CJTranslations

QUOTES BY TOPIC

Ah keeper, keeper, I have done those things, that now give evidence against my soul

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Clarence
CONTEXT:
CLARENCE
Ah keeper, keeper, I have done those things,
That now give evidence against my soul,
For Edward’s sake, and see how he requites me.—
O God, if my deep prayers cannot appease thee,
But thou wilt be avenged on my misdeeds,
Yet execute thy wrath in me alone!
O, spare my guiltless wife and my poor children!—
Keeper, I prithee sit by me awhile.
My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep.

DUTCH:
O stokbewaarder! O, ik deed die dingen,
Die tegen mijne ziel alsnu getuigen,
Om Edwards wil; en zie, hoe hij ‘t mij loont!

MORE:
Keeper=Jailer
Requite=Repay
Heavy=Sad
Fain=Am eager to
Compleat:
Keeper=Een bewaarder
Requite=Vergelden
Heavy=Zwaar, zwaarmoedig, bedrukt, bedroefd
Fain=Gaern

Topics: conscience, offence, guilt, regret

Away with him!
He has a familiar under his tongue.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.7
SPEAKER: Cade
CONTEXT:
I feel remorse in myself with his words; but I’ll bridle it:
he shall die, an it be but for pleading so well for his life.
Away with him! He has a familiar under his tongue;
he speaks not o’ God’s name. Go, take him away,
I say, and strike off his head presently;
and then break into his son-in-law’s house,
Sir James Cromer, and strike off his head,
and bring them both upon two poles hither.

DUTCH:
Weg met hem! hij heeft een dienstbaren duivel onder zijn tong, hij spreekt niet in den naam van God

MORE:

Bridle=Rein in, constrain
Familiar=Demon or spirit
An be it but for=If only for

Compleat:
To bridle=Intoomen, breidelen, beteugelen
Familiar=Een gemeenzaame geet, queldrommel

Topics: language, deceit, truth, punishment, regret

Ay, is it not a language I speak?

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
Your lord and master did well to make his recantation.
PAROLLES
Recantation! My lord! My master!
LAFEW
Ay; is it not a language I speak?
PAROLLES
A most harsh one, and not to be understood without bloody succeeding. My master!

DUTCH:
Ja; is het geen verstaanbare taal, die ik spreek?

MORE:
Recantation=Disavowal or retraction
Bloody succeeding=Subsequent bloodshed
Harsh=Rough, rude, repulsive
Compleat:
Recant (Unsay) Recantation=Herroeping, Verzaaking
Harsh=Schor, ruuw, wrang, streng

Topics: regret, language

Be thus when thou art dead and I will kill thee and love thee after

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Othello
CONTEXT:
OTHELLO
It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars,
It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then put out the light.
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore
Should I repent me. But once put out thy light,
Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat
That can thy light relume. When I have plucked thy rose
I cannot give it vital growth again,
It must needs wither. I’ll smell thee on the tree.
Oh, balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword! One more, one more.
Be thus when thou art dead and I will kill thee
And love thee after.
One more, and that’s the last.
So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep,
But they are cruel tears. This sorrow’s heavenly,
It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.

DUTCH:
Wees, als gij dood zijt, zoo, en ‘k zal u dooden
En voortbeminnen

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Barkauskas v. Lane, 78 F.2d 1031, 1032 (7th Cir. 1989)(Posner, J.); See also Hornstein v. Hornstein, 195 Md. 627, 75 A.2d 103 (Md. Ct. App. 1950)(husband reading from Othello and threatening to treat her as Othello treated Desdemona).

Cause=Ground for the action
Monumental=Used for monuments
Balmy=Fragrant
Sword=Emblem of power and authority
Minister=Aid
Cunning’st pattern=Masterpiece
Repent me=Change my mind
Put out the light, and then put out the light=Extinguish the candle (kill Desdemona)
Relume=Rekindle
Flaming=Carrying a light (Cf. Psalms 104.4; ‘Which maketh he spirits his messengers, and a flaming fire his ministers’.)
Cunning=Dexterously wrought or devised
Promethean heat=Fire that the demigod Prometheus stole from Olympus taught men to use; allusively, fire infuses life
Compleat:
Cause=Oorzaak, reden, zaak
To minister=Bedienen
Cunning=Behendig, Schrander, Naarstig
A cunning fellow=Een doortrapte vent, een looze gast
To cast a cunning look=Iemand snaaks aanzien
Repent=Berouw hebben, leedweezen betoonen, boete doen

Topics: life, strength, regret, death, cited in law

But little. I am armed and well prepared.—
Give me your hand, Bassanio. Fare you well.

PLAY: The Merchant of Venice
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Antonio
CONTEXT:
ANTONIO
But little. I am armed and well prepared.—
Give me your hand, Bassanio. Fare you well
Grieve not that I am fall’n to this for you,
For herein Fortune shows herself more kind
Than is her custom. It is still her use
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
An age of poverty—from which lingering penance
Of such misery doth she cut me off.
Commend me to your honourable wife.
Tell her the process of Antonio’s end.
Say how I loved you. Speak me fair in death.
And when the tale is told, bid her be judge
Whether Bassanio had not once a love.
Repent but you that you shall lose your friend,
And he repents not that he pays your debt.
For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,
I’ll pay it presently with all my heart.

DUTCH:
Slechts luttel; ‘k ben bereid en welgewapend! —
Geef mij de hand, Bassanio, vaar gij wel!

MORE:
But little=Just a little
Use=Habit
Process=Tale
Repent but you=Only regret

Topics: emotion and mood, misquoted

Cease to lament for that thou canst not help, and study help for that which thou lament’st

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Proteus
CONTEXT:
PROTEUS
Cease to lament for that thou canst not help,
And study help for that which thou lament’st.
Time is the nurse and breeder of all good.
Here if thou stay, thou canst not see thy love;
Besides, thy staying will abridge thy life.
Hope is a lover’s staff; walk hence with that
And manage it against despairing thoughts.
Thy letters may be here, though thou art hence;
Which, being writ to me, shall be delivered
Even in the milk-white bosom of thy love.
The time now serves not to expostulate:
Come, I’ll convey thee through the city-gate;
And, ere I part with thee, confer at large
Of all that may concern thy love-affairs.
As thou lovest Silvia, though not for thyself,
Regard thy danger, and along with me!

DUTCH:
Klaag niet om wat gij niet verhelpen kunt;
Poog te verhelpen wat u klagen doet.
De tijd verwekt en voedstert al wat goed is.
Al blijft gij hier, uw liefste ziet gij niet;
En ook, uw blijven snijdt uw leven af.

MORE:
Lament=Complain
Help=Remedy
Study=Devise
Manage=Wield
Time serves not=There is not enough time
Expostulate=Discuss
Convey=Escort
At large=In detail, extensively
Compleat:
To lament=Weeklaagen, kermen, bedermen, bejammeren, beklaagen
Help (remedy)=Hulpmiddel
To study (endeavour)=Trachten, poogen
To expostulate=Zyn beklag doen, zich beklaagen, verwyten
To convey=Voeren, leiden, overvoeren, overdraagen
At large=Ten volle, volkomen wydloopig

Topics: regret, pity, hope/optimism

Discomfort guides my tongue
And bids me speak of nothing but despair.

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Earl of Salisbury
CONTEXT:
Nor near nor farther off, my gracious lord,
Than this weak arm: discomfort guides my tongue
And bids me speak of nothing but despair.
One day too late, I fear me, noble lord,
Hath clouded all thy happy days on earth:
O, call back yesterday, bid time return,
And thou shalt have twelve thousand fighting men!
To-day, to-day, unhappy day, too late,
O’erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune and thy state:
For all the Welshmen, hearing thou wert dead.
Are gone to Bolingbroke, dispersed and fled.

DUTCH:
Ontroostbaarheid
Bestuurt mijn tong en slechts van wanhoop spreekt zij.

MORE:

Proverb: It is too late to call again yesterday

Discomfort=Want of hope, discouragement
State=Rank, position

Compleat:
Discomfort=Mistroostigheid, mismoedigheid

Topics: proverbs and idioms, time, regret

Do not presume too much upon my love. I may do that I shall be sorry for.

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Cassius
CONTEXT:
CASSIUS
Do not presume too much upon my love.
I may do that I shall be sorry for.
BRUTUS
You have done that you should be sorry for.
There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats,
For I am armed so strong in honesty
That they pass by me as the idle wind,
Which I respect not. I did send to you
For certain sums of gold, which you denied me,
For I can raise no money by vile means.
By heaven, I had rather coin my heart
And drop my blood for drachmas than to wring
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash
By any indirection. I did send
To you for gold to pay my legions,
Which you denied me. Was that done like Cassius?
Should I have answered Caius Cassius so?
When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous
To lock such rascal counters from his friends,
Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts.
Dash him to pieces!

DUTCH:
Verlaat u niet te zeer op mijne liefde;
Ik mocht iets doen, wat mij berouwen zou.

MORE:
That=That which, something
Terror in=Are not frightening
Idle=Insignificant
Respect=Heed
Indirection=Devious means
Coin=Convert into money
Covetous=Mean
Rascal=Inferior, sorry
Compleat:
Terror (terrour)=Schrik
Idle=Onnutte, wisje-wasje
Respect=Aanzien, opzigt, inzigt, ontzag, eerbiedigheyd
To coin=Geld slaan, geld munten
Covetous=Begeerlyk, begeerig, gierig, inhaalig
Rascal=Een schelm, guit, schobbejak, schurk, vlegel, schavuit

Topics: regret, respect, money

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

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

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

MORE:

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

Topics: regret, offence, conscience, good and bad

For now I stand as one upon a rock environed with a wilderness of sea

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Titus Andronicus
CONTEXT:
TITUS ANDRONICUS
It was my deer; and he that wounded her
Hath hurt me more than had he killed me dead:
For now I stand as one upon a rock
Environed with a wilderness of sea,
Who marks the waxing tide grow wave by wave,
Expecting ever when some envious surge
Will in his brinish bowels swallow him.
This way to death my wretched sons are gone;
Here stands my other son, a banished man,
And here my brother, weeping at my woes.
But that which gives my soul the greatest spurn,
Is dear Lavinia, dearer than my soul.
Had I but seen thy picture in this plight,
It would have madded me: what shall I do
Now I behold thy lively body so?
Thou hast no hands, to wipe away thy tears:
Nor tongue, to tell me who hath martyred thee:
Thy husband he is dead: and for his death
Thy brothers are condemned, and dead by this.
Look, Marcus! ah, son Lucius, look on her!
When I did name her brothers, then fresh tears
Stood on her cheeks, as doth the honey-dew
Upon a gathered lily almost withered.

DUTCH:
Nu sta ik hier, als iemand op een klip,
Omgordeld door een woestenij van zee,
Die het getij met golf op golf ziet stijgen,
En immer wacht, dat fluks de felle branding
Hem zal verzwelgen in haar zilten schoot.

MORE:
Environed=Surrounded
Mark=Perceives
Envious=Malignant
Spurn=Hurt, suffering
Lively=Living
Compleat:
Environed=Omringd, omcingeld
To mark=Merken, tekenen, opletten
Envious=Nydig, afgunstig, wangunstig
To spurn=Agteruit schoppen, schoppen. To spurn away=Wegschoppen

Topics: punishment, suspicion, guilt, regret

How angerly I taught my brow to frown, when inward joy enforced my heart to smile

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Julia
CONTEXT:
JULIA
And yet I would I had o’erlooked the letter:
It were a shame to call her back again
And pray her to a fault for which I chid her.
What a fool is she, that knows I am a maid,
And would not force the letter to my view!
Since maids, in modesty, say ‘no’ to that
Which they would have the profferer construe ‘ay.’
Fie, fie, how wayward is this foolish love
That, like a testy babe, will scratch the nurse
And presently all humbled kiss the rod!
How churlishly I chid Lucetta hence,
When willingly I would have had her here!
How angerly I taught my brow to frown,
When inward joy enforced my heart to smile!
My penance is to call Lucetta back
And ask remission for my folly past.
What ho! Lucetta!

DUTCH:
Hoe vinnig keef ik daar Lucetta weg,
Toen ik haar innig gaarne bij mij hield;
Hoe toornig plooide ik mijn gelaat tot rimpels,
Terwijl de vreugd mijn hart tot lachen dwong!

MORE:
Overlooked=Examined
Shame=Shameful
Pray to=Beg, entreat
Chid=Scolded
Testy=Irritable
Remission=Pardon
Compleat:
Shame (reproach, ignominy)=Schande
Shamefull=Schandelyk, snood; Op een schandelyke wyze
Pray=Verzoeken
Chide=Kyven, bekyven
Testy=Korzel, kribbig, gramsteurig, gemelyk
Remission=Vergiffenis, vergeeving, quytschelding

Topics: love, emotion and mood, appearance, mercy, regret

I am not a day of season for thou mayst see a sunshine and a hail in me at once

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
He looks well on’t.
KING
I am not a day of season,
For thou mayst see a sunshine and a hail
In me at once: but to the brightest beams
Distracted clouds give way; so stand thou forth;
The time is fair again.
BERTRAM
My high-repented blames,
Dear sovereign, pardon to me.

DUTCH:
Ik ben geen dag van dit seizoen,
Want tegelijk zijn zonneschijn en hagel
In mij te zien; doch held’re stralen banen
Een weg zich door de wolken; treed dus voor;
Het weder is weer schoon.

MORE:
Proverb: After black clouds clear weather
Proverb: After rain (showers) comes air weather (the sun)
Proverb: After a storm comes a calm

Day of season=Seasonable day, sunshine and showers
Distracted=Agitated, divided
High-repented=Much repented
Compleat:
Distracted=Van een gescheurd, ontroerd
Distracted with one thing or another=Door de eene of de andere zaak weggeerukt, of verrukt
Repentant=Boetvaerdig

Topics: proverbs and idioms, emotion and mood, regret, optimism

I must excuse what cannot be amended

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.7
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
LIEUTENANT
I do not know what witchcraft’s in him, but
Your soldiers use him as the grace ’fore meat,
Their talk at table, and their thanks at end;
And you are darken’d in this action, sir,
Even by your own.
AUFIDIUS
I cannot help it now,
Unless, by using means, I lame the foot
Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier,
Even to my person, than I thought he would
When first I did embrace him: yet his nature
In that’s no changeling; and I must excuse
What cannot be amended.

DUTCH:
Doch zijn wezen
Verzaakt hij hierin niet; ik moet verschoonen,
Wat ik niet beet’ren kan.

MORE:
Proverb: What cannot be altered must be borne not blamed
Proverb: To be no changeling

Changeling=Sense shifter, inconstant, turncoat, fickle (Arden)
Darkened=Eclipsed, put into the shade
For your particular=For you personally
Compleat:
Changeling=Een wissel-kind, verruild kind
Particular=Byzonder, zonderling, byzonderheid
To darken=Verduisteren, verdonkeren

Topics: remedy, understanding, regret, plans/intentions, proverbs and idioms

I seem’d his follower, not partner

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
That I would have spoke of:
Being banish’d for’t, he came unto my hearth;
Presented to my knife his throat: I took him;
Made him joint-servant with me; gave him way
In all his own desires; nay, let him choose
Out of my files, his projects to accomplish,
My best and freshest men; served his designments
In mine own person; holp to reap the fame
Which he did end all his; and took some pride
To do myself this wrong: till, at the last,
I seem’d his follower, not partner, and
He waged me with his countenance, as if
I had been mercenary.
FIRST CONSPIRATOR
So he did, my lord:
The army marvell’d at it, and, in the last,
When he had carried Rome and that we look’d
For no less spoil than glory,—
AUFIDIUS
There was it:
For which my sinews shall be stretch’d upon him.
At a few drops of women’s rheum, which are
As cheap as lies, he sold the blood and labour
Of our great action: therefore shall he die,
And I’ll renew me in his fall. But, hark!

DUTCH:
Ja, ‘k was
Er trotsch op, dus mijzelf te knotten; eind’lijk
Scheen ik zijn dienaar, niet zijn medeveldheer,
En was hij uit de hoogte mij genadig,
Als ware ik hem een huurling.

MORE:
I would have spoke=I was getting to
Joint-servant=Colleague, equal
Files=Ranks
Designments=Plans
Waged=Paid
Countenance=Look
Compleat:
A file of soldiers=Een gelid of ry soldaaten
Wages=Loon, jaargeld; belooning, bezolding
Countenance=Gelaat, gezigt, uitzigt, weezen.

Topics: punishment, pride, ingratitude, regret, betrayal

If I unwittingly, or in my rage, have aught committed that is hardly borne by any in this presence, I desire to reconcile me to his friendly peace

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Richard, Duke of Gloucester
CONTEXT:
RICHARD
A blessèd labour, my most sovereign lord.
Amongst this princely heap, if any here
By false intelligence, or wrong surmise
Hold me a foe,
If I unwittingly, or in my rage,
Have aught committed that is hardly borne
By any in this presence, I desire
To reconcile me to his friendly peace.
‘Tis death to me to be at enmity;
I hate it, and desire all good men’s love.
First, madam, I entreat true peace of you,
Which I will purchase with my duteous service;—
Of you, my noble cousin Buckingham,
If ever any grudge were lodged between us;—
Of you, Lord Rivers, and Lord grey of you,
Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen; indeed of all!
I do not know that Englishman alive
With whom my soul is any jot at odds
More than the infant that is born tonight.
I thank my God for my humility.

DUTCH:

MORE:
Heap=Company
Intelligence=Secret information
Hardly borne=Resented
Strife=Contest, combat, fight
Compounded=Settled, resolved, composed
Compounded=Concluded
Flouted=Mocked
Compleat:
Heap=Menigte; hoop, stapel
Strife=Twist, tweedragt, krakkeel
To compound=’t Zamenzetten, byleggen, afmaaken, beslechten, vereffenen, overeenkomen
Flout=Spotterny, schimpscheut

Topics: resolution, remedy, offence, regret, blame

If so thou think’st, vex him with eager words.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 3
ACT/SCENE: 2.6
SPEAKER: George
CONTEXT:
WARWICK
I think his understanding is bereft.
Speak, Clifford, dost thou know who speaks to thee?
Dark cloudy death o’ershades his beams of life,
And he nor sees nor hears us what we say.
RICHARD
O, would he did! And so perhaps he doth:
‘Tis but his policy to counterfeit,
Because he would avoid such bitter taunts
Which in the time of death he gave our father.
GEORGE
If so thou think’st, vex him with eager words.
RICHARD
Clifford, ask mercy and obtain no grace.
EDWARD
Clifford, repent in bootless penitence.
WARWICK
Clifford, devise excuses for thy faults.
GEORGE
While we devise fell tortures for thy faults.

DUTCH:
Terg, denkt gij dit, hem eens met scherpe woorden.

MORE:

Understanding is bereft=Not conscious (of surroundings)
Overshade=Overshadow
Beam=Ray of light, sunbeam
Policy=Strategy, tactic
Counterfeit=Pretend, feign
Vex=Taunt, torment
Eager=Bitter
Bootless=Hopeless, futile, wasted
Penitence=Repentance
Fell=strong; cruel, vicious, intense, savage.

Compleat:
Fell=(cruel) Wreed, fel
Bootless=Te vergeefs, vruchteloos
To overshadow=Overschaduwen, omschaduwen, beschaduwen, belommeren
A beam of the sun=Een straal der Zonne
To call forth bright beams=Heldere straalen uitschieten, uitstraalen
To counterfeit (feign)=(Zich) Veinzen
A counterfeit friendship=Een gemaakte of geveinsde vriendschap
To vex=Quellen, plaagen
Eager=Graag, happig, greetig; heftig, vuurig, vinnig
Penitence=Boetvaardigheid, berouw, leedweezen

Topics: regret, flaw, fault

If there were reason for these miseries, then into limits could I bind my woes

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Titus Andronicus
CONTEXT:
TITUS ANDRONICUS
Is not my sorrow deep, having no bottom?
Then be my passions bottomless with them.
MARCUS ANDRONICUS
But yet let reason govern thy lament.
TITUS ANDRONICUS
If there were reason for these miseries,
Then into limits could I bind my woes:
When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o’erflow?
If the winds rage, doth not the sea wax mad,
Threatening the welkin with his big-swoln face?
And wilt thou have a reason for this coil?
I am the sea; hark, how her sighs do blow!
She is the weeping welkin, I the earth:
Then must my sea be moved with her sighs;
Then must my earth with her continual tears
Become a deluge, overflowed and drowned;
For why my bowels cannot hide her woes,
But like a drunkard must I vomit them.
Then give me leave, for losers will have leave
To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues.

DUTCH:
Indien er reden waar’ voor deze ellenden,
Dan kerkerde ik in perken al mijn wee.

MORE:
Proverb: Give losers leave to speak (talk)

Coil=Turmoil
Bind into limits=Confine
Forwhy=Because
Ease=Relieve
Bowels=Thought of as the seat of emotions
Compleat:
Coil=Geraas, getier
To bind=Binden, knoopen, verbinden.
To ease=Verligten, ontlasten, zyn gevoeg doen; verzagten

Topics: proverbs and idioms, grief, regret

Like a dull actor now, I have forgot my part

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
VIRGILIA
The sorrow that delivers us thus changed
Makes you think so.
CORIOLANUS
Like a dull actor now,
I have forgot my part, and I am out,
Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh,
Forgive my tyranny; but do not say
For that ‘Forgive our Romans.’ O, a kiss
Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!
Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss
I carried from thee, dear; and my true lip
Hath virgin’d it e’er since. You gods! I prate,
And the most noble mother of the world
Leave unsaluted: sink, my knee, i’ the earth;
VOLUMNIA
O, stand up blest!
Whilst, with no softer cushion than the flint,
I kneel before thee; and unproperly
Show duty, as mistaken all this while
Between the child and parent.

DUTCH:
Als een verbijsterd speler
Ken ik mijn rol niet meer, blijf steken, sta hier
Tot ieders spot.

MORE:
Proverb: Revenge is sweet

Disgrace=A state of being abashed, of being exposed to contempt; discredit
Tyranny=Cruelty
Dull=Not bright, dim, clouded; awkward, stupid
Compleat:
Disgrace (discredit, dishonour or reproach)=Smaadheid, schande, hoon
Tyranny=Geweldenary, tyranny, dwingelandy
Dull=Lui, traag; lomp, ongevoelig
A dull wit=Een dof verstand

Topics: regret, language, revenge, proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or popularised

Losers will have leave to ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Titus Andronicus
CONTEXT:
TITUS ANDRONICUS
Is not my sorrow deep, having no bottom?
Then be my passions bottomless with them.
MARCUS ANDRONICUS
But yet let reason govern thy lament.
TITUS ANDRONICUS
If there were reason for these miseries,
Then into limits could I bind my woes:
When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o’erflow?
If the winds rage, doth not the sea wax mad,
Threatening the welkin with his big-swoll’n face?
And wilt thou have a reason for this coil?
I am the sea; hark, how her sighs do blow!
She is the weeping welkin, I the earth:
Then must my sea be moved with her sighs;
Then must my earth with her continual tears
Become a deluge, overflowed and drowned;
Forwhy my bowels cannot hide her woes,
But like a drunkard must I vomit them.
Then give me leave, for losers will have leave
To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues.

DUTCH:
Vergunt mij dit; vergund wordt den verliezer,
Dat hij met bitt’re tong zich lucht verschaff’.

MORE:
Proverb: Give losers leave to speak (talk)

Topics: proverbs and idioms, grief, regret

Must I repent? I cannot do it better than in gyves, desired more than constrained

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Posthumus
CONTEXT:
JAILER
You shall not now be stol’n; you have locks upon you.
So graze as you find pasture
SECOND JAILER
Ay, or a stomach
POSTHUMUS
Most welcome, bondage! for thou art a way,
think, to liberty: yet am I better
Than one that’s sick o’ the gout; since he had rather
Groan so in perpetuity than be cured
By the sure physician, death, who is the key
To unbar these locks. My conscience, thou art fetter’d
More than my shanks and wrists: you good gods, give me
The penitent instrument to pick that bolt,
Then, free for ever! Is’t enough I am sorry?
So children temporal fathers do appease;
Gods are more full of mercy. Must I repent?
I cannot do it better than in gyves,
Desired more than constrain’d: to satisfy,
If of my freedom ’tis the main part, take
No stricter render of me than my all.
I know you are more clement than vile men,
Who of their broken debtors take a third,
A sixth, a tenth, letting them thrive again
On their abatement: that’s not my desire:
For Imogen’s dear life take mine; and though
‘Tis not so dear, yet ’tis a life; you coin’d it:
‘Tween man and man they weigh not every stamp;
Though light, take pieces for the figure’s sake:
You rather mine, being yours: and so, great powers,
If you will take this audit, take this life,
And cancel these cold bonds. O Imogen!
I’ll speak to thee in silence.

DUTCH:
Verlangt gij
Berouw? toon ik dit meer ooit dan in keet’nen,
Gewenscht, niet opgedrongen

MORE:
You shall not now be stolen=Alluding to the custom of puting a lock on a horse’s leg when it is put out to pasture (Johnson)
Penitent instrument=A means of freeing conscience of its guilt (Rolfe)
Groan=To utter a mournful voice in pain or sorrow
Temporal=Pertaining to this life or this world, not spiritual, not eternal
Gyves=fetters
Render=A surrender, a giving up
Stricter=More rigorous
Stamp=Coin with the sovereign’s head impressed
Though light, take pieces…=It was common practice for forgers lighten the weight of coins in order to conserve material.
Take this audit=Accept this settlement of accounts
Clement=Disposed to kindness, mild
Compleat:
Gyves=Boeijen, kluisters
Constrained=Bedwongen, gedrongen, gepraamd
Strict=Gestreng
Clement=Goedertieren, zachtzinnig
Audit=Het nazien der Rekeningen
Penitent=Boetvaardig, berouw toonend
Temporal (secular, not spiritual)=Waereldlyk

Burgersdijk notes:
“Nu steelt u niemand, met dat blok aan ‘t been; Graas nu zoover gij weide hebt”. Zooals men wel een paard in de weide met een ketting en slot bevestigt opdat het niet gestolen worde of wegloope.

Topics: regret, guilt, remedy, death, conscience

My conscience, thou art fettered more than my shanks and wrists: you good gods, give me the penitent instrument to pick that bolt

DUTCH:
Mijn geweten,
Gij draagt meer kluisters dan mijn pols en enkels;
O, goden, moog’ mijn boete ‘t werktuig zijn,
Die kluisters te oop nen; dan, voor eeuwig Vrij!

Topics: regret, guilt, remedy, conscience, debt/obligation

O, he’s a limb that has but a disease; mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
He’s a disease that must be cut away.
MENENIUS
O, he’s a limb that has but a disease;
Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy.
What has he done to Rome that’s worthy death?
Killing our enemies, the blood he hath lost—
Which, I dare vouch, is more than that he hath,
By many an ounce—he dropp’d it for his country;
And what is left, to lose it by his country,
Were to us all, that do’t and suffer it,
A brand to the end o’ the world.
SICINIUS
This is clean kam.

DUTCH:
Hij is een edel lid, met een gezwel;
Wegsnijding brengt den dood; en ‘t is genees’lijk.

MORE:
Proverb: To go clean cam (awry)

Mortal=Fatal, deadly
Brand=Mark of infamy, stigma
To the end of the world=Eternal
Kam=Awry, twisted. Crooked. Topsy turvy. Perverse or extraordinary (Irish and Welsh cam)
Compleat:
To cast a brand upon one=Iemands eer brandmerken
Mortal=Sterflyk, doodlyk

Burgersdijk notes:
Gebazel! Het Engelsch heeft This is clean kam. “Dit is geheel verkeerd”, tegen den draad in, à contrepoil.

Topics: remedy, understanding, regret, plans/intentions, proverbs and idioms

O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God, God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on ’t, ah fie! ‘Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed.

DUTCH:
O, mocht dit te té aangevochten vleesch wegsmelten /
O, dat dit te té vaste vleesch wou smelten

MORE:
Other versions:solid flesh or sallied flesh.
Unprofitable=Futile, pointless.
Stale=vapid, tasteless
Compleat:
Sullied=Bemorst, vuil gemaakt, bezoedeld.

Topics: regret, emotion and mood

Oft our displeasures, to ourselves unjust, destroy our friends and after weep their dust

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
Admiringly, my liege, at first
I stuck my choice upon her, ere my heart
Durst make too bold a herald of my tongue
Where the impression of mine eye infixing,
Contempt his scornful perspective did lend me,
Which warp’d the line of every other favour;
Scorn’d a fair colour, or express’d it stolen;
Extended or contracted all proportions
To a most hideous object: thence it came
That she whom all men praised and whom myself,
Since I have lost, have loved, was in mine eye
The dust that did offend it.
KING
Well excused:
That thou didst love her, strikes some scores away
From the great compt: but love that comes too late,
Like a remorseful pardon slowly carried,
To the great sender turns a sour offence,
Crying, ‘That’s good that’s gone.’ Our rash faults
Make trivial price of serious things we have,
Not knowing them until we know their grave:
Oft our displeasures, to ourselves unjust,
Destroy our friends and after weep their dust
Our own love waking cries to see what’s done,
While shame full late sleeps out the afternoon.
Be this sweet Helen’s knell, and now forget her.
Send forth your amorous token for fair Maudlin:
The main consents are had; and here we’ll stay
To see our widower’s second marriage-day.

DUTCH:
Vaak drijft ons booze dolheid, en verslaan
We een vriend, om weenend aan zijn graf te staan;

MORE:
Stuck=Fixed
Perspectives=(a) Multifaceted crystal balls, often mounted; (b) A type of painting which, when viewed obliquely, reveals another (more complex or deeper) meaning
Scores=debits
Compt=Account
Remorseful=Regretful, guilty
Compleat:
Perspective=Een verschiet, doorzigt
A piece of perspective=Een afbeelding in ‘t verschiet
A perspective glass=Een verrekyker
Score=Rekening, kerfstok
Scored up=Op rekening, op de kerfstok gezet
Accompt=Rekening, begrooting
Remorse=Knaaging, wroeging, berouw

Topics: regret, guilt, sorrow

Put out the light, and then put out the light

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Othello
CONTEXT:
OTHELLO
It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul.
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars,
It is the cause. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then put out the light.
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore
Should I repent me. But once put out thy light,
Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat
That can thy light relume. When I have plucked thy rose
I cannot give it vital growth again,
It must needs wither. I’ll smell thee on the tree.
Oh, balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword! One more, one more.
Be thus when thou art dead and I will kill thee
And love thee after. (kissing her) One more, and that’s
the last.
So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep,
But they are cruel tears. This sorrow’s heavenly,
It strikes where it doth love. She wakes.

DUTCH:
Doe uit het licht, en dan — doe uit het licht;
O dienstb’re vlam, indien ik uw licht doof,
Dan kan ik u uw vroeger licht hergeven,
Zoo ‘t mij berouwt; maar doof ik eens het uwe,
Gij kunstrijkst werk der scheppende natuur,
Waar vind ik de Prometheus-vonk, die u
Uw licht hergeeft?

MORE:
Cause=Ground for the action
Monumental=Used for monuments
Balmy=Fragrant
Sword=Emblem of power and authority
Minister=Aid
Cunning’st pattern=Masterpiece
Repent me=Change my mind
Put out the light, and then put out the light=Extinguish the candle (kill Desdemona)
Relume=Rekindle
Flaming=Carrying a light (Cf. Psalms 104.4; ‘Which maketh he spirits his messengers, and a flaming fire his ministers’.)
Cunning=Dexterously wrought or devised
Promethean heat=Fire that the demigod Prometheus stole from Olympus taught men to use; allusively, fire infuses life
Compleat:
Cause=Oorzaak, reden, zaak
To minister=Bedienen
Cunning=Behendig, Schrander, Naarstig
A cunning fellow=Een doortrapte vent, een looze gast
To cast a cunning look=Iemand snaaks aanzien
Repent=Berouw hebben, leedweezen betoonen, boete doen

Topics: life, strength, regret, death

Reason becomes the marshal to my will

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Lysander
CONTEXT:
HELENA
Do not say so, Lysander. Say not so.
What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though?
Yet Hermia still loves you. Then be content.
LYSANDER
Content with Hermia? No. I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia but Helena I love.
Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason swayed,
And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their season.
So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason.
And touching now the point of human skill,
Reason becomes the marshal to my will
And leads me to your eyes, where I o’erlook
Love’s stories written in love’s richest book.

DUTCH:
En heb ik ‘t oordeel nu van onderscheid,
Dan zij ‘t de rede, die mijn keus geleid’;
Die laat mij nu der liefde doen en wezen
In gouden lett’ren uit uw oogen lezen.,

MORE:
What though=What does it matter
Will=Desire
Ripe not=Don’t ripen
Point=Height (of human skill)
Marshal=Officer at arms; officer who established rank at ceremonies
O’erlook=Glance over, read; look over
Reason=Sense of judgement
Compleat:
Will=Wille
Marshal=een Marschalk

Burgersdijk notes:
In gouden lett’ren. Love’s stories, written in love’s richest book. Zooals hier Helena, wordt in Romeo en Julia Graaf Paris met een kostelijk boek vergeleken.

Topics: regret, love, rivalry, nature, reason

She hath despised me rejoicingly, and I’ll be merry in my revenge

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Cloten
CONTEXT:
CLOTEN
Meet thee at Milford-Haven!—I forgot to ask him one
thing; I’ll remember’t anon:—even there, thou
villain Posthumus, will I kill thee. I would these
garments were come. She said upon a time—the
bitterness of it I now belch from my heart—that she
held the very garment of Posthumus in more respect
than my noble and natural person together with the
adornment of my qualities. With that suit upon my
back, will I ravish her: first kill him, and in her
eyes; there shall she see my valour, which will then
be a torment to her contempt. He on the ground, my
speech of insultment ended on his dead body, and
when my lust hath dined,—which, as I say, to vex
her I will execute in the clothes that she so
praised,—to the court I’ll knock her back, foot
her home again. She hath despised me rejoicingly,
and I’ll be merry in my revenge.
Be those the garments?

DUTCH:
Zij heeft er genot in gevonden
mij te verachten, en ik wil mij vroolijk maken
door mijn wraak.

MORE:
Were come=Had arrived
Insultment=Contemptuous triumph
Knock=Beat
Foot=Kick
Compleat:
Insultation=Schamperheid
Knock=Slag, klop, klap

Topics: dispute, respect, regret, punishment, insult, revenge

Show his eyes and grieve his heart.

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Witches
CONTEXT:
Show his eyes and grieve his heart.
Come like shadows; so depart!

DUTCH:
Wenscht zijn hart zich leed, verschijnt!
Komt als schimmen, en verdwijnt!

MORE:
Schmidt:
Grieve his heart=make him sorry

Topics: fate/destiny, disappointment, truth, regret

Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid.

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: First Witch
CONTEXT:
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid.
He shall live a man forbid.
Weary sev’nnights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine.

DUTCH:
De slaap zal nacht noch dag aan het deksel van zijn penthouse hangen/
En geen slaap zijn oogen sluit; Dag noch nacht, te geener uur

MORE:
Schmidt:
Penthouse lid=Eyelid
A man forbid=A man cursed
Sevennight (or sennight)=Week
Dwindle, peak and pine=Shrink, grow lean and wear away, languish
Compleat:
Penthouse=Luyfel
Sevennight (Sennyt)=Week
Dwindle away=Verdwynen, te niet loopen
Peaking=Ziekelyk, quynende
To pine=Quynen, hartzeer ztten, een teering zetten
Pine away=Uytteeren, de teering zetten

Topics: guilt, conscience, regret

The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet:

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Henry Bolingbroke
CONTEXT:
O let no noble eye profane a tear
For me, if I be gored with Mowbray’s spear:
As confident as is the falcon’s flight
Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight.
My loving lord, I take my leave of you;
Of you, my noble cousin, Lord Aumerle;
Not sick, although I have to do with death,
But lusty, young, and cheerly drawing breath.
Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet
The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet:
O thou, the earthly author of my blood,
Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate,
Doth with a twofold vigour lift me up
To reach at victory above my head,
Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers;
And with thy blessings steel my lance’s point,
That it may enter Mowbray’s waxen coat,
And furbish new the name of John a Gaunt,
Even in the lusty havior of his son.

DUTCH:
Zie, als tot nagerecht naar eisch, begroet
Ik ‘t liefst het laatst, en zoo is ‘t einde zoet.

MORE:

Profane=To desecrate, to pollute (by crying)
Regreet=Salute
Regenerate=Reborn
Proof=A state of having been tried and having stood the test, especially defensive arms found to be impenetrable
Steel=To harden
Furbish=Polish, burnish
Haviour=Behaviour

Compleat:
To be come regenerated=Wedergebooren worden
Musquet proof=Daar een musket-kogel op afstuiten kan
To steel (or harden)=Hardmaaken, verharden
To furbish=Polysten, bruineeren, glad maaken

Topics: regret, conflict

The rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Prospero
CONTEXT:
And mine shall.
Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,
One of their kind, that relish all as sharply
Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art?
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to th’ quick,
Yet with my nobler reason ‘gainst my fury
Do I take part. The rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel.
My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore,
And they shall be themselves.

DUTCH:
Mijn rede is eed’ler dan mijn wrok, en neemt
Partij er tegen. Een verheev’ner doen
Is deugd dan wraak. Nu zij berouwvol zijn,
Ben ik aan ‘t doel en reikt mijn streven thans
Geen fronsblik verder. Ga, bevrijd hen, Ariel.
Ik breek mijn tooverboei, herstel hun geest;
Zij mogen weer zichzelf zijn.

MORE:
Proverb: To be able to do harm and not to do it is noble
Proverb: Touched to the quick
See also LLL:
“Of all that virtue love for virtue loved: Most power to do most harm, least knowing ill;”
High wrongs=Serious offences such as treason and attempted murder
Rarer=Unusual, exceptional
Virtue=Forgiveness, mercy
Compleat:
Rare (that happens but seldom)=Zeldzaam; (or scarce)=Schaars, raar; (excellent)=Uitmuntend
Virtue (an habit of the soul, whereby a man is inclined to do good and to shun evil)=Deugd

Topics: mercy, virtue, regret

The will of man is by his reason swayed

DUTCH:
Wie kiest een kraai, als hem een duif verschijnt?
De rede sture steeds den wil des mans;
De rede zegt mij: u behoort de krans.

Burgersdijk notes:
In gouden lett’ren. Love’s stories, written in love’s richest book. Zooals hier Helena, wordt in Romeo en Julia Graaf Paris met een kostelijk boek vergeleken.

Topics: regret, love, rivalry, nature, reason

Then my dial goes not true: I took this lark for a bunting

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
Yes, my lord, and of very valiant approof.
LAFEW
You have it from his own deliverance.
BERTRAM
And by other warranted testimony.
LAFEW
Then my dial goes not true: I took this lark for a bunting.
BERTRAM
I do assure you, my lord, he is very great in knowledge, and accordingly valiant.
LAFEW
I have then sinned against his experience and transgressed against his valour; and my state that way is dangerous, since I cannot yet find in my heart to repent. Here he comes ; I pray you, make us friends ; I will pursue the amity.

DUTCH:
Dan gaat mijn uurwerk niet goed. Ik hield dezen leeuwrik voor een gors.

MORE:
Proverb: To take a bunting for a lark

“The bunting is, in feather, size, and form, so like the skylark, as to require nice attention to discover the one from the other; it also ascends and sinks in the air nearly in the same manner; but it has little or no song, which gives estimation to the skylark.” (Johnson).

Approof=Proven (valour)
Deliverance=Account
Accordingly=Correspondingly
Dangerous=At risk (of damnation)
Amity=Friendship
Compleat:
Amity=Vrindschap, vreede, eendracht
Deliverance=Overlevering, verlossing

Burgersdijk notes:
Ik hield dezen leeuwrik voor een gors. De bedoelde gors, in het Engelsch bunting, is de grauwe gors, ook wel gierstvogel genoemd. Terwijl de leeuwrik zich hoog in de lucht verheft en aangenaam zingt, zet de gors zich op steenen palen, struiken of lage boomen en laat daar vaak zijn schor, bijna knarsend geluid hooren, dat nauwelijks een zang te noemen is. Het zeggen van LAFEW doet zien, hoe goed Sh. de vogels kende, want de gors en Ieeuwrik gelijken in kleur van gevederte veel op elkaar, en de gorzen, die in den herfst en den winter in troepen bijeen leven, worden, omdat zij dan zeer vet zijn, in Engeland en elders vaak gevangen en, onder den naam van leeuwriken, voor de tafel verkocht.

Topics: gullibility, appearance, offence, error, regret, proverbs and idioms

There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats; for I am armed so strong in honesty

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
CASSIUS
Do not presume too much upon my love.
I may do that I shall be sorry for.
BRUTUS
You have done that you should be sorry for.
There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats,
For I am armed so strong in honesty
That they pass by me as the idle wind,
Which I respect not. I did send to you
For certain sums of gold, which you denied me,
For I can raise no money by vile means.
By heaven, I had rather coin my heart
And drop my blood for drachmas than to wring
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash
By any indirection. I did send
To you for gold to pay my legions,
Which you denied me. Was that done like Cassius?
Should I have answered Caius Cassius so?
When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous
To lock such rascal counters from his friends,
Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts.
Dash him to pieces!

DUTCH:
Gij hebt gedaan, wat u berouwen moet.
In al uw dreigen, Cassius, woont geen schrik;
Mijn manneneer is mij zoo stork een rusting,
Dat ik zoo min het tel, als de’ ijd’len wind,
Die langs mij heensuist.

Topics: regret, respect, money

Things growing are not ripe until their season

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Lysander
CONTEXT:
LYSANDER
Content with Hermia? No. I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
Not Hermia but Helena I love.
Who will not change a raven for a dove?
The will of man is by his reason swayed,
And reason says you are the worthier maid.
Things growing are not ripe until their season.
So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason.
And touching now the point of human skill,
Reason becomes the marshal to my will
And leads me to your eyes, where I o’erlook
Love’s stories written in love’s richest book.

DUTCH:
Wat groeit, bereikt zijn rijpheid schreê voor schrede
Mijn jeugd eerst nu de rijpheid van de rede.

Burgersdijk notes:
In gouden lett’ren. Love’s stories, written in love’s richest book. Zooals hier Helena, wordt in Romeo en Julia Graaf Paris met een kostelijk boek vergeleken.

Topics: regret, love, rivalry, nature, reason

Though I did wish him dead,
I hate the murd’rer, love him murdered.

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 5.6
SPEAKER: Henry Bolingbroke
CONTEXT:
EXTON
Great king, within this coffin I present
Thy buried fear: herein all breathless lies
The mightiest of thy greatest enemies,
Richard of Bordeaux, by me hither brought.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Exton, I thank thee not; for thou hast wrought
A deed of slander with thy fatal hand
Upon my head and all this famous land.
EXTON
From your own mouth, my lord, did I this deed.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
They love not poison that do poison need,
Nor do I thee: though I did wish him dead,
I hate the murderer, love him murdered.
The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labour,
But neither my good word nor princely favour:
With Cain go wander through shades of night,
And never show thy head by day nor light.

DUTCH:
Exton, ik dank u niet; voorwaar, ik gruw
Van zulk een daad, waardoor uw booze hand
Vloek brengt op mij en heel dit roemrijk land.

MORE:

Deed of slander=Reproach, disgrace, scandal

Compleat:
Slander=Laster, lasterkladde

Topics: regret, conscience, guilt

Time is the nurse and breeder of all good

Topics: regret, pity, hope/optimism

Unshout the noise that banish’d Marcius

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: First Senator
CONTEXT:
FIRST SENATOR
Behold our patroness, the life of Rome!
Call all your tribes together, praise the gods,
And make triumphant fires; strew flowers before them:
Unshout the noise that banish’d Marcius,
Repeal him with the welcome of his mother;
Cry ‘Welcome, ladies, welcome!’
ALL
Welcome, ladies, Welcome!

DUTCH:
Juicht de’ onheilskreet te niet, die Marcius bande;
Roept met zijn moeder’s welkomst hem terug!

MORE:
Unshout=Take back the words
Repeal=Recall
Compleat:
Repeal=Herroepen, afschaffen, weer intrekken

Topics: regret, punishment

We will so: almost all repent in their election

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: All
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
One thus descended,
That hath beside well in his person wrought
To be set high in place, we did commend
To your remembrances: but you have found,
Scaling his present bearing with his past,
That he’s your fixed enemy, and revoke
Your sudden approbation.
BRUTUS
Say, you ne’er had done’t—
Harp on that still— but by our putting on;
And presently, when you have drawn your number,
Repair to the Capitol.
ALL
We will so: almost all
Repent in their election.
BRUTUS
Let them go on;
This mutiny were better put in hazard,
Than stay, past doubt, for greater:
If, as his nature is, he fall in rage
With their refusal, both observe and answer
The vantage of his anger.
SICINIUS
To the Capitol, come:
We will be there before the stream o’ the people;
And this shall seem, as partly ’tis, their own,
Which we have goaded onward.

DUTCH:
Dit willen wij;
De keus berouwt schier allen.

MORE:
Scaling=Weighing
Putting on=Urging
Drawn=Gathered these people
Put in hazard=Risked
Stay=Wait
Past doubt=The certainty of
Observe=Watch
Answer the vantage=Take advantage of
Compleat:
To put to=Opdringen, toedringen
To hazard=Waagen, aventuuren, in de waagschaal stellen
To stay=Wagten
To observe=Waarneemen, gadeslaan, onderhouden, aanmerken, opmerken

Topics: relationship, merit, status, regret

What error leads must err

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Cressida
CONTEXT:
CRESSIDA
Troilus, farewell! one eye yet looks on thee
But with my heart the other eye doth see.
Ah, poor our sex! this fault in us I find,
The error of our eye directs our mind:
What error leads must err; O, then conclude
Minds swayed by eyes are full of turpitude.
THERSITES
A proof of strength she could not publish more,
Unless she said “My mind is now turned whore.”

DUTCH:
De dwaling van ons oog stuurt ons gemoed.
Wat dwaling leidt, moet dwalen; ach, wat smaad’!
‘t Gemoed, door ‘t oog geleid, pleegt kwaad op kwaad!

MORE:
Error=Wandering
Proof of strength=Strong proof
Publish more=Make clearer
Compleat:
Error=Fout, misslag, dwaaling, dooling
To publish=Openbaarmaaken, bekendmaaken

Topics: judgment, appearance, regret

Ye have angels’ faces, but heaven knows your hearts

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Queen Katherine
CONTEXT:
QUEEN KATHERINE
Would I had never trod this English earth,
Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it!
Ye have angels’ faces, but heaven knows your hearts.
What will become of me now, wretched lady!
I am the most unhappy woman living.
Alas, poor wenches, where are now your fortunes!
Shipwreck’d upon a kingdom, where no pity,
No friend, no hope; no kindred weep for me;
Almost no grave allow’d me: like the lily,
That once was mistress of the field and flourish’d,
I’ll hang my head and perish.

DUTCH:
Ja, eng’len schijnt gij, doch God kent uw hart.

MORE:
Would=I wish
Flatteries=Deception, manipulation
Compleat:
Would=’t was te wenschen dat; it zou ‘t wel willen
Flattery=Vleyery

Topics: appearance, plans/intentions, deceit, manipulation, regret

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