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XXXII. A Dissertation on the Religion of the Druids. Addressed to Governor Pownall. By Edward Ledwich, LL. B. Vicar of Aghaboe, Queen's County, Ireland; and Member of the Antiquary Societies of London, Dublin, and Edinburgh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

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Extract

To form complete systems of early colonizations, of antient history, learning, and manners, from the few remaining vestigia of former times, to decorate them with the ornaments of language and erudition, to strain every nerve to give them consistence and credibility, hath engaged the attention and labour of the most eminent writers of this and the last century. Witness the works of Rudbeck, Bochart, Pezron, Bryant, Gebelin, and many more. To the sober eye of reason the talk must appear discouraging, and its accomplishment extremely difficult: no man, how learned or ingenious soever, can be depended on for supplying the great deficiency of matter which is necessary to fill up the chasms of antiquity. The attempt seems as arduous, and almost as absurd, as to endeavour to erect another Herculaneum with its prefect ruins and the lava that destroyed it.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1785

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References

page 304 note [a] This is no new complaint. See Parrhasiana, tom. ii. pag. 360.

page 305 note [b] The words of the authors of the Universal History, vol. XVIII. pag. 2. edit. 8vo.

page 305 note [c] Vallancey's Essay on the Celtic language, p. 43.

page 306 note [d] Compare Vallancey on the Celtic language, p. 37, and on the antiquity of the Irish language, p. 275—281. Had not then the learned Bruker reason for saying, “Tantis vero difficultatibus et insuperabili fere obscuritate et incertitudine “laborat Celtarum historia, ut quid inde certi et supra exiguum verisimi “litudinis gradum ex nostra tractatione promittere queamus, non habeamus: quæ “maluimus modeste fateri, quam incertas, pro more solenni, conjecturas pro certis “veritatibus lectori obtrudere.” Hist. Philosoph. lib. ii. cap. 9.

page 306 note [e] Antiquities of Cornwall, p. 63.

page 306 note [f] . Diss. 38. “La religion des Gaulois differoit de celle des Germains en ce, que la premiere “plus rafinée; mais les dieux en bonne partie etoient les memes.” Leibnitz Oper. tom. vii. p. 502. edit. Dutens.

page 306 note [g] Bruker remarks, that a great change was introduced into the religious dogmas of the Celts by the Massylian colony; and Mr. Macpherson (Introduction, p. 160), rightly concludes, for this and other reasons their aboriginal notions cannot now be developed. Stukeley, Borlase, and Vallancey have jumbled all together, to eke out their favourite hypothesis. If they had proceeded, says Bruker, “prout criticæ historicæ fidei regula patiuntur, tot fabulis, totque incertis narrationibus “de majoribus nostris non premeretur historia harum gentium. Verum “neglecto critico examine veritas quaque neglecta est fæpiuscule.” P. 315.

page 307 note [h] Il est constant et reconnu, que Jules Cesar a confondu le Dis des Gaulois avec celui des Romains, qui etoit Pluton, qu'il n'ait pas été entierement au fait de la religion des Gaulois, et qu'il en ait parlé plutot en general qu'en savant et en philosophe. Pelleutier, Hist. des Celtes, tom. i. p. 125, 126.

page 307 note [i] Illi rebus divinis intersunt: sacrificia publica ac privata procurant: religiones interpretantur. Cæs. lib. 6.

page 307 note [k] Antiquit. Rom. lib. 2.

page 308 note [l] De omnibus fere controversiis, publicis privatisque, constituunt. Cæs.

page 308 note [m] Dionys. Hal. lib. 2. Liv. lib. 1. Ad eos, de omnibus divinis atque humanis rebus referretur. Cic. de Oratore, et Orat. pro domo.

page 308 note [n] At, inquit Publii filius, ex patre audivi, pontificem neminem bonum esse, nisi qui jus civile cognoscet. Cic. de leg. lib. 2. The sacerdotal and judicial offices were always united in the same persons. . Ælian. Var. Hist. lib. xiv. cap. 34. 1 Chron. xxiii. 4. 26. 29. Strab. lib. 1 and 4. Tacit. Ger. cap. 7 and 11.

page 308 note [o] Si quis eorum decreto non stetit, sacrificiis interdicunt. Cæs.

page 308 note [p] Moneo ne sacra manus

Violata cæde, neve suriali malo

Aspergat aras. Senec. in Thyest. Stat. Syl. 3.

page 308 note [q] His autem omnibus Druidibus præest unus, qui summam inter eos habet auctoritatem. Cæs.

page 308 note [r] Livius, et fere omnes Romani scriptores.

page 308 note [s] Hoc mortuo, siquis ex reliquis excellit dignitate, succedit: at si plure, sunt pares, suffragio Druidum adlegitur. Cæs.

page 308 note [t] Dionyl. Hal. supra. Dio. lib. 37. Ascon. in Cic. Divin.

page 309 note [u] Druidæ neque tributa una cum reliquis pendunt, militiæ vacationem omniumque rerum habent immunitatem. Cæs.

page 309 note [w] Et licet a collationibus multi fuerant sacerdotes immunes, sunt tamen exempla, pontifices et sacerdotes pecuniam propter bellum conferri solitam in stipendiariam contulisse, quum se ob sacerdotium immunes dicerent. Alex. ab Alex. lib. ii. p. 65.

page 309 note [x] Magnum ibi numerum versuum ediscere dicuntur. Cæs.

page 309 note [y] Serv. in Virg. 4 Eclog. Bono ordine, primo poetas.

page 309 note [z] Petron. Arbit.

page 309 note [a] Neque fas esse existimant ea literis mandare. Cæs.

page 309 note [b] Plutarch Quæst. Rom. 99.

page 309 note [c] In primis hoc volunt persuadere, non interire animas, sed ab aliis, post mortem, transire ad alios. Cæs.

page 309 note [d] Multa præterea de sideribus, atque eorum motu; de mundi ac terrarum magnitudine; de rerum natura; de deorum immortalium vi ac potestate disputant. Cæs

page 310 note [e] Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. ii. Plutarch. de Ei apud Delp. Amm. Marcell. lib. 21.

page 310 note [f] Neque argenti scrupulum, esse ullum in illa insula, neque ullam spem prædæ nisi ex mancipiis: ex quibus nullos puto te literis aut musicis eruditos expectare. Ep. xv. lib. 4.

page 310 note [g] . Lib. v. Bochart shews, that Saron or Saronis, among the Greeks, was an oak, and equivalent to druis. Phaleg. p. 741.

page 310 note [h] . Diod. ubi supra.

page 311 note [i] Orig. lib. ii. cap. xxi. pag. 873.

page 311 note [k] Mona Antiqua, p. 62.

page 311 note [l] Sext. Empiric. lib. ix. Strab. lib. xvi.

page 311 note [m] Antiquities of Cornwall, p. 74.

page 312 note [n] Epig. 86. lib. 2.

page 312 note [o] . Isocrat. Panegyr. and Cicero. Hanc enim perfectam philosophiam semper judicavi, quæ de maximis quæstionibus copiose posset, ornateque dicere. Tusc. Quæst. 1. De Orat. lib. 1. . Dionys. Hal. de charact. Thucyd.

page 312 note [p] Aristot. Phys. 12. 2. Mètaphys. 4. 3. 11. 3. Hieroc. in carm. Pythagor. in tio, where this is fully confirmed. Porphyry has a remarkable expression to our purpose: . De Abstinent. lib. ii. §. 49.

page 312 note [q] . Proæmio.

page 313 note [r] . pag. 4. edit. casaub.

page 313 note [s] As described by Diod. Sic. before.

page 313 note [t] Neque enim erat ferendum, cum, qui hodie haruspicinam facerent in Senatu Romæ legerentur; eos qui aliquando præconium fecissent, in municipiis decuriones esse non licere. Cic Epist. 18. lib. 6.

page 314 note [u] Lib. 4.

page 314 note [v] Diog. Laert. vit. Epicuri. p. 726.

page 314 note [x] Nat. Hist. lib. 16. cap. 44. sub finem.

page 315 note [y] Quæ ut veræ philosophiæ characteribus e diametro sunt contraria, ita quod de eorum philosophia in genere judicandum sit produnt. Hist. Philosoph. pag. 319.

page 315 note [z] Lib. 24. cap. 11. Lib. 29. cap. 3.

page 315 note [a] Atque ut est magorum solertia, occultandis fraudibus sagax. Plin. lib. 29. cap. 3.

page 315 note [b] In quibus hominem occidere religiosissimum erat, mandi vero etiam saluberrimum. Plin. lib. 30. cap. 1.

page 315 note [c] Lhuyd, Archaeol. in voce. Dickinson, Delph. Phoeniz. p. 188.

page 316 note [d] The name Magi in the East was most august and venerable: they alone were skilled in divine matters and the ministers of the deity. . Porphyr. de abstinent. Lib. 4. § 16.

page 316 note [e] Super omnia adjuvere eum magicæ vanitates (he is speaking of Asclepiades) in tantum evectæ, ut abrogare herbis fidem cunctis possunt. Plin. lib. 26. cap. 4. The whole chapter well deserves perusal. See also lib. 28. cap. 16. lib. 37. cap. 10. lib. 30. cap. 1. Magicas vanitates sæpius equidem antecedentis operis parte, ubicunque causæ locusque poscebant, coarguimus detegimusque. And Bruker. Druides, qui tamen medicinam magicam magis quam physicam excoluisse videntur.—Et hoc quoque nomine Druides e philosophorum albo delentur, anicularum et medicastrorum choris inserendi, pag. 341, 342.

page 316 note [f] Non satis astimari potest, quantum Romanis debeatur qui sustulere monstra. lib. 30. cap. 1.

page 316 note [g] Lib. 5.

page 316 note [h] Pausan. in Phocic.

page 316 note [i] Adv. Jovin. lib. 2. Baron. Annal. A. D. 429. n. 2.

page 317 note [k] Macpherson's Dissert. Preface.

page 317 note [l] Pictura vitrea, quæ est in claustro de Streneshale, monstrat Scotos, qui prope fines Anglorum habitabant fuisse, vel ad Gulielmi nothi tempora, anthropophagos, et hanc immanitatem a Gulielmi gladio fuisse punitam. Monast. Anglic. p. 72.

page 317 note [m] Quem excoriantes, Scoti diviserunt inter se pellem ipsius in modicas partes; non quidem ad reliquias, sed in contumelias. W. Hemingsford, vol. I. p. 130.

page 317 note [n] Aventinus delcribes the sacrifices of the Abrunæ in almost the words of Diodorus Siculus, Ann. Boior. p. 20.

page 317 note [o] Hawkesworth's, Forster's and Cook-'s Voyages.

page 318 note [p] Voyage en Siberie, par Gmelin.

page 318 note [q] Lib. 4. vers. 468.

page 319 note [r] Strab. lib. 16. plin. lib. 6. cap. 26.

page 319 note [s] Aphorism. 1. in Hippo rat.

page 319 note [t] Voss. de Scient. Mathem. cap. 30.

page 319 note [u] Diod. Sic. lib. 5. Plin. lib. 7. cap. 56. Voss. de Philosoph. sect. cap. 1, 2, 3.

page 321 note [w] Lib. 3.

page 321 note [x] Chanaan, p. 665.