ter the conquest of Italy,
the Goths, in possession of present greatness, very naturally indulged
themselves in the prospect of past and of future glory. They wished to
preserve the memory of their ancestors, and to transmit to posterity
their own achievements.

The principal minister of the court of Ravenna, the learned Cassiodorus,
gratified the inclination of the conquerors in a Gothic history, which
consisted of twelve books, now reduced to the imperfect abridgment of
Jornandes. These writers passed with the most artful conciseness over
the misfortunes of the nation, celebrated its successful valor, and
adorned the triumph with many Asiatic trophies, that more properly
belonged to the people of Scythia. On the faith of ancient songs, the
uncertain, but the only memorials of barbarians, they deduced the first
origin of the Goths from the vast island, or peninsula, of Scandinavia.
* That extreme country of the North was not unknown to the conquerors of
Italy: the ties of ancient consanguinity had been strengthened by recent
offices of friendship; and a Scandinavian king had cheerfully abdicated
his savage greatness, that he might pass the remainder of his days in
the peaceful and polished court of Ravenna. Many vestiges, which cannot
be ascribed to the arts of popular vanity, attest the ancient residence
of the Goths in the countries beyond the Rhine. From the time of the
geographer Ptolemy, the southern part of Sweden seems to have continued
in the possession of the less enterprising remnant of the nation, and a
large territory is even at present divided into east and west Gothland.
During the middle ages, (from the ninth to the twelfth century,) whilst
Christianity was advancing with a slow progress into the North, the
Goths and the Swedes composed two distinct and sometimes hostile members
of the same monarchy. The latter of these two names has prevailed
without extinguishing the former. The Swedes, who might well be
satisfied with their own fame in arms, have, in every age, claimed the
kindred glory of the Goths. In a moment of discontent against the court
of Rome, Charles the Twelfth insinuated, that his victorious troops were
not degenerated from their brave ancestors, who had already subdued the
mistress of the world.

Till the end of the eleventh century, a celebrated temple subsisted
at Upsal, the most considerable town of the Swedes and Goths. It was
enriched with the gold which the Scandinavians had acquir