r hver
Naturlig Kraft, hvormed de leve, og
Endskjondt de ikke alle paa eengang--
I gode Venner (det var Mavens Ord)
Og maerker dem heel noie....

_Forste Borger_:
Det vil vi gjore.

_Menenius_:
Endskjondt de ikke alle kunde see,
Hvad jeg tilflyde lader hver isaer,
Saa kan jeg dog med gyldigt Dokument
Bevise at jeg overlader dem
Den rene Kjaerne, selv beholder Kliddet.
Hvad siger I dertil?

_Forste Borger_:
Et svar det var--
Men nu Andvendelsen!

_Menenius_:
Senatet er
Den gode Mave: I Rebellerne.
I undersoge blot de Raad det giver
Og alt dets Omhue. Overveier noie
Alt hvad til Statens Velferd monne sigte,
Og da I finde vil, at fra Senatet
Hver offentlig Velgjerning som I nyde
Sit Udspring bar, men ei fra Eder selv--
Hvad taenker I, som er den store Taae
Her i Forsamlingen?

[10. _Coriolanus_--Malone's ed. London. 1790. Vol. 7, pp. 148 ff.]

Aside from the preponderance of feminine endings, which is inevitable
in Scandinavian blank verse, what strikes us most in this translation
is its laboriousness. The language is set on end. Inversion and
transposition are the devices by which the translator has managed to
give Shakespeare in metrically decent lines. The proof of this is so
patent that I need scarcely point out instances. But take the first
seven lines of the quotation. Neither in form nor content is this bad,
yet no one with a feeling for the Danish language can avoid an
exclamation, "forskruet Stil" and "poetiske Stylter." And lines 8-9
smack unmistakably of _Peder Paars_. In the second place, the translator
often does not attempt to translate at all. He gives merely a
paraphrase. Compare lines 1-3 with the English original; the whole of
the speech of the first citizen, 17-24, 25-27, where the whole implied
idea is fully expressed; 28-30, etc., etc. We might offer almost every
translation of Shakespeare's figures as an example. One more instance.
At times even paraphrase breaks down. Compare

And through the cranks and offices of man
The strongest and small inferior veins,
Receive from me that natural competency
Whereby they live.

with our translator's version (lines 50-51)

jeg den flyde lader
Igjennem Menneskets meest fine Dele.

This is not even good paraphrase; it is simply bald and helpless
rendering.

On the other hand, it would be grossly unfair to dismiss it all with
a sneer. The translator has