Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/359

Rh here, and that after the flood Japhet's son Magog had here founded the ancient Gothic kingdom. Names and other descriptions in Plato coincide, if one only assumes that the pronunciation has been slightly altered. Thus, according to Rudbeck, Heliogabalus is equivalent to "the holy Balder" (heilage Baldur). From this country, which became known to the Greeks through the Phenicians, all other lands of the world were colonized, and in Sweden all culture had originated.

Rudbeck's great work, one of the most remarkable ever written, made an extraordinary sensation not only in Sweden, but also in all Europe, though in the four volumes, which he completed, he did not carry his history further than to Abraham. Many were deceived by the exposition which in its way is a masterly one, and the Swedes were beaming with delight over the world-old and honorable history, that had so unexpectedly fallen to the share of their fatherland. Men like Leibnitz, Pufendorf and others warned the public against being led astray by these day-dreams, but their voices were drowned in the general patriotic exultation. In Sweden any person who dared to doubt was looked upon as a national traitor, and thus a long time elapsed ere this splendid edifice, which so greatly flattered the national vanity, at length tumbled down.

By the side of these fanciful descriptions of Sweden's ancient greatness this period also produced several historical works, which were written with more sober judgment, and which have served as the basis of later researches. Thus Jonas Werwing (died 1697) wrote a history of Sigismund and Carl IX, and the historiographer of the realm, (1618-78), a history of Gustav Adolph. (1632-99) produced his celebrated "Indledning til Svenska Historien" and the history of Charles XII. The researches of Johan Peringskjöld (1654-1720) are excellent sources for later historians. His translations of Icelandic—among