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We have seen that among the qualities of which they supposed Odin or the Supream God to be possessed, that of the creator of heaven and earth is expressly attributed to him. It is very probable that most of the nations which were of Celtic race held opinions similar to this, although the few monuments which remain at present of the Celtic religion, leave us ignorant in what manner their Druids or their philosophers conceived this great event to have happened. What the Icelandic mythology hath preserved to us on this head, merits so much the more attention, as it discovers to us the sentiments of the ancient Scythians on this important point, and at the same time expresses them frequently with a greatness and sublimity equal to the finest strokes of classical antiquity on the same subject[1]. The poet begins by a
- ↑ I quote as much as possible the very words of the Voluspa, and when
We have still three or four fragments of this first Edda, the most valuable of which is a poem of about 400 verses, which is still extant, and intitled the Voluspa, that is to say, “The Oracle of the Prophetess.” It contains an abstract of all the northern Mythology, and appears very ancient; but is not every where easy to be understood.
