CJTranslations

QUOTES BY TOPIC

A while to work, and after holiday.

PLAY: Richard II ACT/SCENE: 3.1 SPEAKER: Henry Bolingbroke CONTEXT: Come, lords, away.
To fight with Glendower and his complices;
A while to work, and after holiday. DUTCH: Dank, waardige oom. — Komt, Heeren, op! met lust
Nog Glendower bestreden en zijn aanhang;
Een korte wijl aan ‘t werk, — en dan volgt rust. MORE: Topics: work, duty

All’s well that ends well yet

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
GENTLEMAN
Not, indeed:
He hence removed last night and with more haste
Than is his use..
WIDOW
Lord, how we lose our pains!
HELEN
All’s well that ends well yet,
Though time seem so adverse and means unfit.
I do beseech you, whither is he gone?
GENTLEMAN
Marry, as I take it, to Rousillon;
Whither I am going.
HELEN
I do beseech you, sir,
Since you are like to see the king before me,
Commend the paper to his gracious hand,
Which I presume shall render you no blame
But rather make you thank your pains for it.
I will come after you with what good speed
Our means will make us means.

DUTCH:
Eind goed, nog alles goed;
Wat tegenloop’, hoe zwak in midd’len, – moed!
Ik bid u, heer, waar is hij heengereisd ?

MORE:
Hence=From this place to another place
Remove=Depart
Lose=Waste (have wasted)
Pains=Efforts
Unfit=Unsuitable
Commend=Commit
Presume=Am pretty certain
Means=(1) Resources (2) Will allow
Compleat:
Hence=Van hier, hier uit
Remove=Een verschuiving, verstooting, afzetting, verplaatsing
Lose=Verliezen, quyt raaken
To take pains=Moeite doen, arbeid aanwenden
Unfit=Onbequaam, ongevoeglyk
To commend=Pryzen, aanbevoolen, aanpryzen
To presume=Vermoeden, waanen, zich vermeeten
Means=Middelen; Toedoen

Topics: work, achievement, merit

Am I so round with you as you with me, that like a football you do spurn me thus?

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Dromio of Ephesus
CONTEXT:
ADRIANA
Back, slave, or I will break thy pate across.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
And he will bless that cross with other beating.
Between you, I shall have a holy head.
ADRIANA
Hence, prating peasant! Fetch thy master home.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS
Am I so round with you as you with me,
That like a football you do spurn me thus?
You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither.
If I last in this service, you must case me in leather.
LUCIANA
Fie, how impatience loureth in your face.

DUTCH:
Zeide ik goedrond de waarheid, ben ik dáárom
Te schoppen als een bal van hier naar ginds?
Gij schopt mij weg, hij schopt gewis mij weder,
Als ik dat uit zal houden, zoo naai mij eerst in leder.

MORE:
Round=Outspoken, plain-speaking
Spurn=Kick
Loureth=Scowl
Compleat:
To have a round delivery (clear utterance)=Glad ter taal zyn
A spurn=Een schop met de voet
To spurn=Agteruit schoppen, schoppen. To spurn away=Wegschoppen

Burgersdijk notes:
Te schoppen als een bal. Het voetbalspel is, zooals bekend is, nog zeer in zwang, en de bal er voor is met leder overtrokken.

Topics: work, civility, order/society, respect

And all my pains is sorted to no proof

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Petruchio
CONTEXT:
PETRUCHIO
Pluck up thy spirits. Look cheerfully upon me.
Here love, thou seest how diligent I am,
To dress thy meat myself and bring it thee.
I am sure, sweet Kate, this kindness merits thanks.
What, not a word? Nay, then thou lov’st it not
And all my pains is sorted to no proof.
Here, take away this dish.

DUTCH:
En reken, lieve Kaatjen, op uw dank.
Wat, zelfs geen woord? Dan is ‘t niet naar uw smaak,
En was mijn moeite en zorg alweer vergeefsch; –
Hier, neem den schotel weg.

MORE:
Pluck up your spirits=Cheer up, pull yourself together
Dress=Prepare
Sorted to no proof=Done for nothing
Compleat:
To pluck up one’s spirits=Moed scheppen
To dress=Optooijen, opschikken, toetakelen, toemaaken, toerechten, havenen
To sort=Uytschieten, elk by ‘t zyne leggen, sorteeren

Topics: emotion and mood, love, ingratitude, work

And what wilt thou do—beg when that is spent?

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Orlando
CONTEXT:
OLIVER
And what wilt thou do—beg when that is spent? Well, sir, get you in. I will not long be troubled with you. You shall have some part of your will. I pray you leave me.
ORLANDO
I will no further offend you than becomes me for my good.
OLIVER
Get you with him, you old dog.
ADAM
Is “old dog” my reward? Most true, I have lost my teeth in your service. God be with my old master. He would not have spoke such a word.

DUTCH:
En wat wilt gij er mee doen? gaan bedelen, als het
verkwist is? Nu, sinjeur, ga maar binnen, ik wil niet
lang meer last van u hebben, gij zult ten deele uw wil
hebben.

MORE:
Become=To fit, suit. (Becomes me for my good=than I consider necessary)
Offend=Displease, mortify, affront; trespass on
Compleat:
Become=Betaamen
Offend=Misdoen, ergeren, aanstoot geeven, verstoordmaaken, beledigen

Topics: insult, status, work, value, ingratitude

Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Petruchio
CONTEXT:
PETRUCHIO
O monstrous arrogance! Thou liest, thou thread, thou thimble,
Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail!
Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter cricket thou!
Braved in mine own house with a skein of thread?
Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant,
Or I shall so be-mete thee with thy yard
As thou shalt think on prating whilst thou liv’st!
I tell thee, I, that thou hast marred her gown.
TAILOR
Your Worship is deceived. The gown is made
Just as my master had direction.
Grumio gave order how it should be done.
GRUMIO
I gave him no order. I gave him the stuff.
TAILOR
But how did you desire it should be made?
GRUMIO
Marry, sir, with needle and thread.
TAILOR
But did you not request to have it cut?
GRUMIO
Thou hast faced many things.
TAILOR
I have.
GRUMIO
Face not me. Thou hast braved many men; brave not me. I
will neither be faced nor braved. I say unto thee, I
bid thy master cut out the gown, but I did not bid him
cut it to pieces. Ergo, thou liest.
TAILOR
Why, here is the note of the fashion to testify.

DUTCH:
Jij endjen draad, mij tarten in mijn huis!
Voort, voort, jij lap, jij vod, jij lomp, jij snipper,
Of ik neem met jouw el je zoo de maat,
Dat heel je leven je deez’ praatjes rouwen!
Dat kleed, zeg ik nog eens, het is verknipt .

MORE:
Nail=Measure of cloth
Nit=Louse egg
Brave=(1) to “dress in fine clothes”; (2) “to defy.”
Yard=Measuring stick
Quantity=Fragment
Be-mete=Measure
Prating=Talking
Stuff=Material
Whilst=For as long as
Compleat:
Nail (one eighth of an ell)=De agste deel van een el
Nit=Een neet
To brave=Trotsen, braveeren, trotseeren; moedig treeden
To prate=Praaten. Prate and prattle=Keffen en snappen. Prate foolishly=Mal praaten

Topics: insult, fashion/trends, work, satisfaction, vanity

Be thou assured, good Cassio, I will do all my abilities in thy behalf

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Desdemona
CONTEXT:
DESDEMONA
Be thou assured, good Cassio, I will do
All my abilities in thy behalf.
EMILIA
Good madam, do. I warrant it grieves my husband
As if the cause were his.
DESDEMONA
Oh, that’s an honest fellow. Do not doubt, Cassio,
But I will have my lord and you again
As friendly as you were.
CASSIO
Bounteous madam,
Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio,
He’s never anything but your true servant.

DUTCH:
Wees, goede Cassio, hiervan overtuigd:
Wat ik vermag, ik zal het voor u doen.

MORE:
Grieves=Troubles
Bounteous=Generous
Compleat:
To grieve=Bedroeven, smarten, grieven
Bounteous=Milddaadig, goedertieren

Topics: skill/talent, loyalty, work

Blessing of your heart, you brew good ale

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Lance
CONTEXT:
SPEED
[Reads] ‘Imprimis: She can milk.’
LANCE
Ay, that she can.
SPEED
‘Item: She brews good ale.’
LANCE
And thereof comes the proverb: ‘Blessing of your
heart, you brew good ale.’
SPEED
‘Item: She can sew.’
LANCE
That’s as much as to say, ‘Can she so?’

DUTCH:
En daar vandaan het zeggen: „Gods zegen hier; gij
brouwt goed bier.”

MORE:
Proverb: Blessing of your heart, you brew good ale

Imprimis=Introduction to inventory; subsequent clauses starting with ‘item’
Jade=A term of contempt or pity for a woman; worthless or maltreated horse
Compleat:
Jade=Een lompig paerd, knol, jakhals

Burgersdijk notes:
Zij kan naaien. In ‘t Engelsch: she can sew, waarvoor in de folio- uitgave soave geschreven wordt, zoodat de volgende vraag can slee so het woord herhaalt. Hier moest de vertaler zich anders helpen; evenzoo bij het volgende, waar het woord stock eerst in de beteekenis van kapitaal,”geld”, daarna in die van ,sok” wordt opgevat.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, value, work, virtue

Brother, we have done deeds of charity, made peace of enmity

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: King Edward
CONTEXT:
RICHARD
Good morrow to my sovereign king and queen,
And, princely peers, a happy time of day.
KING EDWARD
Happy indeed, as we have spent the day.
Brother, we have done deeds of charity,
Made peace of enmity, fair love of hate,
Between these swelling, wrong-incensed peers.

DUTCH:
Wij deden, Gloster, hier een christ’lijk werk ;
Wij schiepen vrede uit krijg en liefde uit haat
Bij deze felle, boos ontvlamde pairs.

MORE:
Swelling=Inflated, self-important
Wrong-incensed=Inappropriately angry
Compleat:
To swell=Opblaazen
To incense=Ophitsen, vertoornen, tergen

Topics: emotion and mood, satisfaction, work, resolution

But most it is presumption in us when the help of heaven we count the act of men

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Helen
CONTEXT:
KING
I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind maid;
Thy pains not used must by thyself be paid:
Proffers not took reap thanks for their reward.
HELEN
Inspirèd merit so by breath is barr’d:
It is not so with Him that all things knows
As ’tis with us that square our guess by shows;
But most it is presumption in us when
The help of heaven we count the act of men.
Dear sir, to my endeavours give consent;
Of heaven, not me, make an experiment.
I am not an impostor that proclaim
Myself against the level of mine aim;
But know I think and think I know most sure
My art is not past power nor you past cure.
KING
Are thou so confident? within what space
Hopest thou my cure?

DUTCH:
Zoo stremt eens menschen adem ‘s hemels zegen!
O! ‘t is niet zoo bij Hem, die ‘t al doorschouwt,
Als bij den mensch, die op den schijn vertrouwt;
En wat de hulp des hemels heeft gedaan,
Ziet onze trots voor menschenwerk meest aan.

MORE:
Hear=Listen to
Pains=Efforts
Proffers=Offers
Took=Accepted
Inspirèd=Divine
Breath=Mortal words (as opposed to divinely inspired)
Square=Form
Guess=Surmise, conjecture
Shows=Outward appearance
Compleat:
To hear=Hooren, verhooren, toehooren
To take pains=Moeite doen, arbeid aanwenden
Proffer=Aanbieding
Inspired=Aangeblaazen [door den Geest]To square=Passen
Guess=Gissen, raamen, raaden
Show=Vertooning

Topics: hope/optimism, promise, work, money, authority, merit

Commend the paper to his gracious hand, which I presume shall render you no blame

DUTCH:
Ik bid u, heer,
Stel, daar gij eer dan ik den koning ziet,
Aan zijn genade dit geschrift ter hand;

Topics: work, achievement, merit

Every good servant does not all commands: no bond but to do just ones

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Posthumus
CONTEXT:
POSTHUMUS LEONATUS
Yea, bloody cloth, I’ll keep thee, for I wish’d
Thou shouldst be colour’d thus. You married ones,
If each of you should take this course, how many
Must murder wives much better than themselves
For wrying but a little! O Pisanio!
Every good servant does not all commands:
No bond but to do just ones. Gods! if you
Should have ta’en vengeance on my faults, I never
Had lived to put on this: so had you saved
The noble Imogen to repent, and struck
Me, wretch more worth your vengeance. But, alack,
You snatch some hence for little faults; that’s love,
To have them fall no more: you some permit
To second ills with ills, each elder worse,
And make them dread it, to the doers’ thrift.
But Imogen is your own: do your best wills,
And make me blest to obey! I am brought hither
Among the Italian gentry, and to fight
Against my lady’s kingdom: ’tis enough
That, Britain, I have kill’d thy mistress; peace!
I’ll give no wound to thee. Therefore, good heavens,
Hear patiently my purpose. I’ll disrobe me
Of these Italian weeds and suit myself
As does a Briton peasant. So I’ll fight
Against the part I come with; so I’ll die
For thee, O Imogen, even for whom my life
Is every breath a death. And thus, unknown,
Pitied nor hated, to the face of peril
Myself I’ll dedicate. Let me make men know
More valour in me than my habits show.
Gods, put the strength o’ th’ Leonati in me.
To shame the guise o’ th’ world, I will begin
The fashion: less without and more within.

DUTCH:
Een goede dienaar volgt niet elk bevel; Slechts aan ‘t gerechte is hij gehouden.

MORE:
Proverb: Yours to command in the way of honesty
Proverb: Appearances are deceitful

Just=Moral
Wrying=Swerving, deviating from the right course
Put on=Instigate
Weeds=Garment
Purpose=Something spoken of or to be done, matter, question, subject
Compleat:
Just (righteous)=Een rechtvaardige
Just=Effen, juist, net
Wry=Scheef, verdraaid
Weeds (habit or garment)=Kleederen, gewaad

Topics: proverbs and idioms, honesty, marriage, work, flaw/fault, appearance

Experience is by industry achieved and perfected by the swift course of time

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Antonio
CONTEXT:
ANTONIO
Nor need’st thou much importune me to that
Whereon this month I have been hammering.
I have considered well his loss of time
And how he cannot be a perfect man,
Not being tried and tutored in the world:
Experience is by industry achieved
And perfected by the swift course of time.
Then tell me, whither were I best to send him?

DUTCH:
Ervaring wordt door vlijt en moeite erlangd,
En door den snellen gang des tijds gerijpt.
Doch spreek, waar zou ik best hem henen zenden?

MORE:
Hammering=Pondering
Industry=Assiduity, zealous activity
Importune=Urge, impel
Compleat:
To hammer out a thing=Iets met groote moeite bewerken
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen
Industry=Nyverheid, vytigheid, kloekzinnigheid, vernuftigheid
Industry (wit)=Behendigheid
To tutor=Berispen, bestraffen

Topics: learning/education, age/experience, time, work

Fie upon this quiet life! I want work.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Prince Hal
CONTEXT:
I am not yet of Percy’s mind, the Hotspur of the north, he that kills me some six or seven dozen of Scots at a breakfast, washes his hands, and says to his wife “Fie upon this quiet life! I want work.”

DUTCH:
Ik ben nog niet gestemd als Percy, de Heetspoor van het noorden, die je zijn zes of zeven dozijn Schotten voor zijn ontbijt ombrengt, zijn handen wascht en tot zijn vrouw zegt: “Foei, wat een stil leventje! ik verlang naar werk.”

MORE:
Mind=disposition

Topics: work, ambition, satisfaction

For my part, I had rather bear with you than bear you

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Touchstone
CONTEXT:
ROSALIND
O Jupiter, how weary are my spirits!
TOUCHSTONE
I care not for my spirits, if my legs were not weary.
ROSALIND
I could find in my heart to disgrace my man’s apparel
and to cry like a woman, but I must comfort the weaker
vessel, as doublet and hose ought to show itself
courageous to petticoat. Therefore courage, good Aliena.
CELIA
I pray you bear with me. I cannot go no further.
TOUCHSTONE
For my part, I had rather bear with you than bear you.
Yet I should bear no cross if I did bear you, for I
think you have no money in your purse.

DUTCH:
Wat mij betreft, ik wil liever uw moeheid dan uzelve
verdragen; en toch, als ik u verdroeg, zou ik nog geen
kruisdager wezen; want ik vermoed, dat gij kruis noch
munt in de tasch hebt.

MORE:
Weaker vessel=Woman, wife
Doublet and hose=Male attire (fig. masculinity)
Petticoat=Female attire (fig. femininity)
Cross=(1) Burden, trouble (2) Money, Elizabethan coin stamped with a cross
Compleat:
Vessel=Vat
Petti-coat=Een vrouwe onderrok

Topics: age/experience, life, order/society, work, loyalty

He cannot but with measure fit the honours which we devise him

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Cominius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Worthy man!
FIRST SENATOR
He cannot but with measure fit the honours
Which we devise him.
COMINIUS
Our spoils he kick’d at,
And look’d upon things precious as they were
The common muck of the world: he covets less
Than misery itself would give; rewards
His deeds with doing them, and is content
To spend the time to end it.
MENENIUS
He’s right noble:
Let him be call’d for.
FIRST SENATOR
Call Coriolanus.

DUTCH:
Onzen buit verstiet hij;
Op kostb’re schatten zag hij neer, als waren
Zij drek en afval., Zijn verlangst is minder,
Dan de armoe zelf zou geven; zijner daden
Belooning is hem ‘t doen; hij is voldaan,
Is zoo zijn tijd besteed

MORE:
Proverb: Muck of the world
Proverb: Virtue is its own reward

Cannot but=Cannot fail to
With measure fit=Measure up to
Misery=Penury
Compleat:
He cannot but know=Hy kan niet anders dan weeeten; hy moet het weeten, hy zal zekerlyk weten
Misery=Elende, armoede

Topics: work, satisfaction, honour, proverbs and idioms, still in use, value

He requires your haste-post-haste appearance

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Othello
CONTEXT:
OTHELLO
Let him do his spite.
My services which I have done the signiory
Shall out-tongue his complaints. ‘Tis yet to know—
Which, when I know that boasting is an honour,
I shall promulgate. I fetch my life and being
From men of royal siege, and my demerits
May speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune
As this that I have reached. For know, Iago,
But that I love the gentle Desdemona,
I would not my unhousèd free condition
Put into circumscription and confine
For the sea’s worth. But look, what lights come yond?
IAGO
Those are the raisèd father and his friends.
You were best go in.
OTHELLO
Not I, I must be found.
My parts, my title, and my perfect soul
Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they?
IAGO
By Janus, I think no.
You were best go in.
Not I, I must be found.
My parts, my title, and my perfect soul
Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they?
IAGO
By Janus, I think no.
OTHELLO
The servants of the Duke and my lieutenant?
The goodness of the night upon you, friends!
What is the news?
CASSIO
The Duke does greet you, general,
And he requires your haste-post-haste appearance,
Even on the instant.

DUTCH:
Veel Senatoren, in der haast ontboden,
Zijn bij den doge. Onmidd’lijk riep men u,
En toen gij niet te huis te vinden waart,
Zond de Senaat drie boden door de stad
Om u te zoeken.

MORE:
Yet to know=Still not public knowledge
Promulgate=Make public
Siege=Seat; social status
Demerits=Deserts, merits
Unhousèd=Unconfined
Put into circumscription=Restrain, confine
Unbonneted=Bare-headed (without humility or embarrassment; on equal terms)
Janus=Ancient Roman god of beginnings, endings, and doorways, who is represented as having two faces
Compleat:
To promulgate=Verkondigen
Demerit=Verdienste [doch in quaaden zin]Circumscription=Omschryving
To circumscribe=Omschryven, bepaalen, beperken

Topics: work, merit, claim, status, independence

Hence! home, you idle creatures get you home: is this a holiday?

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Flavius
CONTEXT:
FLAVIUS
Hence! Home, you idle creatures get you home!
Is this a holiday? What, know you not,
Being mechanical, you ought not walk
Upon a labouring day without the sign
Of your profession?—Speak, what trade art thou?
CARPENTER
Why, sir, a carpenter.
MURELLUS
Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?
What dost thou with thy best apparel on?
—You, sir, what trade are you?
COBBLER
Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, as
you would say, a cobbler.
MURELLUS
But what trade art thou? Answer me directly.
COBBLER
A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe
conscience, which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad
soles.
MURELLUS
What trade, thou knave? Thou naughty knave, what trade?

DUTCH:
Van hier, naar huis! gij, luie vlegels, voort!
Is dit een vrije dag?

MORE:
Mechanical=Labourer, working class
Thou=Use of thou signified familiarity or, as here, contempt
Rule=Punning on (1) ruler and (2) conduct
Cobbler=Punning on (1) shoemender and (2) bungler
Soles=Punning on (1) shoe soles and (2) souls
Compleat:
To cobble=Flikken, lappen, brodden; schoenlappen
Cobbler=(Cobler) Een schoenlapper, schoenflikker, broddelaar
Rule=Regel, lijn; bestieren, regeren

Burgersdijk notes:
Dat gij, als handwerkslieden, enz. Zulke bepalingen bestonden inderdaad, zoowel in Engeland als in
Duitschland .

Topics: status, order/society, work

I am not in the giving vein to-day

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: King Richard III
CONTEXT:
KING RICHARD
Because that, like a jack, thou keep’st the stroke
Betwixt thy begging and my meditation.
I am not in the giving vein today.
BUCKINGHAM
Why then, resolve me whether you will or no.
KING RICHARD
Thou troublest me; I am not in the vein.
BUCKINGHAM
And is it thus? Repays he my deep service
With such deep contempt? Made I him king for this?
O, let me think on Hastings and be gone
To Brecknock, while my fearful head is on!

DUTCH:
Wijl tusschen mijn gedachten en uw beed’len
Uw slag steeds komt, als van een klokkeventjen.
Ik ben in geen goedgeefsche luim vandaag.

MORE:
Jack=Figure strike the bell in old clocks
Stroke=Clock sounding the hour
Vein=Mood
Resolve me=Give me your answer/determination
Brecknock=Brecon
Compleat:
Stroke=Slag
Vein=Ader; styl
A crafty jack=Een looze boef
To resolve=Besluyten, voorneemen, een besluyt neemen, te raade worden; oplossen
Resolve me (let me know your mind)=Verklaar my uwe meening: zeg my hoe gy het hebben wilt
Resolve me this question=Los my deeze vraag eens op

Topics: order/society, merit, work, value

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 beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you.

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Cobbler
CONTEXT:
COBBLER
A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe
conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad
soles.
MURELLUS
What trade, thou knave? Thou naughty knave, what trade?
COBBLER
Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me. Yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you.
MURELLUS
What mean’st thou by that? “Mend” me, thou saucy fellow?

DUTCH:
Neen, ik bid u, leg er geen knoop op; want wezenlijk,
als er een steek aan u los is, kan ik u opknappen.

MORE:
Cobbler=Punning on (1) shoemender and (2) bungler
Soles=Punning on (1) shoe soles and (2) souls
“Out” double meaning: first out to mean angry, second out at heel (now down at heel); see also double meaning in a “mender of bad soles”.
Compleat:
To cobble=Flikken, lappen, brodden; schoenlappen
Cobbler=(Cobler) Een schoenlapper, schoenflikker, broddelaar
To be out=Missen, uythebben

Burgersdijk notes:
Het verbeteren van den slechten wandel der menschen. Het Engelsch heeft: a mender of bad soles. De woordspeling met soles en souls is in het Engelsch veel natuurlijker, en wat hier gegeven wordt, is veel te deftig, maar het is moeilijk lets beters te vinden; misschien zou kunnen dienen: Zonder mij ging de wereld op sloffen,” of wel: op sokken”.

Topics: status, order/society, work

I do beseech you, as in way of taste, to give me now a little benefit, out of those many registered in promise

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Calchas
CONTEXT:
CALCHAS
Now, princes, for the service I have done you,
The advantage of the time prompts me aloud
To call for recompense. Appear it to your mind
That, through the sight I bear in things to love,
I have abandoned Troy, left my possession,
Incurred a traitor’s name; exposed myself,
From certain and possessed conveniences,
To doubtful fortunes; sequestering from me all
That time, acquaintance, custom and condition
Made tame and most familiar to my nature,
And here, to do you service, am become
As new into the world, strange, unacquainted:
I do beseech you, as in way of taste,
To give me now a little benefit,
Out of those many registered in promise,
Which, you say, live to come in my behalf.

DUTCH:
Zoo smeek ik dan, dat gij mij thans als voorproef
Een luttel gunstbewijs verleenen wilt,
Uit al de velen, plechtig mij beloofd,
Als in de toekomst, naar gij zegt, mij wachtend.

MORE:
Advantage=Opportunity
Possession=Worldly goods
Sequestering=Divorcing
Condition=Position, standing
Taste=Test
To come=To be fulfilled
Compleat:
Advantage=Voordeel, voorrecht, winst, gewin, toegift
Possession=(enjoyment) Bezit, genot; (demesnes, lands, tenements) Domeinen, goederen, landen
To sequester=In eene derde hand in bewaaring geven; Afscheiden; (widow disclaiming the estate of her deceased husband) De sleuten op de kist leggen; van het goed des overledenen mans afstand doen
Condition=Staat, gesteltenis
Taste=Proeven

Burgersdijk notes:
In de toekomst blikkend. Hier is de lezing der vierde folio-uitgave gevolgd: in things to come; de oudere drukken hebben: in things to love.

Topics: advantage/benefit, satisfaction, work, loyalty

I have had my labour for my travail

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Pandarus
CONTEXT:
PANDARUS
Faith, I’ll not meddle in ‘t. Let her be as she is:
if she be fair, ’tis the better for her; an she be
not, she has the mends in her own hands.
TROILUS
Good Pandarus, how now, Pandarus!
PANDARUS
I have had my labour for my travail; ill-thought on of
her and ill-thought on of you; gone between and
between, but small thanks for my labour.
TROILUS
What, art thou angry, Pandarus? what, with me?
PANDARUS
Because she’s kin to me, therefore she’s not so fair
as Helen: an she were not kin to me, she would be as
fair on Friday as Helen is on Sunday. But what care
I? I care not an she were a black-a-moor; ’tis all one
to me.

DUTCH:
Nu, ik wil er mij niet mede bemoeien. Zij moge zijn
zooals zij is; is zij schoon, des te beter voor haar; is zij
het niet, nu dan staat het wel in haar macht, dit te
verhelpen.

MORE:
Proverb: I will neither meddle nor make
Proverb: The mends (amends) is in his own hands

Mends=Remedy
My labour for my travail=Efforts as their own reward
Friday and Sunday=Everyday dress or Sunday best
Blackamoor=A generic name for a black African person.
All one=All the same
Compleat:
Meddle=Bemoeijen, moeijen
To mend=Verbeteren, beteren; verstellen, lappen
Labour=Arbeid, moeite, werk
Black-moor or Blackamore=Een Moriaan, Zwart
It is all one to me=’t Scheelt my niet

Burgersdijk notes:
Dit te verhelpen. Door blanketsel, valsch haar enz.
Helena op Zondag. In ‘t Fransch zegt men ook: beauté des dimanches.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, remedy, anger, ingratitude, work

I have to-night dispatched sixteen businesses, a month’s length a-piece, by an abstract of success

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Bertram
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
I have to-night dispatched sixteen businesses, a
month’s length a-piece, by an abstract of success:
I have congeed with the duke, done my adieu with his
nearest; buried a wife, mourned for her; writ to my
lady mother I am returning; entertained my convoy;
and between these main parcels of dispatch effected
many nicer needs; the last was the greatest, but
that I have not ended yet.
SECOND LORD
If the business be of any difficulty, and this
morning your departure hence, it requires haste of
your lordship.
BERTRAM
I mean, the business is not ended, as fearing to
hear of it hereafter. But shall we have this
dialogue between the fool and the soldier? Come,
bring forth this counterfeit module, he has deceived
me, like a double-meaning prophesier.
SECOND LORD
Bring him forth: has sat i’ the stocks all night,
poor gallant knave.
BERTRAM
No matter: his heels have deserved it, in usurping
his spurs so long. How does he carry himself?

DUTCH:
Ik heb van avond zestien zaken, ieder een maand
lang, op beknopte wijze afgedaan.

MORE:
Businesses=Matters
A-piece=Each
Abstract=Summary, catalogue (of successful events)
Congeed (congéd) with=Taken leave of
Entertained=Arranged
Convoy=Transport
Compleat:
Business=Bezigheid, werk, zaak
Apiece=Elk, elk een
Abstract=Uyttreksel, aftreksel, verkortsel
Conge=Oorlof; buyging des lighaams in ‘t neemen van afscheyd
Entertain=Onthaalen, huysvesten, plaats vergunnen
Convoy=Geley, vrygeleyde, konvooi

Topics: work, achievement, deceit

I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Celia
CONTEXT:
ROSALIND
I pray thee, if it stand with honesty,
Buy thou the cottage, pasture, and the flock,
And thou shalt have to pay for it of us.
CELIA
And we will mend thy wages. I like this place,
And willingly could waste my time in it.
CORIN
Assuredly the thing is to be sold.
Go with me. If you like upon report
The soil, the profit, and this kind of life,
I will your very faithful feeder be
And buy it with your gold right suddenly.

DUTCH:
En hooger loon. Dit oord bevalt mij goed,
En gaarne wil ik hier mijn leven slijten.

MORE:
Stand with=Consistent with
To pay=Money to pay
Mend=Improve
Waste=Spend
Feeder=Servant
Compleat:
Mend=Beteren, verbeteren
To waste=Verwoesten, verquisten, verteeren, vernielen, doorbrengen
Feeder=Een voeder, spyzer, weyder, eeter

Topics: honesty, money, loyalty, work, life

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 a man here needs not live by shifts when in the streets he meets such golden gifts

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
What is your will that I shall do with this?
ANGELO
What please yourself, sir. I have made it for you.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Made it for me, sir? I bespoke it not.
ANGELO
Not once, nor twice, but twenty times you have.
Go home with it and please your wife withal,
And soon at supper time I’ll visit you
And then receive my money for the chain.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
I pray you, sir, receive the money now,
For fear you ne’er see chain nor money more.
ANGELO
You are a merry man, sir. Fare you well.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
What I should think of this I cannot tell,
But this I think: there’s no man is so vain
That would refuse so fair an offered chain.
I see a man here needs not live by shifts
When in the streets he meets such golden gifts.
I’ll to the mart, and there for Dromio stay.
If any ship put out, then straight away.

DUTCH:
Een vreemd geval! wat is dit nu alweer?
Dit weet ik slechts: geen mensch zoo dwaas, die niet
Een gift aanvaardt, die men zoo hoff’lijk biedt.
En ik erken, hier is nog wel te leven,
Als vreemden zoo maar gouden ketens geven.

MORE:
Mart=Market, marketplace
Shifts=Tricks
Vain=Foolish
Compleat:
Vain (useless, frivolous, idle, chimerical)=Nutteloos, ydel, ingebeeld
Shift (subterfuge, evasion)=Uitvlucht
I made shift to go thither=Ik ging ‘er met veel moeite naar toe
He made a hard shift to live=Hy kon kwaalyk aan de kost komen
Mart=Jaarmarkt
Letters of mart=Brieven van wederneeminge of van verhaal; Brieven van Represailes

Topics: honesty, poverty and wealth, work

I will follow thee to the last gasp with truth and loyalty

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Adam
CONTEXT:
ORLANDO
O good old man, how well in thee appears
The constant service of the antique world,
When service sweat for duty, not for meed.
Thou art not for the fashion of these times,
Where none will sweat but for promotion,
And having that do choke their service up
Even with the having. It is not so with thee.
But, poor old man, thou prun’st a rotten tree
That cannot so much as a blossom yield
In lieu of all thy pains and husbandry.
But come thy ways. We’ll go along together,
And ere we have thy youthful wages spent,
We’ll light upon some settled low content.
ADAM
Master, go on, and I will follow thee
To the last gasp, with truth and loyalty.
From seventeen years till now almost fourscore
Here livèd I, but now live here no more.
At seventeen years, many their fortunes seek,
But at fourscore, it is too late a week.
Yet fortune cannot recompense me better
Than to die well, and not my master’s debtor.

DUTCH:
Ik volg u, meester; ga slechts voor en bouw
Tot aan mijn jongsten snik vast op mijn trouw.

MORE:
Constant=Faithful
Antic=Ancient; (O. Edd. promiscuously antick and antique, but always accented on the first syllable), adj. belonging to the times, or resembling the manners of antiquity
Sweat=Toil, labour
Constant=Faithful
Choke up (Reflectively)=Oppress, make away with, kill; Stop, cease
Low content=Humble contentment
Meed=Reward, recompense, hire
Compleat:
Meed=Belooning, vergelding, verdiensten
Constant=Standvastig, bestending, gestadig
To choke=Verstkken, verwurgen
Contentment=Vergenoeging, vergenoegdheyd, voldoening

Topics: truth, loyalty, work, age/experience, life

I will make an end of my dinner; there’s pippins and cheese to come

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Sir Hugh Evans
CONTEXT:
SIR HUGH EVANS
Go your ways, and ask of Doctor Caius’ house which
is the way: and there dwells one Mistress Quickly,
which is in the manner of his nurse, or his dry
nurse, or his cook, or his laundry, his washer, and
his wringer.
SIMPLE
Well, sir.
SIR HUGH EVANS
Nay, it is petter yet. Give her this letter; for it
is a ‘oman that altogether’s acquaintance with
Mistress Anne Page: and the letter is, to desire
and require her to solicit your master’s desires to
Mistress Anne Page. I pray you, be gone: I will
make an end of my dinner; there’s pippins and cheese to
come.

DUTCH:
Ik pit u, cha. Ik heb nog niet afchecheten, taar
komen nog pippelingen en kaas.

MORE:
Go your ways=Get away with you
Which=Who
Dry nurse=Housekeeper (as opposed to wet nurse)
Laundry=Laundry-maid
Pippins=Apples
Compleat:
Go your ways=Gaat heenen
A dry nurse=Een drooge min, kindermeid, baker
Laundry (landry)=Wasschery, waschhuis, waschplaats
Pippin=Een pippeling

Topics: work, status, communication

I will no further offend you than becomes me for my good

DUTCH:
Ik zal u niet langer lastig vallen, dan in mijn belang
noodzakelijk is.

Topics: insult, status, work, value, ingratitude

Let me put in your minds, if you forget, what you have been ere this, and what you are

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Queen Margaret
CONTEXT:
RICHARD
Ere you were queen, ay, or your husband king,
I was a packhorse in his great affairs,
A weeder-out of his proud adversaries,
A liberal rewarder of his friends.
To royalize his blood, I spent mine own.
QUEEN MARGARET
Ay, and much better blood than his or thine.
RICHARD
In all which time, you and your husband Grey
Were factious for the house of Lancaster.—
And, Rivers, so were you.— Was not your husband
In Margaret’s battle at Saint Albans slain?
Let me put in your minds, if you forget,
What you have been ere this, and what you are;
Withal, what I have been, and what I am.

DUTCH:
Laat mij, zijt gij ‘t vergeten, u herinn’ren,
Wat gij voordezen waart en wat gij zijt,
Alsook, wat ik geweest ben en nu ben .

MORE:
Packhorse=Beast of burden
Factious=Fighting
Battle=Army
Put in your mind=Remind
Compleat:
Packhorse=Een lastdraagend paerd
Factious=Oproerig
It puts me in mind=Het maakt my indachtig; het brengt my in den zin

Topics: relationship, status, order/society, memory, work

Let me put in your minds, if you forget, what you have been ere this, and what you are

DUTCH:
Laat mij, zijt gij ‘t vergeten, u herinn’ren,
Wat gij voordezen waart en wat gij zijt,
Alsook, wat ik geweest ben en nu ben .

Topics: relationship, status, order/society, memory, work

Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
Which is not yet performed me.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Ariel
CONTEXT:
PROSPERO
Ariel, thy charge
Exactly is performed. But there’s more work.
What is the time o’ th’ day?
ARIEL
Past the mid season.
PROSPERO
At least two glasses. The time ’twixt six and now
Must by us both be spent most preciously.
ARIEL
Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
Which is not yet performed me.

DUTCH:
Meer arbeids nog? Nu gij mij zooveel vergt,
Moge ik u ook op uw belofte wijzen,
Die gij nog niet vervuld hebt.

MORE:
Proverb: ‘Great promise small performance’
Two glasses=Two o’clock (Reference to hour glasses)
Pains=Labours
Preciously=Valuably
Compleat:
Burgersdijk notes:
Twee glazen ruim. Twee uren, naar het uurglas, een zandlooper voor een vol uur, berekend. —Bij de zeevaart is een glas een half uur.

Topics: promise, proverbs and idioms, time, work, contract

My master … hath threatened to put me into everlasting liberty if I tell you of it

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Robin
CONTEXT:
ROBIN
Ay, I’ll be sworn. My master knows not of your
being here and hath threatened to put me into
everlasting liberty if I tell you of it; for he
swears he’ll turn me away.
MISTRESS PAGE
Thou’rt a good boy: this secrecy of thine shall be
a tailor to thee and shall make thee a new doublet
and hose. I’ll go hide me.
MISTRESS FORD
Do so. Go tell thy master I am alone.

DUTCH:
Ja, daar wil ik op zweren; mijn meester weet volstrekt
niet, dat gij hier zijt. Hij heeft mij met eeuwigdurende
vrijheid gedreigd, als ik er u iets van verklap; want hij
zwoer, dat hij mij dan zou wegjagen.

MORE:
Everlasting liberty=Release (dismiss)
Turn me away=Dismiss
Tailor=A suit

Topics: secrecy|order and society|work

My services which I have done the signiory shall out-tongue his complaints

DUTCH:
Hij krenke wat hij kan;
Mijn diensten, aan den Raad bewezen, spreken
Veel luider dan zijn klachten

Topics: work, merit, claim, status, independence

Nay, ’tis no matter, what he ‘leges in Latin

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Grumio
CONTEXT:
HORTENSIO
Alla nostra casa ben venuto, molto honourato signor mio
Petruchio.—Rise, Grumio, rise. We will compound this
quarrel.
GRUMIO
Nay, ’tis no matter, sir, what he ‘leges in Latin. If
this be not a lawful case for me to leave his service
—look you, sir: he bid me knock him and rap him soundly,
sir. Well, was it fit for a servant to use his master
so, being perhaps, for aught I see, two-and-thirty, a
pip out?
Whom, would to God, I had well knocked at first,
Then had not Grumio come by the worst.

DUTCH:
Ach, heer, dat doet er niets toe, wat hij daar
in ‘t Latijn vertelt.

MORE:
Compound=Settle
‘leges=Alleges
Latin=Confuses Latin and Italian
Two-and-thirty=Drunk
Pip=Dot on the dice or playing cards
Rap=Strike quickly
Compleat:
To compound=’t Zamenzetten, byleggen, afmaaken, vereffenen, overeenkomen
To allege=(alledge) Bybrengen, aantrekken, aanhallen
To alledge against one=Tegen iemand inbrengen

Burgersdijk notes:
Het doet er niet, wat hij daar in het Latijn vertelt. Het moge vreemd schijnen, dat Grumio, de Italiaan, zijn eigen moedertaal voor Latjjn houdt, maar hij spreekt door Shakespeare Engelsch; het ltaliaansch is hem, al speelt het stuk in ltalie, een onbekende taal en kan hem dus Latijn toeschijnen of iedere andere vreemde taal; alleen voor ltaliaansch moet hij het niet houden.

En niet meer meespeelt. In ‘t Engelsch staat: being, perhaps, two-and-thirty, – a pip out. Een pip is een oog, een punt op een speelkaart, a spot on cards. De zegswijze is ontleend aan het kaartspel: Bone-ace or One and thirty; wie meer had dan een-en-dertig, viel uit, speelde niet meer mee. Was Petruccio twee-en dertig, dan was zijn tijd van spelen voorbij . – Halliwell merkt verder nog op : , to be two-and-thirty, a pip out, was an old cant phrase applied to a person who was intoxicated .”

Topics: language, law, work

No man’s pie is freed from his ambitious finger

PLAY: King Henry VIII
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Norfolk
CONTEXT:
NORFOLK
All this was order’d by the good discretion
Of the right reverend Cardinal of York.
BUCKINGHAM
The devil speed him! no man’s pie is freed
From his ambitious finger. What had he
To do in these fierce vanities? I wonder
That such a keech can with his very bulk
Take up the rays o’ the beneficial sun
And keep it from the earth.
NORFOLK
Surely, sir,
There’s in him stuff that puts him to these ends;
For, being not propp’d by ancestry, whose grace
Chalks successors their way, nor call’d upon
For high feats done to the crown; neither allied
For eminent assistants; but, spider-like,
Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note,
The force of his own merit makes his way
A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys
A place next to the king.

DUTCH:
De duivel haal’ hem! Zijn eergier’ge vinger
Wil ieders brijpan roeren

MORE:
Often misquoted as “People’s good deeds we write in water. The evil deeds are etched in brass”
Proverb: Injuries are written in brass
Live=Live on (are etched)
Manners=Conduct, actions
Speak his good=Speak of his goodness, virtue, charitable deeds
Compleat:
Manners=Manierlykheid

Topics: merit, ambition, work, status, proverbs and idioms

Nor need’st thou much importune me to that whereon this month I have been hammering

DUTCH:
Gij hebt geen sterken aandrang noodig, ‘t was
De gansche maand reeds niet uit mijn gedachten;
Ik overwoog reeds lang zijn tijdsverlies,
En hoe hij nooit een deeg’lijk man wordt, als
De wereld hem niet schudt en mondig maakt;

Topics: time, age/experience, work, value, learning/education

Remember I have done thee worthy service,
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Ariel
CONTEXT:
PROSPERO
How now? Moody?
What is ’t thou canst demand?
ARIEL
My liberty.
PROSPERO
Before the time be out? No more!
ARIEL
I prithee,
Remember I have done thee worthy service,
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings. Thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.

DUTCH:
Bedenk, ik bid u, ‘k deed u trouwen dienst,
Beloog u nooit, deed niets verkeerd, en diende
U willig zonder klacht. Een vol jaar afslag
Hebt gij mij toegezegd.

MORE:
Moody=Ill- humoured; discontented, peevish, angry
Time=Period of indenture
Bate (abate)=Reduce length of indenture
Mistakings=Mistakes
Grudge=Grudging; ill-will
Compleat:
In an ill mood=In een kwaade luim
Moody=Eenzinnig, eigenzinnig
The mood of a verb=De wyze van een werkwoord
Worthy=Waardig
Bate=Verminderen, afkorten, afslaan

Topics: work, contract, promise, claim, loyalty

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

Since I received command to do this business I have not slept one wink

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.4
SPEAKER: Pisanio
CONTEXT:
PISANIO
O gracious lady,
Since I received command to do this business
I have not slept one wink.
IMOGEN
Do’t, and to bed then.
PISANIO
I’ll wake mine eye-balls blind first.
IMOGEN
Wherefore then
Didst undertake it? Why hast thou abused
So many miles with a pretence? this place?
Mine action and thine own? our horses’ labour?
The time inviting thee? the perturb’d court,
For my being absent? whereunto I never
Purpose return. Why hast thou gone so far,
To be unbent when thou hast ta’en thy stand,
The elected deer before thee?
PISANIO
But to win time
To lose so bad employment; in the which
I have consider’d of a course. Good lady,
Hear me with patience.

DUTCH:
O, eed’le vrouw,
Sinds ik bevel ontving dit werk te doen,
Sloot ik geen oog.

MORE:
Modern usage: I haven’t slept a wink (not coined by Shakespeare. First recorded use in 14th century)
Wake mine eye-balls blind=Stay awake until I’m blind
Purpose=Intend to
Unbent=Bow not taut
Stand=Position
Elected=Selected (prey)
Compleat:
The ball of the eye=De oogappel
Purpose (design, resolution, project)=Voorneemen, besluit, ontwerp
Unbent=Ontspannen, geslaakt

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, authority, work, status, duty, debt/obligation

Sir, I am a true labourer. I earn that I eat, get that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man’s happiness

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Corin
CONTEXT:
TOUCHSTONE
Most shallow man. Thou worms’ meat in respect of a good
piece of flesh, indeed. Learn of the wise and perpend:
civet is of a baser birth than tar, the very uncleanly
flux of a cat. Mend the instance, shepherd.
CORIN
You have too courtly a wit for me. I’ll rest.
TOUCHSTONE
Wilt thou rest damned? God help thee, shallow man. God
make incision in thee; thou art raw.
CORIN
Sir, I am a true labourer. I earn that I eat, get that I
wear, owe no man hate, envy no man’s happiness, glad of
other men’s good, content with my harm, and the
greatest of my pride is to see my ewes graze and my
lambs suck.
TOUCHSTONE
That is another simple sin in you, to bring the ewes
and the rams together and to offer to get your living by
the copulation of cattle; to be bawd to a bellwether
and to betray a she-lamb of a twelvemonth to a
crooked-pated old cuckoldly ram, out of all reasonable
match. If thou be’st not damned for this, the devil
himself will have no shepherds. I cannot see else how
thou shouldst ’scape.

DUTCH:
Vriend, ik ben een eerlijk daglooner; ik verdien mijn kost en mijn kleeding, draag niemand haat toe, benijd niemand zijn geluk, verheug mij in een andermans welvaren, en schik mij in mijn leed; en mijn grootste trots is, mijn ooien te zien grazen en mijn lammeren te zien zuigen.

MORE:
Shallow=Superficial, empty
Perpend=Consider
Civet=Perfume from the anal glands of the civet cat
Flux=Discharge
Mend=Improve
Instance=Proof
Make incision=Blood-letting (to cure stupidity); score (raw meat)
Raw=Unripe, immature; inexperienced, unskilled, untrained
Content=Resigned to
Harm=Misfortune
Simple=Plain, simple-minded
Bell-wether=Lead sheep that wears the bell
Out of=Beyond
Compleat:
Shallow=Ondiep
Shallowness, shallow wit=Kleinheid van begrip, dommelykheid
To perpend=Overweegen
Flux=De vloed, loop; flux and reflux=Eb en vloed
Mend=Beteren, verbeteren
Instance=Proof
To make an incision=Met een vlym openen, een opening maaken, insnyden
Raw=(unskilled) Onbedreven
To take content=Genoegen neemen
Harm=Tegenspoed, ongeluk
Simple=Eenvoudig, onnozel
Bell-weather=Een Hamel met een bel aan

Burgersdijk notes:
God late u de schillen van de oogen vallen, God geneze u (door een operatie)! gij zijt rauw, d. i. niet toebereid, niet gaar.

Topics: preparation, skill/talent, work, honesty, integrity, envy

That is, what villainy soe’er I bid thee do to perform it directly and truly

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Cloten
CONTEXT:
CLOTEN
It is Posthumus’ hand, I know ’t. Sirrah, if
thou wouldst not be a villain, but do me true service,
undergo those employments wherein I should
have cause to use thee with a serious industry—
that is, what villainy soe’er I bid thee do to perform
it directly and truly—I would think thee an honest
man. Thou shouldst neither want my means for thy
relief nor my voice for thy preferment.
PISANIO
Well, my good lord.
CLOTEN
Wilt thou serve me? For since patiently and
constantly thou hast stuck to the bare fortune of
that beggar Posthumus, thou canst not in the
course of gratitude but be a diligent follower of
mine. Wilt thou serve me?

DUTCH:
Kerel, als gij eens geen schurk wilt wezen, maar mij trouw
dienen, en dus met ernstigen ijver alle werkzaamheden
verrichten, waarvoor ik reden heb u te gebruiken, — ik
bedoel, iedere schurkerij, die ik u opdraag, terstond en
eerlijk wilt uitvoeren, — dan zou ik u voor een braven
kerel houden; en dan kunt gij rekenen op mijn geld
voor uw onderhoud en op mijn voorspraak voor uw bevordering.

MORE:
Undergo=Undertake
Bare=Poor
Preferment=Preference given, precedence granted
Compleat:
Undergo=Ondergaan, doorgaan
Bare (of money)=Geldeloos
Preferment=Verhooging, voortrekking, bevordering tot Staat

Topics: corruption, conspiracy, offence, work, duty

The gown is made just as my master had direction

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Tailor
CONTEXT:
PETRUCHIO
O monstrous arrogance! Thou liest, thou thread, thou
thimble,
Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail!
Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter cricket thou!
Braved in mine own house with a skein of thread?
Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant,
Or I shall so be-mete thee with thy yard
As thou shalt think on prating whilst thou liv’st!
I tell thee, I, that thou hast marred her gown.
TAILOR
Your Worship is deceived. The gown is made
Just as my master had direction.
Grumio gave order how it should be done.
GRUMIO
I gave him no order. I gave him the stuff.
TAILOR
But how did you desire it should be made?
GRUMIO
Marry, sir, with needle and thread.
TAILOR
But did you not request to have it cut?
GRUMIO
Thou hast faced many things.
TAILOR
I have.
GRUMIO
Face not me. Thou hast braved many men; brave not me. I
will neither be faced nor braved. I say unto thee, I
bid thy master cut out the gown, but I did not bid him
cut it to pieces. Ergo, thou liest.
TAILOR
Why, here is the note of the fashion to testify.

DUTCH:
Uw edelheid vergist zich; ‘t is gemaakt,
Precies zooals ‘t mijn meester werd besteld.
Hier, Grumio, gaf heel op, hoe ‘t wezen moest.

Topics: insult, fashion/trends, work, satisfaction

The labour we delight in physics pain

PLAY: Macbeth
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Macbeth
CONTEXT:
MACDUFF
I know this is a joyful trouble to you,
But yet ’tis one.
MACBETH
The labor we delight in physics pain.
This is the door.
MACDUFF
I’ll make so bold to call,
For ’tis my limited service.

DUTCH:
Het is u, ‘k weet het, vreugdevolle moeite,
Doch moeite blijft het.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Physics=Is a remedy for
Compleat:
Physick=Artseny, medicyn, geneesmiddel
To physick=Geneesmiddelen gebruiken, medicineeren

Topics: work, remedy, satisfaction

The ruin speaks that sometime it was a worthy building

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Caius Lucius
CONTEXT:
CAIUS LUCIUS
Dream often so,
And never false. Soft, ho! what trunk is here
Without his top? The ruin speaks that sometime
It was a worthy building. How! a page!
Or dead, or sleeping on him? But dead rather;
For nature doth abhor to make his bed
With the defunct, or sleep upon the dead.
Let’s see the boy’s face.
CAPTAIN
He’s alive, my lord.
CAIUS LUCIUS
He’ll then instruct us of this body. Young one,
Inform us of thy fortunes, for it seems
They crave to be demanded. Who is this
Thou makest thy bloody pillow? Or who was he
That, otherwise than noble nature did,
Hath alter’d that good picture? What’s thy interest
In this sad wreck? How came it? Who is it?
What art thou?
IMOGEN
I am nothing: or if not,
Nothing to be were better. This was my master,
A very valiant Briton and a good,
That here by mountaineers lies slain. Alas!
There is no more such masters: I may wander
From east to occident, cry out for service,
Try many, all good, serve truly, never
Find such another master.
CAIUS LUCIUS
‘Lack, good youth!
Thou movest no less with thy complaining than
Thy master in bleeding: say his name, good friend.
IMOGEN
Richard du Champ.
If I do lie and do
No harm by it, though the gods hear, I hope
They’ll pardon it.—Say you, sir?

DUTCH:
Doch, welk een stam is dit ,
Van top beroofd? De puinhoop toont, dat dit
Een trotsch gebouw geweest is.

MORE:
Sometime=Once upon a time
Worthy=Grand
Defunct=Dead
Otherwise=Differently
Wreck=Ruin
Occident=West
Service=Employment
Compleat:
Somewhile=Te eeniger tyd
Worthy=Waardig, eerwaardig, voortreffelyk, uytmuntend, deftig
Defunct=Overleeden
To wreck or go to wrack=Verlooren gaan, te gronde gaan
Occident=Het westen
Service=Dienstbaarheid

Topics: nature, death, honour, virtue, work, loyalty

The time is troublesome

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Cymbeline
CONTEXT:
PISANIO
Sir, my life is yours;
I humbly set it at your will; but, for my mistress,
I nothing know where she remains, why gone,
Nor when she purposes return. Beseech your highness,
Hold me your loyal servant.
FIRST LORD
Good my liege,
The day that she was missing he was here:
I dare be bound he’s true and shall perform
All parts of his subjection loyally. For Cloten,
There wants no diligence in seeking him,
And will, no doubt, be found.
CYMBELINE
The time is troublesome.
We’ll slip you for a season; but our jealousy
Does yet depend.

DUTCH:
t Is een tijd van onrust. —
Ge ontsnapt voor ditmaal; doch mijn argwaan houdt
U steeds in ‘t oog.

MORE:
Purposes=Intends to
Hold=Consider
Subjection=Actions as a subject
Troublesome=Dire
Slip you=Leave you alone
Jealousy=Suspicion
Does yet depend=Hasn’t yet gone
Compleat:
To purpose=Voorneemen, voorhebben
To hold=Houden, vatten
Subjection=Onderwerping, onderdaanigheyd
Jealousy=Achterdocht, argwaan

Topics: work, loyalty, honesty

There be some sports are painful, and their labor
Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone.

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Miranda
CONTEXT:
There be some sports are painful, and their labour
Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone. And most poor matters
Point to rich ends. This my mean task
Would be as heavy to me as odious, but
The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead
And makes my labours pleasures. Oh, she is
Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed,
And he’s composed of harshness. I must remove
Some thousands of these logs and pile them up,
Upon a sore injunction. My sweet mistress
Weeps when she sees me work, and says such baseness
Had never like executor. I forget,
But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours,
Most busiest when I do it.

DUTCH:
Vermaken zijn er, die vermoeien, ‘t zwoegen
Verhoogt den lust er van; soms wordt verneed’ring
Met eer verduurd en voert ook het geringste
Tot heerlijke uitkomst

MORE:
Baseness=Low rank manual labour
Mean=humble
Heavy=Sorrowful, grievous
Quickens=Enlivens
Sore injunction=Harsh command
Crabbed=Churlish, morose
Compleat:
Baseness=Laagheid, lafhartigheid; Geringheid
Mean=Gering, slecht
Heavy (sasd)=Droevig, verdrietig
The burden lay sore upon me=De last lag zwaar op my (of drukte my zeer)
Crabbed=Wrang, stuursch, kribbig, nors, korzel
A crabbed fellow=Een norse vent

Topics: work, status, civility, satisfaction, money

Thou art not for the fashion of these times, where none will sweat but for promotion

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Orlando
CONTEXT:
ORLANDO
O good old man, how well in thee appears
The constant service of the antique world,
When service sweat for duty, not for meed.
Thou art not for the fashion of these times,
Where none will sweat but for promotion,
And having that do choke their service up
Even with the having. It is not so with thee.
But, poor old man, thou prun’st a rotten tree
That cannot so much as a blossom yield
In lieu of all thy pains and husbandry.
But come thy ways. We’ll go along together,
And ere we have thy youthful wages spent,
We’ll light upon some settled low content.
ADAM
Master, go on, and I will follow thee
To the last gasp, with truth and loyalty.
From seventeen years till now almost fourscore
Here livèd I, but now live here no more.
At seventeen years, many their fortunes seek,
But at fourscore, it is too late a week.
Yet fortune cannot recompense me better
Than to die well, and not my master’s debtor.

DUTCH:
Gij volgt niet, neen, de mode dezer dagen,
Nu niemand zwoegen wil, dan om wat winst,
En hij, die winst bekomt, in ‘t voordeel zelf
Zijn ijver smoort

Topics: duty, age/experience, work, loyalty, achievement, fashion/trends

Thou shouldst neither want my means for thy relief nor my voice for thy preferment

DUTCH:
Kerel, als gij eens geen schurk wilt wezen, maar mij trouw dienen, en dus met ernstigen ijver alle werkzaamheden verrichten, waarvoor ik reden heb u te gebruiken, — ik bedoel, iedere schurkerij, die ik u opdraag, terstond en eerlijk wilt uitvoeren, — dan zou ik u voor een braven kerel houden; en dan kunt gij rekenen op mijn geld voor uw onderhoud en op mijn voorspraak voor uw bevordering.

Topics: corruption, conspiracy, offence, work, duty

Thy mind is a very opal

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
FOOL
No pains, sir. I take pleasure in singing, sir.
ORSINO
I’ll pay thy pleasure then.
FOOL
Truly, sir, and pleasure will be paid, one time or
another.
ORSINO
Give me now leave to leave thee.
FOOL
Now, the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor
make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is
a very opal. I would have men of such constancy put to
sea, that their business might be everything and their
intent everywhere, for that’s it that always makes a
good voyage of nothing. Farewell.

DUTCH:
Nu, de god der zwaarmoedigheid bescherme u, en de
kleermaker make u een kleed van kameleonzijde, want
uw gemoed is een echte opaal

MORE:
Proverb: There is no pleasure without pain
Proverb: Every dram of delight has a pound of pain
Proverb: No joy without annoy

Melancholy god=Saturn, god of melancholy
Changeable=Colours that change in a different light
Opal=Iridiscent
Nothing=Lack of activity
Compleat:
Melancholy=Zwaarmoedigheyd, zwartgalligheyd, droefgeestigheyd, zwarte gal
Opal=Opaalsteen, een edel gesteente

Topics: proverbs and idioms, achievement, work, fate/destiny

Tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
FALSTAFF
Zounds, where thou wilt, lad. I’ll make one. An I do not, call me villain and baffle me.
PRINCE HENRY
I see a good amendment of life in thee, from praying to purse-taking.
FALSTAFF
Why, Hal, ’tis my vocation, Hal. ‘Tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation.

DUTCH:
Wel, Hein, ’t is mijn beroep, Hein; en in zijn beroep werkzaam zijn is geen zonde.

MORE:
Baffle=originally a punishment of infamy, inflicted on recreant knights, one part of which was hanging them up by the heels” (Nares). This practice is also referred to in 2.4 (Falstaff: If thou dost it half so gravely, so majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbit- sucker or a poulter’s hare.)
“‘Tis no sin for a man…”: Corinthians 7:20 “Let every man abide in the same vocation wherein he was called.”
Compleat:
To lay one by the heels (to send someone to prison)=Iemand gevangen zetten
Amendment of life=Verbeteering van leeven

Topics: work, offence, punishment

To mock the expectation of the world, To frustrate prophecies, and to raze out Rotten opinion,

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Prince Hal
CONTEXT:
There is my hand.
You shall be as a father to my youth,
My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear,
And I will stoop and humble my intents
To your well-practiced wise directions.—
And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you:
My father is gone wild into his grave,
For in his tomb lie my affections,
And with his spirit sadly I survive
To mock the expectation of the world,
To frustrate prophecies, and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my seeming. The tide of blood in me
Hath proudly flowed in vanity till now.
Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea,
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods
And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
Now call we our high court of parliament,
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank with the best governed nation

DUTCH:
En ‘k overleef hem ernstig, met zijn geest,
Om dwaas te maken, wat de wereld wacht,
Profeten te beschamen, en de meening,
Die, voos, alleen naar mijnen schijn, mij boekte,
Te niet te doen.

MORE:

Intent=Intention
Affections=Wild inclinations
Raze out=Erase
Mock=Flout
Rotten=Unwholesome
Seeming=Outward appearance
Vanity=Folly, futility
Proudly=Imperiously, overbearingly
Limbs=Members

Compleat:
Intent=Oogmerk, einde, opzet
To raze out=Uitschrabben, doorhaalen, uitkladden, uitveegen
A man rotten to the core=Een man die van binnen niet deugt
Proudly=Hovaardiglyk, verwaandelyk, hoogmoediglyk
Limbs=Leden

Topics: work, integrity, duty

To shame the guise o’ th’ world, I will begin the fashion: less without and more within

DUTCH:
Men zie meer heldenmoed
Van mij, dan mijn gewaad vermoeden doet.
Schenkt, goden, mij de kracht der Leonaten!
O, schaam u, wereld! thans wil ik beginnen,
Deez’ dracht: van buiten arm en rijk van binnen.

MORE:
Proverb: Yours to command in the way of honesty
Proverb: Appearances are deceitful

Topics: proverbs and idioms, honesty, marriage, work, flaw/fault, appearance

Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl. I meddle with no tradesman’s matters, nor women’s matters.

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Cobbler
CONTEXT:
COBBLER
Why, sir, cobble you.
FLAVIUS
Thou art a cobbler, art thou?
COBBLER
Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl. I
meddle with no tradesman’s matters nor women’s matters,
but withal I am indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes.
When they are in great danger, I recover them. As proper
men as ever trod upon neat’s leather have gone upon my
handiwork.

DUTCH:
Om de waarheid te zeggen, ja, mijn els is mijn alles .
Ik meng mij niet met koopmanszaken, noch met koopvrouwen, maar mijn els lapt mij alles.

MORE:
Proverb: As good a man as ever trod on shoe (beat’s) leather. (See also The Tempest 2.2: ‘he’s a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat’s leather’).
Proverb: Without awl (all) the cobbler’s nobody
Proverb: As good a man as ever trod on shoe leather, stressing the quality and reliability of the cobbler’s craft as well as character. Other relevant proverbs from the time are “Meddle not with another man’s matter” (1584) and “Let not the cobbler go beyond his last” (1539), “Cobbler, stick to thy last” (still in use today).
The origins of the proverb actually existed in Latin when Pliny the Elder composed ‘Naturalis Historia’. Pliny’s original text (ne supra crepidam sutor iudicaret) meant ‘the cobbler should not judge beyond his shoe’. (Erasmus omitted the verb ‘judicaret in ‘Adagia’).
The word ‘ultracrepidarian’ also originated from this proverb!

Cobbler=Punning on (1) shoemender and (2) bungler
Neat’s leather=Cowhide.
Awl=Punning on (1) punch for holes in leather and (2) all
Compleat:
To cobble=Flikken, lappen, brodden; schoenlappen
Cobbler=(Cobler) Een schoenlapper, schoenflikker, broddelaar
Last=Leest. Last-maker=een Leestemaaker
Awl=Een els
Neat=Een rund, varre (os of koe)

Burgersdijk notes:
Mijn els lapt mij alles. Het Engelsch heeft een woordspeling met awl en all.

Topics: proverbs and idioms, status, order/society, work

What’s thy interest in this sad wreck? How came it? Who is it? What art thou?

DUTCH:
En wat is uw verlies
Bij deze droeve schipbreuk? Hoe gebeurde ‘t?
Wie is hij? Wie zijt gij?

Topics: nature, death, honour, virtue, work, loyalty

When his disguise and he is parted, tell me what a sprat you shall find him

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
You do not know him, my lord, as we do: certain it
is that he will steal himself into a man’s favour and
for a week escape a great deal of discoveries; but
when you find him out, you have him ever after.
BERTRAM
Why, do you think he will make no deed at all of
this that so seriously he does address himself unto?
SECOND LORD
None in the world; but return with an invention and
clap upon you two or three probable lies: but we
have almost embossed him; you shall see his fall
to-night; for indeed he is not for your lordship’s
respect.
FIRST LORD
We’ll make you some sport with the fox ere we case
him. He was first smoked by the old lord LAFEW:
when his disguise and he is parted, tell me what a
sprat you shall find him; which you shall see this
very night.
SECOND LORD
I must go look my twigs: he shall be caught.

DUTCH:
Wij zullen een grap met den vos hebben, eer wij hem
het vel aftrekken. De oude heer Lafeu was de eerste,
die de lucht van hem heeft gekregen; als zijn vermomming hem is afgerukt, zeg mij dan eens, welk een katvisch gij hem bevindt ; gij zult het nog deze nacht zien .

MORE:
Steal himself=Creep furtively, insinuate himself
Make no deed=Do nothing
Embossed=Ambushed, cornered (hunting term)
Smoked=Scented, smoked from its hole
Twigs=Trap (often smeared with bird lime)
Compleat:
Steal=Doorsluypen
Emboss=Dryven
To emboss a deer=Een hart in ‘t woud jaagen
Bird-lime=Vogellym

Topics: truth, discovery, promise, debt/obligation, work

Who does i’ th’ wars more than his captain can becomes his captain’s captain

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Ventidius
CONTEXT:
VENTIDIUS
O Silius, Silius,
I have done enough. A lower place, note well,
May make too great an act. For learn this, Silius:
Better to leave undone than by our deed
Acquire too high a fame when him we serve’s away.
Caesar and Antony have ever won
More in their officer than person. Sossius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,
Which he achieved by th’ minute, lost his favour.
Who does i’ th’ wars more than his captain can
Becomes his captain’s captain; and ambition,
The soldier’s virtue, rather makes choice of loss
Than gain which darkens him.
I could do more to do Antonius good,
But ’twould offend him, and in his offence
Should my performance perish.

DUTCH:
Wie meer
In de’ oorlog uitricht, dan zijn veldheer kan,
Wordt veldheer van zijn veldheer; en de deugd
Des krijgsmans, eerzucht, kiest veeleer verlies,
Dan winst, die hèm verduistert.

MORE:
Lower place=Subordinate status
Place=Rank
By the minute=Minute by minute
Darkens=Causes to fall out of favour
Perish=Come to nothing, be destroyed
Compleat:
Place=Plaats
Darken=Verduysteren, verdonkeren, donker maaken
To perish=Vergaan, sneuvelen, verlooren gaan

Topics: work, ambition, authority

Why hast thou gone so far, to be unbent when thou hast ta’en thy stand, the elected deer before thee?

DUTCH:
Waarom
Ontspant ge uw boog, nu ‘t uitgekozen wild
Juist binnenscheuts is?

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, authority, work, status, duty, debt/obligation