in the Nibelungen Lied, not as a great king and conqueror on his own account, but merely as a faithful squire of the terrible Attila, whose empire had in fact crumbled into dust before the birth of Theodoric.[1] But from the mythological point of view, the subordinate position ascribed to Theodoric is quite correct, and it serves to show how profoundly the man's history has been influenced by the legend of the Celtic god.
Mars.
The next god to be mentioned in the order adopted by Caesar is Mars; and an inscription at Chougny, near Geneva, equates with him a Gaulish god called Caturix. It reads thus: Marti Catur(igi) sacr(um), pro salut(e) et incolumitate D. Val(erii) Am(a)ti, Sex. Cr(is)pin(ius) Nigrinus v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito).[2] This form of the god's name is rendered certain by that of an inscription at Stuttgardt in Würtemberg, in which Marti Caturigi[3] is written in full, and by a third instance, namely, one found in the neighbourhood of Yverdon in Switzerland.[4] The word Caturix is a compound, meaning the king of war or lord of battle, from catu, which is in Welsh cad, and in Irish cath, 'a battle,' and rīx, 'a king,' in Welsh rhi and in Irish rí, genitive ríg: the cognates of both words are so familiar that I need not enumerate them. The plural Caturiges was the well-known name
- ↑ See Hodgkin's Italy and her Invaders (Oxford, 1885), iij. 341.
- ↑ Rev. Celt. iv. 10; Mommsen, Insc. Helvet. No. 70; Allmer, iij. 255.
- ↑ Brambach, No. 1588.
- ↑ De Bonstetten, Receuil d'Antiquités suisses (Berne, 1855), pp. 35, 37.
