Gods? Har replied: To relate this is no trivial matter. They dragged the body of Ymir into the middle of the abyfs, and of it formed the earth. The water and the fea were composed of his blood; the mountains of his bones; the rocks of his teeth; and of his hollow bones, mingled with the blood that ran from his wounds, they made the vast ocean; in the midst of which they infixed the earth (c). Then having formed the heavens of his scull, they made them rest on all fides upon the earth: they divided them into four quarters, and placed a dwarf at each corner to sustain it. These dwarfs are called EAST, WEST, SOUTH, and NORTH. After this they went and seized upon fires in Muspelsheim, (that flaming world in the fouth,) and placed them in the abyss, in the upper and lower parts of the sky, to enlighten the earth. Every fire had its affigned residence. Hence the days were distinguished, and the years reduced to calculation. For this reason it is faid in the poem of VOLUSPA, "For" merly the fun knew not its palace, the moon was ignorant of its powers, and "the stars knew not the stations they were "to occupy (D)." These, cried out Gangler, were grand performances indeed! most stupendous undertakings! Har goes on, and says, The earth is round, and C4 about about it is placed the deep sea; the shores of which were given for a dwelling to the Giants. But higher up, in a placé equally distant on all fides from the sea, the Gods built upon earth a fortress against the Giants (E), the circumference of which furrounds the world. The materials they employed for this work, were the eyebrows of Ymir; and they called the place Midgard, or the Middle Manfion. They afterwards tossed his brains into the air, and they became the clouds: for thus it is described in the following verses. " Of "the flesh of Ymir was formed the earth; " of his sweat, the feas; of his bones, the " mountains; of his hair, the herbs of "the field; and of his head, the heavens: " but the merciful Gods built of his eye" brows the city of Midgard, for the chil"dren of men; and of his brains were "formed the noxious clouds." REMARKS ON THE FOURTH FABLE. I beg leave here, once for all, to observe, that my divifions do not always agree with those of the EDDA Of Resenius, or those of the EDDA of Upfal. For as they differ in the several manuscripts, I thought I might regard them all as arbi trary, and form other di- (A) "The fons of 1 where. The ancient priests of the north *' affirmed themselves to be descended of the family of Bore; and in this, they might the more eafily obtain credit, because among the Celts, as among the Jews, the priesthood defcended from father to fon. .. (B) "This Giant " was saved..on board " his bark."] We difcover here evident traces tions that prodigious variety, which was displayed in fucceeding ages. of the history of the deluge. That all the nations of Afia, and even those of America, had preserved some remembrance of it, was generally known: but that the fame prevailed among our northern ancestors, the Goths and' Celts, has never I believe been remarked before. (c) "They infixed the " earth."] The reader will remember that nothing existed as yet, but the Flaming World towards the fouth, wherein refided evil Genii; and those masses of Ice towards the north, which were formed by the rivers of hell. Between thefe was a void space, called the ABYSS. This is the place into which the Gods threw the body of the Giant. This monstrous fiction probably at first contained some important doctrine: but as at present little regard is paid to profound and learned conjectures, 1 shall not give myself the trouble to fathom the meaning of so strange an allegory. Whatever was couched under it, it hath been a fruitful fource of poetic figures and expressions; of. which the ancient SCALDS incessantly availed themselves. Poets have in all ages been fond of appearing to speak the language of the Gods, by ufing these sorts of phrases; as by this means they could conceal their own want of invention, and poverty of genius. Of all the ancient Theogonies, I find only that of the Chaldees, which has any resemblance to this of the EDDA., Berofus, cited by Syncellus, informs us that that peo Fr. Des Celtes. ple, ple, one of the most ancient in the world, believed that in the beginning there was only Water and Darkness; that this Water and Darkness contained in them divers monstrous animals, different in form and fize, which were all reprefented in the temple of Bel; that a female, named Omorca, was the mistress of the Universe; that the God Bel put to death all the monsters, destroyed Omorca herself, and dividing her in two, formed of the one half of her the Earth, and of the other the Heavens: to which another tradition adds, that men were formed out of her head; whence Berofus concludes, that this occafioned man to be endowed with intellectual powers. I do not pretend to aver, that the Chaldeans and northern nations borrowed all these chimæras of each other, although this is not impossible. These ancient nations had as yet but a few ideas, and their imaginations, however fruitful, being confined within narrow limits, could not at first give their inven (D) "The stars knew "not, &c."] The matter of the fun and stars exifted long before the formation of those bodies: this matter was the Ether, the Luminous World. One cannot but remark in this Fable, the remains of the Mofaic doctrine; according to which the creation of a luminous substance, in like manner, preceeded that of the fun and moon. And what indicates one common origin of both accounts, is what Mofes adds in the fame place, "And God said, Let "there be lights in the " firmament of heaven, " to divide the day from "the night; and let " them be for signs of " seasons, and of days " and of years, &c." Gen. c. i. ver. 14. wish ill to men, and hurt them whenever it is in their power. The Heroes have no employment so dear and so glorious as that of making war upon those Genii. At this very day they are supposed to be banished among the rocks of Caucasus, or Imaus, ever since Tahmu ras, fur-named Divbend (he who subdued the Dives) vanquished and put them to flight. Mahometism has not been so severe as Chriftianity, in eradicating these ancient superstitions, and therefore the inhabitants of Persia are still very much infatuated with them. THE |