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The central section of the last fifth chapter in the book by Françoise Leroux is devoted to the Celtic belief in the immortality of the soul, which was almost the only feature of the Druidic doctrine known to ancient authors, but extremely struck their imagination. Leroux cites the testimonies of almost all the authors of the Posidonian tradition who mentioned this plot, and notes the presence in these testimonies of a rationalistic tendency characteristic of classical authors. However, this judgment is a somewhat hasty generalization. As shown at the beginning of the article, in addition to the Posidonian tradition, which contains largely realistic material about the Druids, there is also the Alexandrian tradition, which unrestrainedly idealizes the Celts. In addition, in the Posidonian tradition, the tendency to idealize the barbarians, characteristic of the ancient historiography of the time of the polis crisis, is also present, albeit in a somewhat veiled form. If the author had in mind the classification of ancient sources accepted in modern science and studies on the idealization of barbarian peoples by ancient authors, then, perhaps, the Druidic belief in the immortality of the soul would be easier to understand and explain.
However, Leroux has his own interesting approach to sources. She believes that Caesar and other ancient authors were mistaken, claiming that the Druids preached the immortality of the soul in order to breathe military valor, courage and fearlessness into the hearts of their compatriots. In her opinion, war was too common for the Celts, too natural for the Druids to worry about developing arguments of a psychological nature. The immortality of the soul is a self-sufficient problem. The question is to decide what the Druids really believed: in transmigration of souls (metempsychosis) or in immortality, when the soul after death continues to live in the Other World. This is how Françoise Leroux defines his task.
Based on an examination of Irish and Welsh sources, she concludes that among the Celts, immortality and metempsychosis had two adjacent, but different areas of application. While immortality was the normal and universal destiny of the human soul, the ability to reincarnate and metempsychosis was possessed only by exceptional, with a special purpose of personality, mythical characters. [112 - See present. ed. page 213.]
Leroux cites two excerpts from the Irish epic, in which it is said that the Celtic warriors were buried in full armor, with their faces turned towards the enemy, as if they were going to continue the battle in the Other World. It is easy to see that these texts coincide with archaeological material originating from the burials of Celtic warriors of the La Tene era. In this case, archeology could perfectly complement the evidence of literary sources, give them a shade of authenticity. However, the author refuses to draw on archaeological materials on the grounds that: “It would be rash to base a sociological or religious theory on the basis of the method of burial practiced by the Celts.” [113 - Cm. present ed. p. 264, approx. 37.]
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In an attempt to reconstruct some of the features of the Druidic doctrine, Leroux devotes a special paragraph to the Celtic concept of a triple vision of the world. She cites a number of examples, taken from the Irish sagas, when the gods Tuatha De Dahn, the Druids, the mythical inhabitants of Ireland, are grouped in threes. [114 - See present. ed. Ch. 5, § 6.] This is an important observation that gives an idea of one of the main features of the Celtic religious-mythological tradition. At one time, J. Vandry noticed that the triad formula, grouping three facts or three precepts, is the dominant genre in the gnomical literature of Ireland or Wales, and triple characters and triads occupy an important place in the epic tradition of both peoples. Gnomes in literature are short sayings containing some general rule of worldly wisdom or philosophical thought. J. Vandry remarked:“Irish legend loves to depict the same individual (god or hero) in three persons.” [115 - Vendryes J. La Religion des Celtes. P. 250.]
Duval cited in his work a number of monuments originating from Roman Gaul, which depict Tricephalus - a deity with three heads or three faces. He calls this technique "intensity repetition", which is based on the idea of multiplying a number. In this plurality, the Celts preferred the number “three”. Duvall writes: "They had the habit of multiplying by three the whole figure, or part of the figure of the deity, in order to express more intensely his power." [116 - Duval PM Les dieux de la Gaule. Ed. 2. Paris, 1976. P. 65.] At the same time, tripling is a sign not only of intensity, but also of totality, containing the beginning, development and end of every thing. The presence of a tendency of this kind in the doctrine of the Druids confirms their adherence to philosophy, which is attributed to them by classical authors.
Françoise Leroux ends his book with a Druidic prophecy about the end of the world, which Strabo cites: “One day fire and water will triumph.” [117 - Strabo, IV, 4.] Then the author poses the problem in the form of a short question: “The end of the world or the end of the cycle ?”[118 - See now. ed. page 232.]
This problem was solved long ago by K. Julian. To understand the course of his thought, it is necessary to cite the entire testimony of Strabo: “Not only druids, but others as well, assert that souls and the universe are indestructible; but still, in the end, fire and water will prevail over them.”[119 - Strabo, IV, 4.] C. Julian made an ingenious guess. [120 - Jullian C. L'histoire de la Gaule. V. II. P. 176. no. 3]. Rearranging the sentences in this text, he came to the conclusion that the testimony of Strabo means not only that the Celts believed in the final destruction of the world by fire with water, but also that they believed in the rebirth of the world after the final catastrophe. This means that the prophecy of the Druids meant only the end of the cycle, not the world, and that the Druidic teachings contained the idea of the eternal creation and destruction of the universe, which M. Eliade called the "myth of the eternal return."
Thus, in the monograph by Françoise Leroux, all aspects of druidism are considered: the structure of the corporation of druids and the hierarchy that existed in it, the specialization of priests, the position of druids in society, the relationship of druids with the secular power of communities, rituals and magic of the druids, the main features of their doctrine. Perhaps, if Leroux also used Celtic archeology as sources and materials and would investigate the ancient literary tradition about the Druids for its connection with philosophical and political theories, with ancient social utopias of the time of the polis crisis, then the picture of the study would be more complete. However, in the end, each researcher has the right to prefer one or another group of sources and to their own methods of working with them. The task that the author set herself at the beginning of the work is to reproduce the image of the not ideal,but a typical druid, such as existed and as the Celtic communities envisioned, using for this the image of the many legendary druids of Ireland and what is known about the historical druids of Gaul - she brilliantly performed. And the book of Françoise Leroux vividly and directly introduces us to the fascinating and mysterious world of ancient Druidism.
Celtic Druids. Book by Françoise Leroux
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