In the course of the Roman dominion it became contaminated, and at last profoundly depraved.

The fantastic intermixture of Roman mythology with the gloomy but modified superstition of Romanized Celts was not favorable to the simple character of German theology.

The entire extirpation, thus brought about, of any conceivable system of religion, prepared the way for a true revelation.

Within that little river territory, amid those obscure morasses of the Rhine and Scheld, three great forms of religion--the sanguinary superstition of the Druid, the sensuous polytheism of the Roman, the elevated but dimly groping creed of the German, stood for centuries, face to face, until, having mutually debased and destroyed each other, they all faded away in the pure light of Christianity.
Thus contrasted were Gaul and German in religious and political systems.
The difference was no less remarkable in their social characteristics.
The Gaul was singularly unchaste.

The marriage state was almost unknown.
Many tribes lived in most revolting and incestuous concubinage; brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common.