A characteristic scene from the battle of Clastidium (222 B.C.) is recorded by Polybius
- Date of account
- Published 1911
- Source
- Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race
- Reference
- Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race · selected passage 4
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
A characteristic scene from the battle of Clastidium (222 B.C.) is recorded by Polybius
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyA characteristic scene from the battle of Clastidium (222 B.C.) is recorded by Polybius. The Gæsati,(23) he tells us, who were in the forefront of the Celtic army, stripped naked for the fight, and the sight of these warriors, with their great stature and their fair skins, on which glittered the collars and bracelets of gold so loved as an adornment by all the Celts, filled the Roman legionaries with awe. Yet when the day was over those golden ornaments went in cartloads to deck the Capitol of Rome; and the final comment of Polybius on the character of the Celts is that they, “I say not usually, but always, in everything they attempt, are driven headlong by their passions, and never submit to the laws of reason.” As might be expected, the chastity for which the Germans were noted was never, until recent times, a Celtic characteristic.
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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