ar. They were
detained, while the Greeks were dismissed; and Lewis expected a more
satisfactory account, that he might obey the laws of hospitality
or prudence, according to the interest of both empires. [44] This
Scandinavian origin of the people, or at least the princes, of Russia,
may be confirmed and illustrated by the national annals [45] and
the general history of the North. The Normans, who had so long been
concealed by a veil of impenetrable darkness, suddenly burst forth in
the spirit of naval and military enterprise. The vast, and, as it is
said, the populous regions of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, were crowded
with independent chieftains and desperate adventurers, who sighed in the
laziness of peace, and smiled in the agonies of death. Piracy was the
exercise, the trade, the glory, and the virtue, of the Scandinavian
youth. Impatient of a bleak climate and narrow limits, they started
from the banquet, grasped their arms, sounded their horn, ascended
their vessels, and explored every coast that promised either spoil or
settlement. The Baltic was the first scene of their naval achievements
they visited the eastern shores, the silent residence of Fennic and
Sclavonic tribes, and the primitive Russians of the Lake Ladoga paid
a tribute, the skins of white squirrels, to these strangers, whom they
saluted with the title of Varangians [46] or Corsairs. Their superiority
in arms, discipline, and renown, commanded the fear and reverence of the
natives. In their wars against the more inland savages, the Varangians
condescended to serve as friends and auxiliaries, and gradually, by
choice or conquest, obtained the dominion of a people whom they were
qualified to protect. Their tyranny was expelled, their valor was again
recalled, till at length Ruric, a Scandinavian chief, became the father
of a dynasty which reigned above seven hundred years. His brothers
extended his influence: the example of service and usurpation was
imitated by his companions in the southern provinces of Russia; and
their establishments, by the usual methods of war and assassination,
were cemented into the fabric of a powerful monarchy.

[Footnote 43: Among the Greeks, this national appellation has a singular
form, as an undeclinable word, of which many fanciful etymologies have
been suggested. I have perused, with pleasure and profit, a dissertation
de Origine Russorum (Comment. Academ. Petropolitanae, tom. viii. p.
388-436) by Theophilus Sigefrid