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HISTORY OF FRANCE,

2878

FROM THE

EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME.

BY

M. MICHELET,

PROFESSEUR-SUPPLÉANT À LA FACULTÉ DES LETTRES, PROFESSEUR À L'ÉCOLE NORMALE,
CHEF DE LA SECTION HISTORIQUE AUX ARCHIVES DU ROYAUME.

VOL. I.

TRANSLATED BY

G. H. SMITH, F. G. S.

NEW YORK:

D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY.

1851.

1

2098
за

HISTORY OF FRANCE.

BOOK THE FIRST.

CELTS.-IBERIANS.-ROMANS.

CHAPTER I.

CELTS AND IBERIANS.

fierce in their joys, vast in their hopes, and vain -for as yet nothing has withstood them. They would go and see for themselves what manner of man was the conqueror of Asia, that Alexander, at whose sight kings fainted through dread.*

ror: "The sky falling," was all the answer he got. Heaven itself had little terror for them; they returned its thunders with flights of arrows. Did ocean rise and invade the land, they did not refuse its challenge, but marched upon it sword in hand. Never to give way was their point of honor they would often scorn to quit a house in flames. No people held their lives cheaper. There were of them who would undertake to die for a trifle of money or a little wine, would step upon their sleepingplaces, distribute the wine or money among their friends, lie down on their shields, and offer their throat to the knife.T

"THE Gauls," says Strabo, following the philosopher Posidonius, “ are universally madly" What do you fear?" inquired the man of terfond of war, hot in temper, and quick to fight; in all other respects simple, and void of malice. Hence, when provoked, they march multitudinously, openly, and incautiously straight against the enemy, so as to be easily out-generalled; since they may be drawn on to engage where and when one chooses, and for any cause, being ever ready for battle, even though armed only with their own natural strength and audacity. Yet are they easily persuaded to useful employments, and susceptible of culture and literary instruction. Presuming on their gigantic build and numbers, they soon collect in large multitades, of their own free-will and accord, and at once take side with the injured party."* Such is the first glance cast by philosophy on the most sympathetic and perfectible of the races of man.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GAULS AND IBERIANS.

The genius of these Gauls or Celts is at first a mere restless activity, prompting to attack and conquest: it was through war that the nations of antiquity came into contact and intermingled. A warring and noisy race, they overrun the world, sword in hand, led on, it would seem, less by greed, than by a vain and uneasy desire to see, know, and busy themselves with every thing; bursting and destroying through mere inability to create. With their large, fair, soft, and succulent bodies, they are the infants of the nascent world; elastic and impulsive, but neither enduring nor persevering ;t

* Συναγανακτούντες τοῖς ἀδικεῖσθαι δοκοῦσιν ἀεὶ τῶν πληciov. Strabo, I. iv. 195.

f Diodor. Sic. lib. v. c. 28. Τοῖσδε σαρξὶ κάθυγροι καὶ λευκοί. Appian. apud Scriptores Rerum Francicarum, l. 1. 462. Υπό τε ἱδρῶτος καὶ ἄσθματος · ἐξελύοντο ταχέως.

Their banquets seldom ended without a fray; the thigh of the animal on the board was the right of the bravest,** and each would be he. Next to fighting, their greatest pleasure was to crowd round the stranger, seat him among them, whether he liked or not, and make him tell them tales of distant lands; for these barbarians were

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$ Alian. 1. xii. c. 23. Γυμνὰ τὰ ξίφη καὶ τὰ δόρατα προς GeloVTES.-Aristot. Eudemior. 1. iii. c. 1. Oi Kλroi пpôs rà κύματα όπλα ἀπαντῶσι λαβόντες. Ælian. ibid.

Posidon. 1. xxiii. ap. Athen. 1. iv. c. 13. Aλdot & Ev θεάτρῳ λαβόντες ἀργύριον ἢ χρυσίον, οἱ δὲ οἴνου κεραμίων ἀριθμόν τινα, καὶ πιστωσάμενοι τὴν δόσιν, καὶ τοῖς ἀναγ καίοις φίλοις διαδωρησάμενοι, ὑπτιοι ἐκταθέντες ἐπὶ θυρεῶν κεῖνται· παραστὰς δέ τις ξίφει τὸν λαιμὸν ἀποκόπτει. ** Posidon. apud Athen. l. iv. c. 13.

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