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QUOTES FROM THE BARD

Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor more than thy fame and envy. Fix thy foot.

PLAY: Coriolanus ACT/SCENE: 1.8 SPEAKER: Aufidius CONTEXT: MARTIUS
I’ll fight with none but thee; for I do hate thee
Worse than a promise-breaker.
AUFIDIUS
We hate alike:
Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor
More than thy fame and envy. Fix thy foot.
MARTIUS
Let the first budger die the other’s slave,
And the gods doom him after! DUTCH: Gelijk is onze haat;
‘k Verfoei geen Afrikaansch gedrocht zoo diep,
Als uw gehaten roem. Sta vast. MORE: Proverb: Africa is always producing something new (monsters, serpents)

Budger=One who gives way
Compleat:
Promise-breaker=Een belofte-breeker
To budge=Schudden, omroeren, beweegen Topics: proverbs and idioms, invented or popularised, dispute, envy

Categories: Coriolanus, dispute, envy, proverbs and idioms|

Ah, but I think him better than I say, and yet would herein others’ eyes were worse

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Adriana
CONTEXT:

ADRIANA
I cannot, nor I will not hold me still;
My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will.
He is deformèd, crooked, old, and sere,
Ill-faced, worse-bodied, shapeless everywhere,
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind,
Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.
LUCIANA
Who would be jealous, then, of such a one?
No evil lost is wailed when it is gone.
ADRIANA
Ah, but I think him better than I say,
And yet would herein others’ eyes were worse.
Far from her nest the lapwing cries away.
My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse.

DUTCH:
O, maar ik acht hem beter, dan ik zeg;
Als and’rer oog hem maar zoo haatlijk vond!
De kieviet schreeuwt, is hij van ‘t nest ver weg;
Mijn harte bidt voor hem, al vloekt mijn mond.

MORE:
Proverb: The lapwing cries most when farthest from her nest

Hold me still=Stay quiet
Sere=Withered
Stigmatical=Ugly, deformed
Lapwing=Bird that deceives predators by faking the location of its nest
Compleat:
Still=Stil
Stigmatical=Gebrandmerkt, eerloos
Lapwing=Kievit

Burgersdijk notes:
De kievit schreeuwt, enz. In Sh’s. tijd werd de kievit meermalen hiervoor aangehaald, ja de uitdrukking schijnt spreekwoordelijk geweest te zijn. In LILY’s Campaspe leest men:
„You resemble the lapwing, who crieth most where her nest is not.” Shakespeare zelf herhaalt het beeld in ,Maat voor Maat,” I.4.

Topics: deceit, perception, insult, proverbs and idioms, envy, manipulation

Categories: deceit, envy, insult, proverbs and idioms, The Comedy of Errors|

I know also life is a shuttle

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
FALSTAFF
I went to her, Master Brook, as you see, like a poor
old man: but I came from her, Master Brook, like a
poor old woman. That same knave Ford, her husband,
hath the finest mad devil of jealousy in him,
Master Brook, that ever governed frenzy. I will tell
you: he beat me grievously, in the shape of a
woman; for in the shape of man, Master Brook, I fear
not Goliath with a weaver’s beam; because I know
also life is a shuttle. I am in haste; go along
with me: I’ll tell you all, Master Brook. Since I
plucked geese, played truant and whipped top, I knew
not what ’twas to be beaten till lately. Follow
me: I’ll tell you strange things of this knave
Ford, on whom to-night I will be revenged, and I
will deliver his wife into your hand. Follow.
Strange things in hand, Master Brook! Follow

DUTCH:
Heer Beek, vrees ik zelfs Goliath niet met zijn weversboom, omdat ik ook weet: „het leven vliegt als een weversspoel.”

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW: Re. the definition of “shuttle”: Eastern Air Lines, Inc. v New York Air Lines, 559 F.Supp. 1270, 1274 (SD NY 1983).

Proverb: Life is a shuttle

Life is a shuttle=Job 7:6. “My days pass over more speedily than a weaver’s shuttle.”

Topics: cited in law|proverbs and idioms|envy

Categories: cited in law, envy, The Merry Wives of Windsor|

This was the noblest Roman of them all

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: Antony
CONTEXT:
ANTONY
This was the noblest Roman of them all.
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar.
He only in a general honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, “This was a man.”
OCTAVIUS
According to his virtue let us use him,
With all respect and rites of burial.
Within my tent his bones tonight shall lie
Most like a soldier, ordered honourably.
So call the field to rest, and let’s away
To part the glories of this happy day.

DUTCH:
Hij was van alien de edelste Romein ;
Want elk der saamgezwoor’nen, hj slechts niet,
Deed, wat hij deed, uit afgunst tegen Caesar ;
Slechts hij werd, voor het vaderland bezield,
Alleen tot heil van alien, een van hen .
Zacht was zijn leven, de elementen zoo
In hem gemengeld, dat natuur mocht opstaan,
En roemen voor ‘t heelal : „Dit was een man!”

MORE:
Burgersdijk notes:
Hij was van allen de edelste Romein. Volgens Plutarchus zou, naar verhaald werd, Antonius meermalen openlijk verklaard hebben, dat onder allen, die Cesar gedood hadden, alleen Brutus er toe bewogen werd door de overtuiging van de loffelijkheid der daad , maar de anderen door wrok of afgunst gedreven werden . Aan de volgende woorden ligt de meening ten grondslag, dat de mensch uit de vier elementen is samengesteld en dat van hunne meer of minder gelukkige mengeling de meer of mindere volkomenheid, lichamelijke zoowel als geestelijke, van den mensch afhangt.

Topics: legacy, reputation, betrayal, envy

Categories: betrayal, envy, Julius Caesar, legacy|

There is but one mind in all these men

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Artemidorus
CONTEXT:
ARTEMIDORUS
“Caesar, beware of Brutus. Take heed of Cassius. Come not near Casca. Have an eye to Cinna. Trust not Trebonius. Mark well Metellus Cimber. Decius Brutus loves thee not. Thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent against Caesar. If thou beest not immortal, look about you. Security gives way to conspiracy. The mighty gods defend thee!
Thy lover,
Artemidorus”
Here will I stand till Caesar pass along,
And as a suitor will I give him this.
My heart laments that virtue cannot live
Out of the teeth of emulation.
If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayst live.
If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive.

DUTCH:
Slechts een geest leeft in al deze mannen,
en die is tegen Caesar gekeerd.

MORE:
Look about you=Keep your eyes open, take care
Security=Over-confidence
Suitor=Petitioner
Out of the teeth=Beyond the reach
Emulation=Rivalry, envy
Contrive=Conspire
Compleat:
To look about=Rondom zien, omkyken
Secure (fearless or careless)=Onbevreest, zorgeloos
Suiter in chancery=een Pleiter in de Kanselarij
Emulation=Haayver, volgzucht, afgunst
To contrive=Bedenken, verzinnen, toestellen

Burgersdijk notes:
Caesar, neem u in acht enz. Plutarchus bericht, dat zekere Artemidorus, een rhetor uit Cnidos, die van de samenzwering kennis had gekregen, aan Caesar bij zijn gang naar de Senaatszitting een klein geschrift overreikte, waarin hij hem de noodigste inlichtingen gaf en zeer aandrong, dat Caesar, dit onmiddellijk lezen zou. Deze beproefde het verscheidene keeren, maar werd er in verhinderd door de menigte volks, dat hem begroette.

Topics: conspiracy, defence, envy, unity/collaboration

Categories: conspiracy, envy, Julius Caesar, unity/collaboration|

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