Histoire des Celtes

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Celtic region, from Gades modern Cadiz to the Tanais the Don River, he judges, "that there is little likelihood that a man who has lied so often in things known to everyone, has told the truth when it comes to other things that everyone ignores perfectly." The same Geographer recognizes But those things which are beyond the Elbe toward the Ocean are entirely unknown to us. For we have no finding from any of those before us that he sailed along that shore toward the East even to the mouth of the Caspian Sea: nor have the Romans gone to those places beyond the Elbe. Strabo, book VII. page 294. that "all the regions which are beyond the Elbe as far as the Ocean Sea were entirely unknown in his time." What he adds immediately after provides convincing proof: "We have not learned that any of those who were before us sailed toward the East, along this coast, as far as the mouth of the Caspian Sea." One sees in these words an error common to most ancient geographers; they believed that the Caspian Sea was a gulf of the Northern Ocean. Pliny the Elder, although he is later than Strabo, also admits For Germany has not been fully known for many years, nor is it entirely explored. Pliny, Natural History, book IV. chapter 13, 14. page 477. that a large part of Germany was still unknown in the time he wrote.

Even if one did not find such admissions in ancient authors, it would be enough to read them with some attention to be convinced that they have often spoken of the Celts based on very bad records, and that they took pleasure in loading their reports with a false marvelousness See a part of these chimeras, pages 5 to 28, of the Discourse on the Nature and Dogmas of the Gallic Religion.. I will often have occasion to correct, in the course of this work, the blunders they made and the fables they told while describing the customs of the Celts or the situation of their country.

Despite these difficulties, it is not absolutely impossible to pierce the darkness in which the history of the Celts is buried. These peoples began to be better known through the wars

that were carried into the heart of Spain, Gaul, Germany, Thrace, and the other regions they inhabited. This is again the remark of Strabo in the place I have already cited Especially indeed the men of our age can say something more certain of the Britons, Germans, those dwelling by the Ister (Danube), both interior and exterior, the Getae, Tyrigetae, Bastarnae, and those dwelling by the Caucasus, such as the Albans and Iberians. Strabo book II. page 117. 118.: "One can say in our days something more certain of the Britons, and the Germans, of the peoples who live on both banks of the Danube, of the Getae, the Tyrigetae, and the Bastarnae." The expeditions of Alexander the Great, he says elsewhere Just as by the expedition of Alexander many things became known, as Eratosthenes says: for he opened a great part of Asia to us, and all the northern regions of Europe as far as the Ister (Danube): the Romans moreover all the western parts of Europe as far as the river Elbe, which divides Germany into two parts: and those things beyond the Ister as far as the river Tyras. Furthermore, the more distant things as far as the Lake Maeotis and the maritime shore which ends at the Colchians, Mithidates surnamed Eupator and his generals made known to us. The Parthians made known Hyrcania, Bactriana, and the Scythians dwelling beyond it. Strabo book I. page 14., "opened to us a large part of Asia, with all the Northern provinces of Europe, which extend to the Danube. The Romans made known to us the Western regions of Europe as far as the river Elbe, which divides Germany into two parts, and the countries which are beyond the Danube as far as the river Tyras. Mithridates, surnamed Eupator, and his generals discovered all the lands that are beyond, as far as the Maeotian Marshes The Sea of Azov and Colchis. It is finally by means of the Parthians that we began to know Hyrcania, Bactriana, and the Scythians who live beyond." Diodorus Siculus makes a similar remark. He says From Europe the cities of the Greeks, and the Macedonians, then the Illyrians, and most of those dwelling near, and the tribes of the Thracians, and the Galatians (Gauls) bordering these: whose nation then first began to become known to the Greeks. All these sent ambassadors. Diodorus Siculus, book XVII. page 623. "that the Illyrians, the peoples who live along the Adriatic Sea, the Thracians, and the Gauls their neighbors, began to be known by the Greeks in the time of Alexander the Great, to whom they sent ambassadors."