Paris, January, 1845.
PREFACE
BY THE TRANSLATOR.
The argument of the poem by the author is the sole document that accompanies the original work; there are neither notes nor preface to the edition from which I have made my translation, and which is the only one I have ever seen. To the people of education in Scandinavia, who are well versed in the ancient mythology of their country, notes are perhaps not strictly necessary, inasmuch as this poem is based upon the Edda, which is universally read; but since, to the generality of English readers, the Edda and the Scandinavian mythology are but little, if at all familiar, I feel myself bound to furnish them with all the information on the subject that I have been able to collect from various sources; by which they will be enabled to read this poem with additional pleasure and profit.
The Scandinavian mythology, like that of all other nations, is founded on the personification and consequent adoration of the powers of nature, which may be expressed by the word “Demonism,” used in its Greek sense; to this may be added the deification of national heroes.
The first source of Demonism (I here borrow the words of Wieland in his admirable work called Agathodemon) lies in the ignorance of mankind, in the early stages of the world, of the real causes or laws by which the powers of nature act, on the one side; and on the other, in the innate propensity of man to reflect the image of the things which he can and does see, on the things which lie beyond the contact of his senses.
This induces us to personify the causes of the effects that we behold in nature; we assign to them our manner of thinking and acting, and we endow them with a form like our own, because we can conceive no higher model. Thus we give a supposed existence to an infinite number of divinities in heaven and earth, whose operations are seen and felt, though the agents themselves are unseen or unknown. Thus the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the sea, rivers, woods, mountains, etc., all have their peculiar divinities; and as these were considered as the cause of light or of darkness, of warmth or of cold, of fertility or of barrenness, of the eternal vicissitudes of the year, month or day, as well as of the destructive effects of storms, tempests, floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, etc., to the idea of their existence became conjoined the belief of their superhuman power. They were therefore recognised as the arbitrary rulers of nature, who had their separate principalities, circles, and districts in her empire; and as we ascribe to them our own passions, caprices, and necessities, we naturally endeavour to captivate their good will, or avert their anger, by prayers, sacrifices, presents, or penances.
On the principle of Demonism, therefore, did the earliest legislators establish the basis of their fabric of social order, civilization and religion; and it was by profiting by this innate inclination of mankind, that priests and mystagogues succeeded in consolidating their power and influence, which became necessarily augmented and enhanced by the right they arrogated to themselves of canonizing or deifying those heroes or princes, whom they were disposed to hold up as worthy of adoration, or as examples to be followed by the people.
History thus became blended with allegory and mythology; and this circumstance, combined with the total want of chronology, which seems to pervade the early records of all nations, renders it extremely difficult to give to any mythology a consistent form, proportionate in all its parts, and presenting an invariable doctrine or system of action.