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QUOTES FROM THE BARD

Who should I swear by? thou believest no god: that granted, how canst thou believe an oath?

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Lucius
CONTEXT:
LUCIUS
Who should I swear by? thou believest no god:
That granted, how canst thou believe an oath?
AARON
What if I do not? as, indeed, I do not;
Yet, for I know thou art religious
And hast a thing within thee called conscience,
With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies,
Which I have seen thee careful to observe,
Therefore I urge thy oath; for that I know
An idiot holds his bauble for a god
And keeps the oath which by that god he swears,
To that I’ll urge him: therefore thou shalt vow
By that same god, what god soe’er it be,
That thou adorest and hast in reverence,
To save my boy, to nourish and bring him up;
Or else I will discover nought to thee.

DUTCH:
Waarbij? voor u, die aan geen god gelooft?
Is dit zoo, kunt gij dan een eed gelooven?

MORE:
Popish=A term for Catholic practices
Urge=Insist on
For that=Because
Bauble=Jester’s stick
Compleat:
Popish=Pauzelyk; paapsch
Urge=Dringen, pressen, aandringen, aanstaan
Bauble=Spulletje, grol

Topics: promise, conscience

Categories: promise, Titus Andronicus|

What, canst thou say all this and never blush?

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: First Goth
CONTEXT:
AARON
Indeed, I was their tutor to instruct them:
That codding spirit had they from their mother,
As sure a card as ever won the set;
That bloody mind, I think, they learned of me,
As true a dog as ever fought at head.
Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.
I trained thy brethren to that guileful hole
Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay:
I wrote the letter that thy father found
And hid the gold within the letter mentioned,
Confederate with the queen and her two sons:
And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue,
Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in it?
I played the cheater for thy father’s hand,
And, when I had it, drew myself apart
And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter:
I pryed me through the crevice of a wall
When, for his hand, he had his two sons’ heads;
Beheld his tears, and laughed so heartily,
That both mine eyes were rainy like to his:
And when I told the empress of this sport,
She swooned almost at my pleasing tale,
And for my tidings gave me twenty kisses.
FIRST GOTH
What, canst thou say all this, and never blush?
AARON
Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is.

DUTCH:
Kunt gij dit alles zeggen zonder blozen ?

MORE:
Proverb: To blush like a black dog (shamelessness)

Codding=Lecherous
Set=Game, trick
Trained=Lured
Pried or pryed=Peered
Compleat:
Set=Zetsel, stelsel
Train (trap or wheedle)=Agterlaage, strik, val
To prie=Verspieden, doorsnuffelen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, conscience, betrayal

Categories: betrayal, proverbs and idioms, Titus Andronicus|

Even now I curse the day—and yet, I think, few come within the compass of my curse,— wherein I did not some notorious ill

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Aaron
CONTEXT:
LUCIUS
Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?
AARON
Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.
Even now I curse the day—and yet, I think,
Few come within the compass of my curse,—
Wherein I did not some notorious ill,
As kill a man, or else devise his death,
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it,
Accuse some innocent and forswear myself,
Set deadly enmity between two friends,
Make poor men’s cattle break their necks;
Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their tears.
Oft have I digged up dead men from their graves,
And set them upright at their dear friends’ doors,
Even when their sorrows almost were forgot;
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,
‘Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.’
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly,
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.

DUTCH:
Ja, dat ik er niet duizend meer bedreef.
Zelfs nu vloek ik den dag, — maar toch, ik meen,
Niet vele zijn er door mijn vloek te treffen, —
Waarop ik geen opmerk’lijk kwaad bedreef

MORE:

Compass=Reach
Devise=Contrive
Forswear=Perjure
Compleat:
Compass=Omtrek, omkreits, begrip, bestek, bereik
To quench=Blusschen, uitblusschen; dorst lesschen, dorst verslaan
To keep within compass=Iemand in den band (in bedwang) houden
To keep within compass=Zynen plicht betrachten
To devise=Bedenken, verzinnen, uytvinden
To forswear one’s self=Eenen valschen eed doen, meyneedig zyn
To forswear a thing=Zweeren dat iets zo niet is

Topics: regret, offence, conscience, good and bad

Categories: conscience, good and bad, regret, Titus Andronicus|

Who doth molest my contemplation?

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Titus Andronicus
CONTEXT:
TAMORA
Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment,
I will encounter with Andronicus,
And say I am Revenge, sent from below
To join with him and right his heinous wrongs.
Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps,
To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;
Tell him Revenge is come to join with him,
And work confusion on his enemies.
TITUS ANDRONICUS
Who doth molest my contemplation?
Is it your trick to make me ope the door,
That so my sad decrees may fly away,
And all my study be to no effect?
You are deceived: for what I mean to do
See here in bloody lines I have set down;
And what is written shall be executed.
TAMORA
Titus, I am come to talk with thee.
TITUS ANDRONICUS
No, not a word; how can I grace my talk,
Wanting a hand to give it action?
Thou hast the odds of me; therefore no more.

DUTCH:
Wie stoort mij in mijn overdenking? Is dit
Een kunstgreep om mijn deur mij te doen oop’nen

MORE:
Sad=Gloomy
Habiliment=Clothes
Encounter with=Meet
Keeps=Stays
Ruminate=Consider
Work confusion on=Destroy
Molest=Disrupt
Sad=Solemn
Decree=Resolution
Ope=Open
Compleat:
Sad=Droevig
Habiliment=Kleeding, dos, gewaad
Encounter=Bestryden, bevechten, aanvallen
To ruminate upon (to consider of) a thing=Eene zaak overweegen
Confusion (ruin)=Verwoesting, bederf, ruine
Molest=Moeielyk vallen, lastig vallen, quellen, overlast aandoen
Sad=Droevig
Decree=Besluit, Raadsbesluit

Topics: revenge, offence, punishment

Categories: punishment, revenge, Titus Andronicus|

Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps, to ruminate strange plots of dire revenge

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Tamora
CONTEXT:
TAMORA
Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment,
I will encounter with Andronicus,
And say I am Revenge, sent from below
To join with him and right his heinous wrongs.
Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps,
To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;
Tell him Revenge is come to join with him,
And work confusion on his enemies.
TITUS ANDRONICUS
Who doth molest my contemplation?
Is it your trick to make me ope the door,
That so my sad decrees may fly away,
And all my study be to no effect?
You are deceived: for what I mean to do
See here in bloody lines I have set down;
And what is written shall be executed.
TAMORA
Titus, I am come to talk with thee.
TITUS ANDRONICUS
No, not a word; how can I grace my talk,
Wanting a hand to give it action?
Thou hast the odds of me; therefore no more.

DUTCH:
Bezoek ik Andronicus nu, en zeg,
Dat ik de Wraak ben, uit de hel gezonden,
Om voor zijn jammer met hem recht te doen.
Klopt aan zijn boekvertrek; daar toeft hij, zegt men,
En broedt op plannen, vreemd en woest, van wraak;
Zegt hem, de Wraak kwam hier, om saam met hem
Verderf op al zijn haters uit te storten.