They were naturally agriculturists, and we may suppose that the institution of private property existed among them, because, on the one hand, all the citizens paid the tax, except the Druids,[88] and, on the other, the latter were judges of questions of boundaries.[89] They were not unacquainted with certain manufactures. In some countries they fabricated serges, which were in great repute, and cloths or felts;[90] in others they worked the mines with skill, and employed themselves in the fabrication of metals. The Bituriges worked in iron, and were acquainted with the art of tinning.[91] The artificers of Alesia plated copper with leaf-silver, to ornament horses’ bits and trappings.[92] The Gauls fed especially on the flesh of swine, and their ordinary drinks were milk, ale, and mead.[93] They were reproached with being inclined to drunkenness.[94] They were frank and open in temper, and hospitable toward strangers,[95] but vain and quarrelsome;[96] fickle in their sentiments, and fond of novelties, they took sudden resolutions, regretting one day what they had rejected with disdain the day before;[97] inclined to war and eager for adventures, they showed themselves hot in the attack, but quickly discouraged in defeat.[98] Their language was very concise and figurative;[99] in writing, they employed Greek letters. The men were not exempt from a shameful vice, which we might have believed less common in this county than among the peoples of the East.[100] The women united an extraordinary beauty with remarkable courage and great physical force.[101] The Gauls, according to the tradition preserved by the Druids, boasted of being descended from the god of the earth, or from Pluto (_Dis_), according to the expression of Cæsar.[102] It was for this reason that they took night for their starting-point in all their divisions of time. Among their other customs, they had one which was singular: they considered it as a thing unbecoming to appear in public with their children, until the latter had reached the age for carrying arms.[103] When he married, the man took from his fortune a part equal to the dowry of the wife. This sum, placed as a common fund, was allowed to accumulate with interest, and the whole reverted to the survivor. The husband had the right of life and death over his wife and children.[104] When the decease of a man of wealth excited any suspicion, his wives, as well as his slaves, were put to the torture, and burnt if they were found guilty. The extravagance of their funerals presented a contrast to the simplicity of their life. All that the defunct had cherished during his life, was thrown into the flames after his death; and even, before the Roman conquest, they joined with it his favourite slaves and clients.[105]