QUOTES FROM THE BARD

O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason

PLAY: Julius Caesar ACT/SCENE: 3.2 SPEAKER: Antony CONTEXT: ANTONY
(…) Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept.
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause.
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me.
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me. DUTCH: Wie ziet hierin een blijk van Caesar’s heerschzucht?
Als de armoe leed en kreet, dan weende Caesar;
De heerschzucht pleegt van harder stof te zijn;
Maar Brutus zegt, dat hij vol heerschzucht was,
En Brutus is een achtenswaardig man.
MORE: REFERENCED IN SCOTTISH LAW: 2019 GWD 34-541, [2019] CSIH 52, 2019 SLT 1269, 2020 SCLR 165, [2019] ScotCS CSIH_52
“CITED IN SCOTTISH LAW: THOMAS O’LEARY v. HER MAJESTY’S ADVOCATE [2014] ScotHC HCJAC_45 (23 May 2014)/[2014] HCJAC 45, 2014 SLT 711, 2014 SCCR 421
Ironic/sarcastic to the point where the meaning has been inverted by the end of the speech and turns public against Brutus and co-conspirators.
CITED IN US LAW: Re. the definition of “”honourable””: State v Martin, 651 S.W.2d 645, 656 (Mo. Ct. App. 1983)”

Topics: cited in law, honour, reputation, legacy, ambition

I fear there will a worse come in his place

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Antony
CONTEXT:
FIRST PLEBEIAN
Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.
SECOND PLEBEIAN
If thou consider rightly of the matter,
Caesar has had great wrong.
THIRD PLEBEIAN
Has he, masters?
I fear there will a worse come in his place.
FOURTH PLEBEIAN
Marked ye his words? He would not take the crown.
Therefore ’tis certain he was not ambitious.
FIRST PLEBEIAN
If it be found so, some will dear abide it.

DUTCH:
Ik vrees, er komt een erger in zijn plaats.

MORE:
Has had=Has suffered
Rightly=Correctly
Dear abide=Pay dearly for
Compleat:
Wronged=Verongelykt, verkort
Rightly=Billyk
Abide=Blyven, harden, duuren, uytstaan
Dear=Waard, lief, dierbaar, dier

Topics: reason, language, ambition, punishment, error

It is the bright day that brings forth the adder and that craves wary walking

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
It must be by his death, and for my part
I know no personal cause to spurn at him
But for the general. He would be crowned.
How that might change his nature, there’s the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder
And that craves wary walking. Crown him that,
And then I grant we put a sting in him
That at his will he may do danger with.
Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins
Remorse from power. And, to speak truth of Caesar,
I have not known when his affections swayed
More than his reason. But ’tis a common proof
That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,
Whereto the climber upward turns his face.
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. So Caesar may.
Then, lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrel
Will bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities.
And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg—
Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous—
And kill him in the shell.

DUTCH:
De warme dag lokt de adders uit haar hol;
Dan zie de wand’laar scherp!

MORE:
Proverb: To turn one’s back on the ladder (ut down the stairs) by which one rose

Craves=Requires
Wary=Carefully
Sting=Stinger
Remorse=Compassion
Affection=Passion
Swayed=Ruled
Proof=Experience
Lowliness=Affected humility, obsequiousness
Mischievous=Harmful
Fashion=Shape
Compleat:
Craving=Smeeking, bidding; happig, greetig
Wary=Voorzigtig, omzigtig, behoedzaam
Sting=Angel, steekel
Remorse=Knaaging, wroeging, berouw
Affection=Hartstogt, geneegenheyd
To sway=(govern) Regeeren
Proof=Proeven
Lowliness=Nederigheyd; ootmoedigheyd
Mischievous=Boos, boosardig, schaadelyk, quaadstokend, verderflyk, schelms
To fashion=Een gestalte geeven, vormen, fatzoeneeren

Topics: achievement, status, loyalty, ambition, proverbs and idioms

The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
It must be by his death, and for my part
I know no personal cause to spurn at him
But for the general. He would be crowned.
How that might change his nature, there’s the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder
And that craves wary walking. Crown him that,
And then I grant we put a sting in him
That at his will he may do danger with.
Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins
Remorse from power. And, to speak truth of Caesar,
I have not known when his affections swayed
More than his reason. But ’tis a common proof
That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,
Whereto the climber upward turns his face.
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. So Caesar may.
Then, lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrel
Will bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities.
And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg—
Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous—
And kill him in the shell.

DUTCH:
Aan misbruik schuldig wordt de grootheid, die
‘t Geweten scheidt van macht ; en ‘k weet van Caesar,
Naar waarheid, niet, dat ooit bij hem zijn hartstocht
Meer heerschte dan zijn rede.

MORE:
Proverb: To turn one’s back on the ladder (ut down the stairs) by which one rose

Craves=Requires
Wary=Carefully
Sting=Stinger
Remorse=Compassion
Affection=Passion
Swayed=Ruled
Proof=Experience
Lowliness=Affected humility, obsequiousness
Mischievous=Harmful
Fashion=Shape
Compleat:
Craving=Smeeking, bidding; happig, greetig
Wary=Voorzigtig, omzigtig, behoedzaam
Sting=Angel, steekel
Remorse=Knaaging, wroeging, berouw
Affection=Hartstogt, geneegenheyd
To sway=(govern) Regeeren
Proof=Proeven
Lowliness=Nederigheyd; ootmoedigheyd
Mischievous=Boos, boosardig, schaadelyk, quaadstokend, verderflyk, schelms
To fashion=Een gestalte geeven, vormen, fatzoeneeren

Topics: achievement, status, loyalty, ambition, proverbs and idioms

And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg, which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
It must be by his death, and for my part
I know no personal cause to spurn at him
But for the general. He would be crowned.
How that might change his nature, there’s the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder
And that craves wary walking. Crown him that,
And then I grant we put a sting in him
That at his will he may do danger with.
Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins
Remorse from power. And, to speak truth of Caesar,
I have not known when his affections swayed
More than his reason. But ’tis a common proof
That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,
Whereto the climber upward turns his face.
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. So Caesar may.
Then, lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrel
Will bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities.
And therefore think him as a serpent’s egg—
Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous—
And kill him in the shell.

DUTCH:
En daarom, acht hem als een slangenei,
Dat, uitgekomen, boos wordt naar zijn aard ;
En doodt hem in den dop!

MORE:
Proverb: To turn one’s back on the ladder (ut down the stairs) by which one rose

Craves=Requires
Wary=Carefully
Sting=Stinger
Remorse=Compassion
Affection=Passion
Swayed=Ruled
Proof=Experience
Lowliness=Affected humility, obsequiousness
Mischievous=Harmful
Fashion=Shape
Compleat:
Craving=Smeeking, bidding; happig, greetig
Wary=Voorzigtig, omzigtig, behoedzaam
Sting=Angel, steekel
Remorse=Knaaging, wroeging, berouw
Affection=Hartstogt, geneegenheyd
To sway=(govern) Regeeren
Proof=Proeven
Lowliness=Nederigheyd; ootmoedigheyd
Mischievous=Boos, boosardig, schaadelyk, quaadstokend, verderflyk, schelms
To fashion=Een gestalte geeven, vormen, fatzoeneeren

Topics: achievement, status, loyalty, ambition, proverbs and idioms

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