(44)
very evident that Rudbeck and his followers have falsely attributed to the Goths of Scandinavia, whatever the Greek or Latin historians have said of the Getae, or Goths, who dwelt near the Euxine sea, and were doubtless the ancestors of those people, who afterwards founded colonies in the North. And as to the arguments brought from a resemblance of names, we know how little these can be depended on. Proofs of this kind are easily found whereever they are sought for, and never fail to offer themselves in support of any system our heads are full of.
Having thus set aside these two pretended guides, there only remains to chuse between Saxo Grammaticus[1] and Thermod Torfæus.
- ↑ Saxo, surnamed on account of his learning, Grammaticus, or The Grammarian, wrote about the middle of the 12th century, under the reigns of Valdemar the First and Canute his son. He was provost of the cathedral church of Roschild, then the capital of the kingdom. It was the celebrated Absalon, archbishop of Lund, one of the greatest men of his time, who engaged him to write the history of Denmark; for which he furnished him with various helps. Saxo’s work is divided into XVI books, and hath been many times printed. Stephanius published a very good edition of it at Sora, in the year 1664, with notes which display a great profusion of learning. Sweno, the son of Aggo, contemporary with Saxo, wrote also, at the
