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Celtic and Germanic Religion 121
in their ways of living and thinking. We may even
suspect that the language at that time could not hinder
mutual understanding. The Germanic sound-shift had
not yet taken place, and so the consonants stayed still
at the same stage as that of the Celtic language; nor had
the Indo-European vowel system suffered any considerable
changes.
But we should not try to disregard the differences of
culture-pattern, still less those of religious system between
these peoples. Caesar indeed mentioned great differences,
and marked differences there were. The Roman
observer was struck by the totally deviant character
of the priestly organizations. The mighty and wellorganized
institution of the druids failed in Germania.
In fact, looking over the information we possess about
the Teutonic priesthood, we cannot but arrive at the
conclusion that it was in no way as strictly organized
as the druids were. Perhaps the Icelandic sagas do not
give us an exact picture of the gooi or priest; perhaps
after the settlement, by a peculiar development, the
Icelandic priest gained more or less the character of a
political functionary. Still we cannot believe that in
earlier times the Germanic priest could have been equal
in might or influence to the Celtic one. It is often said
that in this respect the position of the Germanic priest
accorded more nearly with the conditions of Indo­
European times. To be sure, we get the impression that
the system. so solid and coherent, which the Gaulish
druids had contrived to build up, must have been the
result of many generations of assiduous and deliberate
policy. But I am not at all sure that this conception is
right. It is important to state that in India as well as
in Rome a priestly organization had existed, which was
by no means inferior to that of the druids. The high
position of the brahmans is beyond doubt; it developed
even to rather grotesque proportions. In Rome the
development was quite contrariwise, but enough subsisted