OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE,

351

sity of Upsal. p Whatever is celebrated either chap.

in history or fable, this zealous patriot ascribes_

to his country. From Sweden (which formedso considerable a part of ancient Germany ) theGreeks themselves derived their alphabeticalcharacters, their astronomy, and their religion.

Of that delightful region (for such it appearedto the eyes of a native) the Atlantis of Plato,the country of the Hyperboreans, the gardens ofthe Hesperides , the Fortunate islands, and eventhe Elysian fields, were all but faint and im-perfect transcripts. A clime so profusely fa-voured by nature, could not long remain desertafter the flood. The learned Rudbeck allowsthe family of Noah a few years to multiplyfrom eight to about twenty thousand persons.

He then disperses them into small colonies toreplenish the earth, and to propagate the hu-man species. The German or Swedish detach-ment (which marched, if I am not mistaken,under the command of Askenaz , the son of Go-mel’, the son of Japhet) distinguished itself bya more than common diligence in the prosecu-tion of this great work. The northern hive castits swarms over the greatest part of Europe ,

Africa, and Asia ; and (to use the author’s me-taphor) the blood circulated from the extremi-ties to the heart.

But all this well-laboured system of German The Gerantiquities is annihilated by a single fact, too well mans ig-attested to admit of any doubt, and of too deci- letters. 0

r His work, entitled Atlantica, is uncommonly scarce. Bayle liasgiven two most curious extracts from it. Republique des Lettres Jan-vier et Fevrier, 1685.