REMARKS ON THE TENTH FABLE. 66 (A) " As children do " their father."] I am obliged to return again to Odin. There is nothing in all Pagan antiquity more express than this passage, with regard to the fupremacy of ONE GOD. The name of As, or LORD, is again ascribed to him in this place. The Gauls, in like manner, called him also As, or with a Latin termination Efus: for several manuscript copies of Lucan, who speak of this God, give the word Efus, with out the afpirate t. I have faid elsewhere, that Suetonius positively asserts the same thing of the Etrufcans. The Roman authors have often called him the Mars of the Celtic people; because, as the EDDA clearly shows here, he was the same with the God of War. Wherefore, (although the learned Abbé Banier has maintained the contrary) † Vid. Keysl. Antiq. p. 139, &c. 187. The passage referred to in Lucan, is this. Et quibus immitis placatur fanguine cæfo this Efus, whose name occurs in the monuments of the cathedral of Paris, is, at one and the same time, the Supreme God, and, to speak with the EDDA, the Father of Battles; as P. Pezron had advanced. (See La Mythol. & les Fables expliq. T. II. p. 650, &c. Ed. Quarto.) Monf. Pelloutier, in my opinion, hath proved, beyond all doubt, that the Supreme God of the Celtes, Efus, Teut or Odin, was the God of War. (See Hift. des Celtes, T. II. c. 7.) It is to no purpose to object, that the Father of Gods and Men could not at the fame time be called the Father of Combats, without manifest contradiction; for the EDDA establishes this to be the fact too strongly to be disputed. Besides, contradictions do not always hinder an opinion from being received. Various т. modifications and distinctions are found out to clear up the difficulty. But there was no great need of any here; for the • Goths and' Celtes regarded war as a very facred occupation. It furnished, according to them, opportunities for displaying courage; and of fulfilling the views of providence; which was to place us here as in a field of battle; and only to grant its favours as the peculiar rewards of fortitude and valour. (B) " It was the great "variety of languages."] This reasoning upon the names of Odin, may contain something of truth in it. The text recounts a great number of these names, which I have suppressed, out of regard to those ears which are not accustomed to Gothic sounds. 'Tis certain that almost all the names a scribed to the Supreme Deity, are either epithets taken from the qualities attributed to him, or the places where he was worshiped, or from the actions he had performed, &c. This diversity of names hath often misled those of the learned, who have applied themselves to the study' of the Celtic religion, just in the fame manner as hath happened to those, who applied themselves to the Greek or Roman mythology. In the ancient Icelandic poetry, we find the Supreme God denominated in more than a hundred and twenty-fix different phrafes. They are all enumerated in the Scalda, or Poetic Dictionary. therefore (as Gangler observes) require some application, to give the reafons of all these different denominations, many of which allude to particular events. It would THE THE ELEVENTH FABLE. Of the God Thor, the Son of Odin. EREUPON Gangler demanded, What are the names of the other Gods? What are their functions, and what have they done for the advancement of their glory? Har says to him, The most illustrious among them is THOR. He is called Afa-Thor, or the Lord Thor; and Ake-Thor, or the Active Thor. He is the strongest and bravest of Gods and Men (A). His kingdom is named Thrudwanger. He possesses there a palace, in which are five hundred and forty Halls. It is the largest house that is known; according as we find mentioned in the poem of Grimnis. “There ८८ are five hundred and forty Halls in the "Winding Palace of the God Thor; and " I believe there is no where a greater fa" bric, than this of the eldest of fons." The Chariot of Thor is drawn by two He-Goats. It is in that Chariot that he goes into the country of the Giants; and VOL. II. thence F 1 thence they call him the rapid Thor. He likewife poffefses three very precious things. The first is a Mace, or Club, called Miolner, which the Giants of the Frost, and those of the Mountains, know to their coft, when they fee it hurled against them in the air: and no wonder; for with that Mace has this God often bruised the heads of their fathers and kindred. The second jewel he possesses, is called the Belt of Prowess; when he puts it on, he becomes as strong again as he was before. The third, which is also very precious, are his Gauntlets, or Gloves of Iron, which he always wears when he would lay hold of the handle of his Mace. There is no perfon of fo much learning, as to be able to relate all his marvellous exploits; I myself could tell you so many, that day would end much fooner, than the recital of what immediately occur to me. Then says Gangler to him, I would rather hear fomething about the other Sons of Odin. To this Har answered in these words: THE second REMARKS ON THE ELEVENTH FABLE. (A) "Thor is the "strongest of Gods and "Men."] The reader will recollect here, what I have faid a little higher concerning this divinity of of the northern nations *. The function ascribed to him of launching the thunder, made him pass for the most warlike and formidable of all the Gods. It was also Thor who reigned in the air, distributed the seasons, and raised or allayed tempests. THOR, fays "Adam of Bremen, is "the God who, accord 66 66 66 of the Supreme God; or to speak in the language of the EDDA, The "Eldest of Sons;" the first and principal intelligence proceeding from the union of the Deity with Matter; they have made him a middle divinity, a mediator between God and Men. It is probable that a great many people venerated him also, as the intelligence who animated the Sun and Fire. The worship of the Perfians had in this respect, as in a great many others, the most exact resemblance to that of this people. The Perfians held, that the most illustrious of all created intelligences was what they paid homage to under the symbol of Fire or the Sun, wherein the intelligence refided. They called it Mithr-as, or the Mediator Lord. (The word As still fignifies Lord, in Perfian.) They, as well as the Scandinavians, kept a perpetual quence of this perfuafion. The Scythians, according to Herodotus and He ing to these people, governs the thunder, "the winds, the rains, "the fair weather, and " harvest." (See Hift. Ecclef.) This Mace or Club, which he hurled against the Giants, and with which he crushed their heads, is doubtless the Thunder, which most frequently falls upon elevated places. He was in general regarded as a divinity favourable to mankind; as he who guarded them from the attacks of Giants and wicked Genii; whom he never ceafed to encounter and persue. The name of his palace signifies, in Go-and facred fire, in conse 66 thic, "The place of refuge from Terrour." As he was the first-born |