[22. The Merchant of Venice.  Med Indledning og Anmaerkninger ved
    Christen Collin.  Kristiania. 1902. (This, of course, does not
    include the translations of the sonnets referred to below.)]

A good part of Collin’s success must be attributed to his intimate familiarity with English.  The fine nuances of the language do not escape him, and he can use it not with precision merely but with audacity and power.  Long years of close and sympathetic association with the literature of England has made English well-nigh a second mother tongue to this fine and appreciative critic.  But he is more than a critic.  He has more than a little of the true poet’s insight and the true poet’s gift of song.  All this has combined to give us a body of translations which, for fine felicity, stand unrivalled in Dano-Norwegian.  Many of these have been prepared for lecture purposes and have never been printed.[23] Only a few have been perpetuated in this text edition of The Merchant of Venice.  We shall discuss the edition itself below.  Our concern here is with the translations.  We remember Lassen’s and Lembcke’s opening of the fifth act.  Collin is more successful than his countryman.

Lor:  Hvor Maanen straaler!  I en nat som denne, da milde vindpust kyssed skovens traer og alting var saa tyst, i slig en nat Troilus kanske steg op paa Trojas mure og stonned ud sin sjael mod Graekerteltene hvor Cressida laa den nat.

Jes: 
I slig en nat
kom Thisbe angstfuldt trippende over duggen,—­
saa lovens skygge, for hun saa den selv,
og lob forskraekket bort.

Lor: 
I slig en nat
stod Dido med en vidjekvist i haand
paa havets strand og vinkede AEneas
tilbage til Karthago.

Jes: 
I slig en nat
Medea sanked urter som foryngede
den gamle AEsons liv.

Lor: 
I slig en nat
stjal Jessica sig fra den rige Jode
med en forfloien elsker fra Venedig
og fandt i Belmont ly.

Jes: 
I en saadan nat
svor ung Lorenzo at hun var ham kjaer
og stjal med mange eder hendes hjerte,
men ikke en var sand.

Lor: 
I slig en nat
skjon Jessica, den lille heks, bagtalte
sin elsker og han—­tilgav hende alt.

[23.  I have seen these translations in the typewritten copies
which Professor Collin distributed among his students.]

“A translation of this passage,” says Collin,[24] “can hardly be more than an approximation, but its inadequacy will only emphasize the beauty of the original.”  Nevertheless we have here more than a feeble approximation.  It is not equal to Shakespeare, but it is good Norwegian poetry and as faithful as translation can or need be.  It is difficult to refrain from giving Portia’s plea for mercy, but I shall give instead Collin’s striking rendering of Shylock’s arraignment of Antonio:[25]