CJTranslations

QUOTES BY TOPIC

And when that time comes, afflict me with thy mocks, pity me not

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Phoebe
CONTEXT:
PHOEBE
But till that time
Come not thou near me. And when that time comes,
Afflict me with thy mocks, pity me not,
As till that time I shall not pity thee.
ROSALIND
And why, I pray you? Who might be your mother,
That you insult, exult, and all at once,
Over the wretched? What though you have no beauty—
As, by my faith, I see no more in you
Than without candle may go dark to bed—
Must you be therefore proud and pitiless?
Why, what means this? Why do you look on me?
I see no more in you than in the ordinary
Of nature’s sale-work.— ‘Od’s my little life,
I think she means to tangle my eyes, too.
—No, faith, proud mistress, hope not after it.
‘Tis not your inky brows, your black silk hair,
Your bugle eyeballs, nor your cheek of cream
That can entame my spirits to your worship.
—You foolish shepherd, wherefore do you follow her,
Like foggy south puffing with wind and rain?
You are a thousand times a properer man
Than she a woman. ‘Tis such fools as you
That makes the world full of ill-favoured children.
‘Tis not her glass but you that flatters her,
And out of you she sees herself more proper
Than any of her lineaments can show her.
—But, mistress, know yourself. Down on your knees
And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man’s love,
For I must tell you friendly in your ear,
Sell when you can; you are not for all markets.
Cry the man mercy, love him, take his offer.
Foul is most foul, being foul to be a scoffer.
—So take her to thee, shepherd. Fare you well.

DUTCH:
Wijk tot dien tijd
Van mij, blijf verre; en als die tijd eens komt,
Houd dan uw spot niet in, ken geen erbarming,
Maar wacht die vóór dien tijd ook niet van mij.

MORE:
All at once=In one breath
Ordinary=Ordinary run
Sale-work=Ready made retail goods (of inferior quality)
Bugle=Beads, usually black
Wind and rain=Sighs and tears
Properer=More handsome
Tangle=Ensnare
Cry mercy=Take mercy on
Scoffer=Mocker. Scoffer was used for political and religious abuse.
Compleat:
At once=Op een reis, teffens, te gelyk, ten eersten
Ordinary=Gewoonlyk, gemeen
To scoff=Spotten, schimpen. To scoff at=Bespotten beschimpen.
Buggle=Een glaze kraal
Proper=Bequaam, van een bequaame lengte
To tangle=Verwarren
Mercy=Barmhartifheid, genade
To cry mercy=Om genade roepen

Topics: pity, appearance, mercy

As small a drop of pity as a wren’s eye

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Imogen
CONTEXT:
IMOGEN
(…) These flowers are like the pleasures of the world;
This bloody man, the care on’t. I hope I dream;
For so I thought I was a cave-keeper,
And cook to honest creatures: but ’tis not so;
‘Twas but a bolt of nothing, shot at nothing,
Which the brain makes of fumes: our very eyes
Are sometimes like our judgments, blind. Good faith,
I tremble stiff with fear: but if there be
Yet left in heaven as small a drop of pity
As a wren’s eye, fear’d gods, a part of it!
The dream’s here still: even when I wake, it is
Without me, as within me; not imagined, felt.
A headless man! The garments of Posthumus!
I know the shape of’s leg: this is his hand;
His foot Mercurial; his Martial thigh;
The brawns of Hercules: but his Jovial face
Murder in heaven?—How!—’Tis gone. Pisanio,
All curses madded Hecuba gave the Greeks,
And mine to boot, be darted on thee! Thou,
Conspired with that irregulous devil, Cloten,
Hast here cut off my lord. To write and read
Be henceforth treacherous! Damn’d Pisanio
Hath with his forged letters,—damn’d Pisanio—
From this most bravest vessel of the world
Struck the main-top! O Posthumus! alas,
Where is thy head? where’s that? Ay me!
where’s that?

DUTCH:
O, groote goden,
Is boven nog erbarming, slechts een drup,
Als ‘t oog der grasmusch, schenkt me een deel er van!

MORE:
A fume=A vapour, a delusion, phantasm, anything hindering the function of the brain, like a mist
Madded=Made mad (with revenge)
To boot=As well
Irregulous=Lawless
Main-top=Top of the mast
Compleat:
The glory of mortals is but a fume=De eerre der stervelingen is maar rook
To be in a fume=In een woede zyn

Topics: pity, imagination, madness, evidence

As you from crimes would pardoned be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: Epilogue
SPEAKER: Prospero
CONTEXT:
Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
And what strength I have’s mine own,
Which is most faint. Now, ’tis true,
I must be here confined by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardoned the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell,
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardoned be,
Let your indulgence set me free.

DUTCH:
k Derf mijn geesten thans en kunst;
Wanhoop is mijn eind, tenzij
Vroom gebed mijn ziel bevrij,
En mij, nimmer smeekensmoe,
Al mijn schuld vergeven doe!
Hoopt gijzelf eens op gená,
Dat uw gunst mij dan ontsla!

MORE:

Topics: pity, mercy, life, offence, punishment, failure

Bet it be your glory to see her tears; but be your heart to them as unrelenting flint to drops of rain

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Demetrius
CONTEXT:
DEMETRIUS
Listen, fair madam: let it be your glory
To see her tears; but be your heart to them
As unrelenting flint to drops of rain.
LAVINIA
When did the tiger’s young ones teach the dam?
O, do not learn her wrath; she taught it thee;
The milk thou suckedst from her did turn to marble;
Even at thy teat thou hadst thy tyranny.
Yet every mother breeds not sons alike:
Do thou entreat her show a woman pity.
CHIRON
What, wouldst thou have me prove myself a bastard?
LAVINIA
‘Tis true; the raven doth not hatch a lark:
Yet have I heard,—O, could I find it now!—
The lion moved with pity did endure
To have his princely paws pared all away:
Some say that ravens foster forlorn children,
The whilst their own birds famish in their nests:
O, be to me, though thy hard heart say no,
Nothing so kind, but something pitiful!

DUTCH:
Hoor haar, vorstin; het zij uw roem, haar tranen
Te aanschouwen; doch voor deze zij uw hart,
Wat harde keien zijn voor regendroppels.

MORE:
Proverb: Constant dropping will wear the stone
Proverb: An eagle does not hatch a dove
Proverb: He sucked evil from the dug
Proverb: The lion spares the suppliant

Glory=Pride
Learn her=Teach her
Hadst=Took in
Children=Chicks
Forlorn=Wretched, abandoned
Compleat:
Glory=Heerlykheid, gloori, roem
Learn=Leren
Forlorn=Wanhoopig, neerslagtig door een mislukking; Verlaaten

Topics: proverbs and idioms, pride, life, pity

For revenged I will be, as sure as his guts are made of puddings

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Mistress Page
CONTEXT:
MISTRESS PAGE
Ask me no reason why I love you; for though
Love use Reason for his physician, he admits him
not for his counsellor. You are not young, no more
am I; go to then, there’s sympathy: you are merry,
so am I; ha, ha! then there’s more sympathy: you
love sack, and so do I; would you desire better
sympathy? Let it suffice thee, Mistress Page,—at
the least, if the love of soldier can suffice,—
that I love thee. I will not say, pity me; ’tis
not a soldier-like phrase: but I say, love me. By me,
Thine own true knight,
By day or night,
Or any kind of light,
With all his might
For thee to fight, John Falstaff
What a Herod of Jewry is this! O wicked
world! One that is well-nigh worn to pieces with
age to show himself a young gallant! What an
unweighed behavior hath this Flemish drunkard
picked—with the devil’s name!—out of my
conversation, that he dares in this manner assay me?
Why, he hath not been thrice in my company! What
should I say to him? I was then frugal of my
mirth: Heaven forgive me! Why, I’ll exhibit a bill
in the parliament for the putting down of men. How
shall I be revenged on him? for revenged I will be,
as sure as his guts are made of puddings.

DUTCH:
Hoe kan ik mij op hem wreken? want
wreken wil ik mij, zoo waar als zijn ingewanden uit
louter poddingen bestaan.

MORE:
Sack=The generic name of Spanish and Canary wines
Counsellor=Legal or personal adviser
Sympathy=Common ground
Jewry=Judea
Unweighed=Ill=considered
Assay=Try to seduce
Exhibit=Introduce
Pudding=A gut filled with stuffing
Compleat:
Sack=Sek, een soort van sterke wyn
Counsellor=Een raad, raaadsheer, raadgeever
Sympathy=Onderlinge trek, wederzydsche zucht, medegevoel
Assay=Beproeven, toetsen, onderstaan
Exhibit=Voordraagen, opgeeven
Pudding=Beuling

Topics: revenge, reason, love, pity

For we may pity though not pardon thee

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

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

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

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

He hath a tear for pity and a hand Open as day for melting charity.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
Therefore omit him not; blunt not his love,
Nor lose the good advantage of his grace
By seeming cold or careless of his will.
For he is gracious if he be observed;
He hath a tear for pity and a hand
Open as day for melting charity;
Yet notwithstanding, being incensed he is flint,
As humorous as winter, and as sudden
As flaws congealed in the spring of day.
His temper therefore must be well observed.

DUTCH:
Den traan van ‘t meêlij heeft hij, en een hand
Voor weeke goedheid open als de dag;

MORE:

He is gracious if he be observed=If he is shown respect
Humorous=Changeable (as the weather in winter)
Omit=Disregard, ignore
Careless=Heedless, having no regard to, indifferent to
Flint=Proverbial hard, source of fire
Melting=Feeling pity

Compleat:
Careless=Zorgeloos, kommerloos, achteloos, onachtzaam
Omit=Nalaaten, overslaan, voorbygaan, verzuimen
Flint=Een keisteen, vuursteen, keizel, flint
Humoursom (humerous)=Eigenzinnig, koppig, styfhoofdig, eenzinnig

Topics: pity, emotion and mood, respect, flaw/fault

He may keep his own grace, but he’s almost out of mine, I can assure him.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
The juvenal, the Prince your master, whose chin is not yet
fledge—I will sooner have a beard grow in the palm
of my hand than he shall get one off his cheek,
and yet he will not stick to say his face is a face royal.
God may finish it when He will.
’Tis not a hair amiss yet.
He may keep it still at a face royal, for a barber
shall never earn sixpence out of it,
and yet he’ll be crowing as if he had writ man
ever since his father was a bachelor.
He may keep his own grace, but he’s
almost out of mine, I can assure him.

DUTCH:
Een prinselijke genade kan hij zijn en
blijven, maar bij mij is hij bijna uit de genade, dat kan
ik hem verzekeren

MORE:

Juvenal=Youth
Amiss=Out of time and order, wrong
Not a hair amiss=Not a hair out of place
Fledge=Covered with down
Stick=Hesitate
Face royal=Majestic face
Writ man=Having reached maturity, manhood
Barber shall never earn a sixpence=Barber would have nothing to shave

Compleat:
Stick=Schroomen
To stick at a thing (to make a conscience or a scruple)=Geweetenswerk ergens van maaken
He sticks at nothing for lucre’s sake=Hij ontziet niets om voordeels wille
Grace (agreeableness)=Bevalligheid
Grace=Genade
Fledged=Met veeren voorzien

Topics: insult, patience, pity, respect, age/experience

Here’s the pang that pinches

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

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

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

Topics: pity, reputation, authority

I am sorry for thee. Thou art come to answer
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Duke
CONTEXT:
DUKE
I am sorry for thee. Thou art come to answer
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch
Uncapable of pity, void and empty
From any dram of mercy.
ANTONIO
I have heard
Your grace hath ta’en great pains to qualify
His rigorous course. But since he stands obdurate
And that no lawful means can carry me
Out of his envy’s reach, I do oppose
My patience to his fury, and am armed
To suffer with a quietness of spirit
The very tyranny and rage of his.

DUTCH:
Ik ben in zorg om u; gij hebt te doen
Met een, die harder is dan steen, een onmensch,
Voor medelijden doof, in wien geen vonkjen
Erbarmen huist.

MORE:
Answer=Reply to a charge, defend, account
Stony=Hard, pitiless
Dram=Small measurement, trace
Qualify=Moderate
Envy=Malice
Compleat:
Stony=Steeneig, steenachtig
Dram=Een vierendeel loods; een druppel
Qualify=Maatigen, temperen
Envy=Benyd

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

I endowed thy purposes
With words that made them known.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Miranda
CONTEXT:
MIRANDA
Abhorrèd slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other. When thou didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like
A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes
With words that made them known. But thy vile race,
Though thou didst learn, had that in ’t which good natures
Could not abide to be with. Therefore wast thou
Deservedly confined into this rock,
Who hadst deserved more than a prison.
CALIBAN
You taught me language, and my profit on ’t
Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
For learning me your language!

DUTCH:
Deernis had ik;
En schonk u met veel zorg de spraak, ik leerde
U ieder uur iets nieuws; toen gij, een wilde,
Uzelven niet begreept, en klanken uitstiet
Gelijk het stomste vee, gaf ik u woorden,
Zoodat ge u uiten kondt;

MORE:
Schmidt:
Print=Imprint
Take=To receive as a thing in any way given or communicated
Gabble=Caliban is speaking in another language (incomprehensible to Miranda)
Purpose=That which a person or thing means to say or express, sense, meaning, purport: “I endowed thy –s with words,”
Rid=Destroy
Compleat:
Imprint=Inddrukken, inprenten
To imprint a thing in one’s mind=Iemand iets in het geheugen prenten
Gabble=Gekakel, gesnater
To gabble=Snappen, kakelen, koeteren
To gabble French=Fransch koeteren

Topics: language, learning/education, understanding, status, pity, order/society

It boots thee not to be compassionate: After our sentence plaining comes too late.

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: King Richard II
CONTEXT:
THOMAS MOWBRAY
(…) Doubly portcullis’d with my teeth and lips;
And dull unfeeling barren ignorance
Is made my gaoler to attend on me.
I am too old to fawn upon a nurse,
Too far in years to be a pupil now:
What is thy sentence then but speechless death,
Which robs my tongue from breathing native breath?
KING RICHARD II
It boots thee not to be compassionate:
After our sentence plaining comes too late.

DUTCH:
Vergeefsch dat roerend jamm’ren; ‘t geeft geen baat;
Uw klacht is, nu ons vonnis viel, te laat.

MORE:

A semi-literal allusion to a proverb of the time, ‘Good that the teeth guard the tongue’ (1578) and the virtue of silence. Ben Jonson recommended a ‘wise tongue’ that should not be ‘licentious and wandering’. (See also the Lucio in Measure for Measure: “’tis a secret must be locked within the
teeth and the lips”.)

Cunning=Skilful
Sentence=Verdict (punning on language)
Breathing native breath=Speaking native English (and breathing English air)
No boot=No point, profit, advantage
Compassionate=Pitiful
Plaining=Making a formal complaint

Compleat:
Cunning=Behendig
No boot=Te vergeefs, vruchteloos

Topics: mercy, regret, pity, punishment

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

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

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

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

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

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues, and every tongue brings in a several tale

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King Richard III
CONTEXT:
KING RICHARD
Give me another horse! Bind up my wounds!
Have mercy, Jesu!—Soft, I did but dream.
O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight.
Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
What do I fear? Myself? There’s none else by.
Richard loves Richard; that is, I and I.
Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am.
Then fly! What, from myself? Great reason why:
Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself?
Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? For any good
That I myself have done unto myself?
O, no! Alas, I rather hate myself
For hateful deeds committed by myself.
I am a villain. Yet I lie. I am not.
Fool, of thyself speak well. Fool, do not flatter.
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
Perjury, perjury, in the highest degree;
Murder, stern murder, in the direst degree;
All several sins, all used in each degree,
Throng to the bar, crying all, “Guilty! guilty!”
I shall despair. There is no creature loves me,
And if I die no soul will pity me.
And wherefore should they, since that I myself
Find in myself no pity to myself?
Methought the souls of all that I had murdered
Came to my tent, and every one did threat
Tomorrow’s vengeance on the head of Richard.

DUTCH:
O, mijn geweten heeft veel duizend tongen,
En ied’re tong vertelt een ander stuk,
En ieder stuk veroordeelt mij als schurk.

MORE:
Fly=Flee
Several=Separate
Burn blue=Indicating spirits
Compleat:
Flee=Vlieden, vlugten
Several=Verscheyden

Topics: conscience, imagination, punishment, guilt, pity

No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Anne
CONTEXT:
ANNE
Villain, thou know’st not law of God nor man.
No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.
RICHARD
But I know none, and therefore am no beast.
ANNE
O, wonderful, when devils tell the truth!
RICHARD
More wonderful, when angels are so angry.
Vouchsafe, divine perfection of a woman,
Of these supposèd crimes to give me leave
By circumstance but to acquit myself.
ANNE
Vouchsafe, diffused infection of a man,
Of these known evils but to give me leave
By circumstance to curse thy cursèd self.

DUTCH:
Anna.
Gij schurk, gij kent geen wet, van God noch mensch,
Het wildste beest kent eenig medelijden.
Gloster.
Dit ken ik niet en ben alzoo geen beest .

MORE:
Proverb: The devil sometimes speaks the truth

Vouchsafe=Grant
Circumstance=Argument
Diffused=Sprawling
Compleat:
To vouchsafe=Gewaardign, vergunnen
Circumstanced=Met omstandigheden belegd, onder omstandighede begreepen
To diffuse=Verspreyden

Topics: pity, nature

No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity

DUTCH:
Anna.
Gij schurk, gij kent geen wet, van God noch mensch,
Het wildste beest kent eenig medelijden.
Gloster.
Dit ken ik niet en ben alzoo geen beest .

MORE:
Proverb: The devil sometimes speaks the truth

Vouchsafe=Grant
Circumstance=Argument
Diffused=Sprawling
Compleat:
To vouchsafe=Gewaardign, vergunnen
Circumstanced=Met omstandigheden belegd, onder omstandighede begreepen
To diffuse=Verspreyden

Topics: pity, nature

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

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

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

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

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

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

That by misfortunes was my life prolonged to tell sad stories of my own mishaps

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

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

The clock upbraids me with the waste of time

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Olivia
CONTEXT:
VIOLA
I pity you.
OLIVIA
That’s a degree to love.
VIOLA
No, not a grize. For ’tis a vulgar proof
That very oft we pity enemies.
OLIVIA
Why then methinks ’tis time to smile again.
O world, how apt the poor are to be proud!
If one should be a prey, how much the better
To fall before the lion than the wolf!
The clock upbraids me with the waste of time.
Be not afraid, good youth, I will not have you.
And yet when wit and youth is come to harvest,
Your wife is like to reap a proper man.
There lies your way, due west.

DUTCH:
De klok verwijt mij reeds mijn tijdverkwisting. —
Gerust, mijn jonge vriend, ik wil u niet;
Maar toch, zijn eenmaal geest en jeugd gerijpt,
Dan oogst uw gade in u een besten man.

MORE:
Degree=Step
Grize=Step, degree
Vulgar proof=Common experience
Proud=Turn down an offer
Proper=Handsome
Compleat:
Degree=Een graad, trap
Vulgar=(common) Gemeen
Proof=Getuigenis
Proud=Hovaardig, trots
Proper=Net, beknopt

Topics: pity, rivalty, pride

The law I bear no malice for my death; ‘T has done, upon the premises, but justice

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Buckingham
CONTEXT:
BUCKINGHAM
All good people,
You that thus far have come to pity me,
Hear what I say, and then go home and lose me.
I have this day received a traitor’s judgment,
And by that name must die: yet, heaven bear witness,
And if I have a conscience, let it sink me,
Even as the axe falls, if I be not faithful!
The law I bear no malice for my death;
‘T has done, upon the premises, but justice:
But those that sought it I could wish more Christians:
Be what they will, I heartily forgive ’em:
Yet let ’em look they glory not in mischief,
Nor build their evils on the graves of great men;
For then my guiltless blood must cry against ’em.
For further life in this world I ne’er hope,
Nor will I sue, although the king have mercies
More than I dare make faults. You few that loved me,
And dare be bold to weep for Buckingham,
His noble friends and fellows, whom to leave
Is only bitter to him, only dying,
Go with me, like good angels, to my end;
And, as the long divorce of steel falls on me,
Make of your prayers one sweet sacrifice,
And lift my soul to heaven. Lead on, o’ God’s name.

DUTCH:
k Draag om mijn dood mijn’ rechters geenen wrok toe,
Zij spraken recht naar wat hun waarheid scheen;

MORE:
Lose=Forget
Sink=Ruin
Premises=Evidence
Look=Guard against
Compleat:
Lose=Verliezen, quyt raaken
To sink=Zinken, te gronde gaan, verzinken
Premisses=Het voorgaande, ‘t voorgemelde, ‘t voorschreevene

Topics: pity, evidence, justice

The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Touchstone
CONTEXT:
CELIA
My father’s love is enough to honour him. Enough. Speak
no more of him; you’ll be whipped for taxation one of these days.
TOUCHSTONE
The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise
men do foolishly.
CELIA
By my troth, thou sayest true. For, since the little
wit that fools have was silenced, the little foolery
that wise men have makes a great show. Here comes
Monsieur Le Beau.
ROSALIND
With his mouth full of news.
CELIA
Which he will put on us as pigeons feed their young.
ROSALIND
Then shall we be news-crammed.

DUTCH:
Des te erger, als dwazen niet meer in hun wijsheid mogen zeggen, wat wijze lui in hun dwaasheid doen.

MORE:
Proverb: The wise man knows himself to be a fool, the fool thinks he is wise

‘Silenced’ is probably a topical reference, either to new restraints imposed on theatrical companies or to the burning of satirical books in 1599.

Whipping was a cruel punishment. In the days of Henry VIII an Act decreed that vagrants were to be carried to some market town, or other place, and there tied to the end of a cart, naked, and beaten with whips throughout such market-town, or other place, till the body should be bloody by reason of such whipping. The punishment was mitigated in Elizabeth’s reign, to the extent that vagrants need only to be “stripped naked from the middle upwards and whipped till the body should be bloody”.

Whipped=Censure, satire, invective “You’ll be whipped for taxation one of these days”.
Foolery=Absurdity
News-crammed=Full of news (and therefore valuable on the market)
Compleat:
Whipped=Gegeesseld
Foolery=Malligheid
Cram=Kroppen, proppen, mesten, overladen

Topics: pity, wisdom, language, proverbs and idioms

The scars upon your honour therefore he does pity as constrainèd blemishes, not as deserved

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 3.13
SPEAKER: Thidias
CONTEXT:
THIDIAS
He knows that you embraced not Antony
As you did love, but as you feared him.
CLEOPATRA
Oh!
THIDIAS
The scars upon your honour therefore he
Does pity as constrainèd blemishes,
Not as deserved.
CLEOPATRA
He is a god and knows
What is most right. Mine honour was not yielded,
But conquered merely.
ENOBARBUS
To be sure of that,
I will ask Antony. Sir, sir, thou art so leaky
That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for
Thy dearest quit thee.

DUTCH:
De schrammen op uw eer beklaagt hij dus
Als krenking, die u opgedrongen werd,
Maar buiten uwe schuld.

MORE:
Constrained=Forced, endured
Blemishes=Stain (moral sense); dishonour
Leaky=Stricken, destitute
Quit=Are deserting
Compleat:
Constrained=Bedwongen, gedrongen, gepraamd
To blemish=Besmetten, bevlekken, schenden
Leaky=lek, ondicht
To quit (leave)=Verlaaten

Topics: friendship, loyalty, pity, merit

The smallest worm will turn being trodden on

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Clifford
CONTEXT:
My gracious liege, this too much lenity
And harmful pity must be laid aside.
To whom do lions cast their gentle looks?
Not to the beast that would usurp their den.
Whose hand is that the forest bear doth lick?
Not his that spoils her young before her face.
Who ‘scapes the lurking serpent’s mortal sting?
Not he that sets his foot upon her back.
The smallest worm will turn being trodden on,
And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood.

DUTCH:
De kleinste worm verheft, getrapt, den kop

MORE:

Proverb: Tread on a worm and it will turn

Lenity=Mildness
Spoils=Seizes, hunts
Level at=Is aiming for
In safeguard of=To protect

Compleat:
Lenity=Zachtheid, zoetelykheid, gedweegzaamheid, slapheid
To spoil=Bederven, vernielen, berooven
Safeguard=Beschutting, bescherming

Topics: pity, mercy, nature, ambition, strength

Then, Joan, discover thine infirmity,
That warranteth by law to be thy privilege.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Joan la Pucelle
CONTEXT:
Will nothing turn your unrelenting hearts?
Then, Joan, discover thine infirmity,
That warranteth by law to be thy privilege.
I am with child, ye bloody homicides:
Murder not then the fruit within my womb,
Although ye hale me to a violent death.

DUTCH:
Kan niets u ‘t onmeedoogend hart vermurwen? —
Dan, Jeanne, kome uw zwakheid nu aan ‘t licht,
Die naar de wet een voorrecht u verleent.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Ligon v. Middletown Area School District, 584 A.2d 376, 379 (Pa. Ct. App. 1990). (The court wrote, “…not since Joan de Plucelle in Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part I attempted to defend herself from a capital charge by proclaiming herself a virgin and then, seeing that that particular defense was unlikely to prevail, informed the judge that she was with child, has anyone argued a judicial point with a more breathtaking Jack of concern for consistency.”

Schmidt:
Turn=Change
Unrelenting=Pitiless
Privilege=Right (of a pregnant woman to postpone execution until after the birth of her child)
Homicided=Murderers
Hale=To pull, drag

Compleat:
Turn=Veranderen
Unrelenting=Onmedoogend, onvermurwelyk
Homicide=Doodslager
Hale=Sleepen, trekken, sleuren

Topics: cited in law, rights, pity

To whom do lions cast their gentle looks?
Not to the beast that would usurp their den

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Clifford
CONTEXT:
My gracious liege, this too-much lenity
And harmful pity must be laid aside.
To whom do lions cast their gentle looks?
Not to the beast that would usurp their den.
Whose hand is that the forest bear doth lick?
Not his that spoils her young before her face.
Who ‘scapes the lurking serpent’s mortal sting?
Not he that sets his foot upon her back.
The smallest worm will turn being trodden on,
And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood.
Ambitious York doth level at thy crown,
Thou smiling while he knit his angry brows.

DUTCH:
Mijn hooge vorst, schud die te groote zachtheid,
Dit schaad’lijk medelijden van u af.
Wien werpen leeuwen zachte blikken toe?
Toch niet aan ‘t beest, dat in hun hol wil dringen.

MORE:

Proverb: Tread on a worm and it will turn

Lenity=Mildness
Spoils=Seizes, hunts
Level at=Is aiming for
In safeguard of=To protect

Compleat:
Lenity=Zachtheid, zoetelykheid, gedweegzaamheid, slapheid
To spoil=Bederven, vernielen, berooven
Safeguard=Beschutting, bescherming

Topics: pity, mercy, nature, ambition, strength

To write and read be henceforth treacherous!

DUTCH:
Gij, met dien bandeloozen duivel Cloten,
Gij hebt mijn gá vermoord! O, lezen, schrijven,
Zij voortaan hoogverraad! — Pisanio, bloedhond! —
Gij hebt met valschen brief,

Topics: pity, imagination, madness, evidence

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

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

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

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

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

You look on me: what wreck discern you in me deserves your pity?

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 1.6
SPEAKER: Imogen
CONTEXT:
IACHIMO
Not he: but yet heaven’s bounty towards him might
Be used more thankfully. In himself, ’tis much;
In you, which I account his beyond all talents,
Whilst I am bound to wonder, I am bound
To pity too.
IMOGEN
What do you pity, sir?
IACHIMO
Two creatures heartily.
IMOGEN
Am I one, sir?
You look on me: what wreck discern you in me
Deserves your pity?
IACHIMO
Lamentable! What,
To hide me from the radiant sun and solace
I’ the dungeon by a snuff?
IMOGEN
I pray you, sir,
Deliver with more openness your answers
To my demands. Why do you pity me?

DUTCH:
Ben ik er een van, heer?
Gij ziet mij aan; wat deerniswaarde ellend
Ontdekt ge in mij?

MORE:
Talents=Price (coins)
Wreck=Disaster
Solace=Consolation
Snuff=A dying candle
Compleat:
Talent=Een talent; pond
Wreck (wrack)=Verlooren gaan; te gronde gaan
Solace=Troost, vertroosting, vermaaak
To snuff out a candle=Een kaars uitsnuiten

Topics: pity