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The art o’ the court as hard to leave as keep; whose top to climb is certain falling, or so slippery that the fear’s as bad as falling

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Belarius
CONTEXT:
BELARIUS
How you speak!
Did you but know the city’s usuries
And felt them knowingly; the art o’ the court
As hard to leave as keep; whose top to climb
Is certain falling, or so slippery that
The fear’s as bad as falling; the toil o’ the war,
A pain that only seems to seek out danger
I’ the name of fame and honour; which dies i’ the search,
And hath as oft a slanderous epitaph
As record of fair act; nay, many times,
Doth ill deserve by doing well; what’s worse,
Must court’sy at the censure:— O boys, this story
The world may read in me: my body’s mark’d
With Roman swords, and my report was once
First with the best of note: Cymbeline loved me,
And when a soldier was the theme, my name
Was not far off: then was I as a tree
Whose boughs did bend with fruit: but in one night,
A storm or robbery, call it what you will,
Shook down my mellow hangings, nay, my leaves,
And left me bare to weather.

DUTCH:
Welk een oordeel!
O, kendet gij der steden woekerzucht,
En voeldet gij die zelf; de kuiperijen
Van ‘t hof, zoo moeilijk na te laten en
Zoo moeilijk vol te houden, waar ‘t beklimmen
Des hoogsten tops een wisse val is, of
De weg daarheen zoo glibb’rig.

MORE:
Proverb: He that never climbed never fell

Pain=Labour (which perishes without achieving fame and honour)
Usury=The practice of taking interest for money
Compleat:
Usury=Woeker
To lend upon usury=Op rente leenen
I shall pay you with usury=Ik zal het met woeker betaalen
To take pains=Moeite doen, arbeid aanwenden
No pains, no gains=Geen winst zonder moeite

Topics: age/experience, proverbs and idioms, still in use

Categories: age/experience, Cymbeline, still in use|

Like a dull actor now, I have forgot my part

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
VIRGILIA
The sorrow that delivers us thus changed
Makes you think so.
CORIOLANUS
Like a dull actor now,
I have forgot my part, and I am out,
Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh,
Forgive my tyranny; but do not say
For that ‘Forgive our Romans.’ O, a kiss
Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!
Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss
I carried from thee, dear; and my true lip
Hath virgin’d it e’er since. You gods! I prate,
And the most noble mother of the world
Leave unsaluted: sink, my knee, i’ the earth;
VOLUMNIA
O, stand up blest!
Whilst, with no softer cushion than the flint,
I kneel before thee; and unproperly
Show duty, as mistaken all this while
Between the child and parent.

DUTCH:
Als een verbijsterd speler
Ken ik mijn rol niet meer, blijf steken, sta hier
Tot ieders spot.

MORE:
Proverb: Revenge is sweet

Disgrace=A state of being abashed, of being exposed to contempt; discredit
Tyranny=Cruelty
Dull=Not bright, dim, clouded; awkward, stupid
Compleat:
Disgrace (discredit, dishonour or reproach)=Smaadheid, schande, hoon
Tyranny=Geweldenary, tyranny, dwingelandy
Dull=Lui, traag; lomp, ongevoelig
A dull wit=Een dof verstand

Topics: regret, language, revenge, proverbs and idioms, still in use, invented or popularised

Categories: Coriolanus, proverbs and idioms, regret, revenge, still in use|

He cannot but with measure fit the honours which we devise him

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Cominius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Worthy man!
FIRST SENATOR
He cannot but with measure fit the honours
Which we devise him.
COMINIUS
Our spoils he kick’d at,
And look’d upon things precious as they were
The common muck of the world: he covets less
Than misery itself would give; rewards
His deeds with doing them, and is content
To spend the time to end it.
MENENIUS
He’s right noble:
Let him be call’d for.
FIRST SENATOR
Call Coriolanus.

DUTCH:
Onzen buit verstiet hij;
Op kostb’re schatten zag hij neer, als waren
Zij drek en afval., Zijn verlangst is minder,
Dan de armoe zelf zou geven; zijner daden
Belooning is hem ‘t doen; hij is voldaan,
Is zoo zijn tijd besteed

MORE:
Proverb: Muck of the world
Proverb: Virtue is its own reward

Cannot but=Cannot fail to
With measure fit=Measure up to
Misery=Penury
Compleat:
He cannot but know=Hy kan niet anders dan weeeten; hy moet het weeten, hy zal zekerlyk weten
Misery=Elende, armoede

Topics: work, satisfaction, honour, proverbs and idioms, still in use, value

Categories: Coriolanus, honour, proverbs and idioms, still in use, work|

By what rule, sir?
– By a rule as plain as the plain bald pate of Father Time himself

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Dromio of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
By what rule, sir?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Marry, sir, by a rule as plain as the plain bald pate of Father
Time himself.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Let’s hear it.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
There’s no time for a man to recover his hair that grows bald by nature.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
May he not do it by fine and recovery?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
Yes, to pay a fine for a periwig, and recover the lost hair of another man.

DUTCH:
Wel, heer, op een grond zoo glad als de gladde kale
kop van Vader Tijd zelf.

MORE:
Proverb: Take time (occasion) by the forelock, for she is bald behind

Father Time, the personification of Time as a more ‘friendly’ version than personification with a scythe or the Grim Reaper.
Plain (1) open, clear, simplet; (2) even, level, smooth
Fine and recovery. In old English law, “fine” meant “an amicable composition or agreement of astute, either actual or fictitious, by leave of the King or his justices”. Fines and Recoveries were used to circumvent the Statute of Entail, which tended to restrict the free transfer of land, by “suffering a feigned recovery” or “levying a fine”. There was a particular appeal for theatre audiences in the farcicality of the process (alluded to by Shakespeare in three plays: The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy
of Errors and Hamlet).
Compleat:
Plain (even, smooth, flat)=Vlak, effen
A plain superficies=Een gelyke oppervlakte
Plain (clear)=Klaar, duidelyk

Topics: proverbs and idioms, time, invented or popularised, still in use, law/legal

Categories: invented or popularised, law/legal, proverbs and idioms, still in use, The Comedy of Errors|

Well, thereby hangs a tale

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Mistress Quickly
CONTEXT:
FENTON
Yes, marry, have I; what of that?
MISTRESS QUICKLY
Well, thereby hangs a tale: good faith, it is such another Nan; but, I detest, an honest maid as ever broke bread: we had an hour’s talk of that wart. I shall never laugh but in that maid’s company! But indeed she is given too much to allicholy and musing: but for you—well, go to.
FENTON
Well, I shall see her to-day. Hold, there’s money for thee; let me have thy voice in my behalf: if thou seest her before me, commend me.
MISTRESS QUICKLY
Will I? i’faith, that we will; and I will tell your
worship more of the wart the next time we have
confidence; and of other wooers.

DUTCH:
Wel, daar is een heel verhaal aan vast. — Goede
hemel, dat is mij een Anneken! maar, dat verzweer ik,
een meisjen zoo zedig, als er ooit een brood gesneden
heeft; — wij hebben wel een uur lang over die wrat
gepraat.

MORE:
Proverb: As honest a man as ever broke bread
Proverb: Thereby hangs a tale

Detest=Prconfotest (malapropism)
Allicholy=Melancholy
Have confidence=Confide in each other
Compleat:
Confidence=Betrouwen, vertrouwen, vrymoedigheyd, verzekerdheyd

Topics: proverbs and idioms, flattery, still in use, invented or popularised, honesty

Categories: honesty, invented or popularised, proverbs and idioms, still in use, The Merry Wives of Windsor|

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