The Religion of the Ancient Celts Part 28

[825] Diod. Sic. v. 29; Strabo, iv. 4. 5.

[826] D'Arbois, v. 11; Diod. Sic. v. 29; Strabo, _loc. cit._

[827] _Annals of the Four Masters_, 864; _IT_ i. 205.

[828] Sil. Ital. iv. 215, v. 652; Lucan, _Phar._ i. 447; Livy, xxiii.

24.

[829] See p. 71, _supra_; _CIL_ xii. 1077. A dim memory of head-taking survived in the seventeenth century in Eigg, where headless skeletons were found, of which the islanders said that an enemy had cut off their heads (Martin, 277).

[830] Belloguet, _Ethnol. Gaul._ iii. 100.

[831] Sil. Ital. xiii. 482; Livy, xxiii. 24; Florus, i. 39.

[832] _ZCP_ i. 106.

[833] Loth, i. 90 f., ii. 218-219. Sometimes the weapons of a great warrior had the same effect. The bows of Gwerthevyr were hidden in different parts of Prydein and preserved the land from Saxon invasion, until Gwrtheyrn, for love of a woman, dug them up (Loth, ii. 218-219).

[834] See p. 338, _infra_. In Ireland, the brain of an enemy was taken from the head, mixed with lime, and made into a ball. This was allowed to harden, and was then placed in the tribal armoury as a trophy.

[835] _L'Anthropologie_, xii. 206, 711. Cf. the English tradition of the "Holy Mawle," said to have been used for the same purpose. Thorns, _Anecdotes and Traditions_, 84.

[836] Arrian, _Cyneg._ x.x.xiii.

[837] Caesar, vi. 17; Orosius, v. 16. 6.

[838] D'Arbois, i. 155.

[839] Curtin, _Tales of the Fairies_, 72; _Folk-Lore_, vii. 178-179.

[840] Mitch.e.l.l, _Past in the Present_, 275.

[841] Mitch.e.l.l, _op. cit._ 271 f.

[842] Cook, _Folk-Lore_, xvii. 332.

[843] Mitch.e.l.l, _loc. cit._ 147. The corruption of "Maelrubha" to "Maree" may have been aided by confusing the name with _mo_ or _mhor righ_.

[844] Mitch.e.l.l, _loc. cit._; Moore, 92, 145; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 305; Worth, _Hist. of Devonshire_, 339; Dalyell, _pa.s.sim_.

[845] Livy, xxiii. 24.

[846] Sebillot, ii. 166-167; _L'Anthrop._ xv. 729.

[847] Carmichael, _Carm. Gad._ i. 163.

[848] Martin, 28. A scribe called "Sonid," which might be the equivalent of "Shony," is mentioned in the Stowe missal (_Folk-Lore_, 1895).

[849] Campbell, _Superst.i.tions_, 184 f; _Waifs and Strays of Celtic Trad._ ii. 455.

[850] Aelian, xvii. 19.

[851] Tacitus, _Ann._ xiv. 30; Dio Ca.s.s. lxii. 6.

[852] Appian, _Celtica_, 8; Livy, xxi. 28, x.x.xviii. 17, x. 26.

[853] Livy, v. 38, vii. 23; Polybius, ii. 29. Cf. Watteville, _Le cri de guerre chez les differents peuples_, Paris, 1889.

[854] Livy, v. 38.

[855] Appian, vi. 53; Muret et Chabouillet, _Catalogue des monnaies gauloises_, 6033 f., 6941 f.

[856] Diod. v. 31; Justin, xxvi. 2, 4; Cicero, _de Div._ ii. 36, 76; Tac. _Ann._ xiv. 30; Strabo, iii. 3. 6.

[857] Dio Ca.s.s. lxii. 6.

[858] Reinach, _Catal. Sommaire_, 31; Pseudo-Plutarch, _de Fluviis_, vi.

4; _Mirab. Auscult._ 86.

[859] Strabo, iv. 4. 6.

[860] Justin, xxiv, 4; Cicero, _de Div._ i. 15. 26. (Cf. the two magic crows which announced the coming of Cuchulainn to the other world (D'Arbois, v. 203); Irish _Nennius_, 145; O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 224; cf. for a Welsh instance, Skene, i. 433.)

[861] Joyce, _SH_ i. 229; O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 224, _MS Mat._ 284.

[862] _IT_ i. 129; Livy, v. 34; Loth, _RC_ xvi. 314. The Irish for consulting a lot is _crann-chur_, "the act of casting wood."

[863] Caesar, vi. 14.

[864] O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 46, 224; Stokes, _Three Irish Homilies_, 103.

[865] Cormac, 94. Fionn's divination by chewing his thumb is called _Imbas Forosnai_ (_RC_ xxv. 347).

[866] _Antient Laws of Ireland_, i. 45.

[867] Hyde, _Lit. Hist. of Ireland_, 241.

[868] Justin, xliii. 5.

[869] O'Grady, ii. 362; Giraldus, _Descr. Camb._ i. 11.

[870] Pennant, _Tour in Scotland_, i. 311; Martin, 111.

[871] Richardson, _Folly of Pilgrimages_, 70.

[872] Tertullian, _de Anima_, 57; _Coll. de Reb. Hib._ iii. 334.

[873] Campbell, _Superst.i.tions_, 263; Curtin, _Tales_, 84.