New Testament in Greek, and with Julius Lange, Aeschylus, Sophocles,
Pindar, Horace and Ovid, and a little of Aristotle and Theocritus.
Catullus, Martial and Caesar I read for myself.

But I did not find any positive inspiration in my studies until I
approached my nineteenth year. In philosophy I had hitherto mastered
only a few books by Soeren Kierkegaard. But now I began a conscientious
study of Heiberg's philosophical writings and honestly endeavoured to
make myself familiar with his speculative logic. As Heiberg's _Prose
Writings_ came out, in the 1861 edition, they were studied with
extreme care. Heiberg's death in 1860 was a great grief to me; as a
thinker I had loved and revered him. The clearness of form and the
internal obscurity of his adaptation of Hegel's Teachings, gave one a
certain artistic satisfaction, at the same time that it provoked an
effort really to understand.

But in the nature of things, Heiberg's philosophical life-work could not
to a student be other than an admission into Hegel's train of thought,
and an introduction to the master's own works. I was not aware that by
1860 Europe had long passed his works by in favour of more modern
thinking. With a passionate desire to reach a comprehension of the
truth, I grappled with the System, began with the Encyclopaedia, read
the three volumes of Aesthetics, The Philosophy of Law, the Philosophy
of History, the Phenomenology of the Mind, then the Philosophy of Law
again, and finally the Logic, the Natural Philosophy and the Philosophy
of the Mind in a veritable intoxication of comprehension and delight.
One day, when a young girl towards whom I felt attracted had asked me to
go and say good-bye to her before her departure, I forgot the time, her
journey, and my promise to her, over my Hegel. As I walked up and down
my room I chanced to pull my watch out of my pocket, and realised that I