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But besides the fact that the inscription appears to be false, can one conclude that because a Latin inscription was made in Rome using Greek characters in the second or third century of Christianity, the ancient Gauls used the characters of Greece? In terms of logic, that is called a false conclusion. Furthermore, just as Pherecydes is the first Greek prose writer, Appius Caecus is also the first Roman to have written in prose. In the time of Tacitus, the Germans were absolutely ignorant of the art of writing. Under Louis the Pious, it appears that the Saxons were still plunged in the same ignorance. Thus, it was only in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that their laws were drafted in writing. The German or Runic character is that of the Greeks and Romans, slightly disfigured. The Author gives very curious remarks on this. It remains for me to speak once more of the learned work of which I have just been telling you.

This June 10, 1741.

LETTER 360. You have seen so far, Monsieur, that under the title of History of the Celts, Mr. Pelloutier has collected in his work everything that ancient authors wrote regarding the peoples of Europe who were neither Greek nor Roman, and that he has pleased to call all European barbarians Scythians or Celts, except for the Sarmatians. I am going to go through the final chapters of his book, which treat mainly the occupations and inclinations of these peoples. War was their primary object. We see, even today, that these same peoples are very warlike. In the time of Julius Caesar, the leaders of the Germans did not allow those they commanded to stay more than a year in one region, nor to build comfortable houses there. They were permitted to apply themselves to agriculture; but after they had employed a year in cultivating fields, they were obliged the following year to go to war. These peoples, instead of being disgusted by such a dangerous profession, wanted no other. Equally bloodthirsty and lazy, nothing seemed more convenient to them than to pillage and gather the fruit of the labors of other peoples, even at the peril of their lives. They attached glory to banditry, and they made it a point of honor to ravage neighboring regions so thoroughly that they would have around them a certain extent of country that the fear of their arms rendered uncultivated and deserted. "My sword, my spear, my shield," says a barbarian in Athenaeus, "take the place of all riches for me: with these weapons I plow, I reap, I harvest the vintage." A King of Thrace said, according to Plutarch, that when he was not making war, "he did not believe himself to be above his stable boys." One must have, says the judicious Author, a very small idea of man to imagine that his greatness, his perfection, and his glory consist solely in subjecting and destroying his fellow men. It is a reversal of reason to ennoble massacre and banditry.

The Scythians, or the Celts (it is the same thing, according to the Author), persuaded themselves that war was an act of justice, that is to say, that nature gives the strongest a real right over the weakest. This is what appears from the response of the Senone Gauls to the Roman ambassadors in the fifth book of Livy, chapter 35: original: "Se in armis jus ferre, & omnia fortium virorum eſſe" That they carried their law in their arms, and that everything belonged to brave men. In reality, this is still practiced in certain respects and always will be; the reason of the strongest is always the best, says La Fontaine. Such is the corruption of man. The weakest always

succumbs to the strongest, even in the dealings of civil life, and sometimes to the shame of the scales of Themis Themis was the Greek goddess of divine law and order, often depicted with scales to represent justice..

The Gauls were much more civilized than the other barbarians at the arrival of Caesar in Gaul. He says that before that time, hardly a year passed where the people of the country were not engaged in some offensive or defensive war. The same Author remarks that the Suebi, later called Chatti (these are those from the land of Hesse), made war every year, leaving in their country only those who were necessary for the cultivation of the land. Plutarch says the same thing of all the other Germanic peoples, who, every year, went out from their country for some expedition. The effect of this warlike temper and these barbaric customs was the conquest of all the southern regions by the northern peoples.

The Celts were always at the service of peoples who had need of their sword. Prodigal with their lives, they offered venal blood to all those who were in a position to buy it: which the author of the Henriade An epic poem by Voltaire published in 1723. has well expressed with these two lines:

Barbarians, for whom war is the only trade,
And who sell their blood to whoever wishes to pay for it.

It was indifferent to them whether the war was just or unjust, provided that it furnished them the means to subsist and to acquire glory. They gave troops to all those who asked for them, often even to both parties, sometimes against their own compatriots. original: "Marcus Aurelius... emit Germanorum auxilia contra Germanos" Marcus Aurelius bought German auxiliaries against the Germans, says Capitolinus in chapter 21.

When these peoples were at peace, which happened little, they tore each other apart and destroyed one another through civil wars: this is what Justin, Tacitus, and Strabo teach us. Vallia, King of the Visigoths, had promised the Emperor Honorius to subject all the foreign peoples established in Spain to him; the Kings of the Alans, the Vandals, and the Suebi, informed of this treaty, wrote to the Emperor in these terms: original: "Nos nobiscum conſigimus, nobis perimus, tibi vincimus. Immortalis verò quæſtus erit reipublicæ tuæ, ſi utrique pereamus. Tu cum omnibus pacem habe" We fight among ourselves, we perish for ourselves, we conquer for you. Truly, it will be an immortal gain for your republic if we both perish. You, have peace with everyone. Orosius, book 7, chapter 43.

A Celt had to fear neither surprise nor treachery from his compatriots. The laws of honor, established throughout the Celtic lands, did not permit an honest man to attack another, nor to kill him, without having previously warned him to put himself on defense. They had laws and magistrates to decide disputes: however, they had a law superior to all others, and which the magistrate himself was obliged to respect; it is that a Celt must never refuse a challenge. There is the origin of the barbaric custom of duels, of which Herodotus makes mention in the sixth book of his history. When several competitors presented themselves for an office, a combat in a closed field decided their fate. According to Julius Caesar, even the dignities of the Druids, which the Author calls ecclesiastical dignities, were sometimes disputed at the point of a sword. It is known that there was formerly in Italy an ancient temple whose priest was always a fugitive slave, who only preserved this dignity as long as he could resist another fugitive slave who disputed it with him with weapons in hand. The first one who killed the priest had his place by right. Suetonius recounts that the Emperor Caligula, annoyed to see one of these priests live a long time, stationed a brave man who fought in a duel against him, killed him, and took his place.

It was a fairly common thing among the Celts to issue challenges to their friends, and to

Vocabulary: Celts, Scythians, Germans, Gauls, War, Druids, duels, honor, history, Pelloutier, Julius Caesar, Tacitus, Plutarch, Livy, Suetonius, Caligula, Honorius, Vallia, Visigoths, Alans, Vandals, Suebi, right of war, ecclesiastical dignities