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important business: but it is nevertheless probable that this northern conqueror increased their natural ferocity, by infusing into minds so prepared the sanguinary doctrines of his religion. Without doubt, that intimate persuasion of theirs, that the supreme God appeared in battle; that he supported those who defended themselves with courage; that he fought for them himself; that he carried them away into heaven, and that this delightful abode was only open to such as died like heroes, with other circumstances of this kind was either the work of this ambitious prince, or only founded upon some events of his life, which they attributed to the supreme God, when they had once confounded them together[1]. The apotheosis of this Chief and his companions which followed it, involves the history of those times in great obscurity. The Icelandic mythology never distinguishes the supreme Being, who had been adored in the north under the name
- ↑ Abbe Banier says very sensibly, that we should always distinguish in the Gods of Antiquity, those whose worship has been antecedent to the existence of their great men, from those who having been deified for some great actions, have been honoured with the same worship, as the Gods whose names they have taken. See his mythology. Vol. 3. Book 7. c. 2.
