- Chapter Twenty-Three -
Taliesin (Bromwich and Williams 1972: 12-13). The poem ends with the words
dysgogan derwydon meint a deruyd, 'druids foretell all that will happen'. In the
derwydd we have the root wid, 'to know' (Welsh gwybod, 'know'). The word which
is cognate with druid is dryw, which also means 'wren', a druidic bird. The word
came to be equated with druid in the eighteenth century, but the two instances in
which dryw appears in the Book of Taliesin are ambiguous, although in one instance
'druid' rather than 'wren' would seem to be a more likely translation.
In 1632 John Davies of Mallwyd favoured the meaning 'oak' as a translation of
the first part of the word derwyd. As the oak was a venerated tree among the Celts,
'knowledge of the oak' is a valid alternative for 'very great knowledge' for the
Gaulish druides and the Insular counterparts. The Celts liked this sort of double
entendre; the druids certainly had very great knowledge of their own Discipline, and
according to Lucan they received their divinatory knowledge by means of a trance
caused by their custom of chewing acorns (Nf Chathain 1979-80: 2 I I). In the Welsh
poem Cad Goddau, 'The Battle of the Trees' - one of the 'futile battles' (Tri Ouergat)
of the Island of Britain (Bromwich I96I: 206-8) - Taliesin (Bromwich I99I: 51)
addresses certain druids of a 'Wise One' who may be Arthur, or the poet himself:
Derwydon doethur
Darogenwch y Arthur.
'Druids of a wise one
Prophesy to Arthur.'
This may suggest that Arthur is present, waiting to hear the druids pronounce, as he
did with the bards in Breuddwyd Rhonabwy, 'The Dream of Rhonabwy' Gones and
Jones I974: I 5 I). In both these passages the role of the druid is that of a prophet,
which seems to have been a major and lasting function of the druids in general. The
actions of kings in the early Celtic world depended upon the druids' knowledge of
the future and the outcome of events; later the poets took over this role.
DRUIDS AND BARDS
We have no examples of the work of the continental bards, apart perhaps from the
Chamalieres and comparable inscriptions; but the account given by Athenaeus of the
bard and Louernius the renowned Arvernian chieftain indicates that the role of the
bard was the same in Gaul as it was to be in the British Isles (Tierney I960: 24).
Louernius made a great feast in an enclosure of vast size which he had prepared for
the purpose. This was duly provisioned with huge vats of liquid and cauldrons of
food, and the feast was served for many days to all who wished to partake of it. When
the time came to end the feast, and Louernius was preparing to leave, a poet ran up
to him singing a praise-poem in honour of Louernius and bewailing his own late
arrival. Moved by this, and acting in accordance with accepted ritual, the chieftain
had a bag of gold brought to him and threw it to the poet. In return, the poet sang
another praise-poem, even more fulsome than the first, stating that even the tracks
made by the chariot of Louernius gave 'gold and largesse to mankind'.430