[463] Ep. 418. p. 153.

[464] Ep. 368. p. 859.

[465] Ep. 612. p. 244, 692. p. 285. & 402. p. 869.

[466] Ep. 964. p. 432.

[467] Ep. 505. p. 885.

[468] Ep. 1698. p. 733.

[469] Ep. 486. p. 896. & 369. p. 860.

[470] Fabric.  Bibl.  Gr. l. 3. c. 28. p. 707. tom. 2

VII.  He was so sensible of his obligations to Sweden, that, as a public testimony of his gratitude, he undertook to throw light on the History of the Goths, in hopes of doing honour to the Swedes, who regarded them as their ancestors.  He wrote to Rome to[471] get what was wanting in Heschelius’s Greek edition of Procopius communicated to him, and obtained it by the recommendation of Messieurs du Puis; as we learn from a letter to the celebrated Nicholas Peyresc, dated April 8, 1636, in which he adds, “I have translated the History of the Goths and Vandals by Procopius, in honour of a nation who adopted me after being thrice sold by my Country.”

He communicated this project to Schmalz, July 24, 1636[472], “The time, says he, which I am not obliged to spend in public business, I devote to an enquiry into the antiquities of Sweden.  Be so kind to send me, for this work, a Swedish Dictionary, a New Testament in Swedish, and the ancient inscriptions in that language, which are to be met with on tombs, or in other places.  I have seen a Latin translation of the Swedish laws, which I should be glad to see again if possible.  If you can procure me all these, I shall think myself highly obliged by you; and I hope you will not find me ungrateful.”

He explains his project more at large in a long letter to Oxenstiern, Aug. 28, 1636[473].  “Your Sublimity, he writes to him, shews me so much favour, and you interest yourself so much in what concerns me, that I think it my duty to give you an account, not only of my negotiations, but of my leisure hours.  As I intend to devote the time that is not employed in the affairs with which I am charged, to the honour of a kingdom which has loaded me with honours, I had begun to read all that has been written on the great Gustavus in Latin, Italian, German, and French:  but soon perceiving that these writers did not know the intentions of the ministry, were unacquainted with the places of which they speak, and were ignorant of the art of war, I concluded that it was impossible, with such materials, to complete a work that might deserve the approbation of posterity.  This has made me turn again to antiquities.  Of all the Ancients Procopius has best handled the History of the Goths and Vandals:  he was an able man, was Secretary to Belisarius, had been on the spot, and speaks not only of what happened in his own time, but also of the facts which happened before his time.  The Latin version is very faulty, imperfect, and inelegant:  I have made a new translation from the Greek Edition of Heschelius; with the assistance of two manuscripts in the King’s library, which enabled me to make