"
Athelstan straightway took milder thoughts; brought up, and carefully
educated Hakon; from whom, and this singular adventure, came, before
very long, the first tidings of Christianity into Norway.
Harald Haarfagr, latterly withdrawn from all kinds of business, died
at the age of eighty-three--about A.D. 933, as is computed; nearly
contemporary in death with the first Danish King, Gorm the Old, who
had done a corresponding feat in reducing Denmark under one head.
Remarkable old men, these two first kings; and possessed of gifts for
bringing Chaos a little nearer to the form of Cosmos; possessed, in
fact, of loyalties to Cosmos, that is to say, of authentic virtues in
the savage state, such as have been needed in all societies at their
incipience in this world; a kind of "virtues" hugely in discredit at
present, but not unlikely to be needed again, to the astonishment of
careless persons, before all is done!
CHAPTER III
HAKON THE GOOD.
Eric Blood-axe, whose practical reign is counted to have begun about
A.D. 930, had by this time, or within a year or so of this time,
pretty much extinguished all his brother kings, and crushed down
recalcitrant spirits, in his violent way; but had naturally become
entirely unpopular in Norway, and filled it with silent discontent and
even rage against him.
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