They are thus described by Dr.Mommsen in his 'History of Rome:'-- 'Such qualities--those of good soldiers and of bad citizens--explain the historical fact that the Celts have shaken all States and have _founded none_.

Everywhere we find them ready to rove, or, in other words, to march, preferring movable property to landed estate, and gold to everything else; following the profession of arms as a system of organised pillage, or even as a trade for hire, and with such success that even the Roman historian, Sallust, acknowledges that the Celts bore off the prize from the Romans in feats of arms.
They were the true 'soldiers of fortune' of antiquity, as pictures and descriptions represent them, with big but sinewy bodies, with shaggy hair and long moustaches--quite a contrast to the Greeks and Romans, who shaved the upper lip--in the variegated embroidered dresses which in combat were not unfrequently thrown off, with a broad gold ring round their neck, wearing no helmets and without missile weapons of any sort, but furnished instead with an immense shield, a long ill-tempered sword, a dagger and a lance, all ornamented with gold, for they were not unskilful in working in metals.

Everything was made subservient to ostentation--even wounds, which were often enlarged for the purpose of boasting a broader scar.

Usually they fought on foot, but certain tribes on horseback, in which case every free man was followed by two attendants, likewise mounted.

War-chariots were early in use, as they were among the Libyans and Hellenes in the earliest times.