CJTranslations - good and bad

QUOTES BY TOPIC

A dedicated beggar to the air, with his disease of all-shunned poverty

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Second servant
CONTEXT:
SECOND SERVANT
As we do turn our backs
From our companion thrown into his grave,
So his familiars to his buried fortunes
Slink all away, leave their false vows with him,
Like empty purses picked; and his poor self,
A dedicated beggar to the air,
With his disease of all-shunned poverty,
Walks, like contempt, alone. More of our fellows.

DUTCH:
En hij, een beed’laar, aan de lucht ter prooi,
Zwerft, met zijn kwaal van schuwgemeden armoê,
Beeld van verachting, eenzaam

MORE:
Familiar=Demon or spirit; false friend
Slink=Sneak
All-shunned=Avoided by everyone
Compleat:
Familiar=Een gemeenzaame geet, queldrommel
To slink away=Wegsluipen, doorsluipen
To slink aside=Zich schuil houden
To shun=Vermyden, ontwyken, ontvlieden

Topics: good and bad, friendship, ruin

A man who is th’ abstract of all faults that all men follow

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

Ah, that deceit should steal such gentle shape, and with a virtuous visor hide deep vice

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Duchess
CONTEXT:
BOY
Grandam, we can, for my good uncle Gloucester
Told me the king, provoked to it by the queen,
Devised impeachments to imprison him;
And when my uncle told me so, he wept,
And pitied me, and kindly kissed my cheek,
Bade me rely on him as on my father,
And he would love me dearly as a child.
DUCHESS
Ah, that deceit should steal such gentle shape,
And with a virtuous visor hide deep vice.
He is my son, ay, and therein my shame,
Yet from my dugs he drew not this deceit.

DUTCH:
Ach, dat bedrog zoo zachte trekken steelt,
En diepe boosheid dekt met deugdzaam mom!
Hij is mijn zoon, ja, en mijn schande er door,
Maar zoog aan mijn borst die arglist niet.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Amsterdam v. Amsterdam,56 N.Y.S.2d 19, 21 (N.Y.Civ.Ct. 1945)(Hammer, J.).

Proverb: He sucked evil from the dug

Impeachments=Charges
Shape=Appearance
Visor=Mask
Dug=Breast, teat
Compleat:
Impeachment=Betichting, beschuldiging, aanklagte
Dug=Een speen
Vizard=Een momaanzigt, mombakkus, masker

Topics: cited in law, proverbs and idioms, good and bad, appearance, deceit, betrayal

And sometimes we are devils to ourselves, when we will tempt the frailty of our powers

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Troilus
CONTEXT:
TROILUS
Die I a villain, then!
In this I do not call your faith in question
So mainly as my merit: I cannot sing,
Nor heel the high lavolt, nor sweeten talk,
Nor play at subtle games; fair virtues all,
To which the Grecians are most prompt and pregnant:
But I can tell that in each grace of these
There lurks a still and dumb-discoursive devil
That tempts most cunningly: but be not tempted.
CRESSIDA
Do you think I will?
TROILUS
No.
But something may be done that we will not:
And sometimes we are devils to ourselves,
When we will tempt the frailty of our powers,
Presuming on their changeful potency.

DUTCH:
Soms zijn wij duivels voor onszelf, verzoeken
De zwakheid onzes geestes, door te roekloos
Vertrouwen op zijn wankelbare kracht.

MORE:
So mainly as=As much as
Merit=Good work
Heel=Dance
Lavolt=The volta or lavolt was a very physical dance
Pregnant=Ready
Dumb-discoursive=Silently communicating
Presuming on=Confident of, relying on
Changeful=Unreliable
Potency=Power
Compleat:
Mainly=Voornaamelyk
Merit=Verdienste
Volta=Een sprong van een paard
Pregnant=Klaar, krachtig
Discoursive=Redeneerend
Potency=Macht, gezach, vermoogen

Topics: loyalty, merit, good and bad, adversity, temptation

And the stony-hearted villains know it well enough.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
An ’twere not as good a deed as drink to turn true man and to leave these rogues, I am the veriest varlet that ever chewed with a tooth. Eight yards of uneven ground is threescore and ten miles afoot with me, and the stony-hearted villains know it well enough. A plague upon it when thieves cannot be true one to another!

DUTCH:
Tien ellen oneffen grond te voet zijn voor mij zes dozijn mijlen en meer, en die booswichten met steenen harten weten dat maar al te goed. Naar den duivel er mee, als dieven onder elkaar niet eerlijk kunnen zijn.

MORE:
Phrase ‘stony-hearted’ first recorded in 1569 in Underdown’s translation of the Æthiopian History of Heliodorus: “There is no man so stoany harted, but he shal be made to yeelde with our flatteringe allurmente”.
Schmidt:
Veriest=most veritable
Varlet=A a servant to a knight; A term of reproach; knave, rascal
Compleat:
Stony heart=Een steene hart, verhard hart
Varlet=Een schobbejak. Varlet (valet)=knegt

Topics: invented or popularised, virtue, good and bad

And thus I clothe my naked villainy with old odd ends stolen out of holy writ; and seem a saint, when most I play the devil.

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Richard, Duke of Gloucester
CONTEXT:
RICHARD
I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl.
The secret mischiefs that I set abroach
I lay unto the grievous charge of others.
Clarence, whom I indeed have cast in darkness,
I do beweep to many simple gulls,
Namely, to Derby, Hastings, Buckingham,
And tell them ’tis the queen and her allies
That stir the king against the duke my brother.
Now they believe it and withal whet me
To be revenged on Rivers, Dorset, Grey;
But then I sigh and, with a piece of scripture,
Tell them that God bids us do good for evil;
And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stolen out of Holy Writ,
And seem a saint when most I play the devil.

DUTCH:
En zoo bekleed ik steeds mijn naakte boosheid
Met dwaze vodden, uit de Schrift gekaapt,
En schijn een heil’ge, als ik echt duivelsch ben.

MORE:
Proverb: Some complain to prevent complaint

Brawl=Quarrel
Mischief=Wicked deed
Set abroach=Carried out (the harm I have done)
Lay unto the charge=Accuse
Simple gulls=Simpletons
Stir=Incite
Stout=Resolute
Compleat:
Brawl=Gekyf
To brawl=Kyven
Mischief=onheil, dwaad, ongeluk, ramp, verderf, heilloosheid
To set abroach=Een gat booren om uyt te tappen, een vat opsteeken. Ook Lucht of ruymte aan iets geven
To lay a thing to one’s charge=Iemand met iets beschuldigen, iets tot iemands laste brengen
Gull=Bedrieger
To stir=Beweegen, verroeren
Stout=Stout, koen, dapper, verwaand, lustig

Topics: good and bad, conscience, proverbs and idioms

Bad is the world, and all will come to naught when such ill dealing must be seen in thought

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Scrivener
CONTEXT:
SCRIVENER
This is the indictment of the good Lord Hastings,
Which in a set hand fairly is engrossed,
That it may be today read o’er in Paul’s.
And mark how well the sequel hangs together:
Eleven hours I have spent to write it over,
For yesternight by Catesby was it sent me;
The precedent was full as long a-doing,
And yet within these five hours Hastings lived,
Untainted, unexamined, free, at liberty.
Here’s a good world the while. Who is so gross
That cannot see this palpable device?
Yet who so bold but says he sees it not?
Bad is the world, and all will come to naught
When such ill dealing must be seen in thought.

DUTCH:
Boos is de wereld ; alles gaat to grond,
Sluit vrees bij zulk een boosheid elk den mond.

MORE:
Fairly engrossed=Clearly written
Sequel=Chronology of events
Precedent=Original draft
Untainted=Not accused
Gross=Stupid
Palpable device=Obvious strategy
Seen in thought=Not spoken of
Compleat:
To engross=Te boek stellen, in’t net stellen
Precedent=Voorgaande, voorbeeld
Untainted=Gaaf, onbedurven, onbesmet
Gross=Grof, plomp, onbebouwen
Palpable=Tastelyk, tastbaar
Device=List; uytvindsel, gedichtsel

Topics: good and bad, trust, communication, honesty

Blind fear, that seeing reason leads, finds safer footing than blind reason stumbling without fear

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Cressida
CONTEXT:
TROILUS
What should they grant? what makes this pretty
abruption? What too curious dreg espies my sweet
lady in the fountain of our love?
CRESSIDA
More dregs than water, if my fears have eyes.
TROILUS
Fears make devils of cherubims; they never see truly.
CRESSIDA
Blind fear, that seeing reason leads, finds safer
footing than blind reason stumbling without fear: to
fear the worst oft cures the worse.

DUTCH:
Blinde angst, door het ziend verstand geleid, treedt op
een veiliger grond, dan het blind verstand, dat zonder
angst struikelt; angst te voeden voor het ergste redt dikwijls
voor het ergste.

MORE:
Proverb: It is good to fear the worst

Abruption=Breaking off
Curious=Requiring attention
Dreg=Impurity
Have eyes=Are perceptive
Compleat:
Abrupt=Afgebroken, onbesuist, woest
Curious=Aardig, keurlyk, keurig, nieuwsgierig, weetgierig, net, kurieus
Curious meat=Keurlyke spyze
Dregs=Droessem, grondsop
To draw off the dregs=Zuiveren, klaar maaken

Topics: proverbs and idioms, reason, good and bad

But since all is well, keep it so. Wake not a sleeping wolf.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Chief Justice
CONTEXT:
CHIEF JUSTICE
Well, I am loath to gall a new-healed wound. Your day’s
service at Shrewsbury hath a little gilded over your night’s
exploit on Gad’s Hill . You may thank th’ unquiet time for
your quiet o’erposting that action.
FALSTAFF
My lord.
CHIEF JUSTICE
But since all is well, keep it so. Wake not a sleeping wolf.

DUTCH:
Wij willen het er bij laten, maar laat gij liet er ook bij! maak geen slapenden wolf wakker!

MORE:

Proverb: It is evil (ill, not good) waking of a sleeping dog

Schmidt:
Gall=To hurt by friction, to excoriate
O’erpost=Get over quickly (get away with)

Compleat:
To gall=’t Vel afschuuren, smarten
Unquiet=Ongerust, onrustig

Topics: good and bad, caution

E’en a crow o’ the same nest; not altogether so great as the first in goodness, but greater a great deal in evil

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
He hath out-villained villany so far, that the
rarity redeems him.
BERTRAM
A pox on him, he’s a cat still.
FIRST SOLDIER
His qualities being at this poor price, I need not
to ask you if gold will corrupt him to revolt.
PAROLLES
Sir, for a quart d’ecu he will sell the fee-simple
of his salvation, the inheritance of it; and cut the
entail from all remainders, and a perpetual
succession for it perpetually.
FIRST SOLDIER
What’s his brother, the other Captain Dumain?
SECOND LORD
Why does he ask him of me?
FIRST SOLDIER
What’s he?
PAROLLES
E’en a crow o’ the same nest; not altogether so
great as the first in goodness, but greater a great
deal in evil: he excels his brother for a coward,
yet his brother is reputed one of the best that is:
in a retreat he outruns any lackey; marry, in coming
on he has the cramp.

DUTCH:
Geheel en al een kraai uit hetzelfde nest; niet volkomen
zoo groot als de andere in het goede, maar een good
deel slechter in bet booze.

MORE:
Proverb: A bird (egg) of the same nest

To stand seised in fee simple=A feudal term that meant to have both possession and title of property, a form of freehold ownership. (Absolute and perpetual ownership.) Shakespeare sometimes used the phrase to mean absoluteness.
Entail=Succession
Remainders=Possible future heirs (residual property rights)
Lackey=Footman (who would run in front of the master’s coach)
Come on=Advance
Compleat:
Seised=Beslagen, aangetast, gevat
Fee-simple=Een onbepaald leen ons en onze erfgenaamen voor altoos toehehoorende
Entail=By erfenisse vast gemaakt
Lackey (lacquey)=Een voetjongen, volgdienaar, lakkey

Topics: good and bad, law/legal, proverbs and idioms

Even now I curse the day—and yet, I think, few come within the compass of my curse,— wherein I did not some notorious ill

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Aaron
CONTEXT:
LUCIUS
Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?
AARON
Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.
Even now I curse the day—and yet, I think,
Few come within the compass of my curse,—
Wherein I did not some notorious ill,
As kill a man, or else devise his death,
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it,
Accuse some innocent and forswear myself,
Set deadly enmity between two friends,
Make poor men’s cattle break their necks;
Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their tears.
Oft have I digged up dead men from their graves,
And set them upright at their dear friends’ doors,
Even when their sorrows almost were forgot;
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,
‘Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.’
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly,
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.

DUTCH:
Ja, dat ik er niet duizend meer bedreef.
Zelfs nu vloek ik den dag, — maar toch, ik meen,
Niet vele zijn er door mijn vloek te treffen, —
Waarop ik geen opmerk’lijk kwaad bedreef

MORE:

Compass=Reach
Devise=Contrive
Forswear=Perjure
Compleat:
Compass=Omtrek, omkreits, begrip, bestek, bereik
To quench=Blusschen, uitblusschen; dorst lesschen, dorst verslaan
To keep within compass=Iemand in den band (in bedwang) houden
To keep within compass=Zynen plicht betrachten
To devise=Bedenken, verzinnen, uytvinden
To forswear one’s self=Eenen valschen eed doen, meyneedig zyn
To forswear a thing=Zweeren dat iets zo niet is

Topics: regret, offence, conscience, good and bad

Good alone is good without a name. Vileness is so: the property by what it is should go, not by the title

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
KING
Good alone
Is good without a name. Vileness is so:
The property by what it is should go,
Not by the title. She is young, wise, fair;
In these to nature she’s immediate heir,
And these breed honour: that is honour’s scorn,
Which challenges itself as honour’s born
And is not like the sire: honours thrive,
When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our foregoers: the mere word’s a slave
Debauched on every tomb, on every grave
A lying trophy, and as oft is dumb
Where dust and damned oblivion is the tomb
Of honoured bones indeed. What should be said?

DUTCH:
Goed is goed,
Ook zonder hoogen naam; en slecht is slecht;
Alleen op wat hij is, gronde elk zijn recht,
Op titels niet.

MORE:
Idiom: “Let’s write good angel on the devil’s horn, ‘Tis not the devil’s crest”

Alone=In and of itself
Name=Title
Property=Quality
Challenges itself=Urges as a right, makes a claim for itself
Foregoers=Forebears
Trophy=Memorial
Compleat:
Property=Eigenschap, natuurlyke hoedaanigheid
He challenges all to himself=Hy eigent zich alles toe
Trophy=Een zeegeteken, trofee

Topics: honour, merit, proverbs and idioms, good and bad, order/society

Good wombs have borne bad sons.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Miranda
CONTEXT:
MIRANDA
I should sin
To think but nobly of my grandmother;
Good wombs have borne bad sons.
PROSPERO
Now the condition.
This King of Naples, being an enemy
To me inveterate, hearkens my brother’s suit,
Which was that he, in lieu o’th’ premises
Of homage, and I know not how much tribute,
Should presently extirpate me and mine
Out of the dukedom and confer fair Milan,
With all the honours, on my brother. Whereon –
A treacherous army levied – one midnight
Fated to th’ purpose did Antonio open
The gates of Milan and i’th’ dead of darkness
The ministers for th’ purpose hurried thence
Me and thy crying self.

DUTCH:
t Waar’ zonde, zoo ik
Zelfs in gedachte een blaam wierp op uw moeder;
Reeds menig eed’le schoot droeg slechte zoons.

MORE:
In lieu o’th’ premises=In exchange for the stipulations (of the agreement with the King of Naples)
Schmidt:
Homage=Fealty and service professed to a superior lord
Tribute=Stated payment made in acknowledgment of submission, or as the price of peace, or by virtue of a treaty
Extirpate=To root out, to remove completely
Fated=Destined by fate
Ministers=Agents (assigned to the task)
Compleat:
Homage=Hulde, hulding, manschap, onderdaanigheid
Tribute=Cynsgeld, schatting; Tol, impost
He was the principal minister (or instrument) of his revenge=Hy was het voornaamste werktuig van zyne wraak
Fated=Door’t noodlot beschooren

Topics: contract, promise, fate/destiny, good and bad, envy, honour, revenge

Hate all, curse all, show charity to none

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER:
CONTEXT:
TIMON
Look thee, ’tis so! Thou singly honest man,
Here, take: the gods out of my misery
Have sent thee treasure. Go, live rich and happy;
But thus conditioned: thou shalt build from men;
Hate all, curse all, show charity to none,
But let the famished flesh slide from the bone,
Ere thou relieve the beggar; give to dogs
What thou deny’st to men; let prisons swallow ’em,
Debts wither ’em to nothing; be men like
blasted woods,
And may diseases lick up their false bloods!
And so farewell and thrive.

DUTCH:
Haat allen, vloek een elk; doe niemand wel;
Schenk aan den beed’laar niets, schoon ‘t maag’re vleesch
Hem van ‘t gebeente valle;

MORE:
Proverb: Hate all, curse all, show charity to none

Singly=Uniquely
Thus conditioned=On one condition
Build from=Take advantage of
Blasted=Withered
Lick up=Drink
Compleat:
Singly=Enkelyk
Fair conditioned=Fraai gesteld
To condition=Bespreeken, bedinge, afspreeken
To condition with one=Met iemand een verdrag maaken
I build upon your word=Ik steun op uw woord
To blast=Doen verstuiven, wegblaazen, verzengen, door ‘t weer beschaadigen
To blast one’s reputation=Iemands goeden naam bezwalken
To lick up=Oplikken
To lick up a piece of work=Een werk beschaaven

Topics: proverbs and idioms, fate/destiny, money, poverty and wealth, good and bad

Hell is empty, all the devils are here.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Ariel
CONTEXT:
PROSPERO
My brave spirit!
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil
Would not infect his reason?
ARIEL
Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad and played
Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners
Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel,
Then all afire with me. The king’s son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring – then like reeds, not hair –
Was the first man that leaped; cried “Hell is empty
And all the devils are here.”

DUTCH:
Vóór de and’ren
Sprong Ferdinand, des konings zoon, wien ‘t haar, —
Het scheen eer riet, — te berge stond; hij riep:
„De hel is ledig, alle duivels hier !”

MORE:
Schmidt:
Coil=Confusion, turmoil
Up-staring=Standing on end
Compleat:
Coil=Geraas, getier

Topics: courage, madness, nature, good and bad

Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to collection.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Gentleman
CONTEXT:
Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to collection. They aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,
Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
HORATIO
‘Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.

DUTCH:
Maar toch, haar warreltaal wekt bij de hoorders
Vermoedens ; en als die met hun gedachten
De woorden, die zij met cen wenk of knik
En vreemd gebaar verzelt, gaan samenkopp’len,

MORE:
Spurns enviously=Kicks spitefully
Collection=Inference
To botch up=Piece together unskilfully
Botcher=One who mends and patches old clothes
Compleat:
Botcher=Een lapper, knoeijer, boetelaar, broddelaar

Topics: language, perception, understanding, good and bad

I am for the house with the narrow gate, which I take to be too little for pomp to enter

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Clown
CONTEXT:
CLOWN
I am a woodland fellow, sir, that always loved a
great fire; and the master I speak of ever keeps a
good fire. But, sure, he is the prince of the
world; let his nobility remain in’s court. I am for
the house with the narrow gate, which I take to be
too little for pomp to enter: some that humble
themselves may; but the many will be too chill and
tender, and they’ll be for the flowery way that
leads to the broad gate and the great fire.
LAFEW
Go thy ways, I begin to be aweary of thee; and I
tell thee so before, because I would not fall out
with thee. Go thy ways: let my horses be well
looked to, without any tricks.
CLOWN
If I put any tricks upon ’em, sir, they shall be
jades’ tricks; which are their own right by the law of
nature.

DUTCH:
Ik ben voor het huis met de enge poort, die ik
voor te klein houd, dan dat pracht en praal er binnen
kunnen gaan; enkelen misschien, die zich vernederen,
komen er door, maar de meesten zullen te kouwelijk en
te gevoelig zijn, en zij zullen voor den bloemrijken weg
zijn, die naar de breede poort en het groote vuur leidt .

MORE:
Chill=Sensitive to cold, faint-hearted
Tender=Fond of comfort, self-interested
Compleat:
Chill=Koud, killig, huyverig
Tender=Teder, week, murw

Topics: good and bad, temptation

I am strong-framed. He cannot prevail with me.

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: First Murderer
CONTEXT:
SECOND MURDERER
Take the devil in thy mind, and believe him not. He
would insinuate with thee but to make thee sigh.
FIRST MURDERER
I am strong-framed. He cannot prevail with me.
SECOND MURDERER
Spoke like a tall man that respects thy reputation.
Come, shall we fall to work?
FIRST MURDERER
Take him on the costard with the hilts of thy sword,
and then throw him into the malmsey butt in the next
room.
SECOND MURDERER
O excellent device— and make a sop of him.

DUTCH:
lk ben sterk van natuur ; hij krijgt mij niet onder .

MORE:
Insinuate=Ingratiate
Prevail=Gain the upper hand
Strong-framed=Of strong stock
Tall=Valiant
Costard=Head
Malmsey=Strong wine
Butt=Barrel
Sop=Bread for dipping in wine
Compleat:
Insinulate=Inboezemen, indringen, invlyen
Malmsey=Malvezy, een soort van zoete wyn komende uyt de Straat
Butt=Wynvat of wynkuyp, houdende 126 gallons
A wine sop=Een wynsopje

Topics: good and bad, independence, reputation

I do not like “But yet.” It does allay the good precedence

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Cleopatra
CONTEXT:
MESSENGER
Caesar and he are greater friends than ever.
CLEOPATRA
Make thee a fortune from me.
MESSENGER
But yet, madam—
CLEOPATRA
I do not like “But yet.” It does allay
The good precedence. Fie upon “But yet.”
“But yet” is as a jailer to bring forth
Some monstrous malefactor. Prithee, friend,
Pour out the pack of matter to mine ear,
The good and bad together. He’s friends with Caesar,
In state of health, thou say’st, and, thou say’st,
free.

DUTCH:
Wat is nu dit, „Maar toch”? Den goeden aanloop
Maakt dit te schande; weg met dit „Maar toch”!
„Maar toch” is als een kerkerknecht, die dieven
En moord’naars tot den beul voert.

MORE:
Allay=Dilute, cast a shadow over
Good precedence=The previous good news
Compleat:
To allay=Verligten, verzachten, maatigen, sussen, temperen
Precedence=Voorgang

Topics: news, communication, good and bad

I never did repent for doing good,

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Portia
CONTEXT:
PORTIA
I never did repent for doing good,
Nor shall not now; for in companions
That do converse and waste the time together
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit,
Which makes me think that this Antonio,
Being the bosom lover of my lord,
Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,
How little is the cost I have bestowed
In purchasing the semblance of my soul
From out the state of hellish cruelty!
This comes too near the praising of myself.
Therefore no more of it. Hear other things.
Lorenzo, I commit into your hands
The husbandry and manage of my house
Until my lord’s return.
For mine own part,
I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow
To live in prayer and contemplation,
Only attended by Nerissa here
Until her husband and my lord’s return.
There is a monastery two miles off,
And there will we abide. I do desire you
Not to deny this imposition,
The which my love and some necessity
Now lays upon you.

DUTCH:
Nooit heeft mij nog een goede daad berouwd,
En deez’ zal ‘t ook niet doen; want trouwe makkers,
Die samen immer leven en verkeeren,
Wier zielen saam een juk van vriendschap dragen,
Gelijk verdeeld, die moeten wel gelijk zijn
In wezenstrekken, geest en wijs van doen;

MORE:
Waste=Spend
Lineaments=Features
Semblance=Similarity
Husbandry=Care, cultivation, tillage
Manage=Management
Deny=Refuse
Imposition=Charge
Compleat:
Waste=Doorbrengen
Lineament=Een trek
Semblance=Gelykenis, schyn
Husbandry=Huysbezorging
Manage=Bewind, bestiering
Imposition=Oplegging, opdringing, belasting

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Macbeth
CONTEXT:
This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor.
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.

DUTCH:
En is zij goed, wat blaast zij mij iets in,
Zoo gruwlijk, dat mijn haar te berge rijst

MORE:
Unfix my hair = make my hair stand on end (hair standing on end is also attributed to Shakespeare (Hamlet))
CITED IN US LAW:
In Re Public Service Company of New Hampshire, 884 F.2d 11, 13 (1st Cir.1989);
In Re Martin, 817 F.2d 175, 183 (1st Cir.1987);
Scuncio Motors, Inc. v. Subaru of New England, Inc., 5.55 F.Supp. 1121, 1136 (D.R.I. 1982).

Topics: cited in law, temptation, manipulation, good and bad

If we can make our peace Upon such large terms and so absolute As our conditions shall consist upon, Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Hastings
CONTEXT:
MOWBRAY
There is a thing within my bosom tells me
That no conditions of our peace can stand.
HASTINGS
Fear you not that. If we can make our peace
Upon such large terms and so absolute
As our conditions shall consist upon,
Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.
MOWBRAY
Yea, but our valuation shall be such
That every slight and false-derivèd cause,
Yea, every idle, nice, and wanton reason,
Shall to the King taste of this action,
That, were our royal faiths martyrs in love,
We shall be winnowed with so rough a wind
That even our corn shall seem as light as chaff,
And good from bad find no partition.

DUTCH:
Vrees dit geenszins! Gelukt het ons, den vrede
Zoo hecht te vesten op zoo breeden grondslag,
Als die, waar onze vord’ring zich aan houdt,
Dan is de vrede onwrikbaar als een rots.

MORE:

Schmidt:
False-derivèd cause=Not based on truth
Wanton=Capricious, frivolous
Winnowed=Sifted, tried. Winnowed opinions: probably truisms

Compleat:
To winnow corn=Koorn wannen

Topics: contract, hope/optimism, good and bad

In cruelty will I seek out my fame

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Young Clifford
CONTEXT:
Meet I an infant of the house of York,
Into as many gobbets will I cut it
As wild Medea young Absyrtus did:
In cruelty will I seek out my fame.

DUTCH:
Mijn wreedheid zij het, die mij roem verwerve.

MORE:

CITED IN E&W LAW: Siddiqui v The Chancellor, Masters & Scholars of the University of Oxford [2018] EWHC 184 (QB) (07 February 2018)

Gobbet=Small pieces of flesh
In Greek mythology, Medea cut her brother Absyrtus into small pieces which she scattered to slow her father down

Topics: cited in law, ambition, good and bad

In nature there’s no blemish but the mind; none can be called deformed but the unkind

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Antonio
CONTEXT:
ANTONIO
Let me speak a little. This youth that you see here
I snatched one half out of the jaws of death,
Relieved him with such sanctity of love,
And to his image, which methought did promise
Most venerable worth, did I devotion.
FIRST OFFICER
What’s that to us? The time goes by. Away!
ANTONIO
But oh, how vile an idol proves this god!
Thou hast, Sebastian, done good feature shame.
In nature there’s no blemish but the mind.
None can be called deformed but the unkind.
Virtue is beauty, but the beauteous evil
Are empty trunks o’erflourished by the devil.

DUTCH:
Natuur schept alles goed;
Doch wat misvormt, dat is een boos gemoed;
De deugd is schoon; ‘t schoonbooze een leêge kist,
Een vorm slechts, door den duivel gevernist!

MORE:
Proverb: He is handsome that handsome does

Sanctity=Devotion
The mind=Character, in the mind
O’erflourished=Decorated, varnished over
Compleat:
Sanctity=Heiligheid
The mind=Het gemoed, de zin, meening, gevoelen
To flourish=Bloeijen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, appearance, virtue, good and bad, manipulation

Is this her fault or mine? The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?

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

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

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

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

It is great sin to swear unto a sin,
But greater sin to keep a sinful oath.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Salisbury
CONTEXT:
It is great sin to swear unto a sin,
But greater sin to keep a sinful oath.
Who can be bound by any solemn vow
To do a murderous deed, to rob a man,
To force a spotless virgin’s chastity,
To reave the orphan of his patrimony,
To wring the widow from her custom’d right,
And have no other reason for this wrong
But that he was bound by a solemn oath?
QUEEN MARGARET
A subtle traitor needs no sophister.

DUTCH:
t Is groote zonde, op zonde een eed te doen,
Doch grooter zonde , een zondige’ eed te houden.

MORE:

Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton)
Proverb: It is a great sin to swear unto a sin But greater sin to keep a sinful oath

Reave=Rob
Customed right=Rightful portion of her husband’s estate
Sophister=Clever or cunning arguer
Field=Battlefield

Compleat:
Bereave=Rooven
Accustomed=Gewoon, gewend, tot iets geschikt
Sophister (a cunning or sharp man)=Een listing schrander man
Sophistry=Een schalke wyze van redeneeren, woordvittery, haairkloovery, verschalking

Topics: law/legal, proverbs and idioms, good and bad

Look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Lady Macbeth
CONTEXT:
To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t. He that’s coming
Must be provided for; and you shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch,
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

DUTCH:
[S]chijn schuldloos als de bloem,
Maar wees de slang er onder

MORE:
Beguile the time=to deceive them; appear as expected, blend in
Schmidt:
Time=Men, the world
Dispatch=The finishing or winding up of a business
Compleat:
To dispatch=Afvaerdigen, afdoen, verrichten, beschikken, aflaaden, afmaaken, aan een kant helpen, ‘t leeven beneemen
The matter is dispatcht=De zaak is beschikt

Topics: deceit, appearance, good and bad

Music oft hath such a charm
To make bad good, and good provoke to harm.

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

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

MORE:

Topics: good and bad, skill/talent

Never was such a sudden scholar made

PLAY: King Henry V
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Canterbury
CONTEXT:
The courses of his youth promised it not.
The breath no sooner left his father’s body
But that his wildness, mortified in him,
Seemed to die too. Yea, at that very moment
Consideration like an angel came
And whipped th’ offending Adam out of him,
Leaving his body as a paradise
T’ envelop and contain celestial spirits.
Never was such a sudden scholar made,
Never came reformation in a flood
With such a heady currance scouring faults,
Nor never Hydra-headed willfulness
So soon did lose his seat, and all at once,
As in this king

DUTCH:
Zoo plots’ling werd geen kweek’ling ooit gevormd;
Zoo, als een vloed, kwam nooit bekeering op

MORE:

Proverb: The old Adam
Proverb: As many heads as Hydra

Mortified=Struck down
The offending Adam=Innate depravity
Currance=Current
Hydra=Moster with proliferating heads
Seat=Throne

Compleat:
Hydra=Een monstreuze en fabel=achtige draak
To mortify=Dooden, tuchtigen, onderbrengen, quellen, den voet dwars zetten

Topics: learning/education, regret, good and bad

O mischief, thou art swift
To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Romeo
CONTEXT:
Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight.
Let’s see for means. O mischief, thou art swift
To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!

DUTCH:
Euveldaad! Hoe snel neemt gij de ziel van radelozen in!/
Euveldaad! hoe snel
Neemt gij de ziel van radeloozen in!

MORE:
Schmidt:
Mischief=evil done on purpose, harm, injury
Desperate=despaired of, irremediable, not to be saved
Compleat:
Mischief=onheil, dwaad, ongeluk, ramp, verderf, heilloosheid
Desperate (who is in despair)=Wanhopig
To be in a desperate condition=In een vertwyfelden staat zyn

Topics: good and bad, temptation

Out of the jaws of death

DUTCH:
Een enkel woord nog! ‘k Heb dien jongling daar
Aan de open kaken van den dood ontrukt,
Heb hem verpleegd met heil’ge broedermin,
En dat gelaat, dat ik een spiegel dacht
Der eng’lenziel, geëerd en aangebeden!

MORE:
Proverb: He is handsome that handsome does

Sanctity=Devotion
The mind=Character, in the mind
O’erflourished=Decorated, varnished over
Compleat:
Sanctity=Heiligheid
The mind=Het gemoed, de zin, meening, gevoelen
To flourish=Bloeijen

Topics: appearance, virtue, good and bad, manipulation

Out, hyperbolical fiend! How vexest thou this man!

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
FOOL
Out, hyperbolical fiend! How vexest thou this man!
Talkest thou nothing but of ladies?
SIR TOBY BELCH
Well said, Master Parson.
MALVOLIO
Sir Topas, never was man thus wronged. Good Sir Topas,
do not think I am mad. They have laid me here in
hideous darkness.
FOOL
Fie, thou dishonest Satan! I call thee by the most
modest terms, for I am one of those gentle ones that
will use the devil himself with courtesy. Sayest thou that house is dark?

DUTCH:

MORE:
Hyperbolical=Exaggerated, diabolical
Wronged=Mistreated
Modest=Mild (referring to dishonest)
Compleat:
Hyperbolical=Grootspreekend, byster uitspoorig
Wronged=Verongelykt, verkort
Modest=Zedig, eerbaar

Topics: good and bad, abuse, civility, language

Presume not that I am the thing I was.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
Presume not that I am the thing I was,
For God doth know—so shall the world perceive—
That I have turned away my former self.
So will I those that kept me company.
When thou dost hear I am as I have been,
Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou wast,
The tutor and the feeder of my riots.
Till then I banish thee, on pain of death,
As I have done the rest of my misleaders.
Not to come near our person by ten mile.
For competence of life I will allow you,
That lack of means enforce you not to evils.
And, as we hear you do reform yourselves,
We will, according to your strengths and qualities,
Give you advancement.
Be it your charge, my lord,
To see performed the tenor of my word.—
Set on.

DUTCH:
En waan niet, dat ik ben, wat ik eens was!
De hemel weet, en zien zal ‘t nu de wereld,
Dat ik den rug keerde aan mijn vroeger ik,
En ‘t hun zal doen, die eertijds met mij waren.

MORE:
Feeder=Inciter
Competence=Pension, sufficient means of subsistence

Topics: flaw/fault, regret, good and bad, poverty and wealth

Small herbs have grace; great weeds do grow apace

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Duke of York
CONTEXT:
DUCHESS
Why, my young cousin? It is good to grow.
YORK
Grandam, one night as we did sit at supper,
My uncle Rivers talked how I did grow
More than my brother: “Ay,” quoth my uncle Gloucester,
“Small herbs have grace; great weeds do grow apace.”
And since, methinks I would not grow so fast
Because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste.
DUCHESS
Good faith, good faith, the saying did not hold
In him that did object the same to thee!
He was the wretched’st thing when he was young,
So long a-growing and so leisurely,

DUTCH:
„Ja,” zeide oom Gloster toen,
,,Een klein gewas is eel, onkruid groeit veel .”
En sedert wenschte ik minder sterken groei;
Eel kruid komt laat, en onkruid snel in bloei .

MORE:
Proverb: An ill weed grows apace

Grace=Good properties
Since=Since then
Hold=Hold true
Compleat:
Grace=Genade, gunst, bevalligheyd, fraaigheyd, aardige zwier
Weed=Onkruyd
To hold=Houden, vatten; achten

Topics: time, proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or popularised, good and bad, nature

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.

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

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

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

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

That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this:
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery
That aptly is put on.

DUTCH:
Dat monster, sleur, dat alle zinnen doodt, Die duivel van ons doen, is engel hierin/
Gewoonte, dat monster, dat alle redelijkheid verslindt. /
Dat monster, sleur, de vraat van elk besef, Aller gewoonten duivel, is hierin Een engel.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Custom=Habit, regular practice
Eat=To devour, to consume, to waste, to destroy

Topics: good and bad, conscience, custom

The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good.

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

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

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

Topics: good and bad, virtue, honesty, innocence

The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre observe degree, priority, and place

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Ulysses
CONTEXT:
ULYSSES
Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down,
And the great Hector’s sword had lacked a master,
But for these instances.
The specialty of rule hath been neglected:
And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand
Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions.
When that the general is not like the hive
To whom the foragers shall all repair,
What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded,
The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask.
The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre
Observe degree, priority and place,
Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office and custom, in all line of order;
And therefore is the glorious planet Sol
In noble eminence enthroned and sphered
Amidst the other; whose medicinable eye
Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil,
And posts, like the commandment of a king,
Sans cheque to good and bad: but when the planets
In evil mixture to disorder wander,
What plagues and what portents! what mutiny!
What raging of the sea! shaking of earth!
Commotion in the winds! frights, changes, horrors,
Divert and crack, rend and deracinate
The unity and married calm of states
Quite from their fixture! (…)

DUTCH:
Als zich rang vermomt,
Schijnt hoog en laag door ‘t masker even hoog.
De hemel zelf, de sterren en dit centrum,
Slaan acht op rang en meerderheid en plaats
In stand, in loop, verhouding, jaartij, vorm,
In ambt, gewoonten, al wat orde heet;

MORE:
His basis=Its foundation
Down=Destroyed
Instances=Causes
Speciality=Obligations (mutual between ruler and subject)
Degree=Rank
Vizarded=Concealed, masked
Course=Trajectory
Proportion=Symmetry
Sphered=In its correct orbit
Medicinable=Curative
Ill aspects=Bad astrological influence; poorly appearance
Post=Hasten
Compleat:
Instance=Een voorval, voorbeeld, exempel; aandringing, aanhouding; blyk
Speciality=Een verbondschrift, of schuldbekentenis; als ook een al te gemeenzaame kennis
Degree=Een graad, trap
He did rise by degrees=Hy wierd trapswyze bevordert; The highest degree=De hoogste trap
Vizard=Een momaanzigt, mombakkus, masker
Course (way or means)=Wegen of middelen
Proportion=Evenredigheid, regelmaat
Sphere=Omloops-kring
That is out of his sphere=Dat is buiten zyne kreits
Aspect=Stargezigt; gezigt, gelaat, aanschouw
Post (expeditious way of travelling)=Post, een schielyke manier van reizen

Topics: law/legal, order/society, good and bad, nature

The reasons you allege do more conduce to the hot passion of distempered blood than to make up a free determination ’twixt right and wrong

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Hector
CONTEXT:
HECTOR
Paris and Troilus, you have both said well,
And on the cause and question now in hand
Have glozed, but superficially: not much
Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought
Unfit to hear moral philosophy:
The reasons you allege do more conduce
To the hot passion of distempered blood
Than to make up a free determination
‘Twixt right and wrong, for pleasure and revenge
Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice
Of any true decision. Nature craves
All dues be rendered to their owners: now,
What nearer debt in all humanity
Than wife is to the husband? If this law
Of nature be corrupted through affection,
And that great minds, of partial indulgence
To their benumbed wills, resist the same,
There is a law in each well-ordered nation
To curb those raging appetites that are
Most disobedient and refractory.

DUTCH:
De gronden, die gij bijbrengt, voeren meer
Tot heete opbruising van ontstoken bloed,
Dan tot het onbevangen, juist erkennen
Van recht en onrecht.

MORE:
Proverb: Give everyone his due
Proverb: As deaf as an adder

To gloze=Expand, expound. Veil with specious comments (OED)
Glozes=Pretentious talk
Conduce=Contribute, cite
Affection=Emotion; partiality
Partial=Prejudiced
Distempered=Ill-humoured; deranged
Benumbed=Dulled, inured
Refractory=Unmanageable
Compleat:
To gloze=Vleijen, flikflooijen
To conduce=Vorderlyk zyn, dienstig zyn, baaten
Affection=Toegeneegenheid, aandoening
Partial=Eenzydig, partydig
Distempered=Niet wel te pas, kwaalyk gesteld, uit zyn schik
To benum=Verstyven
Refractory=Wederspannig

Burgersdijk notes:
Door Aristoteles. Nu Shakespeare een Griekschen wijsgeer wil vermelden, kiest hij een algemeen bekenden, zonder te vragen, of deze niet vele eeuwen na den Trojaanschen oorlog leefde en of hij inderdaad de jeugd onvatbaar heeft genoemd voor de beoefening der moraal -philosophie.
Zijn doover nog dan slangen. Dat slangen voor doof gehouden werden, blijkt ook uit 2 K. Hendrik IV, en uit Sonnet CXII.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, law/legal, judgment, debt/obligation, good and bad

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: First Lord
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
How mightily sometimes we make us comforts of our
losses!
SECOND LORD
And how mightily some other times we drown our gain
in tears! The great dignity that his valour hath
here acquired for him shall at home be encountered
with a shame as ample.
FIRST LORD
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and
ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our
faults whipped them not; and our crimes would
despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues.

DUTCH:
Het weefsel van ons leven bestaat uit gemengd garen,
goed en slecht dooreen; onze deugden zouden trotsch
zijn, indien zij niet door onze ondeugden gestriemd werden; en onze slechtheid zou wanhopig zijn, als ze niet door onze deugden vertroost werd.

MORE:
Cherish=Comfort, encourage, console
Despair=Cause (us to) despair
Whipped (Metaphorically)=to lash with sarcasm, to have a lash at, to put to the blush
Compleat:
To put to the blush=Iemand eene kleur aanjaagen, beschaamd maaken
Cherish=Koesteren, opkweeken, streelen, aankweeken

Topics: life, virtue, good and bad

There can be no kernel in this light nut; the soul of this man is his clothes

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
Fare you well, my lord; and
believe this of me, there can be no kernel in this
light nut; the soul of this man is his clothes.
Trust him not in matter of heavy consequence;
I have kept of them tame, and know their natures.
Farewell, monsieur: I have spoken better
of you than you have or will to deserve at my
hand; but we must do good against evil.

DUTCH:
Vaarwel, mijn heer, en geloof mij, in deze vooze noot kan geen pit schuilen; de ziel van dezen mensch zit in zijn kleederen.

MORE:
Light nut=Lightweight
Consequence=Influence, importance
Compleat:
Consequence=Belang

Topics: status, merit, respect, good and bad, appearance, fashion/trend

There is some soul of goodness in things evil, Would men observingly distil it out.

PLAY: King Henry V
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: King Henry
CONTEXT:
Gloucester, ’tis true that we are in great danger.
The greater therefore should our courage be.
—Good morrow, brother Bedford. God almighty,
There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distill it out.
For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers,
Which is both healthful and good husbandry.
Besides, they are our outward consciences
And preachers to us all, admonishing
That we should dress us fairly for our end.
Thus may we gather honey from the weed
And make a moral of the devil himself.

DUTCH:
In booze dingen schuilt een kern van goed,
Zoo slechts de mensch bedachtzaam dien er uitperst;/
Er is een geest van goedheid in slechte dingen als de mensen die er maar uit wisten te distilleren.

MORE:

Proverb: He that has an ill neighbour has oftentimes an ill morning
Proverb: There is nothing so bad in which there is not something of good (1623)
Proverb: Every cloud has a silver lining

Observingly=With close observation, attentively
Distil=To obtain or extract the essence of, also to obtain (the quintessence) by extraction or distillation (lit. and fig.)

Topics: good and bad, proverbs and idioms

There is thy gold, worse poison to men’s souls

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Romeo
CONTEXT:
There is thy gold, worse poison to men’s souls,
Doing more murder in this loathsome world,
Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.
I sell thee poison. Thou hast sold me none.
Farewell. Buy food, and get thyself in flesh.—
Come, cordial and not poison, go with me
To Juliet’s grave, for there must I use thee

DUTCH:
Hier is uw goud, een erger zielsvergif
Een boozer moorddrank in deez’ booze wereld,
Dan ‘t brouwsel, dat gij niet verkoopen moogt.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Compound=composition, mixture
Compleat:
No reference to compound as a noun.
To compound with one’s creditors=Met zyn Schuld-eischers overeenkomen, accordeeren

Topics: poverty and wealth, money, good and bad

This is a devil, and no monster. I will leave him.
I have no long spoon.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Stephano
CONTEXT:
Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy, mercy! This is a devil, and no monster. I will leave him. I have no long spoon.

DUTCH:
Dit is geen monster, maar een duivel!
Ik wil wegloopen; ik heb geen langen lepel.

MORE:
Proverb: He must have a long spoon that will eat with the devil/He who sups with the devil should take a long spoon (See Comedy of Errors, 4.3)
In the Morality plays the Devil and the Vice would take food from opposite sides of the same dish with a spoon of great length. (Arden)
Burgersdijk notes:
Ik wil wegloopen; ik heb geen langen lepel. Zinspeling op het oud-Engelsche spreekwoord: „Wie met den duivel wil eten, moet een langen lepel hebben.”

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, good and bad

Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade.

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

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

MORE:
Sin=Offence, transgression
Bawd=Procurer

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

Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.

DUTCH:
t Waar’ goed haar eens to spreken ; licht’lijk strooit
Zij argwaan in een geest, die boosheid broedt .

Topics: language, perception, understanding, good and bad

Who cannot keep his wealth must keep his house

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Servant
CONTEXT:
SERVANT
Excellent! Your lordship’s a goodly villain. The
devil knew not what he did when he made man
politic; he crossed himself by ‘t: and I cannot
think but, in the end, the villainies of man will
set him clear. How fairly this lord strives to
appear foul! takes virtuous copies to be wicked,
like those that under hot ardent zeal would set
whole realms on fire: Of such a nature is his
politic love.
This was my lord’s best hope; now all are fled,
Save only the gods: now his friends are dead,
Doors, that were ne’er acquainted with their wards
Many a bounteous year must be employed
Now to guard sure their master.
And this is all a liberal course allows;
Who cannot keep his wealth must keep his house.

DUTCH:
Dit is de vrucht
Van mildheid; wie, hoe rijk, zijn geld niet telt,
Niet huishoudt, houdt het huis eens zonder geld.

MORE:
Politic=Scheming, cunning
Crossed=Frustrated, thwarted
Clear=Pure, innocent
Copies=Imitates
Wards=Bolts
Liberal course=Excess generosity
Compleat:
Politick=Burgerlyk, staatkundig; (cunnning)=Slim, schrander, doorsleepen
To cross=Tegenstreeven, dwars voor de boeg komen, dwarsboomen, wederestreeven, kruisen
Copy=Afschrift, dubbeld, kopy
He is of a liberal temper=Hy is goed geefs

Burgersdijk notes:
Beveil’gen binnenshuis. Naar aloud Engelsch rechtsgebruik werd iemand door zijn huis beschermd en mocht daar niet wegens schulden in hechtenis genomen worden.

Topics: good and bad, manipulation, ruin, friendship

Who cannot steal a shape that means deceit?

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Queen Margaret
CONTEXT:
Ah, what’s more dangerous than this fond affiance!
Seems he a dove? His feathers are but borrowed,
For he’s disposed as the hateful raven:
Is he a lamb? His skin is surely lent him,
For he’s inclined as is the ravenous wolf.
Who cannot steal a shape that means deceit?
Take heed, my lord; the welfare of us all
Hangs on the cutting short that fraudful man.

DUTCH:
Is hij een lam? zijn vacht in hem geleend;
Als van een fellen wolf is zijn gemoed.
Wie steelt geen mom, als hij bedriegen wil?
Vrees op uw hoede, heer; ons aller welzijn
Hangt aan ‘t voorkómen van dien valschen man.

MORE:

Proverb: A wolf in sheep’s clothing (‘His skin is surely lent him’)

Raven=Symbolic of a bad omen
Fond=Foolish
Affiance=Confidence
Steal a shape=Create a false impression or appearance
Hateful=Deserving hate
Hangs on=Depends on

Compleat:
Fond (foolish)=Dwaas
Affiance=Vertrouwen, hoop
Hatefull=Haatelyk
These things seem to hang one upon the other=Deeze zaaken schynen van malkander af te hangen

Topics: deceit, appearance, good and bad, trust, betrayal, caution

Your accent is something finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Orlando
CONTEXT:
ORLANDO
Are you native of this place?
ROSALIND
As the cony that you see dwell where she is kindled.
ORLANDO
Your accent is something finer than you could purchase
in so removed a dwelling.
ROSALIND
I have been told so of many. But indeed an old
religious uncle of mine taught me to speak, who was in
his youth an inland man, one that knew courtship too
well, for there he fell in love. I have heard him read
many lectures against it, and I thank God I am not a
woman, to be touched with so many giddy offences as he
hath generally taxed their whole sex withal.
ORLANDO
Can you remember any of the principal evils that he
laid to the charge of women?
ROSALIND
There were none principal. They were all like one
another as half-pence are, every one fault seeming
monstrous till his fellow fault came to match it.

DUTCH:
Gij hebt een fijner uitspraak, dan gij in zulk een afgelegen
oord kont opdoen.

MORE:
Coney=Rabbit
Kindled=Born
Purchase=Acquire
Removed=Isolated, remote
Touched with=Corrupted, tainted by
Inland=City dweller, cultured
Taxed=Reproached, censured, accused, blamed
Compleat:
Coney=Konijn
To kindle=Onststeeken, aansteeken
Purchase=Verkrygen
To touch (affect, move)=Aandoen, beweegen
To tax=Beschuldigen

Topics: order/society, love, good and bad