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PLAY: Measure for Measure ACT/SCENE: 3.2 SPEAKER: Pompey CONTEXT: ’Twas never merry world since, of two usuries, the
merriest was put down, and the worser allowed by
order of law a furred gown to keep him warm; and
furred with fox and lamb-skins too, to signify, that
craft, being richer than innocency, stands for the facing. DUTCH: Met het vroolijk leventjen in de wereld is het uit, sinds,
van twee woekerzaken, de vroolijkste verboden is en aan
de slechtste van de twee bij de wet een pelsrok werd
toegekend om zich warm te houden,
MORE: Schmidt:
Usury=The practice of taking interest for money
Craft=Cunning, artifice, guile
Compleat:
To lend upon usury=Op rente leenen
I shall pay you with usury=Ik zal het met woeker betaalen
Craft=List, loosheyd Topics: law/legal, offence, corruption, status, money, order/society

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Isabella
CONTEXT:
Merciful Heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Split’st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak
Than the soft myrtle: but man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal

DUTCH:
de mensch, de trotsche mensch,
Met korte, nietig kleine macht bekleed,
Het meest vergetend, wat hij ‘t zekerst kent,
Zijn aard van glas, -speelt, als een toornige aap,
Voor ‘t oog des hemels zulke vreemde kluchten,
Dat de eng’len weenen, die, zoo onze luim
Hun eigen waar’, zich sterflijk zouden lachen.

MORE:
Little brief authority=Short-lived and limited power
Glassy essence is traditionally interpreted as fragile nature, but this is disputed (argument that essence overlaps but extends beyond ‘nature’, quintessence)
Compleat:
Essence=Het weezen, de weezendheyd
“Enough to make the angels weep” is still in use

Topics: authority, life, nature, invented or popularised, still in use

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
I prithee,
Supply me with the habit and instruct me
How I may formally in person bear me
Like a true friar. More reasons for this action
At our more leisure shall I render you;
Only, this one: Lord Angelo is precise;
Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confesses
That his blood flows, or that his appetite
Is more to bread than stone : hence shall we see,
If power change purpose, what our seemers be.

DUTCH:
Zoo machtbezit een mensch kan toetsen, blijkt
Bij hem ook, of zijn aard zijn schijn gelijkt.

MORE:
Biblical reference; Matthew 7
(Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?)
Schmidt:
At our more leisure=When we have more time
Seemer=One who makes a show of something
Purpose=That which a person pursues and wishes to obtain, aim, object, and hence bent of mind

Topics: appearance, ambition, reason, justification, authority, purpose

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
Not so, not so; his life is parallel’d
Even with the stroke and line of his great justice:
He doth with holy abstinence subdue
That in himself which he spurs on his power
To qualify in others: were he meal’d with that
Which he corrects, then were he tyrannous;
But this being so, he’s just.

DUTCH:
Doortrok ook hem de deesem,
Door hem gewraakt, dan waar’ hij tyranniek;
Maar nu is hij rechtvaardig.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Stroke=Line (as made with a pen)
Mealed=Sprinkled, tainted
Compleat:
Meal=Meel
Mealed=Tot poejer gemaakt

Topics: justice, good and bad, honour, reputation, temptation, respect

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
My haste may not admit it;
Nor need you, on mine honour, have to do
With any scruple; your scope is as mine own
So to enforce or qualify the laws
As to your soul seems good. Give me your hand:
I’ll privily away. I love the people,
But do not like to stage me to their eyes:

DUTCH:
Ook moge, bij mijn eer, u geen bedenking
Doen aarz’len; uwe macht is als de mijne;
Verscherp, verzacht de wetten, – ‘t staat u vrij, –

MORE:
Schmidt:
Scruple=Doubt
Scope=Power
Compleat:
Free scope=de ruimte
I give your anger scope=Ik geef uw kwaadheid de vrye loop

Topics: authority, justice, law/legal, independence, status

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
What figure of us think you he will bear?
For you must know, we have with special soul
Elected him our absence to supply,
Lent him our terror, dress’d him with our love,
And given his deputation all the organs
Of our own power: what think you of it?

DUTCH:
Hoe, denkt gij, zal hij omen stoel bekleeden?
Want weet, wij kozen hem na rijp’lijk wikken
Tot onzen plaatsvervanger in ons afzijn,
En dragen hem des volks ontzag en liefde,
De rechten en de midd’len, waar wij zelve
Mee heerschen, over. Wat dunkt u hiervan?

MORE:
Schmidt:
Figure=Image, representation
Absence to supply=Substitute, deputise
Compleat:
Figure (or representation)=Afbeelding
Figure (or appearance)=Gedaante, aanzien
To make some figure in the world=Eenig aanzien in de waereld verkrygen
To supply one’s place=Iemands plaats bekleeden
Deputation=Afzending, bezending
To depute=Afzenden, afvaardigen, afschikken

Topics: authority, justice, status

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
We have strict statutes and most biting laws.
The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds,
Which for this nineteen years we have let slip;
Even like an o’ergrown lion in a cave,
That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers,
Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch,
Only to stick it in their children’s sight
For terror, not to use, in time the rod
Becomes more mock’d than fear’d; so our decrees,
Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead;
And liberty plucks justice by the nose;
The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart
Goes all decorum.

DUTCH:
Nu, gelijk
Een zwakke vader berkenrijsjes bindt,
Alleen om ‘t oog der kind’ren te verschrikken,
Niet voor gebruik, zoodat de roede dra
Meer spot dan vreeze wekt, zoo is de wet,
Die dood voor straf is, in zichzelf ook dood;
De vrijheid trekt alsdan gerechtigheid
Driest bij den neus; de zuig’ling slaat de min,
En alle ontzag is weg .

MORE:
Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton)

Topics: law/legal, authority, value, respect, justice

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
Be you content, fair maid;
It is the law, not I condemn your brother:
Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
It should be thus with him: he must die tomorrow.

DUTCH:
Schoone maagd, berust;
Het recht, niet ik, veroordeelt uwen broeder;

MORE:
Content=Contentedness, satisfaction
Compleat:
Content=Voldoening, genoegen
To give content, take content=Voldoening geeven, genoegen neemen
Contented with little=Met weinig te vreede

Topics: law/legal, satisfaction, punishment, judgment

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
My business in this state
Made me a looker on here in Vienna,
Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble
Till it o’er-run the stew; laws for all faults,
But faults so countenanced, that the strong statutes
Stand like the forfeits in a barber’s shop,
As much in mock as mark.

DUTCH:
Ik zag er, hoe ‘t bederf hier kookt en bobbelt
En overschuimt; een wet op elke zonde,
Doch zonde zoo in gunst, dat strenge wetten
In tel zijn als de wetten van een bierhuis,
Gelezen, maar belachen.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Countenanced=To keep in countenance, to support, to favour
CITED IN US LAW:
Tomasi v. Township of Wayne, 126 N.J. Super 169,177, 313 A.2d 229, 233 (1973)(Schwartz, J.). (In a case concerning the regulation of barber shops.)
Burgersdijk notes:
Het Engelsch heeft: Stand like the forfeits in a barber’s shop, dus als de boeten, die in een barbierswinkel verschuldigd zijn. Wie een letterlijke vertaling begeert, leze dus in plaats van bierhuis scheerhuis. Maar men bedenke, dat in den ouden tjjd barbierswinkels plaatsen waren, waar de menschen samenkwamen om den tjjd te dooden, met elkander te praten en te redetwisten, en dat er ook wel hier te verkrjjgen was, zoodat tot handhaving der orde eenige bepalingen niet overtollig waren; deze hingen dan ook wel aan den muur, maar werden lang niet altjjd geeerbiedigd. Al worden er ook thans by barbiers allerlei gewichtige zaken verhandeld, een scheerwinkel was in vroeger tjjd wat anders dan tegenwoordig.

Topics: cited in law, law/legal, business, corruption, offence, respect

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Pompey
CONTEXT:
Come; fear you not: good counsellors lack no
clients: though you change your place, you need not
change your trade; I’ll be your tapster still.
Courage! there will be pity taken on you: you that
have worn your eyes almost out in the service, you
will be considered.

DUTCH:
Kom, wees zonder zorg; goede raadslui zijn nooit zonder
klanten.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Tapster=One who draws beer and serves the customers of an alehouse
Compleat:
Tapster=Een tapper, biertapper

Topics: lawyers, law/legal, justice, status

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
Condemn the fault and not the actor of it?
Why, every fault’s condemn’d ere it be done:
Mine were the very cipher of a function,
To fine the faults whose fine stands in record,
And let go by the actor.

DUTCH:
Hoe, ‘t misdrijf zjj veroordeeld, niet die ‘t pleegt?
Veroordeeld is, voor ‘t plegen reeds, elk misdrijf.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Condemn=1) To sentence, to doom; 2) To censure, blame, reprove
Compleat:
Condemn=Veroordeelen, verdoemen, verwyzen
To condemn one’s conduct=Iemands gedrag veroordeelen
To condemn without hearing=Onverhoord oordeelen

Topics: offence, punishment, law/legal, justice

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Abhorson
CONTEXT:
Every true man’s apparel fits your thief: if it be
too little for your thief, your true man thinks it
big enough; if it be too big for your thief, your
thief thinks it little enough: so every true man’s
apparel fits your thief.

DUTCH:
Als ze te klein zijn voor den dief, houdt de eerlijke
man ze voor ruim genoeg ; als ze te ruim zijn voor den
dief, vindt de dief ze toch klein genoeg; en dus passen
elken eerlijken mans kleeren den dief.

MORE:
Burgersdijk notes:
Hier is de verdeeling van de folio behouden; de volgende woorden Als ze te klein zijn,” enz . zijn daar, evenals hier, aan den clown, Pompejus, toegekend, en niet, zooals vele uitgevers doen, aan Abhorson (Isegrim), in wiens mond zij veel minder passen. Men denke, dat Isegrim een wijdloopig betoog wil geven, met de kleeren, – die hem na aan ‘t hart liggen, wjjl de kleeren van den gehangene voor den beul waren, – begint, en dat de levendige clown hem terstond in de rede valt . – Wil men veranderen, dan zou het best zijn, een gezegde van den beul in te lasschen en dezen b .v. te laten beginnen : Every hangman’s collar fits your thief, – waarop dan Pompejus kan invallen : Every true man’s apparel fits your thief ; if it be too little etc.

Topics: law/legal, honesty, appearance, reputation

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Claudio
CONTEXT:
CLAUDIO
Fellow, why dost thou show me thus to the world?
Bear me to prison, where I am committed.
PROVOST
I do it not in evil disposition,
But from Lord Angelo by special charge.

DUTCH:
Wat leidt gij, kerel, zoo te kijk mij rond?
Voer fluks mij naar den kerker, die mij wacht .

MORE:
Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton)
Schmidt:
Disposition=Natural constitution of the mind, temper, character, sentiments
Charge=Commission, order, office
Compleat:
Disposition, inclination=Genegenheid, lust
Disposition of mind=Gesteltenis van gemoed
Charge=Belasten, bevelen, opleggen, te laste leggen,

Topics: law/legal, authority

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Isabella
CONTEXT:
It is not truer he is Angelo
Than this is all as true as it is strange:
Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth
To the end of reckoning.

DUTCH:
Niet warer is het, dat hij Angelo,
Dan dat dit alles even waar als vreemd is;
Ja, het is tienmaal waar, want waar is waar,
Als eind van alle reek’ning.

MORE:
Still in use.

Topics: truth, invented or popularised, proverbs and idioms, still in use

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Isabella
CONTEXT:
ANGELO
Believe me, on mine honour,
My words express my purpose.
ISABELLA
Ha! little honour to be much believed,
And most pernicious purpose! Seeming, seeming!
I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for’t:
Sign me a present pardon for my brother,
Or with an outstretch’d throat I’ll tell the world aloud
What man thou art.

DUTCH:
Neen, geloof mij,
Neen, op mijn eer, ik zeg, wat ik bedoel .

MORE:
Onions:
Pernicious=Wicked, villainous
Compleat:
Pernicious=Schadelyk, verderflyk
A pernicious counsel=Een schadelyke, snoode raad
A pernicious maxim or doctrine=Een schadelyke stokregel, verderflyke leer.

Topics: language, honour, plans/intentions, purpose, deceit, manipulation, gullibility

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
Happy thou art not;
For what thou hast not, still thou strivest to get,
And what thou hast, forget’st. Thou art not certain;
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,
After the moon.

DUTCH:
Gelukkig zijt gij niet,
Want steeds begeert gij, wat gij niet bezit,
Vergetend wat gij hebt .

MORE:
Schmidt:
Effects=Outward manifestation, expression, show, sign, token
After=According to, conformable to
Compleat:
After=Naa, achter, volgens, naar. After this manner=Volgens (of naar) deeze manier.

Topics: satisfaction, ambition, ingratitude, uncertainty, envy

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;
Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure.

DUTCH:
Voor spoed wordt spoed vergolden, kwaad voor kwaad,
Gelijk steeds voor gelijk, en Maat voor Maat.

MORE:

Topics: law/legal, time, justice, value

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all.
He is your husband on a pre-contract:
To bring you thus together, ’tis no sin,
Sith that the justice of your title to him
Doth flourish the deceit. Come, let us go:
Our corn’s to reap, for yet our tithe’s to sow.

DUTCH:
En, lieve dochter, wees ook zelf gerust.
Door zjjn verloving is hij reeds uw gade ;
U zoo bijeen te brengen is geen zonde,
Daar ‘t onbetwistbaar recht, dat ge op hem hebt,
Bedrog rechtmatig maakt.

MORE:
Onions:
Pre-contract=previous engagement of marriage
Burgersdijk notes:
Volgens het oud-Engelsch en oud-Germaansch rechtsbegrip was de verloving het gewichtigste deel van den trouw. Shakespeare zelf heeft het ook zoo opgevat. Na bindende verloving. In ‘t Engelsch: upon a true contract.

Topics: law/legal, marriage

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Lucio
CONTEXT:
The duke is very strangely gone from hence;
Bore many gentlemen, myself being one,
In hand and hope of action: but we do learn
By those that know the very nerves of state,
His givings-out were of an infinite distance
From his true-meant design. Upon his place,
And with full line of his authority,
Governs Lord Angelo; a man whose blood
Is very snow-broth; one who never feels
The wanton stings and motions of the sense,
But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge
With profits of the mind, study and fast.

DUTCH:
Dat wat hij voorgaf hemelsbreed verschilt
Van wat hij inderdaad bedoelt.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Givings-out=Utterances, assertions
True-meant design=Intention
Sting=Impulse, incitement.
Rebate=Abate
Profit of the mind=Proficiency, improvement

Topics: perception, justification, innocence, integrity, intellect, learning/education

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
O my dread lord,
I should be guiltier than my guiltiness,
To think I can be undiscernible,
When I perceive your grace, like power divine,
Hath look’d upon my passes. Then, good prince,
No longer session hold upon my shame,
But let my trial be mine own confession:
Immediate sentence then and sequent death
Is all the grace I beg.

DUTCH:
k Zou schuldiger nog worden dan ik ben,
Wanneer ik dacht mij schuil to kunnen houden

MORE:

Topics: law/legal, justice, conscience, mercy

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Pompey
CONTEXT:
I’ll be supposed upon a book, his face is the worst thing about him. Good, then; if his face be the worst thing about him, how could Master Froth do the constable’s wife any harm? I would know that of your honour.

DUTCH:
Nu, ik wil op den bijbel afzweren, dat zijn gezicht het
slechtste is, dat aan hem te vinden is.

MORE:
Supposed = deposed (malapropism): I would swear on the Bible

Topics: justice, honesty, truth

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
If you can, pace your wisdom
In that good path that I would wish it go,
And you shall have your bosom on this wretch,
Grace of the duke, revenges to your heart,
And general honour.

DUTCH:
Wees wijs, en volg, indien gij kunt, den weg,
Dien ik als goed u toon, dan zal de snoodaard
Ontvangen wat uw boezem wenscht

MORE:
Schmidt:
Pace=Train
Wisdom=The quality of being wise; applied with great latitude to any degree of the faculty of discerning and judging what is most just and proper, from the sapience of the sage to the sound discretion of policy or common sense
Bosom=desires, inmost thoughts and wishes
Compleat:
To pace=Een pas gaan
Wisdom (Prudence, discretion)=Voorzichtigheid, bescheidenheid

Topics: wisdom, judgment, learning/education, ambition, achievement

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
From thee, even from thy virtue!
What’s this, what’s this? Is this her fault or mine?
The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?
Ha!
Not she: nor doth she tempt: but it is I
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O, fie, fie, fie!
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?

DUTCH:
Wat is ‘t? is ‘t hare schuld of is ‘t de mijne?
Wie is de grootste zondaar, die verzocht wordt,
Of die verzoekt?

MORE:
Schmidt:
Virtuous=Powerful, efficacious by inherent qualities, beneficial
Virtuous season=With the benign influence of summer weather and sunshine
Betray=Seduce
Compleat:
Betray=Verraaden, beklappen
Virtuous=Deugdelyk, deugdzaam, vroom
Burgersdijk notes:
Men heeft het woord evil hier en in Koning Hendrik Vill, II.1.61 ook wel verklaard met ,heimelijk gemak” en zou dan hier kunnen vertalen: Om juist daar Ons drekhuis op to slaan. O, foei, foei, foei!

Topics: temptation, virtue, offence, good and bad, corruption

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Escalus
CONTEXT:
JUSTICE
Lord Angelo is severe.
ESCALUS
It is but needful:
Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so;
Pardon is still the nurse of second woe:
But yet,—poor Claudio! There is no remedy.
Come, sir.

DUTCH:
Genade is, vaak betoond, niet meer genade;
Vergiff’nis wordt staag voedster van het kwade.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Needful=Requisite, indispensable, necessary
Nurse=Metaphorically, that which brings up, nourishes, or causes to grow
Woe=Extreme calamity and grief (second=secondary, follow-up)
Compleat:
Severe=streng, straf
A severe judge=Een gestreng Rechter

Topics: mercy, proverbs and idioms, remedy

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
’Tis good; though music oft hath such a charm
To make bad good, and good provoke to harm.
I pray, you, tell me, hath any body inquired
for me here to-day? much upon this time have
I promised here to meet.

DUTCH:
Goed; doch muziek begoochelt soms ‘t gemoed
En maakt het goede boos, het booze goed.

MORE:

Topics: good and bad, skill/talent

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Lucio
CONTEXT:
By my troth, I’ll go with thee to the lane’s end:
if bawdy talk offend you, we’ll have very little of
it. Nay, friar, I am a kind of burr; I shall stick.

DUTCH:
Op mijn woord, ik ga tot het eind van de straat met
u mede; als bordeelpraatjes u hinderen, zullen wij er
zeer weinig van hebben. Ja, pater, ik ben een soort
van klis, moeilijk af te schudden.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Burr=Rough head of the burdock
Compleat:
Kliskruid

Topics: loyalty

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
No might nor greatness in mortality
Can censure ’scape; back-wounding calumny
The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong
Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?

DUTCH:
Geen sterfelijke macht noch grootheid kan kritiek ontlopen./
Geen macht of grootheid in den mensch behoedt
Voor achterklap.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Greatness=High rank, power, elevated place
Censure=blame – Calumny=slander
Gall=Bitterness of mind, rancor: “to tie the g. up in the slanderous tongue”
Compleat:
Gall=Gal. Bitter as gall=Zo bitter als gal.
Calumny=Lastering

Topics: authority, virtue

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Lucio
CONTEXT:
No, pardon; ’tis a secret must be locked within the
teeth and the lips: but this I can let you
understand, the greater file of the subject held the
duke to be wise.

DUTCH:
Neen, vergeef mij, dat is een geheim, dat achter tanden
en lippen besloten moet blijven

MORE:
A semi-literal allusion to a proverb of the time, ‘Good that the teeth guard the tongue’ (1578) and the virtue of silence. Ben Jonson recommended a ‘wise tongue’ that should not be ‘licentious and wandering’. (See also the Thomas Mowbray in Richard II: “Within my mouth you have engaol’d my tongue, / Doubly portcullis’d with my teeth and lips”.)

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or popularised

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
I did but smile till now:
Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice.
My patience here is touch’d. I do perceive
These poor informal women are no more
But instruments of some more mightier member
That sets them on: let me have way, my lord,
To find this practise out.

DUTCH:
Tot nu toe glimlachte ik;
Thans smeek ik, heer, vergun aan ‘t recht zijn loop;
Voorbij is mijn geduld.

MORE:
Touched=Tested
Member=One of a community
Practise=Plot

Topics: law/legal, justice, patience, conspiracy

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet,
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite.

DUTCH:
O listige euv’le, die een heil’ge kiest,
Tot lokaas voor een heil’ge !

MORE:
Schmidt:
Temper=Disposition, constitution, temperament
Stir my temper=Excite, move, rouse, agitate
Subdue (in a moral sense)=To prevail over, to subjugate, to render submissive
Compleat:
Temper=Gesteltenis. To be in a good temper=In een goede gesteltenis zyn.
To shew or carry on an even temper=Een bedaardheid van gemoed vertoonen.
Subdue=Onderbrengen, overwinnen, temmen
To subdue the flesh=Het vleesch temmen

Topics: temptation, good and bad, virtue

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Isabella
CONTEXT:
To whom should I complain? Did I tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths,
That bear in them one and the self-same tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof;
Bidding the law make court’sy to their will:
Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite,
To follow as it draws!

DUTCH:
Wien kan ik klagen? Zoo ik dit verhaalde,
Bij wien vond ik geloof? O booze monden,
Die met een enk’le, met dezelfde tong,
Ter dood verdoemen of hun bijval schenken,
De wetten buigen doen naar hunnen wil

MORE:
Schmidt:
Perilous=Dangerous

Topics: law/legal, honesty, truth, deceit, manipulation, dispute, lawyers

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Isabella
CONTEXT:
ANGELO
I show it most of all when I show justice;
For then I pity those I do not know,
Which a dismiss’d offence would after gall;
And do him right that, answering one foul wrong,
Lives not to act another. Be satisfied;
Your brother dies to-morrow; be content.
ISABELLA
So you must be the first that gives this sentence,
And he, that suffer’s. O, it is excellent
To have a giant’s strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.

DUTCH:
Het is fantastisch om reuzenkracht te hebben, maar tiranniek het als een reus te gebruiken.

MORE:
CITED IN E&W LAW:
In a direct quotation or ‘borrowed eloquence’, one of the most vivid instances of quotation is Lord Justice Waite’s observation in Thomas v Thomas [1995] 2 FLR 668 on judicial power, noting that: “it is excellent to have a giant’s strength but tyrannous to use it like a giant”).
CITED IN US LAW:
Gardiner v. A.H. Robins Company, lnc., 747 F.2d 1180, 1194, n. 21 (8th Cir. 1984);
Davis v. Ohio Barge Line, Ine., 697 F.2d 549, 558 (3d Cir. 1982)(“Federal judges are the final arbiters of whether a case comes within our gigantic power and authority. But at all times we should heed the admonition of the Bard of Stratford-Avon: … );
People v. Fatone, 165 Cal. App.3d 1164, 1180, 211 Cal. Rptr. 288, 297 (1985);
Lewis v. Bill Robertson & Sons, Inc., 162 Cal. App. 3d 650,656, 208 Cal. Rptr. 699, 703 (1984).
Burgersdijk notes:
Reuzenkracht bezitten. In ‘t Engelsch: To have a giant ‘s strength. Hier werd door Sh. waarschijnlijk aan de Titanen gedacht, die den hemel bestormden, – zie Vroolijke Vrouwtjes van Windsor, II.1.81, – veeleer dan aan de reuzen uit ridderromans.

Topics: justice, cited in law, judgment, punishment, authority

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
O, what may man within him hide,
Though angel on the outward side!
How may likeness made in crimes,
Making practise on the times,
To draw with idle spiders’ strings
Most ponderous and substantial things!

DUTCH:
O, hoe boos kan ‘t harte zijn,
Schoon de mensch een engel schijn’ !

MORE:
Schmidt:
Likeness=Semblance, resembling form. (Specious or seeming virtue)
Corrupt passage: how may likeness made in crimes etc.
Spiders’ strings=webs (flimsiness)
Ponderous=Heavy

Topics: deceit, appearance, integrity, conspiracy, corruption

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Lucio
CONTEXT:
LUCIO
Assay the power you have.
ISABELLA
My power? Alas, I doubt—
LUCIO
Our doubts are traitors
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt.

DUTCH:
Onze twijfels zijn onze verraders, die ons vaak het goede dat wij konden winnen laten verliezen door de vrees voor de poging

MORE:
Onions:
Assay=To trial, test
Compleat:
Assay=Beproeven, toetsen

Topics: uncertainty, purpose, emotion and mood

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
Who will believe thee, Isabel?
My unsoil’d name, the austereness of my life,
My vouch against you, and my place i’ the state,
Will so your accusation overweigh,
That you shall stifle in your own report
And smell of calumny. I have begun,
And now I give my sensual race the rein:
Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite;
Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes,
That banish what they sue for; redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will;
Or else he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness shall his death draw out
To lingering sufferance. Answer me to-morrow,
Or, by the affection that now guides me most,
I’ll prove a tyrant to him. As for you,
Say what you can, my false o’erweighs your true.

DUTCH:
Ik blijk hem een tyran. Gij mij betichten !
O spreek vrij waar, mijn valschheid doet het zwichten.

MORE:
Onions:
Prolixious=Tedious
Nicety=Coyness
Lay by=Take off, put off, set apart

Topics: law/legal, honesty, truth, deceit, manipulation, dispute

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Claudio
CONTEXT:
From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty:
As surfeit is the father of much fast,
So every scope by the immoderate use
Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue,
Like rats that ravin down their proper bane,
A thirsty evil; and when we drink we die.

DUTCH:
Om te veel vrijheid, Lucio, te veel vrijheid ;
Gelijk steeds overdaad streng vasten teelt,
Wordt elke vrijheid, al te zeer misbruikt,
In dwang verkeerd.

MORE:
Scope=Power
Ravin=Devour
Bane=Poison
Compleat:
Ravin=Gulzig eeten
Bane=Verderf, vergif
Rat’s bane=Rattekruid

Topics: authority, excess

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Escalus
CONTEXT:
Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall:
Some run from brakes of vice, and answer none:
And some condemned for a fault alone.

DUTCH:
Sommigen rijzen door ondeugd, anderen komen door deugd ten val/
De een stijgt door schuld, door deugd moet de ander vallen

MORE:
Also versions with ‘brakes of ice’.
Schmidt:
Meaning of brakes is disputed; from the context it should be understood in the sense of “engines of torture”. Brakes was used to mean a collection.

Topics: good and bad, corruption, virtue, error, punishment, fate/destiny

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good:
the goodness that is cheap in beauty makes beauty
brief in goodness; but grace, being the soul of
your complexion, shall keep the body of it ever fair.

DUTCH:
De hand, die u schoon deed zijn, heeft u ook goed
doen zijn.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Grace=Virtue
Soul=Denoting the chief part and quintessence of a thing
(Compleat)
Grace=Genade, gunst, bevalligheyd, fraajigheyd, aardige zwier
Soul=Ziel, leven geevende kragt, leevensgeesten

Topics: good and bad, virtue, honesty, innocence

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall. I not deny,
The jury, passing on the prisoner’s life,
May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try. But justice takes the opportunities it has; who knows what laws thieves pass against other thieves?

DUTCH:
k Loochen niet,
Dat onder de gezwoor’nen voor een halszaak
Het twaalftal licht éen dief, zelfs twee, kan tellen,
Wier schuld die des gedaagden overtreft;

MORE:

Topics: law/legal, justice, guilt, honesty, judgment

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept:
Those many had not dared to do that evil,
If the first that did the edict infringe
Had answer’d for his deed: now ’tis awake
Takes note of what is done; and, like a prophet,
Looks in a glass, that shows what future evils,
Either new, or by remissness new-conceived,
And so in progress to be hatch’d and born,
Are now to have no successive degrees,
But, ere they live, to end.

DUTCH:
De wet was geenszins dood, hoezeer zij sliep.
Die velen hadden ‘t kwaad niet durven doen,
Zoo daad’lijk de eerste, die de wet verbrak,
Geboet had voor zijn doen;

MORE:
CITED Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton):
“Dormiunt aliquando leges moriuntur nunquam/The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept.”
CITED US LAW:
Labatv. Bennett, 365 F.2d 698,701 (5th Cir. 1966);
U.S. v. Elliott, 266 F.Supp. 318 (S.D.N.Y. 1967);
Waldron v. British Petroleum Co., Ltd., 231 F.Supp. 72 (S.D.N.Y. 1964).

Topics: cited in law, law/legal, fate/destiny

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Claudio
CONTEXT:
DUKE VINCENTIO
So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?
CLAUDIO
The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope:
I’ve hope to live, and am prepared to die.

DUTCH:
Rampzaal’gen blijft geen andere artsenij
Dan hoop alleen;
Ik hoop te leven, schoon ter dood bereid.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Miserable=Unhappy, wretched
Compleat:
Miserable=Ellendig, deerlyk, jammerlyk, rampzalig
A miserable wretch=Een arm elendig schepzel

Topics: poverty and wealth, order/society, status, fate/destiny

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Claudio
CONTEXT:
ISABELLA
Yes, brother, you may live:
There is a devilish mercy in the judge,
If you’ll implore it, that will free your life,
But fetter you till death.
CLAUDIO
Perpetual durance?

DUTCH:
Ja, broeder, gij kunt leven; ja, er woont
Een duivelsch medelijden in den rechter;
Roept gij het in, dan redt u dit het leven,
Maar boeit u tot den dood .

MORE:
Schmidt:
Durance=Imprisonment
Compleat:
Durance=Duurzaamheid, gevangkenis
To be in durance=In hechtenisse zyn

Topics: punishment, judgment, law/legal, mercy

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
Let him be but testimonied in his own
bringings-forth, and he shall appear to the
envious a scholar, a statesman and a soldier.
Therefore you speak unskilfully: or if your
knowledge be more it is much darkened in your malice.

DUTCH:
Daarom, gij spreekt zonder eenig inzicht; of, als gij er meer kennis van hebt, dan is die door uwe boosaardigheid zeer verduisterd.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Testimonied=Attested, witnessed, proved by testimony
Compleat:
Testimony=Getuigen. To bear testimony against one=Tegen iemand getuigen
In testimony whereof=Ten bewyze daar van

Topics: skill/talent, learning/education, evidence, language

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Mariana
CONTEXT:
DUKE VINCENTIO
Against all sense you do importune her:
Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact,
Her brother’s ghost his paved bed would break,
And take her hence in horror.
MARIANA
Isabel,
Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me;
Hold up your hands, say nothing; I’ll speak all.
They say, best men are moulded out of faults;
And, for the most, become much more the better
For being a little bad: so may my husband.
O Isabel, will you not lend a knee?

DUTCH:
De beste mannen, zegt men, worden zoo
Door feilen, ja, te beter, waren ze eerst
Een weinig slecht; misschien zoo ook mijn gade.

MORE:
Against all sense=It makes no sense
Importune=Urge, impel
Paved bed=Grave
Compleat:
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen

Topics: adversity, error, understanding

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
And pitch our evils there? O, fie, fie, fie!
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live!
Thieves for their robbery have authority
When judges steal themselves.

DUTCH:
De dief heeft volmacht voor zijn roof, indien
De rechter zelve steelt

MORE:
Schmidt:
Foully=Impurely
CITED IN US LAW:
Re. The definition of “theft”: Putnam v The Manitba, 104 F. 145 (SDNY 1900);

Topics: cited in law, offence, corruption, justice

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Isabella
CONTEXT:
Most bounteous sir, Look, if it please you, on this man condemn’d,
As if my brother lived: I partly think
A due sincerity govern’d his deeds,
Till he did look on me: since it is so,
Let him not die. My brother had but justice,
In that he did the thing for which he died:
For Angelo,
His act did not o’ertake his bad intent,
And must be buried but as an intent
That perish’d by the way: thoughts are no subjects;
Intents but merely thoughts.

DUTCH:
Doch Angelo, hoe boos zijn doel ook ware,
Zijn daad bereikte ‘t niet; dus moet zijn daad,
Als een bedoeling, onderweg gestorven,
Begraven worden. Vrij toch zijn gedachten,
Bedoelingen gedachten.

MORE:
Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton):

Topics: law/legal, plans/intentions, justice, punishment

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Lucio
CONTEXT:
FIRST GENTLEMAN
Thou art always figuring diseases in me; but thou
art full of error; I am sound.
LUCIO
Nay, not as one would say, healthy; but so sound as
things that are hollow: thy bones are hollow;
impiety has made a feast of thee.

DUTCH:
Nu, dat wil daarom nog niet zeggen gezond; maar
zoo wel, als iets zijn kan, dat voos en hol is; uw beenderen
zijn hol; goddeloosheid heeft op u geteerd en u
uitgemergeld.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Impiety=Sin, wickedness
Compleat:
Impiety=Ongodvruchtigheid, godloosheid
An impious man=Een ongodsdienstig, onvroom man

Topics: insult, good and bad, excess

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Isabella
CONTEXT:
O, fie, fie, fie!
Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade.
Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd:
’Tis best thou diest quickly.

DUTCH:
O foei, foei, foei!
Geen toeval was uw zonde, ze is uw ambacht.
Genade wierd, u sparend, koppelaarster;
‘t Best is uw snelle dood.

MORE:
Sin=Offence, transgression
Bawd=Procurer

Topics: punishment, offence, custom, integrity, good and bad, mercy

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall. I not deny,
The jury, passing on the prisoner’s life,
May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try. What’s open made to justice,
That justice seizes: what know the laws
That thieves do pass on thieves? ’Tis very pregnant,
The jewel that we find, we stoop and take’t
Because we see it; but what we do not see
We tread upon, and never think of it.
You may not so extenuate his offence

DUTCH:
Iets anders is het, heer, verzocht te worden,
Iets anders is ‘t, te vallen.

MORE:
Onions:
Pregnant=Clear, obvious
Compleat:
The things was proved with many pregnant reasons=De zaak wierdt beweezen met veele krachtige redenen
It was a very pregnant token=’t Was een zeer klaar teken
Pregnantly spoken=Met naadruk gesprooken

Topics: temptation, offence, law/legal, justice

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
ISABELLA
Let me hear you speak farther. I have spirit to do
anything that appears not foul in the truth of my spirit.
DUKE VINCENTIO
Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. Have
you not heard speak of Mariana, the sister of
Frederick the great soldier who miscarried at sea?

DUTCH:
Deugd is moedig en goedheid nooit bang./
Deugd is moedig en een good hart nimmer bevreesd.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Spirit=Vivacity, mettle, fire, courage
Foul=Wicket, impure
Spirit(2)=Mind, soul
Compleat:
Spirit=Moed
Foul=Valsch. Foul dealing=Kwaade praktyken, A foul aciton=Een slechte daad.
Spirit(2)=Geest

Topics: virtue, courage, honesty

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Isabella
CONTEXT:
We cannot weigh our brother with ourself:
Great men may jest with saints; ’tis wit in them,
But in the less foul profanation.

DUTCH:
Niet met zichzelf mag men zijn naaste meten

MORE:
Schmidt:
Weigh=To ascertain the weight of, to examine by the balance
That by which a thing is counterbalanced, preceded by against or with
Profanation=The act of violating holy things, irreverence
Compleat:
Profanation=Ontheiliging, schending
Weigh=Weegen, overweegen
To weigh all things by pleasures and sorrows=Van alles oordeelen door het vermaak of de droefheid
His authority weighs more than his arguments=Zyn gezach weegt zwaarder als de argumenten

Topics: judgment, equality, status, order/society, law/legal

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Duke Vincentio
CONTEXT:
We have strict statutes and most biting laws.
The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds,
Which for this nineteen years we have let slip;
Even like an o’ergrown lion in a cave,
That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers,
Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch,
Only to stick it in their children’s sight
For terror, not to use, in time the rod
Becomes more mock’d than fear’d; so our decrees,
Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead;
And liberty plucks justice by the nose;
The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart
Goes all decorum.

DUTCH:
Wij hebben stipte wetten, strenge straffen,
Vereischte breidels voor halsstarr’ge paarden

MORE:
Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton)

Topics: law/legal, authority, value, respect, justice

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape, till custom make it
Their perch and not their terror.

DUTCH:
Nooit moet ons doen van ‘t recht een molik maken,
Die, als een schrik geplant voor ‘t roofgevogelt’,
Denzelfden vorm steeds houdt, en door gewoonte
Hun rustplaats wordt, geen schrik wekt.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Collazo v. Estelle, 940 F.2d 411, 434 (9th Cir. 199l)(dissent);
Fields v. Luther, 1988 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5405 (D.Md.);
Nigido v. First National Bank of Baltimore, 264 Md. 702 n. l, 288 A.2d 127 (1972).
To fear=To affright, frighten
Custom=Habit, regular practice
Compleat:
Scarecrow=Een Molik

Topics: law/legal, cited in law

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
What’s open made to justice,
That justice seizes: what know the laws
That thieves do pass on thieves? ’Tis very pregnant,
The jewel that we find, we stoop and take’t
Because we see it; but what we do not see
We tread upon, and never think of it.

DUTCH:
Maar ‘t recht bestraft slechts wat den rechter blijkt

MORE:
Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton):

Topics: law/legal, fate/destiny, justice

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home
The head of Ragozine for Claudio’s:
The offence pardons itself. Dear Isabel,
I have a motion much imports your good;
Whereto if you’ll a willing ear incline,
What’s mine is yours and what is yours is mine.
So, bring us to our palace; where we’ll show
What’s yet behind, that’s meet you all should know.

DUTCH:
Ik heb een wensch, die uw geluk beoogt;
Vind ik gehoor, wilt gij de mijne zijn,
Dan is al ‘t mijne ‘t uwe, ‘t uwe mijn.

MORE:
A motion much imports your good=A proposal that will benefit you

Topics: offence, equality, value, proverbs and idioms, still in use

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Claudio
CONTEXT:
Unhappily, even so.
And the new deputy now for the duke—
Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness,
Or whether that the body public be
A horse whereon the governor doth ride,
Who, newly in the seat, that it may know
He can command, lets it straight feel the spur;
Whether the tyranny be in his place,
Or in his eminence that fills it up,
I stagger in:—but this new governor
Awakes me all the enrolled penalties
Which have, like unscour’d armour, hung by the wall
So long that nineteen zodiacs have gone round
And none of them been worn; and, for a name,
Now puts the drowsy and neglected act
Freshly on me: ’tis surely for a name.

DUTCH:
Zij ‘t, dat aan ‘t ambt de tyrannie verknocht is,
Of aan den hoogen geest van die ‘t bekleedt,
Ik weet niet.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Glimpse=A transient lustre
Eminence=High place, distinction
Stagger=Waver, hesitate
Awake=Metaphorically, to put to action
Zodiacs=Years
Compleat:
Glimpse=Een Blik, flikkering, schemering
Eminence=Uytsteekendheyd, hoogte
Stagger=Waggelen, wankelen, doen wankelen
He staggers in his opinion=Hy wankelt in zyn gevoelen
To awake=Wekken, wakker maaken, opwekken, ontwaaken

Topics: authority, ambition, law/legal, purpose, status

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Escalus
CONTEXT:
ESCALUS
Which is the wiser here? Justice or Iniquity? Is
this true?
ELBOW
O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wicked
Hannibal! I respected with her before I was married
to her! If ever I was respected with her, or she
with me, let not your worship think me the poor
duke’s officer. Prove this, thou wicked Hannibal, or
I’ll have mine action of battery on thee.

DUTCH:
Wie is hier de snuggerste van de twee, de Gerechtigheid
of de Boosheid? – Is dit waar?

MORE:
See also
“Sparing justice feeds iniquity” (The Rape of Lucrece)
“Thus, like the formal Vice, Iniquity, I moralize two meanings in one word.” (Richard III, 3.1)
Justice and Iniquity (also called Vice) were common characters in medieval morality plays, with personifications of vices and virtues seeking to gain control of the ‘everyman’ main character.
Justice (personified as female)=equal distribution of right, conformity to the laws and the principles of equity, either as a quality or as a rule of acting
Vice (wickedness, buffoon, comic character).

Topics: law/legal, good and bad, justice, equality, order/society

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Escalus
CONTEXT:
Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing about you;
so that in the beastliest sense you are Pompey the
Great. Pompey, you are partly a bawd, Pompey,
howsoever you colour it in being a tapster, are you
not? come, tell me true: it shall be the better for you.

DUTCH:
Nu voorwaar, uw pof is het grootste wat er aan u te zien is, zoodat gij, in den grofsten zin, Pompejus de Groote zijt.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Bawd=Procurer (pimp)
Tapster=One who draws beer and serves the customers of an alehouse
Compleat:
Tapster=Een tapper, biertapper
Baud (or she-Bawd)=Een Hoerewaardin, koppelaarster
Bawd=Een Hoerewaard
Burgersdijk notes:
De pofbroeken werden in Sh .’s tjjd vaak zoo geweldig groot, met allerlei dingen opgevuld, dat er een
parlementsacte tegen werd uitgevaardigd. Eens bracht men, – zoo verhaalt Nath. Drake, – een overtreder dezer wet voor het gerecht, die uit zijn pofbroek (bum, i. e. great bum of Paris, cul de Paris) de volgende kleinigheden voor den dag haalde: een paar beddelakens, twee tafellakens, tien zakdoeken, vier hemden, een borstel, een spiegel, een kam, verscheidene slaapmutsen enz . Ook met zemelen vulden de modehelden hunne Fransche pofbroeken op. Eens kreeg zulk een fat bij het opstaan van zijn stoel door een splinter een scheur in zijn pofbroek en de zemelen begonnen er uit te loopen. De dames, die het dadelijk opmerkten, begonnen te lachen. De jonge mensch, die meende, dat men om zijne verhalen en invallen lachte, deed harteljk mede, maar hoe meer hij van lachen schudde, des te meer zemelen gaf de molen.

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