CJTranslations - Coriolanus

QUOTES BY TOPIC

Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant more learned than the ears

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
I prithee now, my son,
Go to them, with this bonnet in thy hand;
And thus far having stretch’d it—here be with them—
Thy knee bussing the stones—for in such business
Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant
More learned than the ears—waving thy head,
Which often, thus, correcting thy stout heart,
Now humble as the ripest mulberry
That will not hold the handling: or say to them,
Thou art their soldier, and being bred in broils
Hast not the soft way which, thou dost confess,
Were fit for thee to use as they to claim,
In asking their good loves, but thou wilt frame
Thyself, forsooth, hereafter theirs, so far
As thou hast power and person.

DUTCH:
Want gebaren
Zijn reed’naars bij onnooz’len, daar hun oog
Min stomp is dan hun oor

MORE:
Bonnet=Take off a bonnet (sign of respect, courtesy)
To buss=To kiss
Broil=War, combat, battle
Hold=Bear, stand up to Compleat:
To buss=Zoenen, kussen
Broil=Oproer, beroerte, gewoel

Topics: language, appearance, flattery, manipulation, promise

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

All the regions do smilingly revolt

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.6
SPEAKER: Cominus
CONTEXT:
COMINIUS
Ay; and you’ll look pale
Before you find it other. All the regions
Do smilingly revolt; and who resist
Are mock’d for valiant ignorance,
And perish constant fools. Who is’t can blame him?
Your enemies and his find something in him.
MENENIUS
We are all undone, unless
The noble man have mercy.
COMINIUS
Who shall ask it?
The tribunes cannot do’t for shame; the people
Deserve such pity of him as the wolf
Does of the shepherds: for his best friends, if they
Should say ‘Be good to Rome,’ they charged him even
As those should do that had deserved his hate,
And therein show’d like enemies.

DUTCH:
Ja wis; gij zult verbleeken;
Maar ‘t anders vinden, — neen. Elk wingewest
Valt lachend af; en elk, die weerstand biedt,
Wordt om zijn dapp’re domheid fel bespot,
En sterft als trouwe nar.

MORE:
Pale=White with fear
Smilingly=Happily, willingly
Undone=Ruined
Compleat:
Pale=Bleek, doodsch
Smiling=Grimlaching, toelaching, smyling, smylende
Undone=Ontdaan, losgemaakt

Topics: appearance, courage, blame, mercy

All tongues speak of him, and the bleared sights are spectacled to see him

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Know, good mother,
I had rather be their servant in my way,
Than sway with them in theirs.
COMINIUS
On, to the Capitol!
BRUTUS
All tongues speak of him, and the bleared sights
Are spectacled to see him: your prattling nurse
Into a rapture lets her baby cry
While she chats him: the kitchen malkin pins
Her richest lockram ’bout her reechy neck,
Clambering the walls to eye him: stalls, bulks, windows,
Are smother’d up, leads fill’d, and ridges horsed
With variable complexions, all agreeing
In earnestness to see him: seld-shown flamens
Do press among the popular throngs and puff
To win a vulgar station: or veil’d dames
Commit the war of white and damask in
Their nicely-gawded cheeks to the wanton spoil
Of Phoebus’ burning kisses: such a pother
As if that whatsoever god who leads him
Were slily crept into his human powers
And gave him graceful posture.
SICINIUS
On the sudden,
I warrant him consul.

DUTCH:
Van hem spreekt ied’re tong; om hem bebrilt
Zich ieder zwak gezicht; de babbelmin
Snapt altijd door van hem, al schreeuw’ haar zuig’ling
De stuipen zich op ‘t lijf; de keukentrijn
Speldt om haar zwarten hals haar beste lompen
En klimt den muur op;

MORE:
Sway=Rule
Bleared sights=Those with poor sight
Spectacled=Put on spectacles
Chats=Gossips about
Malkin=Woman of the lower classes
Lockram=Coarse fabric
Reechy=Filthy
To eye=To see
Horsed=Straddled
Complexions=Temperaments
Seld-shown=Seldom seen
Flamen=Priest
Phoebus=Apollo (god of many things, including the sun, music, art and poetry)
Pother=Disturbance
Compleat:
To bear sway=Heerschappy voeren
To sway=(govern) Regeeren. To sway the scepter=Den schepter zwaaijen
To blear the sight=Het gezigt verduisteren
Chat=Gekakel, gesnap, gepraat
Malkin=Een bakkers stokdweil
Lockram=Zeker grof doek
Complexion=Aart, gesteltenis, gesteldheid
Pother=Leeven, opschudding

Topics: leadership

As with a man busied about decrees: condemning some to death, and some to exile

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.6
SPEAKER: Marcius
CONTEXT:
COMINIUS
Flower of warriors,
How is it with Titus Lartius?
MARCIUS
As with a man busied about decrees:
Condemning some to death, and some to exile;
Ransoming him, or pitying, threatening the other;
Holding Corioli in the name of Rome,
Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash,
To let him slip at will.
COMINIUS
Where is that slave
Which told me they had beat you to your trenches?
Where is he? call him hither.
MARCIUS
Let him alone;
He did inform the truth: but for our gentlemen,
The common file—a plague! tribunes for them!—
The mouse ne’er shunn’d the cat as they did budge
From rascals worse than they.
COMINIUS
But how prevail’d you?
MARCIUS
Will the time serve to tell? I do not think.
Where is the enemy? are you lords o’ the field?
If not, why cease you till you are so?

DUTCH:
Als een, die tal van zaken ordent, dezen
Ter dood doemt, dien verbant, een and’ren dreigt,
Dien tegen losgeld of meêdoogend vrijlaat;

MORE:
Flower=Most distinguished, greatest
Busied about=Occupied with
Inform=Tell
File=Soldiers
Budge=Flinch
Compleat:
To busy himself=Zich bemoeijen
To inform=Onderrechten, kundschap geeven, aanbrengen, bedraagen, verklikken; bevormen
A file of soldiers=Een gelid of ry soldaaten
Budge=Schudden, omroeren, beweegen

Topics: news, communication

Be thou sure, when he shall come to his account, he knows not what I can urge against him

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.7
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
I cannot help it now,
Unless, by using means, I lame the foot
Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier,
Even to my person, than I thought he would
When first I did embrace him: yet his nature
In that’s no changeling; and I must excuse
What cannot be amended.
LIEUTENANT
Yet I wish, sir,—
I mean for your particular,— you had not
Join’d in commission with him; but either
Had borne the action of yourself, or else
To him had left it solely.
AUFIDIUS
I understand thee well; and be thou sure,
When he shall come to his account, he knows not
What I can urge against him. Although it seems,
And so he thinks, and is no less apparent
To the vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly.
And shows good husbandry for the Volscian state,
Fights dragon-like, and does achieve as soon
As draw his sword; yet he hath left undone
That which shall break his neck or hazard mine,
Whene’er we come to our account.

DUTCH:
Maar ‘k zeg u: als hij rekenschap moet geven,
Dan weet hij niet, wat ik nog tegen hem
Te berde brengen kan.

MORE:
Means=Methods, tactics
Design=Plot
Changeling=Changeable, fickle
For your particular=With respect to you personally
Have=Could have
Account=Reckoning
Urge=Use, bring to bear
Compleat:
Means=Middelen; Toedoen
Design=Opzet, voorneemen, oogmerk, aanslag, toeleg, ontwerp
Changeling=Een wissel-kind, verruild kind
Particular=Byzonder, zonderling, byzonderheid
To darken=Verduisteren, verdonkeren
To account=Rekenen, achten
To urge=Dringen, pressen, aandringen, aanstaan

Topics: plans/intentions, regret, authority

But cannot make my heart consent to take a bribe to pay my sword

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.9
SPEAKER: Marcius
CONTEXT:
MARCIUS
I have some wounds upon me, and they smart
To hear themselves remember’d.
COMINIUS
Should they not,
Well might they fester ‘gainst ingratitude,
And tent themselves with death. Of all the horses,
Whereof we have ta’en good and good store, of all
The treasure in this field achieved and city,
We render you the tenth, to be ta’en forth,
Before the common distribution, at
Your only choice.
MARCIUS
I thank you, general;
But cannot make my heart consent to take
A bribe to pay my sword: I do refuse it;
And stand upon my common part with those
That have beheld the doing.

DUTCH:
Ik zeg u dank, mijn veldheer;
Doch ‘t harte weigert, een geschenk te aanvaarden,
Dat mij mijn zwaard betaalt. Ik moet dit afslaan,
En wil mijn deel alleen als ieder, die
Den strijd heeft bijgewoond.

MORE:
Smart=Sting
‘gainst=Faced with
Tent=Cure
Your only choice=Your discretion
Compleat:
Smart=Pijn, smart of smerte
Tent (for a wound)=Tentyzer
At your discrtion=Gy zyt er meester van

Topics: honour, integrity, money, ingratitude

But now ’tis odds beyond arithmetic and manhood is call’d foolery, when it stands against a falling fabric

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Cominius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Be gone;
Put not your worthy rage into your tongue;
One time will owe another.
CORIOLANUS
On fair ground
I could beat forty of them.
COMINIUS
I could myself
Take up a brace o’ the best of them; yea, the two tribunes:
But now ’tis odds beyond arithmetic;
And manhood is call’d foolery, when it stands
Against a falling fabric. Will you hence,
Before the tag return? whose rage doth rend
Like interrupted waters and o’erbear
What they are used to bear.
MENENIUS
Pray you, be gone:
I’ll try whether my old wit be in request
With those that have but little: this must be patch’d
With cloth of any colour.
COMINIUS
Nay, come away.

DUTCH:
Doch thans is hier onmeet rijke overmacht;
En mannenmoed wordt dolheid, als hij poogt
Een stortend huis te houden.

MORE:
Proverb: The stream (current, tide) stopped swells the higher
Proverb: Tag, rag and bobtail (Tag and rag)

Odds beyond arithmetic=Incalculable odds
Take up=Encounter, fight
Brace=Two
Worth=Well-founded, legitimate
Tag=Rabble (See Julius Caesar 1.2, “the tag-rag people”)
Fabric=Structure, frame or large building
Try=Test
Cloth of any colour=By any means available
Compleat:
Tag-rag and bob-tail (company of scoundrels)=Jan rap en zyn maat
Odds (advantage)=Voorrecht, voordeel
To lay odds with one=Een ongelyke weddenschap met iemand aangaan, drie tegen twee, of twee tegen één zetten.

Burgersdijk notes:
Houd stand! Gelijk staan vriend en vijand. Door de folio en door de meeste uitgevers worden deze woorden aan Cominius toegeschreven. Veel beter is het echter, ja noodig is het, ze aan Coriolanus toe te kennen en dan te lezen:
Houdt stand! enz. De persoonsaanwijzingen zijn in de folio hier verkeerd; het zeggen: Kom, vriend, ga mee! wordt niet aan Cominius, maar aan Coriolanus toegeschreven en Coriolanus’ woorden: O waren zij barbaren, enz. aan Menenius. Op Coriolanus zeggen: In ‘t open veld enz. spreke dan niet Menenius, maar Cominius, met weglating van het woordjen nog:
,Ikzelf
Een paar der besten, ja, de twee tribunen.
Doch thans is hier onmeet’lijke overmacht, enz.”
Bij het maken der aanteekeningen blijkt mij, dat dit inderdaad de beste verdeeling is.

Topics: fate/destiny, risk, anger, caution

But yet my caution was more pertinent than the rebuke you give it

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
FIRST SENATOR
Speak, good Cominius:
Leave nothing out for length, and make us think
Rather our state’s defective for requital
Than we to stretch it out.
Masters o’ the people,
We do request your kindest ears, and after,
Your loving motion toward the common body,
To yield what passes here.
SICINIUS
We are convented
Upon a pleasing treaty, and have hearts
Inclinable to honour and advance
The theme of our assembly.
BRUTUS
Which the rather
We shall be blest to do, if he remember
A kinder value of the people than
He hath hereto prized them at.
MENENIUS
That’s off, that’s off;
I would you rather had been silent. Please you
To hear Cominius speak?
BRUTUS
Most willingly;
But yet my caution was more pertinent
Than the rebuke you give it.
MENENIUS
He loves your people
But tie him not to be their bedfellow.
Worthy Cominius, speak.

DUTCH:
Zeer gaarne, doch mijn voorbehoud was passend,
Veel meer dan uw verwijt.

MORE:
Leave nothing out for length=Omit no detail
Defective of=Inability
Requital=Reward
Stretch it out=To pay enough reward
Motion=Influence
Body=Common people
Convented=Convened
Kinder value=More generous estimation
Off=Off the point
Compleat:
Defective=Gebreklyk, onvolkomen
Requital=Vergelding
Motion=Beweeging, aandryving
In a body=Gezamenlyk (en corps)
To convent=Voor ‘t recht roepen

Topics: news, communication, status, caution

Cannot be!
We have record that very well it can, and three examples of the like have been within my age.

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.6
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Go see this rumourer whipp’d. It cannot be
The Volsces dare break with us.
MENENIUS
Cannot be!
We have record that very well it can,
And three examples of the like have been
Within my age. But reason with the fellow,
Before you punish him, where he heard this,
Lest you shall chance to whip your information
And beat the messenger who bids beware
Of what is to be dreaded.
SICINIUS
Tell not me:
I know this cannot be.
BRUTUS
Not possible.
MESSENGER
The nobles in great earnestness are going
All to the senate-house: some news is come
That turns their countenances.
SICINIUS
‘Tis this slave;—
Go whip him, ‘fore the people’s eyes:—his raising;
Nothing but his report.

DUTCH:
„Het kan niet zijn!” Wij weten, ‘t kan zeer goed;
Ik weet er uit mijn eigen levenstijd
Drie staaltjes van.

MORE:
My age=My lifetime
Information=Informant
Raising=Incitement
Compleat:
Informant=Aanbrenger
To raise a sedition=Een oproer verwekken of veroorzaaken

Topics: communication, news, punishment

Custom calls me to’t: what custom wills, in all things should we do’t

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Most sweet voices!
Better it is to die, better to starve,
Than crave the hire which first we do deserve.
Why in this woolvish gown should I stand here,
To beg of Hob and Dick, that do appear,
Their needless vouches? Custom calls me to’t:
What custom wills, in all things should we do’t,
The dust on antique time would lie unswept,
And mountainous error be too highly heapt
For truth to o’er-peer. Rather than fool it so,
Let the high office and the honour go
To one that would do thus. I am half through;
The one part suffer’d, the other will I do.
Here come more voices.
Your voices: for your voices I have fought;
Watch’d for your voices; for Your voices bear
Of wounds two dozen odd; battles thrice six
I have seen and heard of; for your voices have
Done many things, some less, some more your voices:
Indeed I would be consul.

DUTCH:
Dit wil ‘t gebruik? — Maar deden
Wij alles naar den eisch van oude zeden,
Dan wierd het stof des tijds nooit weggevaagd;
De dwaling wies tot berg, en nimmer waagt
De waarheid dan de slechting

MORE:
Proverb: Custom makes sin no sin

Voices=Votes
Hob and Dick=Tom, Dick and Harry
Vouches=Attestations
Custom=(1) Common use, received order; (2) Habit, regular practice
O’erpeer (archaic definition)=Rise or tower above, overcome, excel.
Compleat:
Voice=Stem, recht van stemmen
To vouch=Staande houden, bewyzen, verzekeren
Custom=Gewoonte, neering
The customary laws of a nation=De gewoone wetten van een Volk
Peer=Gelyk, weergaa

Topics: merit, achievement, status, authority, leadership, proverbs and idioms

Desire not to ally my rages and revenges with your colder reasons

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
Even he, your wife, this lady, and myself,
Are suitors to you.
CORIOLANUS
I beseech you, peace:
Or, if you’ld ask, remember this before:
The thing I have forsworn to grant may never
Be held by you denials. Do not bid me
Dismiss my soldiers, or capitulate
Again with Rome’s mechanics: tell me not
Wherein I seem unnatural: desire not
To ally my rages and revenges with
Your colder reasons.
VOLUMNIA
O, no more, no more!
You have said you will not grant us any thing;
For we have nothing else to ask, but that
Which you deny already: yet we will ask;
That, if you fail in our request, the blame
May hang upon your hardness: therefore hear us.
CORIOLANUS
Aufidius, and you Volsces, mark; for we’ll
Hear nought from Rome in private. Your request?

DUTCH:
Vraag mij niet,
Dit heer te ontbinden of nog eens met Rome’s
Handwerkers te onderhand’len; zeg mij niet,
Dat ik mij onnatuurlijk toon; beproef niet
Met uwe koele gronden mijne woede
En wraak te leen’gen.

MORE:
Forsworn=Denied
Held=Regarded as
Mechanics=Labourers
Compleat:
To forswear one’s self=Eenen valschen eed doen, meyneedig zyn
To forswear a thing=Zweeren dat iets zo niet is
Forsworn=Meyneedig
Mechanick=Handwerkman

Topics: mercy, reason, justification, revenge

Do not cry havoc where you should but hunt with modest warrant

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt
With modest warrant.
SICINIUS
Sir, how comes’t that you
Have holp to make this rescue?
MENENIUS
Hear me speak:
As I do know the consul’s worthiness,
So can I name his faults,—

DUTCH:
Schreeuwt niet: „Maakt af,” in plaats van ‘t wild naar de’ eisch met oordeel na te jagen.

MORE:
Cry havoc. Old French ‘crier havot’, originally a signal to plunder. Or Saxon hafoc, meaning a hawk. In Shakespeare it is a military call to battle and slaughter (Julius Caesar) and may have the same meaning in Hamlet and Julius Caesar (“Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war.”)
Holp=Helped
Hunt=Pursue
Modest warrant=Limited authority
Compleat:
Holpen=Geholpen
Holp op=Opgeholpen
Ill holp op=In een slegte staat laaten

Topics: punishment, justice

Do you think that his contempt shall not be bruising to you, when he hath power to crush?

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Did you perceive
He did solicit you in free contempt
When he did need your loves, and do you think
That his contempt shall not be bruising to you,
When he hath power to crush? Why, had your bodies
No heart among you? or had you tongues to cry
Against the rectorship of judgement?
SICINIUS
Have you
Ere now denied the asker? and now again
Of him that did not ask, but mock, bestow
Your sued-for tongues?
THIRD CITIZEN
He’s not confirm’d; we may deny him yet.
SECOND CITIZEN
And will deny him:
I’ll have five hundred voices of that sound.
FIRST CITIZEN
I twice five hundred and their friends to piece ’em.
BRUTUS
Get you hence instantly, and tell those friends,
They have chose a consul that will from them take
Their liberties; make them of no more voice
Than dogs that are as often beat for barking
As therefore kept to do so.

DUTCH:
Toonde hij
U duid’lijk zijn verachting, toen hij vroeg,
Uw gunst behoefde, en denkt gij: zijn verachting
Zal niet meer kwetsen, als hij eens de macht
Tot uw verbrijz’ling heeft?

MORE:
Free=Clear, open
Rectorship=Governance
Judgement=Reason
Ere now=Ever before
Sued-for=Requested
Piece=Make up their number
Compleat:
Free=Vrij, openhartig
Rectorship=Een oppervoogdyschap
Judgement=Gevoelen, verstand
To sue=Voor ‘t recht roepen, in recht vervolgen; iemand om iets aanloopen
To piece=Lappen, een lap op zetten

Topics: betrayal

Do you two know how you are censured here in the city?

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
In what enormity is Marcius poor in, that you two
have not in abundance?
BRUTUS
He’s poor in no one fault, but stored with all.
SICINIUS
Especially in pride.
BRUTUS
And topping all others in boasting.
MENENIUS
This is strange now. Do you two know how you are
censured here in the city, I mean of us o’ the
right-hand file, do you?

DUTCH:
Dit is toch merkwaardig. Weet gij tweeën wel, hoe
gij hier in de stad beoordeeld wordt, wel te verstaan
door ons, de lieden van de hooge hand? weet gij ‘t?

MORE:
Enormity=Perversity, flaw
Stored=Furnished, provided, stocked, full (of)
Topping=Outdoing, surpassing
Censure=Usually implies opinion, judgment
Right-hand file=The upper classes (see also common file (1,4); greater file (MfM 3,2); valued file (Macbeth, 3.1))
Compleat:
Enormity (heinousness)=Grouwzaamheid
Enormity (high misdemeanour)=Grouwelyke misdaad
Censure=Bestraffing, berisping, oordeel, toets

Topics: flaw/fault, reputation

Every one of us has a single honour, in giving him our own voices with our own tongues

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
THIRD CITIZEN
Nay, your wit will not so soon out as another man’s
will; ’tis strongly wedged up in a block-head, but
if it were at liberty, ‘twould, sure, southward.
SECOND CITIZEN
Why that way?
THIRD CITIZEN
To lose itself in a fog, where being three parts
melted away with rotten dews, the fourth would return
for conscience sake, to help to get thee a wife.
SECOND CITIZEN
You are never without your tricks: you may, you may.
THIRD CITIZEN
Are you all resolved to give your voices? But
that’s no matter, the greater part carries it. I
say, if he would incline to the people, there was
never a worthier man.
Here he comes, and in the gown of humility: mark his
behaviour. We are not to stay all together, but to
come by him where he stands, by ones, by twos, and
by threes. He’s to make his requests by
particulars; wherein every one of us has a single
honour, in giving him our own voices with our own
tongues: therefore follow me, and I direct you how
you shall go by him.
ALL
Content, content.
MENENIUS
O sir, you are not right: have you not known
The worthiest men have done’t?

DUTCH:
TWEEDE BURGER
Gij kunt uw kwinkslagen niet laten; — ga door, ga door!
DERDE BURGER
Hebt gij allen besloten, hem uw stem te geven? Maar
het doet er niet toe: de meerderheid beslist. Ik zeg, als
hij meer hart voor het volk had, dan zou er nimmer
een waardiger man zijn.

MORE:
Wit=Mental faculty, intellectual power of any kind; understanding, judgment, imagination
Gown=Gown of humility (candidates for public office in Rome wore plain white togas)
Resolved=Determined
Voices=Votes
Compleat:
Wits=Zinnen, oordeel
Resolve (deliberation, decision)=Beraad, beslissing, uitsluitsel
Voice=Stem, recht van stemmen

Topics: intellect, imagination, respect

Exceed the common or be caught wiith cautelous baits and practice

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
Now the red pestilence strike all trades in Rome,
And occupations perish!
CORIOLANUS
What, what, what!
I shall be loved when I am lack’d. Nay, mother.
Resume that spirit, when you were wont to say,
If you had been the wife of Hercules,
Six of his labours you’ld have done, and saved
Your husband so much sweat. Cominius,
Droop not; adieu. Farewell, my wife, my mother:
I’ll do well yet. Thou old and true Menenius,
Thy tears are salter than a younger man’s,
And venomous to thine eyes. My sometime general,
I have seen thee stem, and thou hast oft beheld
Heart-hardening spectacles; tell these sad women
‘Tis fond to wail inevitable strokes,
As ’tis to laugh at ’em. My mother, you wot well
My hazards still have been your solace: and
Believe’t not lightly— though I go alone,
Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen
Makes fear’d and talk’d of more than seen— your son
Will or exceed the common or be caught
With cautelous baits and practice.
VOLUMNIA
My first son.
Whither wilt thou go? Take good Cominius
With thee awhile: determine on some course,
More than a wild exposture to each chance
That starts i’ the way before thee.

DUTCH:
Uw zoon verheft zich boven al ‘t gemeene,
Of valt door list en sluw verraad.

MORE:
Hercules=Son of Zeus, known for his strength (e.g. Herculean tasks)
Salter=Saltier
Wot=Know
Fen=Swamp
Cautelous=Deceitful
Practice=Intrigues
Compleat:
Wot=Weet
Fen=Veen, moeras
Cautelous=Crafty, false; cautious
Practice=(underhand dealing, intrigue, plot) Praktyk, bedekten handel, list

Topics: wellbeing, age/experience, risk, courage

Faith, there had been many great men that have flattered the people, who ne’er loved them

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Second officer
CONTEXT:
FIRST OFFICER
That’s a brave fellow, but he’s vengeance proud and loves not the common people.
SECOND OFFICER
Faith, there had been many great men that have
flattered the people, who ne’er loved them; and there
be many that they have loved, they know not
wherefore: so that, if they love they know not why,
they hate upon no better a ground: therefore, for
Coriolanus neither to care whether they love or hate
him manifests the true knowledge he has in their
disposition; and out of his noble carelessness lets
them plainly see’t.

DUTCH:
Nu, er zijn vele groote mannen geweest, . die het volk gevleid hebben en het toch nooit mochten lijden; en er zijn er velen, waar het volk van hield, zonder dat het wist waarom.

MORE:
Manifest=Make obvious, evident, not doubtful
Disposition=Natural constitution of the mind, temper, character, sentiments
Carelessness=Lack of concern, indifference
Compleat:
To manifest=Openbaaren, openbaar maaken
Carelessness=Zorgeloosheid, kommerloosheid, onachtzaamheid, achteloosheid
Disposition of mind=Gesteltenis van gemoed
The greatness of his disposition=Zyn grootmoedige, zyn uitmuntende gesteltenis

Topics: truth, flattery, deceit, love, respect

Fellest foes, whose passions and whose plots have broke their sleep

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Thank you, sir: farewell.
O world, thy slippery turns! Friends now fast sworn,
Whose double bosoms seems to wear one heart,
Whose hours, whose bed, whose meal and exercise
Are still together, who twin, as ’twere, in love
Unseparable, shall within this hour,
On a dissension of a doit, break out
To bitterest enmity; so fellest foes,
Whose passions and whose plots have broke their sleep
To take the one the other, by some chance,
Some trick not worth an egg, shall grow dear friends
And interjoin their issues. So with me:
My birthplace hate I, and my love’s upon
This enemy town. I’ll enter. If he slay me,
He does fair justice; if he give me way,
I’ll do his country service.

DUTCH:
En zij, die felle vijandschap steeds scheidde,
Wien haat en woede, door verdelgingsplannen,
Niet slapen liet, — zij worden door een toeval,
Een gril, geen ei zelfs waard, tot boezemvrienden,
Verzwaag’ren hunne kind’ren

MORE:
Slippery turns=Instability, sudden changes
Dissension of a doit=An insignificant, trifling dispute
Interjoin issues=Marry their children
Doit=Smallest piece of money, a trifle
Fell=Fierce, savage, cruel, pernicious
Compleat:
Dissension=Oneenigheid, verdeeldheid
Doit=Een duit (achtste deel van een stuiver)
Fell (cruel)=Wreede, fel

Topics: friendship, loyalty, dispute, betrayal, life

Follow your function, go, and batten on cold bits

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
THIRD SERVINGMAN
What have you to do here, fellow? Pray you, avoid
the house.
CORIOLANUS
Let me but stand; I will not hurt your hearth.
THIRD SERVINGMAN
What are you?
CORIOLANUS
A gentleman.
THIRD SERVINGMAN
A marvellous poor one.
CORIOLANUS
True, so I am.
THIRD SERVINGMAN
Pray you, poor gentleman, take up some other
station; here’s no place for you; pray you, avoid:
come.
CORIOLANUS
Follow your function, go, and batten on cold bits.

DUTCH:
Ga aan uw werk; ga, bras u vol aan kliekjes.

MORE:
Follow your function=Do your work
Batten=Gorge
Batten on cold bits=Eat cold scraps/leftovers (insult)
Compleat:
Function=Beroep, ampt, bediening, waarneeming eens ampts
To batten=Wentelen (gelyk een zwyn)
To batten=Vet worden, groeijen

Topics: poverty/wealth, insult

For the inheritance of their loves and safeguard of what that want might ruin

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
Because that now it lies you on to speak
To the people; not by your own instruction,
Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you,
But with such words that are but rooted in
Your tongue, though but bastards and syllables
Of no allowance to your bosom’s truth.
Now, this no more dishonours you at all
Than to take in a town with gentle words,
Which else would put you to your fortune and
The hazard of much blood.
I would dissemble with my nature where
My fortunes and my friends at stake required
I should do so in honour: I am in this,
Your wife, your son, these senators, the nobles;
And you will rather show our general louts
How you can frown than spend a fawn upon ’em,
For the inheritance of their loves and safeguard
Of what that want might ruin.
MENENIUS
Noble lady!
Come, go with us; s peak fair: you may salve so,
Not what is dangerous present, but the loss
Of what is past.

DUTCH:
En toch, gij wilt aan ‘t lomp gemeen veeleer
Uw fronsblik toonen, dan ‘t met vleien winnen,
Om, door hun gunst, te redden, wat hun haat
Te gronde richten zal.

MORE:
General louts=Vulgar clowns in the community, “common clowns” (Johnson)
Bastards=Not truly coming from the heart
Of no allowance… truth=Not reflecting true feelings
Take in=Capture, occupy
Inheritance=Acquisition or merely possession
That want=Absence of that acquisition
Salve=Rescue
Compleat:
Lout=Een boersche ongeschikte vent
Inheritance=Erfenis, erfdeel
Want=Gebrek

Topics: manipulation, deceit, honour, appearance, truth

For the mutable, rank-scented many, let them regard me as I do not flatter, and therein behold themselves

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
COMINIUS
The people are abused; set on. This paltering
Becomes not Rome, nor has Coriolanus
Deserved this so dishonour’d rub, laid falsely
I’ the plain way of his merit.
CORIOLANUS
Tell me of corn!
This was my speech, and I will speak’t again—
MENENIUS
Not now, not now.
FIRST SENATOR
Not in this heat, sir, now.
CORIOLANUS
Now, as I live, I will. My nobler friends,
I crave their pardons:
For the mutable, rank-scented many, let them
Regard me as I do not flatter, and
Therein behold themselves: I say again,
In soothing them, we nourish ‘gainst our senate
The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition,
Which we ourselves have plough’d for, sow’d,
and scatter’d,
By mingling them with us, the honour’d number,
Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that
Which they have given to beggars.

DUTCH:
Ja nu, zoo waar ik leef. — Mijn eed’le vrienden,
‘k Vraag u vergiff’nis; — laat die wisselzieke,
Die vunze menigte in ‘t gelaat mij zien,
Mij, die geen vleitaal spreek, maar hun daardoor
Een spiegel voorhoud!

MORE:
Abused=Deceived
Set on=Incited
Paltering=Deceit
Rub=Obstacle
Cockle=Seed
Compleat:
To abuse=Misbruiken, mishandelen, kwaalyk bejegenen, beledigen, verongelyken, schelden
To set on=Aandryven, ophitsen
To palter=Weifelen, leuteren, haperen, achteruit kruipen, aerzelen, bedektelyk handelen
The rub=Beletsel, binderpaal

Topics: abuse, deceit, merit, foul play

Fortune’s blows when most struck home, being gentle wounded craves a noble cunning

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Come, leave your tears. A brief farewell. The beast
With many heads butts me away. Nay, mother,
Where is your ancient courage? You were used
To say extremities was the trier of spirits;
That common chances common men could bear;
That when the sea was calm, all boats alike
Showed mastership in floating; fortune’s blows
When most struck home, being gentle wounded craves
A noble cunning. You were used to load me
With precepts that would make invincible
The heart that conned them.
VIRGILIA
O heavens! O heavens!
CORIOLANUS
Nay! prithee, woman,—
VOLUMNIA
Now the red pestilence strike all trades in Rome,
And occupations perish!

DUTCH:
Gij zeidet steeds,
Dat overmaat van leed de geesten toetst;
‘t Gewone draagt ook de gewone mensch;
Bij kalme zee toont elke boot in ‘t zeilen
Gelijke kunst; doch, als des noodlots slagen
Fel treffen, kalm te blijven, eischt een geest
Van eed’len aard; gij gaaft mij steeds een schat
Van grootsche lessen, die, in ‘t hart geprent,
Dit onverwinn’lijk moesten maken.

MORE:
Proverb: Calamity (extremity) is the touchstone of a brave mind (unto wit)
Proverb: In a calm sea every man may be a pilot

Beast with many heads=The multitude, the people
Gentle wounded=Bearing damage/wounds with dignity
Cunning=Skill
Load=To furnish or provide in abundance, to adorn, to reward
Precept=Instruction, direction
To con=Learn by heart
Compleat:
Cunning=Behendig
Precept=(instruction) Onderwys; (commandment) Bevel, gebod
To conn=Zyne lesse kennen, of van buiten leeren

Topics: proverbs and idioms, order/society, authority, failure

Hadst thou foxship to banish him that struck more blows for Rome than thou hast spoken words?

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
Ay, fool; is that a shame? Note but this fool.
Was not a man my father? Hadst thou foxship
To banish him that struck more blows for Rome
Than thou hast spoken words?
SICINIUS
O blessed heavens!
VOLUMNIA
More noble blows than ever thou wise words;
And for Rome’s good. I’ll tell thee what; yet go:
Nay, but thou shalt stay too: I would my son
Were in Arabia, and thy tribe before him,
His good sword in his hand.
SICINIUS
What then?
VIRGILIA
What then!
He’ld make an end of thy posterity.

DUTCH:
Toondet gij uw vosaard
Door hem te bannen, die meer slagen toebracht
Voor Rome, dan gij woorden spraakt?

MORE:
Foxship=Cunning
Compleat:
To play the fox=Schalk zyn als een vos
Tribe=(A kindred or company of people that dwells together in the same ward or liberty): Stam, gedeete van een gantsch volk; soort
Posterity=De nakomelingschap, afkomst, nakomelingen

Topics: betrayal

He cannot but with measure fit the honours which we devise him

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Cominius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Worthy man!
FIRST SENATOR
He cannot but with measure fit the honours
Which we devise him.
COMINIUS
Our spoils he kick’d at,
And look’d upon things precious as they were
The common muck of the world: he covets less
Than misery itself would give; rewards
His deeds with doing them, and is content
To spend the time to end it.
MENENIUS
He’s right noble:
Let him be call’d for.
FIRST SENATOR
Call Coriolanus.

DUTCH:
Onzen buit verstiet hij;
Op kostb’re schatten zag hij neer, als waren
Zij drek en afval., Zijn verlangst is minder,
Dan de armoe zelf zou geven; zijner daden
Belooning is hem ‘t doen; hij is voldaan,
Is zoo zijn tijd besteed

MORE:
Proverb: Muck of the world
Proverb: Virtue is its own reward

Cannot but=Cannot fail to
With measure fit=Measure up to
Misery=Penury
Compleat:
He cannot but know=Hy kan niet anders dan weeeten; hy moet het weeten, hy zal zekerlyk weten
Misery=Elende, armoede

Topics: work, satisfaction, honour, proverbs and idioms, still in use, value

He has, as much as in him lies, from time to time envied against the people, seeking means to pluck away their power

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
I know no further:
Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
Vagabond exile, raying, pent to linger
But with a grain a day, I would not buy
Their mercy at the price of one fair word;
Nor cheque my courage for what they can give,
To have’t with saying ‘Good morrow.’
SICINIUS
For that he has,
As much as in him lies, from time to time
Envied against the people, seeking means
To pluck away their power, as now at last
Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence
Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers
That do distribute it; in the name o’ the people
And in the power of us the tribunes, we,
Even from this instant, banish him our city,
In peril of precipitation
From off the rock Tarpeian never more
To enter our Rome gates: i’ the people’s name,
I say it shall be so.
CITIZENS
It shall be so, it shall be so; let him away:
He’s banish’d, and it shall be so.
COMINIUS
Hear me, my masters, and my common friends,—
SICINIUS
He’s sentenced; no more hearing.

DUTCH:
Ik zou mij hun genade
Niet koopen tot den prijs van één goed woord,
Mijn hart niet dwingen om een gunst van hen,
Al waar’ zij voor een „Goeden morgen” veil.

MORE:
Steep death=Being thrown from the ‘steep Tarpeian rock’
Vagabond=Vagrant, wandering
Linger=Protracted suffering
Envied=Showed malice
Strokes=Blows
Precipitation=Being thrown headlong off the rock
Compleat:
Vagabond=Een landlooper, schooijer, zwerver
To linger=Leuteren, draalen
Envy=Nyd, afgunst
Stroke=Een slag, trek
To precipitate=(throw down) Plotseling van boven neer storten of werpen, haastig voortdryven, onbedachtelyk verhaasten

Topics: mercy

He hath resisted law, and therefore law shall scorn him further trial than the severity of the public power which he so sets at naught

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
Where is this viper
That would depopulate the city and
Be every man himself?
MENENIUS
You worthy tribunes,—
SICINIUS
He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rock
With rigorous hands: he hath resisted law,
And therefore law shall scorn him further trial
Than the severity of the public power
Which he so sets at naught.
FIRST CITIZEN
He shall well know
The noble tribunes are the people’s mouths,
And we their hands.

DUTCH:
Hij heeft de wet getrotst;
Wat zou de wet dan meer getuig’nis eischen ?
Hem richte heel de strengheid van de macht,
Die hij zoo nietig acht.

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

Sets at=Values. Sets at naught=Considers worthless.
Tarpeian rock=Murderers and traitors were thrown off this rock in Rome
Scorn=To disdain, to refuse or lay aside with contempt
Severity=Strength
Compleat:
To scorn=Verachten, verfooijen

Topics: law/legal, justice, mercy

He returns, splitting the air with noise

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.6
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
FIRST CONSPIRATOR
Your native town you enter’d like a post,
And had no welcomes home: but he returns,
Splitting the air with noise.
SECOND CONSPIRATOR
And patient fools,
Whose children he hath slain, their base throats tear
With giving him glory.
THIRD CONSPIRATOR
Therefore, at your vantage,
Ere he express himself, or move the people
With what he would say, let him feel your sword,
Which we will second. When he lies along,
After your way his tale pronounced shall bury
His reasons with his body.
AUFIDIUS
Say no more:
Here come the lords.

DUTCH:
Gij keerdet als een ijlboo, zonder welkomst,
In uwe vaderstad; bij zijn terugkomst
Verscheurt gejuich de lucht.

MORE:
Post=Messenger
After your way=In line with your version
Compleat:
Post=Bode
After=Volgens

Topics: authority, leadership

He used us scornfully: he should have show’d us his marks of merit

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
SECOND CITIZEN
Not one amongst us, save yourself, but says
He used us scornfully: he should have show’d us
His marks of merit, wounds received for’s country.
SICINIUS
Why, so he did, I am sure.
CITIZENS
No, no; no man saw ’em.
THIRD CITIZEN
He said he had wounds, which he could show in private;
And with his hat, thus waving it in scorn,
‘I would be consul,’ says he: ‘aged custom,
But by your voices, will not so permit me;
Your voices therefore.’ When we granted that,
Here was ‘I thank you for your voices: thank you:
Your most sweet voices: now you have left your voices,
I have no further with you.’ Was not this mockery?
SICINIUS
Why either were you ignorant to see’t,
Or, seeing it, of such childish friendliness
To yield your voices?

DUTCH:
Elk onzer, buiten u, erkent: hij hoonde ons;
Hij had zijn eeremerken moeten toonen,
De voor zijn land ontvangen wonden.

MORE:
Used=Treated
Voices=Votes
No further with you=No further need of you
Childish friendliness=Innocence, gullibility
Yield=Grant
Compleat:
To use one unkindly=Iemand stuursch bejegenen
Voice=Stem, recht van stemmen
Yield=Overgeeven, toegeeven, geeven

Topics: gullibility, manipulation, honesty, integrity

He was a kind of nothing, titleless, till he had forged himself a name

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Cominius
CONTEXT:
COMINIUS
He would not seem to know me.
MENENIUS
Do you hear?
COMINIUS
Yet one time he did call me by my name.
I urged our old acquaintance, and the drops
That we have bled together. “Coriolanus”
He would not answer to, forbade all names.
He was a kind of nothing, titleless,
Till he had forged himself a name o’ th’ fire
Of burning Rome.

DUTCH:
Hij was een soort van niets, gansch zonder naam,
Tot hij zich uit de vlam van ‘t brandend Rome
Een naam gesmeed had.

MORE:
To urge=To speak of, to mention
Yet=Only
Forge=To frame in general
Compleat:
Forge=Smeden; uitvinden
To urge=Dringen, pressen, aandringen, aanstaan

Topics: status, authority, reputation

He water’d his new plants with dews of flattery, seducing so my friends

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.6
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
THIRD CONSPIRATOR
The people will remain uncertain whilst
’Twixt you there’s difference; but the fall of either
Makes the survivor heir of all.
AUFIDIUS
I know it;
And my pretext to strike at him admits
A good construction. I raised him, and I pawn’d
Mine honour for his truth: who being so heighten’d,
He water’d his new plants with dews of flattery,
Seducing so my friends; and, to this end,
He bow’d his nature, never known before
But to be rough, unswayable and free.

DUTCH:
Doch, pas verheven,
Bedauwde hij met vleierij zijn planten,
En trok mijn vrienden van mij af; hij plooide
Daartoe zijn aard, dien niemand vroeger anders
Dan ruw, onbuigzaam, eigenwillig kende.

MORE:
Construction=Interpretation
A good construction=Well-founded
Pawn=Pledge
To bow=To crush, to strain
Compleat:
To bow=Buigen, neigen, bukken
Construction=Uitlegging; woordenschikking
To pawn=Verpanden

Topics: flattery, achievement, reputation

His ascent is not by such easy degrees as those who, having been supple and courteous to the people, bonneted, without any further deed

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: First Officer
CONTEXT:
FIRST OFFICER
If he did not care whether he had their love or no,
he waved indifferently ‘twixt doing them neither
good nor harm: but he seeks their hate with greater
devotion than can render it him; and leaves
nothing undone that may fully discover him their
opposite. Now, to seem to affect the malice and
displeasure of the people is as bad as that which he
dislikes, to flatter them for their love.
SECOND OFFICER
He hath deserved worthily of his country: and his
ascent is not by such easy degrees as those who,
having been supple and courteous to the people,
bonneted, without any further deed to have them at
all into their estimation and report: but he hath so
planted his honours in their eyes, and his actions
in their hearts, that for their tongues to be
silent, and not confess so much, were a kind of
ingrateful injury; to report otherwise, were a
malice, that, giving itself the lie, would pluck
reproof and rebuke from every ear that heard it.

DUTCH:
Hij heeft zich ten hoogste verdienstelijk gemaakt jegens
zijn land; en hij kloth niet op zulk een gemakkelijken
trap naar boven, als zij, die, buigzaam en beleefd jegens
het volk, zich in diens achting en vereering wisten in te
groeten, zonder iets verder gedaan te hebben om die te
verkrijgen;

MORE:
Waved indifferently=Wavered
Discover=Reveal
Seem to affect=Seem to seek, aim for
Bonnetted=Cap-doffing
Report=Opinion
Giving the lie=Showing to be untrue
Compleat:
To waver=Wapperen, waggelen, wankelen, trillen, leuteren, in twyffel staan
To discover=Ontdekken, bespeuren, aan ‘t licht brengen
Affect=Trachten, gezet op iets zyn
To give one the lie=Loogenstraffen

Topics: order/society, honour, authority

How couldst thou in a mile confound an hour

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.6
SPEAKER: Cominus
CONTEXT:
COMINIUS
Thy news?
MESSENGER
The citizens of Corioli have issued,
And given to Lartius and to Marcius battle:
I saw our party to their trenches driven,
And then I came away.
COMINIUS
Though thou speak’st truth,
Methinks thou speak’st not well.
How long is’t since?
MESSENGER
Above an hour, my lord.
COMINIUS
‘Tis not a mile; briefly we heard their drums:
How couldst thou in a mile confound an hour,
And bring thy news so late?
MESSENGER
Spies of the Volsces
Held me in chase, that I was forced to wheel
Three or four miles about, else had I, sir,
Half an hour since brought my report.

DUTCH:
Geen vierde van een uur
Kan de afstand zijn; zoo pas nog klonk hun trom;
Hoe hebt ge een uur verspild op dezen weg
En brengt ge uw nieuws zoo laat?

MORE:
Issued=Emerged
Briefly=Very recently
Confound=Waste
Compleat:
Briefly=Kortelyk
Confound=Verwarren, verstooren, te schande maaken, verbysteren

Topics: news, truth, time

I cannot bring my tongue to such a pace

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
What must I say?
‘I Pray, sir’— Plague upon’t! I cannot bring
My tongue to such a pace:—’Look, sir, my wounds!
I got them in my country’s service, when
Some certain of your brethren roar’d and ran
From the noise of our own drums.’
MENENIUS
O me, the gods!
You must not speak of that: you must desire them
To think upon you.
CORIOLANUS
Think upon me! hang ’em!
I would they would forget me, like the virtues
Which our divines lose by ’em.
MENENIUS
You’ll mar all:
I’ll leave you: pray you, speak to ’em, I pray you,
In wholesome manner.

DUTCH:
Vervloekt! ik kan mijn tong
In zulk een gang niet krijgen.

MORE:
Pace=Manner
Desire=Ask
Think upon=Consider
Wholesome=Suitable, beneficial
Compleat:
Pace=Een stap, treede, schreede, tred, gang, pas, voortgang
To desire=Gebieden
To think upon=Op denken
Wholesom=Gezond, heylzaam, heelzaam

Topics: communication, persuasion

I could weep and I could laugh, I am light and heavy

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
I know not where to turn: O, welcome home:
And welcome, general: and ye’re welcome all.
MENENIUS
A hundred thousand welcomes. I could weep
And I could laugh, I am light and heavy. Welcome.
A curse begin at very root on’s heart,
That is not glad to see thee! You are three
That Rome should dote on: yet, by the faith of men,
We have some old crab-trees here at home that will not
Be grafted to your relish. Yet welcome, warriors:
We call a nettle but a nettle and
The faults of fools but folly.

DUTCH:
Een honderdduizend welkoms! Weenen kon ik
En lachen! ‘t is mij licht en zwaar! Weest welkom!

MORE:
Crab-trees=Old men
Grafted to your relish=Changed to your liking
Folly=Mistake, weakness
Compleat:
Crab-tree=Een haagapppel boom
Crabbed=Nors, stuurs
Folly=Ondeugd, buitenspoorigheid, onvolmaaktheid
Relish (like or approve)=Aanstaan, goedkeuren, veel van houden

Topics: age/experience, emotion and mood, honesty, commnication

I had rather be their servant in my way, than sway with them in theirs

DUTCH:
Weet, moeder, liever ben ik
Op mijne wijs hun dienaar, dan met hen
Op hun wijs heerscher.

Topics: leadership

I have a heart as little apt as yours, but yet a brain that leads my use of anger to better vantage

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
You might have been enough the man you are,
With striving less to be so; lesser had been
The thwartings of your dispositions, if
You had not show’d them how ye were disposed
Ere they lack’d power to cross you.
CORIOLANUS
Let them hang.
A PATRICIAN
Ay, and burn too.
MENENIUS
Come, come, you have been too rough, something too rough;
You must return and mend it.
FIRST SENATOR
There’s no remedy;
Unless, by not so doing, our good city
Cleave in the midst, and perish.
VOLUMNIA
Pray, be counsell’d:
I have a heart as little apt as yours,
But yet a brain that leads my use of anger
To better vantage.

DUTCH:
Ik heb een hart, zoo min gedwee als ‘t uwe,
Maar ook een brein, dat, hoe mijn toorn ook zied’,
Zelfs dit ten beste stuurt.

MORE:
Thwartings=Demands imposed by
Cross=Oppose
Compleat:
Thwarting=Dwarsdryving, dwarsdryvende
To cross=Tegenstreeven, dwars voor de boeg komen, dwarsboomen, wederestreeven, kruisen

Topics: nature, work, respect, dignity

I have been the book of his good acts, whence men have read his name unparallel’d

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
FIRST SENTINEL
Be it so; go back: the virtue of your name
Is not here passable.
MENENIUS
I tell thee, fellow,
The general is my lover: I have been
The book of his good acts, whence men have read
His name unparallel’d, haply amplified;
For I have ever verified my friends,
Of whom he’s chief, with all the size that verity
Would without lapsing suffer: nay, sometimes,
Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground,
I have tumbled past the throw; and in his praise
Have almost stamp’d the leasing: therefore, fellow,
I must have leave to pass.
FIRST SENTINEL
Faith, sir, if you had told as many lies in his
behalf as you have uttered words in your own, you
should not pass here; no, though it were as virtuous
to lie as to live chastely. Therefore, go back.

DUTCH:
Ik zeg u, man,
Uw veldheer is mijn vriend; ik was ‘t gedenkboek
Van al zijn daden, en de wereld las er
Zijn weergaloozen roem, misschien vergroot;

MORE:
Passable=Currrency
Verified=Supported with testimony
With all the size=As much as (possible)
Verity=Truth
Lapsing=Offend, sin
Bowl=Bowling ball
Subtle=Tricky (not as even as it appears)
Stamped the leasing=Approved the lying
Compleat:
To pass=Doortrekken, doorgaan, doorbrengen, passseren
Verified=Waargemaakt, bewaarheid
Verity=Waarheyd
A lapse=Een val, verzuim
To lapse=Vervallen, gevallen, verzuimd
Subtle=Listig, loos, sneedig, spitsvindig

Topics: virtue, reputation, merit

I have seen the dumb men throng to see him and the blind to hear him speak

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
What’s the matter?
MESSENGER
You are sent for to the Capitol. ‘Tis thought
That Marcius shall be consul:
I have seen the dumb men throng to see him and
The blind to hear him speak: matrons flung gloves,
Ladies and maids their scarfs and handkerchers,
Upon him as he pass’d: the nobles bended,
As to Jove’s statue, and the commons made
A shower and thunder with their caps and shouts:
I never saw the like.
BRUTUS
Let’s to the Capitol;
And carry with us ears and eyes for the time,
But hearts for the event.
SICINIUS
Have with you.

DUTCH:
Ik zag doofstommen
In ‘t dicht gedrang om hem te zien, en blinden
Om hem te hooren spreken.

MORE:
Bended=Bowed
Commons=Commoners
Hearts for=Keep in our hearts
Event=The matter in hand, enterprise, plan
Have with you=I agree, I’m with you
Compleat
To bend=Buigen, krommen, aanspannen
The common (vulgar) people=Het gemeene Volk
To be heart and hand for a thing=Van ganscher harte tot iets geneegen zyn

Topics: leadership, independence, free will, intellect

I know you can do very little alone, for your helps are many, or else your actions would grow wondrous single

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Why, ’tis no great matter; for a very little thief of
occasion will rob you of a great deal of patience:
give your dispositions the reins, and be angry at
your pleasures; at the least if you take it as a
pleasure to you in being so. You blame Marcius for
being proud?
BRUTUS
We do it not alone, sir.
MENENIUS
I know you can do very little alone; for your helps
are many, or else your actions would grow wondrous
single: your abilities are too infant-like for
doing much alone. You talk of pride: O that you
could turn your eyes toward the napes of your necks,
and make but an interior survey of your good selves!
O that you could!
BRUTUS
What then, sir?
MENENIUS
Why, then you should discover a brace of unmeriting,
proud, violent, testy magistrates, alias fools, as
any in Rome.

DUTCH:
Ik weet wel, gij kunt zeer weinig alleen doen, want
uwe hulpen zijn velen, of uwe daden zouden verbazend
enkel wezen; uw vermogens zijn te zuiglingachtig om veel
alleen te doen.

MORE:
Reference to Aesop’s Fable Jupiter’s Two Wallets .(When Jupiter made Man, he gave him two wallets, one for his neighbour’s faults, the other for his own. The Man kept the one in front for his neighbour’s faults, and the one behind for his own so while the front wallet was always under his nose, it took more effort to see the wallet behind him.)

Dispositions=Emotions
Wondrous=Strangely
Single=Insignificant, trivial
Compleat:
Disposition (or Inclination)=Genegenheid, Lust
Disposition of mind=Gesteltenis van gemoed
Wondrous=Wonderlyk; wonderbaarlyk, uitmuntend

Topics: insult, skill/talent

I minded him how royal ’twas to pardon when it was less expected

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Cominius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Why, so: you have made good work!
A pair of tribunes that have rack’d for Rome,
To make coals cheap,—a noble memory!
COMINIUS
I minded him how royal ’twas to pardon
When it was less expected: he replied,
It was a bare petition of a state
To one whom they had punish’d.
MENENIUS
Very well: Could he say less?
COMINIUS
I offer’d to awaken his regard
For’s private friends: his answer to me was,
He could not stay to pick them in a pile
Of noisome musty chaff: he said ’twas folly,
For one poor grain or two, to leave unburnt,
And still to nose the offence.

DUTCH:
Ik stelde in ‘t licht, hoe koninklijk vergift nis
Zou wezen, onverwacht verleend; dit noemde
Hij recht armzalig smeeken van een staat
Tot een, nog onlangs door dien staat bestraft

MORE:
Rack=Stretch, strain, make huge effort
Make coals cheap=Burning Rome will make coal plentiful
A noble memory=A great way to be remembered
The less expected (the pardon), the more royal it is to give it
A bare petition=Unsubstantiated plea, without justification or excuse for the pardon
Nose the offence=Smell the offending material
Compleat:
Racked=Gerekt, gepynigd; gezuiverd
Bare=Bloot, naakt, kaal
Petition=Verzoek, smeekschrift, request

Topics: achievement, friendship, value

I must excuse what cannot be amended

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.7
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
LIEUTENANT
I do not know what witchcraft’s in him, but
Your soldiers use him as the grace ’fore meat,
Their talk at table, and their thanks at end;
And you are darken’d in this action, sir,
Even by your own.
AUFIDIUS
I cannot help it now,
Unless, by using means, I lame the foot
Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier,
Even to my person, than I thought he would
When first I did embrace him: yet his nature
In that’s no changeling; and I must excuse
What cannot be amended.

DUTCH:
Doch zijn wezen
Verzaakt hij hierin niet; ik moet verschoonen,
Wat ik niet beet’ren kan.

MORE:
Proverb: What cannot be altered must be borne not blamed
Proverb: To be no changeling

Changeling=Sense shifter, inconstant, turncoat, fickle (Arden)
Darkened=Eclipsed, put into the shade
For your particular=For you personally
Compleat:
Changeling=Een wissel-kind, verruild kind
Particular=Byzonder, zonderling, byzonderheid
To darken=Verduisteren, verdonkeren

Topics: remedy, understanding, regret, plans/intentions, proverbs and idioms

I need not be barren of accusations; he hath faults, with surplus, to tire in repetition.

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: First Citizen
CONTEXT:
FIRST CITIZEN
Very well; and could be content to give him good
report for’t, but that he pays himself with being proud.
SECOND CITIZEN
Nay, but speak not maliciously.
FIRST CITIZEN
I say unto you, what he hath done famously, he did
it to that end: though soft-conscienced men can be
content to say it was for his country he did it to
please his mother and to be partly proud; which he
is, even till the altitude of his virtue.
SECOND CITIZEN
What he cannot help in his nature, you account a
vice in him. You must in no way say he is covetous.
FIRST CITIZEN
If I must not, I need not be barren of accusations;
he hath faults, with surplus, to tire in repetition.

DUTCH:
Al kan ik dit niet zeggen, zoo behoef ik toch om aanklachten
niet verlegen te zijn; hij heeft gebreken, in overmaat, dat men moede wordt ze op te sommen.

MORE:
Famously=For the glory, openly
Soft-conscienced=Forgiving, merciful
Partly proud=Partially for pride
Altitude=Maximum
Tire in repetition=Exhaust from the retelling
Compleat:
Famously=Vermaardelyk
Tender conscienced=Teer van gemoed zijn
Altitude=Hoogte

Topics: respect, flaw/fault, purpose

I neither care for the world nor your general: for such things as you, I can scarce think there’s any, ye’re so slight

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
How! away!
CORIOLANUS
Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs
Are servanted to others: though I owe
My revenge properly, my remission lies
In Volscian breasts. That we have been familiar,
Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison, rather
Than pity note how much. Therefore, be gone.
Mine ears against your suits are stronger than
Your gates against my force. Yet, for I loved thee,
Take this along; I writ it for thy sake
And would have rent it. Another word, Menenius,
I will not hear thee speak. This man, Aufidius,
Was my beloved in Rome: yet thou behold’st!
AUFIDIUS
You keep a constant temper.
FIRST SENTINEL
Now, sir, is your name Menenius?
SECOND SENTINEL
‘Tis a spell, you see, of much power: you know the
way home again.
FIRST SENTINEL
Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your
greatness back?
SECOND SENTINEL
What cause, do you think, I have to swoon?
MENENIUS
I neither care for the world nor your general: for
such things as you, I can scarce think there’s any,
ye’re so slight. He that hath a will to die by
himself fears it not from another: let your general
do his worst. For you, be that you are, long; and
your misery increase with your age! I say to you,
as I was said to, Away!
FIRST “MENENIUS
How! away!
CORIOLANUS
Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs
Are servanted to others: though I owe
My revenge properly, my remission lies
In Volscian breasts. That we have been familiar,
Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison, rather
Than pity note how much. Therefore, be gone.
Mine ears against your suits are stronger than
Your gates against my force. Yet, for I loved thee,
Take this along; I writ it for thy sake
And would have rent it. Another word, Menenius,
I will not hear thee speak. This man, Aufidius,
Was my beloved in Rome: yet thou behold’st!
AUFIDIUS
You keep a constant temper.
FIRST SENTINEL
Now, sir, is your name Menenius?
SECOND SENTINEL
‘Tis a spell, you see, of much power: you know the
way home again.
FIRST SENTINEL
Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your
greatness back?
SECOND SENTINEL
What cause, do you think, I have to swoon?
MENENIUS
I neither care for the world nor your general: for
such things as you, I can scarce think there’s any,
ye’re so slight. He that hath a will to die by
himself fears it not from another: let your general
do his worst. For you, be that you are, long; and
your misery increase with your age! I say to you,
as I was said to, Away!
FIRST SENATOR
A noble fellow, I warrant him.
SECOND “MENENIUS
How! away!
CORIOLANUS
Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs
Are servanted to others: though I owe
My revenge properly, my remission lies
In Volscian breasts. That we have been familiar,
Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison, rather
Than pity note how much. Therefore, be gone.
Mine ears against your suits are stronger than
Your gates against my force. Yet, for I loved thee,
Take this along; I writ it for thy sake
And would have rent it. Another word, Menenius,
I will not hear thee speak. This man, Aufidius,
Was my beloved in Rome: yet thou behold’st!
AUFIDIUS
You keep a constant temper.
FIRST SENTINEL
Now, sir, is your name Menenius?
SECOND SENTINEL
‘Tis a spell, you see, of much power: you know the
way home again.
FIRST SENTINEL
Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your
greatness back?
SECOND SENTINEL
What cause, do you think, I have to swoon?
MENENIUS
I neither care for the world nor your general: for
such things as you, I can scarce think there’s any,
ye’re so slight. He that hath a will to die by
himself fears it not from another: let your general
do his worst. For you, be that you are, long; and
your misery increase with your age! I say to you,
as I was said to, Away!
FIRST SENTINEL
A noble fellow, I warrant him.
SECOND SENTINEL
The worthy fellow is our general: he’s the rock, the
oak not to be wind-shaken.”

DUTCH:
De geheele wereld is mij niets meer, evenals uw veldheer;
wat zulke wezens aangaat als gij, ik weet nauwelijks,
dat zij er zijn, zoo nietig zijt gij!

MORE:
Servanted=Subjected
Owe=Am owed
Remission=Forgiveness
Ingrate=Ungrateful
Rent=Torn up
Compleat:
Remission=Vergiffenis, vergeeving, quytschelding
Rent=Scheur, scheuring

Topics: friendship, pity, revenge

I paint him in the character

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
He loved his mother dearly.
MENENIUS
So did he me: and he no more remembers his mother
now than an eight-year-old horse. The tartness
of his face sours ripe grapes: when he walks, he
moves like an engine, and the ground shrinks before
his treading: he is able to pierce a corslet with
his eye; talks like a knell, and his hum is a
battery. He sits in his state, as a thing made for
Alexander. What he bids be done is finished with
his bidding. He wants nothing of a god but eternity
and a heaven to throne in.
SICINIUS
Yes, mercy, if you report him truly.
MENENIUS
I paint him in the character. Mark what mercy his
mother shall bring from him: there is no more mercy
in him than there is milk in a male tiger; that
shall our poor city find: and all this is long of
you.

DUTCH:
Ik schilder hem naar ‘t leven.

MORE:
Tartness=Sour expression
Engine=Machine
Corslet=Armour
Knell=Tolling bell
Battery=Canon fire
Alexander=Alexander the Great
Want=Lack
Long of=On account of
Compleat:
Tartness=Wrangheid, zuurheid, scherpheid
Engine=Een konstwerk, gereedschap, werktuig; Een list, konstgreep
Corslet=Een borstwapen voor de Piekeniers; een breede gordel
Knell=De doodklok
Battery=Een schietschans, beukery, stormkat, battery
Want=Gebrek

Topics: memory, mercy, respect, emotion and mood

I say they nourished disobedience, fed the ruin of the state

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Whoever gave that counsel to give forth
The corn o’ th’ storehouse gratis, as ’twas used
Sometime in Greece—
MENENIUS Well, well, no more of that.
CORIOLANUS
Though there the people had more absolute power,
I say they nourished disobedience, fed
The ruin of the state.
BRUTUS
Why shall the people give
One that speaks thus their voice?
CORIOLANUS
I’ll give my reasons,
More worthier than their voices. They know the corn
Was not our recompense, resting well assured
They ne’er did service for ’t. Being pressed to th’ war,
Even when the navel of the state was touched,
They would not thread the gates. This kind of service
Did not deserve corn gratis. Being i’ the war,
Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they showed
Most valour, spoke not for them. The accusation
Which they have often made against the senate,
All cause unborn, could never be the motive
Of our so frank donation.

DUTCH:
Schoon daar het volk veel grooter macht bezat,
Die, zeg ik, kweekte muiterij en voedde
‘t Verderf des staats.

MORE:
Was not our recompense=Was not a reward we granted
Cause unborn=No existing cause
Sometime=For a while, used to do
Pressed=Impressed (into military service)
Navel=Centre (of the state)
Thread=Pass through
Compleat:
Press (or force) soldiers=Soldaaten pressen, dat is hen dwingen om dienst te neemen
Recompense=Vergelding, beloning
Sometimes=Somtyds

Topics: poverty and wealth, reason, order/society, claim, work

I seem’d his follower, not partner

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
That I would have spoke of:
Being banish’d for’t, he came unto my hearth;
Presented to my knife his throat: I took him;
Made him joint-servant with me; gave him way
In all his own desires; nay, let him choose
Out of my files, his projects to accomplish,
My best and freshest men; served his designments
In mine own person; holp to reap the fame
Which he did end all his; and took some pride
To do myself this wrong: till, at the last,
I seem’d his follower, not partner, and
He waged me with his countenance, as if
I had been mercenary.
FIRST CONSPIRATOR
So he did, my lord:
The army marvell’d at it, and, in the last,
When he had carried Rome and that we look’d
For no less spoil than glory,—
AUFIDIUS
There was it:
For which my sinews shall be stretch’d upon him.
At a few drops of women’s rheum, which are
As cheap as lies, he sold the blood and labour
Of our great action: therefore shall he die,
And I’ll renew me in his fall. But, hark!

DUTCH:
Ja, ‘k was
Er trotsch op, dus mijzelf te knotten; eind’lijk
Scheen ik zijn dienaar, niet zijn medeveldheer,
En was hij uit de hoogte mij genadig,
Als ware ik hem een huurling.

MORE:
I would have spoke=I was getting to
Joint-servant=Colleague, equal
Files=Ranks
Designments=Plans
Waged=Paid
Countenance=Look
Compleat:
A file of soldiers=Een gelid of ry soldaaten
Wages=Loon, jaargeld; belooning, bezolding
Countenance=Gelaat, gezigt, uitzigt, weezen.

Topics: punishment, pride, ingratitude, regret, betrayal

I speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: First Citizen
CONTEXT:
FIRST CITIZEN
Let us kill him, and we’ll have corn at our own price.
Is’t a verdict?
ALL
No more talking on’t; let it be done: away, away!
SECOND CITIZEN
One word, good citizens.
FIRST CITIZEN
We are accounted poor citizens, the patricians good.
What authority surfeits on would relieve us: if they
would yield us but the superfluity, while it were
wholesome, we might guess they relieved us humanely;
but they think we are too dear: the leanness that
afflicts us, the object of our misery, is as an
inventory to particularise their abundance; our
sufferance is a gain to them. Let us revenge this with
our pikes, ere we become rakes: for the gods know I
speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for
revenge.
SECOND CITIZEN
Would you proceed especially against Caius Marcius?
ALL
Against him first: he’s a very dog to the commonalty.

DUTCH:
Laat ons dit wreken met onze pieken, eer wij dun als harken worden! Want de goden weten het, ik zeg dit uit honger naar brood, niet uit dorst naar wraak.

MORE:
Proverb: As lean as a rake

The patricians good=Good (mercantile), meaning wealthy, well monied
Guess=Think, suppose
Object=Spectacle, sight
Accounted=Thought of as
To particularise=Specify
Sufferance=Suffering, misery
Rake=A lean person (as thin as a rake)
Compleat:
As lean as a rake=Zo mager als een hout
Abundance=Overvloed
Sufferance=Verdraagzaamheid, toegeevendheid

Burgersdijk notes:
De patriciërs als goede. Omdat zij arm zijn, worden de plebejers niet voor vol geteld, niet „goed” gerekend. Vergelijk: Koopman v. Venetië”, 1. 3. 16.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, poverty and wealth, order/society, fate/destiny

I will counterfeit the bewitchment of some popular man and give it bountiful to the desirers

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
FOURTH CITIZEN
You have deserved nobly of your country, and you
have not deserved nobly.
CORIOLANUS
Your enigma?
FOURTH CITIZEN
You have been a scourge to her enemies, you have
been a rod to her friends; you have not indeed loved
the common people.
CORIOLANUS
You should account me the more virtuous that I have
not been common in my love. I will, sir, flatter my
sworn brother, the people, to earn a dearer
estimation of them; ’tis a condition they account
gentle: and since the wisdom of their choice is
rather to have my hat than my heart, I will practise
the insinuating nod and be off to them most
counterfeitly; that is, sir, I will counterfeit the
bewitchment of some popular man and give it
bountiful to the desirers. Therefore, beseech you,
I may be consul.
FIFTH CITIZEN
We hope to find you our friend; and therefore give
you our voices heartily.
FOURTH CITIZEN
You have received many wounds for your country.
CORIOLANUS
I will not seal your knowledge with showing them. I
will make much of your voices, and so trouble you no
further.

DUTCH:
En daar zij, in de wijsheid-schap, die hunner keus, van mijn hoed meer gediend zijn dan van mijn hart, wil ik het innemend knikken beoefenen en zooveel mogelijk door naaiping met hen op goeden voet zien te komen; dat wil zeggen, vriend, ik wil de tooverkunsten van den een of anderen volkslieveling naapen, en daar mild mee zijn jegens ieder, die er van gediend is.

MORE:
Enigma=Riddle
Scourge=Torment
Rod=Punishment
Account=Consider, reckon
Dearer=Better
Hat=Cap-doffing
Counterfeit=Imitate
Bewitchment=Charms
Voices=Votes
Seal your knowledge=Confirm what you know
Compleat:
Scourge=Geessel; plaag, pest
To scourge=Kastyden
To account=Rekenen, achten
To doff=Afligen, afdoen
Counterfeit=Naamaaksel, falsch
Bewitching=Betovering
Voice=Stem, recht van stemmen

Topics: honour, loyalty, appearance, deceit, manipulation

I will not do’t, lest I surcease to honour mine own truth

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Well, I must do’t:
Away, my disposition, and possess me
Some harlot’s spirit! my throat of war be turn’d,
Which quired with my drum, into a pipe
Small as an eunuch, or the virgin voice
That babies lulls asleep! the smiles of knaves
Tent in my cheeks, and schoolboys’ tears take up
The glasses of my sight! a beggar’s tongue
Make motion through my lips, and my arm’d knees,
Who bow’d but in my stirrup, bend like his
That hath received an alms! I will not do’t,
Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth
And by my body’s action teach my mind
A most inherent baseness.
VOLUMNIA
At thy choice, then:
To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour
Than thou of them. Come all to ruin; let
Thy mother rather feel thy pride than fear
Thy dangerous stoutness, for I mock at death
With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list
Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck’dst it from me,
But owe thy pride thyself.

DUTCH:
Neen, ‘k wil ‘t niet doen,
Ik zou mijns harten waarheid zelf onteeren,
En door mijns lichaams kromming ook mijn geest
Tot eeuw’ge laagheid doemen.

MORE:
Tent=Camp
Surcease=Cease
Stoutness=Stubbornness
Compleat:
Surcease=Ophouden, staaken
Stoutness=(stiffness or sturdiness) Styfheid, onverzettelykheid, steiloorigheid

Topics: communication, persuasion, truth, pride

I will practise the insinuating nod and be off to them most counterfeitly; that is, sir, I will counterfeit the bewitchment of some popular man and give it
bountiful to the desirers

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Pray you now, if it may stand with the tune of your
voices that I may be consul, I have here the
customary gown.
FOURTH CITIZEN
You have deserved nobly of your country, and you
have not deserved nobly.
CORIOLANUS
Your enigma?
FOURTH CITIZEN
You have been a scourge to her enemies, you have
been a rod to her friends; you have not indeed loved
the common people.
CORIOLANUS
You should account me the more virtuous that I have
not been common in my love. I will, sir, flatter my
sworn brother, the people, to earn a dearer
estimation of them; ’tis a condition they account
gentle: and since the wisdom of their choice is
rather to have my hat than my heart, I will practise
the insinuating nod and be off to them most
counterfeitly; that is, sir, I will counterfeit the
bewitchment of some popular man and give it
bountiful to the desirers. Therefore, beseech you,
I may be consul.
FIFTH CITIZEN
We hope to find you our friend; and therefore give
you our voices heartily.

MORE:
A dearer estimation of them=That they will think more of me, hold me in higher esteem
Be off to them=Doff my cap to them
Counterfeitly=Feigning respect
Condition=Quality, trait
Gentle=Noble, polite
Popular man=A man who courts popular favour
Bountiful=Liberally
Compleat:
Gentle=Aardig, edelmoedig
Counterfeit=Valsch
Popular=By ‘t gemeene volk bemind, wel by ‘t volk gewild, gemeenzaam
He was a popular man=Hy was een man die wel by ‘t volk gewild was; die zig naar ‘t volk voegde, of die de gunst des volks zocht te verkrygen.

Topics: status, deceit, appearance, order/society, authority, manipulation

I would crave a word or two, the which shall turn you to no further harm than so much loss of time

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
If, by the tribunes’ leave, and yours, good people,
I may be heard, I would crave a word or two,
The which shall turn you to no further harm
Than so much loss of time.
SICINIUS
Speak briefly then,
For we are peremptory to dispatch
This viperous traitor. To eject him hence
Were but one danger, and to keep him here
Our certain death. Therefore it is decreed
He dies tonight.

DUTCH:
.
Zoo gij, tribunen, en
Gij, goede burgers, mij gehoor verleent,
Vraag ik: vergunt me een woord of twee; zij kosten
U verder niets dan wat verloren tijd.

MORE:
Viperous (venomous, malignant) was a common source of metaphor in Elizabethan writing.
Peremptory=Resolved, determined
Compleat:
Peremptory=Volstrekt, uitvoering, volkomen, uiteindig

Topics: anger, punishment, language, patience

I would have had you put your power well on, before you had worn it out

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Let them puff all about mine ears, present me
Death on the wheel or at wild horses’ heels,
Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock,
That the precipitation might down stretch
Below the beam of sight, yet will I still
Be thus to them.
A PATRICIAN
You do the nobler.
CORIOLANUS
I muse my mother
Does not approve me further, who was wont
To call them woollen vassals, things created
To buy and sell with groats, to show bare heads
In congregations, to yawn, be still and wonder,
When one but of my ordinance stood up
To speak of peace or war. I talk of you:
Why did you wish me milder? would you have me
False to my nature? Rather say I play
The man I am.
VOLUMNIA
O, sir, sir, sir,
I would have had you put your power well on,
Before you had worn it out.

DUTCH:
Hadt gij uw eervol machtkleed aangedaan,
Aleer gij ‘t hadt versleten!

MORE:
Precipitation=Being thrown headlong off the rock
I muse=I am astonished, I wonder
Woollen vassals=Slaves dressed in rough, coarse clothing
Groats=Pence
Ordinance=Order, rank
Compleat:
To precipitate=(throw down) Plotseling van boven neer storten of werpen, haastig voortdryven, onbedachtelyk verhaasten
Muse=Bepeinzen
Vassal=Leenman, onderdaan
Ordinance=Inzetting, instelling

Topics: authority, appearance, deceit, status

I would he had! ‘Twas you incensed the rabble

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
Bastards and all.
Good man, the wounds that he does bear for Rome!
MENENIUS
Come, come, peace.
SICINIUS
I would he had continued to his country
As he began, and not unknit himself
The noble knot he made.
BRUTUS
I would he had.
VOLUMNIA
‘I would he had’! ‘Twas you incensed the rabble:
Cats, that can judge as fitly of his worth
As I can of those mysteries which heaven
Will not have earth to know.

DUTCH:

MORE:
Cats=Insult, similar to ‘curs’
Fitly=With propriety, reasonably, well
Compleat:
Fitly=Bekwaamlyk

Topics: merit, ruin, manipulation

I would not buy their mercy at the price of one fair word

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
I know no further:
Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
Vagabond exile, raying, pent to linger
But with a grain a day, I would not buy
Their mercy at the price of one fair word;
Nor chcek my courage for what they can give,
To have’t with saying ‘Good morrow.’
SICINIUS
For that he has,
As much as in him lies, from time to time
Envied against the people, seeking means
To pluck away their power, as now at last
Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence
Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers
That do distribute it; in the name o’ the people
And in the power of us the tribunes, we,
Even from this instant, banish him our city,
In peril of precipitation
From off the rock Tarpeian never more
To enter our Rome gates: i’ the people’s name,
I say it shall be so.
CITIZENS
It shall be so, it shall be so; let him away:
He’s banish’d, and it shall be so.
COMINIUS
Hear me, my masters, and my common friends,—
SICINIUS
He’s sentenced; no more hearing.

DUTCH:
Ik zou mij hun genade
Niet koopen tot den prijs van één goed woord,
Mijn hart niet dwingen om een gunst van hen,
Al waar’ zij voor een „Goeden morgen” veil.

Topics: mercy

I would the gods had nothing else to do but to confirm my curses!

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Pray, let us go.
VOLUMNIA
Now, pray, sir, get you gone:
You have done a brave deed. Ere you go, hear this:—
As far as doth the Capitol exceed
The meanest house in Rome, so far my son—
This lady’s husband here, this, do you see—
Whom you have banish’d, does exceed you all.
BRUTUS
Well, well, we’ll leave you.
SICINIUS
Why stay we to be baited
With one that wants her wits?
VOLUMNIA
Take my prayers with you.
I would the gods had nothing else to do
But to confirm my curses! Could I meet ’em
But once a-day, it would unclog my heart
Of what lies heavy to’t.
MENENIUS
You have told them home;
And, by my troth, you have cause. You’ll sup with me?

DUTCH:
O ware thans het eenig werk der goden
Mijn vloeken te bezeeg’len! — Trof ik hen
Slechts eenmaal daags, het zou mijn hart verlichten
Van wat het drukt!

MORE:
Meanest=Poorest
Told them home=Rebuked
Sup=Dine
Compleat:
Mean=Gering, slecht
A discourse fitted to the meanest capacity=Een redenvoering die de eenvoudigste kunnen bevatten
To sup=Avondmaalen

Topics: poverty and wealth, order/society

I’ll give my reasons, more worthier than their voices

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Why, shall the people give
One that speaks thus their voice?
CORIOLANUS
I’ll give my reasons,
More worthier than their voices. They know the corn
Was not our recompense, resting well assured
That ne’er did service for’t: being press’d to the war,
Even when the navel of the state was touch’d,
They would not thread the gates. This kind of service
Did not deserve corn gratis. Being i’ the war
Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they show’d
Most valour, spoke not for them: the accusation
Which they have often made against the senate,
All cause unborn, could never be the motive
Of our so frank donation. Well, what then?
How shall this bisson multitude digest
The senate’s courtesy? Let deeds express
What’s like to be their words: ‘we did request it;
We are the greater poll, and in true fear
They gave us our demands.’ Thus we debase
The nature of our seats and make the rabble
Call our cares fears; which will in time
Break ope the locks o’ the senate and bring in
The crows to peck the eagles.
MENENIUS
Come, enough.

DUTCH:
k Zal mijn reed’nen geven,
Meer waard dan al zijn stemmen

MORE:
Recompense=Payment for service
Pressed=Impressed (into military service)
Thread=Pass through
All cause unborn=With no justification
Frank=Generous
Bisson=Purblind
Debase=Degrade
Greater poll=Majority
Compleat:
Press (or force) soldiers=Soldaaten pressen, dat is hen dwingen om dienst te neemen
Recompense=Vergelding, beloning
Sometimes=Somtyds
Frank=Vry
Purblind=Stikziende
Debase=Vernederen, verergeren, vervalschen
Poll=Alle de naamen der geenen die een stem in ‘t verkiezen hebben opneemen

Topics: reason, blame, justification

I’ll try whether my old wit be in request with those that have but little: this must be patched with cloth of any colour

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Pray you, be gone:
I’ll try whether my old wit be in request
With those that have but little: this must be patch’d
With cloth of any colour.
COMINIUS
Nay, come away.
A PATRICIAN
This man has marr’d his fortune.
MENENIUS
His nature is too noble for the world:
He would not flatter Neptune for his trident,
Or Jove for’s power to thunder. His heart’s his mouth:
What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent;
And, being angry, does forget that ever
He heard the name of death.

DUTCH:
Hij is voor de aard te grootsch; hij zou Neptunus
Niet om zijn drietand vleien, Jupiter
Niet om zijn dondermacht. Zijn hart en tong
Zijn één; wat de eene smeedt, moet de ander uiten;
En wordt hij toornig, dan vergeet hij steeds,
Dat hij den naam van dood ooit hoorde

MORE:
Proverb: The heart of a fool is in his tongue (mouth)
Proverb: What the heart thinks the tongue speaks

Wit=Sound sense or judgement, understanding. Intelligence
In request=To be of use

Topics: proverbs and idioms, honour, intellect, reason, honesty

If any fear lesser his person than an ill report

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.6
SPEAKER: Marcius
CONTEXT:
MARCIUS
Those are they
That most are willing. If any such be here—
As it were sin to doubt—that love this painting
Wherein you see me smear’d; if any fear
Lesser his person than an ill report;
If any think brave death outweighs bad life
And that his country’s dearer than himself;
Let him alone, or so many so minded,
Wave thus, to express his disposition,
And follow Marcius.
MARCIUS
O, me alone! make you a sword of me?
If these shows be not outward, which of you
But is four Volsces? none of you but is
Able to bear against the great Aufidius
A shield as hard as his. A certain number,
Though thanks to all, must I select from all: the rest
Shall bear the business in some other fight,
As cause will be obey’d. Please you to march;
And four shall quickly draw out my command,
Which men are best inclined.

DUTCH:
Wien deze verf,
Die mij bedekt, behaagt, die meer dan dood
Een vlek ducht op zijn naam, die vast gelooft
Dat heldendood een slavenleven opweegt,

MORE:
Those=The best (soldiers)
Ill report=Shame, a damaged reputation
Dearer=Worth more
Disposition=Inclination
Outward=Superficial
Able to bear against=A match for, can withstand
Draw out my command=Select my army
Compleat:
Report (rumour)=Gerucht, praat
Dear=Waard, lief, dierbaar, dier
Disposition of mind=Gesteltenis van gemoed
Outward=Uytwendig, uyterlyk

Topics: reputation, courage, legacy

If e’er again I meet him beard to beard, he’s mine or I am his

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Tullus Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
The town is ta’en!
FIRST SOLDIER
‘Twill be deliver’d back on good condition.
AUFIDIUS
Condition!
I would I were a Roman; for I cannot,
Being a Volsce, be that I am. Condition!
What good condition can a treaty find
I’ the part that is at mercy? Five times, Marcius,
I have fought with thee: so often hast thou beat me,
And wouldst do so, I think, should we encounter
As often as we eat. By the elements,
If e’er again I meet him beard to beard,
He’s mine, or I am his: mine emulation
Hath not that honour in’t it had; for where
I thought to crush him in an equal force,
True sword to sword, I’ll potch at him some way
Or wrath or craft may get him.
FIRST SOLDIER
He’s the devil.

DUTCH:
Bij de goden,
Als ik hem ooit weer, baard aan baard, mag staan,
Dan valle hij of ik!

MORE:
Emulation=Endeavour or ambition to equal or excel, envious rivalry
Potch=Poach; thrust
Compleat:
Emulation=Volgzucht, afgunst
Potch=Eieren zacht kooken

Topics: dispute, emotion and mood

If I should tell thee o’er this thy day’s work, thou’ldst not believe thy deeds

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.9
SPEAKER: Cominius
CONTEXT:
COMINIUS
If I should tell thee o’er this thy day’s work,
Thou’ldst not believe thy deeds: but I’ll report it
Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles,
Where great patricians shall attend and shrug,
I’ the end admire, where ladies shall be frighted,
And, gladly quaked, hear more; where the dull tribunes,
That, with the fusty plebeians, hate thine honours,
Shall say against their hearts ‘We thank the gods
Our Rome hath such a soldier.’
Yet camest thou to a morsel of this feast,
Having fully dined before.

DUTCH:
Verhaalde ik u, wat gij op heden deedt,
Gelooven zoudt ge uw daden niet. Ik meld het,
Waar Senatoren lachend tranen storten,
Patriciërs luist’ren zullen, eerst de schouders
Optrekkend, maar in ‘t eind bewond’rend.

MORE:
Against their hearts=Unwillingly
Gladly quaked=Enjoy being frightened, thrown into grateful trepidation
Fusty=Smelling of mould
Compleat:
Fusty=Muffig, muf, vermuft.
To have a fusty smell=Een vunze lucht hebben

Topics: achievement, courage, respect

If the drink you give me touch my palate adversely I make a crooked face at it

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Why, then you should discover a brace of
unmeriting, proud, violent, testy magistrates, alias
fools, as any in Rome.
SICINIUS
Menenius, you are known well enough, too.
MENENIUS
I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one that
loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying
Tiber in’t; said to be something imperfect in
favouring the first complaint; hasty and tinder-like
upon too trivial motion; one that converses more
with the buttock of the night than with the forehead
of the morning: what I think I utter, and spend my
malice in my breath. Meeting two such wealsmen as
you are—I cannot call you Lycurguses—if the drink
you give me touch my palate adversely, I make a
crooked face at it. I can’t say your worships have
delivered the matter well, when I find the ass in
compound with the major part of your syllables: and
though I must be content to bear with those that say
you are reverend grave men, yet they lie deadly that
tell you you have good faces. If you see this in
the map of my microcosm, follows it that I am known
well enough too? what barm can your bisson
conspectuities glean out of this character, if I be
known well enough too?

DUTCH:
Als ik twee zulke staatslieden als gij zijt, — Lycurgussen kan ik u niet noemen, — ontmoet, en gij mij een dronk aanbiedt, die mijn gehemelte onaangenaam aandoet, dan trek ik er een scheef gezicht bij.

MORE:
Humorous=Capricious, whimsical
Converses more=Is more conversant with
Too trivial motion=Too trifling a provocation
Spend my malice in my breath=Vent my anger in words
Weal=(1) Welfare, prosperity, happiness; (2) Commonwealth, body politic
Wealsmen=Legislators
Testy=Easily angry, fretful, peevish
Motion=Incitement
Delivered=Spoken, presented
Good faces=(1) Honest faces; (2) Handsome faces
Reverend=Entitled to respect, venerable
Bisson (beesom)=Purblind
Conspectuities=Sight, vision
Glean=Conclude, infer
Map of my microcosm=Face
Compleat:
To deliver (or speak out in discourse)=Een redevoering doen
Purblind=Stikziende
The common-weal=’t Welvaaren van ‘t algemeen
A common-wealths man=Een republyks gezinde
Testy=Korzel, kribbig, gramsteurig, gemelyk
Crooked=Krom, geboogen, scheef

Topics: respect, authority, intellect, value, adversity

If the wars eat us not up, they will; and there’s all the love they bear us

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: First Citizen
CONTEXT:
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.
FIRST CITIZEN
Care for us! True, indeed! They ne’er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there’s all the love they bear us.

DUTCH:
Als de oorlog ons niet opeet, dan doen zij het; en dat is al hunne liefde jegens ons.

MORE:
Piercing statutes=Biting laws (See Measure for Measure, 1.3)
True indeed=Ironical
Edicts for usury=Laws, decrees for money-lending
Wholesome=Suitable, beneficial
Eat us up=To devour, to consume, to waste, to destroy
Suffer=To bear, to allow, to let, not to hinder
Compleat:
To pierce=Doorbooren, doordringen
Edict=Een gebod, bevel, afkondiging
Wholesom=Gezond, heylzaam, heelzaam
Eat up=Opeeten, vernielen
Suffer=Toelaten

Topics: poverty and wealth, order/society, punishment, equality

If you do hold the same intent wherein you wish’d us parties, we’ll deliver you of your great danger

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.6
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
Go tell the lords o’ the city I am here:
Deliver them this paper: having read it,
Bid them repair to the market place; where I,
Even in theirs and in the commons’ ears,
Will vouch the truth of it. Him I accuse
The city ports by this hath enter’d and
Intends to appear before the people, hoping
To purge himself with words: dispatch.
AUFIDIUS
Most welcome!
FIRST CONSPIRATOR
How is it with our general?
AUFIDIUS
Even so
As with a man by his own alms empoison’d,
And with his charity slain.
SECOND CONSPIRATOR
Most noble sir,
If you do hold the same intent wherein
You wish’d us parties, we’ll deliver you
Of your great danger.

DUTCH:

MORE:
Ports=Gates
Purge himself=Restore his reputation
Alms=Given to charity
Compleat:
Port=Een poort van de Stad
Purge=Zuyveren, reynigen
Alms=Aalmoes
Alms-house=Een almoesseniers-huys

Topics: authority, mercy, civility

Is’t possible that so short a time can alter the condition of a man!

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
See you yond coign o’ the Capitol, yond
corner-stone?
SICINIUS
Why, what of that?
MENENIUS
If it be possible for you to displace it with your
little finger, there is some hope the ladies of
Rome, especially his mother, may prevail with him.
But I say there is no hope in’t: our throats are
sentenced and stay upon execution.
SICINIUS
Is’t possible that so short a time can alter the
condition of a man!
MENENIUS
There is differency between a grub and a butterfly;
yet your butterfly was a grub. This Marcius is grown
from man to dragon: he has wings; he’s more than a
creeping thing.

DUTCH:
Is het mogelijk, dat een zoo korte tijd de geaardheid
van een mensch zoo kan veranderen?

MORE:
Yond=Yonder
Coign=Corner
Stay=Wait
Compleat:
Yonder=Ginder
To stay=Wagten

Topics: time, age/experience, punishment

It is held that valour is the chiefest virtue, and most dignifies the haver

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Cominus
CONTEXT:
COMINIUS
I shall lack voice: the deeds of Coriolanus
Should not be utter’d feebly. It is held
That valour is the chiefest virtue, and
Most dignifies the haver: if it be,
The man I speak of cannot in the world
Be singly counterpoised. At sixteen years,
When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought
Beyond the mark of others: our then dictator,
Whom with all praise I point at, saw him fight,
When with his Amazonian chin he drove
The bristled lips before him: be bestrid
An o’er-press’d Roman and i’ the consul’s view
Slew three opposers: Tarquin’s self he met,
And struck him on his knee: in that day’s feats,
When he might act the woman in the scene,
He proved best man i’ the field, and for his meed
Was brow-bound with the oak. His pupil age
Man-enter’d thus, he waxed like a sea,
And in the brunt of seventeen battles since
He lurch’d all swords of the garland. For this last,
Before and in Corioli, let me say,
I cannot speak him home: he stopp’d the fliers;
And by his rare example made the coward
Turn terror into sport: as weeds before
A vessel under sail, so men obey’d
And fell below his stem: his sword, death’s stamp,
Where it did mark, it took; from face to foot
He was a thing of blood, whose every motion
Was timed with dying cries: alone he enter’d
The mortal gate of the city, which he painted
With shunless destiny; aidless came off,
And with a sudden reinforcement struck
Corioli like a planet: now all’s his:
When, by and by, the din of war gan pierce
His ready sense; then straight his doubled spirit
Re-quicken’d what in flesh was fatigate,
And to the battle came he; where he did
Run reeking o’er the lives of men, as if
‘Twere a perpetual spoil: and till we call’d
Both field and city ours, he never stood
To ease his breast with panting.

DUTCH:
Mijn stem bezwijkt wis; Coriolanus’ daden
Vereischen forsche klanken. — Dapperheid
Is, zegt men, de eerste deugd, die haar bezitter
Het hoogst verheft;

MORE:
Counterpoised=Equalled
Singly=By any single person
Mark=Target, aim
Made a head=Gathered an army
Dictator=Leader (not pejorative)
Amazonian chin=Beardless
O’er-press’d=Conquered
Meed=Reward
Waxed=Grew
Lurched=Robbed
Speak him home=Report his deeds at home
Fliers=Retreating Romans
Weeds=Seaweed
Gan=Began to
Ready=Alert
Fatigate=Tire
Spoil=Pillaging
Compleat:
To counterpoise=Tegenweegen
Mark=Wit, doel, doelwit
To get a-head=Zich vereenigen, of overeenstemmen
Dictator=Opperbevelhebber [by de aloude Romeinen]Meed=Belooning, vergelding, verdiensten
To wax (grow)=Worden
To lurch=Dubbeld in het spel winnen, loeren
He has lurched me=Hy heeft my geloerd; hy heeft my by de neus gehad
To fatigate=Moede maaken, vermoeijen
Spoil=Verwoesten, vernielen; steelen, rooven

Topics: equality, value, courage, merit

It is no little thing to make mine eyes to sweat compassion

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
I was moved withal.
CORIOLANUS
I dare be sworn you were:
And, sir, it is no little thing to make
Mine eyes to sweat compassion. But, good sir,
What peace you’ll make, advise me: for my part,
I’ll not to Rome, I’ll back with you; and pray you,
Stand to me in this cause. O mother! wife!
AUFIDIUS
I am glad thou hast set thy mercy and thy honour
At difference in thee: out of that I’ll work
Myself a former fortune.
CORIOLANUS
Ay, by and by;
But we will drink together; and you shall bear
A better witness back than words, which we,
On like conditions, will have counter-seal’d.
Come, enter with us. Ladies, you deserve
To have a temple built you: all the swords
In Italy, and her confederate arms,
Could not have made this peace.

DUTCH:
Ik zweer er op, dit waart gij;
En, man, ‘t is niets gerings, te maken, dat
Mijn oog erbarmen drupt.

MORE:
Make eyes to sweat compassion=Cry, force tears
Work myself=Gain for myself
Former fortune=Fortune as before
Countersealed=Both ratified
Confederate=United
Compleat:
To move to compassion=Tot medelyden beweegen
Confederate=Een bondgenoot, bondverwant, metverwant

Topics: pity, emotion and mood, dispute, remedy, respect

It was an answer: how apply you this?

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: First Citizen
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Note me this, good friend;
Your most grave belly was deliberate,
Not rash like his accusers, and thus answer’d:
‘True is it, my incorporate friends,’ quoth he,
‘That I receive the general food at first,
Which you do live upon; and fit it is,
Because I am the store-house and the shop
Of the whole body: but, if you do remember,
I send it through the rivers of your blood,
Even to the court, the heart, to the seat o’ the brain;
And, through the cranks and offices of man,
The strongest nerves and small inferior veins
From me receive that natural competency
Whereby they live: and though that all at once,
You, my good friends,’—this says the belly, mark me,—
FIRST CITIZEN
Ay, sir; well, well.
MENENIUS
Though all at once cannot
See what I do deliver out to each,
Yet I can make my audit up, that all
From me do back receive the flour of all,
And leave me but the bran.’ What say you to’t?
FIRST CITIZEN
It was an answer: how apply you this?

DUTCH:
Een antwoord was het. Maar hoe past gij ‘t toe?

MORE:
Piercing statutes=Biting laws (See Measure for Measure, 1.3)
True indeed=Ironical
Edicts for usury=Laws, decrees for money-lending
Wholesome=Suitable, beneficial
Eat us up=To devour, to consume, to waste, to destroy
Suffer=To bear, to allow, to let, not to hinder
Compleat:
Usury=Woeker
To lend upon usury=Op rente leenen
Wholesom=Gezond, heylzaam, heelzaam
To pierce=Doorbooren, doordringen
Edict=Een gebod, bevel, afkondiging
Eat up=Opeeten, vernielen
Suffer=Toelaten

Topics: blame, nature, order/society, reply

Ladies, you deserve to have a temple built you: all the swords in Italy, and her confederate arms, could not have made this peace

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
I was moved withal.
CORIOLANUS
I dare be sworn you were:
And, sir, it is no little thing to make
Mine eyes to sweat compassion. But, good sir,
What peace you’ll make, advise me: for my part,
I’ll not to Rome, I’ll back with you; and pray you,
Stand to me in this cause. O mother! wife!
AUFIDIUS
I am glad thou hast set thy mercy and thy honour
At difference in thee: out of that I’ll work
Myself a former fortune.
CORIOLANUS
Ay, by and by;
But we will drink together; and you shall bear
A better witness back than words, which we,
On like conditions, will have counter-seal’d.
Come, enter with us. Ladies, you deserve
To have a temple built you: all the swords
In Italy, and her confederate arms,
Could not have made this peace.

DUTCH:
Gij verdient, o vrouwen!
Dat u ter eer een tempel word’ gesticht.
Want Rome had met al zijn bondgenooten
Door ‘t zwaard dien vrede niet erlangd!

MORE:
Witness=Testimony, attestation
Countersealed=Ratified together
Like=Similar
Compleat:
To bear witness=Getuigen, getuigenis geeven

Topics: conflict, resolution, respect

Let her alone, lady: as she is now, she will but disease our better mirth

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Valeria
CONTEXT:
VALERIA
Verily, I do not jest with you; there came news from
him last night.
VIRGILIA
Indeed, madam?
VALERIA
In earnest, it’s true; I heard a senator speak it.
Thus it is: the Volsces have an army forth; against
whom Cominius the general is gone, with one part of
our Roman power: your lord and Titus Lartius are set
down before their city Corioli; they nothing doubt
prevailing and to make it brief wars. This is true,
on mine honour; and so, I pray, go with us.
VIRGILIA
Give me excuse, good madam; I will obey you in every
thing hereafter.
VOLUMNIA
Let her alone, lady: as she is now, she will but
disease our better mirth.
VALERIA
In troth, I think she would. Fare you well, then.
Come, good sweet lady. Prithee, Virgilia, turn thy
solemness out o’ door. and go along with us.

DUTCH:
Laat haar maar, Valeria! Zooals zij nu is, zou zij onze
opgeruimde stemming maar bederven.

MORE:
Set down=Establish a position
Prevailing=Winning
Brief wars=To keep the conflict short
Disease=Spoil
Better mirth=High spirits
Compleat:
Set down=Stellen
Prevailing=Overwinning; overtuigend, krachtig, dringend; overheerschend
Brief=Kort
To disease=Ongemak aandoen
Mirth=Vrolykheyd, geneugte

Topics: news, conflict

Let me o’erleap that custom

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
The senate, Coriolanus, are well pleased
To make thee consul.
CORIOLANUS
I do owe them still
My life and services.
MENENIUS
It then remains
That you do speak to the people.
CORIOLANUS
I do beseech you,
Let me o’erleap that custom, for I cannot
Put on the gown, stand naked and entreat them,
For my wounds’ sake, to give their suffrage: please you
That I may pass this doing.
SICINIUS
Sir, the people
Must have their voices; neither will they bate
One jot of ceremony.
MENENIUS
Put them not to’t:
Pray you, go fit you to the custom and
Take to you, as your predecessors have,
Your honour with your form.

DUTCH:
Stel mij, bid ik,
Van die gewoonte vrij; ik kan dat kleed
Niet aandoen, niet ontbloot staan,, hen niet smeeken,
Ter wille van mijn wonden, om hun stemmen;
ik bid u, laat mij vrij.

MORE:
O’erleap=Skip
Gown=Gown of humility (candidates for public office in Rome wore plain white togas)
Suffrage=Votes
Bate=Curtail
Jot=Moment, small part
Put them not to ‘t=Don’t push them
Form=Formalities (also showing body through the gown, displaying scars as sign of honour)
Compleat:
To leap over=Overspringen
Suffrage=Een stem, keurstem
Bate=Verminderen, afkorten, afslaan
Jot=Zier
To put to=Opdringen, toedringen
Form=Fatzoen, figuur, gestalte, formaat; manier, wyze

Topics: authority, work, custom

Let them accuse me by invention, I will answer in mine honour

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
COMINIUS
Away! the tribunes do attend you: arm yourself
To answer mildly; for they are prepared
With accusations, as I hear, more strong
Than are upon you yet.
CORIOLANUS
The word is ‘mildly.’ Pray you, let us go:
Let them accuse me by invention, I
Will answer in mine honour.
MENENIUS
Ay, but mildly.
CORIOLANUS
Well, mildly be it then. Mildly!

DUTCH:
t Parool is: vriend’lijk. — Kom dan, laat ons gaan;
Dat zij met leugens mij bezwaren, ik
Zal waar en waardig zijn.

MORE:
Arm=Prepare
By invention=Invented (accusations)
Compleat:
To arm=Wapenen, toerusten
Invented=Verzonnen, bedacht
He invented that lye to try you=Hy smeedde dien leugen om u te beproeven

Topics: preparation, blame, defence

Let them if I say fine, cry ‘fine’; if death, cry ‘death’

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
Have you a catalogue
Of all the voices that we have procured
Set down by the poll?
AEDILE
I have; ’tis ready.
SICINIUS
Have you collected them by tribes?
AEDILE
I have.
SICINIUS
Assemble presently the people hither;
And when they bear me say ‘It shall be so
I’ the right and strength o’ the commons,’ be it either
For death, for fine, or banishment, then let them
If I say fine, cry ‘Fine;’ if death, cry death.’
Insisting on the old prerogative
And power i’ the truth o’ the cause.
AEDILE
I shall inform them.
BRUTUS
And when such time they have begun to cry,
Let them not cease, but with a din confused
Enforce the present execution
Of what we chance to sentence.

DUTCH:
Roep het volk dan daad’lijk hier;
En hooren zij mij zeggen: „Zoo zal ‘t zijn,
Naar recht en eisch van ‘t volk,” hetzij een boete,
Dood of verbanning, laat hen „boete” roepen
Wanneer ik „boete” zeg; „dood “, zeg ik „dood”
Dit vord’rend krachtens onze aloude rechten
En onze goede zaak.

MORE:
Catalogue=Record
Voices=Votes
By the poll=By name
Tribes=Votes were cast by tribe (each tribe having one vote for the favoured person of that tribe)
Old prerogative=Traditional right
Compleat:
Catalogue=Een lyst, naamrol, naamlyst, register
Voice=Stem, recht van stemmen
Poll=Alle de naamen der geenen die een stem in ‘t verkiezen hebben opneemen
Tribe=(A kindred or company of people that dwells together in the same ward or liberty): Stam, gedeete van een gantsch volk; soort
Prerogative=Een voorrecht

Burgersdijk notes:
En naar de wijken opgemaakt, nietwaar? In ‘t Engelsch: Have you collected then by tribes? Plutarchus moge hier opheldering geven: And first of all, the tribunes would in any case (whatsoever came of it) that the people should proceed to give their voices by tribes, and not by hundreds, for by this means the multitude of the poor needy people — — came to be of greater force — because their voices were numbered by the poll — than the noble honest citizens etc.

Topics: leadership, independence, free will, intellect

Like a dull actor now, I have forgot my part

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
VIRGILIA
The sorrow that delivers us thus changed
Makes you think so.
CORIOLANUS
Like a dull actor now,
I have forgot my part, and I am out,
Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh,
Forgive my tyranny; but do not say
For that ‘Forgive our Romans.’ O, a kiss
Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!
Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss
I carried from thee, dear; and my true lip
Hath virgin’d it e’er since. You gods! I prate,
And the most noble mother of the world
Leave unsaluted: sink, my knee, i’ the earth;
VOLUMNIA
O, stand up blest!
Whilst, with no softer cushion than the flint,
I kneel before thee; and unproperly
Show duty, as mistaken all this while
Between the child and parent.

DUTCH:
Als een verbijsterd speler
Ken ik mijn rol niet meer, blijf steken, sta hier
Tot ieders spot.

MORE:
Proverb: Revenge is sweet

Disgrace=A state of being abashed, of being exposed to contempt; discredit
Tyranny=Cruelty
Dull=Not bright, dim, clouded; awkward, stupid
Compleat:
Disgrace (discredit, dishonour or reproach)=Smaadheid, schande, hoon
Tyranny=Geweldenary, tyranny, dwingelandy
Dull=Lui, traag; lomp, ongevoelig
A dull wit=Een dof verstand

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

More of your conversation would infect my brain

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Come, come, you are well understood to be a
perfecter giber for the table than a necessary
bencher in the Capitol.
MENENIUS
Our very priests must become mockers, if they shall
encounter such ridiculous subjects as you are. When
you speak best unto the purpose, it is not worth the
wagging of your beards; and your beards deserve not
so honourable a grave as to stuff a botcher’s
cushion, or to be entombed in an ass’s packsaddle.
Yet you must be saying, Marcius is proud;
who in a cheap estimation, is worth predecessors
since Deucalion, though peradventure some of the
best of ’em were hereditary hangmen. God-den to
your worships: more of your conversation would
infect my brain, being the herdsmen of the beastly
plebeians: I will be bold to take my leave of you.

DUTCH:
Nu, ik wensch uw’ edelbeden goeden avond; mij meer met u in te laten, mocht mijn hersens besmetten.

MORE:
The wagging of your beards=The effort of speaking
Cheap estimation=Lowest possible valuation
Peradventure=Perhaps
Mocker=Scoffer
Botcher=One who mends and patches old clothes (See Twelfth Night, 1.5)
God-den=Good evening (God give you good even.)
Beastly=Coarse, bestial
Plebeians=The common people of ancient Rome
Compleat:
Mocker=Bespotter, schimper, spotvogel
Wagging=Schudding, waggeling
Botcher=Een lapper, knoeijer, boetelaar, broddelaar
Peradventure=Bygeval, misschien
Beastly=Onbeschoft, morsig

Topics: insult, intellect, status, respect

Must I with base tongue give my noble heart a lie that it must bear?

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
COMINIUS
I think ’twill serve, if he
Can thereto frame his spirit.
VOLUMNIA
He must, and will
Prithee now, say you will, and go about it.
CORIOLANUS
Must I go show them my unbarbed sconce?
Must I with base tongue give my noble heart
A lie that it must bear? Well, I will do’t:
Yet, were there but this single plot to lose,
This mould of Marcius, they to dust should grind it
And throw’t against the wind. To the market-place!
You have put me now to such a part which never
I shall discharge to the life.
COMINIUS
Come, come, we’ll prompt you.
VOLUMNIA
I prithee now, sweet son, as thou hast said
My praises made thee first a soldier, so,
To have my praise for this, perform a part
Thou hast not done before.

DUTCH:
Mijn afgetuigde kruin hun laten zien?
Met laffe tong mijn edel hart een leugen
Te torsen geven?

MORE:
Unbarbed sconce=Bare-headed
Single plot=Body
Discharge to the life=Perform convincingly
Compleat:
Barbed=Geschooren, gepotst; gebaard
To discharge one’s self from a great Obligation=Zich zelf van eene groote verplichting ontslaan

Topics: custom, perception, persuasion, authority

My affairs are servanted to others

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
How! away!
CORIOLANUS
Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs
Are servanted to others: though I owe
My revenge properly, my remission lies
In Volscian breasts. That we have been familiar,
Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison, rather
Than pity note how much. Therefore, be gone.
Mine ears against your suits are stronger than
Your gates against my force. Yet, for I loved thee,
Take this along; I writ it for thy sake
And would have rent it. Another word, Menenius,
I will not hear thee speak. This man, Aufidius,
Was my beloved in Rome: yet thou behold’st!
AUFIDIUS
You keep a constant temper.
FIRST SENTINEL
Now, sir, is your name Menenius?
SECOND SENTINEL
‘Tis a spell, you see, of much power: you know the
way home again.
FIRST SENTINEL
Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your
greatness back?
SECOND SENTINEL
What cause, do you think, I have to swoon?
MENENIUS
I neither care for the world nor your general: for
such things as you, I can scarce think there’s any,
ye’re so slight. He that hath a will to die by
himself fears it not from another: let your general
do his worst. For you, be that you are, long; and
your misery increase with your age! I say to you,
as I was said to, Away!
FIRST “MENENIUS
How! away!
CORIOLANUS
Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs
Are servanted to others: though I owe
My revenge properly, my remission lies
In Volscian breasts. That we have been familiar,
Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison, rather
Than pity note how much. Therefore, be gone.
Mine ears against your suits are stronger than
Your gates against my force. Yet, for I loved thee,
Take this along; I writ it for thy sake
And would have rent it. Another word, Menenius,
I will not hear thee speak. This man, Aufidius,
Was my beloved in Rome: yet thou behold’st!
AUFIDIUS
You keep a constant temper.
FIRST SENTINEL
Now, sir, is your name Menenius?
SECOND SENTINEL
‘Tis a spell, you see, of much power: you know the
way home again.
FIRST SENTINEL
Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your
greatness back?
SECOND SENTINEL
What cause, do you think, I have to swoon?
MENENIUS
I neither care for the world nor your general: for
such things as you, I can scarce think there’s any,
ye’re so slight. He that hath a will to die by
himself fears it not from another: let your general
do his worst. For you, be that you are, long; and
your misery increase with your age! I say to you,
as I was said to, Away!
FIRST SENATOR
A noble fellow, I warrant him.
SECOND “MENENIUS
How? Away!
CORIOLANUS
Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs
Are servanted to others: though I owe
My revenge properly, my remission lies
In Volscian breasts. That we have been familiar,
Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison, rather
Than pity note how much. Therefore, be gone.
Mine ears against your suits are stronger than
Your gates against my force. Yet, for I loved thee,
Take this along; I writ it for thy sake
And would have rent it. Another word, Menenius,
I will not hear thee speak. This man, Aufidius,
Was my beloved in Rome: yet thou behold’st!
AUFIDIUS
You keep a constant temper.
FIRST SENTINEL
Now, sir, is your name Menenius?
SECOND SENTINEL
‘Tis a spell, you see, of much power: you know the
way home again.
FIRST SENTINEL
Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your
greatness back?
SECOND SENTINEL
What cause, do you think, I have to swoon?
MENENIUS
I neither care for the world nor your general: for
such things as you, I can scarce think there’s any,
ye’re so slight. He that hath a will to die by
himself fears it not from another: let your general
do his worst. For you, be that you are, long; and
your misery increase with your age! I say to you,
as I was said to, Away!
FIRST SENTINEL
A noble fellow, I warrant him.
SECOND SENTINEL
The worthy fellow is our general: he’s the rock, the
oak not to be wind-shaken.”

DUTCH:
Vrouw, moeder, zoon, ik ken die niet. Mijn doen
Is and’ren dienstbaar; zij mijn wraak ook mijn,
In Volsker boezems woont mijn medelijden.

MORE:
Servanted=Subjected
Owe=Am owed
Remission=Forgiveness
Ingrate=Ungrateful
Rent=Torn up
Compleat:
Remission=Vergiffenis, vergeeving, quytschelding
Rent=Scheur, scheuring

Topics: friendship, pity, revenge

Nature teaches beasts to know their friends

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
The augurer tells me we shall have news to-night.
BRUTUS
Good or bad?
MENENIUS
Not according to the prayer of the people, for they
love not Marcius.
SICINIUS
Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.

DUTCH:
De natuur leert zelfs dieren hunne vrienden te onderscheiden.

MORE:
Augurer=Roman priest who predicted events on the basis of omens
Beasts=Even beasts
Compleat:
Augury=Wichtery, vogelwaarzeggery

Topics: news, nature, friendship

Nay, your wit will not so soon out as another man’s will

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Third Citizen
CONTEXT:
FIRST CITIZEN
And to make us no better thought of, a little help
will serve; for once we stood up about the corn, he
himself stuck not to call us the many-headed multitude.
THIRD CITIZEN
We have been called so of many; not that our heads
are some brown, some black, some auburn, some bald,
but that our wits are so diversely coloured: and
truly I think if all our wits were to issue out of
one skull, they would fly east, west, north, south,
and their consent of one direct way should be at
once to all the points o’ the compass.
SECOND CITIZEN
Think you so? Which way do you judge my wit would
fly?
THIRD CITIZEN
Nay, your wit will not so soon out as another man’s
will; ’tis strongly wedged up in a block-head, but
if it were at liberty, ‘twould, sure, southward.

DUTCH:
Nu, uw verstand kan er niet zoo snel uit als dat van
een ander; het is te stevig in een harden kop vastgeklemd;
maar als het eens vrij was , ging het zeker zuidwaarts.

MORE:
Proverb: A multitude of people is a beast of many heads

Stood up about=Rose up, protested/fought about
Many-headed multitude=Proverbial, referring to ficklemess of the masses
Stuck not=Did not hestitate
Wit=Mental faculty, intellectual power of any kind; understanding, judgment, imagination
Of many=By many
Consent of=Agreement on.
Consent of one direct way=Agreement to go in one direction
If all our wishes…out of one skull=To suppose all their wits to issue from one skull, and that their common consent and agreement to go all one way, should end in their flying to every point of the compass, is a just description of the variety and inconsistency of the opinions, wishes, and actions of the multitude.(M. Mason)
Compleat:
To stand up=Opstaan, verdedigen
Coloured=Geverfd, gekleurd, afgezet, geblanket
With one consent=Eendragtiglyk
Wits=Zinnen, oordeel

Topics: status, poverty and wealth, intellect, independence

Never would he appear i’ the market-place nor on him put the napless vesture of humility

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Then our office may,
During his power, go sleep.
SICINIUS
He cannot temperately transport his honours
From where he should begin and end, but will
Lose those he hath won.
BRUTUS
In that there’s comfort.
SICINIUS
Doubt not
The commoners, for whom we stand, but they
Upon their ancient malice will forget
With the least cause these his new honours, which
That he will give them make I as little question
As he is proud to do’t.
BRUTUS
I heard him swear,
Were he to stand for consul, never would he
Appear i’ the market-place nor on him put
The napless vesture of humility;
Nor showing, as the manner is, his wounds
To the people, beg their stinking breaths.

DUTCH:
Ik hoorde
Hem zweren, dat, dong hij naar ‘t consulschap,
Hij nooit ter markt verschijnen zou, noch ooit
Zich ‘t kale kleed des ootmoeds om zou hangen,
Noch, naar ‘t gebruik, aan ‘t volk zijn wonden toonend,
Hen smeeken om hun vunzige adems.

MORE:
Office=Authority
Go sleep=Be suspended, become ineffective
Temperately=Modestly, calmly
Transport=Bear
Napless=Threadbare, without a nap
Vesture=Garment
Least cause=Slightest excuse
Beg=Seek support from
Compleat:
Office=Een Ampt, dienst
Temperately=Maatiglyk, gemaatigdlyk
Napless=Kaal, daar de wol afgesleeten is
Vesture=Kleeding

Topics: authority, order/society

Nor did you think it folly to keep your great pretences veil’d till when they needs must show themselves

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
‘They have press’d a power, but it is not known
Whether for east or west: the dearth is great;
The people mutinous; and it is rumour’d,
Cominius, Marcius your old enemy,
Who is of Rome worse hated than of you,
And Titus Lartius, a most valiant Roman,
These three lead on this preparation
Whither ’tis bent: most likely ’tis for you:
Consider of it.’
FIRST SENATOR
Our army’s in the field
We never yet made doubt but Rome was ready
To answer us.
AUFIDIUS
Nor did you think it folly
To keep your great pretences veil’d till when
They needs must show themselves; which in the hatching,
It seem’d, appear’d to Rome. By the discovery
We shall be shorten’d in our aim, which was
To take in many towns ere almost Rome
Should know we were afoot.

DUTCH:
En daarom scheen ‘t u wijs,
Uw krijgsplan dicht ‘t omslui’ren, tot het noodig
In ‘t licht moest treden. Doch in ‘t ei reeds, schijnt het,
Heeft Rome ‘t klaar bespeurd

MORE:
Pressed=Conscripted
Power=Army
Whither ’tis bent=Whatever its direction
Folly=Mistake
Pretence=Plan
Shortened in our aim=Temper our ambitions
Take in=Conquer
Compleat:
Press (or force) soldiers=Soldaaten pressen, dat is hen dwingen om dienst te neemen
Whither=Waar na toe, wer waards
Bent=Gezet
Folly=Ondeugd, buitenspoorigheid, onvolmaaktheid
Pretence=Voorgeeving, voorwending, schyn, dekmantel

Topics: conflict, plans/intentions

Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor more than thy fame and envy. Fix thy foot.

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.8
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
MARTIUS
I’ll fight with none but thee; for I do hate thee
Worse than a promise-breaker.
AUFIDIUS
We hate alike:
Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor
More than thy fame and envy. Fix thy foot.
MARTIUS
Let the first budger die the other’s slave,
And the gods doom him after!

DUTCH:
Gelijk is onze haat;
‘k Verfoei geen Afrikaansch gedrocht zoo diep,
Als uw gehaten roem. Sta vast.

MORE:
Proverb: Africa is always producing something new (monsters, serpents)

Budger=One who gives way
Compleat:
Promise-breaker=Een belofte-breeker
To budge=Schudden, omroeren, beweegen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, dispute, envy

Now we have shown our power, let us seem humbler after it is done than when it was a-doing

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
Bid them all home; he’s gone, and we’ll no further.
The nobility are vex’d, whom we see have sided
In his behalf.
BRUTUS
Now we have shown our power,
Let us seem humbler after it is done
Than when it was a-doing.
SICINIUS
Bid them home:
Say their great enemy is gone, and they
Stand in their ancient strength.
BRUTUS
Dismiss them home.

DUTCH:
Wij toonden onze macht;
De zaak is uit; nu makker ons getoond,
Dan toen ze in vollen gang was.

MORE:
Biddings=Orders
Compleat:
Bidding=Gebieding, noodiging
To bid=Gebieden, beveelen, belasten, heeten, noodigen, bieden

Topics: authority, dignity

Now you have left your voices, I have no further with you

DUTCH:
Daarom, uw stemmen!” Toen wij die hem schonken,
Toen heette ‘t: „Dank u voor uw stemmen, — dank u, —
Uw fraaie stemmen; — zoo, nu gaaft ge uw stemmen;
‘k Ben met u klaar.” — Wat dit geen spotternij?

Topics: gullibility, manipulation, honesty, integrity

O good but most unwise patricians!

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
‘Shall’!
O good but most unwise patricians! why,
You grave but reckless senators, have you thus
Given Hydra here to choose an officer,
That with his peremptory ‘shall,’ being but
The horn and noise o’ the monster’s, wants not spirit
To say he’ll turn your current in a ditch,
And make your channel his? If he have power
Then vail your ignorance; if none, awake
Your dangerous lenity. If you are learn’d,
Be not as common fools; if you are not,
Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians,
If they be senators: and they are no less,
When, both your voices blended, the great’st taste
Most palates theirs. They choose their magistrate,
And such a one as he, who puts his ‘shall,’
His popular ‘shall’ against a graver bench
Than ever frown in Greece. By Jove himself!
It makes the consuls base: and my soul aches
To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither supreme, how soon confusion
May enter ‘twixt the gap of both and take
The one by the other.

DUTCH:
O goede, doch kortzichtige adel! achtb’re,
Doch achtelooze senatoren, ziet!
Waarom schonkt ge aan de Hydra hier de keus
Eens ambt’naars,

MORE:
Proverb: As many heads as Hydra
Proverb: Experience is the mistress of fools

The horn and noise=Reference to Triton earlier
Vail your ignorance=”If this man has power, let the ignorance that gave it him vail or bow down before him” (Johnson)
Awake your dangerous lenity=Shake your out of your tolerant attitude
Ignorance=Want of experience and skill, the state of not knowing what to do or how to behave; fault ignorantly committed
Vail=To lower, let fall (From M.English ‘avalen’, French ‘avaler’). (See Taming of the Shrew 5.2, ‘vail your stomacks’, i.e. pride; )
Palate=Taste (Most please the plebeians – popular opinion)
Peremptory=Absolute, positive, so as to cut off all further debate
Hydra=Fig. the multitude
Given=Allowed
Up=On foot, in action
Compleat:
To vail his bonnet to one=Den hoed voor iemand afligten
That won’t fit his palate=Dat zal zyn smaak niet weezen; dt zal met zyn smaak niet overeenkomen
It doth not please my palate=Het smaakt my niet; ik heb er geen smaak in’; ‘t mondt my niet.
Peremptory=Volstrekt, uitvoerig, volkomen, uiteindig

Topics: authority, proverbs and idioms, leadership

O, he’s a limb that has but a disease; mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
He’s a disease that must be cut away.
MENENIUS
O, he’s a limb that has but a disease;
Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy.
What has he done to Rome that’s worthy death?
Killing our enemies, the blood he hath lost—
Which, I dare vouch, is more than that he hath,
By many an ounce—he dropp’d it for his country;
And what is left, to lose it by his country,
Were to us all, that do’t and suffer it,
A brand to the end o’ the world.
SICINIUS
This is clean kam.

DUTCH:
Hij is een edel lid, met een gezwel;
Wegsnijding brengt den dood; en ‘t is genees’lijk.

MORE:
Proverb: To go clean cam (awry)

Mortal=Fatal, deadly
Brand=Mark of infamy, stigma
To the end of the world=Eternal
Kam=Awry, twisted. Crooked. Topsy turvy. Perverse or extraordinary (Irish and Welsh cam)
Compleat:
To cast a brand upon one=Iemands eer brandmerken
Mortal=Sterflyk, doodlyk

Burgersdijk notes:
Gebazel! Het Engelsch heeft This is clean kam. “Dit is geheel verkeerd”, tegen den draad in, à contrepoil.

Topics: remedy, understanding, regret, plans/intentions, proverbs and idioms

O, well begg’d! Were he the butcher of my son, he should be free as is the wind

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.9
SPEAKER: Cominius
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
I sometime lay here in Corioli
At a poor man’s house; he used me kindly:
He cried to me; I saw him prisoner;
But then Aufidius was with in my view,
And wrath o’erwhelm’d my pity: I request you
To give my poor host freedom.
COMINIUS
O, well begg’d!
Were he the butcher of my son, he should
Be free as is the wind. Deliver him, Titus.

DUTCH:
O eed’le bede!
Al had hij mijnen zoon geveld, hij zou
Zoo vrij zijn als de wind. Ontsla hem, Titus!

MORE:
Proverb: As free as the air (wind). Shakespeare refers to this again in AYL (“I must have liberty
Withal, as large a charter as the wind”, 2.7) and The Tempest (“Thou shalt be free
As mountain winds.”, 1.2).

Used=Treated
Sometime lay=Lodged for a while
Compleat:
To use one unkindly=Iemand stuursch bejegenen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, pity, anger

One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail; rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.7
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
All places yield to him ere he sits down;
And the nobility of Rome are his:
The senators and patricians love him too:
The tribunes are no soldiers; and their people
Will be as rash in the repeal, as hasty
To expel him thence. I think he’ll be to Rome
As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it
By sovereignty of nature. First he was
A noble servant to them; but he could not
Carry his honours even: whether ’twas pride,
Which out of daily fortune ever taints
The happy man; whether defect of judgment,
To fail in the disposing of those chances
Which he was lord of; or whether nature,
Not to be other than one thing, not moving
From the casque to the cushion, but commanding peace
Even with the same austerity and garb
As he controll’d the war; but one of these—
As he hath spices of them all, not all,
For I dare so far free him— made him fear’d,
So hated, and so banish’d: but he has a merit,
To choke it in the utterance. So our virtues
Lie in the interpretation of the time:
And power, unto itself most commendable,
Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair
To extol what it hath done.
One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail;
Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail.
Come, let’s away. When, Caius, Rome is thine,
Thou art poor’st of all; then shortly art thou mine.

DUTCH:
Voor nagels wijken nagels, gloed voor gloed;
Door rechten struik’len rechten, moed breekt moed.

MORE:
Proverb: Fire drives out fire (1592)
Proverb: One fire (or one nail or one poison) drives out another.

Casque=Battlefield
Cushion=Senate
Austerity and garb=Modest attire
In the interpretation of the time=Evaluation according to prevailing standards
Unto itself most commendable=Having a very high opinion of itself
Extol=Praise, magnify
Chair=A seat of public authority
Compleat:
Chair of state=Zetel
Extoll=Verheffen, pryzen, looven
To extol one, raise him up to the sky=Iemand tot den Hemel toe verheffen
Highly commendable=Ten hoogste pryselyk

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, merit, virtue, reputation, ruin, remedy

One that converses more with the buttock of the night than with the forehead of the morning

DUTCH:
[M]en geeft mij na, dat
ik wel wat het zwak heb den eersten klager te veel gelijk
te geven, wat driftig ben en tonderachtig bij een al
te geringe aanleiding, meer met het achterdeel van de
nacht, dan met het voorhoofd van den morgen vertrouwd
ben.

Topics: respect, authority, intellect, value, adversity

Only their ends you have respected

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
Only their ends
You have respected; stopp’d your ears against
The general suit of Rome; never admitted
A private whisper, no, not with such friends
That thought them sure of you.
CORIOLANUS
This last old man,
Whom with a crack’d heart I have sent to Rome,
Loved me above the measure of a father;
Nay, godded me, indeed. Their latest refuge
Was to send him; for whose old love I have,
Though I show’d sourly to him, once more offer’d
The first conditions, which they did refuse
And cannot now accept; to grace him only
That thought he could do more, a very little
I have yielded to: fresh embassies and suits,
Nor from the state nor private friends, hereafter
Will I lend ear to. Ha! what shout is this?
Shall I be tempted to infringe my vow
In the same time ’tis made? I will not. (…)

DUTCH:
Slechts hun belang
Hieldt gij in ‘t oog; voor elke bede uit Rome
Sloot gij het oor;

MORE:
Ends=Objectives
Stopped=Closed
Godded=Treated like a god
First conditions=Original terms
Infringe=Violate
Compleat:
End=(aim or design): Voorneemen, oogmerk
To stop=Verstoppen; stuiten, stoppen, verhinderen, beletten
Conditions=Voorwaarden
To infringe=Verbreeken, schenden, overtreeden

Topics: purpose, remedy, advice

Or let us stand to our authority, or let us lose it

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
By the consent of all, we were establish’d
The people’s magistrates.
CITIZENS
You so remain.
MENENIUS
And so are like to do.
COMINIUS
That is the way to lay the city flat;
To bring the roof to the foundation,
And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges,
In heaps and piles of ruin.
SICINIUS
This deserves death.
BRUTUS
Or let us stand to our authority,
Or let us lose it. We do here pronounce,
Upon the part o’ the people, in whose power
We were elected theirs, Marcius is worthy
Of present death.

DUTCH:
Geen and’re keus: wij moeten voor ons ambt
Pal staan of vallen.

MORE:
Proverb: Men (Men’s love), not walls, make the city (prince) safe

Or=Either
Stand to=Exercise, be firm with
Present=Immediate
Compleat:
Magistrate=Overheid, Overheer, Magistraat

Topics: order/society, law/legal dispute, , proverbs and idioms

Purpose so barred, it follows nothing is done to purpose

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Enough, with over-measure.
CORIOLANUS
No, take more:
What may be sworn by, both divine and human,
Seal what I end withal! This double worship,
Where one part does disdain with cause, the other
Insult without all reason, where gentry, title, wisdom,
Cannot conclude but by the yea and no
Of general ignorance,— it must omit
Real necessities, and give way the while
To unstable slightness: purpose so barr’d,
it follows,
Nothing is done to purpose. Therefore, beseech you,—
You that will be less fearful than discreet,
That love the fundamental part of state
More than you doubt the change on’t, that prefer
A noble life before a long, and wish
To jump a body with a dangerous physic
That’s sure of death without it, at once pluck out
The multitudinous tongue; let them not lick
The sweet which is their poison: your dishonour
Mangles true judgment and bereaves the state
Of that integrity which should become’t,
Not having the power to do the good it would,
For the in which doth control’t.
BRUTUS
Has said enough.
SICINIUS
Has spoken like a traitor, and shall answer
As traitors do.
CORIOLANUS
Thou wretch, despite o’erwhelm thee!
What should the people do with these bald tribunes?
On whom depending, their obedience fails
To the greater bench: in a rebellion,
When what’s not meet, but what must be, was law,
Then were they chosen: in a better hour,
Let what is meet be said it must be meet,
And throw their power i’ the dust.

DUTCH:
Dit dubbel staatsbewind, (…) ‘t laat, natuurlijk,
Het noodigst ongedaan, aan vooze wuftheid
Den vrijen loop; geen weg naar ‘t doel is vrij,
Dus wordt geen doel bereikt.

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

Proverb: He lives long that lives well

Over-measure=Excess
Double worship=Divided allegiance
Nothing is done to purpose=No policy is effective
Conclude=Decide
General ignorance=The ignorant public (crowd)
Jump=Jolt, put at stake, hazard
Unstable slightness=Inconstant and trifling issues
Less fearful than discreet=More out of prudence than timidity
Should become it=The appropriate (integrity)
Bereave=To rob, take from
Multitudinous=Belonging to the multitude
Become=To fit, suit
Compleat:
Become=Betaamen
An invincible ignorance=Een onverbeterlyke domheid
Unstable=Onbestendig, ongestadig
To conclude=Besluiten, sluiten
To no purpose=Niet baaten

Topics: order/society, conflict, intellect, status, integrity

Shall I be charged no further than this present?
Must all determine here?

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
AEDILE
List to your tribunes. Audience: peace, I say!
CORIOLANUS
First, hear me speak.
BOTH TRIBUNES
Well, say. Peace, ho!
CORIOLANUS
Shall I be charged no further than this present?
Must all determine here?
SICINIUS
I do demand,
If you submit you to the people’s voices,
Allow their officers and are content
To suffer lawful censure for such faults
As shall be proved upon you?
CORIOLANUS
I am content.
MENENIUS
Lo, citizens, he says he is content:
The warlike service he has done, consider; think
Upon the wounds his body bears, which show
Like graves i’ the holy churchyard.
CORIOLANUS
Scratches with briers,
Scars to move laughter only.

DUTCH:
Word ik niet verder aangeklaagd dan thans?
Wordt alles hier beslist?

MORE:
List=Listen, pay attention to
Briers=Thorns
Compleat:
Brier or briar=Doornstruik

Topics: persuasion, communication, judgment

Shall remain! Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you his absolute ‘shall’?

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
It is a mind
That shall remain a poison where it is,
Not poison any further.
CORIOLANUS
Shall remain!
Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you
His absolute ‘shall’?
COMINIUS
’Twas from the canon.

DUTCH:
„Blijven moet!” —
Hoort gij dien katvisch-Triton? merkt gij daar
‘t Gebiedend,,moet”?

MORE:
Proverb: A Triton among the minnows

Canon=Rule, law
Absolute=Positive, certain, decided, not doubtful
Compleat:
Canonical=Regelmaatig
Triton=De trompetter van Neptunus; (weather-cock)=Een weerhaan, windwyzer

Burgersdijk notes:
Dien kat visch-Triton. Triton is een mindere zeegod, die dus alleen over de kleine vischjes gebied voert.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, language, intellect, authority, judgment, law/legal

Since he could draw a sword, and is ill schooled in bolted language; meal and bran together he throws without distinction

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Consider this: he has been bred i’ the wars
Since he could draw a sword, and is ill schooled
In bolted language; meal and bran together
He throws without distinction. Give me leave,
I’ll go to him, and undertake to bring him
Where he shall answer, by a lawful form,
In peace, to his utmost peril.
FIRST SENATOR
Noble tribunes,
It is the humane way: the other course
Will prove too bloody, and the end of it
Unknown to the beginning.

DUTCH:
Bedenkt nog dit: sinds hij een zwaard kon trekken,
Wies hij in de’ oorlog op en leerde nooit
Zijn woorden ziften; meel en zeem’len werpt hij
Er uit, zooals het valt.

MORE:
Bolted language=Refined phraseology.
To bolt=To sift is often used figuratively, in this case carefully chosen words
Answer=Answer a charge, meet accusation, give an account under peaceful forms of law
To his utmost peril=Whatever the danger it involves
End… beginning. See The Tempest 2.1 “The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.”
Compleat:
Utmost=Uiterste
Peril=Gevaar, perykel, nood
To bolt out=Uitschieten, uitpuilen
To bolt meal=Meel builen

Topics: language, learning/education, skill/talent

So our virtues lie in the interpretation of the time

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.7
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
All places yield to him ere he sits down;
And the nobility of Rome are his:
The senators and patricians love him too:
The tribunes are no soldiers; and their people
Will be as rash in the repeal, as hasty
To expel him thence. I think he’ll be to Rome
As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it
By sovereignty of nature. First he was
A noble servant to them; but he could not
Carry his honours even: whether ’twas pride,
Which out of daily fortune ever taints
The happy man; whether defect of judgment,
To fail in the disposing of those chances
Which he was lord of; or whether nature,
Not to be other than one thing, not moving
From the casque to the cushion, but commanding peace
Even with the same austerity and garb
As he controlled the war; but one of these—
As he hath spices of them all, not all,
For I dare so far free him—made him fear’d,
So hated, and so banish’d: but he has a merit,
To choke it in the utterance. So our virtues
Lie in the interpretation of the time:
And power, unto itself most commendable,
Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair
To extol what it hath done.
One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail;
Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail.
Come, let’s away. When, Caius, Rome is thine,
Thou art poor’st of all; then shortly art thou mine.

DUTCH:
In der menschen oordeel
Ligt onze kracht; lofwaarde en echte grootheid
Heeft geen zoo zeker graf als een gestoelte,
Waarop verkond wordt, wat zij heeft verricht.

MORE:
Proverb: Fire drives out fire (1592)
Proverb: One fire (or one nail or one poison) drives out another.

In the interpretation of the time=Evaluation according to prevailing standards [referring to the fluctuation of the popular opinion of Coriolanus, from denunciation to acclaim]
Unto itself most commendable=Having a very high opinion of itself, self-justified
Spices of them all, not all=Not complete, in their full extent
Popular=Of the people, vulgar (a vulgar station=standing place with the crowd)
Extol=Praise, magnify
Chair=A seat of public authority
Compleat:
Chair of state=Zetel
Extoll=Verheffen, pryzen, looven
To extol one, raise him up to the sky=Iemand tot den Hemel toe verheffen
Highly commendable=Ten hoogste pryselyk

Topics: time, reputation, honesty, integrity, authority, ruin

Some news is come that turns their countenance

DUTCH:
De senatoren stroomen ijlings saam
Ter raadzaal, op een tijding, die hen allen
Verbleeken doet.

MORE:
My age=My lifetime
Information=Informant
Raising=Incitement
Compleat:
Informant=Aanbrenger
To raise a sedition=Een oproer verwekken of veroorzaaken

Topics: age/experience, commnication

Speak thou, boy: perhaps thy childishness will move him more than can our reasons

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
The end of war’s uncertain, but this certain,
That, if thou conquer Rome, the benefit
Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name,
Whose repetition will be dogg’d with curses;
Whose chronicle thus writ: ‘The man was noble,
But with his last attempt he wiped it out;
Destroy’d his country, and his name remains
To the ensuing age abhorr’d.’ Speak to me, son:
Thou hast affected the fine strains of honour,
To imitate the graces of the gods;
To tear with thunder the wide cheeks o’ the air,
And yet to charge thy sulphur with a bolt
That should but rive an oak. Why dost not speak?
Think’st thou it honourable for a noble man
Still to remember wrongs? Daughter, speak you:
He cares not for your weeping. Speak thou, boy:
Perhaps thy childishness will move him more
Than can our reasons. There’s no man in the world
More bound to ’s mother; yet here he lets me prate
Like one i’ the stocks. Thou hast never in thy life
Show’d thy dear mother any courtesy,
When she, poor hen, fond of no second brood,
Has cluck’d thee to the wars and safely home,
Loaden with honour. Say my request’s unjust,
And spurn me back: but if it be not so,
Thou art not honest; and the gods will plague thee,
That thou restrain’st from me the duty which
To a mother’s part belongs. He turns away:
Down, ladies; let us shame him with our knees.
To his surname Coriolanus ’longs more pride
Than pity to our prayers. Down: an end;
This is the last: so we will home to Rome,
And die among our neighbours. Nay, behold ’s:
This boy, that cannot tell what he would have
But kneels and holds up hands for fellowship,
Does reason our petition with more strength
Than thou hast to deny ’t. Come, let us go:
This fellow had a Volscian to his mother;
His wife is in Corioli and his child
Like him by chance. Yet give us our dispatch:
I am hush’d until our city be a-fire,
And then I’ll speak a little.

DUTCH:
Die knaap, die niet kan zeggen wat hij wenscht,
Maar met ons meeknielt en de handen heft,
Bepleit ons smeekgebed met meerder kracht,
Dan gij tot weig’ren hebt!

MORE:
Proverb: The chance of war is uncertain
Proverb: To forget a wrong is best revenge (remedy)

Restrain’st=Legal use: keep back, withhold. Among examples in the New Eng. Dict, is: “The rents, issues, and profites thereof [they] have wrongfully restreyned, perceyved, and taken to their owne use.”
‘Longs=Belongs
An end=Let that be an end to it
Reason=Argue for, plead for
Dispatch=Decisive answer
Compleat:
Restrain (sting, limit or confine)=Bepaalen, kort houden
Restrain (repress or curb)=Fnuiken, beteugelen
To restrain one from a thing=Zich ergens van onthouden
To restrain a word to a signification=Een woord tot eene betekenis bekorten
Dispatch=Afvaardiging, verrichting, beschikking, vervaardiging
He is a man of quick dispatch=Het is een vaardig man

Topics: proverbs and idioms, conflict, reason, revenge, risk

Speak to ’em, I pray you, in wholesome manner

DUTCH:
Gij bederft
Nog alles. ‘k Ga. Spreek goed hun toe, ik bid u,
Verstandig.

Topics: communication, persuasion

Stand, as if a man were author of himself and knew no other kin

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
(…) My wife comes foremost; then the honour’d mould
Wherein this trunk was framed, and in her hand
The grandchild to her blood. But, out, affection!
All bond and privilege of nature, break!
Let it be virtuous to be obstinate.
What is that curt’sy worth? or those doves’ eyes,
Which can make gods forsworn? I melt, and am not
Of stronger earth than others. My mother bows;
As if Olympus to a molehill should
In supplication nod: and my young boy
Hath an aspect of intercession, which
Great nature cries ‘Deny not.’ let the Volsces
Plough Rome and harrow Italy: I’ll never
Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand,
As if a man were author of himself
And knew no other kin.
VIRGILIA
My lord and husband!

DUTCH:
Nimmer drijft
Natuurdrift mij, als waar’ ‘k een jonge gans;
‘k Houd stand, alsof een man zichzelven schiep,
Van geen verwanten wist.

MORE:
Mould=Model
Forsworn=Break a promise
Aspect of intercession=Pleading look
Compleat:
Mould=Form
To forswear one’s self=Eenen valschen eed doen, meyneedig zyn
To forswear a thing=Zweeren dat iets zo niet is
Forsworn=Meyneedig
Aspect=Gezigt, gelaat, aanschouw
Intercession=Tusschenspraak, bemiddeling, voorbidding

Topics: custom, nature, value, free will

Stop, or all will fall in broil

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
FIRST SENATOR
Tribunes, give way; he shall to the market-place.
BRUTUS
The people are incensed against him.
SICINIUS
Stop,
Or all will fall in broil.
CORIOLANUS
Are these your herd?
Must these have voices, that can yield them now
And straight disclaim their tongues? What are your offices?
You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth?
Have you not set them on?
MENENIUS
Be calm, be calm.
CORIOLANUS
It is a purposed thing, and grows by plot,
To curb the will of the nobility:
Suffer’t, and live with such as cannot rule
Nor ever will be ruled.
BRUTUS
Call’t not a plot:
The people cry you mock’d them, and of late,
When corn was given them gratis, you repined;
Scandal’d the suppliants for the people, call’d them
Time-pleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness.

DUTCH:
Staat,
Of alles raakt in roer.

MORE:
Broil=Turmoil
Voices=Votes
Straight=Immediately
Disclaim=Disavow
Offices=Duties
Purposed=Planned
Repined=Complained
Scandalled=Slandered
Time-pleasers=Opportunists
Compleat:
Broil=Oproer, beroerte, gewoel
Voice=Stem, recht van stemmen
Straightway=Eenswegs, terstond, opstaandevoet
To disclaim=Otkennen, verzaaken, afstaan
Office=Een ampt, dienst
To purpose=Voorneemen, voorhebben
To repine=Moeijelyk zyn, misnoegd weezen, berouw hebben; benyden
To scandal=Lasteren, onteeren

Topics: conspiracy, poverty and wealth

Such a nature, tickled with good success, disdains the shadow which he treads on at noon

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
Be-mock the modest moon.
BRUTUS
The present wars devour him: he is grown
Too proud to be so valiant.
SICINIUS
Such a nature,
Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow
Which he treads on at noon: but I do wonder
His insolence can brook to be commanded
Under Cominius.
BRUTUS
Fame, at the which he aims,
In whom already he’s well graced, can not
Better be held nor more attain’d than by
A place below the first: for what miscarries
Shall be the general’s fault, though he perform
To the utmost of a man, and giddy censure
Will then cry out of Marcius ‘O if he
Had borne the business!’

DUTCH:
Een aard als deze,
Door voorspoed nog geprikkeld, zet den voet
Niet op zijn eigen middagschaduw

MORE:
Proverb: When the sun is highest he casts the least shadow

Tickled with=Pleased, excited by (still in use)
Disdain=To think unworthy, to scorn, to treat with contempt
Brook=Bear, endure; put up with
Compleat:
To disdain=Versmaaden, verachten, zich verontwaaardigen
To tickle (pleaes or flatter)=Streelen, vleijen
Brook=Verdraagen, uitstaan
To brook an affront=Een leed verkroppen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, insult, ambition, authority, invented or popularised

The custom of request you have discharged

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
You have stood your limitation; and the tribunes
Endue you with the people’s voice: remains
That, in the official marks invested, you
Anon do meet the senate.
CORIOLANUS
Is this done?
SICINIUS
The custom of request you have discharged:
The people do admit you, and are summon’d
To meet anon, upon your approbation.
CORIOLANUS
Where? at the senate-house?
SICINIUS
There, Coriolanus.
CORIOLANUS
May I change these garments?
SICINIUS
You may, sir.

DUTCH:
t Gebruik van stemmen vragen had zijn eisch;
Het volk geeft u zijn ja, en komt dra saam,
Waar ‘t van zijn keus getuigt en u bekrachtigt.

MORE:
Limitation=Allotted time
Endue=Endow
Voice=Vote
Official marks=Insignia of office
Anon=Immediately
Compleat:
Limitation=Eene bepaaling, afpaaling
To endue=Aandoen, begaaven
Voice=Stem, recht van stemmen
Anon=Daadelyk, straks, aanstonds

Topics: order/status, authority, leadership, duty

The dust on antique time would lie unswept

MORE:
Proverb: Custom makes sin no sin

Topics: merit, achievement, status, authority, leadership, proverbs and idioms

The people will remain uncertain whilst ’twixt you there’s difference; but the fall of either makes the survivor heir of all

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.6
SPEAKER: Third Conspirator
CONTEXT:
SECOND CONSPIRATOR
Most noble sir,
If you do hold the same intent wherein
You wish’d us parties, we’ll deliver you
Of your great danger.
AUFIDIUS
Sir, I cannot tell:
We must proceed as we do find the people.
THIRD CONSPIRATOR
The people will remain uncertain whilst
’Twixt you there’s difference; but the fall of either
Makes the survivor heir of all.
AUFIDIUS
I know it;
And my pretext to strike at him admits
A good construction. I raised him, and I pawn’d
Mine honour for his truth: who being so heighten’d,
He water’d his new plants with dews of flattery,
Seducing so my friends; and, to this end,
He bow’d his nature, never known before
But to be rough, unswayable and free.

DUTCH:
Steeds wankel blijft het volk, zoolang er strijd
Is tusschen u en hem, maar de ondergang
Van de’ een doet de’ ander alles erven.

Topics: reputation, uncertainty, conflict, rivalry

The price is, to ask it kindly

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: First Citizen
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
No, sir,’twas never my desire yet to trouble the
poor with begging.
THIRD CITIZEN
You must think, if we give you any thing, we hope to
gain by you.
CORIOLANUS
Well then, I pray, your price o’ the consulship?
FIRST CITIZEN
The price is to ask it kindly.
CORIOLANUS
Kindly! Sir, I pray, let me ha’t: I have wounds to
show you, which shall be yours in private. Your
good voice, sir; what say you?
SECOND CITIZEN
You shall ha’ it, worthy sir.
CORIOLANUS
A match, sir. There’s in all two worthy voices
begged. I have your alms: adieu.

DUTCH:
De prijs is, dat gij vriendlijk er om vraagt.

MORE:
Consulship=Position of consul
A match=Agreement, compact, bargain
Compleat:
Match (or bargain)=Koop, onderhandeling, overeenstemming
Consulship=Consulaat, consulschap

Topics: poverty and wealth, promise, leadership, merit, civility

There hath been in Rome strange insurrections, the people against the senators, patricians, and nobles

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
ROMAN
There hath been in Rome strange insurrections, the people against the senators, patricians, and nobles.
VOLSCE
Hath been? Is it ended, then? Our state thinks not so. They are in a most warlike preparation and hope to come upon them in the heat of their division.
ROMAN
The main blaze of it is past, but a small thing would make it flame again; for the nobles receive so to heart the banishment of that worthy Coriolanus that they are in a ripe aptness to take all power from the people and to pluck from them their tribunes forever. This lies glowing, I can tell you, and is almost mature for the violent breaking out.

DUTCH:
Er zijn in Rome geweldige onlusten geweest; het volk
tegen de senatoren, de patriciërs en den geheelen adel.

MORE:
Preparation (ante)=The result of preparation, forces assembled
Ripe aptness=Proper time, readiness
Compleat:
Apt=Bequaam, gevoeglyk, gereed
Tribune=Een voorstander des volks onder de aloude Romeinen

Topics: preparation, order/society, conflict, uncertainty

There is a world elsewhere

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
We know your drift: speak what?
BRUTUS
There’s no more to be said, but he is banish’d,
As enemy to the people and his country:
It shall be so.
CITIZENS
It shall be so, it shall be so.
CORIOLANUS
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o’ the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservation of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.

DUTCH:
Ook elders is een wereld!

MORE:
Plume=Feathers which serve to adorn, particularly a tuft of feathers worn as an ornament
Making not reservation (in some versions “making but reservations”)
Abated=Humbled, discouraged
Ignorance=Stupidity
Compleat:
Plume=Pluim, veder
He had a white plume of feathers upon his hat=Hy had witte pluimen op zyn hoed
To abate one’s pride=Iemands hoogmoed fnuiken

Topics: life, free will, independence, failure

There is no more mercy in him than there is milk in a male tiger

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
Yes, mercy, if you report him truly.
MENENIUS
I paint him in the character. Mark what mercy his
mother shall bring from him: there is no more mercy
in him than there is milk in a male tiger; that
shall our poor city find: and all this is long of
you.
SICINIUS
The gods be good unto us!
MENENIUS
No, in such a case the gods will not be good unto
us. When we banished him, we respected not them;
and, he returning to break our necks, they respect not us.

DUTCH:
Ik schilder hem naar ‘t leven. Geef acht, welke goedertierenheid zijn moeder van hem thuis zal brengen; er is in hem niet meer goedertierenheid, dan melk in een mannetjestijger. Dit zal onze arme stad ondervinden en dit
alles komt door u.

MORE:
Truly=Honestly, accurately
Paint=Describe, represent
Bring from=Elicit
Compleat:
Truly=Warlyk, degelyk, zo als het behoort
Elicit=(Extract): Uittrekken, verkorten

Topics: mercy, revenge, punishment

These are the tribunes of the people, the tongues o’ the common mouth: I do despise them; for they do prank them in authority against all noble sufferance

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Behold, these are the tribunes of the people,
The tongues o’ the common mouth: I do despise them;
For they do prank them in authority,
Against all noble sufferance.
SICINIUS
Pass no further.
CORIOLANUS
Ha! what is that?
BRUTUS
It will be dangerous to go on: no further.
CORIOLANUS
What makes this change?
MENENIUS
The matter?
COMINIUS
Hath he not pass’d the noble and the common?

DUTCH:
Daar zijn de volkstribunen, ziet! de tongen
Des grooten volksmonds. Ik veracht hen diep;
Zij pralen met hun ambtsgezag, veel meer
Dan de adel dulden kan.

MORE:
Prank (used contemptuously)=Dress themselves (ostentatiously) in authority.
Against all noble sufferance=In a manner no noble can tolerate
Noble=Of an ancient and illustrious family
Compleat:
To prank up=Opschikken, oppronken
To prank up one’s self=Zich opschikken
Pranked up=Opgeschikt, opgepronkt
Sufferance=Verdraagzaamheid, toegeevendheid

Topics: status, poverty and wealth, authority

They are worn, lord consul, so, that we shall hardly in our ages see their banners wave again

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Cominus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Tullus Aufidius then had made new head?
LARTIUS
He had, my lord; and that it was which caused
Our swifter composition.
CORIOLANUS
So then the Volsces stand but as at first,
Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make road
Upon’s again.
COMINIUS
They are worn, lord consul, so,
That we shall hardly in our ages see
Their banners wave again.

DUTCH:
Consul, zij zijn zoo verzwakt,
Dat ons geslacht niet licht in ‘t veld hun vanen
Weer wapp’ren ziet.

MORE:
Made new head=Put together a new army
Composition=Resolution
Make road=Attack (also in some versions ‘make raid’)
Worn=Worn out, tired
Compleat:
To get a-head=Zich vereenigen, of overeenstemmen
Composition=Bylegging; t’Zamenstelling, toestelling, afmaaking, t’zamenmengsel, vermenging
Worn=Uitgeput

Topics: loyalty, failure, conflict

They have chose a consul that will from them take their liberties; make them of no more voice than dogs that are as often beat for barking

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Get you hence instantly, and tell those friends,
They have chose a consul that will from them take
Their liberties; make them of no more voice
Than dogs that are as often beat for barking
As therefore kept to do so.
SICINIUS
Let them assemble,
And on a safer judgment all revoke
Your ignorant election; enforce his pride,
And his old hate unto you; besides, forget not
With what contempt he wore the humble weed,
How in his suit he scorn’d you; but your loves,
Thinking upon his services, took from you
The apprehension of his present portance,
Which most gibingly, ungravely, he did fashion
After the inveterate hate he bears you.
BRUTUS
Lay
A fault on us, your tribunes; that we laboured,
No impediment between, but that you must
Cast your election on him.
SICINIUS
Say, you chose him
More after our commandment than as guided
By your own true affections, and that your minds,
Preoccupied with what you rather must do
Than what you should, made you against the grain
To voice him consul: lay the fault on us.

DUTCH:
Gaat, spoedt u tot die vrienden; maakt hun duid’lijk,
Dat zij een consul kozen, die hun rechten
Hun nemen zal, hun zooveel stem zal laten
Als honden, die men ranselt om hun blaffen
En toch voor ‘t blaffen houdt.

MORE:
Proverb: Goes against the grain

Took from you the apprehension …portance=Blinded you to his behaviour
Ungravely=Without appropriate gravity or seriousness
Fashion after=Frame to conform with
Gibingly=Mockingly
Portance=Carriage, demeanour
Weeds=Clothing
Inveterate=Long-standing
Compleat:
Weeds (habit or garment)=Kleederen, gewaad
Inveterate=Verouderd, ingeworteld
The inveterate hatred=Een ingeworteld haat
To gibe=Boerten, gekscheeren
To fashion=Een gestalte geeven, vormen, fatzoeneeren

Topics: appearance, deceit, blame, gullibility, proverbs and idioms

They have had inkling this fortnight what we intend to do, which now we’ll show ’em in deeds

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: First Citizen
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
What work’s, my countrymen, in hand? where go you
With bats and clubs? The matter? speak, I pray you.
FIRST CITIZEN
Our business is not unknown to the senate; they have
had inkling this fortnight what we intend to do,
which now we’ll show ’em in deeds. They say poor
suitors have strong breaths: they shall know we
have strong arms too.
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:
Den senaat is onze zaak niet onbekend; zij hebben al
wel veertien daag aanwijzing van wat wij voorhebben en
wij willen het hun nu door daden toonen.

MORE:
Inkling=An idea, hint
Suitors=Petitioners
Strong breaths=Bad breath
Undo=Undermine, ruin
Patricians=Senators
Curbs=Curb chain (bridle)
Thither=There
Attends=Awaits
Helms=Leaders
Compleat:
Inkling=Weynigje
Suiter in chancery=een Pleiter in de Kanselarij
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: order/society, conflict, intellect, purpose

They lie deadly that tell you have good faces

DUTCH:
En hoewel ik het mij getroosten moet hen te laten uitspreken, die u eerbied-wardige mannen van gewicht noemen, vertellen toch zij, die zeggen, dat gij redelijk goede gezichten hebt, een leugen om van te barsten.

Topics: insult, perception, appearance, truth, honesty, deceit

They nothing doubt prevailing and to make it brief wars

DUTCH:
Laat haar maar, Valeria! Zooals zij nu is, zou zij onze
opgeruimde stemming maar bederven.

Topics: news, conflict

They said they were an-hungry; sigh’d forth proverbs

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Martius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Nay, these are almost thoroughly persuaded;
For though abundantly they lack discretion,
Yet are they passing cowardly. But, I beseech you,
What says the other troop?
MARTIUS
They are dissolved: hang ’em!
They said they were an-hungry; sigh’d forth proverbs,
That hunger broke stone walls, that dogs must eat,
That meat was made for mouths, that the gods sent not
Corn for the rich men only: with these shreds
They vented their complainings; which being answer’d,
And a petition granted them, a strange one—
To break the heart of generosity,
And make bold power look pale—they threw their caps
As they would hang them on the horns o’ the moon,
Shouting their emulation.

DUTCH:
Zij schreeuwden over honger, kermden spreuken,
Als: nood breekt wet; ook honden moeten eten;
De spijs is voor den mond; de goden zenden
Niet enkel rijken graan; — met zulke lappen
Omhingen zij hun klachten.

MORE:
Proverb: Cast your cap at the moon
Other proverbs:
Dogs must eat
Small birds must have meat
Hunger breaks down (pierces) stone walls (Hunger is made of gunpowder of gunpowder of hunger; for they both eat through stone walls.)
Meat was made for mouths

An-hungry (or a-hungry). Very hungry (anhungered=very hungry, 1300)
Dissolved=Dispersed
Vented their complainings=Aired their grievances
Answered=Granted (petitions)
Generosity=Nobility
Emulation=Endeavour or ambition to equal or excel, envious rivalry
Shreds=Fragments, patches
Compleat:
Dissolve=Ontbinden, gescheiden
Vent=Uiten
Generosity=Edelmoedigheid, grootmoedigheid
Emulation=Volgzucht, afgunst

Burgersdijk notes:
Of zij wierpen hun mutsen. Sh. wilde voor zijn publiek verstaanbaar zijn, en sprak, zonder schroom,
van de mutsen der Romeinen. Zoo wordt ook bij het smeeken de muts afgenomen, zie 3.2.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or poularised, poverty and wealth

They will out of their burrows, like conies after rain

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Third Servingman
CONTEXT:
THIRD SERVINGMAN
Why, he is so made on here within, as if he were son
and heir to Mars; set at upper end o’ the table; no
question asked him by any of the senators, but they
stand bald before him: our general himself makes a
mistress of him: sanctifies himself with’s hand and
turns up the white o’ the eye to his discourse. But
the bottom of the news is that our general is cut i’
the middle and but one half of what he was
yesterday; for the other has half, by the entreaty
and grant of the whole table. He’ll go, he says,
and sowl the porter of Rome gates by the ears: he
will mow all down before him, and leave his passage
polled.
SECOND SERVINGMAN
And he’s as like to do’t as any man I can imagine.
THIRD SERVINGMAN
Do’t! he will do’t; for, look you, sir, he has as
many friends as enemies; which friends, sir, as it
were, durst not, look you, sir, show themselves, as
we term it, his friends whilst he’s in directitude.
FIRST SERVINGMAN
Directitude! what’s that?
THIRD SERVINGMAN
But when they shall see, sir, his crest up again,
and the man in blood, they will out of their
burrows, like conies after rain, and revel all with him.

DUTCH:
Maar als ze, man, zijn helmbos weer rechtop zien, en
den man in volle kracht, dan komen ze wel weer uit
haar holen, evenals konijnen na regen, en allen dansen
met hem mede.

MORE:
Sowl=Grab
Polled=Plundered
Man in blood=Thirsting for battle
Conies=Rabbits
Compleat:
Coney=Konijn
Crestfallen=Die de kuif laat hangen, die de moed opgeeft, neerslagtig
Polled=Geschooren, afgekneveld

Topics: flattery, respect, authority

They’ll sit by th’ fire, and presume to know what’s done i’th’ Capitol

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Martius
CONTEXT:
MARTIUS
Hang ’em! They say!
They’ll sit by the fire, and presume to know
What’s done i’ the Capitol; who’s like to rise,
Who thrives and who declines; side factions and give out
Conjectural marriages; making parties strong
And feebling such as stand not in their liking
Below their cobbled shoes. They say there’s
grain enough!
Would the nobility lay aside their ruth,
And let me use my sword, I’ll make a quarry
With thousands of these quarter’d slaves, as high
As I could pick my lance.
MENENIUS
Nay, these are almost thoroughly persuaded;
For though abundantly they lack discretion,
Yet are they passing cowardly. But, I beseech you,
What says the other troop?

DUTCH:
Hang ze op! Zij zeggen!
Aan ‘t haardvuur zittend willen ze alles weten,
Wat op het Kapitool geschiedt: wie rijst,
Wie heerscht, wie daalt; partijen doen ze ontstaan,
En gissen echt op echt; verheffen dezen,
En treden niet gelapten schoen op genen,
Die hun mishaagt!

MORE:
Like=Likely
Side=Take the side of, side with
Quarry=A reward (usually dead game) given to hounds
Pick=Pitch, throw
To feeble=Enfeeble, weaken
Ruth=Pity (hence ruthless, which is still used)
Conjectural=Founded on conjecture, formed by guess
Marriages=Unions
Passing=Beyond
Troop=Group of citizens
Compleat:
Quarry=Prooy; Hey gewey, den afval of ‘t ingewand van ‘t geveld hart dat men de honden tot een belooning geeft
Feeble=Zwak, slap
Ruthfull=Mededoogend; medoogens waardig
Conjectural=Op gissing steunende
Passing=Zeer, uitsteekend
Troop=Bende, hoop; tröp

Topics: poverty and wealth, equality, order/society, excess

Think’st thou it honourable for a noble man still to remember wrongs?

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
Nay, go not from us thus.
If it were so that our request did tend
To save the Romans, thereby to destroy
The Volsces whom you serve, you might condemn us,
As poisonous of your honour: no; our suit
Is that you reconcile them: while the Volsces
May say ‘This mercy we have show’d;’ the Romans,
‘This we received;’ and each in either side
Give the all-hail to thee and cry ‘Be blest
For making up this peace!’ Thou know’st, great son,
The end of war’s uncertain, but this certain,
That, if thou conquer Rome, the benefit
Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name,
Whose repetition will be dogg’d with curses;
Whose chronicle thus writ: ‘The man was noble,
But with his last attempt he wiped it out;
Destroy’d his country, and his name remains
To the ensuing age abhorr’d.’ Speak to me, son:
Thou hast affected the fine strains of honour,
To imitate the graces of the gods;
To tear with thunder the wide cheeks o’ the air,
And yet to charge thy sulphur with a bolt
That should but rive an oak. Why dost not speak?
Think’st thou it honourable for a noble man
Still to remember wrongs? Daughter, speak you:
He cares not for your weeping. Speak thou, boy:
Perhaps thy childishness will move him more
Than can our reasons. There’s no man in the world
More bound to ‘s mother; yet here he lets me prate
Like one i’ the stocks. Thou hast never in thy life
Show’d thy dear mother any courtesy,
When she, poor hen, fond of no second brood,
Has cluck’d thee to the wars and safely home,
Loaden with honour. Say my request’s unjust,
And spurn me back: but if it be not so,
Thou art not honest; and the gods will plague thee,
That thou restrain’st from me the duty which
To a mother’s part belongs. He turns away:
Down, ladies; let us shame him with our knees.
To his surname Coriolanus ‘longs more pride
Than pity to our prayers. Down: an end;
This is the last: so we will home to Rome,
And die among our neighbours. Nay, behold ‘s:
This boy, that cannot tell what he would have
But kneels and holds up bands for fellowship,
Does reason our petition with more strength
Than thou hast to deny ‘t. Come, let us go:
This fellow had a Volscian to his mother;
His wife is in Corioli and his child
Like him by chance. Yet give us our dispatch:
I am hush’d until our city be a-fire,
And then I’ll speak a little.

DUTCH:
Nog spreekt gij niet?
Acht gij ‘t een eed’len man betamend , eeuwig
Te wrokken om een krenking?

MORE:
Fine strains=Refinements, niceties
Affect=Aimed at, pretended to have
Bolt=Lightning
Rive=Split
Compleat:
Affect=Naäapen
Affectation=Gemaaktheid
Rive (asunder(=Opscheuren, opsplyten, opbarsten

Topics: honour, appearance

This boy … does reason our petition with more strength than thou hast to deny ’t.

DUTCH:
Die knaap, die niet kan zeggen wat hij wenscht,
Maar met ons meeknielt en de handen heft,
Bepleit ons smeekgebed met meerder kracht,
Dan gij tot weig’ren hebt!

MORE:
Proverb: The chance of war is uncertain
Proverb: To forget a wrong is best revenge (remedy)

Topics: proverbs and idioms, conflict, reason, revenge, risk

This is a happier and more comely time than when these fellows ran about the streets, crying confusion

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.6
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
This is a happier and more comely time
Than when these fellows ran about the streets,
Crying confusion.
BRUTUS
Caius Marcius was
A worthy officer i’ the war; but insolent,
O’ercome with pride, ambitious past all thinking,
Self-loving,—
SICINIUS
And affecting one sole throne,
Without assistance.
MENENIUS
I think not so.
SICINIUS
We should by this, to all our lamentation,
If he had gone forth consul, found it so.
BRUTUS
The gods have well prevented it, and Rome
Sits safe and still without him.

DUTCH:
t Is nu een beter en een schooner tijd,
Dan toen die knapen door de straten holden
En oproer kraaiden.

MORE:
Comely=Becoming, decent
Affecting one sole throne=Aiming to rule alone
Compleat:
Comely=Bevallig, wel gemaakt
To affect the crown=Na de kroon staan

Topics: wellbeing, age/experience, vanity

This is the way to kindle, not to quench

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
You are at point to lose your liberties:
Marcius would have all from you; Marcius,
Whom late you have named for consul.
MENENIUS
Fie, fie, fie!
This is the way to kindle, not to quench.
FIRST SENATOR
To unbuild the city and to lay all flat.
SICINIUS
What is the city but the people?
CITIZENS
True,
The people are the city.
BRUTUS
By the consent of all, we were establish’d
The people’s magistrates.
CITIZENS
You so remain.
MENENIUS
And so are like to do.
COMINIUS
That is the way to lay the city flat;
To bring the roof to the foundation,
And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges,
In heaps and piles of ruin.
SICINIUS
This deserves death.
BRUTUS
Or let us stand to our authority,
Or let us lose it. We do here pronounce,
Upon the part o’ the people, in whose power
We were elected theirs, Marcius is worthy
Of present death.

DUTCH:
Dit is om aan te stoken, niet te blusschen.

MORE:
Proverb: Do not blow the fire thou wouldst quench
Proverb: Men (Men’s love), not walls, make the city (prince) safe

Unbuild=To raze, to destroy
Compleat:
Unbuilt=Ongebouwd
Magistrate=Overheid, Overheer, Magistraat

Topics: order/society, law/legal dispute, , proverbs and idioms

This tiger-footed rage, when it shall find the harm of unscann’d swiftness, will too late tie leaden pounds to’s heels

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
The service of the foot
Being once gangrened, is not then respected
For what before it was.
BRUTUS
We’ll hear no more.
Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence:
Lest his infection, being of catching nature,
Spread further.
MENENIUS
One word more, one word.
This tiger-footed rage, when it shall find
The harm of unscann’d swiftness, will too late
Tie leaden pounds to’s heels. Proceed by process;
Lest parties, as he is beloved, break out,
And sack great Rome with Romans.
BRUTUS
If it were so,—
SICINIUS
What do ye talk?
Have we not had a taste of his obedience?
Our aediles smote? ourselves resisted? Come.

DUTCH:
Nog één woord, één woord.
Die tijgerwoede zal, ontdekt zij ‘t onheil
Van haren blinden sprong, te laat haar zolen
Met lood bezwaren. Volgt den weg van ‘t recht;
Wis zou verdeeldheid, — want hij is bemind, —
Losbrekend, door Romeinen Rome slechten.

MORE:
Proverb: To have lead on one’s heels

Tiger-footed=Moving in leaps and bounds,swift, fleet
Unscanned swiftness=Wild, inconsiderate speed (Arden)
Leaden heels=Leaden-heeled=Dragging heels, moving slowly
Taste=Proof, trial, specimen (see King Lear 1.2: “He wrote this but as an essay or taste of my virtue.”)
Aediles=Offiials in charge of public works, police and grain supply
Compleat:
Taste (discerning faculty)=Goede smaak, onderscheidend vermoogen
Taste=Proeven
Taster=Proefschaaltje

Burgersdijk notes: Het ambt der Aedilen, namelijk der Aediles plebeii, was tegelijk met dat der volkstribunen ingesteld. De Aedilen waren belast met de stedelijke policie en hadden ook de tribunen bij te staan en op hun bevel beschuldigden in hechtenis te nemen; werd het plebs gehoond, dan traden zij als aanklagers op. Zij waren, aanvankelijk ten minste sacrosancti, onschendbaar.

Topics: anger, haste, error, dispute, law/legal, justice, resolution, proverbs and idioms

Those are they that most are willing

DUTCH:
De besten zijn
Die ‘t willigst zijn. — Is onder u hier één, —
En twijflen waar’ vergrijp!

Topics: reputation, courage, legacy

Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face bears a command in’t

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
What is thy name?
CORIOLANUS
A name unmusical to the Volscians’ ears,
And harsh in sound to thine.
AUFIDIUS
Say, what’s thy name?
Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face
Bears a command in’t; though thy tackle’s torn.
Thou show’st a noble vessel: what’s thy name?
CORIOLANUS
Prepare thy brow to frown: know’st
thou me yet?
AUFIDIUS
I know thee not: thy name?

DUTCH:
Spreek, uw naam?
Bar is uw uitzicht, iets gebiedends lees ik
In uw gelaat; zij ‘t want ook stukgereten,
Een edel vaartuig schijnt gij. Spreek, uw naam?

MORE:
Tackle=Clothing
Vessel=(fig.) You have a noble stature
Compleat:
Tackling=(things, goods, stuff): Dinge, goederen, gereedschap
Vessel=Vat

Topics: appearance, status, authority

Though we willingly consented to his banishment, yet it was against our will

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.6
SPEAKER: Third Citizen
CONTEXT:
THIRD CITIZEN
And so did I; and, to say the truth, so did very
many of us: that we did, we did for the best; and
though we willingly consented to his banishment, yet
it was against our will.
COMINIUS
Ye’re goodly things, you voices!
MENENIUS
You have made
Good work, you and your cry! Shall’s to the Capitol?
COMINIUS
O, ay, what else?
SICINIUS
Go, masters, get you home; be not dismay’d:
These are a side that would be glad to have
This true which they so seem to fear. Go home,
And show no sign of fear.

DUTCH:
Dat deed ik ook; en, om de waarheid te zeggen, dat
deden velen van ons. Wat wij deden, dat deden wij om
bestwil; en al hebben wij vrijwillig in zijn verbanning
toegestemd, toch was het tegen onzen wil.

MORE:
Willingly=Readily
Will=Wishes
Shall ‘s to=Shall we make our way to
Compleat:
Willingly=Gewilliglyk

Topics: free will, independence, truth

Thus to have said, as you were fore-advised, had touch’d his spirit

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Could you not have told him
As you were lesson’d, when he had no power,
But was a petty servant to the state,
He was your enemy, ever spake against
Your liberties and the charters that you bear
I’ the body of the weal; and now, arriving
A place of potency and sway o’ the state,
If he should still malignantly remain
Fast foe to the plebeii, your voices might
Be curses to yourselves? You should have said
That as his worthy deeds did claim no less
Than what he stood for, so his gracious nature
Would think upon you for your voices and
Translate his malice towards you into love,
Standing your friendly lord.
SICINIUS
Thus to have said,
As you were fore-advised, had touch’d his spirit
And tried his inclination; from him pluck’d
Either his gracious promise, which you might,
As cause had call’d you up, have held him to
Or else it would have gall’d his surly nature,
Which easily endures not article
Tying him to aught; so putting him to rage,
You should have ta’en the advantage of his choler
And pass’d him unelected.

DUTCH:
Zulk een zeggen, —
Men ried het u vooruit, — had hem getroffen
En zijn gemoed beproefd; het had misschien
Hem een belofte ontlokt van gunst en vriendschap …

MORE:
Lessoned=Instructed
Ever=Always
Charters=Rights
Body=Common people
Weal=Commonwealth
Sway=Influence
Translate=Transform
Fore-advised=Advised in advance
Tried=Tested, found out
Inclination=Thinking
Article=Conditions
Compleat:
Ever=Altoos, altyd
Charter=Handvest, voorrecht
Inclination=Neiging, geneigdheid, genegenheid, trek, zucht
The common-weal=’t Welvaaren van ‘t algemeen
A common-wealths man=Een republyks gezinde
Sway=Zwaaijen; regeren
To translate=Overzetten, vertaalen, overvoeren, verplaatsen
Tried=Beproefd, te recht gesteld, verhoord
Inclination=Neiging, geneigdheid, genegenheid, trek, zucht
Article=Een lid, artykel, verdeelpunt

Topics: learning/education, dispute, language, communication

Tis fit you make strong party, or defend yourself by calmness or by absence

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Cominius
CONTEXT:
COMINIUS
I have been i’ the market-place; and, sir,’tis fit
You make strong party, or defend yourself
By calmness or by absence: all’s in anger.
MENENIUS
Only fair speech.
COMINIUS
I think ’twill serve, if he
Can thereto frame his spirit.
VOLUMNIA
He must, and will
Prithee now, say you will, and go about it.
CORIOLANUS
Must I go show them my unbarbed sconce?
Must I with base tongue give my noble heart
A lie that it must bear? Well, I will do’t:
Yet, were there but this single plot to lose,
This mould of Marcius, they to dust should grind it
And throw’t against the wind. To the market-place!
You have put me now to such a part which never
I shall discharge to the life.
COMINIUS
Come, come, we’ll prompt you.
VOLUMNIA
I prithee now, sweet son, as thou hast said
My praises made thee first a soldier, so,
To have my praise for this, perform a part
Thou hast not done before.

DUTCH:
Ik kom van ‘t Forum, en ‘t is raadzaam, vriend,
Dat ge u versterkt; of anders helpt u slechts
Zachtmoedigheid of vlucht; in woede is alles.

MORE:
Strong party=With robust defences
Unbarbed sconce=Bare-headed
Single plot=Body
Discharge to the life=Perform convincingly
Compleat:
Barbed=Geschooren, gepotst; gebaard
To discharge one’s self from a great Obligation=Zich zelf van eene groote verplichting ontslaan

Topics: dispute, respect, perception, civility

To appear before the people, hoping to purge himself with words

DUTCH:
Dien ik beschuldig,
Trok juist de poort daar binnen, en is willens
Zich voor het volk te stellen, in de hoop,
Door woorden zich te zuiv’ren. Gaat!

MORE:
Ports=Gates
Purge himself=Restore his reputation
Alms=Given to charity
Compleat:
Port=Een poort van de Stad
Purge=Zuyveren, reynigen
Alms=Aalmoes
Alms-house=Een almoesseniers-huys

Topics: authority, mercy, civility

To know, when two authorities are up, neither supreme, how soon confusion may enter ‘twixt the gap of both

DUTCH:
t Verlaagt de consuls diep, en ‘t grieft mijn ziel,
Die weet, dat als twee machten beide heerschen,
Doch geen het meest, verderf zich in de kloof,
Die beide scheidt, ras dringt en de een door de and’re
Ten onder brengt.

MORE:
Proverb: As many heads as Hydra
Proverb: Experience is the mistress of fools

Topics: authority, proverbs and idioms, leadership

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

Truly I think if all our wits were to issue out of one skull, they would fly east, west, north, south

DUTCH:
En waarlijk, ik geloof, dat, als al onze verstanden uit ééne hersenkas moesten te voorschijn komen, zij oost, west, noord en zuid zouden vliegen; en een afspraak van hen, om allen éénzelfden rechten weg te volgen, zou er op uitkomen, dat zij allen op eens naar al de streken van het kompas uiteenstoven.

MORE:
Proverb: A multitude of people is a beast of many heads

Topics: status, poverty and wealth, intellect, independence

Twere a concealment worse than a theft, no less than a traducement to hide your doings

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.9
SPEAKER: Cominius
CONTEXT:
COMINIUS
You shall not be
The grave of your deserving; Rome must know
The value of her own: ’twere a concealment
Worse than a theft, no less than a traducement,
To hide your doings; and to silence that,
Which, to the spire and top of praises vouch’d,
Would seem but modest: therefore, I beseech you
In sign of what you are, not to reward
What you have done—before our army hear me.
MARTIUS
I have some wounds upon me, and they smart
To hear themselves remember’d.

DUTCH:
Gij moogt het graf
Niet zijn van uw verdienste; Rome wete,
Wat het in u bezit; het waar’ verraad,
‘t Ware erger dan een diefstal, te verhelen,
Wat gij volbracht hebt; dat te zwijgen, wat,
Door welken lof ook hemelhoog verheven,
Toch nog bescheiden klinkt

MORE:
Be the grave of=Bury, swallow up as in a grave
Traducement=Censure, obloquy
Vouch=Maintain, assert
Compleat:
Traduce=Kwaadspreeken, lasteren; (accuse) beschuldigen
To vouch=Staande houden, bewyzen, verzekeren

Topics: merit, flattery, value, achievement

Unshout the noise that banish’d Marcius

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: First Senator
CONTEXT:
FIRST SENATOR
Behold our patroness, the life of Rome!
Call all your tribes together, praise the gods,
And make triumphant fires; strew flowers before them:
Unshout the noise that banish’d Marcius,
Repeal him with the welcome of his mother;
Cry ‘Welcome, ladies, welcome!’
ALL
Welcome, ladies, Welcome!

DUTCH:
Juicht de’ onheilskreet te niet, die Marcius bande;
Roept met zijn moeder’s welkomst hem terug!

MORE:
Unshout=Take back the words
Repeal=Recall
Compleat:
Repeal=Herroepen, afschaffen, weer intrekken

Topics: regret, punishment

We are all undone, unless the noble man have mercy

DUTCH:
Wij allen zijn verloren, toont niet die eed’le erbarmen

MORE:
Pale=White with fear
Smilingly=Happily, willingly
Undone=Ruined
Compleat:
Pale=Bleek, doodsch
Smiling=Grimlaching, toelaching, smyling, smylende
Undone=Ontdaan, losgemaakt

Topics: appearance, courage, blame, mercy

We call a nettle but a nettle and the faults of fools but folly

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
I know not where to turn: O, welcome home:
And welcome, general: and ye’re welcome all.
MENENIUS
A hundred thousand welcomes. I could weep
And I could laugh, I am light and heavy. Welcome.
A curse begin at very root on’s heart,
That is not glad to see thee! You are three
That Rome should dote on: yet, by the faith of men,
We have some old crab-trees here
at home that will not
Be grafted to your relish. Yet welcome, warriors:
We call a nettle but a nettle and
The faults of fools but folly.

DUTCH:
Wij noemen netels netels en de nukken
Van narren narrigheid.

Topics: age/experience, emotion and mood, honesty, commnication

We have power in ourselves to do it, but it is a power that we have no power to do

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Third Citizen
CONTEXT:
FIRST CITIZEN
Once, if he do require our voices, we ought not to deny
him.
SECOND CITIZEN
We may, sir, if we will.
THIRD CITIZEN
We have power in ourselves to do it, but it is a
power that we have no power to do; for if he show us
his wounds and tell us his deeds, we are to put our
tongues into those wounds and speak for them; so, if
he tell us his noble deeds, we must also tell him
our noble acceptance of them. Ingratitude is
monstrous, and for the multitude to be ingrateful,
were to make a monster of the multitude: of the
which we being members, should bring ourselves to be
monstrous members.
FIRST CITIZEN
And to make us no better thought of, a little help
will serve; for once we stood up about the corn, he
himself stuck not to call us the many-headed multitude.

DUTCH:
Wij hebben de macht aan ons om het te doen, maar
dit is een macht, die wij de macht niet hebben te gebruiken.

MORE:
Power=Force, strength, ability, whether bodily or intellectual, physical or moral
Monstrous=Shocking, horrible
Compleat:
Multitude=Menigte, veelheid, het gemeene volk, gepeupel
Power (ability or force)=Vermogen, kracht
Monstrous=Wanschapen, gedrochtig

Topics: rights, ingratitude, authority, order/society

We will so: almost all repent in their election

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: All
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
One thus descended,
That hath beside well in his person wrought
To be set high in place, we did commend
To your remembrances: but you have found,
Scaling his present bearing with his past,
That he’s your fixed enemy, and revoke
Your sudden approbation.
BRUTUS
Say, you ne’er had done’t—
Harp on that still— but by our putting on;
And presently, when you have drawn your number,
Repair to the Capitol.
ALL
We will so: almost all
Repent in their election.
BRUTUS
Let them go on;
This mutiny were better put in hazard,
Than stay, past doubt, for greater:
If, as his nature is, he fall in rage
With their refusal, both observe and answer
The vantage of his anger.
SICINIUS
To the Capitol, come:
We will be there before the stream o’ the people;
And this shall seem, as partly ’tis, their own,
Which we have goaded onward.

DUTCH:
Dit willen wij;
De keus berouwt schier allen.

MORE:
Scaling=Weighing
Putting on=Urging
Drawn=Gathered these people
Put in hazard=Risked
Stay=Wait
Past doubt=The certainty of
Observe=Watch
Answer the vantage=Take advantage of
Compleat:
To put to=Opdringen, toedringen
To hazard=Waagen, aventuuren, in de waagschaal stellen
To stay=Wagten
To observe=Waarneemen, gadeslaan, onderhouden, aanmerken, opmerken

Topics: relationship, merit, status, regret

What faults he made before the last, I think might have found easy fines

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.6
SPEAKER: First Lord
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
I have not deserved it.
But, worthy lords, have you with heed perused
What I have written to you?
LORDS
We have.
FIRST LORD
And grieve to hear’t.
What faults he made before the last, I think
Might have found easy fines: but there to end
Where he was to begin and give away
The benefit of our levies, answering us
With our own charge, making a treaty where
There was a yielding,—this admits no excuse.

DUTCH:
En ‘t wekte ons kommer.
Voor elke feil, voorafgaand aan de laatste,
Volstond een boete; doch het werk te staken,
Waar hij beginnen moest, de winst der waap’ning
Zoo weg te schenken, enkel onze kosten

MORE:
With heed=Heedfulness, attention, care
Easy fines=Light penalties
Give away the benefit=Squander a lead, advantage
Answering us=Satisfying, rewarding
Yielding=Lack of opposition, weakness
Admits no excuse=There is no excuse
Compleat:
Heed=Hoede, zorg, acht, toezit
Take heed=Draag zorg, heb acht, zie toe
Give away for lost=Iets verlooren rekenen
Yielding=Overgeeving, toegeeving, uitlevering; overgeevende, toegeeflyk, meegeeflyk
To admit of one’s excuse=Iemands verschooning plaats geven

Topics: caution, punishment, error, pity, negligence, failure

What I think I utter, and spend my malice in my breath

DUTCH:
Wat ik denk, dat uit ik, en ik geef mijn boosheid in mijn adem lucht.

Topics: judgment, anger, law/legal

What is the city but the people?

DUTCH:
Is dan de stad iets anders dan het volk?

MORE:
Proverb: Do not blow the fire thou wouldst quench
Proverb: Men (Men’s love), not walls, make the city (prince) safe

Unbuild=To raze, to destroy
Compleat:
Unbuilt=Ongebouwd
Magistrate=Overheid, Overheer, Magistraat

Topics: order/society, law/legal dispute, , proverbs and idioms

What’s the matter, you dissentious rogues that rubbing the poor itch of your opinion, make yourselves scabs?

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Martius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
For that, being one o’ the lowest, basest, poorest,
Of this most wise rebellion, thou go’st foremost:
Thou rascal, that art worst in blood to run,
Lead’st first to win some vantage.
But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs:
Rome and her rats are at the point of battle;
The one side must have bale.
Hail, noble Martius!
MARTIUS
Thanks. What’s the matter, you dissentious rogues,
That, rubbing the poor itch of your opinion,
Make yourselves scabs?

DUTCH:
Dank. — Wat wil dit hier, oproertuig, dat gij,
Zoodra u ‘t oordeel jeukt, uzelf door krabben
Gansch uitslag maakt?

MORE:
Stiff bats=Cudgels
Bale=Injury, sorrow
Dissentious=Seditious
Rascal=Person of low social status
Compleat:
Bat=Knuppel
Bale=Een baal
Dissentaneous=Tegenstrijdig
Rascal=Een schelm, guit, schobbejak, schurk, vlegel, schavuit
Dissension=Oneenigheid, verdeeldheid
To sow dissentions amongst friends=Onder vrienden tweedracht zaaijen

Topics: insult, status, conflict, leadership, order/society

When blows have made me stay, I fled from words. You soothed not, therefore hurt not.

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Sir, I hope
My words disbench’d you not.
CORIOLANUS
No, sir: yet oft,
When blows have made me stay, I fled from words.
You soothed not, therefore hurt not: but
your people,
I love them as they weigh.
MENENIUS
Pray now, sit down.
CORIOLANUS
I had rather have one scratch my head i’ the sun
When the alarum were struck than idly sit
To hear my nothings monster’d.
MENENIUS
Masters of the people,
Your multiplying spawn how can he flatter—
That’s thousand to one good one—when you now see
He had rather venture all his limbs for honour
Than one on’s ears to hear it? Proceed, Cominius.

DUTCH:
Hield ik voor slagen stand, en vlood voor woorden.
Gij vleit niet, dus gij krenkt niet. Doch, uw burgers
Bemin ik naar zij waard zijn.

MORE:
Disbenched=Upset (unseated)
Soothed not=Did not flatter
As they weigh=According to their weight or value
Monstered=Described as remarkable
Multiplying spawn=Common people
Venture=Risk
Compleat:
To sooth up=Vleijen, flikflooien
To weigh or be of weight (to be considerable, important)=Van gewigt, belang, aanzienlyk zyn
To ventiure=Waagen

Topics: resolution, remedy, value, flattery

When you speak best unto the purpose, it is not worth the wagging of your beards

DUTCH:
Als gij het best ter zake spreekt, is het niet eens het schudden
van uw baarden waard;

Topics: insult, intellect, status, respect

Yet he hath left undone that which shall break his neck or hazard mine

DUTCH:
Toch blijft hem nog te doen,
Wat hèm den nek zal breken, of den mijnen
Op ‘t spel zet, als er reek’ning wordt geëischt.

Topics: plans/intentions, regret, authority

Yet you must not think to fob off our disgrace with a tale

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
FIRST CITIZEN
Care for us! True, indeed! They ne’er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there’s all the love they bear us.
MENENIUS
Either you must
Confess yourselves wondrous malicious,
Or be accused of folly. I shall tell you
A pretty tale: it may be you have heard it;
But, since it serves my purpose, I will venture
To stale ‘t a little more.
FIRST CITIZEN
Well, I’ll hear it, sir: yet you must not think to
fob off our disgrace with a tale: but, an ‘t please
you, deliver.

DUTCH:
Nu, wij willen het aanhooren; maar gij moet u niet
verbeelden, ons smadelijk onrecht met een sprookjen weg
te kunnen goochelen! Maar als gij wilt, voor den dag er
mee!

MORE:
Suffer=Allow
Usury=Charging interest
Wholesome=Suitable, beneficial
Piercing=Severe
Stale=Become old, stale (from repetition)
Pretty=Clever
Fob off=Dismiss, evade
Compleat:
Suffer=Toelaten
Usury=Woeker
To lend upon usury=Op rente leenen
Wholesom=Gezond, heylzaam, heelzaam
To pierce=Doorbooren, doordringen
To stale=Oud worden
Fobbed off=Bespot
To fob one off=Iemand te leur stellen, voor de gek houden

Topics: abuse, poverty and wealth, order/society

You are too absolute; though therein you can never be too noble

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Repent what you have spoke.
CORIOLANUS
For them! I cannot do it to the gods;
Must I then do’t to them?
VOLUMNIA
You are too absolute;
Though therein you can never be too noble,
But when extremities speak. I have heard you say,
Honour and policy, like unsever’d friends,
I’ the war do grow together: grant that, and tell me,
In peace what each of them by the other lose,
That they combine not there.

DUTCH:
Gij zijt te hoog van taal;
Wel toont gij dus uw adeldom te meer;

MORE:
Absolute=Rigid, inflexible
When extremities speak=In a crisis, extreme situation “give ground” or concede something; when necessity requires
Unsevered=Inseparable
Policy=Stratagem, prudent or dexterous management
Compleat:
Policy (conduct, address, cunning way)=Staatkunde, beleid, behendigheid
Severed=Afgescheiden
Extremity=Uitspoorigheid; uiterste

Topics: conflict, judgment, wisdom, honour

You are well understood to be a perfecter giber for the table than a necessary bencher in the Capitol

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
You know neither me, yourselves nor any thing. You are ambitious for poor knaves’ caps and legs: you wear out a good wholesome forenoon in hearing a cause between an orange wife and a fosset-seller; and then rejourn the controversy of three pence to a second day of audience. When you are hearing a matter between party and party, if you chance to be pinched with the colic, you make faces like mummers; set up the bloody flag against all patience; and, in roaring for a chamber-pot, dismiss the controversy bleeding the more entangled by your hearing: all the peace you make in their cause is calling both the parties knaves. You are a pair of strange ones.
BRUTUS
Come, come, you are well understood to be a
perfecter giber for the table than a necessary
bencher in the Capitol.

DUTCH:
Kom, kom, het is overbekend, dat gij veeleer een onverbeterlijk grappenmaker aan tafel zijt, dan een onontbeerlijk bijzitter op het Kapitool.

MORE:
Proverb: Know thyself

Ambitious for caps and legs=Wanting people to bow and doff caps
Bencher=member of a court or council
Set up the bloody flag=Declare war on (patience)
Fosset, forset, faucet=Kind of tap for drawing liquor from a barrel; only in “faucet-seller”
Giber=entertainer, (aftr-dinner) jester
Mummer=Someone wearing a mask
The more entangled=To make (the dispute) more confused and intricate
Compleat:
To gibe=Boerten, gekscheeren
Bencher=Een byzitter, Raad, een Rechtsgeleerde van den eersten rang in ‘t Genootschap
Mummer=Een vermomde
Faucet (or peg)=Zwikje, pennetje tot een vat

Topics: proverbs and idioms, language, intellect, reputation, judgment, dispute

You know the very road into his kindness, and cannot lose your way

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Well, and say that Marcius
Return me, as Cominius is return’d,
Unheard; what then?
But as a discontented friend, grief-shot
With his unkindness? say’t be so?
SICINIUS
Yet your good will
Must have that thanks from Rome, after the measure
As you intended well.
MENENIUS
I’ll undertake ‘t:
I think he’ll hear me. Yet, to bite his lip
And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me.
He was not taken well; he had not dined:
The veins unfill’d, our blood is cold, and then
We pout upon the morning, are unapt
To give or to forgive; but when we have stuff’d
These and these conveyances of our blood
With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls
Than in our priest-like fasts: therefore I’ll watch him
Till he be dieted to my request,
And then I’ll set upon him.
BRUTUS
You know the very road into his kindness,
And cannot lose your way.
MENENIUS
Good faith, I’ll prove him,
Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledge
Of my success.

DUTCH:
Gij kent den rechten weg tot zijne goedheid,
En slaat geen dwaalpad in.

MORE:
Grief-shot=Grief-stricken
Bite his lip and hum=Suppress angry comment
After the measure=To the extent
Unhearts=Disheartens
Pout upon the morning=Morning bad mood
Speed how it will=However it turns out
Compleat:
To powt=Een leelyke toot zetten; de lip laaten hangen
To powt=(look gruff, surly): Stuurs, knorrig, gemelyk, zuur zien
To speed=Voortspoeden, voorspoedig zyn, wel gelukken

Topics: grief, anger, wellbeing, emotion and mood

You might have been enough the man you are, with striving less to be so

DUTCH:
Ik heb een hart, zoo min gedwee als ‘t uwe,
Maar ook een brein, dat, hoe mijn toorn ook zied’,
Zelfs dit ten beste stuurt.

MORE:
Thwartings=Demands imposed by
Cross=Oppose
Compleat:
Thwarting=Dwarsdryving, dwarsdryvende
To cross=Tegenstreeven, dwars voor de boeg komen, dwarsboomen, wederestreeven, kruisen

Topics: nature, work, respect, dignity

You show too much of that for which the people stir

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Have you inform’d them sithence?
BRUTUS
How! I inform them!
CORIOLANUS
You are like to do such business.
BRUTUS
Not unlike,
Each way, to better yours.
CORIOLANUS
Why then should I be consul? By yond clouds,
Let me deserve so ill as you, and make me
Your fellow tribune.
SICINIUS
You show too much of that
For which the people stir: if you will pass
To where you are bound, you must inquire your way,
Which you are out of, with a gentler spirit,
Or never be so noble as a consul,
Nor yoke with him for tribune.
MENENIUS
Let’s be calm.

DUTCH:
Daar uit ge alweder iets,
Waarom het volk in opstand komt.

MORE:
Sithence=Since then
Not unlike=Not unlikely
To better yours=Better than you [are doing]Out of=Out of the habit of
Yoke=Join

Topics: deceit

Your virtue is to make him worthy whose offence subdues him and curse that justice did it

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Martius
CONTEXT:
He that will give good words to thee will flatter
Beneath abhorring. What would you have, you curs,
That like nor peace nor war? The one affrights you,
The other makes you proud. He that trusts to you,
Where he should find you lions, finds you hares;
Where foxes, geese: you are no surer, no,
Than is the coal of fire upon the ice,
Or hailstone in the sun. Your virtue is
To make him worthy whose offence subdues him
And curse that justice did it.
Who deserves greatness
Deserves your hate; and your affections are
A sick man’s appetite, who desires most that
Which would increase his evil. He that depends
Upon your favours swims with fins of lead
And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye! Trust Ye?
With every minute you do change a mind,
And call him noble that was now your hate,
Him vile that was your garland. What’s the matter,
That in these several places of the city
You cry against the noble senate, who,
Under the gods, keep you in awe, which else
Would feed on one another? What’s their seeking?

DUTCH:
Een vriend’lijk woord tot u waar’ laag gevlei,
Geen afschuw waard

MORE:
Virtue=Merit, what you excel in
Make worthy=Exalt, glorify
Proud=Full of self-esteem, haughty
Offence subdues=Ruined, disabled, tamed, crushed by their crime
Sure=Reliable, stable
Garland=Champion
Compleat:
Worthy=Waardig, eerwaardig, voortreffelyk, uytmuntend, deftig
Subdue=Onderbrengen
Virtue (efficacy, power, propriety)=Kracht, vermogen, hoedanigheid, eigenschap
Proud=Hovaardig, hoogmoedig, verwaand

Topics: flattery, trust, justice, merit, value