hood indeed seems to be an essentially tribal institution. Its public duties are primarily connected with the meeting of the tribal assembly. The sacred groves over which the priests preside appear in all cases to be tribal sanctuaries. Indeed, judging from such passages as Germ., 39, Ann. ii., 12, Hist. iv., 14, it seems exceedingly probable that it was in these sacred groves that the tribal meetings, whether ordinary or called on emergency, were held.
With the Gaulish Vates the priests of the ancient Germans seem to have had little or nothing in common. There is no evidence that they laid claim to any gift of inspiration or prophecy. In this respect they seem to have differed even from the Druids; for the latter combined divine inspiration with official position. We may contrast Diodorus' statement (v., 31) that the presence of Druids was required at sacrifices owing to their acquaintance with the nature of the gods, and Tacitus' account (Germ., 10) of the observation of the sacred horses, where it is remarked that the priest and king regarded themselves as the servants of the gods but the horses as their confidants.[1] So far as I am aware, the only passage, on the strength of which any supernatural knowledge could be claimed for the priests of the ancient Germans, is Germ., 40, where it is stated that the priest of Nerthus becomes aware that the goddess is in her temple; but even here the inference is not certain, and at most the inspiration claimed is but slight.[2]
Prophecy and divination were, of course, by no means
- ↑ Se enim ministros deorum, illos conscios putant.
- ↑ No supernatural power can be claimed for the priests on the ground of Germ., 7: Neque animaduertere neque uincire ne uerberare quidem nisi sacerdotibus permissum, non quasi in poenam nec ducis iussu, sed uelut deo imperante, quem adesse bellantibus credunt. This only shows that the priests were regarded as the servants or representatives of the gods, and harmonises well with their position as guardians of the law; for the latter was, no doubt, believed to be of divine origin. The ancient kings of the North seem to have been regarded in a similar light (cf. p. 285).
