he Cimbri proceeded,(22) may have proved beneficial
to it. The rivalries for the hegemony made a breach in every
league, which time did not close but widened, because the victory
of one competitor still left his opponent in possession
of political existence, and it always remained open to him,
even though he had submitted to clientship, subsequently to renew
the struggle. The rivalry among the more powerful cantons not only
set these at variance, but spread into every dependent clan,
into every village, often indeed into every house, for each individual
chose his side according to his personal relations. As Hellas
exhausted its strength not so much in the struggle of Athens against
Sparta as in the internal strife of the Athenian and Lacedaemonian
factions in every dependent community, and even in Athens itself,
so the rivalry of the Arverni and Haedui with its repetitions
on a smaller and smaller scale destroyed the Celtic people.

The Celtic Military System
Cavalry

The military capability of the nation felt the reflex influence
of these political and social relations. The cavalry was throughout
the predominant arm; alongside of which among the Belgae, and still
more in the British islands, the old national war-chariots appear
in remarkable perfection. These equally numerous and efficient
bands of combatants on horseback and in chariots were formed
from the nobility and its vassals; for the nobles had a genuine knightly
delight in dogs and horses, and were at much expense to procure
noble horses of foreign breed. It is characteristic of the spirit
and the mode of fighting of these nobles that, when the levy
was called out, whoever could keep his seat on horseback,
even the gray-haired old man, took the field, and that, when on the point
of beginning a combat with an enemy of whom they made little account,
they swore man by man that they would keep aloof from house
and homestead, unless their band should charge at least twice through
the enemy's line. Among the hired warriors the free-lance spirit
prevailed with all its demoralized and stolid indifference towards
their own life and that of others. This is apparent from the stories--
however anecdotic their colouring--of the Celtic custom of tilting
by way of sport and now and then fighting for life or death
at a banquet, and of the usage (which prevailed among the Celts,
and outdid even the Roman gladiatorial games) of selling themselves
to be killed for a