CJTranslations - Shakespeare quotes on ruin

QUOTES BY TOPIC

A dedicated beggar to the air, with his disease of all-shunned poverty

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Second servant
CONTEXT:
SECOND SERVANT
As we do turn our backs
From our companion thrown into his grave,
So his familiars to his buried fortunes
Slink all away, leave their false vows with him,
Like empty purses picked; and his poor self,
A dedicated beggar to the air,
With his disease of all-shunned poverty,
Walks, like contempt, alone. More of our fellows.

DUTCH:
En hij, een beed’laar, aan de lucht ter prooi,
Zwerft, met zijn kwaal van schuwgemeden armoê,
Beeld van verachting, eenzaam

MORE:
Familiar=Demon or spirit; false friend
Slink=Sneak
All-shunned=Avoided by everyone
Compleat:
Familiar=Een gemeenzaame geet, queldrommel
To slink away=Wegsluipen, doorsluipen
To slink aside=Zich schuil houden
To shun=Vermyden, ontwyken, ontvlieden

Topics: good and bad, friendship, ruin

Alack, you are transported by calamity thither where more attends you

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Why, masters, my good friends, mine honest neighbours,
Will you undo yourselves?
FIRST CITIZEN
We cannot, sir, we are undone already.
MENENIUS
I tell you, friends, most charitable care
Have the patricians of you. For your wants,
Your suffering in this dearth, you may as well
Strike at the heaven with your staves as lift them
Against the Roman state, whose course will on
The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs
Of more strong link asunder than can ever
Appear in your impediment. For the dearth,
The gods, not the patricians, make it, and
Your knees to them, not arms, must help. Alack,
You are transported by calamity
Thither where more attends you, and you slander
The helms o’ the state, who care for you like fathers,
When you curse them as enemies.

DUTCH:
Ach, uw ellende drijft u voort, waar meer
Ellende u wacht! Gij lastert de bestuurders
Van Rome, die als vaders voor u zorgen,
Terwijl gij hen als haters vloekt.

MORE:
Undo=Undermine, ruin
Patricians=Senators
Curbs=Curb chain (bridle)
Thither=There
Attends=Awaits
Helms=Leaders
Compleat:
To undo=Ontdoen; ontbinden, bederven
Patrician=Een Roomsch Edelling
Hither=Herwaards. Hither and thither=Herwaards en derwaards
To attend=Opwachten, verzellen
Helm=Het roer
To sit at the helm=Aan ‘t roer zitten

Topics: ruin, death, persuasion

But it is true, without any slips of prolixity or crossing the plain highway of talk

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Salerio
CONTEXT:
SALERIO
Why, yet it lives there unchecked that Antonio hath a
ship of rich lading wracked on the narrow seas. The
Goodwins I think they call the place—a very dangerous
flat, and fatal, where the carcasses of many a tall ship
lie buried, as they say, if my gossip report be an
honest woman of her word.
SOLANIO
I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever
knapped ginger or made her neighbors believe she wept
for the death of a third husband. But it is true,
without any slips of prolixity or crossing the plain
highway of talk, that the good Antonio, the honest
Antonio—oh, that I had a title good enough to keep his
name company!—
SALERIO
Come, the full stop.
SOLANIO
Ha, what sayest thou? Why, the end is he hath lost a
ship.

DUTCH:
Maar het is waar, — zonder in wijdloopigheid te vervallen, en van den effen grooten weg van het gesprek af te wijken

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
FDIC v. Municipality of Ponce, 708 F. Supp. 464 (1989), incorporated into the body of the decision:
“On July 12, 1983, two agreements were executed by Girod Trust Company, Codfish Corporation, and the Municipality of Ponce, the first entitled “Loan Agreement” and the second “Open End Credit,” whereby Girod lent to Codfish $500,000.00 and $750,000.00 respectively. Both instruments were signed by Erasto Rodríguez, on behalf of the Municipality, as guarantor.
Codfish’s “ship of rich lading wreck’d on the narrow seas;” it defaulted on the loans and eventually filed for bankruptcy. In the meantime, it was “never heard a passion so confus’d, so strange, outrageous, and so variable as [Girod] did utter in the streets. ‘My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!'” Girod’s daughter ran off with its ducats, and it was declared insolvent and turned over to the FDIC as receiver. The loans at issue in this case were then sold to the FDIC in its corporate capacity.”

Goodwins=The Goodwin sands
Gossip report=Rumour
Knap=Take small bites
Come to the full stop=Get to the point
Prolixity=Verbosity, wordiness
Crossing the plain highway=Deviating from plain speech
Compleat:
Gossip=Een doophefster, gemoeder, peet
A tattling gossip=Een Labbey, kaekelaarster

Burgersdijk notes:
De Goodwins, gevaarlijke ondiepten nabij den mond van de Theems, worden ook vermeld in Koning Jan, V. 3, 2. — Dat oude vrouwen gaarne gember knauwen reg. 10, (to knap is: in kleine stukjens bijten) wordt ook vermeld in Maat voor maat, IV, 3, 8,

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

But little. I am armed and well prepared.—
Give me your hand, Bassanio. Fare you well.

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antonio
CONTEXT:
ANTONIO
But little. I am armed and well prepared.—
Give me your hand, Bassanio. Fare you well
Grieve not that I am fall’n to this for you,
For herein Fortune shows herself more kind
Than is her custom. It is still her use
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
An age of poverty—from which lingering penance
Of such misery doth she cut me off.
Commend me to your honourable wife.
Tell her the process of Antonio’s end.
Say how I loved you. Speak me fair in death.
And when the tale is told, bid her be judge
Whether Bassanio had not once a love.
Repent but you that you shall lose your friend,
And he repents not that he pays your debt.
For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,
I’ll pay it presently with all my heart.

DUTCH:
Slechts luttel; ‘k ben bereid en welgewapend! —
Geef mij de hand, Bassanio, vaar gij wel!

MORE:
But little=Just a little
Use=Habit
Process=Tale
Repent but you=Only regret

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

But more when envy breeds unkind division;
There comes the rain, there begins confusion.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Exeter
CONTEXT:
EXETER
Well didst thou, Richard, to suppress thy voice;
For, had the passions of thy heart burst out,
I fear we should have seen decipher’d there
More rancorous spite, more furious raging broils,
Than yet can be imagined or supposed.
But howsoe’er, no simple man that sees
This jarring discord of nobility,
This shouldering of each other in the court,
This factious bandying of their favourites,
But that it doth presage some ill event.
‘Tis much when sceptres are in children’s hands;
But more when envy breeds unkind division;
There comes the ruin, there begins confusion.

DUTCH:
t Is erg, indien een kind den scepter zwaait,
Maar erger nog, zoo haat verdeeldheid broedt,
Dan gaan we ellende en omkeer te gemoet.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Deciphered=Be revealed, detected
Rancorous=Malignant, hateful
Broil=(a) tumult, noisy quarrel, contention; (b) war, combat, battle
Simple=Common
Jarring=Clashing, discordant
Bandy=To beat to and fro (fig. of words, looks)
Shoulder=To push with violence and with a view of supplanting
Unkind=Unnatural

Compleat:
Deciphered=Ontcyferd
Rancorous=Nydig, vik afgunst en nyd
Broil=Oproer, beroerte, gewoel
Simple=Eenvoudig, onnozel
To jar=Krakkeelen, twisten, harrewarren, oneens zyn, kyven
Bandy=Een bal weer toeslaan; een zaak voor en tegen betwisten
Shoulder=Schouderen

Topics: envy, conflict, consequence, ruin

Give them title, knee and approbation with senators on the bench

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Timon
CONTEXT:
TIMON
Who seeks for better of thee, sauce his palate
With thy most operant poison! What is here?
Gold? yellow, glittering, precious gold? No, gods,
I am no idle votarist: roots, you clear heavens!
Thus much of this will make black white, foul fair,
Wrong right, base noble, old young, coward valiant.
Ha, you gods! why this? what this, you gods? Why, this
Will lug your priests and servants from your sides,
Pluck stout men’s pillows from below their heads:
This yellow slave
Will knit and break religions, bless the accursed,
Make the hoar leprosy adored, place thieves
And give them title, knee and approbation
With senators on the bench: this is it
That makes the wappened widow wed again;
She, whom the spital-house and ulcerous sores
Would cast the gorge at, this embalms and spices
To the April day again. Come, damned earth,
Thou common whore of mankind, that put’st odds
Among the route of nations, I will make thee
Do thy right nature.

DUTCH:
Die gele ellend’ling schept
Godsdiensten, sloopt ze; zegent wie vervloekt zijn;
Maakt witmelaatschen aangebeen; helpt dieven
Aan titels, eerbetoon en lof, en plaatst ze
Bij senatoren in ‘t gestoelt.

MORE:
Pluck stout men’s pillows=It was a custom to remove the pillow from under a dying man’s head to ease his dying
Sauce=Flavour, enhance
Operant=Active, effective
Idle=Insincere
Votarist=Votary, one who has taken a vow
Clear=Pure
Lug=Convey
Knit=Make
Approbation=Praise
With=Equal to
Wappened=Exhausted, stale
Spital-house=Hospital
Gorge=Vomit
Put’st odds=Creates contention, discord
Compleat:
Operative=Werkzaam
Clear=Klaar, helder, zuiver
Votary=Een die zich door een (religieuse) belofte verbonden heeft; die zich ergens toe heeft overgegeeven
To lug=Trekken
To knit friendship=Vriendschap aangaan
Knit together=Verknocht, t’zamengeknoopt
To set at odds=Twist stooken, oneenigheid verwekken
Approbation=Goedkeuring
Gorge=Keel, krop. To cast the gorge=Braaken

Burgersdijk notes:
Dit rukt aan mannen in des levens vaag ‘t hoofdkussen weg. Zinspeling op het gebruik van aan stervenden, om hun doodstrijd te bekorten, het hoofdkussen weg te trekken; het goud is oorzaak, dat dit ook op mannen in de kracht des levens beproefd, dat hun naar het leven gestaan wordt.

Kom, gij doemwaardige aarde enz. Deze doemwaardige aarde moet natuurlijk het goud zelf zijn; daar dit hier met den naam van het zoogenoemde element, dat hij Sh. steeds als loom en traag bekend staat, wordt toegesproken , is hier ingevoegd „log stof”, onm in de vertaling uit te drukken, wat, naar het mij voorkomt , de bedoeling van den dichter moet geweest zijn. Hierom is ook vertaald: „ik doe u slapen naar uwen waren aard”. In het Engelsch staat alleen: „ik wil u laten doen naar uwen waren aard”. Deze plaats, en ook het volgende, levert moeilijkheden op en wordt verschillend verklaard.

Topics: ambition, poverty and wealth, money, ruin

Harp not on that string, madam; that is past

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Richard
CONTEXT:
RICHARD
Harp not on that string, madam; that is past.
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Harp on it still shall I till heart-strings break.
RICHARD
Now by my George, my Garter, and my crown—
QUEEN ELIZABETH
Profaned, dishonoured, and the third usurped.
RICHARD
I swear—
QUEEN ELIZABETH
By nothing, for this is no oath.
Thy George, profaned, hath lost his lordly honour;
Thy garter, blemished, pawned his knightly virtue;
Thy crown, usurped, disgraced his kingly glory.
If something thou wouldst swear to be believed,
Swear then by something that thou hast not wronged.

DUTCH:
KONING RICHARD
Roer die snaar niet meer aan, dat is voorbij .
KONINGIN ELIZABETH
Ik roer die aan, tot hartesnaren springen .

MORE:
Proverb: Harp no more on that string

Profane=Desecrate
Compleat:
To profane=Ontheyligen, schenden, ontwyen
To pawn=Verpanden

Topics: proverbs and idioms, dispute, ruin

He that keeps nor crust nor crumb,
Weary of all, shall want some.

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
Thou wast a pretty fellow when thou hadst no need to care for her frowning. Now thou art an O without a figure. I am better than thou art now. I am a fool. Thou art nothing.
(to GONERIL) Yes, forsooth, I will hold my tongue. So your face bids me, though you say nothing. Mum, mum,
He that keeps nor crust nor crumb,
Weary of all, shall want some.
(indicating LEAR) That’s a shelled peascod.

DUTCH:
Bedaard, bedaard;
Want wie korst noch kruim bewaart,
Treurt, dat hij niets heeft bespaard.
Die daar is een uitgedopte erwteschil.

MORE:
He that keeps nor crust nor crumb: he who foolishly gives everything away because he is tired of it will eventually need some of it back.
An O without a figure=a cipher, a zero with no other number to give it a value
Schmidt:
Shelled peascod (or pescod)=a shelled peaspod: insult, an empty peapod (een lege peulenschil), a nothing.

Topics: poverty and wealth, excess, value, caution, ruin

In life’s uncertain voyage

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Timon
CONTEXT:
TIMON
But yet I love my country, and am not
One that rejoices in the common wreck,
As common bruit doth put it.
FIRST SENATOR
That’s well spoke.
TIMON
Commend me to my loving countrymen,—
FIRST SENATOR
These words become your lips as they pass
thorough them.
SECOND SENATOR
And enter in our ears like great triumphers
In their applauding gates.
TIMON
Commend me to them,
And tell them that, to ease them of their griefs,
Their fears of hostile strokes, their aches, losses,
Their pangs of love, with other incident throes
That nature’s fragile vessel doth sustain
In life’s uncertain voyage, I will some kindness do them:
I’ll teach them to prevent wild Alcibiades’ wrath.

DUTCH:
Op ‘s levens ongewisse vaart, wil ik
Hun goed zijn en hun leeren, hoe zij ‘t woeden
Des wilden Alcibiades ontgaan.

MORE:
Common=Universal
Wreck=Ruin
Bruit=Rumour
Applauding=Receiving
Throes=Maladies
Fragile vessel=Body
Compleat:
Common=Gemeen
To wreck or go to wrack=Verlooren gaan, te gronde gaan
Bruit=Gerucht, geraas
To applaud=Toejuichen, pryzen

Topics: ruin, justice

Is there no way to cure this? No new device to beat this from his brains?

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Cardinal Wolsey
CONTEXT:
CARDINAL WOLSEY
What should this mean?
What sudden anger’s this? how have I reap’d it?
He parted frowning from me, as if ruin
Leap’d from his eyes: so looks the chafed lion
Upon the daring huntsman that has gall’d him;
Then makes him nothing. I must read this paper;
I fear, the story of his anger. ‘Tis so;
This paper has undone me: ’tis the account
Of all that world of wealth I have drawn together
For mine own ends; indeed, to gain the popedom,
And fee my friends in Rome. O negligence!
Fit for a fool to fall by: what cross devil
Made me put this main secret in the packet
I sent the king? Is there no way to cure this?
No new device to beat this from his brains?
I know ’twill stir him strongly; yet I know
A way, if it take right, in spite of fortune
Will bring me off again. What’s this? ‘To the Pope!’
The letter, as I live, with all the business
I writ to’s holiness. Nay then, farewell!
I have touch’d the highest point of all my greatness;
And, from that full meridian of my glory,
I haste now to my setting: I shall fall
Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
And no man see me more.

DUTCH:
Is er geen middel,
Geen kunstgreep, die dit wegdrijft uit zijn brein?

MORE:
Chafed=Angry
Galled=Injured
Undone=Ruined
Fee=Pay
Packet=Package of papers
Device=Scheme, plot
Stir=Irritate
Meridian=Top point
Exhalation=Meteor
Compleat:
Chafed=Verhit, vertoornd, gevreeven
To gall=’t Vel afschuuren, smarten
To gall the enemy=Den vyand benaauwen
Undone=Ontdaan, losgemaakt, bedurven
To fee=Beloonen, betaalen, de handen vullen, de oogen uytsteken door giften
Device=List; uytvindsel, gedichtsel
Stir=Gewoel, geraas, beroerte, oproer
Meridian=Middagslyn

Topics: ruin, negligence, plans/intentions, remedy

Landlord of England art thou and not king.

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Gaunt
CONTEXT:
O, had thy grandsire with a prophet’s eye
Seen how his son’s son should destroy his sons,
From forth thy reach he would have laid thy shame,
Deposing thee before thou wert possessed,
Which art possessed now to depose thyself.
Why, cousin, wert thou regent of the world,
It were a shame to let this land by lease;
But, for thy world enjoying but this land,
Is it not more than shame to shame it so?
Landlord of England art thou now, not king.
Thy state of law is bondslave to the law,
And thou—

DUTCH:
Landheer van England zijt gij thans, niet koning;
Uw vorstlijk recht is nu de slaaf der wet

MORE:

Grandsire=Edward III
Deposing=Removing from the throne
Possessed=In possession of; posssessed by (an evil spirit)
Is bondslave=Has become slave to

Topics: wellbeing, failure, ruin

Let’s shake our heads, and say, … ‘We have seen better days.’

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Flavius
CONTEXT:
FLAVIUS
All broken implements of a ruined house.
THIRD SERVANT
Yet do our hearts wear Timon’s livery;
That see I by our faces; we are fellows still,
Serving alike in sorrow: leaked is our bark,
And we, poor mates, stand on the dying deck,
Hearing the surges threat: we must all part
Into this sea of air.
FLAVIUS
Good fellows all,
The latest of my wealth I’ll share amongst you.
Wherever we shall meet, for Timon’s sake,
Let’s yet be fellows; let’s shake our heads, and say,
As ’twere a knell unto our master’s fortunes,
‘We have seen better days.’ Let each take some;
Nay, put out all your hands. Not one word more:
Thus part we rich in sorrow, parting poor.

DUTCH:
Als waar’ ‘t een doodsgelui om ‘s meesters lot:
„Wij kenden beet’re dagen.”

MORE:
To mean coming on hard times, fortunes being in decline/Shakespeare probably didn’t invent the phrase (Sir Thomas Moore, Play, 1590)

Implements=Instruments, objects
Livery=Uniform
Fellows=Comrades
Barque=Ship
Dying=Sinking
Knell=Toll of a bell
Compleat:
Implements=Gereedschap, huisraad
Livery=een Lievry
Fellow=Medgezel
Bark=Scheepje
Knell=De doodklok

Topics: ruin, money, poverty and wealth, equality

Now Lord Timon’s happy hours are done and past, and his estate shrinks from him

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Second Stranger
CONTEXT:
FIRST STRANGER
We know him for no less, though we are but strangers
to him. But I can tell you one thing, my lord, and
which I hear from common rumours: now Lord Timon’s
happy hours are done and past, and his estate
shrinks from him.
LUCILIUS
Fie, no, do not believe it; he cannot want for money.
SECOND STRANGER
But believe you this, my lord, that, not long ago,
one of his men was with the Lord Lucullus to borrow
so many talents, nay, urged extremely for’t and
showed what necessity belonged to’t, and yet was
denied.

DUTCH:
Maar ik kan u iets mededeelen, heer, wat ik bij
geruchte vernomen heb, dat Timon’s gelukkige dagen
over en voorbij zijn, en zijn vermogen hem in den steek
laat.

MORE:
Want for=Lack
Talents=Units of metal, currency
What necessity belonged=What it was for
Compleat:
Want=Gebrek
Talent=Een talent; pond

Topics: ruin, money, poverty and wealth

Rich men look sad and ruffians dance and leap, The one in fear to lose what they enjoy, The other to enjoy by rage and war:

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Captain
CONTEXT:
CAPTAIN
’Tis thought the king is dead; we will not stay.
The bay-trees in our country are all wither’d
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth
And lean-look’d prophets whisper fearful change;
Rich men look sad and ruffians dance and leap,
The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other to enjoy by rage and war:
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.
Farewell: our countrymen are gone and fled,
As well assured Richard their king is dead.
EARL OF SALISBURY
Ah, Richard, with the eyes of heavy mind
I see thy glory like a shooting star
Fall to the base earth from the firmament.
Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west,
Witnessing storms to come, woe and unrest:
Thy friends are fled to wait upon thy foes,
And crossly to thy good all fortune goes.

DUTCH:
De rijken zijn bedrukt en schelmen dansen; —
Die duchten het verlies van geld en goed,
En dezen hopen op geweld en oorlog;

MORE:

Lean-looked=Thin-faced
Meteor=A bright phenomenon, thought to be portentous, harbinger of doom
Fixed stars=Symbol of permanence
Forerun=Precede
Assured=Convinced, persuaded
Witness=Portend
Wait upon=Serve
Crossly=Adversely

Compleat:
To assure=Verzekeren
Portend=Voorduiden, voorzeggen

Topics: ruin, nature, conflict, fate/destiny

Ring the alarum-bell!—Blow, wind! Come, wrack!

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: Macbeth
CONTEXT:
There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here.
I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun,
And wish th’ estate o’ th’ world were now undone.—
Ring the alarum-bell!—Blow, wind! Come, wrack!
At least we’ll die with harness on our back.

DUTCH:
Luidt, luidt alarm! — Blaas, wind! verschijn, verderf!
Dit rest mij toch, dat ik in ‘t harnas sterf!

MORE:
Schmidt:
Estate= State, peculiar form of existence
Wrack=Destruction, ruin; loss, decay
(nowadays: to fall into / go to (w)rack and ruin, e.g. a building or a business falling into decay or disrepair due to lack of upkeep)
Compleat:
Estate (or condition)=Staat, omstandigheid
Wrack (or shipwrack)=Schipbreuk
To go to wrack=Verlooren gaan, te gronde gaan
Wrack ( the part of the ship that is perished and cast a shoar, belonging to the King)=Wrak van een verongelukt Schip
Wracked=Aan stukken gestooten, te gronde gegaan

Topics: ruin, failure

So quick bright things come to confusion

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Lysander
CONTEXT:
LYSANDER
Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,
War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
Making it momentary as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightning in the collied night;
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and Earth,
And ere a man hath power to say “Behold!”
The jaws of darkness do devour it up.
So quick bright things come to confusion.

DUTCH:
Of, was ook ziel met ziel aaneengesmeed,
Dan heeft haar ziekte, krijg of dood belaagd,
Voorbijgaand, vluchtig als een klank gemaakt,
Kort als een droombeeld, ijdel als een schim,
Snel als het weerlicht in koolzwarte nacht

MORE:
Proverb: As swift as lightning

Collied=Coal black
Sympathy=Equality
Spleen=Fit of rage
Quick=Lively, alive
Confusion=Ruin
Compleat:
To colly=Zwart maaken, besmodderen
Collyed=Zwart gemaakt, besmodderd
Sympathy=Onderlinge trek
Spreen=Wrok
Quick=Leevendig, snel, rad, dra, scherp
Bate=Verminderen, afkorten, afslaan
Confusion (ruin)=Verwoesting, bederf, ruine

Topics: proverbs and idioms, equality, still in use, fate/destiny, ruin

So sickened their estates, that never they shall abound as formerly.

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Abergavenny
CONTEXT:
BUCKINGHAM
Why the devil,
Upon this French going out, took he upon him,
Without the privity o’ the king, to appoint
Who should attend on him? He makes up the file
Of all the gentry; for the most part such
To whom as great a charge as little honour
He meant to lay upon: and his own letter,
The honourable board of council out,
Must fetch him in [t]he papers.
ABERGAVENNY
I do know
Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have
By this so sickened their estates, that never
They shall abound as formerly.
BUCKINGHAM
O, many
Have broke their backs with laying manors on ’em
For this great journey. What did this vanity
But minister communication of
A most poor issue?

DUTCH:
Neven ken ik,
Ten minste drie, die door den tocht hun midd’len
Zoo hebben uitgeput, dat zij nooit meer
Tot welstand komen.

MORE:
Proverb: To break one’s back
Privity=Knowledge (as in privy to)
File=List
Out=Not meeting
Sickened=Diminished, depleted
Abound=Prosper
Manors=Estates
Vanity=Folly
Minister communication=Put into effect
Issue=Outcome
Compleat:
Privity=Een bewustheyd van iets
To abound=Overvloeijen
Mannor-house=Een huys of slot van den ambachtsheer
Vanity=Ydelheyd
To minister=Bedienen
Issue=Een uytgang, uytslag, uytkomst

Topics: ruin, poverty and wealth, proverbs and idioms

The over-daring Talbot
Hath sullied all his gloss of former honour
By this unheedful, desperate, wild adventure

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 4.4.
SPEAKER: Somerset
CONTEXT:
It is too late; I cannot send them now:
This expedition was by York and Talbot
Too rashly plotted: all our general force
Might with a sally of the very town
Be buckled with: the over-daring Talbot
Hath sullied all his gloss of former honour
By this unheedful, desperate, wild adventure:
York set him on to fight and die in shame,
That, Talbot dead, great York might bear the name

DUTCH:
Talbots overmoed
Heeft heel den glans van al zijn vroegere eer
Bevlekt door dit onzinnig dolle waagstuk.
York dreef hem aan tot strijd en roemloos sterven,
Om zelf des dooden Talbots glorie te erven.

MORE:

Schmidt:
Expedition=A warlike enterprise
Sally=An issue of troops from a besieged place
Buckled with=Join in close fight, resist
Sullied=Tarnished
The very town=The garrison

Compleat:
Expedition=Een krygsverrichting
Sally=Uitvallen
Buckle=(to buckle together) Worstelen, schermutselen
Sullied=Bemorst, vuil gemaakt, bezoedeld

Topics: haste, preparation, caution, honour, ruin, risk

These debts may well be called desperate ones, for a madman owes ’em

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Hortensius
CONTEXT:
HORTENSIUS
‘Faith, I perceive our masters may throw their caps
at their money: these debts may well be called
desperate ones, for a madman owes ’em.
TIMON
They have e’en put my breath from me, the slaves.
Creditors? devils!

DUTCH:
Waarachtig, ik merk, dat onze meesters hun mutsen
naar hun geld kunnen gooien; die schulden kan men
wel wanhopig noemen, want een radelooze is ze schuldig.

MORE:
Proverb: He may cast his cap after him for every overtaking him

Throw their caps=Give up
Desperate=Irremediable
Put my breath from=Deprived me of air
Compleat:
Desperate=Wanhopende
To cast one’s cap at one=Zich verwonnen bekennen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, debt/obligation, money, ruin

They say ‘ A crafty knave does need no broker;’

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Hume
CONTEXT:
They, knowing Dame Eleanor’s aspiring humour,
Have hired me to undermine the duchess
And buzz these conjurations in her brain.
They say ‘ A crafty knave does need no broker;’
Yet am I Suffolk and the cardinal’s broker.
Hume, if you take not heed, you shall go near
To call them both a pair of crafty knaves.
Well, so its stands; and thus, I fear, at last
Hume’s knavery will be the duchess’ wrack,
And her attainture will be Humphrey’s fall.
Sort how it will, I shall have gold for all.

DUTCH:
Geen sluwe schelm, zoo zegt men, neemt een helper;

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Proverb: A cunning (crafty) knave needs no broker

Modern usage: Mum’s the word
Not invented by Shakespeare: the word was first used in the 14th century, although Shakespeare probably helped to make it popular. The word ‘mum’ may refer to the humming sound made by a closed mouth.
Asketh=Demands, requires
Buz=(or buzz) Whisper
Conjurations=Incantations; obsecration
Wrack=Ruin
Attainture=Shame; conviction

Compleat:
Knave=Een guit, boef
To buzz into one’s ears=Iemand in ‘t oor blaazen
Conjuration=Samenzweering, eedgespan, vloekverwantschap, bezweering
Wrack=(a ship): Een schip aan stukken stooten
To go to wrack=Verlooren gaan, te gronde gaan
To attaint=Overtuigen van misdaad, schuldig verklaaren, betichten; bevlekken, bederf aanzetten
Attainture (of blood)=Bederving of aansteeking des bloeds

Topics: proverbs and idioms, ambition, corruption, ruin

Though you can guess what temperance should be, you know not what it is

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 3.13
SPEAKER: Antony
CONTEXT:
ANTONY
You have been a boggler ever.
But when we in our viciousness grow hard—
Oh, misery on ’t!— the wise gods seel our eyes,
In our own filth drop our clear judgments, make us
Adore our errors, laugh at ’s while we strut
To our confusion.
CLEOPATRA
Oh, is ’t come to this?
ANTONY
I found you as a morsel cold upon
Dead Caesar’s trencher. Nay, you were a fragment
Of Gneius Pompey’s, besides what hotter hours,
Unregistered in vulgar fame, you have
Luxuriously picked out. For I am sure,
Though you can guess what temperance should be,
You know not what it is.

DUTCH:
Ik vond u als een koud geworden bete
Op Caesar’s bord; gij waart een kliekjen van
Cneus Pompeius’ tafel, om van uren
Van hartstocht nu te zwijgen, die ge in stilte
Wellustig hebt besteed; want, dit is zeker,
Hoewel gij gissen moogt, wat kuischheid is,
Gekend hebt gij ze nooit.

MORE:
Proverb: When God will punish he will first take away the understanding

Boggler=Equivocator, swerver, waverer
Seel=Close, blind
Confusion=Ruin
Trencher=Wooden plate
Fragment=Remnant, scrap
Vulgar fame=Common gossip
Luxuriously=Lustfully
Temperance=Modesty, chastity
Compleat:
To boggle=Haperen, stameren
He did not boggle at all at it=Hij stond ‘er niet verzet voor
To seel a hawk=Eenen valk een kap voor de oogen doen
Trencher=Tafelbord, houten tafelbord
Fragment=Een brok, stuk, afbreeksel
Vulgar=(common) Gemeen
Luxuriously=Weeldriglyk; overdaadiglyk
Temperance=Maatigheyd

Topics: proverbs and idioms, excess, reputation, judgment, ruin

Tis a cruelty to load a falling man.

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Cromwell
CONTEXT:
CROMWELL
My Lord of Winchester, you are a little,
By your good favour, too sharp; men so noble,
However faulty, yet should find respect
For what they have been: ’tis a cruelty
To load a falling man.

DUTCH:
Mylord van Winchester, gij zijt een weinig, —
Vergun mij, — al te scherp. Een man, zoo edel,
Moest, hoe hij dwaal’, toch immer achting vinden
Om wat hij is geweest; ‘t is wreed, een last
Op hem, die valt, te leggen.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
The Florida Bar v. Silverman, 196 So.2d 442, 444 (Fla. 1967)(Ervin, J;)(dissent).

By your good favour=With your permission
Load=Burden
Sharp=Harsh
Compleat:
Favour=Begunstigen, gunste toedraagen
Load=Laading, last, vracht
Sharp=Scherp, spits, bits, streng, scherpzinnig

Topics: cited in law, haste, respect, ruin

To say nothing, to do nothing, to know nothing, and to have nothing is to be a great part of your title

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Clown
CONTEXT:
CLOWN
So that you had her wrinkles and I her money,
I would she did as you say.
PAROLLES
Why, I say nothing.
CLOWN
Marry, you are the wiser man; for many a man’s
tongue shakes out his master’s undoing: to say
nothing, to do nothing, to know nothing, and to have
nothing, is to be a great part of your title; which
is within a very little of nothing.
PAROLLES
Away! thou’rt a knave.

DUTCH:
Het wijste, wat gij doen kunt, want menigen dienaar’s
tong praat zijn meester in het verderf. Niets zeggen,
niets doen, niets weten en niets hebben, maakt een
groot deel van uw waardigheid uit, die uit een zeer
klein deel van niets bestaat.

MORE:
Title=Intrinsic value, position
Undoing=Ruin
Compleat:
Undoing=Losmaaking, bederving
That was the undoing of him=Dat was zyn verderf

Topics: respect, order/society, ruin

To’s power he would have made them mules, silenced their pleaders and dispropertied their freedom

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
It shall be to him then as our good wills,
A sure destruction.
BRUTUS
So it must fall out
To him or our authorities. For an end,
We must suggest the people in what hatred
He still hath held them; that to’s power he would
Have made them mules, silenced their pleaders and
Dispropertied their freedoms, holding them,
In human action and capacity,
Of no more soul nor fitness for the world
Than camels in the war, who have their provand
Only for bearing burdens, and sore blows
For sinking under them.
SICINIUS
This, as you say, suggested
At some time when his soaring insolence
Shall touch the people—which time shall not want,
If he be put upon ‘t; and that’s as easy
As to set dogs on sheep—will be his fire
To kindle their dry stubble; and their blaze
Shall darken him for ever.

DUTCH:
Dit moet zoo zijn, of ‘t wordt
Voor ons gezag een doodsteek. Daarom moeten
Wij ‘t volk bewerken , hun doen zien, wat haat
Hij immer voor hen voedt; dat, kon hij ‘t doen,
Hij hen tot lastvee maken zou, hun pleiters
Doen zwijgen, ied’re vrijheid hun ontrooven,

MORE:
As our good wills=As we require
Fall out to=(His ruin will) be brought about by
Suggest=Influence, point out to
Still=Always
Dispropertied=Removed
Provand=Provisions
Touch=Affect
Put upon ‘t=Goaded, incited to
Compleat:
To fall out=Uitvallen, gebeuren
It fell out beyond my expectations=’t Viel anders uit dan ik verwacht had
Suggest=Ingeeven, insteeken, inluisteren, inblaazen
To dispossess=Uit de bezitting verdryven
To touch=Aanraaken, aanroeren, tasten
To put one upon a thing=Iemand in een zaak inwikkelen

Topics: ruin, manipulation, respect, vanity

What an alteration of honou has desperate want made!

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Flavius
CONTEXT:
FLAVIUS
O you gods!
Is yond despised and ruinous man my lord?
Full of decay and failing? O monument
And wonder of good deeds evilly bestowed!
What an alteration of honour
Has desperate want made!
What viler thing upon the earth than friends
Who can bring noblest minds to basest ends!
How rarely does it meet with this time’s guise,
When man was wished to love his enemies!
Grant I may ever love, and rather woo
Those that would mischief me than those that do!
Has caught me in his eye: I will present
My honest grief unto him; and, as my lord,
Still serve him with my life. My dearest master!

DUTCH:
Is die man daar, in smaad en nood, mijn heer?
Zoo arm en zoo vervallen? O gij toonbeeld,
Gij wonder beeld van slecht beloonde goedheid!
Wat bracht die schrikk’lijke armoê u een omkeer
In eerbetoon en rang!

MORE:
Yond=That
Bestowed=Provided
Time’s guise=Spirit of the time
Alteration of honour=Change of fortune
Rarely=Well, excellently
Meet with=Suit
Mischief=Aim to cause harm
Compleat:
Bestowed=Besteed, aangewend
Guise=Toestel, fatsoen
Rarely well=Zeer wel, ongemeen wel
Meet=Dienstig, bekwaarm, gevoeglyk

Topics: ruin, honour, grief, status

Who cannot keep his wealth must keep his house

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Servant
CONTEXT:
SERVANT
Excellent! Your lordship’s a goodly villain. The
devil knew not what he did when he made man
politic; he crossed himself by ‘t: and I cannot
think but, in the end, the villainies of man will
set him clear. How fairly this lord strives to
appear foul! takes virtuous copies to be wicked,
like those that under hot ardent zeal would set
whole realms on fire: Of such a nature is his
politic love.
This was my lord’s best hope; now all are fled,
Save only the gods: now his friends are dead,
Doors, that were ne’er acquainted with their wards
Many a bounteous year must be employed
Now to guard sure their master.
And this is all a liberal course allows;
Who cannot keep his wealth must keep his house.

DUTCH:
Dit is de vrucht
Van mildheid; wie, hoe rijk, zijn geld niet telt,
Niet huishoudt, houdt het huis eens zonder geld.

MORE:
Politic=Scheming, cunning
Crossed=Frustrated, thwarted
Clear=Pure, innocent
Copies=Imitates
Wards=Bolts
Liberal course=Excess generosity
Compleat:
Politick=Burgerlyk, staatkundig; (cunnning)=Slim, schrander, doorsleepen
To cross=Tegenstreeven, dwars voor de boeg komen, dwarsboomen, wederestreeven, kruisen
Copy=Afschrift, dubbeld, kopy
He is of a liberal temper=Hy is goed geefs

Burgersdijk notes:
Beveil’gen binnenshuis. Naar aloud Engelsch rechtsgebruik werd iemand door zijn huis beschermd en mocht daar niet wegens schulden in hechtenis genomen worden.

Topics: good and bad, manipulation, ruin, friendship

Yellow, glittering precious gold? This yellow slave will knit and break religions

Topics: ambition, poverty and wealth, money, ruin

You have been a boggler ever

DUTCH:
Steeds waart ge een weerhaan; —
Maar, ach! verstokken wij ons in de boosheid,
Dan blinden ons de wijze goden de oogen,
Zij domp’len ‘t klaar verstand in onze onreinheid,
En lachen, als wij, onzen waan aanbiddend,
Trotsch in ‘t verderf ons storten.

MORE:
Proverb: When God will punish he will first take away the understanding

Boggler=Equivocator, swerver, waverer
Seel=Close, blind
Trencher=Wooden plate
Fragment=Remnant, scrap
Vulgar fame=Common gossip
Luxuriously=Lustfully
Temperance=Modesty, chastity
Compleat:
To boggle=Haperen, stameren
He did not boggle at all at it=Hij stond ‘er niet verzet voor
To seel a hawk=Eenen valk een kap voor de oogen doen
Trencher=Tafelbord, houten tafelbord
Fragment=Een brok, stuk, afbreeksel
Vulgar=(common) Gemeen
Luxuriously=Weeldriglyk; overdaadiglyk
Temperance=Maatigheyd

Topics: proverbs and idioms, excess, reputation, judgment, ruin

You should have feared false times when you did feast

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Flavius
CONTEXT:
FLAVIUS
No, my most worthy master; in whose breast
Doubt and suspect, alas, are placed too late:
You should have feared false times when you did feast:
Suspect still comes where an estate is least.
That which I show, heaven knows, is merely love,
Duty and zeal to your unmatched mind,
Care of your food and living; and, believe it,
My most honoured lord,
For any benefit that points to me,
Either in hope or present, I’d exchange
For this one wish, that you had power and wealth
To requite me, by making rich yourself.

DUTCH:
Neen, beste, dierb’re meester, in wiens borst
Argwaan en twijfel, — ach, eerst thans! — zich vestten.
Argwaan hadde eens, in gulden tijd, gebaat;
Steeds komt hij, als ‘t geluk verdween, te laat.

MORE:
Suspect=Suspicion
False=Uncertain, unreliable
Requite=Reward
Compleat:
Suspect=Wantrouwen, mistrouwen
To requite=Vergelden

Topics: ruin, suspicion, loyalty, poverty and wealth, money, value