** in ambush against thee." He afterwards beheld three thrones, raised one above another, and on each throne sat a man (D). Upon his asking which of these was their king, his guide answered, " He who fits on the lowest throne is the king, his name is HAR, or the lofty one: The second is JAFNHAR, i. e. equal to the lofty one: But he who fits on the highest throne is called THRIDI, or the third (E)." Har perceiving Gangler, defired to know what business had brought him to Afgard: Adding, that he should be welcome to eat and drink without cost, along with the other guests of his court. Gangler said, He defired first to know whether there was any person present who was famous for his wisdom and knowledge. Har answered, If thou art the more knowing, I fear thou wilt hardly return safe: But go, stand below, and propose thy questions; here fits one will be able to answer thee. REMARKS. In the edition of the EDDA, published by Resenius, there is a Chapter before this: But I have not tranflated it, because it has little or no relation to the rest, and contains nothing remarkable: It is alfo not found in the MS. at Upfal. That chapter seems to have been only prefixed by way of preamble, by SNORRO STURLESON, the compiler of the EDDA. As for GYLFE, Snorro informs us in the beginning of his larger Chronicle, that this prince, who governed Sweden before the arrival of Odin and his Afiatics, was obliged to yield to the supernatural power, which those intruders employed against him, and to resign his kingdom up to them. This gave rise to the supposition that Gylfe was willing to make trial himself of the skill and sagacity of these new-comers, by propofing to them a variety of captious questions. In the history of ancient Scandinavia, as well as that of all the eastern countries, we often see these contests or trials of skill between kings and princes, in which the victory is always affigned to him who could give an answer to every question, and affign a cause (true or false) for every pheno. menon. This was called Science or Wisdom; words eriginally synonimous in all languages, but at present so easily diftinguished. It will be necessary here, to refer the reader to the account of Odin's arrival in the north, given in the former volume, (chap. II, III, &c.) for his more readily understanding this and the following chap ters. a (A) "He resolved to go to Afgard."] Odin and his companions came from ASGARD: A word which signifies the " "bode of Lords or Gods." Some words are difficult to be understood, because we cannot discover any meaning in them. Here on the contrary, the difficulty lies in the variety or multiplicity of fignifications. The word As, in the ancient languages ' of Europe *,' generally signified Lord or God, but in the EDDA, and other Icelandic writings, it fignifies also Afiatics; and we know not in which of these senses the name is given to Odin and his companions. Eccard, in his treatise De Origine Germanorum, pag. 41. pretends that this word was never used in the last sense, and that the arrival of Odin from Afia was a meer fiction, founded on the resemblance of sounds; * Fr. Dans toutes les Branches de la langue Celtique. of or that he certainly came from Vandalia, at present Pomerania. I refer the reader to the work itself, for the reafons on which this conjecture is founded; which would deserve the preference for its fimplicity, if a uniform and ancient tradition did not place the original country of the Scandinavians in the neighbourhood of the Tanais. See Vol. I. c. IV, &c. (B) "By their inchant"ments."] It should be remembered that the author of the EDDA was a Christian: On this account he is unwilling to allow Odin the honour of having performed real miracles. It was believed, indeed, in our author's time, that it was impossi, ble to do supernatural things, but that yet there was an art of perfuading others that they saw them done. The same opinion still prevails among many of our contemporaries. [This note is only in the first edit. of the orig.] (c) "Diodolfe thus " describes it.") Diodolfe, or Thiodolfe, was a celebrated ancient SCALD; who composed a long poem, containing the history of more than thirty princes of Norway. We see in the text SNORRO'S care to quote almost always his authorities for whatever he relates: This will appear throughout his work. He has persued the same method in his great Chronicle, where we find every fact confirmed by a fragment of some old hiftorical poem. This shows, at the fame time, both the great erudition of this hiftorian, and the amazing quantity of such kind of verses that subsisted in his time. In like manner among the Gauls, their ancient poems were so numerous, that the young people found sufficient employment for several years in committing them to memory, them. They have crowns on their heads; and Gangler is drawn in a suppliant posture before them *. • These figures bear so great a resemblance to the Roman Catholic • pictures of the Trinity, that we are not to won⚫ der if some have imagined them to be an al< lusion to that doctrine; ⚫ particularly such as fuppose it was already known to Plato, and fome other of the an• cient Pagans.' T. (E) " He who fits on "the highest throne."] Is it Odin, or fome one of his court that fills this throne? This it is not easy to decide. It appears to me, however, that throughout this whole preamble, the ODIN here spoke of, is only the prince, the conqueror of the north, and not ODIN the father and ruler of the Gods §. Gangler had betaken himself to Odin's court, while that prince was subduing Sweden. He found therefore at Af gard, only his vicegerents, that ruled in his abfence. The names that are given them, perhaps allude to their rank and employments. Upon this fupposition, there will be nothing in the relation but what is natural and easy. But I must here repeat it, that we must expect to fee, throughout this Mythology, ODIN the conqueror of the north, every where confounded with ODIN the fupreme Deity: Whose name was ufurped by the other, at the fame time that he came to eftablish his worship in Scandinavia. JUPITER, the king of Crete, and the fovereign lord of Heaven and Earth; ZOROASTER, the founder of the worship of the Magi, and the God to whom that worship was addressed; ZAMOLXIS, the high-priest of the Thracians, and the supreme God of that people, have not been more conftantly confounded, than these two ODINS. * The reader may find it engraven on a copper-plate in Bartholini Caufa contemptæ à Danis mortis, &c. pag. 473. 4to. т. The reader will remember the distinction made in pag. 60, 88, 89, THE FIRST FABLE. &c. of the preceding volume. THE " Questions of Gangler. ANGLER thus began his discourse. Who is the supreme or first of the Gods? Har answers: We call him here ALFADER, or the universal father; but in the ancient Afgard, he hath twelve names (A). Gangler afks; Who * is this God? What is his power? and what hath he done to display his glory (B)? Har replies; He lives for ever; he governs all his kingdom; and directs the great things as well as the small. Jafnhar adds: He hath formed the heaven, the earth, and the air. Thridi proceeds, He hath done more; he hath made man, and given him a spirit of foul, which shall live, even after the body shall have mouldered away. And then all the just shall dwell with him in a place * Goranson tranflates this, Ubi eft hic deus? HUAR ES SA GUD? Where is this God? Which is doubtless the true meaning. T. B4 named |