Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/282

 258 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, tremities of the globe. Of these judicious critics, one • of the most entertaining was Olaus Rudbeck, professor in the university of Upsal p. Whatever is celebrated either in history or fable, this zealous patriot ascribes to his country. From Sweden (which formed so consi- derable a part of ancient Germany) the Greeks them- selves derived their alphabetical characters, their astro- nomy, and their religion. Of that delightful region, (for such it appeared to the eyes of a native,) the Atlantis of Plato, the country of the Hyperboreans, the gardens of the Hesperides, the Fortunate Islands, and even the Elysian Fields, were all but faint and imperfect transcripts. A cHme so profusely favoured by nature, could not long remain desert after the flood. The learned Rudbeck allows the family of Noah a few years to multiply from eight to about twenty thou- sand persons. He then disperses them into small colonies to replenish the earth, and to propagate the human species. The German or Swedish detach- ment (which marched, if I am not mistaken, under the command of Askenaz, the son of Gomer, the son of Japhet) distinguished itself by a more than common dili- gence in the prosecution of this great work. The northern hive cast its swarms over the greatest part of Europe, Africa, and Asia ; and (to use the author's me- taphor) the blood circulated from the extremities to the heart. The Ger- But all this well laboured system of German anti- rant oHet ^"^^^^^ ^^ annihilated by a single fact, too well attested ters ; to admit of any doubt, and of too decisive a nature to leave room for any reply. The Germans, in the age of Tacitus, were unacquainted with the use of letters ^ ; P His work, entitled Atlantica, is uncommonly scarce. Bayle has given two most curious extracts from it. Republique des Lettres, Janvier et Fevrier, 1685. q Tacit. Germ. ii. 19. Literarum secreta viri pariter ac foeminae igno- rant. We may rest contented with this decisive authority, without entering into the obscure disputes concerning the antiquity of the Runic characters. The learned Celsius, a Swede, a scholar, and a philosopher, was of opinion, that they were nothing more than the Roman letters, with the curves changed into straight lines for the ease of engraving. See Pelloutier, His- toire des Celtes, 1. ii. c. 11 ; Dictionnaire Diplomatique, tom. i. p. 223.