was ever more terrible than that of the
Druids. Besides the severe penalties, which it was in the power of the
ecclesiastics to inflict in this world, they inculcated the eternal
transmigration of souls; and thereby extended their authority as far as
the fears of their timorous votaries. They practised their rites in dark
groves or other secret recesses [g]; and in order to throw a greater
mystery over their religion, they communicated their doctrines only to
the initiated, and strictly forbad the committing of them to writing, lest
they should at any time be exposed to the examination of the profane
vulgar. Human sacrifices were practised among them: the spoils of war
were often devoted to their divinities; and they punished with the
severest tortures whoever dared to secrete any part of the consecrated
offering; these treasures they kept in woods and forests, secured by no
other guard than the terrors of their religion [h]; and this steady
conquest over human avidity may be regarded as more signal than their
prompting men to the most extraordinary and most violent efforts. No
idolatrous worship ever attained such an ascendant over mankind as
that of the ancient Gauls and Britons; and the Romans, after their
conquest, finding it impossible to reconcile those nations to the law