Si fama non fallit fidem: les druides dans la littérature latine de l’Antiquité tardive

This paper deals with the reasons of intense, though short-lived, interest that a few Latin writers of the late 4^th century, namely Ammianus, Ausonius and the author of the Historia Augusta, had in the druids. In older scholarship it was commonly believed that the druidic passages in these authors testified to the revival of indigenous Gallic priesthood in the 3^rd century, and its survival in the 4^th century. Nowadays scholars are more cautious about the actual renaissance of the druidism. However, even if this revival was only a literary phenomenon, the question rises about its sources.

I suggest that there were three reasons of the popularity of the druids. The first was the interest of the late ancient intelligentsia in one’s own people and family history: the druids were attractive both as a subject of research and as forefathers. The second was their philosophical profession, they were viewed as Gallic representatives of Pythagoreanism. The third was the fact that they were teachers, and so proper role models for Ausonius and his fellow-professors. The re-disappearance of the druids from the literature should be linked to the disappearance of Gallic pagan intellectuals.