18.
All the Gauls assert that they are descended from the
god Dis, and say that this tradition has been handed down by the
Druids. For that reason they compute the divisions of every
season, not by the number of days, but of nights; they keep birthdays and the
beginnings of months and years in such an order that the day follows the night.
Among the other usages of their life, they differ in this from almost all other
nations, that they do not permit their children to approach them openly until
they are grown up so as to be able to bear the service of war; and they regard
it as indecorous for a son of boyish age to stand in public in the presence of
his father.
C. Julius Caesar. Caesar's Gallic War. Translator. W. A. McDevitte. Translator. W. S. Bohn. 1st Edition. New York. Harper & Brothers. 1869. Harper's New Classical Library.
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