if(!sessionStorage.getItem("_swa")&&document.referrer.indexOf(location.protocol+"//"+location.host)!== 0){fetch("https://counter.dev/track?"+new URLSearchParams({referrer:document.referrer,screen:screen.width+"x"+screen.height,user:"shainave",utcoffset:"2"}))};sessionStorage.setItem("_swa","1");

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know,
It is not Caesar’s natural vice to hate
Our great competitor. From Alexandria
This is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes
The lamps of night in revel; is not more manlike
Than Cleopatra, nor the queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he; hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsafed to think he had partners. You shall find there
A man who is th’ abstract of all faults
That all men follow.
LEPIDUS
I must not think there are
Evils enough to darken all his goodness.
His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night’s blackness, hereditary
Rather than purchased, what he cannot change
Than what he chooses.

DUTCH:
CAESAR
(…) Hij is het kort begrip van ied’re boosheid,
Die eenig man ooit had.
LEPIDUS.
En toch verduistert
Het booze in hem niet alles wat hij goeds heeft;
Zijn feilen komen uit in hem, zooals
‘t Gesternte vuur’ger glanst door ‘t zwart der nacht,
Zijn eer hem aangeboren dan verkregen,
Veeleer geduld, dan met zijn wil hem eigen.


MORE:
Shelley’s Case (1579-81) had made the public familiar with the term “purchase” (acquisition by a title other than descent). The ‘Rule in Shelley’s Case’, which applied until 1925, concerned the distinction between estates acquired by inheritance or descent and those acquired by purchase. Hence Shakespeare’s use of the word ‘purchase’ to distinguish property or qualities not acquired by inheritance, such as here where Lepidus refers to faults that are ‘hereditary rather than purchased”.

Gave audience=Listened
Vouchsafe=Deign
Abstract=Summary, inventory
Spots of heaven=Stars
Compleat:
To give audience=Gehoor geeven, verleenen of vergunnen
To vouchsafe=Gewaardigen, vergunnen
Abstract=Uyttreksel, aftreksel, verkortsel

Topics: good and bad, integrity, excess, law/legal, flaw/fault, leadership

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
My own knee? When I was about thy years, Hal, I was not an eagle’s talon in the waist. I could have crept into any alderman’s thumb-ring. A plague of sighing and grief! It blows a man up like a bladder.

DUTCH:
My own knees? When I was your age, Hal, my waist was as skinny as an eagle’s talon; I could have crawled through a councilman’s thumb ring. But damn all that sighing and sadness! It blows a man up like a balloon.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Thumb-ring, a ring worn on the thumb as was the custom of grave personages

Topics: appearance, age/experience, excess

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Maria
CONTEXT:
SIR TOBY BELCH
Fie, that you’ll say so! He plays o’ the
viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four languages word
for word without book, and hath all the good gifts of
nature.
MARIA
He hath indeed, almost natural, for besides that he’s a
fool, he’s a great quarreler, and but that he hath the
gift of a coward to allay the gust he hath in
quarreling, ’tis thought among the prudent he would
quickly have the gift of a grave.
SIR TOBY BELCH
By this hand, they are scoundrels and substractors that
say so of him. Who are they?
MARIA
They that add, moreover, he’s drunk nightly in your
company.

DUTCH:
Ja, hij was bij zijne geboorte al even begaafd als nu.
En bij al zijn onnoozelheid is hij een groot twistzoeker;
en had hij niet de gaaf van lafheid om tegen zijn twistzucht
op te wegen, dan zou hij, zooals verstandige lui
zeggen, wel spoedig de gaaf van een graf ontvangen.

MORE:
Viol-de-gambous=Corruption of viola da gamba, played like a cello.
Without book=From memory (implying perhaps that he cannot speak these languages properly)
Natural=Name for fools and clowns
Gust=Relish
Gift=Talent
Substractor=Detractor
Compleat:
Viol=Vedel, fiool
Gust=Smaak
A natural fool=Een geboren gek
Gift=Gaave, gift, begaafdheyd; geschenk
Substract=Aftrekken
Detractor=Een benaadeeler, verkorter, lasteraar

Burgersdijk notes:
Hij speelt basviool. He plays o’ the viol-de-gamboys. De viol-da-gamba was een soort van violoncello, met zes snaren, die tusschen de knieën geplaatst werd en vandaar den naam droeg; men denke aan het Nederlandsche knievedel.
Even begaafd. In ‘t Engelsch: almost natural: schier van nature; of ook: nagenoeg onnoozel.

Topics: language, communication, excess

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Macduff
CONTEXT:
Boundless intemperance
In nature is a tyranny. It hath been
The untimely emptying of the happy throne
And fall of many kings. But fear not yet
To take upon you what is yours. You may
Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty
And yet seem cold; the time you may so hoodwink.

DUTCH:
Matelooze wellust
Is tyrannie, die meen’gen schoonen troon
Te vroeg ontruimen deed, en meen’gen koning
Ten val bracht.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Intemperance= Want of moderation, licentiousness
Time=Men, the world
Spacious= wide, large, extensive
Plenty=Abundance
Convey=To do or manage with secrecy (i.e. indulge secretly)
Compleat:
Intemperance=Onmaatigheyd, overdaad

Topics: excess, deceit, secrecy, temptation

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Sir Andrew
CONTEXT:
SIR TOBY BELCH
O knight, thou lackest a cup of canary. When did I see
thee so put down?
SIR ANDREW
Never in your life, I think, unless you see canary put
me down. Methinks sometimes I have no more wit than a
Christian or an ordinary man has. But I am a great eater
of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit.
SIR TOBY BELCH
No question.
SIR ANDREW
An I thought that, I’d forswear it. I’ll ride home
tomorrow,
Sir Toby.
SIR TOBY BELCH
Pourquoi, my dear knight?
SIR ANDREW
What is “pourquoi”? Do, or not do? I would I had
bestowed that time in the tongues that I have in
fencing, dancing, and bear-baiting. O, had I but
followed the arts!

DUTCH:
Ik ben een groot liefhebber van rundvleesch, en
ik denk wel eens, of dit ook kwaad kan doen aan mijn
geest.

MORE:
Canary=Sweet wine originally from the Canary Islands
Put down=Defeated in argument
Christian=Ordinary man
Eater of beef=It was held at the time that beef dulled the wits
Tongues=Languages
Compleat:
Canary=Kanarische sek
The gift of tongues=De gaave der taale
To speak several tongues=Verscheiden taalen spreeken

Burgersdijk notes:
Liefhebber van rundvleesch. Jonker Andries heeft misschien wel eens gehoord, dat beefwitted „dom”
beteekent.

Topics: excess, learning/education, language, understanding

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
BARDOLPH
Why, you are so fat, Sir John, that you must needs be out of all compass, out of all reasonable compass, Sir John.
FALSTAFF
Do thou amend thy face, and I’ll amend my life. Thou art our admiral, thou bearest the lantern in the poop, but ’tis in the nose of thee. Thou art the knight of the burning lamp.

DUTCH:
Verbeter gij uw gezicht, en ik wil mijn leven beteren.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Compass=Extent in general, limit (“lived well and in good c.; and now I live out of all c.”)
Poop=The hindmost part of a ship.
Compleat:
To keep within compass=Iemand in den band (in bedwang) houden
To keep within compass=Zynen plicht betrachten
To draw a thing within a narrow compass=Iets in een klein begrip besluiten

Topics: insult, appearance, excess

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Prince Hal
CONTEXT:
PRINCE HENRY
Faith, it does me; though it discolors the complexion of my greatness to acknowledge it. Doth it not show vilely in me to desire small beer?
POINS
Why, a prince should not be so loosely studied as to remember so weak a composition.
PRINCE HENRY
Belike then my appetite was not princely got, for, by my troth, I do now remember the poor creature small beer. But indeed these humble considerations make me out of love with my greatness. What a disgrace is it to me to remember thy name, or to know thy face tomorrow, or to take note how many pair of silk stockings thou hast—with these, and those that were thy peach-colored ones—or to bear the inventory of thy shirts, as, one for superfluity and another for use. But that the tennis-court keeper knows better than I, for it is a low ebb of linen with thee when thou keepest not racket there, as thou hast not done a great while, because the rest of the low countries have made a shift to eat up thy holland; and God knows whether those that bawl out the ruins of thy linen shall inherit His kingdom; but the midwives say the children are not in the fault, whereupon the world increases and kindreds are mightily strengthened.

DUTCH:
Misschien dan, dat mijn trek niet van vorstelijke afkomst
is; want, op mijn woord, ik herinner mij nu dien
armen duivel, dat dunnehier

MORE:

Small beer=Inferior, watered down beer
Loosely=Carelessly
Composition=(a)Weak (beer) (b) Details
Low countries=Brothels (with a pun on “Netherlands”)
Made a shift=Contrivance, trick
Holland=Linen
Kindreds=Families, populations

Compleat:
Small beer=Dun bier
Holland (Holland cloth)=Hollands linnen
To wear holland shirts=Hembden van Hollands linneb draagen
To make shift with any thing=Zich ergens mede behelpen

Topics: order/society, status, learning/education, excess

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Chief Justice
CONTEXT:
MISTRESS QUICKLY
It is more than for some, my lord; it is for all I have. He hath eaten me out of house and home. He hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his. (to FALSTAFF)
But I will have some of it out again, or I will ride thee o’ nights like the mare.
FALSTAFF
I think I am as like to ride the mare if I have any vantage of ground to get up.
CHIEF JUSTICE
How comes this, Sir John? Fie, what man of good temper would endure this tempest of exclamation? Are you not ashamed to enforce a poor widow to so rough a course to come by her own?

DUTCH:
Foei, welk een rechtgeaard
man zou zulk een storm van verwenschingen dulden?
Schaamt gij u niet, dat gij een arme weduwe tot zulke
middelen dwingt om aan het hare te komen?

MORE:
Onions:
Exclamation=loud complaint, ‘vociferous reproach’.
Vantage=Advantage of high ground to mount the horse
Eaten out of house and home: This phase was not coined by Shakespeare; it dates back to the beginnings of the English language and even appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 1129.

Topics: excess, claim

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
Peace, good pint-pot. Peace, good tickle-brain.— Harry, I do not only marvel where thou spendest thy time, but also how thou art accompanied. For though the camomile, the more it is trodden on, the faster it grows, so youth, the more it is wasted, the sooner it wears.

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

MORE:
Schmidt:
Tickle-brain=A species of strong liquor
Marvel=To find something strange, to wonder
Burgersdijk notes:
De naam Spraakwater is in het Engelsch Ticklebrain, de naam van een likeur.

Topics: life, age/experience, excess, integrity, identity, respect

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
CASSIO
It hath pleased the devil drunkenness to give place to the devil wrath; one unperfectness shows me another, to make me frankly despise myself.
IAGO
Come, you are too severe a moraler. As the time, the place, and the condition of this country stands, I could heartily wish this had not befallen; but since it is as it is, mend it for your own good.
CASSIO
I will ask him for my place again; he shall tell me I am a drunkard. Had I as many mouths as Hydra, such an answer would stop them all. To be now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a beast! O strange! Every inordinate cup is unblessed, and the ingredience is a devil.
IAGO
Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used ; exclaim no more against it.

DUTCH:
Verzoek ik hem mijn plaats terug, dan zal hij zeggen:
„gij zijt een dronkaard.” En al had ik zooveel monden
als de Hydra, met dit antwoord waren zij allen gestopt.
Een verstandig mensch zijn, kort daarna een dwaas, en
plotseling een beest!

MORE:
Proverb: As many heads as Hydra

Hydra=Serpent in Greek mythology. When one head was cut off, two would grow in its place
Severe=Harsh
Moraler=Moraliser
Ingredience=Content
Familiar=Pertaining to the house and family, attached and serviceable to men
Inordinate=Improper, immoderate
Compleat:
Severe=Streng, straf
A severe judge=Een gestreng Rechter
Befallen=Gebeurd, overgekomen
Moraliser=Een zeedelyke uitlegger
Familiar=Gemeenzaam
Inordinate=Ongeschikt, onmaatig, onordentlyk

Topics: excess, reply, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Malvolio
CONTEXT:
MALVOLIO
My masters, are you mad? Or what are you? Have you no
wit, manners, nor honesty but to gabble like tinkers at
this time of night? Do you make an alehouse of my lady’s
house, that you squeak out your coziers’ catches
without any mitigation or remorse of voice? Is there no
respect of place, persons, nor time in you?
SIR TOBY BELCH
We did keep time, sir, in our catches. Sneck up!
MALVOLIO
Sir Toby, I must be round with you. My lady bade me
tell you, that, though she harbors you as her kinsman,
she’s nothing allied to your disorders. If you can
separate yourself and your misdemeanors, you are welcome
to the house. If not, an it would please you to take
leave of her, she is very willing to bid you farewell.

DUTCH:
Heeren, zijt gij gek? of wat zijt gij? Hebt gij geen
begrip meer, geen manieren of betamelijkheid, dat gij
schreeuwt als ketellappers op dit uur van de nacht?

MORE:
Wit=Intellect
Honesty=Decency
Cozier=Cobbler
Mitigation or remorse=Lowering
Sneck up=Hang yourself
Round=Straight, speak plainly
Compleat:
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand
Honesty=Eerbaarheid, vroomheid
Remorse=Knaaging, wroeging, berouw
Mitigation=Verzachting, verzoeting
Roundly=(Honestly, sincerely): Oprechtelyk, voor de vuist

Topics: respect, honesty, civility, excess

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
‘Tis the best brine a maiden can season her praise
in. The remembrance of her father never approaches
her heart but the tyranny of her sorrows takes all
livelihood from her cheek. No more of this, HELEN;
go to, no more; lest it be rather thought you affect
a sorrow than have it.
HELEN
I do affect a sorrow indeed, but I have it too.
LAFEW
Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead,
excessive grief the enemy to the living.
COUNTESS
If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess
makes it soon mortal.

DUTCH:
t Is waar, ik toon kommer, maar ik heb dien ook.

MORE:
Affect=An outward show
Mortal=Deadly
Season=Preserve
Livelihood=Liveliness, spirit
Right=Owed to
Compleat:
Affect=Naäapen
Affectation=Gemaaktheid
Mortal=Sterflyk, doodelyk
Birth-right=Geboorte-recht
Lamentation=Weeklaage, jammerklagt, gekerm, geklag

Burgersdijk notes:
Kruiden kan. In ‘t Engelsch season, kruiden, waarbij het denkbeeld van conserveeren, bewaren, in frisschen staat houden, steeds komt; vergelijk Romeo en Julia, II.3, en Driekoningenavond, 1.1.
Als de levende een vijand is van droefenis. “If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess makes it soon mortal”. De gravin herhaalt en dringt aan, wat LAFEW gezegd heeft, dat HELEN zich niet te zeer aan hare droefheid moet overgeven, met de smart niet to zeer in vijandschap moet leven, want dat overmaat van smart doodelijk is . Mortal is namelijk hetzelfde als deadly, fatal .(…)

Topics: death, grief, appearance, excess

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Archbishop
CONTEXT:
Wherefore do I this? So the question stands.
Briefly, to this end: we are all diseased,
And with our surfeiting and wanton hours
Have brought ourselves into a burning fever,
And we must bleed for it; of which disease
Our late King Richard, being infected, died.
But, my most noble Lord of Westmoreland,
I take not on me here as a physician,
Nor do I as an enemy to peace
Troop in the throngs of military men,
But rather show awhile like fearful war
To diet rank minds sick of happiness
And purge th’ obstructions which begin to stop
Our very veins of life. Hear me more plainly.
I have in equal balance justly weighed
What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer,
And find our griefs heavier than our offences.

DUTCH:
Ik heb op juiste schalen streng gewogen,
Wat leed onze oorlog brengt, wat leed wij lijden,
En vind de grieven zwaarder dan ‘t vergrijp.

MORE:
Surfeiting=Gluttony, self-indulgence
Bleed=Be bled
Take on me=Assume the role of
Rank=Sick, corrupted, morbid

Compleat:
To bleed one=Iemand bloed aftappen, laaten; bloedlaating, bloeding
To surfeit (satiate or glut)=Ergens zat van worden, het moede worden
Surfeiting=Overlaading van de maag

Topics: excess, judgment, remedy, resolution

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
IAGO
If I can fasten but one cup upon him,
With that which he hath drunk tonight already,
He’ll be as full of quarrel and offence
As my young mistress’ dog. Now my sick fool Roderigo,
Whom love hath turned almost the wrong side out,
To Desdemona hath tonight caroused
Potations pottle-deep, and he’s to watch.
Three lads of Cyprus, noble swelling spirits
That hold their honours in a wary distance,
The very elements of this warlike isle
Have I tonight flustered with flowing cups,
And they watch too. Now ’mongst this flock of drunkards
Am I to put our Cassio in some action
That may offend the isle. But here they come.
If consequence do but approve my dream
My boat sails freely, both with wind and stream.
CASSIO
‘Fore heaven, they have given me a rouse already.
MONTANO
Good faith, a little one, not past a pint, As I am a
soldier.

DUTCH:
Gelukt het plan, waar ik zoo schoon van droom,
Dan waarlijk zeilt mijn boot voor wind en stroom.

MORE:
With that=On top of that
Pottle-deep=To the bottom of the tankard
Potation=Drink, draught
Hold in a way distance=Are sensitive about
Very elements=Essential substance
Flowing=Overflowing
Approve my dream=Make my dream true
Rouse=Drink (carouse)
Compleat:
Pottle=Een maat van vier Engelsche pinten
Distance=Afstand, tusschenwydte, tusschenheyd
Element=Hoofdstoffe, beginsel, element
To overflow=Overvloeijen
To approve=Beproeven, goedkeuren; goedkennen; toestaan
To carouse=Lustig zuypen

Topics: excess, manipulation

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
But to say I know more harm in him than in myself were to say more than I know. That he is old, the more the pity, his white hairs do witness it. But that he is, saving your reverence, a whoremaster, that I utterly deny. If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked. If to be old and merry be a sin, then many an old host that I know is damned. If to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh’s lean kine are to be loved. No, my good lord, banish Peto, banish Bardolph, banish Poins, but for sweet Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff,
Banish not him thy Harry’s company,
Banish not him thy Harry’s company.
Banish plump Jack, and banish all the world.

DUTCH:
Als sek met suiker boos is, dan sta God de zondaars bij! Als oud en vroolijk zijn zonde is, dan is menig oude waard, dien ik ken, verdoemd; als vet te zijn hatenswaardig is, dan zijn Pharao’s magere koeien beminnelijk.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Sack=The generic name of Spanish and Canary wines
Kine=Cow (Pharaoh’s lean kine: a sign that times of starvation are ahead (Genesis 41))
Host=Innkeeper
Saving your reverence=With respect (used before an impolite remark)
Compleat:
Kine=Koeien
Sack=Sek, een soort van sterke wyn
Host=een Waerd, herbergier
Burgersdijk:
In de wijnhuizen kregen de gasten hij den wijn een zakjen suiker. Men mag er uit vermoeden, dat of de wijn of die hem dronk vaak niet al te best van smaak was.

Topics: life, age/experience, excess, offence

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
But to say I know more harm in him than in myself were to say more than I know. That he is old, the more the pity, his white hairs do witness it. But that he is, saving your reverence, a whoremaster, that I utterly deny. If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked. If to be old and merry be a sin, then many an old host that I know is damned. If to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh’s lean kine are to be loved. No, my good lord, banish Peto, banish Bardolph, banish Poins, but for sweet Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff,
Banish not him thy Harry’s company,
Banish not him thy Harry’s company.
Banish plump Jack, and banish all the world.

DUTCH:
Als sek met suiker boos is, dan sta God de zondaars bij! Als oud en vroolijk zijn zonde is, dan is menig oude waard, dien ik ken, verdoemd; als vet te zijn hatenswaardig is, dan zijn Pharao’s magere koeien beminnelijk.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Sack=The generic name of Spanish and Canary wines
Kine=Cow
Compleat:
Kine=Koeien
Sack=Sek, een soort van sterke wyn

Topics: life, age/experience, excess, offence

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Malvolio
CONTEXT:
MALVOLIO
My masters, are you mad? Or what are you? Have you no
wit, manners, nor honesty but to gabble like tinkers at
this time of night? Do you make an alehouse of my lady’s
house, that you squeak out your coziers’ catches
without any mitigation or remorse of voice? Is there no
respect of place, persons, nor time in you?
SIR TOBY BELCH
We did keep time, sir, in our catches. Sneck up!
MALVOLIO
Sir Toby, I must be round with you. My lady bade me
tell you, that, though she harbors you as her kinsman,
she’s nothing allied to your disorders. If you can
separate yourself and your misdemeanors, you are welcome
to the house. If not, an it would please you to take
leave of her, she is very willing to bid you farewell.

DUTCH:
Hebt gij geen achting meer voor plaats of personen of tijd? Het gaat alle maat te buiten!

MORE:
Wit=Intellect
Honesty=Decency
Cozier=Cobbler
Mitigation or remorse=Lowering
Sneck up=Hang yourself
Round=Straight, speak plainly
Compleat:
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand
Honesty=Eerbaarheid, vroomheid
Remorse=Knaaging, wroeging, berouw
Mitigation=Verzachting, verzoeting
Roundly=(Honestly, sincerely): Oprechtelyk, voor de vuist

Topics: respect, honesty, civility, excess

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
‘Tis the best brine a maiden can season her praise
in. The remembrance of her father never approaches
her heart but the tyranny of her sorrows takes all
livelihood from her cheek. No more of this, HELEN;
go to, no more; lest it be rather thought you affect
a sorrow than have it.
HELEN
I do affect a sorrow indeed, but I have it too.
LAFEW
Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead,
excessive grief the enemy to the living.
COUNTESS
If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess
makes it soon mortal.

DUTCH:
Matige bejammering is het recht van den doode, overmatige droefenis de vijand van den levende.

MORE:
Affect=An outward show
Mortal=Deadly
Season=Preserve
Livelihood=Liveliness, spirit
Right=Owed to
Compleat:
Affect=Naäapen
Affectation=Gemaaktheid
Mortal=Sterflyk, doodelyk
Birth-right=Geboorte-recht
Lamentation=Weeklaage, jammerklagt, gekerm, geklag

Burgersdijk notes:
Kruiden kan. In ‘t Engelsch season, kruiden, waarbij het denkbeeld van conserveeren, bewaren, in frisschen staat houden, steeds komt; vergelijk Romeo en Julia, II.3, en Driekoningenavond, 1.1.
Als de levende een vijand is van droefenis. “If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess makes it soon mortal”. De gravin herhaalt en dringt aan, wat LAFEW gezegd heeft, dat HELEN zich niet te zeer aan hare droefheid moet overgeven, met de smart niet to zeer in vijandschap moet leven, want dat overmaat van smart doodelijk is . Mortal is namelijk hetzelfde als deadly, fatal .(…)

Topics: death, grief, appearance, excess

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Cassio
CONTEXT:
IAGO
Well, happiness to their sheets! Come, lieutenant,
I have a stoup of wine, and here without are a brace of
Cyprus gallants, that would fain have a measure to the
health of the black Othello.
CASSIO
Not tonight, good Iago. I have very poor and unhappy brains
for drinking. I could well wish courtesy would invent some
other custom of entertainment.
IAGO
Oh, they are our friends. But one cup. I’ll drink for you.
CASSIO
I have drunk but one cup tonight, and that was craftily
qualified too, and behold what innovation it makes
here. I am unfortunate in the infirmity, and dare not
task my weakness with any more.

DUTCH:
Neen, van avond niet, goede Jago. Ik heb uiterst zwakke en ongelukkige hersens om te drinken; ik wenschte wel, dat de wellevendheid een andere wijs van onthalen uitvond.

MORE:
Stoup=Two quarts
Have a measure=Drink a toast
Fain=Gladly, willingly; always joined with would; followed by a clause
Unhappy=Evil, mischievous, fatal, pernicious (but often in a somewhat milder sense)
Courtesy=Politeness
Craftily qualified=Sneakily diluted
Innovation=Disturbance; change (for the worst)
Compleat:
Fain=Gaern
Unhappy=Ongelukkig, rampzalig, rampspoedig
Courtesy=Beleefdheid, hoflykheid
To qualify=Maatigen, temperen
Crafty=Loos, listig, schalk, doortrapt, leep
Innovation=Vernieuwing, verandering maaking, verandering, invoering van nieuwigheyd

Topics: excess, welbeing

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
OLIVIA
What’s a drunken man like, fool?
FOOL
Like a drowned man, a fool and a madman. One draught above heat makes him a fool, the second mads him, and a third drowns him.
OLIVIA
Go thou and seek the crowner, and let him sit o’ my coz. For he’s in the third degree of drink, he’s drowned. Go look after him.
FOOL
He is but mad yet, madonna, and the fool shall look to
the madman.
MALVOLIO
Madam, yond young fellow swears he will speak with you.
I told him you were sick. He takes on him to understand
so much, and therefore comes to speak with you. I told
him you were asleep. He seems to have a foreknowledge of
that too, and therefore comes to speak with you. What
is to be said to him, lady? He’s fortified against any
denial.
OLIVIA
Tell him he shall not speak with me.
MALVOLIO
He’s been told so, and he says he’ll stand at your
door like a sheriff’s post, and be the supporter to a
bench, but he’ll speak with you.

DUTCH:
Met een drenkeling, een nar en een dolle. Eén teug
meer dan goed is voor den dorst maakt hem een nar,
de tweede een dolleman, bij de derde is hij verdronken.

MORE:
Drowns=Renders him senseless
Crowner=Coroner
Above heat=More than is enough to warm one
Coz=Cousin (used for any kinsman)
Sit=Hold the coroner’s inquest
Sheriff’s post=Post outside the office of a sheriff or mayor
Compleat:
To drown=Verdrinken, verzuypen, uytwisschen, dempen
Coroner=Een amptenaar die gesteld is om de lighamen der gener die vermoord of verdronken zyn, of die men onverwacht dood vindt, te beschouwen, een Schout

Burgersdijk notes:
Het gerecht voor de lijkschouwing. In ‘t Engelsch: the crowner (coroner), een koninklijk beambte, in
gevallen van verdrinken of een anderen niet natuurlijken dood met het onderzoek belast.

Topics: excess, madness

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

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.7
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
What would you more? —Pompey, good night.
Good brother,
Let me request you off. Our graver business
Frowns at this levity. —Gentle lords, let’s part.
You see we have burnt our cheeks. Strong Enobarb
Is weaker than the wine; and mine own tongue
Splits what it speaks. The wild disguise hath almost
Anticked us all. What needs more words? Good night.
Good Antony, your hand.

DUTCH:
Wat wilt gij meer? Vaarwel, Pompeius! Zwager,
Ga, bid ik, mee; ons ernstig ambt veroordeelt
Zulke uitgelatenheid

MORE:
Could you more=More could you do
Request you off=Ask you to come ashore
Wild=Drunken
Disguise=Transformation
Anticked=Made fools of
Compleat:
Wild=Buitenspoorig, onbetaamelyk
To disguise=Vermommen, vervormen, verstellen, verbloemen

Topics: business, respect, excess

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: First Jailer
CONTEXT:
FIRST JAILER
A heavy reckoning for you, sir. But the comfort
is, you shall be called to no more payments, fear
no more tavern bills, which are often the sadness
of parting as the procuring of mirth. You come in
faint for want of meat, depart reeling with too
much drink; sorry that you have paid too much,
and sorry that you are paid too much; purse and
brain both empty; the brain the heavier for being
too light; the purse too light, being drawn of heaviness:
of this contradiction you shall now be
quit. O, the charity of a penny cord! It sums up
thousands in a trice: you have no true debitor and
creditor but it; of what’s past, is, and to come,
the discharge: your neck, sir, is pen, book and
counters; so the acquittance follows.

DUTCH:
Hoofd en beurs
beide leeg, het hoofd des te zwaarder, naarmate het
lichter is, de beurs des te opgeruimder, naarmate zij
meer zwaarte verloren heeft.

MORE:
Proverb: A heavy purse makes a light heart
Proverb: In a trice

Heavier=Sleepier with drink
Drawn=Emptied
Drawn of heaviness=Lighter, being emptied of coins
Paid too much=Punished by excess drinking
To quit=To set at liberty, to free, to deliver
Acquittance=Receipt in full
Compleat:
To quit (dispense with, excluse)=Bevryden, verschoonen, ontslaan
I quit you from it=Ik ontsla ‘er u van
Forbearance is no acquittance=Uitstellen is geen quytschelden

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, intellect, excess, money, debt/obligation

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Queen Margaret
CONTEXT:
Not all these lords do vex me half so much
As that proud dame, the lord protector’s wife.
She sweeps it through the court with troops of ladies,
More like an empress than Duke Humphrey’s wife:
Strangers in court do take her for the queen:
She bears a duke’s revenues on her back,
And in her heart she scorns our poverty:
Shall I not live to be avenged on her?
Contemptuous base-born callet as she is,
She vaunted ‘mongst her minions t’other day,
The very train of her worst-wearing gown
Was better worth than all my father’s lands,
Till Suffolk gave two dukedoms for his daughter.

DUTCH:
Een vreemde aan ‘t hof houdt haar voor koningin;
Zij draagt eens hertogs inkomsten aan ‘t lijf,
En op onze armoe schimpt zij in haar hart.

MORE:

Scorn=Despise
Base-born=Of low birth
Callet=(or callat) Trull, drab, jade
Vaunt=Boast
Worst-wearing=Least expensive, least fashionable
Better worth=Worth more

Compleat:
To scorn=Versmaaden, verachten, bespotten, ‘t zich een schande achten
Base born=Een onechteling, bastaard
To vaunt=Pochen, snorken, opsnuiven
To make a vaunt=Ergens veel mede op hebben, zich ergens op verbovaardigen

Topics: poverty and wealth, appearance, excess

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Gloucester
CONTEXT:
Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man,
That slaves your ordinance, that will not see
Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly.
So distribution should undo excess,
And each man have enough. Dost thou know Dover?

DUTCH:
Dan zal verdeeling overdaad goedmaken,
En elk heeft dan genoeg.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Lust-dieted=Faring and feeding voluptuously
Slave=To make subject or subservient to
Ordinance=Rules, dispensation
Feel (1)= Sympathise. Feel (2)= Experience
Distribution=Administration of justice; Sharing out
Compleat:
Superfluous (or overmuch)=Meer als genoeg overvloedig
Ordinance=Inzetting, instelling, willekeur, ordinancie
Distribution=Uitdeeling
The distributive Justice=De uitdeelbaare gerechtigheid

Topics: poverty and wealth, equality, excess

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Nerissa
CONTEXT:
NERISSA
You would be, sweet madam, if your miseries were in the
same abundance as your good fortunes are. And yet for
aught I see, they are as sick that surfeit with too much
as they that starve with nothing. It is no mean
happiness, therefore, to be seated in the mean.
Superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency
lives longer.
PORTIA
Good sentences, and well pronounced.
NERISSA
They would be better if well followed.

DUTCH:
Het is daarom geen middelmatig geluk juist in de middelmaat
te zijn; overvloed krijgt vroeger grijze haren, maar juist van pas leeft langer.

MORE:
Superfluity=Surplus
Comes sooner by=Acquires sooner (to come by something)
Sentences=Maxims
Compleat:
Superfluity=Overtolligheyd, overvloedigheyd
Sentence=Spreuk, zinspreuk

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Topics: insult, good and bad, excess

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Pompey
CONTEXT:
POMPEY
He dreams. I know they are in Rome together
Looking for Antony. But all the charms of love,
Salt Cleopatra, soften thy waned lip!
Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both.
Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts,
Keep his brain fuming. Epicurean cooks,
Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite,
That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour
Even till a Lethe’d dulness—

DUTCH:
Sluit, schoonheid! een verbond met toovermacht,
En, wellust! met die twee! Maakt hem een feestzaal
Een veld van eer; houdt hem het brein beneveld.

MORE:
Salt=Lascivious
Waned=Faded
Field of feasts=Rich pasture
Prorogue=Suspend, to draw out, linger out, keep in a languishing state
Fuming=A delusion, fantasm, hindering the function of the brain
Epicurean=Hedonistic (After the philosopher Epicure, who believed that the gods had no interest in men’s actions and that hedonism was the ony aim in life)
Lethe’d=The water of the river Lethe caused amnesia
Compleat:
Salt=(sault) Hitsig, ritsig, heet
To prorogue=Uytstellen, opgeschort, verschooven
To prorogue the Parliament=het Parlement voor eenigen tyd uyststellen
Fuming=Waasseming; waassemende

Topics: excess, temptation

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
SHALLOW.
Knight, you have beaten my men, killed my deer, and broke open my lodge.
FALSTAFF.
But not kissed your keeper’s daughter?
SHALLOW.
Tut, a pin! this shall be answered.
FALSTAFF.
I will answer it straight: I have done all this.
That is now answered.
SHALLOW.
The Council shall know this.
FALSTAFF.
‘Twere better for you if it were known in counsel:
you’ll be laughed at.

DUTCH:
Gij deedt beter, het in uw geheime lade te houden;
men zal u uitlachen.

MORE:
Proverb: Few words show men wise

Lodge=Hunting or gamekeeper’s lodge
Pin=Small insignificant thing
Known in counsel=Kept quiet, a secret
Compleat:
Lodge=Herberg
Pin=Speld
Not worth a pin=’t is niet een speld waard

Topics: intellect, language, excess, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Maecenas
CONTEXT:
MAECENAS
We have cause to be glad that matters are so well digested.
You stayed well by ’t in Egypt.
ENOBARBUS
Ay, sir, we did sleep day out of countenance and made
the night light with drinking.
MAECENAS
Eight wild boars roasted whole at a breakfast—and but
twelve persons there! Is this true?
ENOBARBUS
This was but as a fly by an eagle. We had much more
monstrous matter of feast, which worthily deserved
noting.

DUTCH:
Wij hebben alle reden tot blijdschap, dat alles zoo
goed is afgeloopen. — Gij hebt in Egypte genoten?

MORE:
Digested=Settled, disposed of
Stayed well by=Stood up to it well
Slept day out of countenance=Slept through the day
Light=Merry
Monstrous=Shocking
Compleat:
To digest=Verteeren, verdouwen, verkroppen; in orde schikken
Light=Ligt, luchtig; ligtvaardig
Monstrous=Wanschapen, gedrochtig

Burgersdijk notes:
Acht wilde zwijnen in hun (zoo leze men voor „haar”) geheel gebraden voor een ontbijt. De bijzonderheid is aan Plutarchus ontleend. De kok had, toen er een twaalftal gasten bij Antonius waren, acht wilde zwijnen aan ‘t spit, om, daar hij den tijd niet wist, waarop hij zou moeten opdisschen, er steeds een naar behooren gereed te hebben. — Ook voor het verhaal van Cleopatra’s verschijning op den Cydnus was Plutarchus de bron; evenzoo voor het gesprek met den waarzegger; ook op vele andere plaatsen van dit stuk.

Topics: excess, achievement

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Sir Toby
CONTEXT:
SIR TOBY BELCH
What a plague means my niece, to take the death of her brother thus? I am sure care’s an enemy to life.
MARIA
By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier o’ nights. Your cousin, my lady, takes great exceptions to your ill hours.
SIR TOBY BELCH
Why, let her except, before excepted.
MARIA
Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modest limits of order.
SIR TOBY BELCH
Confine? I’ll confine myself no finer than I am. These clothes are good enough to drink in, and so be these boots too. An they be not, let them hang themselves in their own straps.

DUTCH:
Wel, het hindert haar niet; zij kan zelf op haar eigen
tijd gaan liggen.

MORE:
Proverb: Care will kill a cat
Proverb: Care brings grey hair
Proverb: Some complain to prevent complaint

Except before excepted=With the stated exceptions (Exceptis excipiendis)
Modest=Moderate, reasonable
Limits of order=Bounds of behaviour
Confine=Limit
Finer=More refined
Compleat:
Except=Uytzonderen, uytsluyten
Modest=Zeedig, eerbaar
Quite out of order=Geheel uyt zyn schik
Confined=Bepaald, bedwongen; gevangen
Fine=Mooi, fraai, fyn, schoon

Burgersdijk notes:
Het hindert niet. Natuurlijk moesten de woordspelingen met eenige vrijheid overgebracht worden. Hier staat in ‘t Engelsen, in antwoord op het door Maria gebezigde woord exception: ,Let her except, before excepted.” Except is de rechtsuitdrukking voor het wraken van getuigen. Verkiest men het woord afkeuren, dat alsdan ook door Maria gebruikt moet zijn, dan wordt dit: ,Laat haar afkeuren, voor zijzelf afgekeurd wordt “; dan is de vertaler iets nader gebleven aan het oorspronkelijke, maar daarentegen had jonker Tobias dan de woorden niet in een anderen zin gebruikt dan Maria, en dus ware de vertaling uit dit oogpunt weer minder getrouw. Nihil ex omni parte beatum.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, concern , order/society, excess, virtue

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Gratiano
CONTEXT:
GRATIANO
Let me play the fool.
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man whose blood is warm within
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster,
Sleep when he wakes, and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish?

DUTCH:

’k Wacht dartlend, lachend, rimplige’ ouderdom /
Laat mij maar rimpels krijgen van ‘t lachen en de vrolijkheid /
Laat de oude rimpels komen met gelach

MORE:
Jaundice was thought to be caused by excess choler ( one of the four humors)
Compleat:
Sooth=Zéker, voorwaar
Jaundice=De Geelzucht
Peevish=Kribbig, gémelyk, korsel, ligt geraakt.
Early 16c corsel (now ‘korselig’) (J. de Vries (1971), Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek, Leiden)

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Cassio
CONTEXT:
IAGO
As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some
bodily wound. There is more sense in that than in
reputation. Reputation is an idle and most false
imposition, oft got without merit and lost without
deserving. You have lost no reputation at all unless you
repute yourself such a loser. What, man, there are ways
to recover the general again. You are but now cast in
his mood, a punishment more in policy than in malice,
even so as one would beat his offenceless dog to
affright an imperious lion. Sue to him again and he’s
yours.
CASSIO
I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a commander with so slight, so drunken, and so indiscreet an officer. Drunk? And speak parrot? And squabble? Swagger? Swear? And discourse fustian with one’s own shadow? O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil!

DUTCH:
Kom, man, er zijn middelen om den Generaal weder te winnen; hij verstiet u slechts in zijn drift, een straf meer uit staatkunde dan uit boosheid; juist zooals iemand zijn onschuldigen hond zou slaan om een dreigenden leeuw af te schrikken.

MORE:
Proverb: A man is weal or woe as he thinks himself so

Cast=Dismissed
Mood=Anger
In policy=Public demonstration
Speak parrot=Nonsense
Fustian=Bombastic, high-sounding nonsense
Sue=Petition, entreat
Compleat:
To cast off=Afwerpen, verwerpen, achterlaaten
To cast his adversary at the bar=Zyn party in rechte verwinnen
To be cast=’t Recht verlooren hebben
Fustian (or bombast)-Gezwets, snorkery
Fustian language=Grootspreeking, opsnyery

Topics: punishment, judgment, excess, anger, honesty, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Chief Justice
CONTEXT:
CHIEF JUSTICE
Well, the truth is, Sir John, you live in great infamy.
FALSTAFF
He that buckles him in my belt cannot live in less.
CHIEF JUSTICE
Your means are very slender, and your waste is great.
FALSTAFF
I would it were otherwise. I would my means were greater and my waist slender.

DUTCH:
Uw middelen zijn zeer klein en uw vertering zeer groot.

MORE:

Schmidt:
Infamy=Disgrace
Slender=Small, inconsiderable, insufficient

Compleat:
Infamy=Eerloosheid, Schandvlek
Slender (small, sorry, pitiful)=Klein, gering, armoedig
To have but a slender estate=Een gering kapitaal hebben

Topics: appearance, money, excess

Go to Top