weapons, coins,124 &c., there are others engraved on rocks and memorial stones, which are of very great antiquity, some of which seem to be earlier than the runes of the bog finds.
There are two alphabets; the earlier one numbered twenty-four, the later sixteen letters.
Earlier Runes from the Vadstena bracteate.
Later Runes.
The Vadstena alphabet is divided into three sections, each containing eight letters or characters. The earlier runes were written from the right to the left; the later runic inscriptions are read from the left to the right. The later runes differ considerably from the earlier ones, from the gradual changes that took place, some falling out of use, till only sixteen existed in later times. Their signification also changed.
Were it not for the evidence of the finds having runic inscriptions of the fuller runic alphabet, it would have seemed more probable that the less developed one was the earlier; but in the face of the most indisputable proofs of the antiquity of the fuller alphabet, such assertions cannot be made. The only conclusion to which this leads us therefore is, that the runic alphabet must in the course of time have become simplified. There are runic inscriptions which contain both earlier and later runes, but the former at last gradually disappeared.
It seems that the custom of having alphabets on objects such as the Vadstena bracteate existed in Greece and Etruria.125 The earliest graves in the Roman colonies in which there is writing are very few; what writing there is is never in the language of the people, but always in Latin; and nearly all, if not all such graves, are those of Christian people.
Fig. 285.—A fibula of silver, partly gilt, with same runic letters, with slight variations. Real size.—Charnay, Burgundy, France (of Norse origin).
The art of writing shows the advanced civilisation of the people of the North compared with that of the other countries mentioned. The language of Tacitus126 is plain enough, and any other interpretation is not correct. The assertion made that the knowledge of writing came to the North through the present Germany is not borne out by the facts. Runic monuments do not occur south of the river Eider, either on detached stones or engraved on rocks. The few jewels found scattered here and there, either in France or Germany are thoroughly Northern, and show that in these places the people of the North made warfare, as corroborated by the testimony of the Eddas and Sagas, as well as of Frankish and old English and other records.
Fig. 286.—Neck-ring of gold, with runes; ½ real size; found (1838) in a round mound.—Wallachia.
Great indeed has been, and still is, the harvest of runic monuments or objects in the North. Every year several new objects with these characters are discovered in fields, bogs, and graves, or when old walls or buildings are demolished.
England, being the earliest and most important of the Northern colonies, possesses many monuments and objects with runes; among them a large knife, now in the British Museum, found in the bed of the Thames, the blade of which is ornamented with gold and silver, and an inscription in runes.127
From the sagas we learn that runes were traced on staves, rods, weapons, the stem and rudder of ships, drinking-horns, fish bones, and upon the teeth of Sleipnir, &c.
In Runatal (Odin’s Rune song), or the last part of Havamal, there is a most interesting account of the use that could be made of runes. It shows plainly that in earlier times they were not used by the people in general for writing; that they were mystic, being employed for conjurations and the like, and therefore regarded with a certain awe and superstition; just as to-day writing is looked upon by certain savage tribes, who cannot be made to understand how speech can be transmitted and kept on paper for an indefinite period.
In this song, Odin is supposed to be teaching some one, and giving advice; he reckons up his arts thus:—
I know that I hung
On the windy tree
Nine128 whole nights,
Wounded with a spear,
Given to Odin,
Myself to myself;
On the tree
Of which no one knows
From what roots it comes.
They gave me no food
Nor a horn (drink);
I peered downward,
I caught the runes,
Learned them weeping;129
Thence I fell down.
Nine songs of might
I learnt from the famous
Son of Bölthorn, father of Bestla;130
And I got a draught
Of the precious mead,
Taken out of Odrerir.131
Then I became fruitful
And wise:
I grew and I throve;
Word followed word
With me;
Act followed act
With me.
Thou wilt find runes
And letters to read,
Very large staves,
Very strong staves,
Which the mighty wise one drew,
And the high powers made,
And the Hropt of the gods (Odin) carved.
Odin (carved runes) among the Asar;132
Dain with the Alfar;
Dvalin with the Dvergar;
Alsvid (the All-wise)
With the Jötnar;
Some I carved myself.
Better ’tis not to invoke
Than sacrifice too much;
A gift always looks for reward;
Better not to send
Than offer too much;
Thus Thund133 carved
Before the origin of men;
He rose there;
There he came back.
I know incantations
Which no king’s wife knows,
And no man’s son.
Help is the first one called,
And it will help thee
Against strife and sorrows,
Against all kinds of grief.
A second I know,
Which the sons of men need,
Who would as leeches live.134
The third I know,
If I am in sore need of
Bonds for my foes;
I deaden the edges135
Of my foes;
Neither weapons nor wiles hurt for them.
The fourth