The individual Celt was morally and physically well qualified for war, and especially for war in so wild and rugged a country as his own.

He was intrepid, strong, fleet, patient of cold, of hunger, and of fatigue.

Up steep crags, and over treacherous morasses, he moved as easily as the French household troops paced along the great road from Versailles to Marli.

He was accustomed to the use of weapons and to the sight of blood: he was a fencer; he was a marksman; and, before he had ever stood in the ranks, he was already more than half a soldier.
As the individual Celt was easily turned into a soldier, so a tribe of Celts was easily turned into a battalion of soldiers.

All that was necessary was that the military organization should be conformed to the patriarchal organization.