[19]. In the Scandinavian superstition every rune was consecrated to some deity. Nearly all the magic of the north consisted in runes. They could raise or allay tempests; they could change times, and they could bring the most distant objects together. They could produce good or bad seasons; they could raise the dead: in short, they were omnipotent over all nature,—the invisible no less than the visible world.
[20]. Saxonis Grammatici Hist. Dan. lib. i. p. 10, &c., edit. Stephanii, Soræ, 1644.
[21]. Saxonis Grammatici Hist. Dan. lib. i. p. 10, &c., edit. Stephanii, Soræ, 1644.
[22]. Saxonis Grammatici Hist. Dan. lib. i.
[23]. Saxonis Grammatici Hist. Dan. lib. i.
[24]. Saxonis Grammatici Hist. Dan. lib. ii. p. 20, &c.
[25]. Both Roe and Helge reigned some centuries after the time fixed by Saxo,—as recently as the fifth century of the Christian era.
[26]. Saxonis Grammatici Hist. Dan. lib. ii.
[27]. Whether there was any other Rolf than the celebrated Rolf Krake, who is thought to have reigned in the sixth century after Christ, is doubtful. The best northern writers admit of no other.
[28]. Saxonis Grammatici Hist. Dan. lib. ii.