Chapter XVIII: Religion in the Heroic Age (2)

But it is by no means only towards communities that the deities display their favour or hatred. Indeed their attitude towards the contending forces at Troy seems to be largely determined by their relations with certain individuals, especially Helen and Paris. In the Odyssey Poseidon is represented as persecuting Odysseus, one of the Achaean leaders, for many years on account of the injury done by him to Polyphemos. On the other hand both this hero and Diomedes enjoy the special favour of Athene. It is worth noting that Diomedes appears to have inherited this favour from his father (cf. Il. V 800 ff.), and the same may be true in the case of Odysseus (cf. Od. XXIV 367 ff., 517 ff.); at all events it is continued towards his son. In neither of these cases is any hint given of conjugal relations, such as we find in the North; indeed the sexual element seems to be practically absent from Athene. Elsewhere however such relations are clearly involved, e.g. in the cases of Aineias and Achilles, who are the sons of Aphrodite and Thetis respectively. In the Odyssey (V 119 ff.) the principle is stated plainly; and the hero himself has conjugal relations with Circe and Calypso, both of whom are described as goddesses.

Of other mythical beings the genii locorum are perhaps the most prominent. The distinction between them and the class with which we have been dealing is by no means so clearly drawn as in the north of Europe (cf. p. 407 f.). Many of them are even described as gods (θεοί). River gods, such as Spercheios and Axios, are represented as the fathers or ancestors of several heroes. Among other, less important, beings of the same type we may mention the nymphs[618] to whom certain caves and springs were sacred (e.g. Od. XIII 347 ff., XVII 205 ff., 240 ff.).

References to chthonic deities are not very frequent. The Erinyes are mentioned several times, especially in curses; but they are not individualised, though the singular is occasionally used. The most important person in the under-world appears to be the queen, Persephoneia; but she is never actually brought upon the scene. Hades himself is seldom more than a name.

The sacrifices to the gods mentioned in the Homeric poems are as a rule similar to the sacrificial feasts of which we hear in the North.[619] A portion of the victims, usually bulls or rams, was offered to the deity, while the rest was consumed by the worshippers. On the other hand we hear occasionally of victims which were given wholly to the gods. Such appears to have been the case with the victims sacrificed on the occasion of a solemn oath; thus in Il. XIX 267 f. the boar is thrown into the sea[620]. It is perhaps worth noting that both here and in III 276 ff. the oath refers to chthonic deities[621], as well as to Zeus, the Sun and Earth. Victims sacrificed to the dead likewise seem to be offered entire (e.g. Od. XI 44 ff.; Il. XXIII 166 ff.). Moreover it is only in connection with funeral rites that we hear of human sacrifices, namely when Achilles puts to death twelve Trojan youths at the pyre of Patroclos (_ib._, 175 f.). Horses and dogs are also sacrificed on this occasion, as well as oxen and sheep, and the whole scene is in accordance with Northern custom. No mention is made in the poems of sacrifices such as that of Polyxene, which form so favourite a theme with the dramatists; but in view of the Northern evidence[622] we are entitled to doubt whether they are altogether inventions of later times.

The theology of the Homeric poems received formal recognition in Greece down to the acceptance of Christianity; but there is no evidence that the system as a whole possessed any vital force even in the earliest times of which we have record. From the sixth century onwards poets and philosophers began to regard Zeus as much more than the chief of the gods; but even in popular religion it appears that each state honoured certain deities, while the rest were largely or altogether neglected. Thus at Athens more prominence seems to have been given to Athene, and perhaps also to Poseidon, than to Zeus, while Hera was predominant at Argos and Samos, and Apollo at Delphoi, etc. This is a feature for which the Homeric poems themselves give evidence, as we have seen, and there is no reason whatever for supposing it to be of later growth. Sometimes too we find prominence given to deities, such as Demeter and Dionysos, who seem to be of little consequence in the Homeric poems, while other cults, such as that of Serapis, were introduced from abroad in comparatively late times.

Chthonic deities are more prominent in later literature than in the Homeric poems; and many authors describe the worship paid to them down to a comparatively late period. Yet the rites seem to have been of a primitive character. But perhaps the most striking element in the religion of classical Greece was the worship of 'heroes.' Every city possessed shrines (ἡρῷα), at which sacrifices were offered to heroes with rites similar in general to those used in the worship of chthonic deities. Originally these heroes seem to have been local persons and the shrines their tombs; but characters prominent in heroic poetry sometimes received worship in many different states.

In the Homeric poems there is no evidence for this hero-worship. Indeed these poems contain few traces of a cult of the manes at all, except in funeral ceremonies and in connection with the necromantic sacrifice of Odysseus. This fact has been connected with the Homeric doctrine of immortality[623], and in view of the Northern evidence (cf. p. 397 ff.) there can be little doubt that the true explanation is to be found herein. The method used in the disposal of the dead is cremation, and, as in the North, it was believed that this sent the spirit away from the body to a place of the dead--not a separate place for each particular family or community but a common home for the souls of the whole Greek race. In Il. XXIII 65 ff. the spirit of Patroclos comes and exhorts Achilles to pay him the last rites: "Never again shall I return from Hades, when ye have allotted me the due of fire" (V. 75 f.). So also when Odysseus visits the home of Hades the first spirit he meets is that of his follower Elpenor, who reproaches him with not attending to his obsequies and begs him, when he returns to Circe's island, to "burn him up with his arms, all that he possesses." The idea is clearly the same as in Ynglinga Saga, cap. 8. The honourable way therefore to treat a fallen foe is not to strip him but to burn him with his armour, as in Il. VI 417 ff.[624] Even at the beginning of the historical period this belief seems not to have entirely died out. According to the story told by Herodotus (v. 92), when Periandros sent to consult the spirit of his wife Melissa, she complained that the clothes which he had given her at her funeral were of no use because they had not been burnt.

It has already been mentioned (p. 261) that this story seems to show that at one time the home of the dead was located in a definite, though probably not very well known, region; and the vague indications given as to the hero's wanderings in the Odyssey can hardly be regarded as evidence to the contrary. If this is correct the home of Hades is in one respect probably a more primitive conception than Valhalla, just as Olympos is more primitive than Ásgarðr. A reasonable explanation would be offered if we had evidence that part of the population of Greece was believed to have come from that region[625]. An idea of this kind was certainly in Snorri's mind when he wrote the Ynglinga Saga; but unfortunately the account which he has given is obviously, at least to a large extent, of scholastic origin.

In other respects however the Homeric conception of immortality appears to be less simple than the doctrine of Valhalla, as we find it in certain Northern records. The use of the verbs θάπτειν and ταρχύσουσι is probably capable of a different explanation; but there are certain other words and expressions, e.g. κατῆλθεν, ἔνεροι, Ζεὺς καταχθόνιος (Hades; cf. also Il. XX 61 ff.), which seem to point to a belief that the world of the dead was beneath the earth. That is the conception implied in certain local beliefs which we meet with in later times, at Hermione and elsewhere, where a deep cavern or lake was supposed to lead thither. More important however is the fact that the home of Hades is totally devoid of the attractiveness of Valhalla; the gloomy picture which is drawn of it accords rather with the Northern home of Hel. The burning of the body, together with armour and funeral sacrifices, appears to procure little real advantage to the soul; it is regarded, as in Beowulf, rather in the nature of an honour due to the deceased. Yet in view of the parallels which we possess, both from the North and elsewhere[626], we can scarcely doubt that the custom had its origin in a much stronger motive, the force of which was scarcely appreciated in later times. For a change of feeling, if not of actual faith, positive evidence is supplied by the reprobation expressed in Il. XXIII 176--a passage as significant in its way as the homiletic verses which follow the reference to heathen sacrifices in Beow. 175 ff. (cf. p. 53).

* * * * *

In the course of this chapter we have noticed a considerable number of features common to Greek and Teutonic religion. Many of them are to be found in other religions also, and these we need not discuss further. Here we are concerned only to determine what may be regarded as characteristic of the Heroic Age. In this category we may probably include the following features.

1. The religion was predominantly a worship of gods, rather than of spirits. Herein lies the chief contrast with the religion of later times in both regions[627]. In Classical Greece chthonic worship and hero worship seem on the whole to be more prominent than that of the gods. The same is true of Scandinavian countries in the latest heathen period, though Thor is still prominent and hero worship is scarcely distinguished from manes worship. In Germany and England, where Christianity was adopted during the Heroic Age or soon afterwards, the gods disappear at once, while forms of chthonic worship survive for centuries.

2. The same gods were, to a large extent at least, recognised everywhere. Whether by borrowing or by identification of cults they had ceased to be merely tribal deities. How far back this feature goes in Greece we cannot tell. Among the Teutonic peoples we can trace it in part back to Tacitus' time; but it was probably intensified during the Heroic Age.

3. The conception of the gods was definitely anthropomorphic. For the Teutonic Heroic Age this is made clear by the Langobardic story. There is no absolutely conclusive proof that the gods in general were regarded as forming a regularly organised community, as in the Edda and the Homeric poems; but all the evidence which we have (cf. p. 407 f.) points in this direction.

4. The relations between gods and human beings are of a somewhat peculiar character both in Teutonic poetry and in the Homeric poems; but they are almost identical in the two cases. The gods are not treated with any very great reverence. The conduct attributed to them is not unfrequently reprehensible, their purposes can often be thwarted by the help of other gods, and the bravest warriors are sometimes even ready to attack them openly. Yet the human and the divine are not confused; a man is not a god, though many heroes, both Teutonic and Greek, are sprung from gods. It should be observed that the deity from whom most English princes claimed descent is Woden, a universal and not a tribal god. This belief must be regarded as an anti-tribal force.

5. Both in Northern tradition and in the Homeric poems the practice of cremation was associated with the belief in a common home for the souls of the dead. This practice does not appear to have been common even in the earlier part of the Viking Age; and consequently the tradition probably comes down from the Heroic Age, at which time we know that cremation was widely prevalent. The cheerless home of Hades[628] differs considerably from Valhalla, though there is some ground for suspecting that the Greeks of the Heroic Age had once cherished a belief endowed with greater vitality. But both conceptions possess certain essential features in common, namely the removal of the soul to a distant place--a belief really incompatible with the local worship of heroes or manes--and the fact that this distant place of souls was a universal home and not reserved for the souls of one tribe. This belief again was doubtless an anti-tribal force of considerable importance.

Briefly then we may define as the predominant characteristic of heroic religion, both Greek and Teutonic, the subordination of chthonic and tribal cults, which as a rule go together, to the worship of a number of universally recognised and highly anthropomorphic deities--coupled with the belief in a common and distant land of souls. These characteristics, at all events among the Teutonic peoples, seem properly to have belonged only to the religion of the royal and military classes. Hence, when the royal families are converted to a new faith, as in England, or when kingless states grow up, as in Iceland, we find in all cases more or less of a reversion to the more primitive forms of religion. It is on the same principle that I would account for the differences in religion between heroic and historical Greece.

FOOTNOTES:

[586] These are the three gods mentioned in the solemn oath which, according to Landnámabók, IV 7 (Hauksbók), had to be sworn on the sacred bracelet at all legal proceedings: _hialpi mér svá Freyr ok Niörðr ok hinn almáttki Áss_, etc. In the later Melabók (a compilation of the seventeenth century) it is suggested that _Áss_ here means Othin; but I do not think this explanation is generally accepted. It is scarcely credible that Thor should be ignored on such an occasion.

[587] The description in Grímnismál, str. 23, curiously recalls what is said of Egyptian Thebes in Il. IX 383 f. The nearest approach to Valhalla to be found among Northern kingdoms is Ibn Fadhlan's account of the Russian court; cf. Frähn, _l.c._ (p. 367, note).

[588] Frey's connection with Sweden appears in Saxo's History (frequently) as well as in sagas, but not in the Edda.

[589] The full form, _Yngvifreyr_ or _Ingunarfreyr_, is clearly connected with _Ingwina frea_, a title borne by the king of the Danes in Beowulf; cf. p. 367 and note.

[590] The two conceptions are sometimes confused, e.g. in Völuspá, str. 34. But the eschatological conception involved by the story of Balder is that of the 'house of Hel'; and there can be no doubt that this conception itself is ancient, although the description of Hel in Gylf. 34 is probably quite late.

[591] The text does not say (as is stated in several works on Northern mythology) that Thor occupied the central position, but merely that he was robbed after Thórgerðr and before Irpa. This is the only mention, so far as I am aware, of a cult figure of Thor in his car--a feature which occurs in Hýmiskviða and Gylfaginning and may possibly have some ethnological significance. It is somewhat remarkable that in the tract Frá Fornióti (in Hrafn's _Fornaldar Sögur_, II p. 6 f.) the ancestry of Guðbrandr is traced to the giant Thrymr, Thor's antagonist.

[592] Cults peculiar to certain families appear to have been common among the Lithuanians and kindred peoples; cf. Lasicius, _De diis Samogitarum_ (Respublica ... Poloniae, etc.; Leyden, 1642, p. 280): _sunt etiam quaedam ueteres nobilium familiae, quae peculiares colunt deos, ut Mikutiana Simonaitem, Micheloviciana Sidzium, Schemietiana et Kiesgaliana Ventis Rekicziovum, aliae alios_.

[593] p. 66:

_Et nunc ille ubi sit qui uulgo dicitur Othin
armipotens, uno semper contentus ocello,
dic mihi, Ruta, precor, usquam si conspicis illum.
* * * * *
si potero horrendum Frigge spectare maritum,
quantumcunque albo clypeo sit tectus et altum
flectat equum, Lethra nequaquam sospes abibit.
fas est belligerum bello prosternere diuum._

[594] Cf. Adam of Bremen, IV 26: _colunt et deos ex hominibus factos_, etc. (with reference to the passage from the Vita Anscharii quoted on p. 255 f.). It is not clear whether Grímr Kambann, the great-great-grandfather of Thórsteinn Sölmundarson who settled in Iceland (cf. Landnámabók, I 14), was deified; but the worship paid to him is evidently regarded as something exceptional. Some scholars hold that Bragi, the god of poetry, is no other than the poet Bragi Boddason.

[595] _Proue(n)_; cf. Helmoldus, _Chron. Slavorum_, I 53, 70, 84.

[596] I have discussed this subject (also Niörðr and Freyia) in detail in _The Origin of the English Nation_, chapters IX-XI.

[597] I do not think that Aethelweard's substitution of _Balder_ for _Baeldaeg_ (the first part of which is certainly _bǣl-_) in the genealogy of King Aethelwulf (III 3) can be held to prove the existence of the cult of Balder in England. The theory that the word _baldor_, 'prince,' arose out of the god's name is open to still more serious question.

[598] Cf. Olrik, _Gefion_ (_Danske Studier_, 1910), p. 21 ff.

[599] There is no reason for supposing that the cult of Thórgerðr was first introduced by Earl Haakon. In the Flateyiarbók, p. 408, it is stated that she had been worshipped by successive rulers of the land. Her cult too was not unknown in Iceland; according to Harðar Saga, cap. 19, Grímkell, the son of a settler from Orkadal (to the south of Trondhjem), had a temple dedicated to her.

[600] _The Cult of Othin_, p. 75 ff. Cf. R. M. Meyer, _Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte_, p. 474 ff.

[601] _Irminsul ... quod Latine dicitur uniuersalis columna, quasi sustinens omnia_, Mon. Germ., II 676.

[602] Jaffé, _Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum_, III 71 ff.: _neque enim contraria eis de ipsorum, quamuis falsorum, deorum genealogia astruere debes.... utrum autem adhuc generare deos deasque alios aliasque suspicantur? uel, si iam non generant, quando uel cur cessauerunt a concubitu et partu; si autem adhuc generant, infinitus iam deorum effectus numerus est, et quis tam inter tot tantosque potentior sit, incertum mortalibus est; et ualde cauendum, ne in potentiorem quis offendat._

[603] This explanation would not hold of course if Fosite is to be identified with Forseti the son of Balder. But the identification seems to me extremely problematical.

[604] Cf. Bede, _H. E._, I 15: _Voden, de cuius stirpe multarum prouinciarum regium genus originem duxit_. From these genealogies and Bp Daniel's letter (quoted above) it would seem that such compositions (including theogonies) were much in vogue among the heathen Teutonic peoples in the period immediately following the Heroic Age. It is to the same period that I would ascribe the development of the theology of the Edda, though I do not mean to suggest that the poems which have come down to us were composed then.

[605] There is an unfortunate ambiguity about the history of the word _Áss_. In Old Norse it is applied both to Thor and Othin, as well as other gods, while _Aesir_ (pl.) denotes the gods collectively and _Ásgarðr_ their home (quite distinct from Valhalla). In Gothic however the same word (pl. _ansis_) seems to have meant a dead hero (cf. p. 172, note). If this was its original meaning--a view somewhat favoured by Skr. _asu_, Av. _anhu_, 'spirit,'--we must conclude that the terms _Ásgarðr_ and _Aesir_ (also _Áss_, as applied to Thor) have undergone a complete change of meaning in Old Norse. Such a change could be explained satisfactorily by the (poetic) inclusion of θεοὶ οὐράνιοι and θεοὶ νέρτεροι in one pantheon; but in that case the doctrine of Valhalla, or something very much like it, must be of great antiquity. This explanation is perhaps favoured by the popular use of _Aasgaardsreia_ for the Wild Hunt in Norway.

[606] Cap. quae de partibus Saxoniae constituta sunt, No. VII (Mon. Germ., Leg. I 49). Whether the practice was common I do not know. References to the cult of manes occur in the same Capitula, as well as in the Indiculus Superstitionum, etc.

[607] Cremation is sometimes accompanied by a cult of the dead, e.g. among the heathen Prussians; cf. Matthias a Michov (Grynaeus, _Novus Orbis_, etc., Basel 1537, p. 520): _Habebant praeterea in syluis praefatis focos, in familias et domos distinctos, in quibus omnibus charorum et familiarium cadauera cum equis, sellis et uestimentis potioribus incendebant. locabant etiam ad focos huiusmodi ex subere facta sedilia, in quibus escas ex pasta in casei modum praeparatas deponebant, medonemque focis infundebant, ea credulitate illusi quod mortuorum suorum animae quorum illic combusta fuerant corpora nocte uenirent escaque se exsatiarent._ Inhumation however was also practised by the same nation; cf. Erasmus Stella (Grynaeus, _op. cit._, p. 582): _Statuit_ (sc. _Viduutus_) _et dies natalitios et funera pari modo celebranda, mutuis scilicet commessationibus et compotationibus, tum lusu et cantu, absque moerore cum summa hilaritate et gaudio, utque alterius uitae spem prae se ferrent. illo saltem ostenderunt quod exutos spiritu armatos uestitosque ac magna supellectilis parte circumposita humarunt. quo more usque nunc sepeliuntur_, etc. Both these notices of course refer to a late period--the fifteenth century.

[608] Cf. p. 397 f. We may refer also to the funeral of Sigurðr Hringr, as described in Arngrim's epitome of the lost Skiöldunga Saga, cap. 26 (Aarbøger f. nord. Oldkynd., 1894, p. 132): _Hinc post acerrimam pugnam ... Siguardus etiam male uulneratus est. qui, Alfsola funere allato, magnam nauim mortuorum cadaueribus oneratam solus uiuorum conscendit, seque et mortuam Alfsolam in puppi collocans nauim pice, bitumine et sulphure incendi iubet: atque sublatis uelis in altum, ualidis a continente impellentibus uentis, proram dirigit, simulque manus sibi uiolentas intulit; sese tot facinorum patratorem, tantorum regnorum possessorem, more maiorum suorum, regali pompa Odinum regem_ _(id est inferos) inuisere malle quam inertis senectutis infirmitatem perpeti, alacri animo ad socios in littore antea relictos praefatus_, etc.

[609] In the glossaries the word is used to translate _Eurynis_, _Herinis_ (i.e. Erinys), _Tisifone_, _Allecto_, _Bellona_. The first three cases occur in the Corpus glossary; hence the suggestion that the word _walcyrge_ is borrowed from Norse is inadmissible.

[610] From the inscription of Rök it appears probable that the conception of Valkyries found in the Edda was familiar in the south-east of Sweden before the end of the ninth century. This is by no means the only point in which the same inscription bears witness to a highly developed interest in antiquarian lore.

[611] An interesting analogy is furnished by the Servian belief that sunstroke is due to arrows shot by Vile (cf. p. 317, note; and Krauss, _Slav. Volkforschungen_, p. 372 ff.).

[612] I have not attempted to give a complete list of the mythical beings mentioned in the records. In general we find the same classes of such beings as in the North--elves, dwarfs, giants (Ang.-Sax. _eoten_, _þyrs_), etc.

[613] It will be observed that here (as commonly in the Edda) Wodan's character as god of the dead (slain) is entirely lost sight of.

[614] We may note especially the two speeches of Coifi, the chief priest: _Nihil omnino uirtutis habet, nihil utilitatis religio illa quam hucusque tenuimus.... Iam olim intellexeram nihil esse quod colebamus; quia uidelicet quanto studiosius in eo cultu quaerebam, tanto minus inueniebam._

[615] _Ita haec uita hominum ad modicum apparet; quid autem sequatur, quidue praecesserit, prorsus ignoramus._

[616] Artemis in the Homeric poems seems to be chiefly a women's deity (cf. Od. XX 59 ff.). The same may have been the case with Gefion; cf. Gylfaginning, cap. 35: "She is a maiden, and those who die in maidenhood serve her."

[617] In origin however Freyia, the daughter of Niörðr (Nerthus), corresponds probably rather to Persephone, the daughter of Demeter; cf. p. 400.

[618] Even beings such as these are sometimes affiliated to Zeus; cf. Il. VI 420.

[619] So also with the ceremonial drinkings, which in both sets of records form so prominent a feature in the life of human and divine communities alike. Among the Greeks the libation corresponds to the Northern 'toast' (_full_) in honour of the gods. A good example may be found in Saga Hákonar Góða, cap. 16.

[620] Reference may be made to the boar which was sacrificed to Frey (or Freyia) in Hervarar Saga, cap. 10, and on which oaths were sworn. It is not made clear however what was done with the body of the boar.

[621] With the punishment of perjurers by the Erinyes in Il. XIX 259 f. we may compare what is said regarding the fate of such persons in Völuspá, str. 39.

[622] Reference may be made to Procopius' account of the Heruli (cf. p. 411) and more especially to the stories of Ibn Dustah and Ibn Fadhlan, quoted by Thomsen, _The Relations between Ancient Russia and Scandinavia_, etc., pp. 30 f., 34. Native records preserve only somewhat vague traditions relating to such a custom; cf. _The Cult of Othin_, p. 41 f.

[623] Cf. especially Ridgeway, _The Early Age of Greece_, p. 512 ff.

[624] Reference may be made to the story of Haraldr Hilditönn and Sigurðr Hringr; cf. _The Cult of Othin_, p. 22 f.

[625] The existence of a tradition to this effect is perhaps implied by Aristotle, _Meteorolog._, I 14, 21 f.; cf. p. 437, note.

[626] In addition to the examples cited by Prof. Ridgeway we may refer to the account of the Livonians given by Bartholomaeus Anglicus, _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, XV 88: _mortuorum cadauera tumulo non tradebant, sed populus facto rogo maximo usque ad cineres comburebat. post mortem autem suos amicos nouis uestibus uestiebant et eis pro uiatico oues et boues et alia animantia exhibebant. seruos etiam et ancillas cum rebus aliis ipsis assignantes una cum mortuo et rebus aliis incendebant, credentes sic incensos ad quandam uiuorum regionem feliciter pertingere et ibidem cum pecorum et seruorum sic ob gratiam domini combustorum multitudine felicitatis et uitae temporalis patriam inuenire_. This record dates from the thirteenth century (probably about 1260); so that Northern influence is not impossible.

[627] This contrast is all the more noteworthy in view of the fact that the two chief 'heroic' deities, Woden (Othin) and Zeus, are of essentially different origin. The affinities of the former lie rather with Hades--not as a chthonic being, properly speaking, but as lord of the spirit world.

[628] The characterisation of the home of Hades resembles rather that of the Northern abode of Hel (cf. p. 400, note). There can be little doubt that the latter conception is founded upon a belief of considerable antiquity, though, except in the North, all our information relating to it comes from sources affected by Christian influence. From references in early poetry, as well as from popular belief in later times, it seems probable that the early Teutonic conception of Hell (Goth. _halja_, etc.) involved something more than a survival of the soul in or about the place of sepulture, though there is nothing to show that it was identical with Valhalla. For the personification of Hell definite evidence is wanting; yet note should be taken of the fact that such beings as Holda and Berhta (like Freyia and Gefion) were connected with the spirit world.

NOTE VIII. THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CELTIC AND SLAVONIC HEROIC AGES.

In the last three chapters we have confined our attention almost exclusively to the Teutonic and Greek Heroic Ages. It is not to be overlooked however that similar phenomena occur elsewhere. The closest and most interesting parallels, at least in Europe, are probably to be found in the history of the ancient Gauls.

It has been mentioned above that Gaulish literature has entirely perished. We are dependent therefore for our information upon a few scattered references in the works of Greek and Roman writers. These however are sufficient to show that the Gauls possessed a well-known and influential class of professional minstrels (βάρδοι), whose chief occupation seems to have been the composition of heroic poetry[629]. Like the minstrels of the Teutonic and Greek Heroic Ages these persons were attached to the courts of kings, and their poems dealt with the praises of living princes as well as with the deeds of heroes of the past[630]. With the disappearance of kingship, early in the first century (B.C.), their standing seems to have been impaired. At all events they are never mentioned by Caesar, who has so much to say about the Druids.

It is probable therefore that by this time what may be termed the Gaulish Heroic Age was already at an end. How long it had lasted we cannot tell, since all the stories have perished. We may certainly note however that the accounts of Gaulish life which have come down to us from the time before the nation became Romanised show a most striking resemblance to the conditions described in Teutonic and Greek heroic poetry. The longest of these accounts is the one given by Diodoros (V 26 ff.), where their customs are described with a considerable amount of detail. The picture which he draws of their methods of fighting, their love of boasting[631], their habits in entertaining strangers[632] and many other particulars furnishes a parallel to Homeric life closer perhaps than may be found even in Anglo-Saxon poetry.

The principle of personal allegiance seems to have been developed among the Gauls to a very high degree, although our information dates chiefly from times when kingship had almost entirely disappeared. We have scarcely sufficient evidence for determining whether the development of this principle had been accompanied by a relaxation of the bonds of kindred. But Caesar's statement (_Gall._, VI 11) regarding the universal prevalence of party spirit points in this direction[633]; and it is perhaps worth noting that attempts were made upon the lives of more than one of the princes who had submitted to him. There is reason for suspecting that among the Celtic peoples, as among the Teutonic, the organisation of the kindred had undergone a change, probably at no very remote period. The Picts adhered to succession in the female line, at all events in the royal family, down to the eighth century; and there are said to be traces of the same type of succession in Ireland. It is commonly assumed that the Pictish succession was a pre-Celtic institution; but no evidence worth consideration has been adduced in favour of this view. We need not doubt the existence of pre-Celtic inhabitants in Scotland. But the same remark applies to the rest of the British Isles and at least a considerable part of Gaul, and I see no reason why in Scotland alone (or Scotland and Ireland) so important a change should have been taken over from the aborigines. In Gaul succession certainly passed in the male line in the first century (B.C.). But in the earliest Gaulish tradition of which we have record the title to sovereignty seems to go, as among the Picts, to the sons of the king's sister[634].

The political organisation of the Gauls appears to have been similar to that of the Teutonic peoples, though kingship was dying out in the first century. We find a considerable number of comparatively small nations (_ciuitates_), each of which apparently possessed a royal family of its own. From time to time one of these acquired a position of supremacy over all or many of the others. Sometimes too sections of the same nation appear in widely different regions. Thus we find Senones and Lingones both in Gaul and Italy, Boii in Bavaria (Bohemia) and Italy, Volcae Tectosages in Germany and the south of Gaul--Tectosages also in Galatia. There is little doubt that in such cases one of these sections is an offshoot from the other and owes its origin to some military expedition.

In regard to religion Caesar (_ib._, VI 21) draws a striking contrast between the Gauls and the Germans, though his account of the latter in this respect will not hold good for the Heroic Age. Gaulish religion was polytheistic and highly anthropomorphic; it would seem also that the gods were regarded as forming an organised community. The method employed in the disposal of the dead was cremation; and here too this practice was associated with a vivid conception of immortality. In all these respects Gaulish religion seems to have differed little from the types which we find in the Teutonic and Greek Heroic Ages, although apparently the belief in immortality largely took the form of metempsychosis. Only in one particular can we detect a really important difference between Gaulish religion and the others, namely in the influence of the priesthood. This feature however seems to have been peculiar to Gaul itself and Britain; at all events we hear nothing of Druids elsewhere. Indeed according to Caesar (VI 13) the institution was believed to have originated in Britain; and it is by no means impossible that some of its characteristic features may have developed in this country. More than this we cannot safely say, since there is an obvious--and probably by no means superficial--resemblance between Druidism and the priesthood of the Prussians and Lithuanians.

* * * * *

In previous Notes (p. 101 ff.) we spoke of two other Heroic Ages--those of the Bosnian Mohammedans, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and of the Cumbrian Welsh, about a thousand years earlier. In Note VII we discussed briefly one of the leading incidents in the (Christian) Servian Heroic Age, of the fourteenth century. In all these cases the question of religion is better left out of account; for though the form taken by Christianity or Mohammedanism was doubtless influenced to some extent by national characteristics, the two religions were essentially of foreign origin.

Among the Bosnians however the influence of Mohammedanism affected also the organisation of society, while the government was in the hands of pashas sent from Constantinople. On the whole the conditions appear to have little in common with those of the Teutonic and Greek Heroic Ages. Even the principle of personal allegiance is not much in evidence.

On the other hand this principle is very prominent in the Christian Servian poems, at all events in those which deal with the battle of Kossovo. It is exemplified both in the relations of squires (such as Vaistina) with their lords and in those of the latter with the king. In the poem on the banquet (Karadžić, II 50 iii), which we have discussed above (p. 315), it is to this principle alone that Lazar appeals, when he reproaches Miloš for his suspected disloyalty; and though the latter in his reply does mention that he intends to die for the Christian faith, he too evidently regards loyalty to his king as his primary duty. My knowledge of this subject is unfortunately not sufficient to enable me to form an opinion as to whether the growth of the bond of allegiance was accompanied by a relaxation of the bonds of kinship. In the lower ranks of society however the kindred has preserved down to the present time perhaps greater vitality among the Servians than in any other European nation. The type of government which we find prevailing in the fourteenth century is far removed from that democratic system which Procopius (_Goth._, III 14) ascribes to the Slavs some six centuries previously. The governors whom Dušan appointed in various parts of his dominions became practically independent princes after his death, although their principalities rested apparently on no national basis. Both in Servia proper and elsewhere the control of affairs seems to have been very largely in the hands of the royal family.

For the Cumbrian Heroic Age our information is sadly deficient. The evidence of the poems leaves no doubt as to the potency of the force of personal allegiance. With regard to the kindred I know of no evidence, unless we take account of the Welsh laws, which belong to a different region and to a period several centuries later. The kingdoms seem to have been fairly numerous, and there is nothing to show that their organisation differed much from that of Teutonic kingdoms of the Heroic Age. Whether they rested on any national basis we cannot tell; but it is to be noted that practically all their territories had once been included within the Roman frontiers[635].

Both these cases then appear to show a number of the features which characterise the Teutonic and Greek Heroic Ages, though scarcely to the same degree as is the case with the civilisation of the ancient Gauls. Analogies may also be found in the French and Russian Heroic Ages; but I am not aware that either of these presents any remarkable characteristics which do not occur in one or other of those with which we have dealt. On the other hand I have no doubt that many interesting features are to be found in the Irish Heroic Age (or rather perhaps Heroic Ages[636]). This subject however is beset with such extreme difficulties of every kind that I dare not touch it.

FOOTNOTES:

[629] Cf. Ammianus Marcellinus, XV 9. 8 (probably from Timagenes): _et Bardi quidem fortia uirorum illustrium facta heroicis composita uersibus cum dulcibus lyrae modulis cantitarunt_. Cf. also Diodoros, V 31; Strabo, IV 4. 4; Lucan, Phars. I 447 ff.

[630] Cf. Athenaios, VI 49 (quoting Poseidonios): Κελτοὶ περιάγονται μεθ' αὑτῶν καὶ πολεμοῦντες συμβιωτὰς οὓς καλοῦσι παρασίτους. οὗτοι δὲ ἐγκώμια αὐτῶν καὶ πρὸς ἀθρόους λέγουσιν ἀνθρώπους συνεστῶτας καὶ πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν κατὰ μέρος ἐκείνων ἀκροωμένων. τὰ δὲ ἀκούσματα αὐτῶν εἰσιν οἱ καλούμενοι Βάρδοι· ποιηταὶ δὲ οὗτοι τυγχάνουσι μετ' ᾠδῆς ἐπαίνους λέγοντες. Reference may also be made to the story of Luernios, king of the Allobroges, and the minstrel who arrived too late (_ib._, IV 37). Cf. also Appian, _Celtice_, § 12 (describing the arrival of an envoy sent by Bitoitos, the father of Luernios): μουσικός τε ἀνὴρ εἵπετο, βαρβάρῳ μουσικῇ τὸν βασιλέα Βιτοῖτον, εἶτ' Ἀλλόβριγας, εἶτα τὸν πρεσβευτὴν αὐτὸν ἔς τε γένος καὶ ἀνδρείαν καὶ περιουσίαν ὑμνῶν· οὗ δὴ καὶ μάλιστα ἕνεκα αὐτοὺς οἱ τῶν πρεσβευτῶν ἐπιφανεῖς ἐπάγονται.

[631] κατὰ δὲ τὰς παρατάξεις εἰώθασι προάγειν τῆς παρατάξεως καὶ προκαλεῖσθαι τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων τοὺς ἀρίστους εἰς μονομαχίαν, προανασείοντες τὰ ὅπλα καὶ καταπληττόμενοι τοὺς ἐναντίους. ὅταν δέ τις ὑπακούσῃ πρὸς τὴν μάχην τάς τε τῶν προγόνων ἀνδραγαθίας ἐξυμνοῦσι καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἀρετὰς προφέρονται καὶ τὸν ἀντιταττόμενον ἐξονειδίζουσι καὶ ταπεινοῦσι καὶ τὸ σύνολον τὸ θάρσος τῆς ψυχῆς τοῖς λόγοις προαφαιροῦνται (V 29).

[632] πλησίον δ' αὐτῶν ἐσχάραι κεῖνται γέμουσαι πυρὸς καὶ λέβητας ἔχουσαι καὶ ὀβελοὺς πλήρεις κρεῶν ὁλομερῶν. τοὺς δ' ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας ταῖς καλλίσταις τῶν κρεῶν μοίραις γεραίρουσι.... καλοῦσι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ξένους ἐπὶ τὰς εὐωχίας καὶ μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον ἐπερωτῶσι τίνες εἰσὶ καὶ τίνων χρείαν ἔχουσιν (_ib._ 28).

[633] We may compare also what is said (_ib._ I 20) of the relations of Diuiciacus and Dumnorix. The latter had a large comitatus of his own: _magnum numerum equitatus suo sumptu semper alere et circum se habere_ (I 18).

[634] Cf. Livy, V 34.

[635] The rise of the Cumbrian kingdoms presents a difficulty which historians do not seem to me to have sufficiently realised. During the fourth and fifth centuries the northern parts of the province were repeatedly menaced and ravaged by Pictish invaders. Yet after the fifth century we hear practically nothing more of Picts in the south of Scotland (except in Galloway). On the other hand it was in this region that the Britons offered the most determined resistance to the English. In the latter part of the sixth century Urien is said (_Hist. Br._, § 63) to have besieged them on one occasion in Lindisfarne (_Metcaud_); and in Strathclyde the Britons maintained their independence, except for one or two brief intervals, until long after the disappearance of the Northumbrian kingdom. It is often assumed, though on somewhat slender grounds, that the Britons held only the south-west of Scotland and that the south-east (Lothian, etc.) was Pictish before the English conquest. But this hypothesis does not get rid of the difficulties; for it is from _Manau Guotodin_, a district always regarded as Pictish, that Cunedda is said to have come (_ib._, § 62). I suspect that the distinction between Picts and Britons was not so rigid as is commonly supposed. Unfortunately Celtic scholars have not yet been able to come to any agreement as to the character of the Pictish language. Some hold that it was British (Brythonic), others Gaelic (Goidelic), others again non-Celtic. Possibly all these views may contain a certain amount of truth. At all events it seems to me quite incredible that Gaelic was not introduced into Scotland before the sixth century. All indications appear to me to favour the view that this language belonged to a wave of Celtic invasion earlier than the British. Yet I see no objection to supposing that in pre-Roman times the true (Gaelic) Picts--who probably included a non-Celtic substratum--may have been overlaid in part by a British element. If so, it is far from improbable that the south of Scotland in its turn received a 'Pictish' element, when that district was abandoned by the Romans. A mixed population of this kind would readily enough coalesce with the native (British) inhabitants.

[636] So also in the Heroic Ages of non-European peoples. Important parallels are certainly furnished by Sanskrit epic poetry.