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PLAY: The Comedy of Errors ACT/SCENE: 4.2 SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse CONTEXT: DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Here, go—the desk, the purse! Sweet, now make haste.
LUCIANA
How hast thou lost thy breath?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
By running fast.
ADRIANA
Where is thy master, Dromio? Is he well?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
No, he’s in Tartar limbo, worse than hell.
A devil in an everlasting garment hath him,
One whose hard heart is buttoned up with steel;
A fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough;
A wolf, nay, worse, a fellow all in buff;
A backfriend, a shoulder clapper, one that countermands
The passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands;
A hound that runs counter and yet draws dryfoot well,
One that before the judgment carries poor souls to hell. DUTCH: Hij is in ‘t voorportaal, neen, in de hel!
Hem heeft een duivel beet, in eeuw’gen dos,
Een man, wiens hart met staal benageld is,
Een wreede booze geest, een wolf, neen, meer,
Een kerel, gansch gehuld in buffelleêr
MORE: Tartar=Tartarus, hell in classical mythology
Fairy=Malign spirit
Buff=Hardwearing material; buff jerkins were worn by the sergeant
Backfriend=Backslapper who pretends to be a friend (shoulder-clapper was also slang for an arresting officer)
Countermand=Prohibit, with pun on ‘counter’ (name for debtor’s prison)
Passage=Access, entry, avenue, way leading to and out of something
Compleat:
Buff leather=Buffels of ossen leer op zeem bereid
Counter-mand=Tegenbeveelen; een bevel herroepen
Counter=Twee gevangenenhuizen in Londen die dus genoemd worden
Tartarean (of hell, from the Latin ‘tartarus’)=Helsch
To mend his draught=Zich eens verhaalen in ‘t drinken

Burgersdijk notes:
Hij is in’t voorportaal, neen, in de hel. In ‘t Engelsch staat: He is in Tartar’s limbo ; de uitdrukking schijnt aan de Engelschen uit Dante’s Goddelijke Comedie gemeenzaam te zijn geworden, men vindt haar meermalen bij Shakespeare en ook in Spencer’s Elfenkoningin. De hel was in Sh.’s tijd, en nog een eeuw later, de naam van een gevangenis. Evenzoo was counter (reg. 39) de naam van eene gevangenis; maar to run counter is ook een uitdrukking voor een jachthond, die op een valsch spoor is of in verkeerde richting loopt. — De gerechtsdienaars waren in leder gekleed, zie K. Hendrik IV. I. Topics: law/legal, flattery, punishment, authority

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
A man is well holp up that trusts to you!
I promisèd your presence and the chain,
But neither chain nor goldsmith came to me.
Belike you thought our love would last too long
If it were chained together, and therefore came not.
ANGELO
Saving your merry humour, here’s the note
How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat,
The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion,
Which doth amount to three-odd ducats more
Than I stand debted to this gentleman.
I pray you, see him presently discharged,
For he is bound to sea, and stays but for it.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
I am not furnished with the present money.
Besides, I have some business in the town.
Good signior, take the stranger to my house,
And with you take the chain, and bid my wife
Disburse the sum on the receipt thereof.
Perchance I will be there as soon as you.

DUTCH:
Nu, die op u vertrouwt, is wel bediend!
Ik zeide ginds uw komst toe en den ketting,
Maar noch de keten, noch de goudsmid kwam.

MORE:
Holp=Helped
Belike=Perhaps
Saving=With due regard to
Note=Receipt
Discharged=Satisfied, his debt paid
Chargeful fashion=Expensive
I am not furnished=I do not have
Present=At the moment, now
Compleat:
Holpen=Geholpen; Holp op=Opgeholpen
Saving=Behouding, zaaligmaakig, bewaaring, redding, bespaaring
To discharge=Onstlaan, lossen, quytschelden
Chargeable=Lastig, kostelyk
Furnished=Verzorgd, voorzien, gestoffeerd

Topics: debt/obligation, value, trust

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Dromio of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
You would say so, master, if your garments were thin.
Your cake there is warm within; you stand here in the cold.
It would make a man mad as a buck to be so bought and sold.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Go, fetch me something: I’ll break ope the gate.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Break any breaking here, and I’ll break your knave’s pate.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
A man may break a word with you, sir, and words are but wind,
Ay, and break it in your face, so he break it not behind.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
It seems thou want’st breaking. Out upon thee, hind!
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Here’s too much “out upon thee!” I pray thee, let me
in.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Ay, when fowls have no feathers and fish have
no fin.

DUTCH:
Nu wacht maar, wij zullen dat schelden en razen wel stuiten ,
En spoedig genoeg u een ander deuntjen doen fluiten.

MORE:
Proverbs: Words are but wind

Break a word with=Talk to
Thou want’st breaking=You need a thrashing
Hind=Servant

Topics: proverbs and idioms, language

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
A trusty villain, sir, that very oft,
When I am dull with care and melancholy,
Lightens my humour with his merry jests.
What, will you walk with me about the town
And then go to my inn and dine with me?
FIRST MERCHANT
I am invited, sir, to certain merchants,
Of whom I hope to make much benefit.
I crave your pardon. Soon at five o’clock,
Please you, I’ll meet with you upon the mart
And afterward consort you till bedtime.
My present business calls me from you now.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Farewell till then. I will go lose myself
And wander up and down to view the city.
FIRST MERCHANT
Sir, I commend you to your own content.

DUTCH:
Dat is een trouwe knaap , heer, die recht vaak,
Als zorg en somberheid mij nederdrukken,
Mijn geest vervroolijkt door zijn luchte scherts.

MORE:
Villain=Bondman, rogue (affectionate)
Humour=Mood, disposition
Mart=Market
Consort=Consort with, accompany
Commend you to your own content=Enjoy yourself
Compleat:
Villain=Een staafachtige dienaar; Fielt, schelm, snoode boef
Humour (or disposition of the mind)=Humeur, gemoeds gesteldheid
Mart=Jaarmarket
To consort=Gezelschap houden

Topics: business, emotion and mood

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
LUCIANA
Ere I learn love, I’ll practice to obey.
ADRIANA
How if your husband start some otherwhere?
LUCIANA
Till he come home again, I would forbear.
ADRIANA
Patience unmoved! No marvel though she pause;
They can be meek that have no other cause.
A wretched soul, bruised with adversity
We bid be quiet when we hear it cry,
But were we burdened with like weight of pain,
As much or more we should ourselves complain.
So thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee,
With urging helpless patience would relieve me;
But, if thou live to see like right bereft,
This fool-begged patience in thee will be left.

DUTCH:
Een armen mensch, door ‘t nijdig lot geplaagd,
Vermanen wij tot kalm zijn, als hij klaagt;
Maar drukte eens ons hetzelfde leed als hem,
Niet min, licht meer, verhieven we onze stem

MORE:
Proverb: All commend patience but none can endure to suffer
Proverb: Let him be begged for a fool

Begging for a fool refers to the practice of petitioning for custody of the mentally ill or minors so as to gain control of their assets
Pause=Pause to consider marriage
Like=Similar
Like right bereft=To have rights similarly taken from you
Helpless=Receiving no aid, wanting support
Bereave (bereft)=Taken from, spoiled, impaired
Compleat:
Bereft, bereaved=Beroofd
To beg one for a fool, to beg his estate of the King=Het bestier der goederen van een Krankzinnig mensch, van den Koning verzoeken

Topics: adversity, law/legal, patience, poverty and wealth, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:

ADRIANA
I cannot, nor I will not hold me still;
My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.
He is deformèd, crooked, old, and sere,
Ill-faced, worse-bodied, shapeless everywhere,
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind,
Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.
LUCIANA
Who would be jealous, then, of such a one?
No evil lost is wailed when it is gone.
ADRIANA
Ah, but I think him better than I say,
And yet would herein others’ eyes were worse.
Far from her nest the lapwing cries away.
My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse.

DUTCH:
O, maar ik acht hem beter, dan ik zeg;
Als and’rer oog hem maar zoo haatlijk vond!
De kieviet schreeuwt, is hij van ‘t nest ver weg;
Mijn harte bidt voor hem, al vloekt mijn mond.

MORE:
Proverb: The lapwing cries most when farthest from her nest

Hold me still=Stay quiet
Sere=Withered
Stigmatical=Ugly, deformed
Lapwing=Bird that deceives predators by faking the location of its nest
Compleat:
Still=Stil
Stigmatical=Gebrandmerkt, eerloos
Lapwing=Kievit

Burgersdijk notes:
De kievit schreeuwt, enz. In Sh’s. tijd werd de kievit meermalen hiervoor aangehaald, ja de uitdrukking schijnt spreekwoordelijk geweest te zijn. In LILY’s Campaspe leest men:
„You resemble the lapwing, who crieth most where her nest is not.” Shakespeare zelf herhaalt het beeld in ,Maat voor Maat,” I.4.

Topics: deceit, perception, insult, proverbs and idioms, envy, manipulation

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Thou hast suborned the goldsmith to arrest me.
ADRIANA
Alas, I sent you money to redeem you
By Dromio here, who came in haste for it.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Money by me! heart and goodwill you might,
But surely, master, not a rag of money.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Went’st not thou to her for a purse of ducats?
ADRIANA
He came to me, and I delivered it.
LUCIANA
And I am witness with her that she did.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
God and the rope-maker bear me witness
That I was sent for nothing but a rope.
PINCH
Mistress, both man and master is possessed.
I know it by their pale and deadly looks.
They must be bound and laid in some dark room.

DUTCH:
Helaas, ik zond u geld voor uw bevrijding,
Door Dromio hier, die ‘t ijlings hebben moest.

MORE:
Suborned=Arranged for
Rag of money=Smallest coin
Redeem=Bail out
Bound and laid in a dark room=Treatment for madness (see Twelfth Night 4.2)
Compleat:
To suborn=Heymelyk beschikken, besteeken, uytmaaken
Redeem=Verlossen, vrykoopen, lossen

Topics: money, debt/obligation, madness, truth

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
Come, come, no longer will I be a fool,
To put the finger in the eye and weep
Whilst man and master laugh my woes to scorn.
Come, sir, to dinner.—Dromio, keep the gate. —
Husband, I’ll dine above with you today,
And shrive you of a thousand idle pranks.
Sirrah, if any ask you for your master,
Say he dines forth, and let no creature enter.—
Come, sister.—Dromio, play the porter well.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell?
Sleeping or waking, mad or well-advised?
Known unto these, and to myself disguised!
I’ll say as they say, and persever so,
And in this mist at all adventures go.

DUTCH:
Wat is het, hemel, hel of aarde, hier?
Slaap, waak ik? Ben ik wijs of buiten west?
Ik ken mijzelven niet en zij mij best.

MORE:
Proverb: To put finger in the eye (force tears, generate sympathy)

Mist=Confusion
Well-advised=In my right mind
Persever=Persevere
To shrive=To hear confession and absolve (between condemnation and execution of punishment – origin of short shrift (korte metten))
At all adventures=Whatever the risk, consequences
Compleat:
To shrive=Biechten
At all adventures=Laat komen wat wil, ‘t gaa hoe ‘t gaa
Persevere=Volharden, volstandig blyven

Topics: imagination, evidence, judgment, reason, risk, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Dromio of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
Back, slave, or I will break thy pate across.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
And he will bless that cross with other beating.
Between you, I shall have a holy head.
ADRIANA
Hence, prating peasant! Fetch thy master home.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Am I so round with you as you with me,
That like a football you do spurn me thus?
You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither.
If I last in this service, you must case me in leather.
LUCIANA
Fie, how impatience loureth in your face.

DUTCH:
Zeide ik goedrond de waarheid, ben ik dáárom
Te schoppen als een bal van hier naar ginds?
Gij schopt mij weg, hij schopt gewis mij weder,
Als ik dat uit zal houden, zoo naai mij eerst in leder.

MORE:
Round=Outspoken, plain-speaking
Spurn=Kick
Loureth=Scowl
Compleat:
To have a round delivery (clear utterance)=Glad ter taal zyn
A spurn=Een schop met de voet
To spurn=Agteruit schoppen, schoppen. To spurn away=Wegschoppen

Burgersdijk notes:
Te schoppen als een bal. Het voetbalspel is, zooals bekend is, nog zeer in zwang, en de bal er voor is met leder overtrokken.

Topics: work, civility, order/society, respect

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Abbess
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
There, take it; and much thanks for my good cheer.
ABBESS
Renownèd duke, vouchsafe to take the pains
To go with us into the abbey here
And hear at large discoursed all our fortunes,
And all that are assembled in this place
That by this sympathizèd one day’s error
Have suffered wrong. Go, keep us company,
And we shall make full satisfaction.—
Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my sons, and till this present hour
My heavy burden ne’er deliverèd.—
The Duke, my husband, and my children both,
And you, the calendars of their nativity,
Go to a gossips’ feast, and go with me.
After so long grief, such nativity!
DUKE
With all my heart I’ll gossip at this feast.

DUTCH:
En meegeleden hebt door al de dwaling
Van éénen dag, treedt binnen; allen zullen
Ten volle, zoo ik hoop, bevredigd zijn.

MORE:
Vouchsafe=Deign to (go)
Sympathized=Share in (by all)
Discourse=Relate, tell
Nativity=Birth
Compleat:
To vouchsafe=Gewaardigen, vergunnen
Sympathize=Medelyden, een onderlinge trek hebben, wederzyds gevoelig zyn, gevoelig zyn van een anders wedervaaren
Discourse=Redeneering, reedenvoering, gesprek, vertoog

Topics: error, resolution

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Because that I familiarly sometimes
Do use you for my fool and chat with you,
Your sauciness will jest upon my love
And make a common of my serious hours.
When the sun shines, let foolish gnats make sport,
But creep in crannies when he hides his beams.
If you will jest with me, know my aspect,
And fashion your demeanour to my looks,
Or I will beat this method in your sconce.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
“Sconce” call you it? So you would leave battering,
I had rather have it a “head.” An you use these blows long, I must get a sconce for my head and ensconce it too, or else I shall seek my wit in my shoulders. But I pray, sir, why am I beaten?

DUTCH:
Omdat ik soms gemeenzaam scherts en keuvel,
Als met een nar, misbruikt ge in overmoed
Mijn vriendlijkheid en neemt mijn ernstige uren,
Alsof ze u toebehoorden, in beslag.
Maar dans’ de mug ook in den zonneschijn,
Zij kruipt in reten, als de lucht betrekt

MORE:
Proverb: He has more wit in his head than you in both your shoulders

Jest upon=Trifle with
Sauciness=Impertinence, impudence
Make a common of my serious hours=Treat my hours of business as common property (reference to property law, where racts of ground were allocated to common use and known as “commons”)
Aspect=Look, glance; possible reference to astrology, with the aspect being the position of one planet in relation to others and its potential to exert influence
Sconce=(1) Head; (2) Fortification, bulwark
Fashion your demeanour to my looks=Check my mood and act accordingly
Compleat:
To jest=Boerten, schertsen, jokken, gekscheeren
Sconce=(Sconse) Een bolwerk of blokhuis
To sconce (university word to signify the setting up so much in the buttery-book, upon one’s head, to be paid as a punishment for a duty neglected or an offence committed)=In de boete beslaan, eene boete opleggen, straffen
Sconsing=Beboeting, beboetende
To fashion=Een gestalte geeven, vormen, fatzoeneeren

Burgersdijk notes:
Op mijn bol? In ‘t Engelsch een woordspeling met sconce, dat „bol” of „hoofd” beteekent, en ook, schans”, waarom ook het woord ensconce, ,,verschansen” volgt. Bij het maken der aanteekeningen komt het mij voor, dat het woord bolwerk had kunnen dienen om het origineel nauwkeuriger terug te geven: „Mijn bol noemt gij dit, heer? als gij het slaan wildet laten, zou ik het liever voor een hoofd houden, maar als gij met dat ranselen voortgaat, moet ik een bolwerk voor mijn hoofd zien te krijgen en het goed dekken (of versterken), of mijn verstand in mijn rug gaan zoeken.”

Topics: respect, misunderstanding, punishment, emotion and mood, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Sweet mistress—what your name is else I know not,
Nor by what wonder you do hit of mine,—
Less in your knowledge and your grace you show not
Than our earth’s wonder, more than earth divine.
Teach me, dear creature, how to think and speak.
Lay open to my earthy gross conceit,
Smothered in errors, feeble, shallow, weak,
The folded meaning of your words’ deceit.
Against my soul’s pure truth why labour you
To make it wander in an unknown field?
Are you a god? would you create me new?
Transform me, then, and to your power I’ll yield.
But if that I am I, then well I know
Your weeping sister is no wife of mine,
Nor to her bed no homage do I owe.
Far more, far more, to you do I decline.
O, train me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note
To drown me in thy sister’s flood of tears.
Sing, Siren, for thyself, and I will dote.
Spread o’er the silver waves thy golden hairs,
And as a bed I’ll take them and there lie,
And in that glorious supposition think
He gains by death that hath such means to die.
Let Love, being light, be drownèd if she sink.

DUTCH:
Zijt ge een godin, die mij vervormen wil?
Vervorm mij dan! ik geef mij in uw hand.

MORE:
Hit=Guess, discover
Gross conceit=Weak intellect
Folded=Concealed
Compleat:
To hit (succeed, happen)=Aankomen, gelukken, ontmoeten; (agree) over eens worden
I can’t hit of his name=Ik an niet op zyn naam komen
To conceit=Zich verbeelden, achten
Conceit=Waan, bevatting, opvatting, meening

Topics: understanding, error, intellect, learning/education, respect

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
May it please your Grace, Antipholus my husband,
Whom I made lord of me and all I had
At your important letters, this ill day
A most outrageous fit of madness took him,
That desp’rately he hurried through the street,
With him his bondman, all as mad as he,
Doing displeasure to the citizens
By rushing in their houses, bearing thence
Rings, jewels, any thing his rage did like.
Once did I get him bound and sent him home
Whilst to take order for the wrongs I went
That here and there his fury had committed.
Anon, I wot not by what strong escape,
He broke from those that had the guard of him,
And with his mad attendant and himself,
Each one with ireful passion, with drawn swords,
Met us again and, madly bent on us,
Chased us away, till, raising of more aid,
We came again to bind them. Then they fled
Into this abbey, whither we pursued them,
And here the Abbess shuts the gates on us
And will not suffer us to fetch him out,
Nor send him forth that we may bear him hence.
Therefore, most gracious duke, with thy command
Let him be brought forth and borne hence for help.

DUTCH:
Mijn man, dien ik, op aandrang van uw hoogheid,
Tot heer van mij en ‘t mijne maakte, werd
Deez’ boozen dag van razernij bevangen,
Zoodat hij, met zijn even dollen dienaar,
Als een bezeet’ne door de straten liep,

MORE:
Important letters=Requests
Doing displeasure=Upsetting, offending
Take order for=Deal with, take measures to repair
Wot not=Don’t know
Ireful passion=Anger
Suffer=Permit
Compleat:
Displeasure=Misnoegen, mishaagen, ongenade
To do a displeasure to one=Iemand verdriet aandoen
To order=Schikken, belasten, beveelen, ordineeren
I wot not=Ik weet niet
Irefull=Zeer gram, zeer vertoornt
Passion=Lyding, hartstogt, drift, ingenomenheyd, zydigheyd, zucht
Suffer=Toelaten

Topics: madness, authority, offence

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
I never spake with her in all my life.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
How can she thus then call us by our names—
Unless it be by inspiration?
ADRIANA
How ill agrees it with your gravity
To counterfeit thus grossly with your slave,
Abetting him to thwart me in my mood.
Be it my wrong you are from me exempt,
But wrong not that wrong with a more contempt.
Come, I will fasten on this sleeve of thine.
Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine
Whose weakness, married to thy stronger state,
Makes me with thy strength to communicate.
If aught possess thee from me, it is dross,
Usurping ivy, brier, or idle moss,
Who, all for want of pruning, with intrusion
Infect thy sap and live on thy confusion.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
To me she speaks; she moves me for her theme.
What, was I married to her in my dream?
Or sleep I now and think I hear all this?
What error drives our eyes and ears amiss?
Until I know this sure uncertainty
I’ll entertain the offered fallacy.

DUTCH:
Hoe kwalijk strookt het met uw waardigheid ,
Dit guichelspel te spelen met uw slaaf,
Hem aan te zetten, dat hij dus mij terg’!
Lijd ik het onrecht, dat gij mij verlaat,
Hoop niet op onrecht onrecht door uw smaad.

MORE:
Proverb: The vine embraces the elm

Be it=Accepting that it is
To counterfeit=To feign
Thus grossly=So evidently
Exempt=Separated; not subject to my control; relieved from duty (also denoting a person or institution not subject to the jurisdiction of a particular bishop) (OED)
Compleat:
Ill at ease=Onpasselyk, kwaalyk te pas
Gross=Grof, plomp, onbebouwen
You grossly mistake my meaning=Gy vergist u grootelyks omtrent myn meening
To counterfeit (feign)=(Zich) Veinzen
A counterfeit friendship=Een gemaakte of geveinsde vriendschap

Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, conspiracy, deceit

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Luciana
CONTEXT:
LUCIANA
And may it be that you have quite forgot
A husband’s office? Shall, Antipholus,
Even in the spring of love thy love-springs rot?
Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous?
If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Then for her wealth’s sake use her with more kindness.
Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth—
Muffle your false love with some show of blindness.
Let not my sister read it in your eye;
Be not thy tongue thy own shame’s orator;
Look sweet, be fair, become disloyalty;
Apparel vice like virtue’s harbinger.
Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted.
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint.
Be secret-false. What need she be acquainted?
What simple thief brags of his own attaint?
‘Tis double wrong to truant with your bed
And let her read it in thy looks at board.
Shame hath a bastard fame, well managèd;
Ill deeds is doubled with an evil word.
Alas, poor women, make us but believe,
Being compact of credit, that you love us.
Though others have the arm, show us the sleeve;
We in your motion turn, and you may move us.
Then, gentle brother, get you in again.
Comfort my sister, cheer her, call her wife.
‘Tis holy sport to be a little vain
When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife.

DUTCH:
Blik zacht, spreek vleiend, huichel, ban haar vrees;
Hul in het vlekk’loos kleed der deugd uw zonde

MORE:
Proverb: Fair face foul heart
Proverb: It is an ill thing to be wicked (wretched) but a worse to be known so (to boast of it)

Become disloyalty=Wear disloyalty in a becoming fashion
Harbinger=Forerunner
Apparel=Dress up, cloak (vice as the forerunner of virtue)
Compleat:
Disloyalty=Ongetrouwigheid, trouwloosheid
Harbinger=Een bestelmeester, voorloper
To apparel=Optooijen, kleeden,
Apparelled=Gekleed, gedoft, opgetooid

Topics: deceit, appearance, honesty, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Luciana
CONTEXT:
LUCIANA
And may it be that you have quite forgot
A husband’s office? Shall, Antipholus,
Even in the spring of love thy love-springs rot?
Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous?
If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Then for her wealth’s sake use her with more kindness.
Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth—
Muffle your false love with some show of blindness.
Let not my sister read it in your eye;
Be not thy tongue thy own shame’s orator;
Look sweet, be fair, become disloyalty;
Apparel vice like virtue’s harbinger.
Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted.
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint.
Be secret-false. What need she be acquainted?
What simple thief brags of his own attaint?
‘Tis double wrong to truant with your bed
And let her read it in thy looks at board.
Shame hath a bastard fame, well managèd;
Ill deeds is doubled with an evil word.
Alas, poor women, make us but believe,
Being compact of credit, that you love us.
Though others have the arm, show us the sleeve;
We in your motion turn, and you may move us.
Then, gentle brother, get you in again.
Comfort my sister, cheer her, call her wife.
‘Tis holy sport to be a little vain
When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife.

DUTCH:
Blik zacht, spreek vleiend, huichel, ban haar vrees;
Hul in het vlekk’loos kleed der deugd uw zonde

MORE:
Proverb: Fair face foul heart
Proverb: It is an ill thing to be wicked (wretched) but a worse to be known so (to boast of it)

Become disloyalty=Wear disloyalty in a becoming fashion
Harbinger=Forerunner
Apparel=Dress up, cloak (vice as the forerunner of virtue)
Compleat:
Disloyalty=Ongetrouwigheid, trouwloosheid
Harbinger=Een bestelmeester, voorloper
To apparel=Optooijen, kleeden,
Apparelled=Gekleed, gedoft, opgetooid

Topics: deceit, appearance, honesty, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
By what rule, sir?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Marry, sir, by a rule as plain as the plain bald pate of Father
Time himself.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Let’s hear it.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
There’s no time for a man to recover his hair that grows bald by nature.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
May he not do it by fine and recovery?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Yes, to pay a fine for a periwig, and recover the lost hair of another man.

DUTCH:
Wel, heer, op een grond zoo glad als de gladde kale
kop van Vader Tijd zelf.

MORE:
Proverb: Take time (occasion) by the forelock, for she is bald behind

Father Time, the personification of Time as a more ‘friendly’ version than personification with a scythe or the Grim Reaper.
Plain (1) open, clear, simplet; (2) even, level, smooth
Fine and recovery. In old English law, “fine” meant “an amicable composition or agreement of astute, either actual or fictitious, by leave of the King or his justices”. Fines and Recoveries were used to circumvent the Statute of Entail, which tended to restrict the free transfer of land, by “suffering a feigned recovery” or “levying a fine”. There was a particular appeal for theatre audiences in the farcicality of the process (alluded to by Shakespeare in three plays: The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy
of Errors and Hamlet).
Compleat:
Plain (even, smooth, flat)=Vlak, effen
A plain superficies=Een gelyke oppervlakte
Plain (clear)=Klaar, duidelyk

Topics: proverbs and idioms, time, invented or popularised, still in use, law/legal

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Aegeon
CONTEXT:
AEGEON
I am sure you both of you remember me.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Ourselves we do remember, sir, by you.
For lately we were bound as you are now.
You are not Pinch’s patient, are you, sir?
AEGEON
Why look you strange on me? you know me well.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
I never saw you in my life till now.
AEGEON
O, grief hath changed me since you saw me last,
And careful hours with time’s deformèd hand
Have written strange defeatures in my face.
But tell me yet, dost thou not know my voice?
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Neither.
AEGEON
Dromio, nor thou?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
No, trust me, sir, nor I.

DUTCH:
Door zorgvolle uren heeft de maag’re hand
Des Tijds mij vreemde trekken ingegrift

MORE:
Defeatures=Disfigurements
Careful=Full of cares, subject to anxiety, sorrow, or want
Compleat:
Disfigurement=Mismaaktheyd, wanschapenheyd
Carefull=Zorgvuldig, bezorgd, zorgdraagend, bekommerd

Topics: time, age/experience, sorrow, appearance, grief

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
I am not in a sportive humour now.
Tell me, and dally not: where is the money?
We being strangers here, how dar’st thou trust
So great a charge from thine own custody?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
I pray you, jest, sir, as you sit at dinner.
I from my mistress come to you in post;
If I return, I shall be post indeed,
For she will scour your fault upon my pate.
Methinks your maw, like mine, should be your clock,
And strike you home without a messenger.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Come, Dromio, come, these jests are out of season.
Reserve them till a merrier hour than this.
Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
To me, sir? Why, you gave no gold to me!
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Come on, sir knave, have done your foolishness,
And tell me how thou hast disposed thy charge.

DUTCH:
Kom, Dromio, kom, ontijdig is die scherts;
Bewaar ze tot ik vroolijker gestemd ben.
Waar is het goud, dat ik u toevertrouwde?

MORE:
Out of season=Badly timed, inconvenient
Jest=Each believes the other to be joking (in ‘sportive humour’). The confusion about the delivery of a gold chain is a reference to a cause célèbre case in 1591 and 1592, Underwood v Manwood. This would have been appreciated by an audience in Gray’s Inn in 1594.
Maw=appetite
Compleat:
Maw=Maag
Out of season=Uit de tyd
To jest=Boerten, schertsen, jokken, gekscheeren

Topics: time, debt/obligation, misunderstanding, dispute

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
ANGELO
You wrong me more, sir, in denying it.
Consider how it stands upon my credit.
SECOND MERCHANT
Well, officer, arrest him at my suit.
OFFICER
I do, and charge you in the Duke’s name to obey me.
ANGELO
This touches me in reputation.
Either consent to pay this sum for me,
Or I attach you by this officer.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Consent to pay thee that I never had?—
Arrest me, foolish fellow, if thou dar’st.

DUTCH:
Ik zou betalen, wat ik nooit ontving?
Neem mij in hecht’nis, schaapskop, als gij durft.

MORE:
Stands upon my credit=Reflects on my standing
Suit=Petition or entreaty
Touches=Affects, harms
Attach=Arrest, seize
Compleat:
To stand upon his reputation=Op zyne eere staan
Suit=Een verzoek, rechtsgeding
To touch=Aanraaken, aanroeren, tasten
Attach=Beslaan, de hand opleggen, in verzekering neemen

Topics: reputation, claim, debt, law/legal

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
ANGELO
You wrong me more, sir, in denying it.
Consider how it stands upon my credit.
SECOND MERCHANT
Well, officer, arrest him at my suit.
OFFICER
I do, and charge you in the Duke’s name to obey me.
ANGELO
This touches me in reputation.
Either consent to pay this sum for me,
Or I attach you by this officer.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Consent to pay thee that I never had?—
Arrest me, foolish fellow, if thou dar’st.

DUTCH:
Dit komt mijn goeden naam te na. —
Kies dus: betaal die som voor mij aan hem,
Of volg voor mij dien dienaar naar de gijz’ling.

MORE:
Stands upon my credit=Reflects on my standing
Suit=Petition or entreaty
Touches=Affects, harms
Attach=Arrest, seize
Compleat:
To stand upon his reputation=Op zyne eere staan
Suit=Een verzoek, rechtsgeding
To touch=Aanraaken, aanroeren, tasten
Attach=Beslaan, de hand opleggen, in verzekering neemen

Topics: reputation, claim, debt, law/legal

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:

ANGELO
Nay, come, I pray you, sir, give me the chain.
Both wind and tide stays for this gentleman,
And I, to blame, have held him here too long.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Good Lord! You use this dalliance to excuse
Your breach of promise to the Porpentine.
I should have chid you for not bringing it,
But, like a shrew, you first begin to brawl.
SECOND MERCHANT
The hour steals on. I pray you, sir, dispatch.
ANGELO
You hear how he importunes me. The chain!
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Why, give it to my wife, and fetch your money.
ANGELO
Come, come. You know I gave it you even now.
Either send the chain, or send me by some token.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Fie, now you run this humour out of breath.
Come, where’s the chain? I pray you, let me see it.
SECOND MERCHANT
My business cannot brook this dalliance.
Good sir, say whe’er you’ll answer me or no.
If not, I’ll leave him to the Officer.

DUTCH:
O foei, dat is geen scherts meer; ‘t gaat te ver;
Waar is de ketting? ‘k Bid u, toon hein mij.

MORE:
Proverb: Time and tide (The tide) tarries (stays for) no man
Proverb: Some complain to prevent complaint (I should have chid you for not bringing it, But like a shrew you first begin to brawl)

Chid (impf., to chide.)=To rebuke, to scold at
Run this humour out of breath=Taking the joke too far
Token=A sign or attestion of a right
Compleat:
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
To sail with wind and tide=Voor wind and stroom zeilen
Chide=Kyven, bekyven
Token=Teken, getuigenis; een geschenkje dat men iemand tot een gedachtenis geeft
Dalliance=Gestoei, dartelheid

Topics: proverbs and idioms, time, money, promise, patience

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
Ay, ay, Antipholus, look strange and frown.
Some other mistress hath thy sweet aspects.
I am not Adriana, nor thy wife.
The time was once when thou unurged wouldst vow
That never words were music to thine ear,
That never object pleasing in thine eye,
That never touch well welcome to thy hand,
That never meat sweet-savored in thy taste,
Unless I spake, or looked, or touched, or carved to thee.
How comes it now, my husband, O, how comes it
That thou art thus estranged from thyself?
Thy “self” I call it, being strange to me,
That, undividable, incorporate,
Am better than thy dear self’s better part.
Ah, do not tear away thyself from me!
For know, my love, as easy mayest thou fall
A drop of water in the breaking gulf,
And take unmingled thence that drop again
Without addition or diminishing,
As take from me thyself and not me too.
How dearly would it touch thee to the quick,
Shouldst thou but hear I were licentious
And that this body, consecrate to thee,
By ruffian lust should be contaminate!
Wouldst thou not spit at me, and spurn at me,
And hurl the name of husband in my face,
And tear the stained skin off my harlot brow,
And from my false hand cut the wedding ring,
And break it with a deep-divorcing vow?
I know thou canst, and therefore see thou do it.
I am possessed with an adulterate blot;
My blood is mingled with the crime of lust;
For if we two be one, and thou play false,
I do digest the poison of thy flesh,
Being strumpeted by thy contagion.
Keep then fair league and truce with thy true bed,
I live disstained, thou undishonorèd.

DUTCH:
Want zijn wij tweeën één en zijt gij valsch,
Dan stroomt het gif van uw bloed in het mijn’,
En door uw smetstof word ik tot boelin.

MORE:
Look strange=Look confused, unknowing
Incorporate=Of one body
Possession=Akin to ‘infect’
Harlot brow=Branding on the forehead with a hot iron was punishment for prostitution
Strumpeted=Turned into a strumpet, prostitute (by contamination)
Unstained=Undefiled (some editors use disstain here)
The quick=The core
Licentious=Unfaithful
Blot=Stain
Compleat:
Incorporated=Ingelyfd
To enter into a league=In een verbond treeden, een verbond aangaan
Truce=Een bestand, stilstand van wapenen, treves
Possession=Bezetenheyd
Harlot=Boer, snol
Strumpet=Hoer
Licentious=Ongebonden, los, toomeloos
Blot=Een klad, vlak, vlek, spat

Topics: loyalty, ruin, reputation, marriage, love, respect

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
DUKE
Nay, forward, old man. Do not break off so,
For we may pity though not pardon thee.
AEGEON
O, had the gods done so, I had not now
Worthily termed them merciless to us.
For, ere the ships could meet by twice five leagues,
We were encountered by a mighty rock,
Which being violently borne upon,
Our helpful ship was splitted in the midst;
So that, in this unjust divorce of us,
Fortune had left to both of us alike
What to delight in, what to sorrow for.
Her part, poor soul, seeming as burdenèd
With lesser weight, but not with lesser woe,
Was carried with more speed before the wind,
And in our sight they three were taken up
By fishermen of Corinth, as we thought.
At length, another ship had seized on us
And, knowing whom it was their hap to save,
Gave healthful welcome to their shipwracked guests,
And would have reft the fishers of their prey
Had not their bark been very slow of sail;
And therefore homeward did they bend their course.
Thus have you heard me severed from my bliss;
That by misfortunes was my life prolonged
To tell sad stories of my own mishaps.

DUTCH:
Neen, oude, breek niet af; want mededoogen
Mag ik u schenken, schoon genade niet..

MORE:
Worthily=Deservedly, justly
Helpful ship=Mast, which was helpful when the ship was “sinking-ripe”
In the midst=Down the middle
Twice five leagues=Thirty miles
Hap=Luck
Reft=Bereft, deprived
Prey=Those rescued
Bark=Ship
Compleat:
Worthily=Waardiglyk
Helpful=Behulpelyk
Midst=Het middenst, midden
Hap=Het luk, geval, toeval
Bereft=Beroofd
Bark=Scheepje

Topics: pity, mercy, judgment, fate/destiny, life

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Thou hast suborned the goldsmith to arrest me.
ADRIANA
Alas, I sent you money to redeem you
By Dromio here, who came in haste for it.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Money by me! heart and goodwill you might,
But surely, master, not a rag of money.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Went’st not thou to her for a purse of ducats?
ADRIANA
He came to me, and I delivered it.
LUCIANA
And I am witness with her that she did.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
God and the rope-maker bear me witness
That I was sent for nothing but a rope.
PINCH
Mistress, both man and master is possessed.
I know it by their pale and deadly looks.
They must be bound and laid in some dark room.

DUTCH:
God en de touwverkooper zijn getuigen:
Niets anders moest ik halen dan een touw.

MORE:
Suborned=Arranged for
Rag of money=Smallest coin
Redeem=Bail out
Bound and laid in a dark room=Treatment for madness (see Twelfth Night 4.2)
Compleat:
To suborn=Heymelyk beschikken, besteeken, uytmaaken
Redeem=Verlossen, vrykoopen, lossen

Topics: money, debt/obligation, madness, truth

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
DUKE
Hapless Aegeon, whom the fates have marked
To bear the extremity of dire mishap,
Now, trust me, were it not against our laws,
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity,
Which princes, would they, may not disannul,
My soul would sue as advocate for thee.
But though thou art adjudgèd to the death,
And passèd sentence may not be recalled
But to our honour’s great disparagement,
Yet will I favor thee in what I can.
Therefore, merchant, I’ll limit thee this day
To seek thy life by beneficial help.
Try all the friends thou hast in Ephesus;
Beg thou, or borrow, to make up the sum,
And live. If no, then thou art doom’d to die.—
Jailer, take him to thy custody.
JAILER
I will, my lord.
AEGEON
Hopeless and helpless doth Aegeon wend,
But to procrastinate his lifeless end.

DUTCH:
Rampzaal’ge Aegeon, door het lot bestemd
Om zulk een overmaat van leed te dragen!

MORE:
Dignity=Rank
Disannul=Nullify
Sue=Plead
Limit=Permit
Hap=Luck
Wend=Approach
Procrastinate=Delay
Compleat:
Dignity (greatness, nobleness)=Grootheid, adelykheid; (merit, importance)=Waardigheid, staat-empot, verdiensten
To annul=Vernietigen, afschaffen
To sue=Voor ‘t recht roepen, in recht vervolgen; iemand om iets aanloopen
Hap=Het luk, geval, toeval
Procrastinate=Van dag tot dag uytstellen, verschuyven

Topics: fate/destiny, dignity, honour, punishment, delay

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Aegeon
CONTEXT:
AEGEON
Most mighty duke, vouchsafe me speak a word.
Haply I see a friend will save my life
And pay the sum that may deliver me.
DUKE
Speak freely, Syracusian, what thou wilt.
AEGEON
Is not your name, sir, called Antipholus?
And is not that your bondman Dromio?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Within the past hour, I was his bondman , sir, but he, I
thank him, gnawed my cords in two. Now I’m Dromio, and
his servant, unbound.

DUTCH:
Grootmoedig vorst, vergun me een enkel woord;
Waarschijnlijk is een vriend daar, die mij redden,
De som, die mij bevrijdt, betalen zal.

MORE:
Vouchsafe=Allow
Haply=(By chance) Luckily
Bondman=Serf, slave
Compleat:
To vouchsafe=Gewaardigen, vergunnen
Haply=Misschien
Bond-man, Bond-slave=Een Slaaf

Topics: friendship, debt/obligation

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Officer
CONTEXT:
OFFICER
Masters, let him go.
He is my prisoner, and you shall not have him.
PINCH
Go, bind this man, for he is frantic too.
ADRIANA
What wilt thou do, thou peevish officer?
Hast thou delight to see a wretched man
Do outrage and displeasure to himself?
OFFICER
He is my prisoner. If I let him go,
The debt he owes will be required of me.
ADRIANA
I will discharge thee ere I go from thee.
Bear me forthwith unto his creditor,
And, knowing how the debt grows, I will pay it.—
Good Master Doctor, see him safe conveyed
Home to my house. O most unhappy day!

DUTCH:
t Is mijn gevang’ne; ontsnapt hij mij, dan wordt,
Wat hij betalen moet, op mij verhaald

MORE:
Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton)
“If a sheriff or gaoler suffers a prisoner to escape upon mesne process (that is, during the pendency of a suit), he is liable to action on the case.” (Cro. Eliz. 625, Bennion v Watson)

Peevish=Silly, spiteful
Displeasure=Offence, harm
Outrage=Rude violence, contempt shown to law and decency
Compleat:
Peevish=Kribbig, gemelyk
Outrage=Smaad, spyt, overlast, leed
Displeasure=Misnoegen, mishaagen, ongenade
To do a displeasure to one=Iemand verdriet aandoen

Topics: law/legal, debt/obligation, punishment, remedy, consequence

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Luciana
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
Neither my husband nor the slave returned
That in such haste I sent to seek his master?
Sure, Luciana, it is two o’clock.
LUCIANA
Perhaps some merchant hath invited him,
And from the mart he’s somewhere gone to dinner.
Good sister, let us dine and never fret.
A man is master of his liberty;
Time is their master, and when they see time
They’ll go or come. If so, be patient, sister.
ADRIANA
Why should their liberty than ours be more?
LUCIANA
Because their business still lies out o’ door.
ADRIANA
Look when I serve him so, he takes it ill.
LUCIANA
O, know he is the bridle of your will.

DUTCH:
Met recht: zijn wil voert over u den staf.

MORE:
Mart=Market, marketplace
Out o’door=Outside the house
Look when=Whenever
Bridle=Controller
Compleat:
Mart=Jaarmarket
Bridle=Een toom, breydel, teugel

Topics: time, equality

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
It is the devil.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Nay, she is worse; she is the devil’s dam, and here she comes in the habit of a light wench. And thereof comes that the wenches say “God damn me” that’s as much to say “God make me a light wench.” It is written they appear to men like angels of light. Light is an effect of fire, and fire will burn: ergo, light wenches will burn. Come not near her.
COURTESAN
Your man and you are marvellous merry, sir.
Will you go with me? We’ll mend our dinner here.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Master, if you do, expect spoon meat; or bespeak a long spoon.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Why, Dromio?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Marry, he must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.

DUTCH:
Daar staat geschreven, dat zij aan mannen zich voordoen als licht; Iicht is een uitwerksel van vuur, en vuur verzengt en steekt aan; dus, lichte deernen steken aan. Kom haar niet te na.

MORE:
Proverb: The devil and his dam
Proverb: The devil can transform himself into an angel of light
Proverb: He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon

Devil’s dam=The devil’s mother
Mend=To set right, to correct, to repair what is amiss
Spoon-meat=Meat for toddlers or invalids
Bespeak=Order, reserve, engage
Compleat:
Mend=Beteren, verbeteren
Spoon-meat=Lepel-kost
Bespeak=Bespreeken

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, caution, good and mad, risk

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
He that commends me to mine own content
Commends me to the thing I cannot get.
I to the world am like a drop of water
That in the ocean seeks another drop,
Who, falling there to find his fellow forth,
Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself.
So I, to find a mother and a brother,
In quest of them, unhappy, lose myself.
Here comes the almanac of my true date.—
What now? How chance thou art returned so soon?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Returned so soon? Rather approach’d too late!
The capon burns; the pig falls from the spit;
The clock hath strucken twelve upon the bell;
My mistress made it one upon my cheek.
She is so hot because the meat is cold;
The meat is cold because you come not home;
You come not home because you have no stomach;
You have no stomach, having broke your fast;
But we that know what ’tis to fast and pray
Are penitent for your default today.

DUTCH:
Die mij genoegen met mijzelven wenscht,
Die wenscht mij toe, wat zeker niet gebeurt.

MORE:
Content=Contentment
Find forth=Seek out
To the world=Compared with, in relation to, the world
Confounds himself=Mingles indistinguishably with the rest, loses himself
Unhappy=Unfortunate
Compleat:
Content=Voldoening, genoegen
Unhappy=Ongelukkig, rampzalig, rampspoedig

Topics: satisfaction, emotion and mood, wellbeing

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Master, here’s the gold you sent me for. What, have you
got redemption of the picture of old Adam
new-apparelled?
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
What gold is this? What Adam dost thou mean?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Not that Adam that kept the Paradise, but that Adam
that keeps the prison; he that goes in the calf’s skin
that was killed for the Prodigal; he that came behind
you, sir, like an evil angel, and bid you forsake your
liberty.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
I understand thee not.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
No? Why, ’tis a plain case: he that went, like a bass
viol in a case of leather; the man, sir, that, when
gentlemen are tired, gives them a sob and ’rests them;
he, sir, that takes pity on decayed men and gives them
suits of durance; he that sets up his rest to do more
exploits with his mace than a morris-pike.

DUTCH:
[D]e man, lieer, die menschen in
verval met een sterken arm ophelpt en in zekerheid
brengt; de man, die niet rust, voor hij met zijn ambtsstaf
meer explooten gedaan heeft, dan een Moor met
zijn piek.

MORE:
New-apparelled=In fresh clothes
Plain case=Straightforward, simple matter
Sob=Pause (to catch their breath)
Suits of durance=Long sentences
Mace=Symbol of office
Morris-pike=Weapon of Moorish origins
Compleat:
Apparelled=Gekleed, gedoft, opgetooid
Buff leather=Buffels of ossen leer op zeem bereid
Durance=Duurzaamheid, gevangkenis
To be in durance=In hechtenisse zyn
Mace=Een gulde staf
Pike-staff=Een puntige of spitse stok

Topics: offence, punishment

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Here, go—the desk, the purse! Sweet, now make haste.
LUCIANA
How hast thou lost thy breath?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
By running fast.
ADRIANA
Where is thy master, Dromio? Is he well?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
No, he’s in Tartar limbo, worse than hell.
A devil in an everlasting garment hath him,
One whose hard heart is buttoned up with steel;
A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough;
A wolf, nay, worse, a fellow all in buff;
A back-friend, a shoulder clapper, one that countermands
The passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands;
A hound that runs counter and yet draws dryfoot well,
One that before the judgment carries poor souls to hell.
ADRIANA
Why, man, what is the matter?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
I do not know the matter. He is ’rested on the case.

DUTCH:
Hij is in ‘t voorportaal, neen, in de hel!
Hem heeft een duivel beet, in eeuw’gen dos,
Een man, wiens hart met staal benageld is,
Een wreede booze geest.

MORE:
Tartar=Tartarus, hell in classical mythology
Fairy=Malign spirit
Buff=Hardwearing material; buff jerkins were worn by the sergeant
Backfriend=Backslapper who pretends to be a friend (shoulder-clapper was also slang for an arresting officer)
Countermand=Prohibit, with pun on ‘counter’ (name for debtor’s prison)
Passage=Access, entry, avenue, way leading to and out of something
Compleat:
Buff leather=Buffels of ossen leer op zeem bereid
Counter-mand=Tegenbeveelen; een bevel herroepen
Counter=Twee gevangenenhuizen in Londen die dus genoemd worden
Tartarean (of hell, from the Latin ‘tartarus’)=Helsch
To mend his draught=Zich eens verhaalen in ‘t drinken

Burgersdijk notes:
Hij is in’t voorportaal, neen, in de hel. In ‘t Engelsch staat: He is in Tartar’s limbo ; de uitdrukking schijnt aan de Engelschen uit Dante’s Goddelijke Comedie gemeenzaam te zijn geworden, men vindt haar meermalen bij Shakespeare en ook in Spencer’s Elfenkoningin. De hel was in Sh.’s tijd, en nog een eeuw later, de naam van een gevangenis. Evenzoo was counter (reg. 39) de naam van eene gevangenis; maar to run counter is ook een uitdrukking voor een jachthond, die op een valsch spoor is of in verkeerde richting loopt. — De gerechtsdienaars waren in leder gekleed, zie K. Hendrik IV. 1.

Topics: punishment, offence

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
ANGELO
I am sorry, sir, that I have hindered you,
But I protest he had the chain of me,
Though most dishonestly he doth deny it.
SECOND MERCHANT
How is the man esteemed here in the city?
ANGELO
Of very reverend reputation, sir,
Of credit infinite, highly beloved,
Second to none that lives here in the city.
His word might bear my wealth at any time.
SECOND MERCHANT
Speak softly. Yonder, as I think, he walks.
ANGELO
‘Tis so; and that self chain about his neck
Which he forswore most monstrously to have.
Good sir, draw near to me. I’ll speak to him.—
Signior Antipholus, I wonder much
That you would put me to this shame and trouble,
And not without some scandal to yourself,
With circumstance and oaths so to deny
This chain, which now you wear so openly.
Beside the charge, the shame, imprisonment,
You have done wrong to this my honest friend,
Who, but for staying on our controversy,
Had hoisted sail and put to sea today.
This chain you had of me. Can you deny it?
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
I think I had. I never did deny it.

DUTCH:
Hij heeft een besten naam, heer; zijn crediet
Is onbeperkt, hij algemeen bemind;
Hij is van de allereersten van de stad,
Ja, meer dan mijn vermogen geldt zijn woord

MORE:
“Second to none” wasn’t invented by Shakespeare, although he was an early user.

Esteemed=What is his reputation
Reverend (or reverent)=Entitled to high respect, venerable
Bear his wealth=(1) His word is as good as his bond; (2) I would trust him with all my wealth without security
Compleat:
Esteem=Achting, waarde
Reverend=Eerwaardig, geducht

Topics: adversity, law/legal, patience, poverty and wealth

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Aegeon
CONTEXT:
DUKE
And for the sake of them thou sorrowest for,
Do me the favour to dilate at full
What hath befall’n of them and thee till now.
AEGEON
My youngest boy, and yet my eldest care,
At eighteen years became inquisitive
After his brother, and importuned me
That his attendant—so his case was like,
Reft of his brother, but retained his name—
Might bear him company in the quest of him,
Whom whilst I laboured of a love to see,
I hazarded the loss of whom I loved.
Five summers have I spent in farthest Greece,
Roaming clean through the bounds of Asia,
And, coasting homeward, came to Ephesus,
Hopeless to find, yet loath to leave unsought
Or that or any place that harbors men.
But here must end the story of my life;
And happy were I in my timely death
Could all my travels warrant me they live.

DUTCH:
En kwam naar Ephesus op mijn terugweg,
Wel zonder hoop, maar hier als overal,
Waar menschen zijn, in ‘t zoeken onverdroten.

MORE:
Dilate=Relate
Importuned=Urged
Reft=Bereft, separated
Quest of=Search for
Hazarded=Risked
Hopeless to=With no hope of
Warrant=Reassure
Compleat:
Dilate=Verwyden, uitweyden
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
Bereft=Beroofd
Hazard=Waagen, aventuuren, in de waagschaal stellen
Quest=Onderzoek [omtrent misdryf]Warrant (assure, promise)=Verzekeren, belooven, ervoor instaan

Topics: love, risk, relationship, security

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
My liege, I am advisèd what I say,
Neither disturbed with the effect of wine,
Nor heady-rash, provoked with raging ire,
Albeit my wrongs might make one wiser mad.
This woman locked me out this day from dinner.
That goldsmith there, were he not packed with her,
Could witness it, for he was with me then,
Who parted with me to go fetch a chain,
Promising to bring it to the Porpentine,
Where Balthasar and I did dine together.
Our dinner done and he not coming thither,
I went to seek him. In the street I met him,
And in his company that gentleman.
There did this perjured goldsmith swear me down
That I this day of him received the chain,
Which, God he knows, I saw not; for the which
He did arrest me with an officer.
I did obey, and sent my peasant home
For certain ducats. He with none returned.
Then fairly I bespoke the officer
To go in person with me to my house.
By th’ way we met
My wife, her sister, and a rabble more
Of vile confederates. Along with them
They brought one Pinch, a hungry, lean-faced villain,
A mere anatomy, a mountebank,
A threadbare juggler, and a fortune-teller,
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch,
A living dead man. This pernicious slave,
Forsooth, took on him as a conjurer,
And, gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse,
And with no face (as ’twere) outfacing me,
Cries out I was possessed. Then all together
They fell upon me, bound me, bore me thence,
And in a dark and dankish vault at home
There left me and my man, both bound together,
Till gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sunder,
I gained my freedom and immediately
Ran hither to your Grace, whom I beseech
To give me ample satisfaction
For these deep shames and great indignities.

DUTCH:
Mijn vorst en heer! ik weet wel wat ik zeg;
‘k Ben niet door wijn beneveld, hen niet dol,
Niet blind door woede, schoon, wat mij weêrvoer,
Genoeg ware, om een wijs man gek te maken.

MORE:
Advisèd=Considered, of sound mind
Heady-rash=Provoked by passion
Packed=In league
With an=With the help of an
Pernicious=Harmful
In sunder=Apart
Compleat:
Advised=Geraaden, beraaden, bedacht
Heady=Hoofdig, koppig
Rash=Voorbaarig, haastig, onbedacht, roekeloos
To pack (up)=t’zamen pakken
Pernicious=Schaadelyk, verderflyk
To rive asunder=Opscheuren, opsplyten, opbarsten
To put asunder=Elk byzonder zetten, van één scheiden

Topics: advice, caution, anger, madness

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
A man is well holp up that trusts to you!
I promisèd your presence and the chain,
But neither chain nor goldsmith came to me.
Belike you thought our love would last too long
If it were chained together, and therefore came not.
ANGELO
Saving your merry humour, here’s the note
How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat,
The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion,
Which doth amount to three-odd ducats more
Than I stand debted to this gentleman.
I pray you, see him presently discharged,
For he is bound to sea, and stays but for it.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
I am not furnished with the present money.
Besides, I have some business in the town.
Good signior, take the stranger to my house,
And with you take the chain, and bid my wife
Disburse the sum on the receipt thereof.
Perchance I will be there as soon as you.

DUTCH:
Ik heb op ‘t oogenblik het geld niet bij mij,
En heb ook in de stad nog iets te doen.

MORE:
Holp=Helped
Belike=Perhaps
Saving=With due regard to
Note=Receipt
Discharged=Satisfied, his debt paid
Chargeful fashion=Expensive
I am not furnished=I do not have
Present=At the moment, now
Compleat:
Holpen=Geholpen; Holp op=Opgeholpen
Saving=Behouding, zaaligmaakig, bewaaring, redding, bespaaring
To discharge=Onstlaan, lossen, quytschelden
Chargeable=Lastig, kostelyk
Furnished=Verzorgd, voorzien, gestoffeerd

Topics: debt/obligation, value, trust

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Consent to pay thee that I never had?—
Arrest me, foolish fellow, if thou dar’st.
ANGELO
Here is thy fee. Arrest him, officer.
I would not spare my brother in this case
If he should scorn me so apparently.
OFFICER
I do arrest you, sir. You hear the suit.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
I do obey thee till I give thee bail.
But, sirrah, you shall buy this sport as dear
As all the metal in your shop will answer.
ANGELO
Sir, sir, I will have law in Ephesus,
To your notorious shame, I doubt it not.

DUTCH:
Ik onderwerp mij, tot ik borgtocht stel. —
Maar, heerschap, gij bekoopt die scherts zoo duur,
Dat heel uw winkel zoo veel goud niet levert.

MORE:
Apparently=Openly, evidently
Sport=Jest, mockery
Buy=Pay (dearly) for
Compleat:
Apparently=Schynbaarlyk
To make sport=Lachen, speelen
To pay dear for a thing=Ergens zeer duur voor betaalen, veel geld voor geeven

Topics: law/legal, offence, security, debt/obligation, claim

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
ABBESS
Be quiet, people. Wherefore throng you hither?
ADRIANA
To fetch my poor distracted husband hence.
Let us come in, that we may bind him fast
And bear him home for his recovery.
ANGELO
I knew he was not in his perfect wits.
SECOND MERCHANT
I am sorry now that I did draw on him.
ABBESS
How long hath this possession held the man?
ADRIANA
This week he hath been heavy, sour, sad,
And much different from the man he was.
But till this afternoon his passion
Ne’er brake into extremity of rage.
ABBESS
Hath he not lost much wealth by wrack of sea?
Buried some dear friend? Hath not else his eye
Stray’d his affection in unlawful love,
A sin prevailing much in youthful men
Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing?
Which of these sorrows is he subject to?

DUTCH:
Ik wist wel, dat hij in de war moest zijn.

MORE:
Throng=Crowd
Hither=Here
Distracted=Agitated
Reprehend=Reprimand
Haply=Perhaps
Wrack of sea=Shipwreck
Compleat:
Throng=Gedrang, een menigte volks
Hither=Herwaards
Distracted=Van een gescheurd, ontroerd
Reprehend=Berispen, bestraffen
Haply=Misschien
Wrack=Een wrak, vergaan schip
To go to wrack=Verlooren gaan, te gronde gaan
Ship-wrack=Schipbreuk

Topics: sorrow, emotion and mood, madness, anger

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
What is your will that I shall do with this?
ANGELO
What please yourself, sir. I have made it for you.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Made it for me, sir? I bespoke it not.
ANGELO
Not once, nor twice, but twenty times you have.
Go home with it and please your wife withal,
And soon at supper time I’ll visit you
And then receive my money for the chain.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
I pray you, sir, receive the money now,
For fear you ne’er see chain nor money more.
ANGELO
You are a merry man, sir. Fare you well.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
What I should think of this I cannot tell,
But this I think: there’s no man is so vain
That would refuse so fair an offered chain.
I see a man here needs not live by shifts
When in the streets he meets such golden gifts.
I’ll to the mart, and there for Dromio stay.
If any ship put out, then straight away.

DUTCH:
Een vreemd geval! wat is dit nu alweer?
Dit weet ik slechts: geen mensch zoo dwaas, die niet
Een gift aanvaardt, die men zoo hoff’lijk biedt.
En ik erken, hier is nog wel te leven,
Als vreemden zoo maar gouden ketens geven.

MORE:
Mart=Market, marketplace
Shifts=Tricks
Vain=Foolish
Compleat:
Vain (useless, frivolous, idle, chimerical)=Nutteloos, ydel, ingebeeld
Shift (subterfuge, evasion)=Uitvlucht
I made shift to go thither=Ik ging ‘er met veel moeite naar toe
He made a hard shift to live=Hy kon kwaalyk aan de kost komen
Mart=Jaarmarkt
Letters of mart=Brieven van wederneeminge of van verhaal; Brieven van Represailes

Topics: honesty, poverty and wealth, work

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
How now? A madman? Why, thou peevish sheep,
What ship of Epidamnum stays for me?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
A ship you sent me to, to hire waftage.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Thou drunken slave, I sent thee for a rope
And told thee to what purpose and what end.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
You sent me for a rope’s end as soon.
You sent me to the bay, sir, for a bark.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
I will debate this matter at more leisure
And teach your ears to list me with more heed.
To Adriana, villain, hie thee straight.
Give her this key, and tell her in the desk
That’s cover’d o’er with Turkish tapestry
There is a purse of ducats. Let her send it.
Tell her I am arrested in the street,
And that shall bail me. Hie thee, slave. Begone.—
On, officer, to prison till it come.

DUTCH:
ik doe die zaak wel nader met u af,
En leer uw ooren beter acht te geven.

MORE:
Peevish=Foolish
Waftage=Passage
Rope’s end=Whipping
List me=Listen to me
Hie=Make haste, go
Compleat:
Peevish=Kribbig, gemelyk
Waft=Wuiving, een teken dat de schepen in en op sommige voorvallen geeven, ‘t zy met iets uit te steeken, of iets op en neer te hyffen
Wafter=Een geleischip, konvooijer
To hie (hye)=Reppen, haasten

Topics: madness, respect, time

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Fear me not, man. I will not break away:
I’ll give thee, ere I leave thee, so much money,
To warrant thee, as I am ’rested for.
My wife is in a wayward mood today
And will not lightly trust the messenger
That I should be attached in Ephesus.
I tell you, ’twill sound harshly in her ears.
Here comes my man. I think he brings the money.
How now, sir? Have you that I sent you for?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Here’s that, I warrant you, will pay them all.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
But where’s the money?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Why, sir, I gave the money for the rope.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Five hundred ducats, villain, for a rope?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
I’ll serve you, sir, five hundred at the rate.

DUTCH:
Wees niet beducht, man, ik ontloop u niet;
Maar geef u, eer ik van u ga, de som,
Waarvoor gij mij in hecht’nis hebt genomen.

MORE:
Pay=To satisfy, to quit by giving an equivalent
Lightly=Easily, readily
Warrant=To secure (against danger or loss), guarantee
‘Rested=Arrested
Wayward=Rebellious
Lightly=Readily
Trust=Believe
At the rate=That price
Compleat:
Light=Ligt, luchtig; ligtvaardig
Warrant (assure, promise)=Verzekeren, belooven, ervoor instaan
Wayward=Kribbig, korsel, nors, boos

Topics: security, debt/obligation, money

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Mome, malt-horse, capon, coxcomb, idiot, patch!
Either get thee from the door or sit down at the hatch.
Dost thou conjure for wenches, that thou call’st for
such store
When one is one too many? Go, get thee from the door.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
What patch is made our porter? My master stays in the
street.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Let him walk from whence he came, lest he
catch cold on ’s feet.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Who talks within there? Ho, open the door.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Right, sir, I’ll tell you when an you tell me wherefore.

DUTCH:
Ja heer, ‘k zeg u wanneer, als gij mij zegt, waarvoor.

MORE:
Mome=Blockhead, dolt
Malt-horse=Brewer’s horse (expression of contempt)
Capon=Castrated cock (term of reproach)
Coxcomb=Jester’s cap
Patch=Fool, clown
An=If
Wherefore=Why
Apparel=Dress up, cloak (vice as the forerunner of virtue)
Compleat:
Mome (or mawn)=Een gek, zotskap
Capon=Kapoen
To capon=Lubben
Patched=Gelapt, geflikt

Topics: insult,

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
What is she?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
A very reverent body, ay, such a one as a man may not
speak of without he say “sir-reverence.” I have but lean
luck in the match, and yet is she a wondrous fat
marriage.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
How dost thou mean a “fat marriage”?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Marry, sir, she’s the kitchen wench, and all grease,
and I know not what use to put her to but to make a lamp
of her and run from her by her own light. I warrant her
rags and the tallow in them will burn a Poland winter.
If she lives till doomsday, she’ll burn a week longer
than the whole world.

DUTCH:
Ik verzeker u, haar plunje en het vet er in branden wel een Laplandschen winter lang; en als zij leeft tot den oordeelsdag, brandt zij een week langer dan de heele wereld.

MORE:
Reverent=Worthy of respect
Sir-reverence=Contraction of ‘saving your reverence’)
Tallow=Animal fat (used for candles and lamps)
Compleat:
Reverent=Eerbiedig
Reverence=Eerbiedigheyd, eerbiedenis, eerbewys
Tallow=Smeer, kaarssmeer

Topics: status, marriage

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
LUCIANA
Fie, how impatience loureth in your face.
ADRIANA
His company must do his minions grace,
Whilst I at home starve for a merry look.
Hath homely age th’ alluring beauty took
From my poor cheek? Then he hath wasted it.
Are my discourses dull? Barren my wit?
If voluble and sharp discourse be marred,
Unkindness blunts it more than marble hard.
Do their gay vestments his affections bait?
That’s not my fault; he’s master of my state.
What ruins are in me that can be found
By him not ruined? Then is he the ground
Of my defeatures. My decayèd fair
A sunny look of his would soon repair.
But, too unruly deer, he breaks the pale
And feeds from home. Poor I am but his stale.

DUTCH:
Ontnam reeds rimp’lige ouderdom mijn wang
Haar boeiend schoon? Wie heeft het mij geroofd,
Dan hij? Is geest en scherts in mij verdoofd?
Neemt iets aan vlug en lucht gekout den moed,
‘t Is barschheid, ruw en hard als steen, die ‘t doet.
Lokt and’rer fraai gewaad hem van mijn zij,
‘t Is mijn schuld niet, want hij koopt mij kleedij.
Wat is in mij vervallen en is ‘t niet
Door hem? Ja, zoo hij mij vervallen ziet,
Hij ziet zijn eigen werk; één zonnestraal
Van hem, mijn schoon herleeft in morgenpraal.

MORE:
Proverb: As hard as a stone (flint, rock)

Voluble=Fluent, articulate
Sharp=Subtle, witty
Voluble and sharp discourse=Articulate and witty conversation
To blunt=Dull the edge of, repress, impair, i.e. blunt the natural edge
Ground of=Reason for
Defeatures=Disfigurements
Stale=Laughing-stock, dupe; decoy or bait set up as a lure
Pale=Enclosure
Compleat:
A voluble tongue=Een vloeijende tong, een gladde tong, een tong die wel gehangen is
Sharp=Scherp, spits, bits, streng, scherpzinnig
Court minion=Een gunsteling van den Vorst; Troetelkind
To blunt=Stomp maaken, verstompen
To pale in=Met paalen afperken, afpaalen. Paled in=Rondom met paalen bezet, afgepaald
To make on a stale (property or stalking-horse) to one’s design=Iemand gebruiken om ons oogmerk te bereiken

Topics: language, intellect, respect, marriage, relationship, loyalty, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Hold, sir, for God’s sake! Now your jest is earnest.
Upon what bargain do you give it me?
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Because that I familiarly sometimes
Do use you for my fool and chat with you,
Your sauciness will jest upon my love
And make a common of my serious hours.
When the sun shines, let foolish gnats make sport,
But creep in crannies when he hides his beams.
If you will jest with me, know my aspect,
And fashion your demeanour to my looks,
Or I will beat this method in your sconce.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
“Sconce” call you it? So you would leave battering,
I had rather have it a “head.” An you use these blows long, I must get a sconce for my head and ensconce it too, or else I shall seek my wit in my shoulders. But I pray, sir, why am I beaten?

DUTCH:
Maar dans’ de mug ook in den zonneschijn,
Zij kruipt in reten, als de lucht betrekt;
Begluur, als gij wilt schertsen, mijn gelaat,
En richt uw doen naar mijnen blik, of ik
Leer op uw bol u beter maat te houën.

MORE:
Proverb: He has more wit in his head than you in both your shoulders

Jest upon=Trifle with
Sauciness=Impertinence, impudence
Make a common of my serious hours=Treat my hours of business as common property (reference to property law, where racts of ground were allocated to common use and known as “commons”)
Aspect=Look, glance; possible reference to astrology, with the aspect being the position of one planet in relation to others and its potential to exert influence
Sconce=(1) Head; (2) Fortification, bulwark
Fashion your demeanour to my looks=Check my mood and act accordingly
Compleat:
To jest=Boerten, schertsen, jokken, gekscheeren
Sconce=(Sconse) Een bolwerk of blokhuis
To sconce (university word to signify the setting up so much in the buttery-book, upon one’s head, to be paid as a punishment for a duty neglected or an offence committed)=In de boete beslaan, eene boete opleggen, straffen
Sconsing=Beboeting, beboetende
To fashion=Een gestalte geeven, vormen, fatzoeneeren

Burgersdijk notes:
Op mijn bol? In ‘t Engelsch een woordspeling met sconce, dat „bol” of „hoofd” beteekent, en ook, schans”, waarom ook het woord ensconce, ,,verschansen” volgt. Bij het maken der aanteekeningen komt het mij voor, dat het woord bolwerk had kunnen dienen om het origineel nauwkeuriger terug te geven: „Mijn bol noemt gij dit, heer? als gij het slaan wildet laten, zou ik het liever voor een hoofd houden, maar als gij met dat ranselen voortgaat, moet ik een bolwerk voor mijn hoofd zien te krijgen en het goed dekken (of versterken), of mijn verstand in mijn rug gaan zoeken.”

Topics: respect, misunderstanding, punishment, emotion and mood, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Luciana
CONTEXT:
LUCIANA
And may it be that you have quite forgot
A husband’s office? Shall, Antipholus,
Even in the spring of love thy love-springs rot?
Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous?
If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Then for her wealth’s sake use her with more kindness.
Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth—
Muffle your false love with some show of blindness.
Let not my sister read it in your eye;
Be not thy tongue thy own shame’s orator;
Look sweet, be fair, become disloyalty;
Apparel vice like virtue’s harbinger.
Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted.
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint.
Be secret-false. What need she be acquainted?
What simple thief brags of his own attaint?
‘Tis double wrong to truant with your bed
And let her read it in thy looks at board.
Shame hath a bastard fame, well managèd;
Ill deeds is doubled with an evil word.
Alas, poor women, make us but believe,
Being compact of credit, that you love us.
Though others have the arm, show us the sleeve;
We in your motion turn, and you may move us.
Then, gentle brother, get you in again.
Comfort my sister, cheer her, call her wife.
‘Tis holy sport to be a little vain
When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife.

DUTCH:
Door fraaie taal redt schande vaak den schijn,
Maar booze taal is dubbel-booze daad.

MORE:
Proverb: Fine words dress ill deeds

Attaint=Offence, disgrace, corruption
Well-managed=Put a good spin on
Bastard fame=Illegitimate honour
Compact of credit=Made of credulity, entirely believable
Compleat:
To attaint=Overtuigen van misdaad, schuldig verklaaren, betichten; bevlekken, bederf aanzetten
Attainted=Overtuigd van misdaad, misdaadig verklaard
To compact=In een trekken, dicht t’saamenvoegen
Credit=Geloof, achting, aanzien, goede naam

Topics: offence, truth, corruption, deceit, vanity, intellect, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Perdie, your doors were locked, and you shut out.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
And did not she herself revile me there?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Sans fable, she herself reviled you there.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Did not her kitchen maid rail, taunt, and scorn me?
ADROMIO OF EPHESUS
Certes, she did; the kitchen vestal scorned you.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
And did not I in rage depart from thence?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
In verity you did.—My bones bear witness,
That since have felt the vigour of his rage.
ADRIANA
Is’t good to soothe him in these contraries?
PINCH
It is no shame. The fellow finds his vein
And, yielding to him, humours well his frenzy.

DUTCH:
Is dat wel goed, zijn waanzin zoo te voeden?

MORE:
Perdie=(or pardie) By God (Par Dieu)
Sans fable=No word of a lie
Rail=Rant, attack verbally, scold
Certes=Certainly
Soothe=Humour, go along with
Contraries=Misperceptions
Finds his vein=Plays along
Compleat:
Fable=Een verdichtsel, verciering
To rail=Schelden
To sooth=Vleijen, flikflooijen
Contraries are best known by their contraries=Tegenstellingen worden best uit tegenstellingen gekend
Vein=Ader; styl

Topics: perception, emotion and mood

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Dromio of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ANGELO
Here is neither cheer, sir, nor welcome. We would
fain have either.
BALTHASAR
In debating which was best, we shall part with neither.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
They stand at the door, master. Bid them welcome
hither.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
There is something in the wind, that we cannot get in.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
You would say so, master, if your garments were thin.
Your cake there is warm within; you stand here in the cold.
It would make a man mad as a buck to be so bought and sold.

DUTCH:
Gelukkig is er wind, want anders stondt ge in den regen.
Uw maal daarbinnen is warm en gij staat hier in de kou ,
Verraden en verkocht; wie, die niet dol worden zou?

MORE:
Proverbs: Words are but wind

Break a word with=Talk to
Thou want’st breaking=You need a thrashing
Hind=Servant

Topics: proverbs and idioms, language, friendship

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
If it be, sir, I pray you, eat none of it.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Your reason?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Lest it make you choleric and purchase me another dry basting.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Well, sir, learn to jest in good time. There’s a time for all things.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
I durst have denied that before you were so choleric.

DUTCH:
Het mocht u de gal doen overloopen en mij een tweede klopping bezorgen,

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Griffith v. City of Trenton, 76 N.J.L. 23, 69 A. 29 (1908)

Proverb: There is a time for all things (Everything has its time)

Choleric=According to the four humours the four complexions were: sanguine, melancholic, choleric and phlegmatic. Choler was credited with being hot and dry and the choleric man was hot-tempered or irritable
Basting=(1) Keep meat covered with fat or juices to avoid drying out; (2)=Beating with a stick. Dry basting=Severe drubbing
Compleat:
Cholerick=Oploopend, haastig, toornig. To be in choler=Toornig zyn
To jest=Boerten, schertsen, jokken, gekscheeren
Basting=Met een stok slaan, afroffing
Basting of meat=Het bedruipen van ‘t vleesch

Topics: cited in law, caution, time, proverbs and idioms, misunderstanding, emotion and mood

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
FIRST MERCHANT
Therefore give out you are of Epidamnum,
Lest that your goods too soon be confiscate.
This very day a Syracusian merchant
Is apprehended for arrival here
And, not being able to buy out his life,
According to the statute of the town
Dies ere the weary sun set in the west.
There is your money that I had to keep.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Go bear it to the Centaur, where we host,
And stay there, Dromio, till I come to thee.
Within this hour it will be dinnertime.
Till that, I’ll view the manners of the town,
Peruse the traders, gaze upon the buildings,
And then return and sleep within mine inn,
For with long travel I am stiff and weary.
Get thee away.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Many a man would take you at your word
And go indeed, having so good a mean.

DUTCH:
Wel menig hield u hij uw woord en ging
Met zulk een aardig duitjen werk’lijk door.

MORE:
Give out=Tell
Confiscate=Forfeited
The Centaur=An inn
Manners=Customs
Mean=Method, opportunity
Compleat:
To give out=Uytgeeven
To confiscate=Verbeurd maaken, verbeurd verkaaren, aanslaan
Manners=Zeden, manieren, manierlykheid
Mean=Het midden, de middelmaat; gering, slecht

Topics: money, punishment, business, opportunity

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
AEGEON
Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall,
And by the doom of death end woes and all.
DUKE
Merchant of Syracuse, plead no more.
I am not partial to infringe our laws.
The enmity and discord which of late
Sprung from the rancorous outrage of your duke
To merchants, our well-dealing countrymen,
Who, wanting guilders to redeem their lives,
Have sealed his rigorous statutes with their bloods,
Excludes all pity from our threat’ning looks.
For since the mortal and intestine jars
’Twixt thy seditious countrymen and us,
It hath in solemn synods been decreed,
Both by the Syracusians and ourselves,
To admit no traffic to our adverse towns.

DUTCH:
Koopman van Syracuse, spaar uw reed’nen;
Ik volg, steeds onpartijdig, streng de wet.

MORE:
Doom=Judgment, sentence. This exact phrase also appears in Henry V, 3.6. and in Titus Andronicus, 3.1
Intestine=Domestic, internal, between people of the same nation.
Jars=Quarrels
Partial=Inclined (meaning now obsolete (OED))
Sealed … with their bloods=Cost their lives
Adverse=hostile
Compleat:
Doom=Vonnis, oordeel, verwyzing
A heavy doom=een zwaar vonnis
Dooms-man=een Rechter, Scheidsman
Dooms-day=De dag des oordeels
Dooms-day in the Afternoon=St Jutmis, nooit
To doom=Veroordelen, verwyzen, doemen
Jar=Getwist, geharrewar, gekrakkeel, gekyf
Intestine=Inwendig, inheemsch
An intestine war=Een inlandsche oorlog

Burgersdijk notes:
Verboden hier en ginder raadsbesluiten. In een stuk, uitgevaardigd in het begin van Elizabeth’s regeering, wordt erkend, dat beperkende bepalingen tot bescherming van eigen handel groot ongenoegen wekken tusschen vorsten, en aan de kooplieden veel leed en schade toebrengen. Toch riep Elizabeth zelve, weinige jaren later, zulke bepalingen in het leven. Het is, of de dichter hier wil uitdrukken, welke noodlottige gevolgen zij des noods zouden kunnen hebben.

Topics: law/legal, business, money

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
Ah, Luciana, did he tempt thee so?
Mightst thou perceive austerely in his eye
That he did plead in earnest, yea or no?
Looked he or red or pale, or sad or merrily?
What observation mad’st thou in this case
Of his heart’s meteors tilting in his face?
LUCIANA
First he denied you had in him no right.
ADRIANA
He meant he did me none; the more my spite.
LUCIANA
Then swore he that he was a stranger here.
ADRIANA
And true he swore, though yet forsworn he were.

DUTCH:
Ach, zuster, heeft hij zoo uw hart belaagd?
Gelooft gij, dat hij ‘t waarlijk meende? spreek!
Zeg ja of neen! Hoe sprak zijn oog? en zaagt
Ge er leed of vreugd in? was hij rood of bleek?

MORE:
Tilt=Toss, play unsteadily
Meteor=A bright phenomenon, thought to be portentous, appearing in the atmosphere (perhaps electrically charged clouds or colours of the aurora borealis)
Austerely=Severely
Compleat:
To tilt=Schermen
Austerely=Straffelyk, strengelyk

Topics: love, appearance, honesty

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:

ANGELO
Nay, come, I pray you, sir, give me the chain.
Both wind and tide stays for this gentleman,
And I, to blame, have held him here too long.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Good Lord! You use this dalliance to excuse
Your breach of promise to the Porpentine.
I should have chid you for not bringing it,
But, like a shrew, you first begin to brawl.
SECOND MERCHANT
The hour steals on. I pray you, sir, dispatch.
ANGELO
You hear how he importunes me. The chain!
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Why, give it to my wife, and fetch your money.
ANGELO
Come, come. You know I gave it you even now.
Either send the chain, or send me by some token.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Fie, now you run this humour out of breath.
Come, where’s the chain? I pray you, let me see it.
SECOND MERCHANT
My business cannot brook this dalliance.
Good sir, say whe’er you’ll answer me or no.
If not, I’ll leave him to the Officer.

DUTCH:
Mijn zaken dulden die vertraging niet.
Spreek, heer, hoe is ‘t? betaalt gij mij of niet?
Zoo niet, dan neem’ die dienaar hem gevangen.

MORE:
Proverb: Time and tide (The tide) tarries (stays for) no man
Proverb: Some complain to prevent complaint (I should have chid you for not bringing it, But like a shrew you first begin to brawl)

Chid (impf., to chide.)=To rebuke, to scold at
Run this humour out of breath=Taking the joke too far
Token=A sign or attestion of a right
Compleat:
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
To sail with wind and tide=Voor wind and stroom zeilen
Chide=Kyven, bekyven
Token=Teken, getuigenis; een geschenkje dat men iemand tot een gedachtenis geeft
Dalliance=Gestoei, dartelheid

Topics: proverbs and idioms, time, money, promise, patience

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
LUCIANA
Self-harming jealousy, fie, beat it hence.
ADRIANA
Unfeeling fools can with such wrongs dispense.
I know his eye doth homage otherwhere,
Or else what lets it but he would be here?
Sister, you know he promised me a chain.
Would that alone o’ love he would detain,
So he would keep fair quarter with his bed.
I see the jewel best enamelèd
Will lose his beauty. Yet the gold bides still
That others touch, and often touching will
Wear gold; yet no man that hath a name
By falsehood and corruption doth it shame.
Since that my beauty cannot please his eye,
I’ll weep what’s left away, and weeping die.
LUCIANA
How many fond fools serve mad jealousy!

DUTCH:
Ik zie het nu, de fijnst geslepen steen
Verliest zijn glans, en blijve goud ook goud,
Hoe vaak betast, zijn vol gewicht behoudt.
Het niet aldoor; en op den schoonsten naam
Werpt valschheid en verleiding vaak een blaam.

MORE:
The confusion about the delivery of a gold chain is a reference to a cause célèbre case in 1591 and 1592, Underwood v Manwood. This would have been appreciated by the audience in Gray’s Inn in 1594.Proverb: Iron (Gold) with often handling is worn to nothing

To let=To prevent (what lets it but=what else would prevent)
Keep fair quarter=Keep good order or keeping proper place, quarter being a military term for lodging
Compleat:
To let=Beletten, verhinderen
No quarter given=Daar was geen lyfsgenade; daar wierdt geen kwartier gegeven

Topics: reputation, honesty, corruption, integrity, law/legal

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Dromio of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
What art thou that keep’st me out from the house I owe?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
The porter for this time, sir, and my name is Dromio.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
O villain, thou hast stolen both mine office and my name!
The one ne’er got me credit, the other mickle blame.
If thou hadst been Dromio today in my place,
Thou wouldst have changed thy face for a name,
Or thy name for an ass.

DUTCH:
Staalt gij mijn dienst en naam, gij zult het, o schurk! u beklagen;
De een bracht mij nooit crediet en de ander dikwijls slagen.
Hadt gij den heelen dag maar voor Dromio gespeeld,
Dan waren u mijne namen en klappen toebedeeld.

MORE:
Office=Job, position
Name=Reputation
Mickle=much, great
Compleat:
Mickle=Veel, een woord dat in ‘t Noorden van Engeland zeer gemeen is
Many a little makes a mickle=Veele kleintjes maaken een groot
Office=Dienst, ampt

Topics: reputation, authority, service

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
ANGELO
I am sorry, sir, that I have hindered you,
But I protest he had the chain of me,
Though most dishonestly he doth deny it.
SECOND MERCHANT
How is the man esteemed here in the city?
ANGELO
Of very reverend reputation, sir,
Of credit infinite, highly beloved,
Second to none that lives here in the city.
His word might bear my wealth at any time.
SECOND MERCHANT
Speak softly. Yonder, as I think, he walks.
ANGELO
‘Tis so; and that self chain about his neck
Which he forswore most monstrously to have.
Good sir, draw near to me. I’ll speak to him.—
Signior Antipholus, I wonder much
That you would put me to this shame and trouble,
And not without some scandal to yourself,
With circumstance and oaths so to deny
This chain, which now you wear so openly.
Beside the charge, the shame, imprisonment,
You have done wrong to this my honest friend,
Who, but for staying on our controversy,
Had hoisted sail and put to sea today.
This chain you had of me. Can you deny it?
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
I think I had. I never did deny it.

DUTCH:
Hij heeft een besten naam, heer; zijn crediet
Is onbeperkt, hij algemeen bemind;
Hij is van de allereersten van de stad,
Ja, meer dan mijn vermogen geldt zijn woord

MORE:
Second to none wasn’t invented by Shakespeare, although he was an early user.
Reverend (or reverent)=Entitled to high respect, venerable
Bear his wealth=(1) His word is as good as his bond; (2) I would trust him with all my wealth without security
Forswore=Denied
But for=Except for
Compleat:
Reverend=Eerwaardig, geducht
To forswear one’s self=Eenen valschen eed doen, meyneedig zyn
To forswear a thing=Zweeren dat iets zo niet is

Topics: adversity, law/legal, patience, poverty and wealth

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Perdie, your doors were locked, and you shut out.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
And did not she herself revile me there?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Sans fable, she herself reviled you there.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Did not her kitchen maid rail, taunt, and scorn me?
ADROMIO OF EPHESUS
Certes, she did; the kitchen vestal scorned you.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
And did not I in rage depart from thence?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
In verity you did.—My bones bear witness,
That since have felt the vigour of his rage.
ADRIANA
Is’t good to soothe him in these contraries?
PINCH
It is no shame. The fellow finds his vein
And, yielding to him, humours well his frenzy.

DUTCH:
In waarheid, heer, zijzelf heeft u beschimpt.

MORE:
Perdie=(or pardie) By God (Par Dieu)
Sans fable=No word of a lie
Rail=Rant, attack verbally, scold
Certes=Certainly
Soothe=Humour, go along with
Contraries=Misperceptions
Finds his vein=Plays along
Compleat:
Fable=Een verdichtsel, verciering
To rail=Schelden
To sooth=Vleijen, flikflooijen
Contraries are best known by their contraries=Tegenstellingen worden best uit tegenstellingen gekend
Vein=Ader; styl

Topics: perception, emotion and mood

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Dromio of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Say what you will, sir, but I know what I know.
That you beat me at the mart I have your hand to show;
If the skin were parchment and the blows you gave were ink,
Your own handwriting would tell you what I think.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
I think thou art an ass.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Marry, so it doth appear
By the wrongs I suffer and the blows I bear.
I should kick being kicked; and, being at that pass,
You would keep from my heels and beware of an ass.

DUTCH:
Zeg wat gij wilt, heer, maar ik weet, wat ik weet,
Dat uw groete bestond in het slaan, dat gij deedt;
Waar’ mijn vel perkament en waren uwe slagen inkt,
‘k Had een schrift’lijk bewijs, dat gij zoo mij ontvingt

MORE:
Proverb: I know (wot) what I know (wot) / I wot what I wot, though I few words make

Mart=Marketplace
At that pass=In those circumstances
Compleat:
Mart=Jaarmarkt
Letters of mart=Brieven van wederneeminge of van verhaal; Brieven van Represailes

Topics: claim, evidence, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Balthazar
CONTEXT:
BALTHASAR
Have patience, sir. O, let it not be so.
Herein you war against your reputation,
And draw within the compass of suspect
Th’ unviolated honour of your wife.
Once this: your long experience of her wisdom,
Her sober virtue, years, and modesty
Plead on her part some cause to you unknown.
And doubt not, sir, but she will well excuse
Why at this time the doors are made against you.
Be ruled by me; depart in patience,
And let us to the Tiger all to dinner,
And about evening come yourself alone
To know the reason of this strange restraint.
If by strong hand you offer to break in
Now in the stirring passage of the day,
A vulgar comment will be made of it;
And that supposèd by the common rout
Against your yet ungallèd estimation
That may with foul intrusion enter in
And dwell upon your grave when you are dead;
For slander lives upon succession,
Forever housèd where it gets possession.

DUTCH:
Want laster, eens gezaaid, is schielijk groot,
En blijft aan ‘t groeien, waar zij wortel schoot.

MORE:
Proverb: Envy never dies

Compass of suspect=Realm of suspicion
Doors made against you=Doors closed to you
Possession had a strong meaning, akin to ‘infect’
Ungallèd=unsullied, untarnished
Estimation=Reputation
Vulgar=Public
Foul=Forced
Compleat:
Vulgar=(common) Gemeen
To gall (vex)=Tergen, verbitteren
Estimation=Waardering, schatting

Topics: proverbs and idioms, envy, patience, caution, reputation, suspicion

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Balthazar
CONTEXT:
BALTHASAR
I hold your dainties cheap, sir, and your welcome dear.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
O Signior Balthasar, either at flesh or fish
A table full of welcome make scarce one dainty dish.
BALTHASAR
Good meat, sir, is common; that every churl affords.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
And welcome more common, for that’s nothing but words.
BALTHASAR
Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Ay, to a niggardly host and more sparing guest.
But though my cates be mean, take them in good part.
Better cheer may you have, but not with better heart.
But soft! My door is lock’d. Go, bid them let us in.

DUTCH:
Zij de spijs ook gering, bij een vriendlijken waard ga ik gaarne te gast.

MORE:
Proverb: Good will and welcome is your best cheer

Cheer=Food, entertainment
Churl=Peasant, rude and ill-bred fellow
Scarce=Barely
Niggardly=Miserly
Cates=Delicacies
Mean=Low, humble, poor
Compleat:
Dainty=Lekkerny
Welcome=Onthaal; welkomst
A hearty welcome=Een hartelyke maaltyd
Churl=Een plompe hoer, als mede een vrek
Churlish=Woest, boersch, onbeschoft
To make good cheer (chear)=Goede cier maaken
Sumptuous chear=Prachtige opdissching
Cold chear=Koel onthaal
Niggardly=Vrëkachtig
To cater=Spys verzorgen
Mean=Het midden, de middelmaat; gering, slecht

Topics: friendship, civility, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
AEGEON
Unless the fear of death doth make me dote,
I see my son Antipholus and Dromio.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Justice, sweet prince, against that woman there,
She whom thou gav’st to me to be my wife,
That hath abusèd and dishonoured me
Even in the strength and height of injury.
Beyond imagination is the wrong
That she this day hath shameless thrown on me.
DUKE
Discover how, and thou shalt find me just.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
This day, great duke, she shut the doors upon me
While she with harlots feasted in my house.
DUKE
A grievous fault.—Say, woman, didst thou so?
ADRIANA
No, my good lord. Myself, he, and my sister
Today did dine together. So befall my soul
As this is false he burdens me withal.

DUTCH:
Neen, eed’le vorst; hijzelf, ik en mijn zuster,
Wij aten samen thuis. God straf mijn ziel,
Als hij mij daar niet gruwlijk valsch beticht.

MORE:
Dote=Lose a grip on reality
Shameless=Shamelessly
Thrown on=Laid against
Just=Fair
Grievous=Deserving censure, severe
Burden=Charge, accuse
Compleat:
To dote=Suffen, dutten, mymeren
Shamelesly=Schaamtelooslyk
Thrown=Geworpen, gesmeeten
Just (righteous)=Een rechtvaardige
Just=Effen, juist, net
Grievous=Moeijelyk, lastig, byster, gruwelyk
Burden=Last, pak, vracht

Topics: justice, honour, blame, truth, offence

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Luciana
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
Say, is your tardy master now at hand?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Nay, he’s at two hands with me, and that my two ears
can witness.
ADRIANA
Say, didst thou speak with him? Know’st thou his mind?
SUS
Ay, ay, he told his mind upon mine ear.
Beshrew his hand, I scarce could understand it.
LUCIANA
Spake he so doubtfully thou couldst not feel his
meaning?
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Nay, he struck so plainly I could too well feel his
blows, and withal so doubtfully that I could scarce
understand them.

DUTCH:
Sprak hij zoo zacht, dat gij ‘t niet vatten kondt ?

MORE:
Tardy=Sluggish, late
At hand=Close by
Told upon mine ear=Boxed my ears
Doubtfully=Confusingly
Compleat:
Tardy=Slof, traag, langzaam
Doubtfully=Op een twyfelachtige wyze

Topics: delay, equality, authority

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
DUKE
Nay, forward, old man. Do not break off so,
For we may pity though not pardon thee.
AEGEON
O, had the gods done so, I had not now
Worthily termed them merciless to us.
For, ere the ships could meet by twice five leagues,
We were encountered by a mighty rock,
Which being violently borne upon,
Our helpful ship was splitted in the midst;
So that, in this unjust divorce of us,
Fortune had left to both of us alike
What to delight in, what to sorrow for.
Her part, poor soul, seeming as burdenèd
With lesser weight, but not with lesser woe,
Was carried with more speed before the wind,
And in our sight they three were taken up
By fishermen of Corinth, as we thought.
At length, another ship had seized on us
And, knowing whom it was their hap to save,
Gave healthful welcome to their shipwracked guests,
And would have reft the fishers of their prey
Had not their bark been very slow of sail;
And therefore homeward did they bend their course.
Thus have you heard me severed from my bliss;
That by misfortunes was my life prolonged
To tell sad stories of my own mishaps.

DUTCH:
Neen, oude, breek niet af; want mededoogen
Mag ik u schenken, schoon genade niet..

MORE:
Worthily=Deservedly, justly
Helpful ship=Mast, which was helpful when the ship was “sinking-ripe”
In the midst=Down the middle
Twice five leagues=Thirty miles
Hap=Luck
Reft=Bereft, deprived
Prey=Those rescued
Bark=Ship
Compleat:
Worthily=Waardiglyk
Helpful=Behulpelyk
Midst=Het middenst, midden
Hap=Het luk, geval, toeval
Bereft=Beroofd
Bark=Scheepje

Topics: pity, mercy, judgment, fate/destiny, life

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
What, is he arrested? Tell me at whose suit.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
I know not at whose suit he is arrested well,
But he’s in a suit of buff which ’rested him; that can I tell.
Will you send him, mistress, redemption—the money in his desk?
ADRIANA
Go fetch it, sister.
This I wonder at,
That he, unknown to me, should be in debt.
Tell me, was he arrested on a bond?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Not on a bond, but on a stronger thing:
A chain, a chain. Do you not hear it ring?

DUTCH:
Ga ‘t halen, zuster. — ‘k Sta verwonderd, dat
Mijn man zoo iets als stille schulden had. —
Waarom werd hij gegijzeld? om een schuldbrief?

MORE:
Suit=Petition or entreaty
Buff=Hardwearing material; buff jerkins were worn by the sergeant
Bond=Loan
Compleat:
Suit=Een verzoek, rechtsgeding
Buff leather=Buffels of ossen leer op zeem bereid

Topics: debt/obligation, money, offence

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
The hours come back? That did I never hear.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
O yes, if any hour meet a sergeant, he turns back for very fear.
ADRIANA
As if time were in debt. How fondly dost thou reason!
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Time is a very bankrupt and owes more than he’s worth to season.
Nay, he’s a thief too. Have you not heard men say
That time comes stealing on by night and day?
If he be in debt and theft, and a sergeant in the way,
Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day?
ADRIANA
Go, Dromio. There’s the money. Bear it straight,
And bring thy master home immediately.
Come, sister, I am pressed down with conceit:
Conceit, my comfort and my injury.

DUTCH:
Als of de tijd in schulden stak! hoe dol! wie hoorde ‘t ooit?

MORE:
Hours come back=Go backwards
Sergeant=Officer often responsible for arrests
Fondly=Foolishly
Pressed down=Depressed
Conceit=Imagination
Compleat:
Fond=Zot, dwaas, ongerymt
Sergeant=Een gerechtsdienaar, gerechtsboode
Fond=Zot, dwaas, ongerymt
To press down=Neerdrukken
Conceit=Waan, bevatting, opvatting, meening

Topics: time, reason, debt/obligation, imagination, emotion and mood

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
The plainer dealer, the sooner lost. Yet he loseth it in a kind of jollity.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
For what reason?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
For two, and sound ones too.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Nay, not sound, I pray you.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Sure ones, then.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Nay, not sure, in a thing falsing.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Certain ones, then.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Name them.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
The one, to save the money that he spends in tiring; the other, that at dinner they should not drop in his porridge.

DUTCH:
Hoe onnoozeler iemand is, des te eer zorgt hij het
kwijt te raken; maar hij verliest het met een soort van
genot.

MORE:
Proverb: The properer (honester) man the worse luck

Falsing=Deceptive
Tiring=Hairdressing
Sound=Both ‘valid’ and ‘healthy’
Compleat:
Plain dealing=Oprechte handeling
To tire=Optoooijen, de kap zetten
Sound (healthful)=Gezond
Sound (whole)=Gaaf
Sound (judicious)=Verstandig, schrander, gegrond

Topics: honesty, gullibility, satisfaction, fate/destiny, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Yes, to pay a fine for a periwig, and recover the lost
hair of another man.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Why is Time such a niggard of hair, being, as it is, so
plentiful an excrement?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Because it is a blessing that he bestows on beasts, and what he hath scanted men in hair, he hath given them in wit.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Why, but there’s many a man hath more hair than wit.

DUTCH:
Zoo, maar er zijn menschen genoeg, die meer haar hebben dan verstand.

MORE:
Proverb: Bush natural, more hair; than wit
Proverb: An old goat is never themore revered for his beard
Proverb: Wisdom consists not in a beard

Scanted=Been miserly with
Compleat:
Scant=Bekrompen, schaars
I was scanted in time=Ik had er naauwlyks tyd toe

Topics: intellect, appearance, insult, proverbs and idioms, wisdom

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
There’s none but asses will be bridled so.
LUCIANA
Why, headstrong liberty is lashed with woe.
There’s nothing situate under heaven’s eye
But hath his bound, in earth, in sea, in sky.
The beasts, the fishes, and the wingèd fowls
Are their males’ subjects and at their controls.
Man, more divine, the masters of all these,
Lord of the wide world and wild wat’ry seas,
Endued with intellectual sense and souls,
Of more preeminence than fish and fowls,
Are masters to their females, and their lords.
Then let your will attend on their accords.
ADRIANA
This servitude makes you to keep unwed.
LUCIANA
Not this, but troubles of the marriage bed.

DUTCH:
Een ezel is ‘t, die zulk een staf verdraagt!

MORE:
Bridled=Controlled
Headstrong=Obstinate, ungovernable
Situate under heaven’s eye=Under the sun
His bound=Its fixed place
Endued=Endowed
Accords=Permission, wishes
Compleat:
To bridle=Intoomen, breydelen, beteugelen
Headstrong=Weerzoorig, koppig, halsstarrig
A bound=Een grens, landperk
Endowed=Begiftigd, begaafd
Accord=Eendraft, toestemming

Topics: marriage, free will, independence, order/society, authority, equality

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
There’s not a man I meet but doth salute me
As if I were their well-acquainted friend,
And every one doth call me by my name.
Some tender money to me; some invite me;
Some other give me thanks for kindnesses;
Some offer me commodities to buy.
Even now a tailor called me in his shop
And showed me silks that he had bought for me,
And therewithal took measure of my body.
Sure, these are but imaginary wiles,
And lapland sorcerers inhabit here.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Master, here’s The gold you sent me for. What, have you
got redemption of the picture of old Adam
new-apparelled?
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
What gold is this? What Adam dost thou mean?

DUTCH:
ik kom geen sterv’ling tegen of hij groet mij,
Als ware ik hun een welbekende vriend;
Daarbij, een ieder noemt mij bij mijn naam;

MORE:
But doth=Who doesn’t
Lapland=Supposed to be associated with witchcraft
Old Adam=Adam of Genesis
New-apparelled=In fresh clothes
Compleat:
Apparelled=Gekleed, gedoft, opgetooid

Topics: friendship, appearance, money

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Second Merchant
CONTEXT:
SECOND MERCHANT
You know since Pentecost the sum is due,
And since I have not much importuned you,
Nor now I had not, but that I am bound
To Persia, and want guilders for my voyage.
Therefore make present satisfaction,
Or I’ll attach you by this officer.
ANGELO
Even just the sum that I do owe to you
Is growing to me by Antipholus.
And in the instant that I met with you,
He had of me a chain. At five o’clock
I shall receive the money for the same.
Pleaseth you walk with me down to his house,
I will discharge my bond and thank you too.

DUTCH:
Gelief mij dus onmidd’lijk te betalen,
Of deze man voert u ter gijz’ling heen.

MORE:
Importuned=Demanded, begged
Want guilders=Lack money
Present=Now
Make satisfaction=Pay the debt
Attach=Arrest
Growing=Owing, accruing
Discharge=Pay my debt
Compleat:
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
Want=Gebrek
Present=Tegenwoordig
Satisfaction=Vergoeding, voldoening
Attach=Beslaan, de hand opleggen, in verzekering neemen
To discharge=Onstlaan, lossen, quytschelden

Topics: debt/obligation, money

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
What mean you, sir? For God’s sake, hold your hands.
Nay, an you will not, sir, I’ll take my heels.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Upon my life, by some device or other
The villain is o’erraught of all my money.
They say this town is full of cozenage,
As nimble jugglers that deceive the eye,
Dark-working sorcerers that change the mind,
Soul-killing witches that deform the body,
Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks,
And many suchlike liberties of sin.
If it prove so, I will be gone the sooner.

DUTCH:
Zoo waar ik leef, door de een of and’re streek
Is al mijn geld den kerel afgezet.
De stad is, zegt men, vol bedrog en list,
Vol beurzensnijders, die het oog bedotten,
Nachttoov’naars, die verbijst’ren, heksen, die
De ziel verdervend , ‘t lichaam tevens sloopen,
Marktschreeuwers, tal van sluw vermomde schurken,
Onnoemlijk boos, steeds zondigend geboeft;
Zoo ‘t waarheid blijkt, reis ik onmidd’lijk af.

MORE:
Device=Scheme, plot
O’erraught=Outwitted
Cozenage=Deception, fraud
Jugglers=Fraudsters
Prating=Prattling
Mountebank=Charlatan
Liberties of sin=Those indulging in wickedness
Compleat:
Device (cunning trick)=Een listige streek
Device (invention or contrivance)=Uitvinding, vinding
Mountebank=Kwakzalver
Cozenage or Cozening=Bedrieging
To prate=Praaten. Prate and prattle=Keffen en snappen. Prate foolishly=Mal praaten
Cheater=Swindler

Burgersdijk notes:
De stad is, zegt men, vol bedrog en list. De stad Ephesus stond reeds bij de ouden bekend, als een plaats waar veel tooverkunst uitgeoefend wordt. Men vindt dit ook in de Handelingen der Apostelen vermeld, XIX, vs. 13 en 19. Dat Sh. juist daarom zijn stuk te Ephesus liet spelen, is duidelijk genoeg; men vergelijke II 2; als de gedachte aan tooverij den zoekenden Antipholus en zijn dienaar verbijstert, is het verklaarbaar, dat zij, bij al de vergissingen, niet op de gedachte komen, van nader te onderzoeken, of niet misschien juist in Ephesus hunne evenbeelden woonden.

Topics: suspicion, money, deceit

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Angelo
CONTEXT:
ANGELO
You wrong me more, sir, in denying it.
Consider how it stands upon my credit.
SECOND MERCHANT
Well, officer, arrest him at my suit.
OFFICER
I do, (to ANGELO) and charge you in the Duke’s name to obey me.
ANGELO
This touches me in reputation.
Either consent to pay this sum for me,
Or I attach you by this officer.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Consent to pay thee that I never had?—
Arrest me, foolish fellow, if thou dar’st.

DUTCH:
Dit komt mijn goeden naam te na. —
Kies dus: betaal die som voor mij aan hem,
Of volg voor mij dien dienaar naar de gijz’ling.

MORE:
Stands upon my credit=Reflects on my standing
Suit=Petition or entreaty
Touches=Affects, harms
Attach=Arrest, seize
Compleat:
To stand upon his reputation=Op zyne eere staan
Suit=Een verzoek, rechtsgeding
To touch=Aanraaken, aanroeren, tasten
Attach=Beslaan, de hand opleggen, in verzekering neemen

Topics: reputation, claim, debt, law/legal

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Thou drunken slave, I sent thee for a rope
And told thee to what purpose and what end.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
You sent me for a rope’s end as soon.
You sent me to the bay, sir, for a bark.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
I will debate this matter at more leisure
And teach your ears to list me with more heed.
To Adriana, villain, hie thee straight.
Give her this key, and tell her in the desk
That’s cover’d o’er with Turkish tapestry
There is a purse of ducats. Let her send it.
Tell her I am arrested in the street,
And that shall bail me. Hie thee, slave. Begone.—
On, officer, to prison till it come.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
To Adriana. That is where we dined,
Where Dowsabel did claim me for her husband.
She is too big, I hope, for me to compass.
Thither I must, although against my will,
For servants must their masters’ minds fulfill.

DUTCH:
Al heb ik weinig lust, ik moet er heen;
Een meester heeft een wil, een dienaar geen.

MORE:
Rope’s end=Whipping
Bark=Ship
List me=Listen to me
Hie=Make haste, go
Dowsabel=From the Italian dulcibella
Compass=Encompass
Compleat:
To hie (hye)=Reppen, haasten
To compass=Omvatten, omringen, bereyken

Topics: authority, purpose, money

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
BALTHASAR
I hold your dainties cheap, sir, and your welcome dear.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
O Signior Balthasar, either at flesh or fish
A table full of welcome make scarce one dainty dish.
BALTHASAR
Good meat, sir, is common; that every churl affords.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
And welcome more common, for that’s nothing but words.
BALTHASAR
Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Ay, to a niggardly host and more sparing guest.
But though my cates be mean, take them in good part.
Better cheer may you have, but not with better heart.
But soft! My door is lock’d. Go, bid them let us in.

DUTCH:
Voorwaar, dan zijt gij een gast, die een vrekkigen gastheer past.
Maar is een eenvoudig maal u goed, neem dan voor lief, wat ik bied;
Vindt gij elders ook lekkerder schotels, een vriend’lijker welkomst niet.
Doch zie, mijn deur gesloten! knaap, roep eens, en klop aan!

MORE:
Proverb: Good will and welcome is your best cheer

Cheer=Food, entertainment
Churl=Peasant, rude and ill-bred fellow
Scarce=Barely
Compleat:
Dainty=Lekkerny
Welcome=Onthaal; welkomst
A hearty welcome=Een hartelyke maaltyd
Churl=Een plompe hoer, als mede een vrek
Churlish=Woest, boersch, onbeschoft
To make good cheer (chear)=Goede cier maaken
Sumptuous chear=Prachtige opdissching
Cold chear=Koel onthaal

Topics: friendship, civility, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Luciana
CONTEXT:
LUCIANA
And may it be that you have quite forgot
A husband’s office? Shall, Antipholus,
Even in the spring of love thy love-springs rot?
Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous?
If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Then for her wealth’s sake use her with more kindness.
Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth—
Muffle your false love with some show of blindness.
Let not my sister read it in your eye;
Be not thy tongue thy own shame’s orator;
Look sweet, be fair, become disloyalty;
Apparel vice like virtue’s harbinger.
Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted.
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint.
Be secret-false. What need she be acquainted?
What simple thief brags of his own attaint?
‘Tis double wrong to truant with your bed
And let her read it in thy looks at board.
Shame hath a bastard fame, well managèd;
Ill deeds is doubled with an evil word.
Alas, poor women, make us but believe,
Being compact of credit, that you love us.
Though others have the arm, show us the sleeve;
We in your motion turn, and you may move us.
Then, gentle brother, get you in again.
Comfort my sister, cheer her, call her wife.
‘Tis holy sport to be a little vain
When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife.

DUTCH:
Een weinig huich’lens is een vroom bedrog,
Als zoete vleitaal twist bedwingen kan.

MORE:
Proverb: Fine words dress ill deeds

Attaint=Offence, disgrace, corruption
Well-managed=Put a good spin on
Bastard fame=Illegitimate honour
Compact of credit=Made of credulity, entirely believable
Compleat:
To attaint=Overtuigen van misdaad, schuldig verklaaren, betichten; bevlekken, bederf aanzetten
Attainted=Overtuigd van misdaad, misdaadig verklaard
To compact=In een trekken, dicht t’saamenvoegen
Credit=Geloof, achting, aanzien, goede naam

Topics: flattery, offence, appearance, gullibility

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
DUKE
Hapless Aegeon, whom the fates have marked
To bear the extremity of dire mishap,
Now, trust me, were it not against our laws,
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity,
Which princes, would they, may not disannul,
My soul would sue as advocate for thee.
But though thou art adjudgèd to the death,
And passèd sentence may not be recalled
But to our honour’s great disparagement,
Yet will I favor thee in what I can.
Therefore, merchant, I’ll limit thee this day
To seek thy life by beneficial help.
Try all the friends thou hast in Ephesus;
Beg thou, or borrow, to make up the sum,
And live. If no, then thou art doom’d to die.—
Jailer, take him to thy custody.
JAILER
I will, my lord.
AEGEON
Hopeless and helpless doth Aegeon wend,
But to procrastinate his lifeless end.

DUTCH:
En, zonder groote schade voor onze eer,
‘t Geslagen vonnis geen herroeping duldt,
Wil ik u gunstig zijn, zooveel ik kan.

MORE:
Dignity=Rank
Disannul=Nullify
Sue=Plead
Limit=Permit
Hap=Luck
Wend=Approach
Procrastinate=Delay
Compleat:
Dignity (greatness, nobleness)=Grootheid, adelykheid; (merit, importance)=Waardigheid, staat-empot, verdiensten
To annul=Vernietigen, afschaffen
To sue=Voor ‘t recht roepen, in recht vervolgen; iemand om iets aanloopen
Hap=Het luk, geval, toeval
Procrastinate=Van dag tot dag uytstellen, verschuyven

Topics: fate/destiny, dignity, honour, punishment, delay

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Abbess
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
It was the copy of our conference.
In bed he slept not for my urging it;
At board he fed not for my urging it.
Alone, it was the subject of my theme;
In company I often glancèd it.
Still did I tell him it was vile and bad.
ABBESS
And thereof came it that the man was mad.
The venom clamours of a jealous woman
Poisons more deadly than a mad dog’s tooth.
It seems his sleeps were hinder’d by thy railing,
And therefore comes it that his head is light.
Thou sayst his meat was sauced with thy upbraidings.
Unquiet meals make ill digestions.
Thereof the raging fire of fever bred,
And what’s a fever but a fit of madness?
Thou sayest his sports were hinderd by thy brawls.
Sweet recreation barred, what doth ensue
But moody and dull melancholy,
Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair,
And at her heels a huge infectious troop
Of pale distemperatures and foes to life?
In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest
To be disturbed, would mad or man or beast.
The consequence is, then, thy jealous fits
Have scared thy husband from the use of wits.
LUCIANA
She never reprehended him but mildly
When he demeaned himself rough, rude, and wildly.—
[to ADRIANA] Why bear you these rebukes and answer not?

DUTCH:
Zijn maal werd, zegt gij, met uw twist gekruid;
Onrustig eten stoort de spijsvertering.

MORE:
Copy=Subject matter
Conference=Discussion
Venom clamours=Poisonous words
Upbraidings=Reproaches
To rail=To reproach, scold
Sauced with=Accompanied by
Sport=Entertainment, recreation
Brawls=Arguments
Distemperatures=Disorders
Compleat:
Copy=Afschrift, dubbeld, kopy
Conference=Onderhandeling, t’zamenspraak, mondgemeenschap
Upbraiding=Verwyting
To rail=Schelden
Venom=Venyn, vergif
Clamour=Geroep, geschreeuw, gekrysch
Sauced=Gesausd
To make sport=Lachen, speelen
Brawl=Gekyf
Distemperative=Ongeregeldheid, ongemaatigtheid

Topics: emotion and mood, wellbeing, madness

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
To me she speaks; she moves me for her theme.
What, was I married to her in my dream?
Or sleep I now and think I hear all this?
What error drives our eyes and ears amiss?
Until I know this sure uncertainty
I’ll entertain the offered fallacy.
LUCIANA
Dromio, go bid the servants spread for dinner.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
O, for my beads! I cross me for a sinner.
This is the fairy land. O spite of spites!
We talk with goblins, ouphs, and sprites:
If we obey them not, this will ensue:
They’ll suck our breath, or pinch us black and blue.

DUTCH:
Het is tot mij, dat zij die reed’nen houdt!
Wat! ben ik in den droom met haar getrouwd?
Of slaap ik nu en meen ik, dat ik hoor?
Wat vreemde waan verdwaast mijn oog en oor?
Maar kom, tot mij dit raadsel wordt verklaard,
Zij de opgedrongen dwaling thans aanvaard

MORE:
Proverb: To beat (pinch) one black and blue. Pinching was a traditional punishment associated with fairies

Move=To urge, incite, instigate, make a proposal to, appeal or apply to (a person)
Error=Mistake, deception, false opinion
Ouph=Elf, goblin
Uncertainty=A mystery, the unknown
Entertain=Accept (the delusion)
Compleat:
To move=Verroeren, gaande maaken; voorstellen
Error=Fout, misslag, dwaaling, dooling
To lie under a great errour=In een groote dwaaling steeken
Beadsman=een Bidder, Gety=leezer, Gebed-opzegger

Topics: imagination, evidence, judgment, punishment, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Dromio
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Methinks you are my glass, and not my brother:
I see by you I am a sweet-faced youth.
Will you walk in to see their gossiping?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Not I, sir. You are my elder.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
That’s a question. How shall we try it?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
We’ll draw cuts for the signior. Till then, lead thou
first.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Nay, then, thus:
We came into the world like brother and brother,
And now let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.

DUTCH:
Neen, dan zij ‘t zoo:
Wij sprongen samen de wereld in, als broeders, met elkander;
Zoo gaan wij nu samen hand aan hand, en de een niet na den ander

MORE:
Glass=Mirror
Gossiping=Merrymaking, celebrations
Cuts=Lots
Compleat:
Glass=Spiegel
Gossiping=Op de slemp loopen

Topics: relationship, love, respect, resolution, equality

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
And are not you my husband?
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
No, I say nay to that.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
And so do I, yet did she call me so,
And this fair gentlewoman, her sister here,
Did call me brother. What I told you then
I hope I shall have leisure to make good,
If this be not a dream I see and hear.
ANGELO
That is the chain, sir, which you had of me.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
I think it be, sir. I deny it not.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
And you, sir, for this chain arrested me.
ANGELO
I think I did, sir. I deny it not.

DUTCH:
Wat ik u toen zeide,
Dit worde, wensch ik vurig, dra vervuld,
Zoo niet al wat ik zie en hoor, een droom is.

MORE:
Leisure=Opporunity
Of=From
Compleat:
Leisure=Ledigen tyd

Topics: promise

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
By thee; and this thou didst return from him:
That he did buffet thee and, in his blows,
Denied my house for his, me for his wife.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Did you converse, sir, with this gentlewoman?
What is the course and drift of your compact?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
I, sir? I never saw her till this time.ƒ
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Villain, thou liest; for even her very words
Didst thou deliver to me on the mart.

DUTCH:
Dus hebt ge met deze edelvrouw gesproken?
Van waar die afspraak? en wat wilt ge er mee?

MORE:
Course=Gist
Drift=Scope, aim, intention or drive
Compact=Covenant, contract or collusion, alliance
Compleat:
Course (way or means)=Wegen of middelen
To take bad courses=Kwaade gangen gaan
Drift=Oogmerk, opzet, vaart
Compact=Verdrag, verding, verbond
It was done by compact=Het geschiede met voorbedachten raad (or door een hemelyk verdrag)

Topics: purpose, contract, plans/intentions, conspiracy

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
Ah, Luciana, did he tempt thee so?
Mightst thou perceive austerely in his eye
That he did plead in earnest, yea or no?
Looked he or red or pale, or sad or merrily?
What observation mad’st thou in this case
Of his heart’s meteors tilting in his face?
LUCIANA
First he denied you had in him no right.
ADRIANA
He meant he did me none; the more my spite.
LUCIANA
Then swore he that he was a stranger here.
ADRIANA
And true he swore, though yet forsworn he were.

DUTCH:
En zaagt ge, als tusschen wolken flikkerlicht,
Ook strijd des harten op zijn aangezicht?

MORE:
Tilt=Toss, play unsteadily
Meteor=A bright phenomenon, thought to be portentous, appearing in the atmosphere (perhaps electrically charged clouds or colours of the aurora borealis)
Austerely=Severely
Compleat:
To tilt=Schermen
Austerely=Straffelyk, strengelyk

Topics: love, appearance, honesty

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Shall I tell you why?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Ay, sir, and wherefore, for they say every why hath a wherefore.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
“Why” first: for flouting me; and then “wherefore”: for urging it the second time to me.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season,
When in the “why” and the “wherefore” is neither rhyme nor reason?
Well, sir, I thank you.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Thank me, sir, for what?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Marry, sir, for this something that you gave me for nothing.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
I’ll make you amends next, to give you nothing for something. But say, sir, is it dinnertime?

DUTCH:
In geen van deze twee daaroms is rijm noch slot noch zin.
Toch, heer, dank ik u.

MORE:
Proverb: Neither rhyme nor reason
Proverb: Every why has a wherefore/There is never a why but there is a wherefore
Proverb: My stomach has struck dinnertime/twelve (rung noon)

Out of season=Unfairly, unseasonably
Dinnertime: shortly before noon
Compleat:
Why and wherefore=Waarom
Out of season=Uit de tyd
To make amends=Vergoeding doen, vergoeden
To flout=Bespotten, beschimpen

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

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Plead you to me, fair dame? I know you not.
In Ephesus I am but two hours old,
As strange unto your town as to your talk,
Who, every word by all my wit being scanned,
Want wit in all one word to understand.
LUCIANA
Fie, brother, how the world is changed with you!
When were you wont to use my sister thus?
She sent for you by Dromio home to dinner.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
By Dromio?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
By me?
ADRIANA
By thee; and this thou didst return from him:
That he did buffet thee and, in his blows,
Denied my house for his, me for his wife.

DUTCH:
Geldt mij dit, schoone vrouw? Ik ken u niet.
Twee uren pas ben ik in Ephesus ,
En vreemder dan de stad is mij uw taal;
Want, hoe ik napluis, wat ik heb gehoord,
‘k Versta van alles, wat gij zegt, geen woord.

MORE:
But two hours old=I have only been here for two hours
Scanned=Considered (with every ounce of my intellect)
Buffet=Attack
Compleat:
To scan=Onderzoeken, uitpluizen
To be a stranger to=Geen kennis van hebben
To buffet=Met vuisten slaan

Topics: language, civility, understanding

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
SECOND MERCHANT
Besides, I will be sworn these ears of mine
Heard you confess you had the chain of him
After you first forswore it on the mart,
And thereupon I drew my sword on you,
And then you fled into this abbey here,
From whence I think you are come by miracle.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
I never came within these abbey walls,
Nor ever didst thou draw thy sword on me.
I never saw the chain, so help me heaven,
And this is false you burden me withal.
DUKE
Why, what an intricate impeach is this!
I think you all have drunk of Circe’s cup.
If here you housed him, here he would have been.

DUTCH:
Dit is een zaak vol wondervreemde raadsels!
Het schijnt, gij allen dronkt uit Circe’s nap.
Waar’ hij hier ingevlucht, hij zou er zijn;
En waar’ hij dol, hij pleitte niet zoo kalm

MORE:
Circe=A sorceress in Greek mythology; in Homer’s Odyssey, Circe transforms Odysseus’s men into pigs by giving them a magic potion.
Impeach=Accusation, reproach
Burden=Charge, accuse
Compleat:
To impeach=Betichten, beschuldigen, aanklagen
To impeach (or oppose) the truth of a thing=Zich tegen de waarheid van een zaak aankanten

Topics: law/legal, appearance, evidence, madness

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
What, is he arrested? Tell me at whose suit.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
I know not at whose suit he is arrested well,
But he’s in a suit of buff which ’rested him; that can I tell.
Will you send him, mistress, redemption—the money in his desk?
ADRIANA
Go fetch it, sister.
This I wonder at,
That he, unknown to me, should be in debt.
Tell me, was he arrested on a bond?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Not on a bond, but on a stronger thing:
A chain, a chain. Do you not hear it ring?

DUTCH:
k Weet niet, op welke klacht hij in hecht’nis is gebracht,
Maar die het deed, was in een buffelleêren dracht.
Wilt gij het losgeld sturen, de goudbeurs uit zijn kist?

MORE:
Suit=Petition or entreaty
Buff=Hardwearing material; buff jerkins were worn by the sergeant
Bond=Loan
Compleat:
Suit=Een verzoek, rechtsgeding
Buff leather=Buffels of ossen leer op zeem bereid

Topics: debt/obligation, money, offence

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Yea, dost thou jeer and flout me in the teeth?
Think’st thou I jest? Hold, take thou that and that.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Hold, sir, for God’s sake! Now your jest is earnest.
Upon what bargain do you give it me?
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Because that I familiarly sometimes
Do use you for my fool and chat with you,
Your sauciness will jest upon my love
And make a common of my serious hours.
When the sun shines, let foolish gnats make sport,
But creep in crannies when he hides his beams.
If you will jest with me, know my aspect,
And fashion your demeanor to my looks,
Or I will beat this method in your sconce.

DUTCH:
Antipholus van Syracuse.
Zoo, waagt gij ‘t weer, den draak met mij te steken?
Acht gij dat scherts? Hier, neem dan dit, en dat!
Dromio van Syracuse.
Om gods wil, heer! houd op, uw jok wordt ernst,
Wat jokte ik dan, dat gij mij zoo betaalt?

MORE:
Proverb: Leave jesting while it pleases lest it turn to earnest
Proverb: To cast (hit) in the teeth

Bargain=Mercantile transaction

Compleat:
Bargain=Een verding, verdrag, koop
To flout=Bespotten, beschimpen
To flout and jeer at one=Iemand uitjouwen
To lay in the teeth=Verwyten, braaveren
To trow something in one’s teeth=Iemand iets in de neus wryven, voor de scheenen werpen, verwyten
To jest=Boerten, schertsen, jokken, gekscheeren
To speak a thing betwixt jest and earnest=Iets zeggen half jok half ernst

Topics: misunderstanding, money, debt/obligation, dispute, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Aegeon
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Ay, sir, but I am sure I do not, and whatsoever a man
denies, you are now bound to believe him.
AEGEON
Not know my voice! O time’s extremity,
Hast thou so crack’d and splitted my poor tongue
In seven short years that here my only son
Knows not my feeble key of untuned cares?
Though now this grainèd face of mine be hid
In sap-consuming winter’s drizzled snow,
And all the conduits of my blood froze up,
Yet hath my night of life some memory,
My wasting lamps some fading glimmer left,
My dull deaf ears a little use to hear.
All these old witnesses—I cannot err—
Tell me thou art my son Antipholus.

DUTCH:
Toch heeft
De nacht mijns levens nog herinnering,
Mijn kwijnend lampenpaar een schemerschijn,
Mijn oor, schoon doof, nog iets gehoors

MORE:
Feeble key=Weak and discordant tone of voice
Grainèd face=Furrowed, lined features
Grizzled snow=White beard
Wasting lamps=Dimming eyes (eyesight)
Compleat:
Feeble=Zwak, slap
Grainy=Korrelig
Grizled=Grysachtig
Wasting=Verquisting, verwoesting; verquistende

Topics: age/experience, memoryevidence

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Ephesus
CONTEXT:

ANGELO
Nay, come, I pray you, sir, give me the chain.
Both wind and tide stays for this gentleman,
And I, to blame, have held him here too long.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Good Lord! You use this dalliance to excuse
Your breach of promise to the Porpentine.
I should have chid you for not bringing it,
But, like a shrew, you first begin to brawl.
SECOND MERCHANT
The hour steals on. I pray you, sir, dispatch.
ANGELO
You hear how he importunes me. The chain!
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Why, give it to my wife, and fetch your money.
ANGELO
Come, come. You know I gave it you even now.
Either send the chain, or send me by some token.
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS
Fie, now you run this humour out of breath.
Come, where’s the chain? I pray you, let me see it.
SECOND MERCHANT
My business cannot brook this dalliance.
Good sir, say whe’er you’ll answer me or no.
If not, I’ll leave him to the Officer.

DUTCH:
Mijn hemel! wis moet deze scherts bewimp’len,
Dat gij mij in den Egel zitten liet.
Het was aan mij u daarom hard te vallen,
Maar als een feeks zoekt gij het eerste twist.

MORE:
Proverb: Time and tide (The tide) tarries (stays for) no man
Proverb: Some complain to prevent complaint (I should have chid you for not bringing it, But like a shrew you first begin to brawl)

Chid (impf., to chide.)=To rebuke, to scold at
Run this humour out of breath=Taking the joke too far
Token=A sign or attestion of a right
Compleat:
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
To sail with wind and tide=Voor wind and stroom zeilen
Chide=Kyven, bekyven
Token=Teken, getuigenis; een geschenkje dat men iemand tot een gedachtenis geeft
Dalliance=Gestoei, dartelheid

Topics: proverbs and idioms, time, money, promise, patience

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
The one, to save the money that he spends in tiring; the other, that at dinner they should not drop in his porridge.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
You would all this time have proved there is no time for all things.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Marry, and did, sir: namely, e’en no time to recover hair lost by nature.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
But your reason was not substantial why there is no time to recover.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Thus I mend it: Time himself is bald and therefore, to the world’s end, will have bald followers.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
I knew ’twould be a bald conclusion:
But soft, who wafts us yonder?

DUTCH:
Gij hadt mij nu al dezen tijd moeten bewijzen, dat er niet voor alles een tijd is.

MORE:
Proverb: There is a time for everything (or for all things). (1399) Allusion to Ecclesiastes 3:1.

Tiring=Clothing, attire
Porridge=Dinner, lentil or bean soup
Substantial=Proven, established
Bald=Unfounded, unsubstantiated
Conclusion=Decision, judgment
Compleat:
Attiring=Verciering, optooijijng
Porridge=Vleeschnat, bry
Substantial=(real, solid) Wezendlyk, vast
Bald=Kaal
Conclusion=Het besluit

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, judgment, reason

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