8] Ibid. iv. 54.

[1079] Ausonius, _Prof._ v. 12, xi. 17.

[1080] Nennius, 40. In the Irish version they are called "Druids." See
p. 238, _supra_.

[1081] Pliny, xxx. 1.

[1082] Adamnan, _Vita S. Col._, i. 37. ii. 35, etc.; Reeves' _Adamnan_,
247 f.; Stokes, _Three Homilies_, 24 f.; _Antient Laws of Ireland_, i.
15; _RC_ xvii. 142 f.; _IT_ i. 23.

[1083] Lampridius, _Alex. Sev._ 60; Vopiscus, _Numerienus_, 14,
_Aurelianus_, 44.

[1084] Windisch, _Tain_, 31, 221; cf. Meyer, _Contributions to Irish
Lexicog._ 176 Joyce, _SH_ i. 238.

[1085] _IT_ i. 56.

[1086] Solinus, 35; Tac. _Ann._ xiv. 30.

[1087] _RC_ xv. 326, xvi. 34, 277; Windisch, _Tain_, 331. In _LL_ 75_b_
we hear of "three Druids and three Druidesses."

[1088] See p. 69, _supra_; Keating, 331.

[1089] Jullian, 100; Holder, _s.v._ "Thucolis."

[1090] Plutarch, _Vir. mul._ 20.

[1091] Mela, iii. 6; Strabo, iv. 4. 6.

[1092] Reinach, _RC_ xviii. 1 f. The fact that the rites were called
Dionysiac is no reason for denying the fact that some orgiastic rites
were practised. Classical writers usually reported all barbaric rites in
terms of their own religion. M. D'Arbois (vi. 325) points out that Circe
was not a virgin, and had not eight companions.

CHAPTER XXI.

MAGIC.

The Celts, like all other races, were devoted to magical practices, many
of which could be used by any one, though, on the whole, they were in
the hands of the Druids, who in many aspects were little higher than the
shamans of barbaric tribes. But similar magical rites were also
attributed to the gods, and it is probably for this reason that the
Tuatha De Danann and many of the divinities who appear in the
_Mabinogion_ are described as magicians. Kings are also spoken of as
wizards, perhaps a reminiscence of the powers of the priest king. But
since many of the primitive cults had been in the hands of women, and as
these cults implied a large use of magic, they may have been the
earliest wielders of magic, though, with increasing civilisation, men
took their place as magicians. Still side by side with the
magic-wielding Druids, there were classes of women who also dealt in
magic, as we have seen. Their powers were feared, even by S. Patrick,
who classes the "spells of women" along with those of Druids, and, in a
mythic tale, by the father of Connla, who, when the youth was fascinated
by a goddess, feared that he would be taken by the "spells of women"
(_brichta ban_).[1093