CJTranslations - poverty and wealth

QUOTES BY TOPIC

A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats

PLAY: King Lear ACT/SCENE: 2.2 SPEAKER: Kent CONTEXT: A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking knave; a whoreson, glass-gazing, super-serviceable finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service; and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch; one whom I will beat into clamorous whining if thou deniest the least syllable of thy addition DUTCH: Dat je een schurk bent, een gladjakker, een pottenlikker,
een lage, verwaten, leeghoofdige bedelaar; een gratis
livreien dragende; MORE:
White livers used to signify cowardice. Hence lily-livered (Macbeth, 5.3) and milk-livered (King Lear, 4.2), both compounds coined by Shakespeare
Schmidt:
Broken meats=Dcraps, leftovers, such as a menial would eat
Three-suited= Serving men were allotted three suits of clothes
Glass-gazing=Vain
Finical=fussy, fastidious
One-trunk-inheriting=With only enough possessions to fill one trunk
Compleat:
Finical (affected)=Gemaakt, styf
Broken meat=Klieken, overschoten spyze.
Burgersdijk notes:
Bedelachtigen, pronkenigen. Zeer duidelijk zijn de scheldwoorden in het oorspronkelijke niet. Het beggarly zou b. v, wel een bepaling van threesuited kunnen zijn, en dit laatste behoeft dan niet te zien op het vaak verwisselen van kleederen, zooals pronkers doen, maar den dienaar kenschetsen, daar misschien een meester aan zijne knecht drie pakken in ‘t jaar gaf. Het worsted-stocking, dat volgt, ziet op de gewoonte om, zoo het maar even ging, zijden kousen te dragen; wie grofwollen kousen droeg, was niet veel bijzonders. Topics: insult, invented or popularised, poverty and wealth, order/society, status

A man I am, crossed with adversity

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Valentine
CONTEXT:
THIRD OUTLAW
Ay, by my beard, will we, for he’s a proper man.
VALENTINE
Then know that I have little wealth to lose:
A man I am crossed with adversity;
My riches are these poor habiliments,
Of which if you should here disfurnish me,
You take the sum and substance that I have.

DUTCH:
Zoo weet dan, ik heb weinig te verliezen.
Ik ben een man, door ‘t ongeluk bestookt;
Mijn rijkdom zijn mijn poov’re kleedren hier,
En als gij daarvan mij ontbiooten wilt,
Dan neemt gij al mijn have en goed mij af.

MORE:
Crossed with adversity=Down on his luck
Habiliments=Clothes
Disfurnish=Deprive
Compleat:
To cross=Tegenstreeven, dwars voor de boeg komen, dwarsboomen, wederestreeven, kruisen
Habiliment=Kleeding, dos, gewaad

Topics: adversity, fate/destiny, poverty and wealth

A wretched soul, bruised with adversity

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

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

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

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

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

An ill-favoured thing, sir, but mine own

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Touchstone
CONTEXT:
TOUCHSTONE
God ‘ield you, sir. I desire you of the like. I press in
here, sir, amongst the rest of the country copulatives,
to swear and to forswear, according as marriage binds
and blood breaks. A poor virgin, sir, an ill-favoured
thing, sir, but mine own. A poor humour of mine, sir, to
take that that no man else will. Rich honesty dwells
like a miser, sir, in a poor house, as your pearl in
your foul oyster.
DUKE SENIOR
By my faith, he is very swift and sententious.
TOUCHSTONE
According to the fool’s bolt, sir, and such dulcet diseases.

DUTCH:
[E]en arm maagdeken, heer, een leelijk schepseltjen, heer, maar van mij.

MORE:
Proverb: A fool’s bolt is soon shot (c. 1225)

God yield you=God bless you
Copulatives=Marrying couples
Swear=Take an oath (of innocence)
Forswear=Break one’s oath
Compleat:
Copulative=Samenvoegend
To swear=Zweeren, beëedigen
To forswear a thing=Zweeren dat iets zo niet is

Burgersdijk notes:
Naar den aard van de stompscherpe narrepijlen. According to the fool’s bolt. Een bolt was van een ronden knobbel aan het eind voorzien. Het antwoord van den nar ziet op het compliment van den hertog: he is very quick; „hij is zeer vlug, zeer gevat.” Men mag er het spreekwoord: A fool’s bolt is soon shot, K. Hendrik V , III. 7. 132 , mee in verband brengen.

Topics: still in use, proverbs and idioms, value, poverty and wealth

Before I entered here, I called, and thought to have begged or bought what I have took

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Imogen
CONTEXT:
IMOGEN, [as Fidele]Good masters, harm me not.
Before I entered here, I called, and thought
To have begged or bought what I have took. Good troth,
I have stol’n naught, nor would not, though I had found
Gold strewed i’ th’ floor. Here’s money for my meat.
I would have left it on the board so soon
As I had made my meal, and parted
With prayers for the provider.
GUIDERIUS [as Polydor]
Money, youth?
ARVIRAGUS [as Cadwal]All gold and silver rather turn to dirt,
As ’tis no better reckoned but of those
Who worship dirty gods.

DUTCH:
Doet, goede menschen, mij geen leed; ik riep,
Aleer ik binnentrad, en was van plan
Te vragen of te koopen, wat ik nu
Genomen heb.

MORE:
Thought to have:
I had thought (followed by the perf. inf.)=I intended, I supposed, I was going
Part=Depart, go away from
Reckon=To esteem, to think, to hold
Compleat:
He thought to serve me a base trick=Hy meende my een lelyke poets te speelen
To reckon (or esteem)=Achten, voorhouden
Dirty (base)=Vuil, laag

Topics: money, honesty, poverty and wealth

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

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

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

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

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

Happier is he that has no friend to feed than such that do e’en enemies exceed

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Flavius
CONTEXT:
FLAVIUS
What will this come to?
He commands us to provide, and give great gifts,
And all out of an empty coffer:
Nor will he know his purse, or yield me this,
To show him what a beggar his heart is,
Being of no power to make his wishes good:
His promises fly so beyond his state
That what he speaks is all in debt; he owes
For every word: he is so kind that he now
Pays interest for ‘t; his land’s put to their books.
Well, would I were gently put out of office
Before I were forced out!
Happier is he that has no friend to feed
Than such that do e’en enemies exceed.
I bleed inwardly for my lord.

DUTCH:
Gelukkiger, wie, vriendenloos, geen gast
Ooit ziet, dan wie een tal van vrienden voedt,
Die ieder erger dan een vijand doet.

MORE:
Empty coffer=Lack of assets
Fly beyond his state=Exceed his capacity, promising more than he can deliver
Purse=Finances
Put to their books=Mortgaged or signed over to
Bleed=Lament
Compleat:
State=Staat, rang
Purse=Beurs; to purse up money=Geld in zyn zak steeken
To be in any one’s books=Iemands schuldenaar weezen
A book of accounts=Een koopmans schryf-boek, een reeken-boek

Topics: poverty and wealth, debt/obligation, money, friendship

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

He that keeps nor crust nor crumb,
Weary of all, shall want some.

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
Thou wast a pretty fellow when thou hadst no need to care for her frowning. Now thou art an O without a figure. I am better than thou art now. I am a fool. Thou art nothing.
(to GONERIL) Yes, forsooth, I will hold my tongue. So your face bids me, though you say nothing. Mum, mum,
He that keeps nor crust nor crumb,
Weary of all, shall want some.
(indicating LEAR) That’s a shelled peascod.

DUTCH:
Bedaard, bedaard;
Want wie korst noch kruim bewaart,
Treurt, dat hij niets heeft bespaard.
Die daar is een uitgedopte erwteschil.

MORE:
He that keeps nor crust nor crumb: he who foolishly gives everything away because he is tired of it will eventually need some of it back.
An O without a figure=a cipher, a zero with no other number to give it a value
Schmidt:
Shelled peascod (or pescod)=a shelled peaspod: insult, an empty peapod (een lege peulenschil), a nothing.

Topics: poverty and wealth, excess, value, caution, ruin

He that wants money, means and content is without three good friends

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Corin
CONTEXT:
CORIN
And how like you this shepherd’s life, Master
Touchstone?
TOUCHSTONE
Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good
life; but in respect that it is a shepherd’s life, it is
naught. In respect that it is solitary, I like it very
well; but in respect that it is private, it is a very
vile life. Now in respect it is in the fields, it
pleaseth me well; but in respect it is not in the court,
it is tedious. As it is a spare life, look you, it fits
my humor well; but as there is no more plenty in it, it
goes much against my stomach. Hast any philosophy in
thee, shepherd?
CORIN
No more but that I know the more one sickens, the worse
at ease he is, and that he that wants money, means, and
content is without three good friends; that the
property of rain is to wet, and fire to burn; that good
pasture makes fat sheep; and that a great cause of the
night is lack of the sun; that he that hath learned no
wit by nature nor art may complain of good breeding or
comes of a very dull kindred.

DUTCH:
Niet meer, dan dat ik weet, dat iemand, hoe zieker hij is, zich minder pleizierig voelt; en dat wie geen geld, geen goed en geen tevredenheid heeft, drie goede vrienden minder heeft.

MORE:
Naught=Worthless
Solitary=Contemplative
Private=Deprived of company, lonely
Vile=Base, bad, abject (contemptuous)
Spare=Frugal
Stomach=Inclination (appetite)
No more but=Only
Property=Innate character
Wit=Understanding
Compleat:
Naught=Ondeugend (deugt niet); niet
Solitary=Eenig, heimelyk, afzonderlyk. Eenzaam, stil.
Private=Afgezonderd, geheim, byzonder, gemeen, ampteloos
Vile=Slecht, gering, verachtelyk, eerloos
Spare=Dun, mager
Stomach=Trek (appetite); hart (spirit)
Property=Eigenschap, natuurlyke hoedaanigheid
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand

Topics: order/society, intellect, money, poverty and wealth, nature, understanding

His thefts were too open; his filching was like an unskilful singer; he kept not time

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Pistol
CONTEXT:
FALSTAFF
I am glad I am so acquit of this tinderbox: his
thefts were too open; his filching was like an
unskilful singer; he kept not time.
NYM
The good humour is to steal at a minute’s rest.
PISTOL
‘Convey,’ the wise it call. ‘Steal!’ foh! a fico
for the phrase!
FALSTAFF
Well, sirs, I am almost out at heels.
PISTOL
Why, then, let kibes ensue.
FALSTAFF
There is no remedy; I must cony-catch; I must shift.
PISTOL
Young ravens must have food.

DUTCH:
Ik ben blij, dat ik zoo van die tondeldoos afkom; zijn
diefstallen waren al te zichtbaar; in het kapen was hij
als een onbedreven zanger, hij hield de maat niet.

MORE:
Proverb: A fig for him (it)
Proverb: Small birds must have meat

Acquit=Rid
Tinderbox=Fire-starting equipment (re. Bardolph’s irritability)
Open=Obvious, visible
Good humour=Trick
A minute’s rest=Within a minute
Convey=Steal
Fico=Fig
Out at heels=Destitute
Kibes=Sores
Cony-catch=Swindle
Shift=Live by my wits
Compleat:
Acquit=Quyten, ontslaan
Tinderbox=Een tondeldoosje
I don’t care a fig for it=Ik geef ‘er niet een boon om
Kibe=Kakhiel, winterhiel
Cony=Konijn
Shift=Zichzelve redden

Burgersdijk notes:
Een figo. Een teeken van verachting.
Gaan stroopen. Er staat eigenlijk konijnen vangen.

Topics: poverty and wealth, offence, adversity, proverbs and idioms

His word might bear my wealth at any time

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

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

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

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

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

How in the name of thrift does he rake this together?

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: King Henry VIII
CONTEXT:
KING HENRY VIII
What piles of wealth hath he accumulated
To his own portion! and what expense by the hour
Seems to flow from him! How, i’ the name of thrift,
Does he rake this together! Now, my lords,
Saw you the cardinal?
NORFOLK
My lord, we have
Stood here observing him: some strange commotion
Is in his brain: he bites his lip, and starts;
Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground,
Then lays his finger on his temple, straight
Springs out into fast gait; then stops again,
Strikes his breast hard, and anon he casts
His eye against the moon: in most strange postures
We have seen him set himself.
KING HENRY VIII
It may well be;
There is a mutiny in’s mind. This morning
Papers of state he sent me to peruse,
As I required: and wot you what I found
There,—on my conscience, put unwittingly?
Forsooth, an inventory, thus importing;
The several parcels of his plate, his treasure,
Rich stuffs, and ornaments of household; which
I find at such proud rate, that it out-speaks
Possession of a subject.

DUTCH:
Bij al wat winst is, hoe
Schraapt hij dit alles saam ? — Gij daar, mylords?
Zaagt gij den kardinaal?

MORE:
Wot=Know
To his own portion=For himself
Start=Jump
Straight=Straight away
Mutiny=Discord
Importing=Concerning
On my conscience=I believe
Stuff=Fabric
Compleat:
I wot=Ik weet
To start=Schrikken
Straightway=Eenswegs, terstond, opstaandevoet
Mutiny=Oproer, muytery
To import=Medebrengen, betekenen
Conscience=Het geweeten
A court of conscience=Een gerechtshof om kleynigheden te beslechten
Stuff=Stof, stoffe

Topics: poverty and wealth, money, emotion and mood

I am weak with toil, yet strong in appetite

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Belarius
CONTEXT:
BELARIUS
You, Polydore, have proved best woodman and
Are master of the feast: Cadwal and I
Will play the cook and servant; ’tis our match:
The sweat of industry would dry and die,
But for the end it works to. Come; our stomachs
Will make what’s homely savoury: weariness
Can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth
Finds the down pillow hard. Now peace be here,
Poor house, that keep’st thyself!
GUIDERIUS
I am thoroughly weary.
ARVIRAGUS
I am weak with toil, yet strong in appetite.
GUIDERIUS
There is cold meat i’ the cave; we’ll browse on that,
Whilst what we have kill’d be cook’d.

DUTCH:
k Ben duchtig moe.
– Ik nu voor arbeid zwak, voor eten sterk.

MORE:
Resty is an obsolete form of restive (Century Dictionary: “By transition through the sense ‘impatient under restraint,’ and partly by confusion with ‘restless,’ the word has taken in present use the additional sense ‘restless.'”)
Onions defines restive as inactive, inert and sluggish (rusty).
Schmidt explains resty sloth as “stiff with too much rest”, comparing “resty-stiff” in Edward III

Woodman=Hunter
Match=Compact
Compleat:
Wood-men=Oppassers in des Konings bosschaagie, boomsnoeijers
Match (bargain)=Koop, onderhandeling, overeenstemming
Restive/Resty (froward, stubborn)=Stug, koppig
A resty horse=Een paerd dat niet voort wil of zich niet wil laaten regeeren

Topics: money, honesty, poverty and wealth, work, satisfaction

I have too long borne your blunt upbraidings and your bitter scoffs

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Queen Elizabeth
CONTEXT:
QUEEN ELIZABETH
My Lord of Gloucester, I have too long borne
Your blunt upbraidings and your bitter scoffs.
With those gross taunts that oft I have endured.
I had rather be a country servant-maid
Than a great queen with this condition,
To be so baited, scorned, and stormed at.
Small joy have I in being England’s queen.
QUEEN MARGARET
And lessened be that small, God I beseech Him!
Thy honour, state, and seat is due to me.

DUTCH:
Mylord van Gloster, al te lang verdroeg ik,
Uw plompen smaad en uwen bitt’ren spot ;
Bij God, ik meld nu aan zijn majesteit
Den groven hoon, then ik zoo vaak moest lijden.

MORE:
Baited=Provoked
State=Rank
Due to me=Is rightfully mine
Compleat:
To bait=Aas leggen, lokken, lok-aazen
State=De rang
There is nothing due to him=Hy heeft niets te goed

Burgersdijk notes:
Dat kleine word’ nog minder. Deze verschijning van koningin Margaretha, zij komt op en verdwijnt
als een spook, – is een dichtersvond; na den slag bij Tewksbury werd zij een poos gevangen gehouden en door haar vader Reignier vrjjgekocht; na dien tjjd betrad zij Engelands grond niet weer.

Topics: abuse, complaint, order/society, poverty and wealth, satisfaction

I have too long borne your blunt upbraidings and your bitter scoffs

DUTCH:
Mylord van Gloster, al te lang verdroeg ik,
Uw plompen smaad en uwen bitt’ren spot ;
Bij God, ik meld nu aan zijn majesteit
Den groven hoon, then ik zoo vaak moest lijden.

MORE:
Baited=Provoked
State=Rank
Due to me=Is rightfully mine
Compleat:
To bait=Aas leggen, lokken, lok-aazen
State=De rang
There is nothing due to him=Hy heeft niets te goed

Topics: abuse, complaint, order/society, poverty and wealth, satisfaction

I say they nourished disobedience, fed the ruin of the state

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Whoever gave that counsel to give forth
The corn o’ th’ storehouse gratis, as ’twas used
Sometime in Greece—
MENENIUS Well, well, no more of that.
CORIOLANUS
Though there the people had more absolute power,
I say they nourished disobedience, fed
The ruin of the state.
BRUTUS
Why shall the people give
One that speaks thus their voice?
CORIOLANUS
I’ll give my reasons,
More worthier than their voices. They know the corn
Was not our recompense, resting well assured
They ne’er did service for ’t. Being pressed to th’ war,
Even when the navel of the state was touched,
They would not thread the gates. This kind of service
Did not deserve corn gratis. Being i’ the war,
Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they showed
Most valour, spoke not for them. The accusation
Which they have often made against the senate,
All cause unborn, could never be the motive
Of our so frank donation.

DUTCH:
Schoon daar het volk veel grooter macht bezat,
Die, zeg ik, kweekte muiterij en voedde
‘t Verderf des staats.

MORE:
Was not our recompense=Was not a reward we granted
Cause unborn=No existing cause
Sometime=For a while, used to do
Pressed=Impressed (into military service)
Navel=Centre (of the state)
Thread=Pass through
Compleat:
Press (or force) soldiers=Soldaaten pressen, dat is hen dwingen om dienst te neemen
Recompense=Vergelding, beloning
Sometimes=Somtyds

Topics: poverty and wealth, reason, order/society, claim, work

I see no reason in the law of nature but I may snap at him. Let time shape, and there an end.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
And now is this Vice’s dagger become a squire, and talks as
familiarly of John o’ Gaunt as if he had been sworn brother
to him, and I’ll be sworn he ne’er saw him but once in the
tilt-yard, and then he burst his head for crowding among the
Marshal’s men. I saw it and told John o’ Gaunt he beat his
own name, for you might have thrust him and all his apparel
into an eel-skin; the case of a treble hautboy was a mansion
for him, a court. And now has he land and beefs. Well, I’ll
be acquainted with him, if I return, and ’t shall go hard but
I’ll make him a philosopher’s two stones to me. If the young
dace be a bait for the old pike, I see no reason in the law of
nature but I may snap at him. Let time shape, and there an
end.

DUTCH:
Als de jonge voren een hapjen is voor een ouden
snoek, dan zie ik naar het natuurrecht geen reden, waarom
ik niet naar hem zou mogen happen. Komt tijd, komt
raad, — en daarmee uit.

MORE:

Proverb: The great fish eat up the small

Sworn brother=Comrade in arms
Hautboy=Musical instrument similar to modern oboe
But I’ll=If I don’t
Trussed=Packed (some versions have thrust …into)
Dace=The fish Cyprinus Leuciscus

Compleat:
Sworn-brothers=Eedgenooten, vloekverwanten
To truss=Inpakken
Dace=Een zekere visch, een daas

Topics: proverbs and idioms, achievement, poverty and wealth, time

I should not seek an absent argument of my revenge, thou present

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Duke Frederick
CONTEXT:
DUKE FREDERICK
Not see him since? Sir, sir, that cannot be.
But were I not the better part made mercy,
I should not seek an absent argument
Of my revenge, thou present. But look to it:
Find out thy brother, wheresoe’er he is.
Seek him with candle. Bring him, dead or living,
Within this twelvemonth or turn thou no more
To seek a living in our territory.
Thy lands and all things that thou dost call thine
Worth seizure, do we seize into our hands
Till thou canst quit thee by thy brother’s mouth
Of what we think against thee.
OLIVER
Oh, that your Highness knew my heart in this:
I never loved my brother in my life.
DUKE FREDERICK
More villain thou.— Well, push him out of doors
And let my officers of such a nature
Make an extent upon his house and lands.
Do this expediently, and turn him going.

DUTCH:
Sinds niet gezien? Heer, heer, dit kan niet zijn;
Was ‘t meeste van mijn wezen niet genade,
Dan zocht mijn wraak zich niet veraf een doel,
Nu gij in mijn bereik zijt.

MORE:
Made=Composed of
Argument=Subject
Seek him with candle=Look everywhere
Turn=Return
Quit=Acquit
Of such a nature=Appropriate
Extent=Writ of seizure
Expediently=Expeditiously
Compleat:
Made=Gemaakt
Argument=Bewys, bewysreden, dringreden; kort begrip der zaak die te bewyzen staat; inhoud
To turn=Draaien, keeren, wenden
To quit=Verschoonen, ontslaan
Expedient=Nuttelyk, dienstig, vorderlyk, noodig

Topics: poverty and wealth, revenge, mercy

I will be cheater to them both, and they shall be exchequers to me

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
FALSTAFF
O, she did so course o’er my exteriors with such a
greedy intention, that the appetite of her eye did
seem to scorch me up like a burning-glass! Here’s
another letter to her: she bears the purse too; she
is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty. I will
be cheater to them both, and they shall be
exchequers to me; they shall be my East and West
Indies, and I will trade to them both. Go bear thou
this letter to Mistress Page; and thou this to
Mistress Ford: we will thrive, lads, we will thrive.

DUTCH:
Ik wil schatmeester voor haar beiden zijn en
zij zullen mijn schatkisten zijn; mijn Oost- en West-
Indië zullen zij zijn, en ik zal met haar beiden handel
drijven. Ga, breng gij dezen brief naar juffrouw Page,
en gij dezen naar juffrouw Ford. Wij zullen vooruitkomen,
jongens, wij zullen vooruitkomen.

MORE:
Burning glass=Lens used to start a fire
Cheaters=Escheaters (Exchequer officers responsible for estates that came to the Crown; Robbers
Exchequers=Treasuries
Trade to=Transact with
Compleat:
Burning glass=Een Brandglas
Escheat=Vervalling van landeryen oop eenig Heer [‘ zy door verbeurte of versterving].
Escheator=De invordeeraar of ophaaler van verbeurde goederen
Escheated goods=Verbeurde of vervallen goederen [aan den Koning of eenig ander Heer]Exchequer=’s Lands Schatkist, de plaats daar ‘t geld tot de Kroon behoorende ontvangen wordt

Topics: poverty and wealth, money, business

I will make one of her women lawyer to me, for I yet not understand the case myself

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Cloten
CONTEXT:
CLOTEN
If she be up, I’ll speak with her; if not,
Let her lie still and dream.
By your leave, ho! I know her women are about her: what
If I do line one of their hands? ‘Tis gold
Which buys admittance; oft it doth; yea, and makes
Diana’s rangers false themselves, yield up
Their deer to the stand o’ the stealer; and ’tis gold
Which makes the true man kill’d and saves the thief;
Nay, sometime hangs both thief and true man: what
Can it not do and undo? I will make
One of her women lawyer to me, for
I yet not understand the case myself.
By your leave.
LADY
Who’s there that knocks?
CLOTEN
A gentleman.
LADY
No more?
CLOTEN
Yes, and a gentlewoman’s son.
LADY
That’s more
Than some, whose tailors are as dear as yours,
Can justly boast of. What’s your lordship’s pleasure?

DUTCH:
Ik weet, zij heeft haar vrouwvolk bij zich. Wacht!
Vulde ik aan een de handen eens? Voor goud
Verkrijgt men toegang, dikwijls, ja; het maakt
Diana’s jagers zelfs ontrouw, zoodat
Zij ‘t wild den stroopers tegendrijven; goud
Brengt brave kerels om en redt den dief,
Maar soms ook brengt het beiden aan de galg.

MORE:
Proverb: If money go before all ways lie open
Proverb: To line one’s purse (coat, hand)

Line hands=Bribe
Diana’s rangers=Gamekeepers, nymphs vowed to chastity
False=1) (adjective) Betraying a trust; 2) (verb) falsify (see ‘falsing’ in Comedy of Errors, 2.2)
Stand=Hiding-place in the thickest brake, across which the deer were expected to pass”, Madden, Diary of Master William Silence
Lawyer to=Advocate for

Topics: poverty and wealth, corruption, honesty, lawyers, law/legal, understanding, proverbs and idioms

I will none of your money. – It is with a good will. I can tell you it will serve you to mend your shoes.

PLAY: King Henry V
ACT/SCENE: 4.8
SPEAKER: Fluellen
CONTEXT:
WILLIAMS
I will none of your money.
FLUELLEN
It is with a good will. I can tell you it will serve you to mend your shoes. Come, wherefore should you be so pashful? Your shoes is not so good. ‘Tis a good silling, I warrant you, or I will change it.

DUTCH:

Ik wil uw geld niet.
Fluellen. Het is met een goeden wil; ik kan u zeggen, dat het
u dienen kan voor het lappen van uw schoenen

MORE:

Pashful=Bashful
Silling=Shilling

Mend your shoes: Shoes being an object of attention to the common soldier and most liable to be worn out (Malone).

Topics: money, dignity, poverty and wealth

I would the gods had nothing else to do but to confirm my curses!

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Pray, let us go.
VOLUMNIA
Now, pray, sir, get you gone:
You have done a brave deed. Ere you go, hear this:—
As far as doth the Capitol exceed
The meanest house in Rome, so far my son—
This lady’s husband here, this, do you see—
Whom you have banish’d, does exceed you all.
BRUTUS
Well, well, we’ll leave you.
SICINIUS
Why stay we to be baited
With one that wants her wits?
VOLUMNIA
Take my prayers with you.
I would the gods had nothing else to do
But to confirm my curses! Could I meet ’em
But once a-day, it would unclog my heart
Of what lies heavy to’t.
MENENIUS
You have told them home;
And, by my troth, you have cause. You’ll sup with me?

DUTCH:
O ware thans het eenig werk der goden
Mijn vloeken te bezeeg’len! — Trof ik hen
Slechts eenmaal daags, het zou mijn hart verlichten
Van wat het drukt!

MORE:
Meanest=Poorest
Told them home=Rebuked
Sup=Dine
Compleat:
Mean=Gering, slecht
A discourse fitted to the meanest capacity=Een redenvoering die de eenvoudigste kunnen bevatten
To sup=Avondmaalen

Topics: poverty and wealth, order/society

If the wars eat us not up, they will; and there’s all the love they bear us

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: First Citizen
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
I tell you, friends, most charitable care
Have the patricians of you. For your wants,
Your suffering in this dearth, you may as well
Strike at the heaven with your staves as lift them
Against the Roman state, whose course will on
The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs
Of more strong link asunder than can ever
Appear in your impediment. For the dearth,
The gods, not the patricians, make it, and
Your knees to them, not arms, must help. Alack,
You are transported by calamity
Thither where more attends you, and you slander
The helms o’ the state, who care for you like fathers,
When you curse them as enemies.
FIRST CITIZEN
Care for us! True, indeed! They ne’er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there’s all the love they bear us.

DUTCH:
Als de oorlog ons niet opeet, dan doen zij het; en dat is al hunne liefde jegens ons.

MORE:
Piercing statutes=Biting laws (See Measure for Measure, 1.3)
True indeed=Ironical
Edicts for usury=Laws, decrees for money-lending
Wholesome=Suitable, beneficial
Eat us up=To devour, to consume, to waste, to destroy
Suffer=To bear, to allow, to let, not to hinder
Compleat:
To pierce=Doorbooren, doordringen
Edict=Een gebod, bevel, afkondiging
Wholesom=Gezond, heylzaam, heelzaam
Eat up=Opeeten, vernielen
Suffer=Toelaten

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

In brief, sir, study what you most affect

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Tranio
CONTEXT:
TRANIO
Mi perdonato, gentle master mine.
I am in all affected as yourself,
Glad that you thus continue your resolve
To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy.
Only, good master, while we do admire
This virtue and this moral discipline,
Let’s be no stoics nor no stocks, I pray,
Or so devote to Aristotle’s checks
As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured.
Balk logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practice rhetoric in your common talk;
Music and poesy use to quicken you;
The mathematics and the metaphysics—
Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you.
No profit grows where is no pleasure ta’en.
In brief, sir, study what you most affect.

DUTCH:
Ik denk hierin volkomen als gijzelf,
En ben verheugd, dat ge in uw plan volhardt,
Der zoete wijsheid honigzoet te zuigen .

MORE:
Affected=Inclined
Discipline=Philosophy
Stoics=Greek philosophers who believed that perfection involved
getting rid of all emotion.
Stocks=Post or block of wood, pun on the emotionless Stoics.
Ovid=Roman love poet
Abjured=Renounced
Balk logic=Argue
Compleat:
How stands he affected=Hoe is hy geneigd?
Stoicks=Stoicynen, Stoische Philosophen
A stoick, a mere stoick (a severe or sontant man)=Een gestreng gevoelloos man
To abjure=Afzweeren
Balk=Een brok lands daar de ploeg niet overgegaan is, de opgeworpende aarde tusschen twee vooren; (shame or disgrace): Schande
To balk=Voorby gaan, daar over heen stappen, zyn woord niet houden, verongelyken, te leur stellen
He balked him not a whit=Hy zweeg niet voor hem, hy bleef hem niet schuldig

Burgersdijk notes:
Mi perdonate. Shakespeare’s tijdgenooten, Ben Jonson, Webster en vooral Marston strooiden gaarne vreemde gezegden hier en daar in hunne tooneelwerken, hijzelf doet het nagenoeg alleen in dit stuk; de schoolpedant Holofernes doet het in “Veel gemin, geen gewin” om zijne geleerdheid te
luchten.

Topics: poverty and wealth, money

It is a cause worthy my spleen and fury

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Alcibiades
CONTEXT:
ALCIBIADES
Now the gods keep you old enough; that you may live
Only in bone, that none may look on you!
I’m worse than mad: I have kept back their foes,
While they have told their money and let out
Their coin upon large interest, I myself
Rich only in large hurts. All those for this?
Is this the balsam that the usuring senate
Pours into captains’ wounds? Banishment!
It comes not ill; I hate not to be banished;
It is a cause worthy my spleen and fury,
That I may strike at Athens. I’ll cheer up
My discontented troops, and lay for hearts.
‘Tis honour with most lands to be at odds;
Soldiers should brook as little wrongs as gods.

DUTCH:
Nu goed, het zij; verbanning is mij welkom;
Ik heb nu reden voor mijn woede en wrok,
En wil Athene straffen.

MORE:
Worse than mad=Furious
Kept back=Defended against
Told=Counted
Let out=Loaned
Balsam=Salve
Spleen=Anger
Lay for=Captivate
Compleat:
To keep back=Te rug houden
Told=(van to Tell): Gezegd, gezeid, verteld, geteld
Let out=Uitlaaten, uitzetten
Balsam=Balsem, balm
Spleen=De milt
Spleen (Spite, hatred or grudge)=Spyt, haat, wrak

Topics: anger, money, poverty and wealth

It was a violent commencement in her, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
IAGO
It is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of
the will. Come, be a man. Drown thyself? Drown cats and
blind puppies! I have professed me thy friend, and I
confess me knit to thy deserving with cables of
perdurable toughness. I could never better stead thee
than now. Put money in thy purse. Follow thou the wars,
defeat thy favour with an usurped beard. I say, put
money in thy purse. It cannot be long that Desdemona
should continue her love to the Moor—put money in thy
purse—nor he his to her. It was a violent commencement
in her, and thou shalt see an answerable
sequestration—put but money in thy purse. These Moors
are changeable in their wills—fill thy purse with
money. The food that to him now is as luscious as
locusts shall be to him shortly as bitter as
coloquintida. She must change for youth. When she is
sated with his body she will find the errors of her
choice. Therefore, put money in thy purse. If thou wilt
needs damn thyself, do it a more delicate way than
drowning. Make all the money thou canst. If sanctimony
and a frail vow betwixt an erring barbarian and
supersubtle Venetian be not too hard for my wits and all
the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her. Therefore
make money. A pox of drowning thyself! ‘Tis clean out
of the way. Seek thou rather to be hanged in compassing
thy joy than to be drowned and go without her.

DUTCH:
(H)et was hij haar een stormachtig
begin, en gij zult een even zoo plotselinge losscheuring
beleven; — steek maar geld in uw tasch

MORE:
Perdurable=Lasting
Stead=Serve
Defeat thy favour=Change your appearance
Usurped=False, appropriated
Answerable=Corresponding
Sequestration=Termination, separation
Coloquintida=Bitter-apple, a purgative
Supersubtle=Refined, sensitive
Compleat:
Perdurable=Overduurzaam
To stand in good stead=Dienstelyk zyn, goeden dienst doen
To usurp=’t Onrecht aanmaatigen, met geweld in ‘t bezit dringen, overweldigen
Usurpation=Een onrechtmaatige bezitneeming, of indrang, dwinggebruik, overweldiging
Answerable=Verantwoordelyk, overeenkomelyk
Sequestration=Verbeurdmaaking, affscheyding der partyen van ‘t bezit waarover zy in verschil zyn, in bewaarder-hand stelling; alsook de inzameling der inkomsten van een openstaande prove voor den naastkomenden bezitter
Subtil, subtile or subtle=Listig, loos; sneedig, spitsvindig

Topics: loyalty, friendship, love, money, poverty and wealth

Let us sit and mock the good housewife Fortune from her wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Celia
CONTEXT:
ROSALIND
What shall be our sport, then?
CELIA
Let us sit and mock the good housewife Fortune from her
wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally.
ROSALIND
I would we could do so, for her benefits are mightily
misplaced, and the bountiful blind woman doth most
mistake in her gifts to women.
CELIA
‘Tis true, for those that she makes fair she scarce
makes honest, and those that she makes honest she makes
very ill-favouredly.
ROSALIND
Nay, now thou goest from Fortune’s office to Nature’s.
Fortune reigns in gifts of the world, not in the
lineaments of Nature.

DUTCH:
Laat ons gaan zitten, en die nijvere huisvrouw met dat wiel, Fortuin, door spot er van af jagen, opdat voortaan haar gaven wat onpartijdiger worden uitgedeeld.

MORE:
Wheel=The attribute of Fortune, emblem of mutability
Blind woman=Fortune, the blind goddess
Scarce=Rarely
Misplaced=Unfairly distributed
Honest=Virtous
Lineaments=Features
Compleat:
Wheel=Rad (van avontuur)
Scarce (or scarcely)=Naauwlyks
To misplace=Verkeerdelyk plaatsen, een onrechte plaats geeven
Honest=Eerlyk, oprecht, vroom
Lineament=Een trek

Burgersdijk notes:
Die nijvere huisvrouw. Alsof het rad of wiel van Fortuin een spinnewiel was. Zie ook „Antonius en Cleopatra”, IV, 15.

Topics: fate/destiny, life, status, poverty and wealth, equality

Let’s shake our heads, and say, … ‘We have seen better days.’

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Flavius
CONTEXT:
FLAVIUS
All broken implements of a ruined house.
THIRD SERVANT
Yet do our hearts wear Timon’s livery;
That see I by our faces; we are fellows still,
Serving alike in sorrow: leaked is our bark,
And we, poor mates, stand on the dying deck,
Hearing the surges threat: we must all part
Into this sea of air.
FLAVIUS
Good fellows all,
The latest of my wealth I’ll share amongst you.
Wherever we shall meet, for Timon’s sake,
Let’s yet be fellows; let’s shake our heads, and say,
As ’twere a knell unto our master’s fortunes,
‘We have seen better days.’ Let each take some;
Nay, put out all your hands. Not one word more:
Thus part we rich in sorrow, parting poor.

DUTCH:
Als waar’ ‘t een doodsgelui om ‘s meesters lot:
„Wij kenden beet’re dagen.”

MORE:
To mean coming on hard times, fortunes being in decline/Shakespeare probably didn’t invent the phrase (Sir Thomas Moore, Play, 1590)

Implements=Instruments, objects
Livery=Uniform
Fellows=Comrades
Barque=Ship
Dying=Sinking
Knell=Toll of a bell
Compleat:
Implements=Gereedschap, huisraad
Livery=een Lievry
Fellow=Medgezel
Bark=Scheepje
Knell=De doodklok

Topics: ruin, money, poverty and wealth, equality

Now Lord Timon’s happy hours are done and past, and his estate shrinks from him

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Second Stranger
CONTEXT:
FIRST STRANGER
We know him for no less, though we are but strangers
to him. But I can tell you one thing, my lord, and
which I hear from common rumours: now Lord Timon’s
happy hours are done and past, and his estate
shrinks from him.
LUCILIUS
Fie, no, do not believe it; he cannot want for money.
SECOND STRANGER
But believe you this, my lord, that, not long ago,
one of his men was with the Lord Lucullus to borrow
so many talents, nay, urged extremely for’t and
showed what necessity belonged to’t, and yet was
denied.

DUTCH:
Maar ik kan u iets mededeelen, heer, wat ik bij
geruchte vernomen heb, dat Timon’s gelukkige dagen
over en voorbij zijn, en zijn vermogen hem in den steek
laat.

MORE:
Want for=Lack
Talents=Units of metal, currency
What necessity belonged=What it was for
Compleat:
Want=Gebrek
Talent=Een talent; pond

Topics: ruin, money, poverty and wealth

O, reason not the need!

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: King Lear
CONTEXT:
O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous.
Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man’s life’s as cheap as beast’s. Thou art a lady.
If only to go warm were gorgeous,
Why, nature needs not what thou gorgeous wear’st,
Which scarcely keeps thee warm. But, for true need—
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need.

DUTCH:
Spreek niet van nodig! De armste bedelaar
heeft aan een vod nog meer dan nodig is./
0, zwijgt van noodig! De armste beed’laar zelfs
Heeft iets, hoe min ook, nog in overvloed;

MORE:

Schmidt:
Reason not= Don’t argue or debate (the need)
Basest = poorest, lowest.
True need=Non-material needs

Topics: reason, life, justification, poverty and wealth, patience

O, what a world of vile ill-favoured faults looks handsome in three hundred pounds a-year!

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Mistress Page
CONTEXT:
SHALLOW
Be not dismayed.
SLENDER
No, she shall not dismay me: I care not for that,
but that I am afeard.
MISTRESS QUICKLY
Hark ye; Master Slender would speak a word with you.
ANNE PAGE
I come to him.
This is my father’s choice.
O, what a world of vile ill-favoured faults
Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a-year!
MISTRESS QUICKLY
And how does good Master Fenton? Pray you, a word with
you.

DUTCH:
Ach, welk een wereld leelijke gebreken
Wordt mooi door een driehonderd pond in ‘t jaar!

MORE:
Dismayed=Fearful, apprehensive
Ill-favoured=Repulsive
Three hundred pounds a year=Income of a fairly wealthy gentleman
Compleat:
Dismayed=Verslagen, verbaast, verschrikt
Ill-favoured=Leelyk, afschuwelyk
Handsom=Mooi, bevallig

Topics: poverty and wealth|marriage

Of very reverend reputation, sir, of credit infinite

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

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

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

Plate sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks.
Arm it in rags, a pigmy’s straw does pierce it.

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 4.6
SPEAKER: King Lear
CONTEXT:
The usurer hangs the cozener.
Through tattered clothes great vices do appear;
Robes and furred gowns hide all. Plate sin with gold,
And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks.
Arm it in rags, a pigmy’s straw does pierce it.

DUTCH:
Bepantser zonde met goud, en de sterke lans van rechtvaardigheid zal zonder pijn te doen breken, bewapen het met vodden, en een rietje van een pygmee zal het doorboren./
Dek zonde af met goud;
de sterke lans van ’t recht schampt eropaf;
een vod wordt door een strohalm nog doorboord.

MORE:
Proverb: The great thieves hang the little ones
Proverb: When looked at through tattered clothes, all vices are great
Usery became legal in 1571 and userers were gaining respectabillty.
Cozener=Sharper, cheat
Schmidt:
Plate=Cover in armour plate
Pygmy’s straw=Weak weapon
Compleat:
Usury=Woeker
To lend upon usury=Op rente leenen

Topics: poverty and wealth, justice, equality, law/legal, order/society

Plenty and peace breeds cowards; hardness ever of hardiness is mother

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Imogen
CONTEXT:
IMOGEN
I see a man’s life is a tedious one:
I have tired myself, and for two nights together
Have made the ground my bed. I should be sick,
But that my resolution helps me. Milford,
When from the mountain-top Pisanio show’d thee,
Thou wast within a ken: O Jove! I think
Foundations fly the wretched; such, I mean,
Where they should be relieved. Two beggars told me
I could not miss my way. Will poor folks lie,
That have afflictions on them, knowing ’tis
A punishment or trial? Yes. No wonder,
When rich ones scarce tell true. To lapse in fullness
Is sorer than to lie for need, and falsehood
Is worse in kings than beggars. My dear lord,
Thou art one o’ th’ false ones. Now I think on thee,
My hunger’s gone; but even before, I was
At point to sink for food. But what is this?
Here is a path to ’t. ’Tis some savage hold.
I were best not call; I dare not call. Yet famine,
Ere clean it o’erthrow nature, makes it valiant.
Plenty and peace breeds cowards; hardness ever
Of hardiness is mother.—Ho! Who’s here?
If anything that’s civil, speak; if savage,
Take or lend. Ho!—No answer? Then I’ll enter.
Best draw my sword; an if mine enemy
But fear the sword like me, he’ll scarcely look on ’t.

DUTCH:
Ja, weelde en vreê kweekt lafaards; ‘t hardste lot
Verhardt en staalt ons steeds

MORE:
Proverb: Afflictions are sent us by God for our good (Will poor folks lie…)

Trial=Test of virtue
To lapse in fullness=Fall from truth in a state of prosperity
Even before=Just before
Hardiness=Bravery
Compleat:
Trial (temptation)=Beproeving
Even=Even. Just now=Zo even
Hardiness=Onvertzaagdheid, stoutheid, koenheid
Hardiness of constitution=Hardheid van gesteltenis

Topics: adversity, proverbs and idioms, poverty and wealth, honesty

Poor and content is rich, and rich enough

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Iago
CONTEXT:
IAGO
Poor and content is rich, and rich enough,
But riches fineless is as poor as winter
To him that ever fears he shall be poor.
Good heaven, the souls of all my
OTHELLO
Why, why is this?
Think’st thou Ied make a life of jealousy,
To follow still the changes of the moon
With fresh suspicions? No, to be once in doubt
Is once to be resolved. Exchange me for a goat
When I shall turn the business of my soul
To such exsufflicate and blown surmises
Matching thy inference. ‘Tis not to make me jealous
To say my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company,
Is free of speech, sings, plays, and dances well :
Where virtue is, these are more virtuous. tribe defend
From jealousy!

DUTCH:
Arm en tevreên is rijk, en rijk genoeg;
Maar als de winter arm is de allerrijkste,
Als staag de vrees hem nijpt van arm te worden

MORE:
Proverb: The greatest wealth is contentment with a little

Fineless=Infinite, boundless
Resolved=Convinced, Fixed in a determination
Once=Once and for all
Exsufflicate (Exufflicate)=From exsufflare, probably synonymous to blown=`puffed jup, inflated; empty, unsubstantial, frivolous. Also (morally) diseased; blown, swollen, ulcerated
Doubt=Suspicion
Revolt=Gross departure from duty; unfaithfulness
Inference=Allegations
Compleat:
Resolve (untie, decide, determine a hard question, difficulty etc.)=Oplossen, ontwarren, ontknoopten
Doubt=Twyffel
Resolve (deliberation, decision)=Beraad, beslissing, uitsluitsel
Revolt=Afvallen, oproerig worden, aan ‘t muiten slaan
Inference=Gevolg, besluyt

Topics: poverty and wealth, satisfaction, proverbs and idioms, virtue, envy

Press not a falling man too far!

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Chamberlain
CONTEXT:
SURREY
Then, that you have sent innumerable substance—
By what means got, I leave to your own conscience—
To furnish Rome, and to prepare the ways
You have for dignities; to the mere undoing
Of all the kingdom. Many more there are;
Which, since they are of you, and odious,
I will not taint my mouth with.
CHAMBERLAIN
O my lord !
Press not a falling man too far; ’tis virtue:
His faults lie open to the laws ; let them.
Not you, correct him. My heart weeps to see him
So little of his great self.

DUTCH:
O, mylord!
Vertreed geen man, die valt! ‘t is christenplicht;
Zijn feilen liggen open voor ‘t gerecht;
Bestraff’ hem dit, niet gij. Mijn harte schreit,
Nu ‘t hem, pas groot, zoo klein ziet.

MORE:
Innumerable=Countless
Substance=Assets, wealth
Furnish=Supply
Dignities=Office, position
Mere=Complete
Taint=Sully, contaminate
‘Tis virtue=Virtuous not to
Lie open to=Are subject to
Compleat:
Innumerable=Ontelbaar, ontallyk
Substance=Zelfsandigheyd; bezit
To furnish=Verschaffen, voorzien, verzorgen, stoffeeren, toetakelen
Dignities=Waardigheyd, staat, een staatelyk ampt
To attaint=Overtuigen van misdaad, schuldidg verklaaren, betichten; bevlekken, bederf aanzetten

Topics: poverty and wealth, money, conscience, flaw/fault

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

Rich honesty dwells like a miser, sir, in a poor house, as your pearl in your foul oyster

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Touchstone
CONTEXT:
DUKE SENIOR
I like him very well.
TOUCHSTONE
God ‘ild you, sir. I desire you of the like. I press in
here, sir, amongst the rest of the country copulatives,
to swear and to forswear, according as marriage binds
and blood breaks. A poor virgin, sir, an ill-favoured
thing, sir, but mine own. A poor humor of mine, sir, to
take that that no man else will. Rich honesty dwells
like a miser, sir, in a poor house, as your pearl in
your foul oyster.
DUKE SENIOR
By my faith, he is very swift and sententious.
TOUCHSTONE
According to the fool’s bolt, sir, and such dulcet
diseases.

DUTCH:
[E]en arm maagdeken, heer, een leelijk schepseltjen, heer, maar van mij.

MORE:
Proverb: A fool’s bolt is soon shot (c. 1225)

Topics: still in use, proverbs and idioms, value, poverty and wealth

Service is no heritage

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Lavatch
CONTEXT:
COUNTESS
Wilt thou needs be a beggar?
CLOWN
I do beg your good will in this case.
COUNTESS
In what case?
CLOWN
In Isbel’s case and mine own. Service is no
heritage: and I think I shall never have the
blessing of God till I have issue o’ my body; for
they say barnes are blessings.
COUNTESS
Tell me thy reason why thou wilt marry.
CLOWN
My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on
by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil
drives.

DUTCH:
In Bella’s en mijn eigen zaak. Dienst is geen erfdeel, en ik geloof, dat ik Gods zegen nimmer bezitten zal, voor ik telgen mijns lichaams rijk ben; want het zeggen is, kinderen zijn een zegen .

MORE:
Proverb: Service is no inheritance

Barnes (bairns)=Children
Service=Place and office of a servant
Compleat:
Service=Dienstbaarheid
Service is no inheritance=Den dienst is geen erfgoed
Barn (or bearn)=Een kind

Topics: work, order/society, poverty and wealth, value, proverbs and idioms

She bears a duke’s revenues on her back,
And in her heart she scorns our poverty.

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

So distribution should undo excess,
And each man have enough.

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

The art of our necessities is strange
That can make vile things precious.

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: King Lear
CONTEXT:
My wits begin to turn.
Come on, my boy. How dost, my boy?
Where is this straw, my fellow?
The art of our necessities is strange
That can make vile things precious. Come, your hovel.
Poor fool and knave, I have one part in my heart
That’s sorry yet for thee.

DUTCH:
Nood leert ons vreemde dingen: uit iets slechts
kan het iets kostbaars maken.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Necessity=Extreme indigence, distress, want of what is needed (poverty)
Art=Experience
Vile=Abject
Compleat:
Vile=Slecht, gering, verachtelyk, eerloos

Topics: poverty and wealth, value, adversity

The good humour is to steal at a minute’s rest

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Pistol
CONTEXT:
NYM
He was gotten in drink: is not the humour conceited?
FALSTAFF
I am glad I am so acquit of this tinderbox: his
thefts were too open; his filching was like an
unskilful singer; he kept not time.
NYM
The good humour is to steal at a minute’s rest.
PISTOL
‘Convey,’ the wise it call. ‘Steal!’ foh! a fico
for the phrase!
FALSTAFF
Well, sirs, I am almost out at heels.
PISTOL
Why, then, let kibes ensue.
FALSTAFF
There is no remedy; I must cony-catch; I must shift.
PISTOL
Young ravens must have food.

DUTCH:
De beste humour is, in een kwart tellens te stelen.

MORE:
Proverb: A fig for him (it)
Proverb: Small birds must have meat

Burgersdijk notes:
Een figo. Een teeken van verachting.
Gaan stroopen. Er staat eigenlijk konijnen vangen.

Topics: poverty and wealth, offence, adversity, proverbs and idioms

The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Claudio
CONTEXT:
DUKE VINCENTIO
So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?
CLAUDIO
The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope:
I’ve hope to live, and am prepared to die.

DUTCH:
Rampzaal’gen blijft geen andere artsenij
Dan hoop alleen;
Ik hoop te leven, schoon ter dood bereid.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Miserable=Unhappy, wretched
Compleat:
Miserable=Ellendig, deerlyk, jammerlyk, rampzalig
A miserable wretch=Een arm elendig schepzel

Topics: poverty and wealth, order/society, status, fate/destiny

The price is, to ask it kindly

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: First Citizen
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
No, sir,’twas never my desire yet to trouble the
poor with begging.
THIRD CITIZEN
You must think, if we give you any thing, we hope to
gain by you.
CORIOLANUS
Well then, I pray, your price o’ the consulship?
FIRST CITIZEN
The price is to ask it kindly.
CORIOLANUS
Kindly! Sir, I pray, let me ha’t: I have wounds to
show you, which shall be yours in private. Your
good voice, sir; what say you?
SECOND CITIZEN
You shall ha’ it, worthy sir.
CORIOLANUS
A match, sir. There’s in all two worthy voices
begged. I have your alms: adieu.

DUTCH:
De prijs is, dat gij vriendlijk er om vraagt.

MORE:
Consulship=Position of consul
A match=Agreement, compact, bargain
Compleat:
Match (or bargain)=Koop, onderhandeling, overeenstemming
Consulship=Consulaat, consulschap

Topics: poverty and wealth, promise, leadership, merit, civility

There is no ancient gentleman but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers.

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Gravedigger
CONTEXT:
Why, there thou sayst. And the more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves more than their even Christian. Come, my spade. There is no ancient gentleman but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers. They hold up Adam’s profession.

DUTCH:
Kom, schoppie, er is geen ouwere adel dan tuinlieden, dood gravers en grafmakers. /
Er bestaat geen oudere adel dan die van tuinlui, sloot-en doodgravers. /
De oudste grondheeren zijn tuinlui, aardwerkers en doodgravers.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Countenance=Authority, credit, patronage
Compleat:
Countenance=Gelaat, gezigt, uytzigt, weezen, bescherming

Topics: poverty and wealth, business, skill/talent, status, order/society

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

There’s none can truly say he gives, if he receives

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Timon
CONTEXT:
VENTIDIUS
Most honoured Timon,
It hath pleased the gods to remember my father’s age,
And call him to long peace.
He is gone happy, and has left me rich:
Then, as in grateful virtue I am bound
To your free heart, I do return those talents,
Doubled with thanks and service, from whose help
I derived liberty.
TIMON
O, by no means,
Honest Ventidius; you mistake my love:
I gave it freely ever; and there’s none
Can truly say he gives, if he receives:
If our betters play at that game, we must not dare
To imitate them; faults that are rich are fair.

DUTCH:
Neen, gij miskent mijn hart; ik schonk dat alles
Geheel, voor immer; wie verklaart naar waarheid,
Dat hij iets geeft, als hij terug ontvangt?
Zij zulk een spel bij hoog’ren ook gewoon,
Wij doen ‘t niet na; wat grooten doen, heet schoon.

MORE:
Long peace=Everlasting sleep
Free=Generous
Talent=Unit of weight to measure precious metal value, currency
Betters=Wealthier people
Compleat:
Free=Vry, openhartig
Talent=Een talent; pond
Betters=Meerderen

Burgersdijk notes:
Bij hoog’ren. Meermalen wordt in dit stuk aan de Atheensche senatoren woeker te last gelegd

Topics: death, legacy, flaw/fault, debt/obligation, poverty and wealth

They are but beggars that can count their worth.

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet
ACT/SCENE: 2.6
SPEAKER: Juliet
CONTEXT:
Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
Brags of his substance, not of ornament.
They are but beggars that can count their worth.
But my true love is grown to such excess
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.

DUTCH:
t Gevoel is rijk in schatten, niet in woorden;
‘t Is trotsch op wat het is, maar mint geen praal;
Wie weet, hoeveel hij waard is, is een beed’laar;

MORE:
Conceit=imagination
Compleat:
To conceit=Zich verbeelden, achten
A pretty conceit=een aardige verbeelding

Topics: poverty and wealth, life, value, imagination, love

They said they were an-hungry; sigh’d forth proverbs

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Martius
CONTEXT:
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?
MARTIUS
They are dissolved: hang ’em!
They said they were an-hungry; sigh’d forth proverbs,
That hunger broke stone walls, that dogs must eat,
That meat was made for mouths, that the gods sent not
Corn for the rich men only: with these shreds
They vented their complainings; which being answer’d,
And a petition granted them, a strange one—
To break the heart of generosity,
And make bold power look pale—they threw their caps
As they would hang them on the horns o’ the moon,
Shouting their emulation.

DUTCH:
Zij schreeuwden over honger, kermden spreuken,
Als: nood breekt wet; ook honden moeten eten;
De spijs is voor den mond; de goden zenden
Niet enkel rijken graan; — met zulke lappen
Omhingen zij hun klachten.

MORE:
Proverb: Cast your cap at the moon
Other proverbs:
Dogs must eat
Small birds must have meat
Hunger breaks down (pierces) stone walls (Hunger is made of gunpowder of gunpowder of hunger; for they both eat through stone walls.)
Meat was made for mouths

An-hungry (or a-hungry). Very hungry (anhungered=very hungry, 1300)
Dissolved=Dispersed
Vented their complainings=Aired their grievances
Answered=Granted (petitions)
Generosity=Nobility
Emulation=Endeavour or ambition to equal or excel, envious rivalry
Shreds=Fragments, patches
Compleat:
Dissolve=Ontbinden, gescheiden
Vent=Uiten
Generosity=Edelmoedigheid, grootmoedigheid
Emulation=Volgzucht, afgunst

Burgersdijk notes:
Of zij wierpen hun mutsen. Sh. wilde voor zijn publiek verstaanbaar zijn, en sprak, zonder schroom,
van de mutsen der Romeinen. Zoo wordt ook bij het smeeken de muts afgenomen, zie 3.2.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or poularised, poverty and wealth

They’ll sit by th’ fire, and presume to know what’s done i’th’ Capitol

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

Thus play I in one person many people, And none contented

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: King Richard II
CONTEXT:
Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves
That they are not the first of fortune’s slaves,
Nor shall not be the last; like silly beggars
Who sitting in the stocks refuge their shame,
That many have and others must sit there;
And in this thought they find a kind of ease,
Bearing their own misfortunes on the back
Of such as have before endured the like.
Thus play I in one person many people,
And none contented: sometimes am I king;
Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,
And so I am: then crushing penury
Persuades me I was better when a king;
Then am I king’d again: and by and by
Think that I am unking’d by Bolingbroke,
And straight am nothing: but whate’er I be,
Nor I nor any man that but man is
With nothing shall be pleased, till he be eased
With being nothing. Music do I hear?

DUTCH:
Zoo speel ik veel personen, gansch alleen,
Nooit een tevreed’ne

MORE:

Proverb: I am not the first and shall not be the last

Refuge=Protection from danger, expedient in distress

Compleat:
Refuge=Toevlugt, wyk, schuilplaats

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, poverty and wealth, money, satisfaction

Thy cruelty in execution upon offenders, hath exceeded law, and left thee to the mercy of the law.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Buckingham
CONTEXT:
CARDINAL
The commons hast thou rack’d; the clergy’s bags
Are lank and lean with thy extortions.
SOMERSET
Thy sumptuous buildings and thy wife’s attire
Have cost a mass of public treasury.
BUCKINGHAM
Thy cruelty in execution
Upon offenders, hath exceeded law,
And left thee to the mercy of the law.
QUEEN MARGARET
Thy sale of offices and towns in France,
If they were known, as the suspect is great,
Would make thee quickly hop without thy head.

DUTCH:
De wet werd overtreden door de wreedheid,
Waarmee gij euveldaders hebt bestraft;
Dit levert wis u aan haar strengheid over.

MORE:

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

Commons=common people
Rack=Hurt (by exacting taxes)
Mass=Great quantities
Public treasure=Public funds
Suspect=Suspicion
Extortion=Rapacious and illegal exaction of taxes

Compleat:
The common (vulgar) people=Het gemeene Volk
To rack=(torture) Pynigen; (torment) Plaagen, kwellen, pynigen; (grind, oppress the people) Het volk verdrukken, onderdrukken
The public treasury=’s Lands schatkamer
Extortion (or extorsion)=Afkneveling, afpersen, afdwinging

Topics: law/legal, punishment, money, poverty and wealth, integrity

Tis pity bounty had not eyes behind

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Flavius
CONTEXT:
TIMON
The little casket bring me hither.
FLAVIUS
Yes, my lord. More jewels yet!
There is no crossing him in ‘s humour;
Else I should tell him,—well, i’ faith I should,
When all’s spent, he ‘d be crossed then, an he could.
‘Tis pity bounty had not eyes behind,
That man might ne’er be wretched for his mind.

DUTCH:
O, had de mildheid oogen achterwaart!
Veel leeds ware aan een edel hart bespaard.

MORE:
Casket=Jewelry box
Crossing=Contradicting
Crossed=Obstructed, stamped as insolvent
An he=If he
Compleat:
Casket=Kistje, kastje, koffertje
To cross=Tegenstreeven, dwars voor de boeg komen, dwarsboomen, wederestreeven, kruisen

Topics: poverty and wealth, debt/obligation, money

What need we have any friends, if we should ne’er have need of ’em

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Timon
CONTEXT:
TIMON
O, no doubt, my good friends, but the gods
themselves have provided that I shall have much help
from you: how had you been my friends else? why
have you that charitable title from thousands, did
not you chiefly belong to my heart? I have told
more of you to myself than you can with modesty
speak in your own behalf; and thus far I confirm
you. O you gods, think I, what need we have any
friends, if we should ne’er have need of ’em? they
were the most needless creatures living, should we
ne’er have use for ’em, and would most resemble
sweet instruments hung up in cases that keep their
sounds to themselves. Why, I have often wished
myself poorer, that I might come nearer to you. We
are born to do benefits: and what better or
properer can we can our own than the riches of our
friends? O, what a precious comfort ’tis, to have
so many, like brothers, commanding one another’s
fortunes! O joy, e’en made away ere ‘t can be born!
Mine eyes cannot hold out water, methinks: to
forget their faults, I drink to you.

DUTCH:
O gij goden, denk ik,
waartoe behoeven wij vrienden te hebben, als wij die
nooit behoeven? zij zouden de nuttelooste schepsels ter
wereld zijn, als wij er nimmer nut van hadden, en zij zouden
gelijken op liefelijke instrumenten, die in hun kasten
zijn opgehangen en hunne geluiden voor zichzelf houden.

MORE:
Needless=Worthless
Benefits=To do good
Command=Have at one’s disposal
Compleat:
Needless=Onnoodig, noodeloos, onnoodzaaklyk
Benefits=Weldaaden
Command=Bevel, gebied
To be at one’s command=Onder iemands gebied staan

Topics: poverty and wealth, flaw/fault, friendship

What will this come to? He commands us to provide, and give great gifts, and all out of an empty coffer

DUTCH:
Waar moet dit heen?
Altijd, — zoo wil hij ‘t, — rijk onthalen, rijk
Beschenken, alles uit een leêge kist;
En nooit wil hij zijn beurs zien, nooit mag ik
Hem toonen, hoe zijn hart een beed’laar is,
Die niet de macht heeft om naar wensch te geven.

Topics: poverty and wealth, debt/obligation, money, friendship

You have a nimble wit. I think ’twas made of Atalanta’s heels

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Jaques
CONTEXT:
JAQUES
You are full of pretty answers. Have you not been
acquainted with goldsmiths’ wives and conned them out of
rings?
ORLANDO
Not so. But I answer you right painted cloth, from
whence you have studied your questions.
JAQUES
You have a nimble wit. I think ’twas made of Atalanta’s
heels. Will you sit down with me? And we two will rail
against our mistress the world and all our misery.
ORLANDO
I will chide no breather in the world but myself,
against whom I know most faults.

DUTCH:
Gij hebt een vlug vernuft; ik geloof, dat het van Atalanta’s
hielen gemaakt is. Wilt gij wat naast mij gaan zitten? dan zullen wij beiden eens uitvaren tegen onze meesteres de wereld en al onze ellende.

MORE:
Gold rings were inscribed with religious or inspirational messages or lines from poems (poesy rings). “Goldsmiths’ wives” indicates courtiers’ scorn for citizen taste.

Pretty=Pleasing, neat, fine
Atalanta= Mentioned above in Orlando’s poem, Atalanta was the daughter of Jasius, swift in running
Rail=To use reproachful language, to scold in opprobrious terms
Compleat:
Pretty (pleasant or agreable)=Aangenaam
Nimble=Gaauw, knaphandig, snel
To rail=Schelden

Topics: intellect, money, poverty and wealth

You have trained me like a peasant, obscuring and hiding from me all gentlemanlike qualities

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Adam
CONTEXT:
ADAM
Sweet masters, be patient. For your father’s
remembrance, be at accord.
OLIVER
Let me go, I say.
ORLANDO
I will not till I please. You shall hear me. My father
charged you in his will to give me good education. You
have trained me like a peasant, obscuring and hiding
from me all gentlemanlike qualities. The spirit of my
father grows strong in me, and I will no longer endure
it. Therefore allow me such exercises as may become a
gentleman, or give me the poor allottery my father left
me by testament. With that I will go buy my fortunes.

DUTCH:
Mijn vader gelastte u bij zijn uitersten wil mij een goede opvoeding te geven; gij hebt mij als een boer grootgebracht en alle edelmansbegaafdheden voor mij verduisterd en verborgen gehouden; de geest van mijn vader wordt sterk in mij en ik wil het niet langer verduren; daarom sta mij de oefeningen toe, die een edelman passen, of keer mij het armoedig erfdeel uit, dat mijn vader mij bij testament naliet; daarmee wil ik mijn geluk beproeven.

MORE:
At accord=Reconciled
Qualities=Accomplishments
Exercises=Pursuits
Allottery=Portion
Fortunes=Livelihood
Compleat:
To accord=Zich onderling verdraagen, eens worden
Qualities=Aart, hoedanigheid, eigenschap van een ding
To exercise oneself with …=Zich bezig houden
Fortunes=Leeven en goederen

Topics: learning/education, order/society, poverty and wealth

You should have feared false times when you did feast

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Flavius
CONTEXT:
FLAVIUS
No, my most worthy master; in whose breast
Doubt and suspect, alas, are placed too late:
You should have feared false times when you did feast:
Suspect still comes where an estate is least.
That which I show, heaven knows, is merely love,
Duty and zeal to your unmatched mind,
Care of your food and living; and, believe it,
My most honoured lord,
For any benefit that points to me,
Either in hope or present, I’d exchange
For this one wish, that you had power and wealth
To requite me, by making rich yourself.

DUTCH:
Neen, beste, dierb’re meester, in wiens borst
Argwaan en twijfel, — ach, eerst thans! — zich vestten.
Argwaan hadde eens, in gulden tijd, gebaat;
Steeds komt hij, als ‘t geluk verdween, te laat.

MORE:
Suspect=Suspicion
False=Uncertain, unreliable
Requite=Reward
Compleat:
Suspect=Wantrouwen, mistrouwen
To requite=Vergelden

Topics: ruin, suspicion, loyalty, poverty and wealth, money, value

You take my life when you do take the means whereby I live.

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Shylock
CONTEXT:
DUKE
That thou shalt see the difference of our spirit,
I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it.
For half thy wealth, it is Antonio’s.
The other half comes to the general state,
Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.
PORTIA
Ay, for the state, not for Antonio.
SHYLOCK
Nay, take my life and all. Pardon not that.
You take my house when you do take the prop
That doth sustain my house. You take my life
When you do take the means whereby I live.

DUTCH:
Gij neemt mijn huis, als gij den steun mij neemt,
Waar heel mijn huis op rust; gij neemt mijn leven,
Als gij de midd’len neemt, waar ik door leef.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Redevelopment Auth. of Philadelphia v. Lieberman, 461 Pa. 208, 336 A.2d 249 (1975). Re. The definition of “to take”: “When ‘property’ is viewed from the standpoint of the mental or abstract concept, the meaning of ‘to take’ is that expressed by Shakespeare, when, after the judgment of the court, the Merchant of Venice says: ‘You take my house when you take the prop/That doth sustain my house; you take my life/When you do take the means whereby I live.’The condemnee In this appeal expressed the same sentiments when testifying about his liquor licence.”

For=As to, as for
Humbleness=Humility
Drive=Reduce
Compleat:
Humbleness=Ootmoedigheyd, nederigheyd

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

Your looped and windowed raggedness

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: King Lear
CONTEXT:
Poor naked wretches, whereso’er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these?
Oh, I have ta’en
Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp.
Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
That thou mayst shake the superflux to them
And show the heavens more just.

DUTCH:
O naakte stakkers, waar u ook maar bent,
die ’t neerslaan van dit woest, wreed ontij duldt,
hoe kunt u zich, dakloos, met lege magen,
in lompen vol met gaten, weren tegen
zulk weer als dit?

MORE:
Looped and windowed raggedness = tattered clothes, full of holes. Loopholes were small apertures in thick walls, e.g. arrowslit (through which small bodies could escape, one explanation for the current definition of loophole as a means of escape or avoidance).
Schmidt:
Shake=Lay aside, get rid of, discard
Superflux=the superfluous, their abundance of wealth
Compleat:
Ragged=Aan flenteren (fladderen) gescheurd, versleeten, haaveloos

Topics: poverty and wealth, value, regret, adversity, equality, excess