QUOTES FROM THE BARD

Though we willingly consented to his banishment, yet it was against our will

PLAY: Coriolanus ACT/SCENE: 4.6 SPEAKER: Third Citizen CONTEXT: THIRD CITIZEN
And so did I; and, to say the truth, so did very
many of us: that we did, we did for the best; and
though we willingly consented to his banishment, yet
it was against our will.
COMINIUS
Ye’re goodly things, you voices!
MENENIUS
You have made
Good work, you and your cry! Shall’s to the Capitol?
COMINIUS
O, ay, what else?
SICINIUS
Go, masters, get you home; be not dismay’d:
These are a side that would be glad to have
This true which they so seem to fear. Go home,
And show no sign of fear. DUTCH: Dat deed ik ook; en, om de waarheid te zeggen, dat
deden velen van ons. Wat wij deden, dat deden wij om
bestwil; en al hebben wij vrijwillig in zijn verbanning
toegestemd, toch was het tegen onzen wil.
MORE: Willingly=Readily
Will=Wishes
Shall ‘s to=Shall we make our way to
Compleat:
Willingly=Gewilliglyk Topics: free will, independence, truth
Categories: , , |

For the inheritance of their loves and safeguard of what that want might ruin

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Volumnia
CONTEXT:
VOLUMNIA
Because that now it lies you on to speak
To the people; not by your own instruction,
Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you,
But with such words that are but rooted in
Your tongue, though but bastards and syllables
Of no allowance to your bosom’s truth.
Now, this no more dishonours you at all
Than to take in a town with gentle words,
Which else would put you to your fortune and
The hazard of much blood.
I would dissemble with my nature where
My fortunes and my friends at stake required
I should do so in honour: I am in this,
Your wife, your son, these senators, the nobles;
And you will rather show our general louts
How you can frown than spend a fawn upon ’em,
For the inheritance of their loves and safeguard
Of what that want might ruin.
MENENIUS
Noble lady!
Come, go with us; s peak fair: you may salve so,
Not what is dangerous present, but the loss
Of what is past.

DUTCH:
En toch, gij wilt aan ‘t lomp gemeen veeleer
Uw fronsblik toonen, dan ‘t met vleien winnen,
Om, door hun gunst, te redden, wat hun haat
Te gronde richten zal.

MORE:
General louts=Vulgar clowns in the community, “common clowns” (Johnson)
Bastards=Not truly coming from the heart
Of no allowance… truth=Not reflecting true feelings
Take in=Capture, occupy
Inheritance=Acquisition or merely possession
That want=Absence of that acquisition
Salve=Rescue
Compleat:
Lout=Een boersche ongeschikte vent
Inheritance=Erfenis, erfdeel
Want=Gebrek

Topics: manipulation, deceit, honour, appearance, truth

I will not do’t, lest I surcease to honour mine own truth

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Coriolanus
CONTEXT:
CORIOLANUS
Well, I must do’t:
Away, my disposition, and possess me
Some harlot’s spirit! my throat of war be turn’d,
Which quired with my drum, into a pipe
Small as an eunuch, or the virgin voice
That babies lulls asleep! the smiles of knaves
Tent in my cheeks, and schoolboys’ tears take up
The glasses of my sight! a beggar’s tongue
Make motion through my lips, and my arm’d knees,
Who bow’d but in my stirrup, bend like his
That hath received an alms! I will not do’t,
Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth
And by my body’s action teach my mind
A most inherent baseness.
VOLUMNIA
At thy choice, then:
To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour
Than thou of them. Come all to ruin; let
Thy mother rather feel thy pride than fear
Thy dangerous stoutness, for I mock at death
With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list
Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck’dst it from me,
But owe thy pride thyself.

DUTCH:
Neen, ‘k wil ‘t niet doen,
Ik zou mijns harten waarheid zelf onteeren,
En door mijns lichaams kromming ook mijn geest
Tot eeuw’ge laagheid doemen.

MORE:
Tent=Camp
Surcease=Cease
Stoutness=Stubbornness
Compleat:
Surcease=Ophouden, staaken
Stoutness=(stiffness or sturdiness) Styfheid, onverzettelykheid, steiloorigheid

Topics: communication, persuasion, truth, pride

Faith, there had been many great men that have flattered the people, who ne’er loved them

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Second officer
CONTEXT:
FIRST OFFICER
That’s a brave fellow, but he’s vengeance proud and loves not the common people.
SECOND OFFICER
Faith, there had been many great men that have
flattered the people, who ne’er loved them; and there
be many that they have loved, they know not
wherefore: so that, if they love they know not why,
they hate upon no better a ground: therefore, for
Coriolanus neither to care whether they love or hate
him manifests the true knowledge he has in their
disposition; and out of his noble carelessness lets
them plainly see’t.

DUTCH:
Nu, er zijn vele groote mannen geweest, . die het volk gevleid hebben en het toch nooit mochten lijden; en er zijn er velen, waar het volk van hield, zonder dat het wist waarom.

MORE:
Manifest=Make obvious, evident, not doubtful
Disposition=Natural constitution of the mind, temper, character, sentiments
Carelessness=Lack of concern, indifference
Compleat:
To manifest=Openbaaren, openbaar maaken
Carelessness=Zorgeloosheid, kommerloosheid, onachtzaamheid, achteloosheid
Disposition of mind=Gesteltenis van gemoed
The greatness of his disposition=Zyn grootmoedige, zyn uitmuntende gesteltenis

Topics: truth, flattery, deceit, love, respect

They lie deadly that tell you have good faces

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
Why, then you should discover a brace of
unmeriting, proud, violent, testy magistrates, alias
fools, as any in Rome.
SICINIUS
Menenius, you are known well enough, too.
MENENIUS
I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one that
loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying
Tiber in’t; said to be something imperfect in
favouring the first complaint; hasty and tinder-like
upon too trivial motion; one that converses more
with the buttock of the night than with the forehead
of the morning: what I think I utter, and spend my
malice in my breath. Meeting two such wealsmen as
you are—I cannot call you Lycurguses—if the drink
you give me touch my palate adversely, I make a
crooked face at it. I can’t say your worships have
delivered the matter well, when I find the ass in
compound with the major part of your syllables: and
though I must be content to bear with those that say
you are reverend grave men, yet they lie deadly that
tell you you have good faces. If you see this in
the map of my microcosm, follows it that I am known
well enough too? what barm can your bisson
conspectuities glean out of this character, if I be
known well enough too?

DUTCH:
En hoewel ik het mij getroosten moet hen te laten uitspreken, die u eerbied-wardige mannen van gewicht noemen, vertellen toch zij, die zeggen, dat gij redelijk goede gezichten hebt, een leugen om van te barsten.

MORE:
Humorous=Capricious, whimsical
Converses more=Is more conversant with
Too trivial motion=Too trifling a provocation
Spend my malice in my breath=Vent my anger in words
Weal=(1) Welfare, prosperity, happiness; (2) Commonwealth, body politic
Wealsmen=Legislators
Testy=Easily angry, fretful, peevish
Motion=Incitement
Delivered=Spoken, presented
Good faces=(1) Honest faces; (2) Handsome faces
Reverend=Entitled to respect, venerable
Bisson (beesom)=Purblind
Conspectuities=Sight, vision
Glean=Conclude, infer
Map of my microcosm=Face
Compleat:
To deliver (or speak out in discourse)=Een redevoering doen
Purblind=Stikziende
The common-weal=’t Welvaaren van ‘t algemeen
A common-wealths man=Een republyks gezinde
Testy=Korzel, kribbig, gramsteurig, gemelyk
Crooked=Krom, geboogen, scheef

Topics: insult, perception, appearance, truth, honesty, deceit

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