The Gallic War
C. Julius Caesar
Book 5
12
The interior part of Britain is inhabited by those men who themselves
say it is handed down in their traditions that were born on the island itself,
the costal part is inhabited by those men, for the sake of loot and impelled by
war, had crossed over from Belgium, almost all who are called by those names of
the cities from which being sprung they went thither, and war having been
inflicted, they continued there and began to cultivate fields. Of men there is an infinite multitude, and
the closely-packed structures generally are very similar to the Gallic style,
of cattle there is a great number. They
use bronze, gold coin, or iron bars weighed at a certain weight for money. Tin is produced there in the inland regions,
iron in the coastal regions, but the amount of this is scanty; they use
imported bronze. There is lumber of
every kind, as in Gaul, except beech and fir.
They do not think it right to enjoy the hare, hen, and goose; still they
rear these animals for amusement and pleasure.
The places are more temperate than in Gaul, the cold seasons more
relaxed.
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The island is three-cornered in nature, of which one side is
opposite Gaul. The first angle of this
side, which is at Kent, where almost all the ships from Gaul are landed, faces
the east, the part below faces the south.
This extends about five hundred miles.
Another side bends towards Spain and the west; on that side is Ireland,
smaller by half, as it is reckoned, than Britain, but at the same distance of
passage as there is from Gaul to Britain.
In this middle of the route, there is an island which is called “Man”:
in addition, many smaller neighboring islands are estimated, concerning which
islands some have written that thirty continuous days around the winter solstice
are night. We discovered nothing
concerning this by inquiring unless we saw by means of exact water-measurements
that the nights were shorter than on the Continent. The length of this side is, as the opinion of
men holds, seven hundred miles. The
third side is opposite the north, to which part no land is opposite; but the
angle of that side looks especially to Germany.
It is reckoned that this side is eight hundred miles in length. Thus is the whole island is in circumference
two thousand miles.
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Out of all these, the most civilized are those who inhabit
Kent, which is all a coastal region, and they do not differ much in custom from
Gaul. Most men in the interior do not
raise crops, but they live on milk and flesh, and are clothed with pelts. Truly, all Britons cover themselves with
woad, which brings about a blue color, and by this they are more horrible to
behold in battle; they have flowing hair and are shaven in every part of the
body, except the head and the upper lip.
Ten to twelve men have wives in common among themselves, chiefly
brothers with brothers and parents with children; but the children of these
wives are regarded his by whom each virgin first was taken in marriage.
Book 6
13
In all Gaul, there are two kinds of those men who are of
some account and honor. For the plebs
are held almost in the place of slaves, who risk nothing by themselves, who are
consulted in no debate. Many, when they
are xthe nobles, who have every right are over them as have masters over slaves. Yet concerning these two kinds of men, the
first is of the Druids, the second is of the Equestrians. They take part in sacred affairs, they manage
public and private sacrifices, they interpret religious duties: to these a
great number of young men flock for study, and these are among them in great
honor. For they decide almost all public
and private disputes and, if any crime has been committed, if murders have been
done, if it is a dispute concerning inheritance or borders, they settle it,
they decide the rewards and the punishments; if any private citizen or the
people has failed to abide by their decree, they forbid sacrifices. This
punishment is the most severe among them.
Those who have thus been forbidden, these are placed in a body of wicked
and criminal men, everyone abandons them, they flee the approach and the
conversation, lest they receive something unsuitable from contact, and justice is
not returned for their petitions, lest any dignity is imparted. One man is the head of all these Druids, who
has the greatest authority among them.
At his death, if any exceeds the rest in dignity, he succeeds, or if
many are equal, by a vote of the Druids, oftentimes by arms, do they contend
for the supremacy. These Druids, at a
certain time of the year, in the territory of the Carnutes, which region is
held the middle of all Gaul, hold congress in a consecrated place. Here everyone gathers from every place who
have disputes and submit to the decrees and judgments of these men. The instruction is reckoned to have been discovered
in Britain and thither come into Gaul, and now those who wish to know this business
more accurately generally depart thither for the purpose of studying it.
14
The Druids are accustomed to be absent from war, and pay no
taxes with the rest; they have an immunity from military service and an immunity
from all things. Enticed by so many
rewards, both many enter into instruction by their own free will and many are
sent by parents and relatives. Then they
are said to memorize a great number of lines.
Therefore, many men remain twenty years in study. They do not think that it is right to entrust
these things to writing, while in almost every other affair, in public and
private accounts, they use the Greek alphabet.
They seem to me to have established it with regard to two causes,
because they do not wish that the study be risen to the common people nor do
they wish that those becoming skilled in studying letters pursue less after memory;
because it happens to almost everyone that with the help of letters, they relax
their diligence in learning thoroughly and in memory. First they wish to persuade this, that souls do
not perish but cross over from after death from one to another, and they think souls
are excited especially to virtue with the fear of death ignored. In addition, many things they discuss and
relate to the youth concerning the stars and their motion, concerning the size
of the earth and terrestrial universe, concerning the nature of things,
concerning the strength and power of the immortal gods.
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