QUOTES FROM THE BARD

Must I repent? I cannot do it better than in gyves, desired more than constrained

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Posthumus
CONTEXT:
JAILER
You shall not now be stol’n; you have locks upon you.
So graze as you find pasture
SECOND JAILER
Ay, or a stomach
POSTHUMUS
Most welcome, bondage! for thou art a way,
think, to liberty: yet am I better
Than one that’s sick o’ the gout; since he had rather
Groan so in perpetuity than be cured
By the sure physician, death, who is the key
To unbar these locks. My conscience, thou art fetter’d
More than my shanks and wrists: you good gods, give me
The penitent instrument to pick that bolt,
Then, free for ever! Is’t enough I am sorry?
So children temporal fathers do appease;
Gods are more full of mercy. Must I repent?
I cannot do it better than in gyves,
Desired more than constrain’d: to satisfy,
If of my freedom ’tis the main part, take
No stricter render of me than my all.
I know you are more clement than vile men,
Who of their broken debtors take a third,
A sixth, a tenth, letting them thrive again
On their abatement: that’s not my desire:
For Imogen’s dear life take mine; and though
‘Tis not so dear, yet ’tis a life; you coin’d it:
‘Tween man and man they weigh not every stamp;
Though light, take pieces for the figure’s sake:
You rather mine, being yours: and so, great powers,
If you will take this audit, take this life,
And cancel these cold bonds. O Imogen!
I’ll speak to thee in silence.

DUTCH:
Verlangt gij
Berouw? toon ik dit meer ooit dan in keet’nen,
Gewenscht, niet opgedrongen


MORE:
You shall not now be stolen=Alluding to the custom of puting a lock on a horse’s leg when it is put out to pasture (Johnson)
Penitent instrument=A means of freeing conscience of its guilt (Rolfe)
Groan=To utter a mournful voice in pain or sorrow
Temporal=Pertaining to this life or this world, not spiritual, not eternal
Gyves=fetters
Render=A surrender, a giving up
Stricter=More rigorous
Stamp=Coin with the sovereign’s head impressed
Though light, take pieces…=It was common practice for forgers lighten the weight of coins in order to conserve material.
Take this audit=Accept this settlement of accounts
Clement=Disposed to kindness, mild
Compleat:
Gyves=Boeijen, kluisters
Constrained=Bedwongen, gedrongen, gepraamd
Strict=Gestreng
Clement=Goedertieren, zachtzinnig
Audit=Het nazien der Rekeningen
Penitent=Boetvaardig, berouw toonend
Temporal (secular, not spiritual)=Waereldlyk

Burgersdijk notes:
“Nu steelt u niemand, met dat blok aan ‘t been; Graas nu zoover gij weide hebt”. Zooals men wel een paard in de weide met een ketting en slot bevestigt opdat het niet gestolen worde of wegloope.

Topics: regret, guilt, remedy, death, conscience

My conscience, thou art fettered more than my shanks and wrists: you good gods, give me the penitent instrument to pick that bolt

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Posthumus
CONTEXT:
JAILER
You shall not now be stol’n; you have locks upon you.
So graze as you find pasture
SECOND JAILER
Ay, or a stomach
POSTHUMUS
Most welcome, bondage! for thou art a way,
think, to liberty: yet am I better
Than one that’s sick o’ the gout; since he had rather
Groan so in perpetuity than be cured
By the sure physician, death, who is the key
To unbar these locks. My conscience, thou art fetter’d
More than my shanks and wrists: you good gods, give me
The penitent instrument to pick that bolt,
Then, free for ever! Is’t enough I am sorry?
So children temporal fathers do appease;
Gods are more full of mercy. Must I repent?
I cannot do it better than in gyves,
Desired more than constrain’d: to satisfy,
If of my freedom ’tis the main part, take
No stricter render of me than my all.
I know you are more clement than vile men,
Who of their broken debtors take a third,
A sixth, a tenth, letting them thrive again
On their abatement: that’s not my desire:
For Imogen’s dear life take mine; and though
‘Tis not so dear, yet ’tis a life; you coin’d it:
‘Tween man and man they weigh not every stamp;
Though light, take pieces for the figure’s sake:
You rather mine, being yours: and so, great powers,
If you will take this audit, take this life,
And cancel these cold bonds. O Imogen!
I’ll speak to thee in silence.

DUTCH:
Mijn geweten,
Gij draagt meer kluisters dan mijn pols en enkels;
O, goden, moog’ mijn boete ‘t werktuig zijn,
Die kluisters te oop nen; dan, voor eeuwig Vrij!

MORE:
You shall not now be stolen=Alluding to the custom of puting a lock on a horse’s leg when it is put out to pasture (Johnson)
Penitent instrument=A means of freeing conscience of its guilt (Rolfe)
Groan=To utter a mournful voice in pain or sorrow
Temporal=Pertaining to this life or this world, not spiritual, not eternal
Gyves=fetters
Render=A surrender, a giving up
Stricter=More rigorous
Stamp=Coin with the sovereign’s head impressed
Though light, take pieces…=It was common practice for forgers lighten the weight of coins in order to conserve material.
Take this audit=Accept this settlement of accounts
Clement=Disposed to kindness, mild
Compleat:
Gyves=Boeijen, kluisters
Constrained=Bedwongen, gedrongen, gepraamd
Strict=Gestreng
Clement=Goedertieren, zachtzinnig
Audit=Het nazien der Rekeningen
Penitent=Boetvaardig, berouw toonend
Temporal (secular, not spiritual)=Waereldlyk

Burgersdijk notes:
“Nu steelt u niemand, met dat blok aan ‘t been; Graas nu zoover gij weide hebt”. Zooals men wel een paard in de weide met een ketting en slot bevestigt opdat het niet gestolen worde of wegloope.

Topics: regret, guilt, remedy, conscience, debt/obligation

She hath despised me rejoicingly, and I’ll be merry in my revenge

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Cloten
CONTEXT:
CLOTEN
Meet thee at Milford-Haven!—I forgot to ask him one
thing; I’ll remember’t anon:—even there, thou
villain Posthumus, will I kill thee. I would these
garments were come. She said upon a time—the
bitterness of it I now belch from my heart—that she
held the very garment of Posthumus in more respect
than my noble and natural person together with the
adornment of my qualities. With that suit upon my
back, will I ravish her: first kill him, and in her
eyes; there shall she see my valour, which will then
be a torment to her contempt. He on the ground, my
speech of insultment ended on his dead body, and
when my lust hath dined,—which, as I say, to vex
her I will execute in the clothes that she so
praised,—to the court I’ll knock her back, foot
her home again. She hath despised me rejoicingly,
and I’ll be merry in my revenge.
Be those the garments?

DUTCH:
Zij heeft er genot in gevonden
mij te verachten, en ik wil mij vroolijk maken
door mijn wraak.

MORE:
Were come=Had arrived
Insultment=Contemptuous triumph
Knock=Beat
Foot=Kick
Compleat:
Insultation=Schamperheid
Knock=Slag, klop, klap

Topics: dispute, respect, regret, punishment, insult, revenge

Unshout the noise that banish’d Marcius

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: First Senator
CONTEXT:
FIRST SENATOR
Behold our patroness, the life of Rome!
Call all your tribes together, praise the gods,
And make triumphant fires; strew flowers before them:
Unshout the noise that banish’d Marcius,
Repeal him with the welcome of his mother;
Cry ‘Welcome, ladies, welcome!’
ALL
Welcome, ladies, Welcome!

DUTCH:
Juicht de’ onheilskreet te niet, die Marcius bande;
Roept met zijn moeder’s welkomst hem terug!

MORE:
Unshout=Take back the words
Repeal=Recall
Compleat:
Repeal=Herroepen, afschaffen, weer intrekken

Topics: regret, punishment

Categories: , |

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

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