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Men must learn now with pity to dispense; for policy sits above conscience

PLAY: Timon of Athens
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: First Stranger
CONTEXT:
FIRST STRANGER
For mine own part,
I never tasted Timon in my life,
Nor came any of his bounties over me,
To mark me for his friend; yet, I protest,
For his right noble mind, illustrious virtue
And honourable carriage,
Had his necessity made use of me,
I would have put my wealth into donation,
And the best half should have returned to him,
So much I love his heart: but, I perceive,
Men must learn now with pity to dispense;
For policy sits above conscience.

DUTCH:
Doch dit ervaar ik:
Meêdoogen, o! die zwakheid zij vergeten,
Want slimheid zetelt hooger dan ‘t geweten.

MORE:
Tasted=Received anything from
Bounties=Gifts
Protest=Declare, attest
Carriage=Conduct
Policy=Prudence, management
Sits above=Prevails over
Compleat:
Tasted=Geproefd
Bounty=Goedertierenheid, mildheid
Protest=Betuigen, aantuigen, aankondigen
Carriage=Gedrag, aanstelling, ommegang, handel en wandel
Policy=Behendigheid

Topics: money, poverty and wealth, value, conscience

Categories: conscience, money, Timon of Athens, value|

Press not a falling man too far!

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

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

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

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

Categories: conscience, flaw/fault, King Henry VIII, poverty and wealth|

For though mine enemy thou hast ever been,
High sparks of honour in thee have I seen.

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 5.6
SPEAKER: Henry Bolingbroke
CONTEXT:
HENRY PERCY
The grand conspirator, Abbot of Westminster,
With clog of conscience and sour melancholy
Hath yielded up his body to the grave;
But here is Carlisle living, to abide
Thy kingly doom and sentence of his pride.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Carlisle, this is your doom:
Choose out some secret place, some reverend room,
More than thou hast, and with it joy thy life;
So as thou livest in peace, die free from strife:
For though mine enemy thou hast ever been,
High sparks of honour in thee have I seen.

DUTCH:
Mijn vijand waart gij steeds, doch ik waardeer
In u een man van plicht en moed en eer.

MORE:

Clog=Any thing hung upon an animal to hinder motion; encumbrance
Doom=Judgment. (Doom (or ‘dome’) was a statute or law (doombooks were codes of laws); related to the English suffix -dom, originally meaning jurisdiction. Shakespeare is credited for first using doom to mean death and destruction in Sonnet 14.)

Compleat:
Clog=Een blok; belemmering
Doom=Vonnis, oordeel, verwyzing
A heavy doom=een zwaar vonnis

Topics: conscience, judgment

Categories: conscience, Richard II|

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
(…) Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seal up the shipboy’s eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge
And in the visitation of the winds,
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them
With deafening clamor in the slippery clouds
That with the hurly death itself awakes?
Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,
And, in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

DUTCH:
Hard ligt het hoofd, omsloten door een kroon.

MORE:

Warburton says that “Happy low, lie down!” is a corruption of “Happy lowly clown”. These lines make the lines as follows: “If sleep will fly a king and consort itself with beggars, then happy the lowly clown, and uneasy the crowned head.”

Appliance=Devices, appointments
To boot=In addition
Hurly=Hurly-burly, tumult
Low=Low-ranking persons

Compleat:
Hurly-burly=Een gestommel, dedrang, oproer
What will you give me to boot if we exchange?=Wat wil je my toegeeven indien wy ruilen?

Topics: conscience, leadership, duty, prder/society, status

Categories: conscience, duty, King Henry IV Part 2, status|

The time of life is short: to spend that shortness basely were too long.

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Hotspur
CONTEXT:
O gentlemen, the time of life is short!
To spend that shortness basely were too long,
If life did ride upon a dial’s point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour
An if we live, we live to tread on kings;
If die, brave death, when princes die with us.
Now, for our consciences, the arms are fair
When the intent of bearing them is just.

DUTCH:
De tijd van leven is kort: die korte tijd laag bij de gronds doorbrengen zou te lang zijn

MORE:
Dial’s point=Hand of a sun-dial
Tread on=Bring about the downfall of
Compleat:
Dial, sun-dial=Zonnewyzer.

Topics: life, nature, time, hope/optimism, conscience, merit, value

Categories: conscience, hope/optimism, King Henry IV Part 1, life, time|

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