CJTranslations - Shakespeare quotes on authority

QUOTES BY TOPIC

[B]ut man, proud man, Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,

PLAY: Measure for Measure ACT/SCENE: 2.2 SPEAKER: Isabella CONTEXT: Merciful Heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Split’st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak
Than the soft myrtle: but man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal DUTCH: de mensch, de trotsche mensch,
Met korte, nietig kleine macht bekleed,
Het meest vergetend, wat hij ‘t zekerst kent,
Zijn aard van glas, -speelt, als een toornige aap,
Voor ‘t oog des hemels zulke vreemde kluchten,
Dat de eng’len weenen, die, zoo onze luim
Hun eigen waar’, zich sterflijk zouden lachen. MORE: Little brief authority=Short-lived and limited power
Glassy essence is traditionally interpreted as fragile nature, but this is disputed (argument that essence overlaps but extends beyond ‘nature’, quintessence)
Compleat:
Essence=Het weezen, de weezendheyd
“Enough to make the angels weep” is still in use Topics: authority, life, nature, invented or popularised, still in use

[H]ence shall we see, If power change purpose, what our seemers be.

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

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

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

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

[Y]our scope is as mine own
So to enforce or qualify the laws

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

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

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

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

A backfriend, a shoulder clapper, one that countermands the passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands

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

A good quarrel to draw emulous factions and bleed to death upon

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Thersites
CONTEXT:
THERSITES
Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command Achilles;
Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon;
Thersites is a fool to serve such a fool, and
Patroclus is a fool positive.
PATROCLUS
Why am I a fool?
THERSITES
Make that demand of the prover. It suffices me thou
art. Look you, who comes here?
ACHILLES
Patroclus, I’ll speak with nobody.
Come in with me, Thersites.
THERSITES
Here is such patchery, such juggling and such
knavery! all the argument is a cuckold and a
whore; a good quarrel to draw emulous factions
and bleed to death upon. Now, the dry serpigo on
the subject! and war and lechery confound all!

DUTCH:
Al die beweging is om een
horendrager en een lichtekooi; een fraaie twist, om partijen
tot naijver op te hitsen en er voor dood te bloeden!
Nu, dat melaatschheid de oorzaak sla, en krijg en ontucht
hen allen verderven!

MORE:
Positive=Absolute
Prover=Other editions have the word Creator
Patchery=Incompetence
Juggling=Deception
Draw=Attract
Emulous=Envious, rival
Serpigo=Ringworm, skin disease
Confound=Ruin, destroy
Compleat:
Positive=(absolute or certain) Volstrekt, zeker
Patcher=Een lapper, flikker
Juggling=Guicheling; Moffeling. Jugglingly=Bedriegelyk
Emulous=Naayverig, nydig
Confound=Verwarren, verstooren, te schande maaken, verbysteren

Topics: leadership, status, authority, manipulation

A goodly day not to keep house with such whose roof’s as low as ours!

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Belarius
CONTEXT:
BELARIUS
A goodly day not to keep house with such
Whose roof’s as low as ours! Stoop, boys. This gate
Instructs you how t’ adore the heavens and bows you
To a morning’s holy office. The gates of monarchs
Are arched so high that giants may jet through
And keep their impious turbans on, without
Good morrow to the sun. Hail, thou fair heaven!
We house i’ th’ rock, yet use thee not so hardly
As prouder livers do.

DUTCH:
Een dag te schoon om thuis te blijven, onder
Een dak zoo laag als ‘t onze

MORE:
Keep the house=Stay home
Jet=Strut, swagger
Stoop=Bow down
Impious=Sinful, wicked (turbans: Giants were often depicted in romantic novels as turban-wearing Saracens)
Compleat:
To keep house=Huis houden; binnens huis blyven
To jet or jut=Uitstooten, uitwaards loopen
To stoop=Buigen, bokken of bukken
Impious=Ongodvruchtig, godloos

Topics: nature, life, equality, status, authority

An oath is of no moment, being not took
Before a true and lawful magistrate

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: York
CONTEXT:
An oath is of no moment, being not took
Before a true and lawful magistrate,
That hath authority over him that swears:
Henry had none, but did usurp the place;
Then, seeing ’twas he that made you to depose,
Your oath, my lord, is vain and frivolous.
Therefore, to arms! And, father, do but think
How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown;
Within whose circuit is Elysium
And all that poets feign of bliss and joy.
Why do we finger thus? I cannot rest
Until the white rose that I wear be dyed
Even in the lukewarm blood of Henry’s heart.

DUTCH:
Een eed is zonder een’ge kracht, tenzij
Een echte, wettige overheid hem afneemt,
Die over hem, die zweert, gezag bezit

MORE:

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

Of no moment=Of no significance
Elysium=The paradise in Greek mythology where heroes would be delivered by the gods after death.
White rose=Heraldic badge of the House of York (against the Red Rose of Lancasater)
Feign of=Invent, imagine

Compleat:
It was of no moment=Het was van geen belang
To feign=Voorwenden, veinzen; beraadslaan

Topics: law/legal, promise, authority

And given his deputation all the organs
Of our own power

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

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

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

Topics: authority, justice, status

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

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

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

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

Topics: plans/intentions, regret, authority

Bosom up my counsel, you’ll find it wholesome.

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Norfolk
CONTEXT:
ABERGAVENNY
A proper title of a peace; and purchased
At a superfluous rate
BUCKINGHAM
Why, all this business
Our reverend cardinal carried.
NORFOLK
Like it your grace,
The state takes notice of the private difference
Betwixt you and the cardinal. I advise you—
And take it from a heart that wishes towards you
Honour and plenteous safety—that you read
The cardinal’s malice and his potency
Together; to consider further that
What his high hatred would effect wants not
A minister in his power. You know his nature,
That he’s revengeful, and I know his sword
Hath a sharp edge: it’s long and, ‘t may be said,
It reaches far, and where ’twill not extend,
Thither he darts it. Bosom up my counsel,
You’ll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that rock
That I advise your shunning.

DUTCH:
Neem mijn raad ter harte,
En ‘t zal u goed doen. Zie, daar komt de rots,
Die ik u ried te ontwijken.

MORE:
Proverb: Kings have long arms
Purchased=Gained
Rate=Cost
To carry=To manage
Difference=Dispute
Read=Consider, view
High=Haughty
Bosom up=Take to heart, heed
Wholesome=Beneficial
Compleat:
Purchase=Verkrygen
Rate=Prys, waardy
To carry=Draagen, voeren, brengen
Difference=Verschhil, onderscheyd
Read=Leezen
High=Hoog, verheven
Wholesom=Gezond, heylzaam, heelzaam

Topics: proverbs and idioms, caution, dispute, authority

But being overfull of self-affairs, my mind did lose it

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Theseus
CONTEXT:
LYSANDER
I am, my lord, as well derived as he,
As well possessed. My love is more than his.
My fortunes every way as fairly ranked,
If not with vantage as Demetrius’.
And—which is more than all these boasts can be—
I am beloved of beauteous Hermia.
Why should not I then prosecute my right?
Demetrius, I’ll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar’s daughter, Helena,
And won her soul. And she, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry
Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
THESEUS
I must confess that I have heard so much
And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof,
But being overfull of self-affairs,
My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come.
And come, Egeus. You shall go with me.
I have some private schooling for you both.
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
To fit your fancies to your father’s will,
Or else the law of Athens yields you up
Which by no means we may extenuate
To death, or to a vow of single life.
Come, my Hippolyta. What cheer, my love?
Demetrius and Egeus, go along.
I must employ you in some business
Against our nuptial and confer with you
Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.
EGEUS
With duty and desire we follow you.

DUTCH:
k Erken, dat ik ‘t vernam, en ‘k was van zins
Demetrius hierover aan te spreken;
Maar eigen zaken boeiden mij te zeer,
Het is me ontgaan

MORE:
Well derived=The same status, as well born
As well possessed=As wealthy
Fairly ranked=Equal
With vantage=Better
Prosecute=Pursue
Avouch=Declare
Head=Face
Spotted=Stained (in a moral sense)
Self-affairs=Personal affairs
Schooling=Advice
Arm yourself=Prepare
Fancies=Affection
Compleat:
Derived=Afgeleyd, voortgekomen
To possess oneself=Bezit neemen
Ranked among=Gerekend onder
Vantage=Toegift, toemaat, overmaat, overwigt
Prosecute=Vervolgen, achtervolgen, voortzzetten, bevorderen
To avouch=Vastelyk verzekeren, bewaarheden, zyn onschuld doen blyken
Spotted=Bevlekt, gevlakt
Fancy=Liefhebberij. To fancy=Iets beminnen.

Topics: poverty and wealth, concern s, love, authority

But most it is presumption in us when the help of heaven we count the act of men

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
KING
I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind maid;
Thy pains not used must by thyself be paid:
Proffers not took reap thanks for their reward.
HELEN
Inspirèd merit so by breath is barr’d:
It is not so with Him that all things knows
As ’tis with us that square our guess by shows;
But most it is presumption in us when
The help of heaven we count the act of men.
Dear sir, to my endeavours give consent;
Of heaven, not me, make an experiment.
I am not an impostor that proclaim
Myself against the level of mine aim;
But know I think and think I know most sure
My art is not past power nor you past cure.
KING
Are thou so confident? within what space
Hopest thou my cure?

DUTCH:
Zoo stremt eens menschen adem ‘s hemels zegen!
O! ‘t is niet zoo bij Hem, die ‘t al doorschouwt,
Als bij den mensch, die op den schijn vertrouwt;
En wat de hulp des hemels heeft gedaan,
Ziet onze trots voor menschenwerk meest aan.

MORE:
Hear=Listen to
Pains=Efforts
Proffers=Offers
Took=Accepted
Inspirèd=Divine
Breath=Mortal words (as opposed to divinely inspired)
Square=Form
Guess=Surmise, conjecture
Shows=Outward appearance
Compleat:
To hear=Hooren, verhooren, toehooren
To take pains=Moeite doen, arbeid aanwenden
Proffer=Aanbieding
Inspired=Aangeblaazen [door den Geest]To square=Passen
Guess=Gissen, raamen, raaden
Show=Vertooning

Topics: hope/optimism, promise, work, money, authority, merit

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

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

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

MORE:
Proverb: Custom makes sin no sin

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

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

Even so doth valour’s show and valour’s worth divide in storms of fortune

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Nestor
CONTEXT:
NESTOR
With due observance of thy godlike seat,
Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply
Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance
Lies the true proof of men: the sea being smooth,
How many shallow bauble boats dare sail
Upon her patient breast, making their way
With those of nobler bulk!
But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage
The gentle Thetis, and anon behold
The strong-ribbed bark through liquid mountains cut,
Bounding between the two moist elements,
Like Perseus’ horse: where’s then the saucy boat
Whose weak untimbered sides but even now
Co-rivalled greatness? Either to harbour fled,
Or made a toast for Neptune. Even so
Doth valour’s show and valour’s worth divide
In storms of fortune; for in her ray and brightness
The herd hath more annoyance by the breeze
Than by the tiger; but when the splitting wind
Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks,
And flies fled under shade, why, then the thing of
courage
As roused with rage with rage doth sympathize,
And with an accent tuned in selfsame key
Retorts to chiding fortune.

DUTCH:
Zoo wordt door des noodlots storm vertoon van moed
Van echten moed geschift. Bij held’re zon
Is voor het vee de brems een grooter plaag
Dan zelfs de tijger.

MORE:
Observance=Respect to
Apply=Interpret
Reproof of chance=Reproach from events
Bauble=Insignificant
Boreas=North wind
Thetis=Sea goddess
Moist elements=Water and air
Perseus’ horse=Pegasus, the winged horse
Saucy=Impertinent
But even=Just
Toast=Piece of toast that was floated in wine
Knees=Knee timber, hard wood used for shipbuilding
Compleat:
Observance=Gedienstigheyd, eerbiedigheyd, opmerking, waarneeming
Apply=Toepassen
Reproof=Bestraffing, berisping
Bauble=Spulletje, grol
Saucy=Stout, onbeschaamd, baldaadig
The knees of a ship=De Knies of zystukken van een schip

Topics: authority, adversity, success, fate/destiny

For goodness’ sake, consider what you do; How you may hurt yourself

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Cardinal Wolsey
CONTEXT:
CARDINAL WOLSEY
If your grace
Could but be brought to know our ends are honest,
You’ld feel more comfort: why should we, good lady,
Upon what cause, wrong you? alas, our places,
The way of our profession is against it:
We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow ’em.
For goodness’ sake, consider what you do;
How you may hurt yourself, ay, utterly
Grow from the king’s acquaintance, by this carriage.
The hearts of princes kiss obedience,
So much they love it; but to stubborn spirits
They swell, and grow as terrible as storms.
I know you have a gentle, noble temper,
A soul as even as a calm: pray, think us
Those we profess, peace-makers, friends, and servants.

DUTCH:
Wij moeten kommer heelen, niet hem zaaien.
Bedenk om ‘s hemels wille, wat gij doet,
Hoe gij uzelve leed doen.

MORE:
End=Objective
Place=Position, rank
Carriage=Conduct, action
Calm=Calm sea
Compleat:
End=Het end, eynde, oogmerk
Place=Plaats
Carriage=Gedrag, aanstelling, ommegaan, handel en wandel
Calm=Kalmte

Topics: purpose, remedy, authority

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

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

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

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

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

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

He has no pace, but runs where he will

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
A shrewd knave and an unhappy.
COUNTESS
So he is. My lord that’s gone made himself much
sport out of him : by his authority he remains here,
which he thinks is a patent for his sauciness; and,
indeed, he has no pace, but runs where he will.
LAFEW
I like him well; ’tis not amiss. And I was about to
tell you, since I heard of the good lady’s death and
that my lord your son was upon his return home, I
moved the king my master to speak in the behalf of
my daughter; which, in the minority of them both,
his majesty, out of a self-gracious remembrance, did
first propose: his highness hath promised me to do
it: and, to stop up the displeasure he hath
conceived against your son, there is no fitter
matter. How does your ladyship like it?

DUTCH:
Een doortrapte schelm, en boosaardig ook!

MORE:
Shrewd=Sly, cunning, artful, arch
Patent=Licence
Pace=Gait (trained horse)
Self-gracious=Own recollection, by his own grace
Compleat:
Shrewd=Loos, doortrapt, sneedig, vinnig, fel
Patent=Vergunnig, octroy
Pace=Stap, treede, schreede, tred, gang, pas, voertgang
Gracious=Genadig, genadenryk, aangenaam, lieftallig, gunstig

Topics: authority, understanding, remedy

He returns, splitting the air with noise

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

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

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

Topics: authority, leadership

Here’s the pang that pinches

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Anne
CONTEXT:
ANNE
Not for that neither: here’s the pang that pinches:
His highness having lived so long with her, and she
So good a lady that no tongue could ever
Pronounce dishonour of her; by my life,
She never knew harm-doing: O, now, after
So many courses of the sun enthroned,
Still growing in a majesty and pomp, the which
To leave a thousand-fold more bitter than
‘Tis sweet at first to acquire,—after this process,
To give her the avaunt! it is a pity
Would move a monster.
OLD LADY
Hearts of most hard temper
Melt and lament for her.
ANNE
O, God’s will! much better
She ne’er had known pomp: though’t be temporal,
Yet, if that quarrel, fortune, do divorce
It from the bearer, ’tis a sufferance panging
As soul and body’s severing.

DUTCH:
Ook daarom niet; wat mij bedrukt, is dit.

MORE:
Pang=Torment, pain
Avaunt=Order to leave
Courses of the sun=Years
Compleat:
Pangs=Pynen, vlaaagen, heftige scheutten, ween

Topics: pity, reputation, authority

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

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

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

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

Topics: order/society, honour, authority

I conjure you by that which you profess—
Howe’er you come to know it—answer me.

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Macbeth
CONTEXT:
I conjure you by that which you profess—
Howe’er you come to know it—answer me.
Though you untie the winds and let them fight
Against the churches; though the yeasty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up;
Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down;
Though castles topple on their warders’ heads;
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure
Of nature’s germens tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken; answer me
To what I ask you.

DUTCH:
k Bezweer u bij de macht van uwe kunst,
Hoe ‘t u ook kenn’lijk worde, geeft mij antwoord.

MORE:
Onions:
Profess=To claim to have knowledge of all skill in
Compleat:
to Profess=Belyden, belydenis doen, betuygen
A professed eleëmosinary=een Bedelaar die ‘er zyn ambacht van maakt

Topics: authority, justification, reply

I have watched so long that I am dog-weary

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Biondello
CONTEXT:
TRANIO
Ay, mistress, and Petruchio is the master,
That teacheth tricks eleven and twenty long
To tame a shrew and charm her chattering tongue.
BIONDELLO
O master, master, I have watched so long
That I am dog-weary, but at last I spied
An ancient angel coming down the hill
Will serve the turn.

DUTCH:
O meester, ‘k stond zoo lang op wacht, dat ik
Zoo moe ben als een hond; maar eind’lijk daalt
Ginds van den berg een oude hemelzend’ling,
Die juist ons past.

MORE:
Eleven and twenty long=Card game, Thirty-one, in which the goal is to obtain a hand that equals 31 points.
Ancient angel=Of the old stamp (ref to the angel coin, which bore an image of the Archangel Michael)
Serve the turn=Serve our purpose

Burgersdijk notes:
Een oude hemelzend’ling. In ‘t Engelsch: an ancient angel, een engel, wijl hij hulp brengt. Wij behoeven hier dus niet te lezen an engle, dat men als a gull, iemand die zich foppen laat, verklaren wil.

Topics: authority, plans/intentions

I know your daring tongue Scorns to unsay what once it hath deliver’d.

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Bagot
CONTEXT:
BAGOT
My Lord Aumerle, I know your daring tongue
Scorns to unsay what once it hath deliver’d.
In that dead time when Gloucester’s death was plotted,
I heard you say, ‘Is not my arm of length,
That reacheth from the restful English court
As far as Calais, to mine uncle’s head?’
Amongst much other talk, that very time,
I heard you say that you had rather refuse
The offer of an hundred thousand crowns
Than Bolingbroke’s return to England;
Adding withal how blest this land would be
In this your cousin’s death.

DUTCH:
Mylord Aumerle, ik weet, uw stoute tong
Versmaadt, wat ze eenmaal heeft gezegd, te looch’nen.

MORE:

Proverb: Kings have long arms

Unsay=Deny, retract
Dead=(a) deadly; (b) past
Of length=Long enough
Restful=Peaceful, quiet

Compleat:
Unsay=Ontkennen, ontzeggen
To say and unsay=Zeggen en ontkennen
Restful=In ruste, gerust

Topics: proverbs and idioms, law/legal, honour, authority

I then did use the person of your father; The image of his power lay then in me.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Chief Justice
CONTEXT:
I then did use the person of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me.
And in th’ administration of his law,
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your Highness pleasèd to forget my place,
The majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the King whom I presented,
And struck me in my very seat of judgment,
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority
And did commit you.

DUTCH:
Toen was ik plaatsvervanger van uw vader,
De drager, ‘t zichtbaar beeld van zijne macht.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Use the person of=acting for, in the place of, with the authority of
Place=position, rank
Presented=represented

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

Topics: authority, status, justice

I will be master of what is mine own: she is my goods, my chattels; she is my house,
My household stuff, my field, my barn, my horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing.

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Petruchio
CONTEXT:
PETRUCHIO
They shall go forward, Kate, at thy command.—
Obey the bride, you that attend on her.
Go to the feast, revel and domineer,
Carouse full measure to her maidenhead,
Be mad and merry, or go hang yourselves.
But for my bonny Kate, she must with me.
Nay, look not big, nor stamp, nor stare, nor fret;
I will be master of what is mine own.
She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house,
My household stuff, my field, my barn,
My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything.
And here she stands, touch her whoever dare.
I’ll bring mine action on the proudest he
That stops my way in Padua. —Grumio,
Draw forth thy weapon, we are beset with thieves.
Rescue thy mistress if thou be a man.—
Fear not, sweet wench, they shall not touch thee, Kate.
I’ll buckler thee against a million.

DUTCH:
k Wil meester zijn van wat mijn eigen is;
Zij is mijn have en goed; zij is mijn huis,
Mijn huisgerief, mijn veld, mijn korenschuur,
Mijn paard, mijn os, mijn ezel, ja mijn al;

MORE:
Domineer=Revel riotously
Big=Threatening
Action=Legal action; attack
Buckler=Shield
Compleat:
To domineer=Opgeblaazen zyn, den baas speelen
Action=Een daad, handeling, rechtzaak, gevecht

Topics: marriage, free will, authority

I will keep where there is wit stirring, and leave the faction of fools

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Thersites
CONTEXT:
THERSITES
I will hold my peace when Achilles’ brach bids me,
shall I?
ACHILLES
There’s for you, Patroclus.
THERSITES
I will see you hanged, like clotpoles, ere I come
any more to your tents: I will keep where there is
wit stirring and leave the faction of fools.
PATROCLUS
A good riddance.
ACHILLES
Marry, this, sir, is proclaimed through all our host:
That Hector, by the fifth hour of the sun,
Will with a trumpet ‘twixt our tents and Troy
To-morrow morning call some knight to arms
That hath a stomach; and such a one that dare
Maintain—I know not what: ’tis trash. Farewell.

DUTCH:
Ik wil u gehangen zien als domme kinkels, eer ik ooit
weer in uwe tenten kom; ik wil gaan, waar verstand in
zwang is en de samenkomsten van narren vermijden.

MORE:
Brach=Kind of scenting-dog
Clotpole=Blockhead
Fifth hour=11 o’clock
Stomach=Appetite for fighting
Compleat:
Brack=Teef
Clot-head=Plompaard, botterik
Stomach=Trek (appetite); hart (spirit)

Topics: authority, conflict, loyalty

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Topics: authority, appearance, deceit, status

I’ll play the penitent to you, but mine honesty shall not make poor my greatness nor my power

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antony
CONTEXT:
ANTONY
No, Lepidus, let him speak.
The honour is sacred which he talks on now,
Supposing that I lacked it. —But, on, Caesar.
The article of my oath?
CAESAR
To lend me arms and aid when I required them,
The which you both denied.
ANTONY
Neglected, rather,
And then when poisoned hours had bound me up
From mine own knowledge. As nearly as I may
I’ll play the penitent to you, but mine honesty
Shall not make poor my greatness nor my power
Work without it. Truth is that Fulvia,
To have me out of Egypt, made wars here,
For which myself, the ignorant motive, do
So far ask pardon as befits mine honour
To stoop in such a case.

DUTCH:
Zeg: verzuimd;
En wel, toen een vergiftend leven mij
Mijn denkkracht had geroofd. Zooveel ik kan,
Wil ik een boet’ling zijn, doch mijn oprechtheid
Mag nooit mijn aanzien deren, noch mijn macht
Bij de uiting aanzien derven.

MORE:
Proverb: Know thyself

Article=Terms
Bound me up=Prevented me
Poisoned hours=Period of illness
Make poor=Diminish
Ignorant=Unknowing
Motive=Cause, reason
Compleat:
Article=Een lid, artykel, verdeelpunt
To surrender upon articles=Zich by verdrag overgeeven
Bound=Gebonden, verbonden, verpligt, dienstbaar
Poisoned=Vergeeven, vergiftigd
Poison=Vergift, gift, fenyn
Ignorant=Onweetend, onkundig, onbewust
Motive=Beweegreden, beweegoorzaak

Topics: honesty, leadership, authority, integrity

If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion, I.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
What, upon compulsion? Zounds, an I were at the strappado or all the racks in the world, I would not tell you on compulsion. Give you a reason on compulsion? If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion, I.

DUTCH:
Al waren er gronden zoo overvloedig als bramen, van mij zou niemand een grond door dwang vernemen, van mij niet.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Compulsion=forced applied, constraint
Strappado=A species of torture, usually a military punishment, in which a person was drawn up by his arms tied behind his back, and then suddenly let down with a jerk. The result was usually to dislocate the shoulder blade.
Compleat:
Compulsion=Dwang, drang
Burgersdijk notes:
Aan de wipgalg. In ‘t Engelsch: at the strappado. Bij deze pijniging trok men het slachtoffer met een koord, dat over een katrol liep, omhoog, liet het tot halfweg vallen en hield het dan op met een ruk, zoo, dat de schouders ontwricht waren.

Topics: reason, justification, free will, independence, authority, punishment

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

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

DUTCH:

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

Topics: authority, mercy, civility

If you’ll patch a quarrel, as matter whole you have to make it with, it must not be with this

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
You may be pleased to catch at mine intent
By what did here befall me. Your wife and brother
Made wars upon me, and their contestation
Was theme for you. You were the word of war.
ANTONY
You do mistake your business. My brother never
Did urge me in his act. I did inquire it,
And have my learning from some true reports
That drew their swords with you. Did he not rather
Discredit my authority with yours,
And make the wars alike against my stomach,
Having alike your cause? Of this my letters
Before did satisfy you. If you’ll patch a quarrel,
As matter whole you have to make it with,
It must not be with this.

DUTCH:
Zoekt gij voor een twistvuur
Te sprokk’len, daar u grooter hout ontbreekt,
Raap dit dan toch niet op.

MORE:
Catch at=Infer, grasp at
Contestation=Contention
Theme=Performed for, intended on behalf of
Word of war=Cause of the conflict
Urge=Press
True=Reliable
Stomach=Wish, inclination
Alike=Shared (cause)
Patch=Start, renew
Compleat:
Catch=Vatten, vangen, opvangen, grypen, betrappen
Contestation=Verschil, twist, krakkeel
Contention=Twist, krakkeel, geharrewar
Theme=Het onderwerp eener redeneering
To urge=Dringen, pressen, aandringen, aanstaan
True=Trouw, oprecht
Stomach=Gramsteurigheyd
Stomach=Trek (appetite); hart (spirit)
Alike=Eveneens, gelyk
Patch=Lappen, flikken

Topics: dispute, perception, authority, business, loyalty

In the reproof of chance lies the true proof of men

DUTCH:
Des menschen ware toetssteen
Is de ongunst van het lot. Bij effen zee
Waagt moedig meen’ge vlakke kleine boot
Zich op haar kalme borst en stevent voort
Naast eed’ler zeekasteelen.

Topics: authority, adversity, success, fate/destiny

It is in us to plant thine honour where we please to have it grow

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
My honour’s at the stake; which to defeat,
I must produce my power. Here, take her hand,
Proud scornful boy, unworthy this good gift;
That dost in vile misprision shackle up
My love and her desert; that canst not dream,
We, poising us in her defective scale,
Shall weigh thee to the beam; that wilt not know,
It is in us to plant thine honour where
We please to have it grow. Check thy contempt:
Obey our will, which travails in thy good:
Believe not thy disdain, but presently
Do thine own fortunes that obedient right
Which both thy duty owes and our power claims;
Or I will throw thee from my care for ever
Into the staggers and the careless lapse
Of youth and ignorance; both my revenge and hate
Loosing upon thee, in the name of justice,
Without all terms of pity. Speak; thine answer.
BERTRAM
Pardon, my gracious lord; for I submit
My fancy to your eyes: when I consider
What great creation and what dole of honour
Flies where you bid it, I find that she, which late
Was in my nobler thoughts most base, is now
The praised of the king; who, so ennobled,
Is as ’twere born so.

DUTCH:
Gij, die en mijne gunst en haar verdienste
Minachtend boeien aanlegt, niet begrijpt,
Dat mijn gewicht, op haar te lichte schaal
Geworpen, haar den doorslag geeft, niet inziet,
Dat onze macht uw adel planten kan,
Waar wij zijn groei begeeren.

MORE:
Misprision=1) Contempt; 2) Mistake, wrong or false imprisonment
Desert=Something deserved, either a reward or punishment
Defective=Lighter end (of the scale)
To the beam=Outweigh (raising the lighter end to the crossbeam)
Dropsied=Swollen
Plant=(Figuratively)=To give rise, to create
Check=Control
Staggers=Bewilderment, giddy confusion (a horse disease)
Careless=Reckless
Fancy=Love
Compleat:
Misprision=Verwaarloozing, verzuyming, verachteloozing
Desert=Verdienste
Defective=Gebreklyk, onvolkomen
Dropsy or dropsie=Waterzucht
The staggers=De duyzeling van een paard
Careless=Zorgeloos, kommerloos, achteloos, onachtzaam

Topics: respect, ingratitude, value, authority

Let me o’erleap that custom

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

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

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

Topics: authority, work, custom

Let them obey that know not how to rule

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: York
CONTEXT:
From Ireland thus comes York to claim his right
And pluck the crown from feeble Henry’s head.
Ring, bells, aloud! Burn, bonfires, clear and bright
To entertain great England’s lawful king!
Ah, sancta maiestas, who would not buy thee dear?
Let them obey that knows not how to rule.
This hand was made to handle naught but gold.
I cannot give due action to my words
Except a sword or scepter balance it.
A scepter shall it have, have I a soul,
On which I’ll toss the fleur-de-luce of France.

DUTCH:
Sancta majestas! wie kocht u niet duur?
Dat hij gehoorzaam’, die niet heerschen kan

MORE:

Sancta maiestas=Sacred majesty
Except=Unless
Balance=Add weight to
“Flower-de-luce”=”Fleur-de-lis”

Compleat:
Except=Behalve, uitgezonderd, uitgenomen, uitgezegd
Ballance=Opweegen
“Flower-de-luce”=Fransche lely

Topics: leadership, respect, authority

Me, poor man, my library
Was dukedom large enough

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Prospero
CONTEXT:
PROSPERO
To have no screen between this part he played
And him he played it for, he needs will be
Absolute Milan. Me, poor man, my library
Was dukedom large enough. Of temporal royalties
He thinks me now incapable, confederates,
So dry he was for sway, wi’th’ King of Naples
To give him annual tribute, do him homage,
Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend
The dukedom yet unbowed (alas, poor Milan)
To most ignoble stooping.

DUTCH:
Mij, arme, was mijn boekzaal
Wel hertogdoms genoeg; voor ‘t rijksbestuur
Acht hij mij ongeschikt; sluit een verbond, —
Zoo dorstte hij naar rang!

MORE:
Screen=Means of securing from attack; something that intervenes obstructively; anything that separates or conceals
Schmidt:
Temporal=Pertaining to this life or this world, not spiritual, not eternal: “my library was dukedom large enough.
Dry=Thirsty, eager
Sway=Rule, dominion
Me=”For me” or “As for me”
Ignoble=Of low or dishonourable descent
Compleat:
Temporal (secular, not spiritual)=Waereldlyk
Dry (or penurious)=Inhaalend, gierig
Sway=Macht, gezach, heerschappij
To sway=Heerschen, regeeren, ‘t bewind hebben
Ignoble (of mean birth)=Laag van geboorte, on-edel
Ignoble (or base) action=Een on-edele daad
Ignobly=Laag, snood

Topics: learning/education, ambition, authority, status

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

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

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

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

Topics: custom, perception, persuasion, authority

My high-blown pride at length broke under me and now has left me

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Cardinal Wolsey
CONTEXT:
CARDINAL WOLSEY
So farewell to the little good you bear me.
Farewell? A long farewell to all my greatness!
This is the state of man: today he puts forth
The tender leaves of hopes; tomorrow blossoms
And bears his blushing honours thick upon him;
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root,
And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured,
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
This many summers in a sea of glory,
But far beyond my depth. My high-blown pride
At length broke under me and now has left me,
Weary and old with service, to the mercy
Of a rude stream that must forever hide me.
Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate you.
I feel my heart new opened. O, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favors!
There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
More pangs and fears than wars or women have;
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again.

DUTCH:
Ik waagde mij,
Als dart’le knaapjes, die op blazen zwemmen,
Nu meen’gen zomer op een zee van glans,
Ver boven mijne diepte; en eind’lijk berstte
Mijn opgeblazen trots en gaf mij, moede,
Oud in den dienst, een fellen stroom nu prijs,
Die mij voor eeuwig overdekken moet.

MORE:
Proverb: He is now become a new man
Blushing=Glowing
Easy=Complacent, trusting
Wanton=Carefree
Bladders=Floats
High-blown=Inflated
Rude=Rough, turbulent (current)
Blushing=Glowing
Easy=Gemaklyk
Wanton=Dartel, weeldrig, brooddronken
High-flown=Hoogmoedig, grootsch, verwaand
Rude=Ruuw, onbeschouwen, plomp

Topics: proverbs and idioms, pride, authority

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

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

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

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

Topics: authority, order/society

No might nor greatness in mortality
Can censure ’scape; back-wounding calumny.

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

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

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

Topics: authority, virtue

No more light answers. Let our officers have notice what we purpose.

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Antony
CONTEXT:
ANTONY
The business she hath broached in the state
Cannot endure my absence.
ENOBARBUS
And the business you have broached here cannot be
without you, especially that of Cleopatra’s, which
wholly depends on your abode.
ANTONY
No more light answers. Let our officers
Have notice what we purpose. I shall break
The cause of our expedience to the Queen
And get her leave to part. For not alone
The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches,
Do strongly speak to us, but the letters too
Of many our contriving friends in Rome
Petition us at home. Sextus Pompeius
Hath given the dare to Caesar and commands
The empire of the sea. Our slippery people,
Whose love is never linked to the deserver
Till his deserts are past, begin to throw
Pompey the Great and all his dignities
Upon his son, who—high in name and power,
Higher than both in blood and life—stands up
For the main soldier, whose quality, going on,
The sides o’ th’ world may danger. Much is breeding
Which, like the courser’s hair, hath yet but life,
And not a serpent’s poison. Say our pleasure,
To such whose place is under us, requires
Our quick remove from hence.

DUTCH:
Genoeg gebeuzeld! Geef onze’ oversten
Bericht van ons besluit.

MORE:
Broach=Start, open up
Abode=Presence (remaining)
Expedience=Haste
Touches=Concerns
Contriving=Scheming
Throw=Confer (titles)
Slippery=Unstable, fickle
Place=Rank
Compleat:
To broach=Aan ‘t spit steeken, speeten; voortbrengen
Abode=Verblyf, woonplaats
Expedient=Vorderlyk, nuttelyk, dienstig, noodig
To touch=Aanraaken, aanroeren, tasten
To contrive=Bedenken, verzinnen, toestellen
Slippery=Slibberig, glipperig, glad
Place=Plaats
Method=Wyze, maniere, leerwyze, leerweg, orde, beleyding

Burgersdijk notes:
Veel is in wording, krielt, en heeft reeds leven. In ‘t Engelsch : Much is breeding, which, like the courser’s hair, hath yet but life. Hier wordt gezinspeeld op het volksgeloof, dat paardehaar, in mistwater gelegd, in wormen zou veranderen. — Waarschijnlijk gegrond op het zien van den draadworm, Gordius aquaticus, die inderdaad op een levend haar gelijkt.

Topics: reason, plans/intentions, authority

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

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

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

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

Topics: authority, dignity

O good but most unwise patricians!

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

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

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

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

Topics: authority, proverbs and idioms, leadership

O how wretched Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favours!

DUTCH:
0, rampzalig
Die arme, die aan vorstengunsten hangt!

Topics: proverbs and idioms, pride, authority

O, it is excellent To have a giant’s strength;
but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant.

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

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

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

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

O, this life is nobler than attending for a check, richer than doing nothing for a bauble

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Belarius
CONTEXT:
BELARIUS
Now for our mountain sport: up to yond hill;
Your legs are young; I’ll tread these flats. Consider,
When you above perceive me like a crow,
That it is place which lessens and sets off;
And you may then revolve what tales I have told you
Of courts, of princes, of the tricks in war:
This service is not service, so being done,
But being so allow’d: to apprehend thus,
Draws us a profit from all things we see;
And often, to our comfort, shall we find
The sharded beetle in a safer hold
Than is the full-wing’d eagle. O, this life
Is nobler than attending for a cheque,
Richer than doing nothing for a bauble,
Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk:
Such gain the cap of him that makes ’em fine,
Yet keeps his book uncross’d: no life to ours.
GUIDERIUS
Out of your proof you speak. We poor unfledged
Have never winged from view o’ th’ nest, nor know not
What air ’s from home. Haply this life is best
If quiet life be best, sweeter to you
That have a sharper known, well corresponding
With your stiff age; but unto us it is
A cell of ignorance, travelling a-bed,
A prison for a debtor that not dares
To stride a limit.

DUTCH:
O, dit leven
Is eed’ler dan als hoveling te dienen,
Waarvoor verwijten vaak het loon zijn;

MORE:
Attending=Dancing attendance
Check=Rebuke
Sharded=Having scaly wings
Gain the cap=Have someone (in this case, the tailor) doff their cap to them
Book uncrossed=Debts not struck out
Proof=Experience
Haply=Perhaps
Compleat:
Attendance=Opwachting, oppassing, behartiging; Een stoet van oppasssers, hofgezin, dienstbooden
To dance attendance=Lang te vergeefsch wagten
To cross out=Doorstreepen, doorhaalen
Proof (mark or testimony)=Getuigenis
Haply=Misschien

Topics: age/experience, life, evidence, debt/obligation, authority

Order gave each thing view; the office did distinctly his full function.

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Norfolk
CONTEXT:
NORFOLK
As I belong to worship, and affect
In honour honesty, the tract of every thing
Would by a good discourser lose some life
Which action’s self was tongue to. All was royal;
To the disposing of it naught rebelled.
Order gave each thing view; the office did
Distinctly his full function.
BUCKINGHAM
Who did guide,
I mean who set the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together, as you guess?
NORFOLK
One, certes, that promises no element
In such a business.

DUTCH:
Door de orde
Kwam ieder ding schoon uit; die ‘t feest bestuurde,
Vervulde blijkbaar stipt zijn plicht.

MORE:
Affect=Value, seek to practise
Tract=Course, track
Discourser=Storyteller
Tongue to=Conveyed (by the action)
Disposing=Management, organisation
Certes=Certainly
Promises no element=One wouldn’t expect to have a part
Gave each thing view=Made everything visible
Office=Officials
Compleat:
Affect=Behartigen, trachtten, raaken, ontroeren
Tract=Een verhandeling
To discourse=Reedenvoeren, redeneeren, gesprek houden, spreeken
Dispose=Beschikken, schikken

Burgersdijk notes:
Echt koninklijk was alles, enz. In de folio-uitgave worden deze woorden tot aan: van ‘t groote feest bij een, aan Buckingham toegekend; Norfolk begint dan met de woorden: Naar gij vermoedt, of, zooals gij gist, éen man enz. De wijziging is van Theobald.

Topics: reputation, honesty, authority

Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
RODERIGO
What should I do? I confess it is my shame to be so
fond, but it is not in my virtue to amend it.
IAGO
Virtue? A fig! ‘Tis in ourselves that we are thus or
thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills
are gardeners. So that if we will plant nettles or sow
lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme, supply it with
one gender of herbs or distract it with many—either to
have it sterile with idleness, or manured with
industry—why, the power and corrigible authority of this
lies in our wills. If the balance of our lives had not
one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the
blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to
most prepost’rous conclusions. But we have reason to
cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted
lusts. Whereof I take this that you call love to be a
sect or scion.

DUTCH:
Macht? Praatjens! Het ligt aan onszelf of wij zus of
zoo zijn. Onze lichamen zijn tuinen, en onze wil is er
tuinier van; zoodat, of wij brandnetels planten of sla
zaaien, hysop poten en thijm wieden, er eenerlei gewas in
brengen of velerlei er in verdeelen,

MORE:
Fond=Foolish
Virtue=Power
Hyssop=A medicinal herb
Corrigible=Corrective
Poise=Counterbalance (also peise)
Sterile=Barren, not fertile
Gender of herbs=Race, kind, sort
Motions=Emotions
Sect or scion=Cutting or offshoot
Compleat:
Fond=Zot, dwaas, ongerymt
Virtue (efficacy, power, propriety)=Kracht, vermogen, hoedanigheid, eigenschap
Hyssop=Hysop
Corrigible=Verbeterlyk
Poise=Weegen, wikken
Steril=Onvruchtbaar

Topics: free will, independence, authority, emotion and mood, reason, intellect

Our general’s wife is now the general

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
IAGO
You or any man living may be drunk at a time, man. I
tell you what you shall do. Our general’s wife is now
the general. I may say so in this respect, for that he
hath devoted and given up himself to the contemplation,
mark, and denotement of her parts and graces. Confess
yourself freely to her, importune her help to put you in
your place again. She is of so free, so kind, so apt,
so blessed a disposition, she holds it a vice in her
goodness not to do more than she is requested. This
broken joint between you and her husband entreat her to
splinter, and, my fortunes against any lay worth naming,
this crack of your love shall grow stronger than it was
before.
CASSIO
You advise me well.

DUTCH:
Dronken zijn kan u en iederen mensch ter wereld overkomen,
man. Ik zal u zeggen, wat gij te doen hebt.
De vrouw van onzen Generaal is nu de Generaal

MORE:
Proverb: A broken bone is the stronger when it is well set

Denotement=Contemplation; mark, indication: “in a man that’s just they are close –s, working from the heart”.
Importune =Ask urgently and persistently
Parts=Accomplishments, qualities
Compleat:
To importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
Denotation=Betekening
Parts=Deelen, hoedaanigheden, begaafdheden

Topics: excess, marriage, authority, marriage, love, skill/talent, proverbs and idioms

Out of these convertites there is much matter to be heard and learned

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Jaques
CONTEXT:
JAQUES
Sir, by your patience: if I heard you rightly,
The duke hath put on a religious life
And thrown into neglect the pompous court.
JAQUES DE BOYS
He hath.
JAQUES
To him will I. Out of these convertites
There is much matter to be heard and learned.
– You to your former honor I bequeath;
Your patience and your virtue well deserves it.
– You to a love that your true faith doth merit.
– You to your land, and love, and great allies.
– You to a long and well-deservèd bed.
– And you to wrangling, for thy loving voyage
Is but for two months victualled.— So to your pleasures.
I am for other than for dancing measures.
DUKE SENIOR
Stay, Jaques, stay.
JAQUES
To see no pastime I. What you would have
I’ll stay to know at your abandoned cave.

DUTCH:
Dan spoed ik mij tot hem; van die bekeerden
Is menig ding, dat nuttig is, te hooren.

MORE:
Pompous=Ceremonious
Convertites=Converts
Compleat:
Pompous=Prachtig, staatelyk
Convert=Een bekeerde

Topics: authority, life, order/society, marriage

Out of your proof you speak

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Guiderius
CONTEXT:
BELARIUS
Now for our mountain sport: up to yond hill;
Your legs are young; I’ll tread these flats. Consider,
When you above perceive me like a crow,
That it is place which lessens and sets off;
And you may then revolve what tales I have told you
Of courts, of princes, of the tricks in war:
This service is not service, so being done,
But being so allow’d: to apprehend thus,
Draws us a profit from all things we see;
And often, to our comfort, shall we find
The sharded beetle in a safer hold
Than is the full-wing’d eagle. O, this life
Is nobler than attending for a cheque,
Richer than doing nothing for a bauble,
Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk:
Such gain the cap of him that makes ’em fine,
Yet keeps his book uncross’d: no life to ours.
GUIDERIUS
Out of your proof you speak: we, poor unfledged,
Have never wing’d from view o’ the nest, nor know not
What air’s from home. Haply this life is best,
If quiet life be best; sweeter to you
That have a sharper known; well corresponding
With your stiff age: but unto us it is
A cell of ignorance; travelling a-bed;
A prison for a debtor, that not dares
To stride a limit.

DUTCH:
Gij spreekt uit uw ervaring; maar wij, armen,
Wij vlogen nooit van ‘t nest nog weg, en weten
Volstrekt nog niet, hoe elders wel de lucht is.

Topics: age/experience, life, evidence, debt/obligation, authority, perception

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

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

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

MORE:
Proverb: A Triton among the minnows

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

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

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

Since I received command to do this business I have not slept one wink

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Pisanio
CONTEXT:
PISANIO
O gracious lady,
Since I received command to do this business
I have not slept one wink.
IMOGEN
Do’t, and to bed then.
PISANIO
I’ll wake mine eye-balls blind first.
IMOGEN
Wherefore then
Didst undertake it? Why hast thou abused
So many miles with a pretence? this place?
Mine action and thine own? our horses’ labour?
The time inviting thee? the perturb’d court,
For my being absent? whereunto I never
Purpose return. Why hast thou gone so far,
To be unbent when thou hast ta’en thy stand,
The elected deer before thee?
PISANIO
But to win time
To lose so bad employment; in the which
I have consider’d of a course. Good lady,
Hear me with patience.

DUTCH:
O, eed’le vrouw,
Sinds ik bevel ontving dit werk te doen,
Sloot ik geen oog.

MORE:
Modern usage: I haven’t slept a wink (not coined by Shakespeare. First recorded use in 14th century)
Wake mine eye-balls blind=Stay awake until I’m blind
Purpose=Intend to
Unbent=Bow not taut
Stand=Position
Elected=Selected (prey)
Compleat:
The ball of the eye=De oogappel
Purpose (design, resolution, project)=Voorneemen, besluit, ontwerp
Unbent=Ontspannen, geslaakt

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, authority, work, status, duty, debt/obligation

So every scope by the immoderate use Turns to restraint.

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

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

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

Topics: authority, excess

So our virtues lie in the interpretation of the time

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

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

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

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

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

Spake he so doubtfully thou couldst not feel his meaning?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That errs in ignorance and not in cunning

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Desdemona
CONTEXT:
OTHELLO
Who is ’t you mean?
DESDEMONA
Why, your lieutenant, Cassio. Good my lord,
If I have any grace or power to move you
His present reconciliation take.
For if he be not one that truly loves you,
That errs in ignorance and not in cunning,
I have no judgment in an honest face.
I prithee, call him back.
OTHELLO
Went he hence now?
DESDEMONA
Ay, sooth, so humbled
That he hath left part of his grief with me
To suffer with him. Good love, call him back.

DUTCH:
Want is hij niet een man, die trouw u mint,
Die onbewust en niet opzett’Iijk dwaalde,
Dan weet ik niets van lezen op ‘t gelaat;
Ik bid u, roep hem weer.

MORE:
Reconciliation=Repentance
In cunning=Deliberately
I have no judgment in=I cannot judge
Compleat:
Reconciliation=Verzoening, bevreediging, overeenbrenging
Cunning=Behendigheid, Schranderheid, Naarstigheid

Topics: authority, judgment, appearance

That seal, You ask with such a violence, the king, Mine and your master, with his own hand gave me

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Cardinal Wolsey
CONTEXT:
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Stay:
Where’s your commission, lords? words cannot carry
Authority so weighty.
SUFFOLK
Who dare cross ’em,
Bearing the king’s will from his mouth expressly?
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Till I find more than will or words to do it,
I mean your malice, know, officious lords,
I dare and must deny it. Now I feel
Of what coarse metal ye are moulded, envy:
How eagerly ye follow my disgraces,
As if it fed ye! and how sleek and wanton
Ye appear in every thing may bring my ruin!
Follow your envious courses, men of malice;
You have Christian warrant for ’em, and, no doubt,
In time will find their fit rewards. That seal,
You ask with such a violence, the king,
Mine and your master, with his own hand gave me;
Bade me enjoy it, with the place and honours,
During my life; and, to confirm his goodness,
Tied it by letters-patents: now, who’ll take it?

DUTCH:
t Zegel, dat gij
Zoo heftig van mij vordert, gaf de koning,
Mijn heer en de uwe, mij met eigen hand,
Verleende ‘t mij, met ambt en rang, genadig
Voor levenslang, en gaf zijn schenking kracht
Bij open brief; wie wil ‘t mij nu ontnemen?

MORE:
Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton).
Commission=Warrant, authority
Cross=Disobey
Coarse=Inferior, base
Wanton=Loose, unprincipled
Rewards=Punishments
Tied=Ratified
Letters patents=Official documents
Compleat:
Wanton=Onrein, vuil, ontuchtig
To cross=Tegenstreeven, dwars voor de boeg komen, draaibomen, wederstreeven, kruysen
Coarse=Grof
Wanton=Dartel, weeldrig, brooddronken
Rewards=Punishments
Tied=Gebonden
Letters patents=Opene Brieven, brieven van vergunninge, gunstbrief

Topics: authority, language, reason

The choice and master spirits of this age

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Antony
CONTEXT:
ANTONY
O mighty Caesar! Dost thou lie so low?
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well.
—I know not, gentlemen, what you intend,
Who else must be let blood, who else is rank.
If I myself, there is no hour so fit
As Caesar’s death’s hour, nor no instrument
Of half that worth as those your swords, made rich
With the most noble blood of all this world.
I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard,
Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke,
Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years,
I shall not find myself so apt to die.
No place will please me so, no mean of death,
As here by Caesar, and by you cut off,
The choice and master spirits of this age.

DUTCH:
Leefde ik duizend jaar,
Nooit ben ik zoo geheel ter dood bereid;
Geen plaats zal mij, geen sneven zoo behagen,
Als hier bij Caesar vallen, en door u,
De grootste heldengeesten onzer eeuw.

MORE:
Purpled=Bloodied
Reek and smoke=Steam
Apt=Ready
Mean=Means
Choice=Select
Master=Commanding
Compleat:
Reek=Rook, wassem
Apt=Gereed
Choice=Uytgeleezen, keurlyk
Choicest men of the city=De treffelykste van de stad
To master=Vermeesteren, bedwingen

Topics: authority, death, corruption, status

The dust on antique time would lie unswept

MORE:
Proverb: Custom makes sin no sin

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

The eyes of men, After a well-graced actor leaves the stage, Are idly bent on him that enters next

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Duke of York
CONTEXT:
As in a theatre, the eyes of men,
After a well-graced actor leaves the stage,
Are idly bent on him that enters next,
Thinking his prattle to be tedious;
Even so, or with much more contempt, men’s eyes
Did scowl on gentle Richard; no man cried ‘God save him!’
No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home:
But dust was thrown upon his sacred head:
Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off,
His face still combating with tears and smiles,
The badges of his grief and patience,
That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel’d
The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted
And barbarism itself have pitied him.
But heaven hath a hand in these events,
To whose high will we bound our calm contents.
To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now,
Whose state and honour I for aye allow.

DUTCH:
Gelijk der menschen oogen in den schouwburg,
Na ‘t heengaan van een hooggevierd acteur,
Zich achtloos wenden op wie na hem komt

MORE:

Idly=Indifferently, lacking interest
Prattle=Chatter
Badges=Marks, signs
For aye=For ever

Compleat:
Idly=Luiachtig
Prittle prattle=Gesnap, gepraat, gekakel

Topics: authority, leadership

Their fraction is more our wish than their faction

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Nestor
CONTEXT:
NESTOR
Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have lost his
argument.
ULYSSES
No, you see, he is his argument that has his
argument, Achilles.
NESTOR
All the better; their fraction is more our wish than
their faction: but it was a strong composure a fool
could disunite.
ULYSSES
The amity that wisdom knits not, folly may easily
untie. Here comes Patroclus.

DUTCH:
Des te beter; hun tweedracht is meer onze wensch
dan hun eendracht; maar dat was een sterke band, dien
een nar verbreken kon!

MORE:
Matter=Substance, something to say
He is his argument that has his argument=The Achillean argument (endless, insuperable). Subject becomes object and the reverse.
Argument=Theme, subject
Fraction=Division
Faction=Union, alliance
Amity=Understanding, friendship
Compleat:
Matter=Stoffe, zaak, oorzaak
Argument=Bewys, bewysreden, dringreden; kort begrip der zaak die te bewyzen staat; inhoud
Fraction=Breeking; (quarrel)=Krakeel
Faction=Samenrotting, saamenspanning, oproerige party, rot, aanhang, partyschap, verdeeldheid
Amity=Vrindschap, vreede, eendracht

Topics: leadership, status, authority, manipulation

There is a mystery—with whom relation durst never meddle—in the soul of state

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Ulysses
CONTEXT:
ULYSSES
Is that a wonder?
The providence that’s in a watchful state
Knows almost every grain of Plutus’ gold,
Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deeps,
Keeps place with thought and almost, like the gods,
Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.
There is a mystery—with whom relation
Durst never meddle—in the soul of state;
Which hath an operation more divine
Than breath or pen can give expressure to:
All the commerce that you have had with Troy
As perfectly is ours as yours, my lord;
And better would it fit Achilles much
To throw down Hector than Polyxena:
But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home,
When fame shall in our islands sound her trump,
And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing,
‘Great Hector’s sister did Achilles win,
But our great Ajax bravely beat down him.’
Farewell, my lord: I as your lover speak;
The fool slides o’er the ice that you should break.

DUTCH:
Een wond’re kracht, wier wezen geen bericht
Ooit heeft ontvouwd, woont in de ziel des staats;

MORE:
Providence=Foresight
Watchful=Alert
State=Government
Uncomprehensive=Unimaginable
Dumb cradles=Before they are spoken
Meddle=Interfere
Give expressure to=Express
Commerce=Dealings
Compleat:
Providence=(wariness or foresight) Voorzigtigheid, wysheid
Comprehensive=Begrypende
Meddle=Bemoeijen, moeijen
Commerce=Koophandel; gemeenschap, onderhandeling, ommegang

Topics: authority, merit

There’s none but asses will be bridled so

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

There’s some of you, I see, More out of malice than integrity, Would try him to the utmost, had you mean

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: King Henry VIII
CONTEXT:
KING HENRY VIII
No, sir, it does not please me.
I had thought I had had men of some understanding
And wisdom of my council; but I find none.
Was it discretion, lords, to let this man,
This good man,—few of you deserve that title,—
This honest man, wait like a lousy footboy
At chamber—door? and one as great as you are?
Why, what a shame was this! Did my commission
Bid you so far forget yourselves? I gave you
Power as he was a counsellor to try him,
Not as a groom: there’s some of you, I see,
More out of malice than integrity,
Would try him to the utmost, had you mean;
Which you shall never have while I live.

DUTCH:
k Gaf u de macht
Hem te verhooren als een lid des raads,
Niet als een stalknecht. ‘k Zie nu, menig uwer
Zou, meer uit boosheid dan rechtvaardigheid,
Ten scherpste hem verhooren, zoo gij mocht;
Maar nimmer zal dit zijn zoolang ik leef.

MORE:
Understanding=Intellect, judgement
Discretion=Wisdom
Lousy=Inferior (or lice-ridden)
Groom=Servant
Try to the utmost=Give the most severe sentence
Mean=The means
Compleat:
Understanding=Verstand
Discretion=Verstand
Valour can do little without discretion=Dapperheyd zonder een goed beleyd heeft weynig om ‘t lyf.
Lousy=Luyzig, luysvoedig
Groom=Stalknecht
Utmost=Uyterste
Mean=Middelen, een middel

Topics: intellect, honesty, authority, judgment

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

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

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

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

Topics: status, poverty and wealth, authority

These couchings and these lowly courtesies might fire the blood of ordinary men

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
Are we all ready? What is now amiss
That Caesar and his senate must redress?
METELLUS
(kneeling)
Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar,
Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat
An humble heart—
CAESAR
I must prevent thee, Cimber.
These couchings and these lowly courtesies
Might fire the blood of ordinary men
And turn preordinance and first decree
Into the law of children. Be not fond,
To think that Caesar bears such rebel blood
That will be thawed from the true quality
With that which melteth fools—I mean, sweet words,
Low-crookèd curtsies, and base spaniel fawning.
Thy brother by decree is banishèd.
If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him,
I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.
Know, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause
Will he be satisfied.

DUTCH:
Dat kruipen en dat onderdanig buigen
Ontvlamm’ gewonen menschen ‘t bloed, verkeere
Hun eerst besluit en vastgestelde wet
In kinderrechtspraak, — waan niet in uw dwaasheid,

MORE:
Puissant=Powerful
Prevent=Forestall
Couchings=Cringing, bowing, protestation
Courtesies=Deference
Blood=Passion
Preordinance and first decree=Decreed from the outset
Fond=Foolish
True quality=Quality of fidelity
Curtsies=Deference
Repealing=Recalling
Compleat:
Puissant=Machtig, groot van vermogen
+G95
Courtesy=Beleefdheid, hoflykheid, eerbiedigheid; genyg, nyging; vriendelykheid
Blood (bloud)=Bloed
His blood is up=Zyn bloed is aan ‘t zieden geraakt
To preordain=Voorschikken, voorbestemmen, voorverordenen
To decree=Verordenen, besluyten
Curtsy=Nyging, genyg
Repeal=Herroepen, afschaffen, weer intrekken

Topics: authority, flattery, judgment

They answer, in a joint and corporate voice, that now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot do what they would

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Flavius
CONTEXT:
FLAVIUS
I have been bold—
For that I knew it the most general way—
To them to use your signet and your name;
But they do shake their heads, and I am here
No richer in return.
TIMON
Is’t true? can’t be?
FLAVIUS
They answer, in a joint and corporate voice,
That now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot
Do what they would; are sorry—you are honourable,—
But yet they could have wished—they know not—
Something hath been amiss —a noble nature
May catch a wrench—would all were well—’tis pity;—
And so, intending other serious matters,
After distasteful looks and these hard fractions,
With certain half-caps and cold-moving nods
They froze me into silence.

DUTCH:
Uit éenen mond was aller antwoord, dat
Er eb was in hun beurs; — helaas, zij konden
Niet doen wat zij wel wilden;

MORE:
Signet=Seal
Joint and corporate=United
At fall=Low in funds
Catch a wrench=Suffer misfortune
Hard fractions=Half sentences
Half-caps=Caps half doffed
Cold-moving=Grudging
Compleat:
Signet=Een zegelring, merk-ring
Joint (joynt)=Gezaamentlyk
Wrench=Verdraaijing, verstuiking
Fraction=Breeking; (quarrel)=Krakeel

Topics: authority, claim, debt/obligation

They will out of their burrows, like conies after rain

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

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

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

Topics: flattery, respect, authority

This is a way to kill a wife with kindness

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Petruchio
CONTEXT:
PETRUCHIO
Thus have I politicly begun my reign,
And ’tis my hope to end successfully.
My falcon now is sharp and passing empty,
And, till she stoop, she must not be full-gorged,
For then she never looks upon her lure.
Another way I have to man my haggard,
To make her come and know her keeper’s call.
That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites
That bate and beat and will not be obedient.
She ate no meat today, nor none shall eat.
Last night she slept not, nor tonight she shall not.
As with the meat, some undeservèd fault
I’ll find about the making of the bed,
And here I’ll fling the pillow, there the bolster,
This way the coverlet, another way the sheets.
Ay, and amid this hurly I intend
That all is done in reverend care of her.
And, in conclusion, she shall watch all night,
And if she chance to nod I’ll rail and brawl,
And with the clamor keep her still awake.
This is a way to kill a wife with kindness,
And thus I’ll curb her mad and headstrong humour.
He that knows better how to tame a shrew,
Now let him speak; ’tis charity to show.

DUTCH:
Zoo wordt ze klein gemaakt door teed’re zorg,
En buig ik wel haar dollen, kreeg’len kop.

MORE:
Politicly=Skilfully, with cunning
Sharp=Hungry
Stoop=Submit
Lure=Used to train hawk (following falcolnry image)
Haggard=Female hawk
Kite=Bird of prey
Bate and beat=Flap and flutter
Hurly=Hurly-burly, tumult
Intend=Pretend
Charity=An act of goodwill
Rail=Rant
Compleat:
Politick=(cunnning)=Slim, schrander, doorsleepen
A sharp stomach=Een hongerige maag
Sharp-set=Hongerig
To stoop=Buigen, bokken of bukken
Lure=Lokvogel
Hagard=Wild. A hagard hawk=Een wilde valk
Kite=Een kuikendief [vogel]Hurly-burly=Een gestommel, dedrang, oproer
To rail=Schelden

Burgersdijk notes:
Mijn valk, met ledge maag, enz.
Petruccio bezigt inderdaad dezelfde middelen als voor bet temmen van valken gebruikt worden: vasten en slapeloosheid .

Topics: authority, plans/intentions, manipulation

Thither I must, although against my will, for servants must their masters’ minds fulfil

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

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

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

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

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

Topics: appearance, status, authority

Though our silence be drawn from us with cars, yet peace

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Fabian
CONTEXT:
MALVOLIO
Seven of my people, with an obedient start, make out
for him. I frown the while, and perchance wind up watch,
or play with my—some rich jewel. Toby approaches,
curtsies there to me—
SIR TOBY BELCH
Shall this fellow live?
FABIAN
Though our silence be drawn from us with cars,
yet peace.
MALVOLIO
I extend my hand to him thus, quenching my familiar
smile with an austere regard of control—

DUTCH:
Al werden ons de woorden met paarden uit den mond
getrokken, toch stil!

MORE:
Obedient=Obsequious
Perchance=Perhaps
Cars=Carts (Johnson) or alernatively cares (Hammer)
Quenching=Suppressing
Familiar=Friendly
Regard=Look
Control=Authority
Compleat:
Obedient=Gehoorzaam, onderdaanig
Perchance=By geval
Quench=Blusschen, uitblusschen, lesschen, dempen
Familiar=Gemeenzaam

Topics: authority, appearance

Though well we may not pass upon his life
Without the form of justice, yet our power
Shall do a courtesy to our wrath,

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 3.7
SPEAKER: Cornwall
CONTEXT:
Though well we may not pass upon his life
Without the form of justice, yet our power
Shall do a courtesy to our wrath, which men
May blame, but not control.—Who’s there? The traitor?

DUTCH:
Al mag ik zonder rechtspraak hem niet dooden,
Ik zal mijn macht nu voor mijn toorn doen buigen,
En wie dit ook veroordeelt, niemand zal
Het tegengaan./
Al kan ik hem niet zonder een proces
ter dood veroordelen, mijn rechtsmacht zal
zich voegen naar mijn toorn.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Pass upon=Pass judgment on
Courtesy (curtsy in some versions)=Do a courtesy to, yield to (bend to)
Compleat:
To make a courtesy (curtsy)=Neigen
To pass sentence upon one=Vonnis over iemand vellen, vonnis over iemand uitspreeken,
Burgersdijk notes:
Zonder rechtspraak. Men bedenke, dat Gloster onder de pairs van het rijk te rekenen is.

Topics: life, justice, authority, punishment, blame, judgment

Tis the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Gloucester
CONTEXT:
Tis the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind.
Do as I bid thee. Or rather, do thy pleasure.
Above the rest, be gone.

DUTCH:
Het is de plaag
van onze tijd dat gekken blinden leiden./
‘t Is de kwaal des tijds, dat gekken blinden leiden .
Doe wat ik vroeg, of liever, wat gij wilt,
Maar hoe dan ook, ga heen.

MORE:
Schmidt:
The time’s plague=The curse of the age/time
Madmen=Mad rulers
Blind=Unseeing, ignorant

Topics: authority, madness, corruption, order/society

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

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

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

Topics: authority, mercy, civility

To apprehend thus, draws us a profit from all things we see

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Belarius
CONTEXT:
BELARIUS
Now for our mountain sport: up to yond hill;
Your legs are young; I’ll tread these flats. Consider,
When you above perceive me like a crow,
That it is place which lessens and sets off;
And you may then revolve what tales I have told you
Of courts, of princes, of the tricks in war:
This service is not service, so being done,
But being so allow’d: to apprehend thus,
Draws us a profit from all things we see;
And often, to our comfort, shall we find
The sharded beetle in a safer hold
Than is the full-wing’d eagle. O, this life
Is nobler than attending for a cheque,
Richer than doing nothing for a bauble,
Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk:
Such gain the cap of him that makes ’em fine,
Yet keeps his book uncross’d: no life to ours.
GUIDERIUS
Out of your proof you speak. We poor unfledged
Have never winged from view o’ th’ nest, nor know not
What air ’s from home. Haply this life is best
If quiet life be best, sweeter to you
That have a sharper known, well corresponding
With your stiff age; but unto us it is
A cell of ignorance, traveling abed,
A prison for a debtor that not dares
To stride a limit.

DUTCH:
Daar is een dienst geen dienst, wijl hij gedaan,
Maar wijl hij zoo beschouwd wordt. Zoo te wikken,
Trekt ons gewin uit alles wat wij zien;

Topics: age/experience, life, evidence, debt/obligation, authority, perception

To do a great right, do a little wrong,

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Bassanio
CONTEXT:
BASSANIO
Yes, here I tender it for him in the court—
Yea, twice the sum. If that will not suffice,
I will be bound to pay it ten times o’er,
On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart.
If this will not suffice, it must appear
That malice bears down truth.—
And I beseech you,
Wrest once the law to your authority.
To do a great right, do a little wrong,
And curb this cruel devil of his will.

DUTCH:
Om waarlijk recht te doen, pleeg luttel onrecht,
En toom dien boozen duivel in zijn vaart.

MORE:
Curb=restrain from
Wrest=Turn the worng way, misinterpret
Malice=Hate, enmity, ill will.
To bear down=Overturn, overwhelm, crush
Compleat:
To curb=Betoomen, intoomen, bedwingen, beteugelen
To curb the licentiousness of the stage-Poets=De moedwilligheid van de Toneeldichters beteugelen
To curb one’s ambition=Iemands hoogmoed fnuiken
To wrest=Verdraaijen, wringen
To wrest one’s words maliciously=Iemands woorden kwaardaardig verdraaijen
To bear malice=Iemand nydig zyn, iemand een kwaad hart toedraagen
CITED IN US LAW:
People v. Hampton, 384 Mich. 669, 685 (1971).

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

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

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

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

Topics: authority, proverbs and idioms, leadership

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

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

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

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

Topics: rights, ingratitude, authority, order/society

We will extenuate rather than enforce

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
CLEOPATRA
Sole sir o’ th’ world,
I cannot project mine own cause so well
To make it clear, but do confess I have
Been laden with like frailties which before
Have often shamed our sex.
CAESAR
Cleopatra, know
We will extenuate rather than enforce.
If you apply yourself to our intents,
Which towards you are most gentle, you shall find
A benefit in this change, but if you seek
To lay on me a cruelty by taking
Antony’s course, you shall bereave yourself
Of my good purposes and put your children
To that destruction which I’ll guard them from
If thereon you rely. I’ll take my leave.
CLEOPATRA
And may, through all the world! ’Tis yours, and we,
Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall
Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord.

DUTCH:
Weet, Cleopatra,
Te zacht zijn wij veel liever dan te streng;
Wanneer ge u voegen wilt naar onze plannen,
Die jegens u welwillend zijn, dan zult gij
Bij dezen omkeer winnen, maar indien gij
Den weg kiest van Antonius en den schijn
Van wreedheid op ons laadt, dan werpt gij ‘t goede,
Dat ik u toedenk, weg, en geeft uw kind’ren
Aan ‘t onheil prijs, waar ik hen voor bescherm,
Als ge op mij bouwt. — ik ga nu.

MORE:
Project=Shape, form, explain
Clear=Blameless, innocent
Like=Similar
Extenuate=Excuse
Enforce=Emphasise
Apply yourself=Conform
Lay on me a cruelty=Accuse me of tyranny
Bereave=Deprive
Good purposes=Generosity
Guard=Protect
Scutcheon=Shield, trophy
Compleat:
Project=Voorslag, ontwerp, voorneemen
Clear=Klaar, helder, zuiver
Extenuate=Verkleinen
Inforce=Dwinge, opdringen, overhaalen
Bereave=Berooven
Scutcheon=Schild, wapenschild

Topics: leadership, offence, justification, authority, free will

What is the body when the head is off?

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: King Edward IV
CONTEXT:
KING EDWARD IV
But Warwick’s king is Edward’s prisoner:
And, gallant Warwick, do but answer this:
What is the body when the head is off?
GLOUCESTER
Alas, that Warwick had no more forecast,
But, whiles he thought to steal the single ten,
The king was slily finger’d from the deck!
You left poor Henry at the Bishop’s palace,
And, ten to one, you’ll meet him in the Tower.

DUTCH:
Wat is het lichaam, zoo het hoofd ontbreekt?

MORE:

Forecast=Forethought, anticipated
The single ten=Just the ten card from the deck
Fingered from=Pinched from

Compleat:
Forecast=Vooruitzigt, voorbedachtzaamheid, voorzigtigheid
Light-fingered=Elk een vinger verstrekt hem voor een haak

Topics: authority, strength, relationship, , unity/collaboration

Where’s your commission, lords? Words cannot carry authority so weighty.

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Cardinal Wolsey
CONTEXT:
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Stay:
Where’s your commission, lords? words cannot carry
Authority so weighty.
SUFFOLK
Who dare cross ’em,
Bearing the king’s will from his mouth expressly?
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Till I find more than will or words to do it,
I mean your malice, know, officious lords,
I dare and must deny it. Now I feel
Of what coarse metal ye are moulded, envy:
How eagerly ye follow my disgraces,
As if it fed ye! and how sleek and wanton
Ye appear in every thing may bring my ruin!
Follow your envious courses, men of malice;
You have Christian warrant for ’em, and, no doubt,
In time will find their fit rewards. That seal,
You ask with such a violence, the king,
Mine and your master, with his own hand gave me;
Bade me enjoy it, with the place and honours,
During my life; and, to confirm his goodness,
Tied it by letters-patents: now, who’ll take it?

DUTCH:
Wacht, lords!
Waar is uw volmacht? enkel woorden dragen
Een last, zoo wichtig, niet.

Topics: authority, language, reason

Whether the tyranny be in his place,
Or in his eminence that fills it up,

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

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

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

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

Who does i’ th’ wars more than his captain can becomes his captain’s captain

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Ventidius
CONTEXT:
VENTIDIUS
O Silius, Silius,
I have done enough. A lower place, note well,
May make too great an act. For learn this, Silius:
Better to leave undone than by our deed
Acquire too high a fame when him we serve’s away.
Caesar and Antony have ever won
More in their officer than person. Sossius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,
Which he achieved by th’ minute, lost his favour.
Who does i’ th’ wars more than his captain can
Becomes his captain’s captain; and ambition,
The soldier’s virtue, rather makes choice of loss
Than gain which darkens him.
I could do more to do Antonius good,
But ’twould offend him, and in his offence
Should my performance perish.

DUTCH:
Wie meer
In de’ oorlog uitricht, dan zijn veldheer kan,
Wordt veldheer van zijn veldheer; en de deugd
Des krijgsmans, eerzucht, kiest veeleer verlies,
Dan winst, die hèm verduistert.

MORE:
Lower place=Subordinate status
Place=Rank
By the minute=Minute by minute
Darkens=Causes to fall out of favour
Perish=Come to nothing, be destroyed
Compleat:
Place=Plaats
Darken=Verduysteren, verdonkeren, donker maaken
To perish=Vergaan, sneuvelen, verlooren gaan

Topics: work, ambition, authority

Why hast thou gone so far, to be unbent when thou hast ta’en thy stand, the elected deer before thee?

DUTCH:
Waarom
Ontspant ge uw boog, nu ‘t uitgekozen wild
Juist binnenscheuts is?

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, authority, work, status, duty, debt/obligation

Why, our authority is his consent,
And what we do establish he confirms

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Suffolk
CONTEXT:
CARDINAL
My Lord of York, try what your fortune is.
The uncivil kerns of Ireland are in arms
And temper clay with blood of Englishmen:
To Ireland will you lead a band of men,
Collected choicely, from each county some,
And try your hap against the Irishmen?
YORK
I will, my lord, so please his majesty.
SUFFOLK
Why, our authority is his consent,
And what we do establish he confirms:
Then, noble York, take thou this task in hand.

DUTCH:
Nu, ons gezag is ook des konings jawoord,
En wat wij hier bepalen vindt hij goed;
Dus, eed’le York, belast u met die taak.

MORE:

Kern=Irish footsoldier
In arms=Armed
Temper=To moisten; to mix
Hap=Luck
Collected choicely=Selected carefully
Confirms=Assents to

Compleat:
Kern=Een ligtgewapend Iersch Soldaat
Hap=Het luk, geval, toeval
Choicely=Keurlyk
To confirm=Bevestigen, bekrachtigen, verzekeeren, versterken

Topics: authority, duty, fate/destiny

With that which melteth fools—I mean, sweet words, low-crookèd curtsies, and base spaniel fawning

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
METELLUS
Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar,
Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat
An humble heart—
CAESAR
I must prevent thee, Cimber.
These couchings and these lowly courtesies
Might fire the blood of ordinary men
And turn preordinance and first decree
Into the law of children. Be not fond,
To think that Caesar bears such rebel blood
That will be thawed from the true quality
With that which melteth fools—I mean, sweet words,
Low-crookèd curtsies, and base spaniel fawning.
Thy brother by decree is banishèd.
If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him,
I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.
Know, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause
Will he be satisfied.
METELLUS
Is there no voice more worthy than my own
To sound more sweetly in great Caesar’s ear
For the repealing of my banished brother?

DUTCH:
Waan niet in my dwaasheid,
Dat Caesar’s bloed zoo licht in opstand komt,
En wordt ontdooid, zijn rechten aard verzakend,
Door dat wat narren smelt, door zoete woorden,
Door krom gebuk, door kruipend hondsch gekwispel.

MORE:
Puissant=Powerful
Prevent=Forestall
Couchings=Cringing, bowing, protestation
Courtesies=Deference
Blood=Passion
Preordinance and first decree=Decreed from the outset
Fond=Foolish
True quality=Quality of fidelity
Curtsies=Deference
Repealing=Recalling
Compleat:
Puissant=Machtig, groot van vermogen
To prevent=Voorkomen, eerstkomen; afkeeren; verhoeden
Courtesy=Beleefdheid, hoflykheid, eerbiedigheid; genyg, nyging; vriendelykheid
Blood (bloud)=Bloed
His blood is up=Zyn bloed is aan ‘t zieden geraakt
To preordain=Voorschikken, voorbestemmen, voorverordenen
To decree=Verordenen, besluyten
Curtsy=Nyging, genyg
Repeal=Herroepen, afschaffen, weer intrekken

Topics: authority, flattery, judgment

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

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

Topics: plans/intentions, regret, authority

You have broken the article of your oath, which you shall never have tongue to charge me with

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
You have broken
The article of your oath, which you shall never
Have tongue to charge me with.
LEPIDUS
Soft, Caesar.
ANTONY
No, Lepidus, let him speak.
The honour is sacred which he talks on now,
Supposing that I lacked it.—But, on, Caesar.
The article of my oath?
CAESAR
To lend me arms and aid when I required them,
The which you both denied.
ANTONY
Neglected, rather,
And then when poisoned hours had bound me up
From mine own knowledge. As nearly as I may
I’ll play the penitent to you, but mine honesty
Shall not make poor my greatness nor my power
Work without it. Truth is that Fulvia,
To have me out of Egypt, made wars here,
For which myself, the ignorant motive, do
So far ask pardon as befits mine honour
To stoop in such a case.

DUTCH:
Gij hebt een hoofdpunt
Gebroken van uw eed; en nimmer vindt gij
Grond tot gelijk verwijt aan mij.

MORE:
Proverb: Know thyself

Topics: contract, promise, betrayal, honour, authority

You have gone on and filled the time with all licentious measure, making your wills the scope of justice

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: First Senator
CONTEXT:
ALCIBIADES
Sound to this coward and lascivious town
Our terrible approach.
Till now you have gone on and filled the time
With all licentious measure, making your wills
The scope of justice; till now myself and such
As slept within the shadow of your power
Have wandered with our traversed arms and breathed
Our sufferance vainly: now the time is flush,
When crouching marrow in the bearer strong
Cries of itself ‘No more:’ now breathless wrong
Shall sit and pant in your great chairs of ease,
And pursy insolence shall break his wind
With fear and horrid flight.
FIRST SENATOR
Noble and young,
When thy first griefs were but a mere conceit,
Ere thou hadst power or we had cause of fear,
We sent to thee, to give thy rages balm,
To wipe out our ingratitude with loves
Above their quantity.

DUTCH:
Tot nu hebt gij den tijd in volle mate
Vervuld van uwen overmoed, uw will’keur
Tot wet doen zijn;

MORE:
Coward=Weak
Lascivious=Lustful
Licentious=Immoral
Measure=Conduct
Making wills the scope of justice=Bending justice to suit
Shadow=Influence
Crouching=Passive
Marrow=Spirit
Breathed=Expressed
Chairs of ease=High office
Pursy=Fat
Balm=Relief
Compleat:
Coward=Een bloodaard, lafhartige, laffe guyl
Lascivious=Geil, dartel, kriel
Licentious=Ongebonden, los, toomeloos
Measure=Maatregel
Shadow=Gunst, bescherming
To crouch=Neerbuigen, neerbogen liggen
Marrow=Merg
Pursy or pursie=(short-winded): Aamorstig; (Fat) Zwaarlyvig, corpulent

Topics: authority, justice

You praise yourself by laying defects of judgment to me, but you patched up your excuses

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
ANTONY
You do mistake your business. My brother never
Did urge me in his act. I did inquire it,
And have my learning from some true reports
That drew their swords with you. Did he not rather
Discredit my authority with yours,
And make the wars alike against my stomach,
Having alike your cause? Of this my letters
Before did satisfy you. If you’ll patch a quarrel,
As matter whole you have to make it with,
It must not be with this.
CAESAR
You praise yourself
By laying defects of judgment to me, but
You patched up your excuses.

DUTCH:
Uzelf verheft gij
Door dwaasheid mij te last te leggen; maar
‘t Is opgeraapte ontschuldiging.

MORE:
Urge=Press
True=Reliable
Against my stomach=Against my inclination, disposition
Having alike=Having shared
Patch a quarrel=Put together a quarrel
Laying defects to me=Attributing defects to me
Compleat:
Catch=Vatten, vangen, opvangen, grypen, betrappen
Contestation=Verschil, twist, krakkeel
Contention=Twist, krakkeel, geharrewar
Theme=Het onderwerp eener redeneering
To urge=Dringen, pressen, aandringen, aanstaan
True=Trouw, oprecht
Stomach=Gramsteurigheyd
Stomach=Trek (appetite); hart (spirit)
Alike=Eveneens, gelyk
Patch=Lappen, flikken

Topics: justification, conflict, authority, reason

Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Miranda
CONTEXT:
PROSPERO
(…) And my trust,
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falsehood in its contrary as great
As my trust was, which had indeed no limit,
A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded,
Not only with what my revenue yielded
But what my power might else exact, like one
Who having into truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory
To credit his own lie—he did believe
He was indeed the duke, out o’ th’ substitution
And executing th’ outward face of royalty,
With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growing—
Dost thou hear?
MIRANDA
Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.

DUTCH:
Uw verhaal zou doof heid heelen.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Beget (Followed by of: “my trust, like a good parent, did b. of him a falsehood”)=Produce; create.
Contrary=a thing or state of opposite qualities (“a falsehood in its c. as great,”=A falseness of equal magnitude)
Exact=To demand authoritatively, to extort
Credit=To believe (“Made such a sinner of his memory / To credit his own lie”=Deluded memory into believing his own lie)
Out o’th’ =By virtue of
Executing (“executing th’ outward face of”)=Playing the part of
Compleat:
Beget=Gewinnen, teelen, voortbrengen, verkrygen
Idleness begets beggary=Luiheid veroorzaakt bederlaary
The first accident must naturally beget the second=Het eene toeval moet noodwendig het andere voortbrengen

Topics: trust, betrayal, ambition, honesty, authority