Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/123

Rh in rocks and stones, he claims to have himself investigated these runic monuments as well as all the old written records, and to have scrupulously translated them verse by verse. His own elegant and flowing verses are in spirit and style widely different from the originals which he had before him, and on this point we are not left to a general impression, but in certain passages we are able to trace his method. Thus he has, for instance, translated the poem Bjarkamal, of which a few fragments in the original old Norse text are extant, into Latin hexameters, but smooth and graceful as these are they are decidedly weak and redundant as compared with the original.

But Saxo must also undoubtedly have had Icelandic saga-men as authorities for the legendary part of his work. In his preface he himself directly asserts this fact, and his book, however much it may differ in its general style from the Icelandic sagas, still affords evidence that Saxo was familiar with the latter. On the other hand, there is not the slightest evidence to show that he ever had a written Icelandic saga before him. His method in relating the myths and heroic legends, which constitute the contents of the first nine books, evidently consisted in collecting the existing materials, in arranging and reconstructing them in the manner that best suited his vivid and creative fancy, and finally in reproducing them in as epic and graphic a style as possible. In this part of the work he betrays no effort to separate fact and fiction; on the contrary, there is good reason for the assumption that in translating the legendary lore into Latin he has, in many instances, consciously or unconsciously adorned the original materials in order that they might make a better appearance in their foreign dress. While between the first and second parts there is the difference, that the former deals more or less exclusively with mythical stories, and the latter mainly with well authenticated historical facts, still these heterogeneous elements are reduced to a sort of unity, by being subjected to a strictly uniform treatment by the author. He