Det Onde man gjør lever endnu efter os;
det Gode begraves ofte tilligemed vore Been.
which is both inaccurate and infelicitous. For the line
He was my friend, faithful and just to me.
our author has:
Han var min Ven, trofast og oprigtig mod mig!
Again:
Has he, Masters? I fear there will come a worse in his place.
Translation:
Mener I det, godt Folk?—etc.
Despite these faults—and many others could be cited,—it is perfectly clear that this unknown student of Shakespeare understood his original and endeavored to reproduce it correctly in good Danish. His very blunders showed that he tried not to be slavish, and his style, while not remarkable, is easy and fluent. Apparently, however, his work attracted no attention. His name is unknown, as are his sources, and there is not, with one exception, a single reference to him in the later Shakespeare literature of Denmark and Norway. Not even Rahbek, who was remarkably well informed in this field, mentions him. Only Foersom,[I.6] who let nothing referring to Shakespeare escape him, speaks (in the notes to Part I of his translation) of a part of Act III of Julius Caesar in Trondhjems Allehaande. That is all. It it not too much to emphasize, therefore, that we have here the first Danish version of any part of Julius Caesar as well as the first Norwegian translation of any part of Shakespeare into what was then the common literary language of Denmark and Norway.[I.7]*