A school-essay from the nineteenth century

Dear reader,

The year is 1870 and a young man is sitting in an examination. He has been given a question, or perhaps a number of questions of which he has to select one, which he is to answer with the tact and tastefulness that befits a learned individual, to imitate the old masters which he has now studied (and studied under) for years, and to do them honor with a fineness of expression. (Or so I imagine, at least.)

This essay is shared with you to (further?) demonstrate a difference between modern schooling and that of the nineteenth century, in which days there appears to have been more weight on moral instruction, which is something I would have liked over classes in accounting.

The essay, first in my (ever-poor) translation, and then in Icelandic:

What are man's greatest hindrances from becoming good? (1870)

The greatest obstacles to that a man becomes good, are firstly the natural corruption, which is created with him ("ἤ [ἠ διαφθορά] τῷ [ἀνθρώπῳ] συγγενής ἐστι"?), secondly the corruption of that age, in which he lives, thirdly his own carelessness while the corruption roots itself in his heart, and finally and fourthly his lack of strength enough to become loose, when he finally sees the corruption and notices how harmful it is.

About his natural corruption there is nothing that man can do, nor about the corruption of his age, but about his carelessness and his lack of strength he should be able to do something in most future circumstances, but it is so with most men that they, while in their youth, suppose that they may first, at least until the years of adulthood arrive, enjoy life according to that which the lusts offer in that or that occasion, and observe not that, when alongside to corruption, the strength to break free of its [i.e. the corruption's] bonds dries up,

[This is a reference to Old Norse mythology; the Fenris wolf was fastened (the second time) with a drómi, although a drómundi, which is the word used in the text, is in fact a large warship of Greek origin, a confusion to be admired in posterity!]

then they should let the corruption of the age be a lesson to them, which reveals so thoroughly how slippery it becomes for most on this self-confidence of theirs, and [they should] observe and attend carefully, whether they would be men of strength, [such as] that they can quit as it will get nearer, and if they see that they shall not be able to do that, and such shall it be for most, [then they should] cease then immediately and risk not by their carelessness their fortune both in this life and that of the other world.

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Hverjar eru þær helztu hindranir fyrir manninn til að verða góður? (1870)

Hinar helztu tálmanir fyrir því, að maðurinn verði góður, eru í fyrsta lagi eðlisspilling sú, er honum er meðsköpuð, í öðru lagi spilling aldar þeirrar, er hann lifir á, í þriðja lagi athugaleysi sjálfs hans meðan spillingin festir rætur sínar í hjarta hans, og loks í fjórða lagi þrekleysi hans að losa sig, er hann á endanum sjer spillinguna og athugar hversu skaðsamleg hún er. Eðlisspilling sinni getur maðurinn eigi við gjört og eigi heldur spilling aldar sinnar, en athugaleysi sínu og þrekleysi ætti hann að geta við gjört í allflestu, er að höndum ber, en nú með því allflestum mönnum er svo varið, að þeir, meðan þeir eru á æskuskeiði ætla, að þeir megi fyrst, að minnsta kosti þangað til fullorðinsárin koma, njóta lífsins eptir því sem girndirnar bjóða í þann og þann svipinn og athuga eigi, að jafnfram spillingunni þverrar þrekið til að drepa sig úr drómunda hennar, þá ættu þeir að láta sjer aldaspillinguna að kenningu verða, er sýnir svo berlega hversu allflestum verður hált á þessu sjálfstrausti sínu, og athuga og gæta vandlega að, hvort þeir muni vera þeir þrekmenn, að þeir geti hætt nær sem vera skal, og ef þeir sjá, að þeir eigi muni geta það, en svo munu allflestir, að hætta þá þegar í stað og hætta eigi farsæld sinni bæði hjer í lífi og annars heims af athugaleysi einu.

By Þorvarður Kjerulf, 1848-1893. Later a doctor, and later yet a parliamentarian. Persons went to school at different ages in those days, and this essay is written after (I think) six years of formal education, and on the sixth year, in fact, which is the last.

The reader should note that this is a text from the latter part of the nineteenth century, during which the Icelandic language reached (in my opinion) unprecedented excellence, and whence there has been a great decline. In this text there are more than a few passages or words, whose ambiguity I am not qualified to settle. Unfortunately for the reader, it is highly unlikely that another translation exists, or shall ever exist. It is after all rather unremarkable, except for its reflection of the educational mores of the time.


Now, the school that these boys attend was the only such school at the time in the whole of Iceland, if I recall correctly, graduating around fifteen to twenty boys (and several girls) every year. The standard of education was furthermore poor by Danish standards, but Iceland was at the time a remote province of Denmark with nothing but dirt-poor farmers. "Proper" Icelanders, except for those who were profiting on the rest, generally resided in Denmark, though around this time the situation was improving alongside popular nationalism. The title of the book in which I found these essays is (well-) named Landsins útvöldu synir, or the Land's Chosen Sons, but such (or any) education was at the time not available but for a few.

Today a similar education is available for the many, but unfortunately I myself lacked the good sense to seek it. Should I have enrolled in the modern descendant of that school, I could by now know good Latin, Greek, and possibly even some Hebrew. Now, on a university level, I seek that same education, in other words I seek to educate myself in the way that the system failed to educate me.

P.S. The short passage in Greek exists as I found it easier to move the sentence into Greek than into English, and I readily imagine that he might have been inspired by a Greek sentence in his construction of this one.