When Cæsar entered Gaul he found there three races, different in speech, manners, and laws-the Aquitanians still occupying the land between the Garonne and the Pyrenees; the Belgians between the Rhine, the Seine, and the Marne; and the Celts, whose country extended from the frontiers of Belgium to those of Aquitania,1 with the exception of certain parts between the Seine and Loire on the Atlantic coast, where the Belgians prevailed, and which bore the name of Armorica. This classification of the various tribes originally inhabiting the country now called France does not include an old Roman settlement around Narbonne (Narbo Martius) nor the Greek colonies aforementioned, nor some German tribes that of late had commenced to cross the Rhine and to settle on the left bank of that river. Each of these peoples had its own peculiar speech, with this difference, that while the language of the Aqui tanians bore a close resemblance to that of the Spanish Iberians, and none whatsoever to that of the Gauls and the Belgians, the idioms of the latter two differed but little, and might be considered as dialects of the same language. This language is generally known as the Celtic. seems to contain the root aber as well. Vindia, Cinna, and Briania call to mind the roots gwent, cenn, and bryn. Armorium reminds us of Armorica. Olenus, in Galatia, reminds us of Olenæum in Britain, and Olin in Gaul. Agannia reminds us of Agennum in Gaul. An Episcopus Taviensis came from Galatia to attend the Nicene Council. We have also the apparently Celtic names Acitorizacum, Ambrenna, Eccobriga, Landrosia, Roslogiacum, and the river Siberis. -Diefenbach, Celtica, ii, part i, pp. 256, 313; Thierry, Histoire des Gaulois, vol. i, pp. 145, seq.; De Belloguet, Ethnogénie, vol. i, p. 249. 1 Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belga, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celta, nostra Galli appellantur. Hi omnes lingua, institutis, legibus inter se differunt. Gallos ab Aquitanis Garumna flumen, a Belgis Matrona et Sequana dividit.-Cæsar, De Bello Gallico, lib. i. Οἱ μὴν δη, τριχῇ διήρουν, ̓Ακουϊτανοὺς καὶ Βέλγας καλοῦντες καὶ Κέλτας, Strabo, iv. Celtarum quæ pars Galliæ tertia est.—Livy, V, c. xxxiv. Temporibus priscis cum laterent hæ partes ut barbare, tripartitæ fuisse creduntur; in Celtas eosdem Gallos divisa, et Aquitanos et Belgas.-Ammian. Marcellin. XV, c. xxvii. 9 Μετὰ δὲ τὰ λεχθέντα ἔθνη, τὰ λοιπὰ Βελγῶν ἐστὶν ἔθνη, τῶν παρωκεανιτῶν· ὦ Οὐένετοι μὲν εἰσὶν οἱ ναυμαχήσαντες πρὸς Καίσαρα—Strabo, iv. In this passage of Strabo, Пapakeaviтns seems to be the translation of the Celtic Armorik, an adjective formed of ar, "on, by, or at," and mor, "sea,” from which we have the name of Armorica, in French Armorique. 8 Τοὺς μὲν ̓Ακουϊτανοὺς, τελέως ἐξηλλαγμένους οὐ τῆς γλώττης μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς σώμασιν, ἐμφερεῖς Ιβηρσι μᾶλλον ἢ Γαλάταις.—Ἁπλῶς γὰρ εἰπεῖν, οἱ ̓Ακουῖτανοὶ διαφέρουσι τοῦ γαλατικού φύλου, κατὰ τε τὰς τῶν σωμάτων κατασκευὰς, καὶ κατὰ τὴν γλώτταν· ἐοίκασι δὲ μᾶλλον Ιβηρσιν.—Τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς, γαλατικήν μὲν τὴν ὄψιν, ὁμογλώττους δ ̓ οὐ πάντας, αλλ ̓ ἐνίους μικρὸν παραλλάττοντας ταῖς γλώτταις. -Strabo, iv. As the Gauls far outnumbered the other tribes, the country at large was usually called Gaul, and always so referred to by Roman writers. The people are described as men tall and fair, fond of dress and ornament, quickwitted, eager for excitement and display, whose ambition it was to fight well and to speak well. Strabo acknowledges their advanced condition in civilization, and, according to Cæsar, they differed but little from the Romans in their general mode of life. The colony at Marseilles, though Greek in language, was almost entirely Romanized in manners and customs, owing to its long and steady intercourse with Rome, many of whose merchants resided among them. It was even the close relations thus established which contained the germ of all the woes that subsequently befell the entire Gallic nation. The success and wealth of the Greek colony of Marseilles, exciting the envy of the neighboring Ligurians, often led to disturbances, which finally culminated in open war. Given to business and to the arts of peace exclusively, and unable to cope with their warlike neighbors, the former felt constrained to call in the aid of their ancient allies, the Romans. The latter eagerly seized the opportu nity, and took possession of the entire southeastern part of Gaul, to which they gave the name of Transalpine Roman Province (154 B. C.). One century later, Julius Cæsar, being sent to this province to govern it as proconsul, took advantage of some pretext to attack the Gauls that were still independent, after which he undertook the conquest of the whole land. The Gauls resisted heroically, but had to yield at last to superior skill and discipline. Cæsar broke their spirit by the most cruel measures; at Bourges he massacred ten thousand women and children; at Üxellodunum he cut off his prisoners' heads; at Vannes he slew the chiefs of a tribe, and sold the rest at auction. After ten years of this work Gaul was subdued and placed under Roman rule. Then the ambitious Cæsar, having become the rival of Pompey, felt the necessity of making friends and partisans of those very enemies, on whom his bravery and skill had brought so many disasters. In order to succeed he spared neither favors nor promises, admitted natives to the senate,1 and established schools in various parts of the country. I Gallos Cæsar in triumphum ducit; idem in curiam. Suetonius, Jul. Cæs., c. lxxx, 3. After Cæsar's death, the Emperor Augustus made a new division of Gaul, and gave it an organization entirely Roman. From that time forward the Latin language spread rapidly throughout all Gaul by the administration, the courts of justice, the laws, the political, civil, and military institutions, religion, commerce, literature, the theatre, the circus, public sports and games, and all the other means which Rome knew so well how to use in order to impose her language upon other nations as she imposed on them the yoke of her dominion.1 All resistance was crushed by extermination or deportation, and the vacuum filled up with colonists and freedmen from Rome. By this method conquerors and conquered were in a few years welded into one mass. Thus, in less than a century after the conquest, Latin was spoken in many parts of Gaul outside the Transalpine Roman Province, where, long before Cæsar's time, the Latin language had already become current. Plotius and Gniphon, two Latin scholars, whom history mentions as having opened in Rome a school of rhetoric and grammar, eighty-seven years before Christ, were Gauls; many Roman families resided in Gaul along the banks of the Rhone, and Cicero informs us that even in his time the country was full of Roman merchants, and that hardly any business was transacted there without some Roman having a hand in it. But what contributed more than any thing to the spread of Latin throughout the land was the necessity for its inhabitants to apply to Roman magistrates for obtaining justice, as all cases were pleaded in Latin, and prætors were expressly forbidden to issue decrees in any language but Latin.8 Claudius, the successor of Augustus, who was born at 1 Imperiosa nimirum civitas (Roma) non solum jugum, verum etiam linguam suam domitis gentibus imponere voluit.-Saint Augustine, De civitate Dei, XIX, c. vii. Referta Gallia negotiatorum est, plena civium Romanorum; nemo Gallorum, sine cive Romano, quidquam negotii gerit.-Cic., Orat pro Fonteio, 1. For a more detailed account, see Herbermann's Business Life in Ancient Rome. Decreta a pretoribus latine interponi debent.-L. Decreta, D., lib, xlii, tit. i, De re judicata. Magistratus vero prisci quantopere suam populique Romani majestatem retinentes se gesserint, hinc cognosci potest, quod, inter cætera obtinendæ gravitatis indicia, illud quoque magna cum perseverantia custodiebant, ne Græcis unquam nisi latine responsa darent. Quin etiam ipsa linguæ volubilitate, qua plurimum valet, excussa, per interpretem loqui cogebant; non in urbe tantum nostra, sed etiam in Græcia et Asia; quo scilicet latinæ voces honos per omnes gentes venerabilior diffunderetur.-Valerius Maximus, lib. ii, c. 2. Lyons among the Gauls, always liked the province where he had passed his childhood, and it was he who granted to all the Gallic towns the Right of City, which opened the road for every citizen to the highest offices and dignities of the empire. Thus ambition, interest, daily relations with the Roman administration, everything in short that could Romanize the people, induced the Gauls to make themselves familiar with the Latin language, especially under such a protector as Claudius, who did not admit that one could be a Roman citizen without knowing the Roman language;1 and so strictly did he carry out these views that a distinguished magistrate, a Greek by birth, having presented himself before him, and not being able to express himself correctly in Latin, was by his order not only struck off the roll of magistrates, but also deprived of his right of citizenship. Under such influences the Latin language made most rapid progress throughout the whole country, so much so that, only a few years after the death of Claudius, Martial writes that at Vienne even the women and children read his verses; 8 and Pliny boasted that his works were known throughout all Gaul. Even in Strabo's time, the Gauls, he says, could no longer be looked upon as barbarians, inasmuch as most had adopted the language and the mode of living of the Romans. When Caracalla had given the right of citizenship to all the inhabitants of the provinces (212) A. D.), the laws of Rome became the common law of almost all Gaul; the majority of the inhabitants took Roman names, assumed the toga, and delighted in calling their country Roman Gaul or Romania; numerous marriages drew closer the individuals of the two nations; Roman manners prevailed everywhere, and the larger cities had their public baths, their circuses, their amphitheatres, and gladiatorial shows. In less than two centuries, schools of rhetoric and grammar had sprung up almost everywhere 1 Μὴ δεῖ Ῥωμαῖον εἶναι τὸν μὴ καὶ τὴν διάλεξιν σφῶν ἐπιστάμενον.-Dion Cassius, LX, xvii. Splendidum virum, Græciæque provinciæ principem, verum latini sermonis ignarum, non modo albo judicum erasit, sed etiam in peregrinitatem redegit. Suetonius, Claud., c. xvi, 5. 4 Me legit ibi senior, juvenisque, puerque, Et coram tetrico casta puella viro.-Martial, VII, Epig. 87. * Οὐδὲ Βαρβάρους ἔτι ὄντας, ἀλλὰ μετακειμένους τὸ πλέον εἰς τὸν τῶν Ῥωμαιῶν τύπον, καὶ τῇ γλώττη, καὶ τοῖς βίοις. Strab., IV. The word barbarian was applied by the Egyptians, and afterward by the Greeks and Romans, to all who did not speak their language. in Gaul, and those of Autun, Lyons, Trèves, Reims, Besançon, Poitiers, Narbonne, Marseilles, and Toulouse became renowned throughout the land. Henceforth the Gauls cultivated Latin literature with an ardor and activity at that time unequaled in any portion of the Western Empire. They were particularly distinguished by an unbounded enthusiasm for the disputes of the forum. Juvenal called Gaul "the nurse for lawyers," and such was the high character of the Gallic academies, that at one time the emperors, either from policy or from preference, sent their sons there for education. Thus Crispus, a son of Constantine, and Gratianus, made their studies at Trèves; Dalmatius and Annibalianus, grandsons of Constantius Chlorus, followed a course of eloquence at Toulouse. In all the cities of Roman Gaul the education of youth was entrusted to masters of grammar and rhetoric, who were elected by the magistrates, maintained at the public expense, and distinguished by many lucrative and honorable privileges. There are still extant many imperial edicts relating to these public seminaries, in which privi leges are conferred upon the teachers, and regulations laid down as to the manner in which they were to be appointed, the salaries they were to receive, and the branches of learning they were to teach. They were held in high respect, and enjoyed many of the immunities and privileges afterward conferred on the clergy. Several of the Gallic professors, not satisfied with their high renown as teachers, aimed at the still higher distinction of Latin authors, and quite a number among them, such as Petronius, Lactantius, Ausonius, Sidonius Apollinaris, Cornelius Gallus, Trogus-Pompeius, and Sulpicius Severus attained a well-deserved celebrity.3 But while Latin had made such wonderful progress among the upper classes in the large cities and the main centers of civilization, it was not so with the working 1 Nutricula causidicorum.-Juvenal, Sat., vii, 147. To this Juvenal (xv. 110) refers in the following lines: Nunc totus Graias, nostrasque habet orbis Athenas, De conducendo loquitur jam rhetore Thule. Claudianus could not find anything more flattering for the Emperor Honorious than calling him, attended upon by the learned men of Gaul and the Roman Senate "Te Gallia doctis Civibus, et toto stipavit Roma Senatu. Claud., de IV, Consulatu Honorii August. Panegyris, vers. 582. |