ness. the Spirits of darkness which magicians convoke at midnight in places of gloomy and terrific wildTheir heated imaginations left no authority to reason. They resolved without deliberation to unite themselves with the Franks. Three times did a warrior endeavour to oppose their resolve: three times did they force him to silence, and at the third time the herald at arms cut off the skirt of his mantle. "This, however, was but the prelude to a scene of horror. The crowd demanded, with loud cries, the sacrifice of a human victim, that they might the better ascertain the designs of heaven. The Druids always preserved for these sacrifices some malefactor whom the laws had already condemned. The Druidess was obliged to declare that, since no victim had been prepared, religion demanded an aged man as an offering the most agreeable to Teutates.* "An iron basin was immediately produced to receive the blood of the old man to be sacrificed * That human victims were sacrificed by the Druids to their two principal gods Hesus and Teutates, we learn from Lactantius, de Fals. Relig. lib. 1, c. 21, and from Lucan's Pharsalia 1. 1, v. 445. Et quibus immitis placatur sanguine diro D Rowe's Lucan. by Velleda. The basin was placed before her upon the earth. She had not descended from the funeral tribunal from which she harangued the people; but she was seated upon a triangle of brass, her garments disordered, her hair dishevelled, holding a poniard in her hand, whilst a torch lay blazing under her feet. I know not how this scene would have ended: perhaps I my, self, might have fallen under the swords of the Barbarians in endeavouring to interrupt the sacrifice; but heaven, in its goodness, or in its wrath, put an end to my horrible situation. The stars sunk in the west. The Gauls feared lest they should be surprized by day-light. They resolved to postpone the sacrifice until Dis,* the god of darkness, should enshroud the heavens in another night. The crowd dispersed over the heath and the lights were extinguished. A few torches only, agitated by the wind, gleamed here and there in the bosom of the woods, whilst the distant chorus of the Bardi rose upon the ear, singing as they retired these inauspicious words: "Teutates will have blood; he has spoken in : * Dis is a contraction of the Latin word dives, riches and is used as a synonyme both of Plutus, the god of riches, and Pluto, the king of the gloomy regions, or Hell. Lempriere and some other mythologists say, that Plutus and Pluto are two entirely different personages-See Lemp. Clas. Dic. in voc. But Cicero (de Nat. Deor. lib. 11, c. 26)-Fulgentius, (Mythol. I. 1, c. 4.) and Julius Firmicus (de Err. Prof. Rel. p. 17) assure us that they were the same. "the oak of the Druids. The sacred misletoe "has been cut with a golden sickle, at the sixth "day of the moon,* on the first day of the year. "Teutates will have blood; he has spoken in the "oak of the Druids." "I hastened to return to the castle: I called together the Gallic tribes. When they were all assembled at the foot of the fortress, I declared to them my knowledge of their seditious convocation and of their conspiracy against Cæsar. "The Barbarians were petrified with horror. Surrounded by Roman soldiers, they believed their last moment had arrived. Shrieks and groans guddenly filled the air. A troop of females burst from the assembly. They were Christians, and carried in their arms their newly baptized infants. They fell at my feet, they demanded pardon for their husbands, their sons, their brothers; they presented to me their newborn offspring and besought me, in the name of that peaceful generation, to be mild and merciful. "How could I have resisted their prayers? How could I have forgotten the lessons of the * The Druids divided the year into lunations, commencing with the sixth day of one moon and terminating with the same day of another; and the first day of every lunar month according to their mode of reckoning, or the sixth, according to our computation, was held as a religious festival. The reason of this is, because the moon is by that time grown strong enough, though not arrived at half its fulness. Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 16, c. 44. See charitable Zachariah? I raised the females from their supplicating posture : 66 My sisters," said I," I grant the pardon which you demand in the name of Jesus Christ, our (C common master. You shall be answerable for your husbands, and I will be satisfied with your "promise that they will remain faithful to Cæsar." "The Armoricans uttered cries of joy, and extolled to the skies a clemency which cost me nothing. Before dismissing them, I obtained from them a promise to renounce those horrid sacrifices, which had already been proscribed by Tiberius and even by Nero himself. I demanded al so that they should put into my hands as hostages the Druidess Velleda, and her father Segenax, the first magistrate of the Rhedones. On the same evening the hostages were delivered; I gave them a residence in the castle. I despatched a fleet which encountered that of the Franks and compelled it to abandon the shores of Armorica. Tranquillity again prevailed. This adventure was attended with important consequences to myself, of which you still remain to be informed." Here Eudorus suddenly stopped. He appeared embarrassed; his eyes fell, but turned unconsciously upon Cymodocea, who blushed as though she had penetrated into the thoughts of Eudorus. Cyrillus perceived their confusion, and immediately addressing himself to the spouse of Lasthenes : "Sephora," said he, "I wish to offer up the holy sacrifice for Eudorus when he shall have ended his story. Will you go Will you go and prepare the altar?" Sephora arose, and her daughters followed her example. The timid Cymodocea dared not remain alone with the old men she accompanied the females, but not without a pang of regret. Demodocus, who saw her trip over the velvet turf like a sprightly fawn, full of joy exclaimed: "What glory can equal that of a father who beholds his offspring shoot up and expand their beauties under his eyes! Jupiter loved his son Hercules with the utmost tenderness: immortal as he was, he was sensible to the fears and the bitter pangs of mortality, for he had assumed the heart and the feelings of a father. Beloved Eu dorus, thou givest birth to the same anxieties and the same delights in the bosom of thy parents. Continue thy story. I love thy Christians : children of Prayers, they appear every where, like their parents, in the train of Injustice, to repair the evils which she creates. They are courageous as lions, and tender as doves; their hearts are peaceful and intelligent; 'tis much to be lamented that they are ignorant of Jupiter! But, Eudorus, I still speak notwithstanding my wish to hear your narration. My son, such are old men when they begin to discourse, they are inchanted by their own wisdom: a god animates them, and they cannot restrain the impulse." Eudorus resumed his narrative.. |