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I seem’d his follower, not partner

PLAY: Coriolanus ACT/SCENE: 5.5 SPEAKER: Aufidius CONTEXT: AUFIDIUS
That I would have spoke of:
Being banish’d for’t, he came unto my hearth;
Presented to my knife his throat: I took him;
Made him joint-servant with me; gave him way
In all his own desires; nay, let him choose
Out of my files, his projects to accomplish,
My best and freshest men; served his designments
In mine own person; holp to reap the fame
Which he did end all his; and took some pride
To do myself this wrong: till, at the last,
I seem’d his follower, not partner, and
He waged me with his countenance, as if
I had been mercenary.
FIRST CONSPIRATOR
So he did, my lord:
The army marvell’d at it, and, in the last,
When he had carried Rome and that we look’d
For no less spoil than glory,—
AUFIDIUS
There was it:
For which my sinews shall be stretch’d upon him.
At a few drops of women’s rheum, which are
As cheap as lies, he sold the blood and labour
Of our great action: therefore shall he die,
And I’ll renew me in his fall. But, hark! DUTCH: Ja, ‘k was
Er trotsch op, dus mijzelf te knotten; eind’lijk
Scheen ik zijn dienaar, niet zijn medeveldheer,
En was hij uit de hoogte mij genadig,
Als ware ik hem een huurling. MORE: I would have spoke=I was getting to
Joint-servant=Colleague, equal
Files=Ranks
Designments=Plans
Waged=Paid
Countenance=Look
Compleat:
A file of soldiers=Een gelid of ry soldaaten
Wages=Loon, jaargeld; belooning, bezolding
Countenance=Gelaat, gezigt, uitzigt, weezen. Topics: punishment, pride, ingratitude, regret, betrayal

Categories: betrayal, Coriolanus, ingratitude, punishment, regret|

But cannot make my heart consent to take a bribe to pay my sword

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 1.9
SPEAKER: Marcius
CONTEXT:
MARCIUS
I have some wounds upon me, and they smart
To hear themselves remember’d.
COMINIUS
Should they not,
Well might they fester ‘gainst ingratitude,
And tent themselves with death. Of all the horses,
Whereof we have ta’en good and good store, of all
The treasure in this field achieved and city,
We render you the tenth, to be ta’en forth,
Before the common distribution, at
Your only choice.
MARCIUS
I thank you, general;
But cannot make my heart consent to take
A bribe to pay my sword: I do refuse it;
And stand upon my common part with those
That have beheld the doing.

DUTCH:
Ik zeg u dank, mijn veldheer;
Doch ‘t harte weigert, een geschenk te aanvaarden,
Dat mij mijn zwaard betaalt. Ik moet dit afslaan,
En wil mijn deel alleen als ieder, die
Den strijd heeft bijgewoond.

MORE:
Smart=Sting
‘gainst=Faced with
Tent=Cure
Your only choice=Your discretion
Compleat:
Smart=Pijn, smart of smerte
Tent (for a wound)=Tentyzer
At your discrtion=Gy zyt er meester van

Topics: honour, integrity, money, ingratitude

Categories: Coriolanus, honour, ingratitude, money|

When thou hast leisure, say thy prayers; when thou hast none, remember thy friends

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Parolles
CONTEXT:
HELEN
You go so much backward when you fight.
PAROLLES
That’s for advantage.
HELEN
So is running away, when fear proposes the safety;
but the composition that your valour and fear makes
in you is a virtue of a good wing, and I like the wear
well.
PAROLLES
I am so full of businesses, I cannot answer thee
acutely. I will return perfect courtier; in the
which, my instruction shall serve to naturalize
thee, so thou wilt be capable of a courtier’s
counsel and understand what advice shall thrust upon
thee; else thou diest in thine unthankfulness, and
thine ignorance makes thee away: farewell. When
thou hast leisure, say thy prayers; when thou hast
none, remember thy friends; get thee a good husband,
and use him as he uses thee; so, farewell.

DUTCH:
Als gij tijd hebt, zeg dan uwe gebeden op, en hebt gij dien niet, denk dan aan uwe vrienden.

MORE:
Answer thee acutely=Give a witty response
“None” believed by some to be a misprint for “money”.
Courtier=Paradigm of true courtesy
Use=Treat
Makes thee away=Finishes you off
Compleat:
Leisurably=By ledigen tyd
Courtier=Hoveling

Topics: marriage, friendship, loyalty, civility, ingratitude

Categories: All's Well That Ends Well, civility, ingratitude, loyalty, marriage|

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Murellus
CONTEXT:
MURELLUS
Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?
What tributaries follow him to Rome
To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things,
O you hard hearts, you cruèl men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climbed up to walls and battlements,
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops,
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The livelong day with patient expectation
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome.
And when you saw his chariot but appear,
Have you not made an universal shout
That Tiber trembled underneath her banks
To hear the replication of your sounds
Made in her concave shores?
And do you now put on your best attire?
And do you now cull out a holiday?
And do you now strew flowers in his way
That comes in triumph over Pompey’s blood?
Be gone!
Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague
That needs must light on this ingratitude.

DUTCH:
Gij klompen, steenen, erger dan gevoelloos,
Gij harde harten, Rome’s wreede mannen,
Hebt gij Pompeius niet gekend?

MORE:
Conquest=Victory
Tributaries=Vassals who pay tributes
Grace=Dignify
Senseless=Unfeeling
Livelong=Whole, throughout the day
Replication=Echo
Concave=Hollow
Cull out=Select
Intermit=Interrupt
Light=Land, descend
Compleat:
Conquest=Overwinning, verovering
Tributary=Cynsbaar; schatting onderworpen
To grace=Vercieren, bevallig maaken
Senseless=Gevoeleloos, ongevoelig, zinneloos
Replication=Ontvouwing; een weder antwoord [van den klaager op het eerste antwoord des aangeklaagden]Concave=Hol
To cull=Uitpikken, uitkiezen
To intermit=Aflaaten, verpoozen, ophouden; staaken
Light=Neerzetten

Burgersdijk notes:

Ja, schoorsteentoppen zelfs. Begrijpelijk zeker voor het schouwburgpubliek, al schudden oudheidkenners het hoofd bij die Romeinsche schoorsteenen.

Topics: status, order/society, ingratitude, leadership

Categories: ingratitude, Julius Caesar, leadership, status|

Unknit that threat’ning unkind brow and dart not scornful glances from those eyes

PLAY: The Taming of the Shrew
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Katherine
CONTEXT:
KATHERINE
Fie, fie! Unknit that threat’ning unkind brow
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.
It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,
Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty,
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labor both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe,
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks and true obedience—
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband.
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel
And graceless traitor to her loving lord? (…)

DUTCH:
O foei, strijk glad dat dreigend, toornig voorhoofd ;
En schiet geen booze blikken nit die oogen
Op uwen heer, uw koning, uw gebieder.

MORE:
Knitted brows=Frown
Unkind=Unnatural
Meads=Meadows
Confounds=Destroys
Meet=Fitting
Fame=Reputation
Moved=Angry
Ill-seeming=Unpleasant looking
Dry=Thirsty
Compleat:
Meet=Dienstig, bequaam, gevoeglyk
To knit the brows=Het voorhoofd in rimpels trekken
Mead=Een heemde, weyde
To confound=Verwarren, verstooren, te schande maaken, verbysteren
Fame=Faam, gerucht, vermaardheid, goede naam
Moved=Bewoogen, verroerd, ontroerd

Topics: emotion and mood, anger, love, ingratitude

Categories: emotion and mood, ingratitude, love, The Taming of the Shrew|

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