" bodies with his horrid beak. The vessel of the " Gods is set afloat. "The vessel comes from the east: the host of Evil " Genii † arrives by sea: Loke is their pilot and di" rector. Their furious squadron advances, escorted " by the Wolf Fenris: Loke appears with them ‡. "The black prince of the Genii of Fire § issues " forth from the fouth, furrounded with flames: the " fwords of the Gods beam forth rays like the Sun. "The rocks are shaken, and fall to pieces. The fe" male Giants wander about 'weeping.' Men tread " in crowds the paths of death. The heaven is split afunder. " New grief for the Goddess who defends Odin. " For Odin advances to encounter Fenris; the snow" white flayer of Bela ||, against the 'black' prince " of the Genii of Fire *. Soon is the spouse of Frigga " beaten down. ८८ " Then runs Vidar, the illustrious son of Odin, to avenge the death of his father. He attacks the " murderous monster, that monster born of a Giant; " and with his sword he pierces him to the heart. "The Sun is darkened: the sea overwhelms the " earth: the shining stars vanish out of heaven: the " fire furioufly rages: the ages draw to an end: the " flame afcending, licks the vault of heaven." + Muspelli Incola. Bartholin. IA stanza is here omitted, being part of what is quoted above in the 32d fable, p. 163: as also one or two stanzas below. т. § Surtur. Island. orig. The reader will observe some variations between the version here, and that given of this same stanza in p. 13. they are owing to the different readings of the original, SC. FREY. * SC, SURTUR. т. Many 1. Many other pieces of poetry might be quoted to shew, that the Scandinavians had their minds full of all these prophecies, and that they laid great stress upon them. But the generality of readers may possibly rather take my word for it, than be troubled with longer extracts. It will be of more importance to remark, that what we have been reading is, for the most part, nothing else, but the doctrine of ZENO and the Stoics. This remarkable resemblance hath never been properly confidered, and highlydeserves a discussion. The ancients universally assure us, that the Stoic philosophy establish ed the existence of an eternal divinity, diffused through and pervading all nature; and being, as it. were, the foul and primum mobile of matter. From this divinity, proceeded as emanations from his effence, together with the world, certain intelligences ordained to govern under his directions, and who were to undergo the same revolutions as the world itself until the day appointed for the renovation of this universe. The fires concealed in the veins of the earth, never cease to dry up the moisture contained therein, and will, in the end, fet it all on flames. "A " time will come, says "SENECA, when the " world, ripe for a re"novation, shall be "wrapt in flames; when "the oppofite powers "shall in conflict mutu"ally destroy each other; "when the conftellations "shall dash together: "and when the whole " universe, plunged in "the fame common fire, "shall be confumed to "ashes." (Senec. Consol. ad Marciam. cap. ult.) This general destruction was to be preceded by an inundation: And in this respect, the EDDA perfectly agrees with Zeno. SENECA treats this subject of a future deluge at large, in his Quæft. Natural. Lib. 3. c. 29. which he afferts must contribute to purify and prepare the earth for a new race of inhabitants, more innocent and virtuous than the present. But But the confummation of the world by fire, was the point most strongly infifted on by the Stoics. These verses of Seneca's kinsman LUCAN are well known. " Hos populos fi nunc non usserit Ignis, " Uret cum terris, uret cum gurgite ponti; " Communis Mundo superest Rogus.". That is, "IF these people are not as yet to perish " by fire; the time will nevertheless come when they " shall be confumed along with the Earth and the "Sea: the whole world will become one common " funeral pile." Jam jam legibus obrutis Hercul. Oet. ver. 1102. i. e. "When the laws of nature shall be buried in ruin, and the last day of the world shall come, the " fouthern pole shall crush, as it falls, all the regions " of Africa. The north pole shall overwhelm all the "coun * countries beneath it's axis. The affrighted Sun shall " be deprived of its light; the palace of heaven fall"ing to decay, shall produce at once both life and " death, and some KIND OF DISSOLUTION SHALL IN " LIKE MANNER SEIZE ALL THE DEITIES, and they " shall return into their original chaos, &c." In another place, SENECA explains what he means by this Death of the Gods. They were not to be absolutely annihilated; but to be once more re-united, by diffolution, to the foul of the world; being resolved and melted into that intelligence of fire, into that eternal and universal principle, from which they had originally been emanations. It was, without doubt, in this sense also that our northern philosophers understood the matter. We may, from analogy, supply this circumstance with the greater confidence, as the poets have been ever more attentive to adorn and embellish the received doctrines, than to deliver them with precision. But lastly, what must render this parallel more compleat and striking, is, that according to the school of ZENO, no less than in the Icelandic prophecies, this tremendous scene is succeeded by a new creation, evidently drawn in the same colours by both. The world, says SENECA, being melted and re-entered into the bofom of Jupiter, this God continues for some time totally concentered in himself, and remains concealed, as it were, wholly immersed in the contem plation of his own ideas: Afterwards we fee a new world spring from him, perfect in all its parts; animals are produced anew; an innocent race of men are formed under more favourable aufpices, in order to people this earth, the worthy abode of virtue. In short, the whole face of Nature becomes more pleasing and lovely. (Senec. Epift. 9. & Quæst. Nat. L. 3. c. ult.) The EDDA gives us the fame descriptions in other words. They likewife occur in the poem of of the VOLUSPA, above quoted; and the same doctrine is very conspi cuous in the following stanzas from the same piece f. "THEN" (i. e. after the death of the Gods, and the conflagration of the world) " we fee emerge " from the hosom of the waves, an earth cloathed with a most lovely verdure. The floods retire: the " eagle foars wheresoever he lifts, and seizes his fishy " prey on the tops of the mountains. "The fields produce their fruits without culture; "misfortunes are banished from the world. Balder " and his brother ||, those warrior Gods, return to " inhabit the ruined palaces of Odin. Do ye con"ceive what will then come to pass ? " The Gods assemble in the fields of Ida; they " discourse together concerning the heavenly palaces, " whose ruins are before them: they recollect their " former conversations, and the ancient discourses of " Odin. "A palace more resplendant than the Sun rises to "view; it is adorned with a roof of gold: there the " afsemblies of good men shall inhabit; and give " themselves up to joy and pleasure, throughout all "ages." The distance between Scandinavia and those countries where the Stoic philosophy prevailed, is certainly great, and must have been greater still in former ages than the pre sent, when commerce and books lend wings to opinions, and diffuse them in ashort time thro' the world. On the other hand, the system now under confideration is not such as + Vid. Bartholin, ubi fupra, p. 596. where the original and a literal Latin Version may be seen: our French author has only selected some of the stanzas, which he has taken the liberty to transpose. Hoder. T. all |