ndon, second series, vol. xxiv, p. 42.

[Illustration: PLATE VII. Gold Torcs from Tara and elsewhere.
_p. 78._]

[Illustration: PLATE VIII. Gold Torcs. _p. 78._]

Among the other types of gold torcs are two splendid examples, one of
which appears to have been prepared for twisting and left unfinished,
while the other is in a complete state (Plate VIII).

Small torcs made by twisting a plain ribbon are fairly common, and
some of these are so small that they must have been used as bracelets.

In later times the torc was the distinguishing ornament of the Celt,
and there are many allusions to torcs in classical writers. In 223
B.C., when Flaminius Nepos gained his victory over the Gauls on the
Addua, it is related that instead of the Gauls dedicating, as they had
intended, a torc made from the Roman spoils to their god of war, the
Romans erected a Roman trophy to Jupiter made from Gaulish torcs.

The name of the Torquati, a family of the Manlia Gens, was derived
from their ancestor, T. Manlius, who, having slain a gigantic Gaul in
B.C. 361, took the torc from the dead body, and placed it round his
neck.

The famous statue of the Dying Gaul preserved in the Capitol at Rome
shows a torc on the warrior's neck. This is one of a series of statues
set up by the Greeks of Pergamos to celebrate their struggle with, and
first victory over, the Gauls of Asia Minor, with whom they came in
contact from about 240 to 160 B.C. The twisted torc appears to have
been replaced in Ireland about the second century B.C. by the plain
torc, which was probably introduced from Gaul. The fine gold torc from
Clonmacnois (Plate IX), with La Tene decoration, is a good example of
these torcs, and is almost identical with one from the Marne district
now preserved in the St. Germain Museum. Probably the finest La Tene
torc in existence is that found in the celebrated Broighter find,
which is richly decorated with La Tene ornament (Plate IX, the inner
torc).

CHAPTER IX

BRONZE-AGE FINDS

[Illustration: PLATE IX. Gold Torcs from Clonmacnois and Broighter.
_p. 80._]

One of the greatest difficulties to be contended with in any attempt
to arrive at a working chronology for the Prehistoric Period in Ireland
is that, though Ireland had a rich Bronze Age, as attested by the
magnificent collection of objects preserved in the National Collection,
yet in very few cases have any of these objects been found in