ment that the name which the Gauls gave their magicians was that of druids; and Irish literature teaches us the like lesson[1] as to the kindred Irish term, as already instanced in the case of Simon Magus, called in Irish Simon Drui. But let us examine the druids a little more closely on Irish ground. Now Cúchulainn, whose name has already been mentioned (p. 138), was educated at the school of which Cathbad a druid was the master; but what the latter' s teaching mostly consisted of we know not; incidentally we find that he told his pupils of lucky and unlucky days. One morning, for instance, he informed an elder pupil that the day then beginning would be a lucky one for anybody who should take arms on it for the first time, which Cúchulainn overhearing, at once carried out, to the surprise of his teacher and the king, both of whom he outwitted in the matter.[2] To be able to make the declaration ascribed to the druid would seem to imply that he began the day with augury or some other kind of divination. Years later, when Cúchulainn was asked as to his education, he is represented enumerating among the advantages he had enjoyed, that of having been taught by Cathbad the druid, which had, he said, made him a master of inquiry in the arts of the god of druidism or magic, and rendered him skilled in all that was excellent in visions. With regard to this latter statement, suffice it to say that the druids were always ready to interpret a dream, which was probably done according to canons they had elaborated for their use. What interests one most is, the remarkable
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THE INSULAR CELTS.
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