Galli

, a nation of Europe, naturally fierce, and inclined to war. They were very superstitious, and in their sacrifices they often immolated human victims. In some places they had large statues made with twigs, which they filled with men, and reduced to ashes. They believed themselves descended from Pluto; and from that circumstance they always reckoned their time not by the days, as other nations, but by the nights. Their obsequies were splendid, and not only the most precious things, but even slaves and oxen, were burnt on the funeral pile. Children, among them, never appeared in the presence of their fathers, before they were able to bear arms in the defence of their country. Cæsar , Gallic War .— Strabo , bk. 4 .— Tacitus. See: Gallia .――The priests of Cybele, who received that name from the river Gallus, in Phrygia, where they celebrated the festivals. They mutilated themselves, before they were admitted to the priesthood, in imitation of Atys the favourite of Cybele. See: Atys . The chief among them was called Arch i gallus, who in his dre resembled a woman, and carried suspended to his neck a large collar, with two representations of the head of Atys. See: Corybantes , Dactyli , . Diodorus , bk. 4 .— Ovid , Fasti , bk. 4 , li. 36 .— Lucan , bk. 1 , li. 466 .— Lucian , de Deâ Syriâ .