whom he mentions is more akin to the great "medicine-man" of a tribe of American Indians, than to the colleges of the Gaulish Druids, or to the sacred corporations of India, Syria, Egypt, and Palestine. In public matters, he says, the gods are invoked by the state priest, in private by the father of the family, and each derives the divine answer through the medium of lots, or small pieces of wood cut from the bough of a fruit-bearing tree. This, however, is only the first step in the inquiry. The answer must be confirmed by augury, and birds by their song or their flight are the organs of the divine will. So far the Roman and German soothsayers were much alike, and probably the less civilised were the more pious of the two, for we do not read of the Teutonic augurs, as we do of the Roman, that when they met one another in the street they found it hard to look grave. Horses, too—and "this," he says, "is peculiar to this people"—were mediums for omens and warnings. What follows has a very oriental aspect, reminding us of the omen drawn from the neighing of King Darius's horse.[1] "Kept at the public expense in these same woods and groves are white horses, pure from the taint of earthly labour. These are yoked to a car, and accompanied by the priest and the king or chief of the tribe, who note their neighings and snortings. No species of augury is more trusted, not only by the people and the nobility, but also by the priests, who regard themselves as the ministers of the gods, and the horses as acquainted with their will."
There is a remark by Tacitus, in a graver tone and
- ↑ Herodotus, iii. 84.
