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QUOTES FROM THE BARD

Now for the counsel of my son and queen! I am amazed with matter

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 4.3
SPEAKER: Cymbeline
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
So please your majesty,
The Roman legions, all from Gallia drawn,
Are landed on your coast, with a supply
Of Roman gentlemen, by the senate sent.
CYMBELINE
Now for the counsel of my son and queen!
I am amazed with matter.
FIRST LORD
Good my liege,
Your preparation can affront no less
Than what you hear of: come more, for more you’re ready:
The want is but to put those powers in motion
That long to move.
CYMBELINE
I thank you. Let’s withdraw;
And meet the time as it seeks us. We fear not
What can from Italy annoy us; but
We grieve at chances here. Away!

DUTCH:
O, nu den raad mijns zoons en mijner gade! —
Ik duizel van mijn zorgen.

MORE:
Now for=If only I had
Counsel=Advice
Amazed=Overwhelmed
Matter=Information
Affront=Stand up to
The want is but=All that is needed
Annoy=Harm
Chances=Events
Compleat:
Counsel=Raad, onderrechting
Amazed=Ontzet, verbaasd, ontsteld
Matter=Stof
To affront=Hoonen, beschimpen; trotseeren
To annoy=Beschaadigen, quetsen, beleedigne, afbreuk doen

Topics: advice, relationship, conflict, preparation

Categories: advice, conflict, Cymbeline, preparation|

This is, sir, a doubt in such a time nothing becoming you, nor satisfying us

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 4.4
SPEAKER: Guiderius
CONTEXT:
GUIDERIUS
This is, sir, a doubt
In such a time nothing becoming you,
Nor satisfying us.
ARVIRAGUS
It is not likely
That when they hear the Roman horses neigh,
Behold their quarter’d fires, have both their eyes
And ears so cloy’d importantly as now,
That they will waste their time upon our note,
To know from whence we are.
BELARIUS
O, I am known
Of many in the army: many years,
Though Cloten then but young, you see, not wore him
From my remembrance. And, besides, the king
Hath not deserved my service nor your loves;
Who find in my exile the want of breeding,
The certainty of this hard life; aye hopeless
To have the courtesy your cradle promised,
But to be still hot summer’s tanlings and
The shrinking slaves of winter.
GUIDERIUS
Than be so
Better to cease to be. Pray, sir, to the army:
I and my brother are not known; yourself
So out of thought, and thereto so o’ergrown,
Cannot be question’d.

DUTCH:
Zie, dit is een zorg,
Die u in dezen tijd voorwaar niet past,
En ons ook niet bevredigt.

MORE:
Doubt=Apprehension
Quartered files=Military formations
Cloyed importantly=Filled/clogged with important business
Our note=Noticing us
Wore=Erased
Breeding=Upbringing, education
Cradle=Lineage
Tanling=Child tanned by the sun
Compleat:
To quarter=Vierendeelen, wyken, inneemen, huysvesten, legeren, inquartieren
To cloy=Verkroppen, overlaaden
Breeding=Voortteeling, aanfokking, opvoeding

Topics: conflict, reputation

Categories: conflict, Cymbeline|

These three, three thousand confident, in act as many

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Posthumus Leonatus
CONTEXT:
(…) These three,
Three thousand confident, in act as many—
For three performers are the file when all
The rest do nothing—with this word ‘Stand, stand,’
Accommodated by the place, more charming
With their own nobleness, which could have turn’d
A distaff to a lance, gilded pale looks,
Part shame, part spirit renew’d; that some,
turn’d coward
But by example—O, a sin in war,
Damn’d in the first beginners!—gan to look
The way that they did, and to grin like lions
Upon the pikes o’ the hunters. Then began
A stop i’ the chaser, a retire, anon
A rout, confusion thick; forthwith they fly
Chickens, the way which they stoop’d eagles; slaves,
The strides they victors made: and now our cowards,
Like fragments in hard voyages, became
The life o’ the need: having found the backdoor open
Of the unguarded hearts, heavens, how they wound!
Some slain before; some dying; some their friends
O’er borne i’ the former wave: ten, chased by one,
Are now each one the slaughter-man of twenty:
Those that would die or ere resist are grown
The mortal bugs o’ the field

DUTCH:
Deez’ drie,
Door moed drieduizend en door daden ook, —
Als de and’ren niets doen, dan zijn drie, die hand’len,
Een leger,

MORE:
Three thousand confident=With the confidence of three thousand
File=Army
Accommodated=Assisted
More charming=Charmed, fascinated
Distaff=Stick for spinning wool
Gilded=Coloured
By example=In imitation
Gan=Began
Fragments=Scraps of food
Life o’ the need=Sustenance at a time of dire need
Before=Earlier
Or ere=Before they would
Compleat:
A file of soldiers=Een gelid of ry soldaaten
To accommodate=Verschaffen, geryven, schikken, voegen
To charm=Bezweeren, bekooren, beleezen, betoveren
Distaff=Een spinrok, spinrokken
Gilded=Verguld

Topics: perception, justification, conflict, courage

Categories: conflict, courage, Cymbeline, perception|

A thing more made of malice than of duty

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Cymbeline
CONTEXT:
CYMBELINE
Lucius hath wrote already to the emperor
How it goes here. It fits us therefore ripely
Our chariots and our horsemen be in readiness:
The powers that he already hath in Gallia
Will soon be drawn to head, from whence he moves
His war for Britain.
QUEEN
‘Tis not sleepy business;
But must be look’d to speedily and strongly.
CYMBELINE
Our expectation that it would be thus
Hath made us forward. But, my gentle queen,
Where is our daughter? She hath not appear’d
Before the Roman, nor to us hath tender’d
The duty of the day: she looks us like
A thing more made of malice than of duty:
We have noted it. Call her before us; for
We have been too slight in sufferance.
QUEEN
Royal sir,
Since the exile of Posthumus, most retired
Hath her life been; the cure whereof, my lord,
‘Tis time must do. Beseech your majesty,
Forbear sharp speeches to her: she’s a lady
So tender of rebukes that words are strokes
And strokes death to her.

DUTCH:
Ons dunkt, zij is
Uit boosheid meer dan volgzaamheid gevormd;
Dit hebben wij bespeurd. — Ga, roep haar hier;
Wij waren te toegevend.

MORE:
Ripely=Immediately
Drawn to head=Mobilised
Sleepy=Non-urgent
Forward=Prepared
Tender the duty of the day=Wish good morning
Slight=Easy-going
Sufferance=Tolerance
Compleat:
When things are ripe for action=Als het tijd is om aan ‘t werk te gaan
Forward=Voorbaarig, rypostig, voorlyk
To make slight=Iets klein achten
Sufferance=Verdraagzaamheid, toegeevendheid

Topics: conflict, preparation, duty, business

Categories: business, conflict, Cymbeline, duty|

A kind of conquest Caesar made here, but made not here his brag of “came, and saw, and overcame.”

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Queen
CONTEXT:
CLOTEN
There be many Caesars,
Ere such another Julius. Britain is
A world by itself; and we will nothing pay
For wearing our own noses.
QUEEN
That opportunity
Which then they had to take from ‘s, to resume
We have again. Remember, sir, my liege,
The kings your ancestors, together with
The natural bravery of your isle, which stands
As Neptune’s park, ribbed and paled in
With rocks unscalable and roaring waters,
With sands that will not bear your enemies’ boats,
But suck them up to the topmast. A kind of conquest
Caesar made here; but made not here his brag
Of ‘Came’ and ‘saw’ and ‘overcame: ‘ with shame—
That first that ever touch’d him—he was carried
From off our coast, twice beaten; and his shipping—
Poor ignorant baubles!— upon our terrible seas,
Like egg-shells moved upon their surges, crack’d
As easily ‘gainst our rocks: for joy whereof
The famed Cassibelan, who was once at point—
O giglot fortune!—to master Caesar’s sword,
Made Lud’s town with rejoicing fires bright
And Britons strut with courage.

DUTCH:
Caesar
Heeft, ja, ‘t veroverd, maar kon hier niet zwetsen
Van “kwam en zag en overwon”;

MORE:
Proverb: I came, saw, and overcame

Made not here his brag=His conquest didn’t live up to (wasn’t the basis for) the boast of “came, and saw, and overcame”
Lud’s town=London
Giglet (or giglot)=Wanton woman (See Hamlet 2.2 re. Fortune: “she is a strumpet”.)
Giglet fortune=Fickle, inconstant
Rejoicing fires=Bonfires
Compleat:
To brag=Pochen, roemen, opsnyen
Upon the point of doing=Op het punt staan van iets te doen
To strut=Prat daar heen treeden, treeden als een paauw

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, achievement, conflict

Categories: achievement, conflict, Cymbeline, proverbs and idioms|

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