Thus in appears that his design was to dedicate this work to the High Chancellor[477], who heard with infinite pleasure of this new occupation of Grotius.  He liked the Preface much; spoke of it with the highest esteem[478], and wrote to Grotius[479], thanking him in his own name and in the name of the whole nation, and pressing him to publish the work.

However he was in no hurry[480], because he wanted to exhaust the subject, and to make all proper enquiries for enabling him to treat it thoroughly.  He imagined he should find in Gallia Narbonensis, and the neighbouring places, several things that might contribute to embellish his work; and that the French, from envy to the Swedes, hindered his friends from communicating them.

This work was finished before Grotius died; but it was not printed till after his death:  and whether it was that the intended Dedication to the High Chancellor was never written, or was suppressed, it is not now to be found.  The title of the work is:  Historia Gothorum, Vandalorum, & Longobardorum, ab Hugone Grotio partim versa, partim in ordinem digesta:  praemissa sunt ejusdem Prolegomena; ubi Regum Gothorum ordo e Chronologia, cum elogiis; accedunt nomina appellativa & verba Gothica, Vandalica, Longobardica, cum explicatione.  Auctorum omnium ordinem tabula centenorum indicat.  Amstelodami, apud Ludovicum Elzevirium, 1655.

At the head of this work is a very learned Preface, in which the author acquaints us, that he revised the Gothics and Vandalics of Procopius by the Greek manuscripts; that he new-translated them because there were many things omitted in the old translations, which were otherwise badly done; and that, by the assistance of the Vatican manuscripts, he filled up large gaps.  There follows a geographical description of the ancient country of the Goths, a character of the people, much in their favour; a catalogue of their Kings; a chronological table of the time when they lived; a list of the Lombard Kings, and another of the Kings of the Vandals; the testimonies of the Ancients in favour of the people of Sweden and the nations which derive their origin from the Swedes.

After the translation of all that Procopius has concerning the Goths and Vandals there follows an Index, with this title:  Nomina appellativa & verba Gothica, Vandalica, & Longobardica, quae in hoc volumine reperiuntur. It appears from the author’s researches, that almost all the appellative names of the Lombards had, like those of the Greeks, some signification.  This collection concludes with the following pieces:  Jornandes De Getarum sive Gothorum origine & rebus gestis; the Chronicle of St. Isidorus, and Paulus Wanefridus De Gestis Longobardorum.  The Prolegomena acquaint us, that Grotius intended to expound the ancient laws of the Goths and Vandals:  but unhappily death prevented his executing this design, for which no one was better qualified.