12. This wonderful expedition of Odin, which, by deducing
the enmity of the Goths and Romans from so memorable a
cause, might supply the noble groundwork of an epic poem,
cannot safely be received as authentic history. According to
the obvious sense of the Edda, and the interpretation of the
most skilful critics, As-gard, instead of denoting a real
city of the Asiatic Sarmatia, is the fictitious appellation
of the mystic abode of the gods, the Olympus of Scandinavia:
from whence the prophet was supposed to descend when he
announced his new religion to the Gothic nations, who were
already seated in the southern parts of Sweden.