QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Second Lord
CONTEXT:
CLOTEN
If my shirt were bloody, then to shift it. Have I
hurt him?
SECOND LORD
No, faith, not so much as his patience.
FIRST LORD
Hurt him? His body’s a passable carcass if he be not hurt.
It is a thoroughfare for steel if it be not hurt.
SECOND LORD
His steel was in debt; it went o’ th’ backside the town.
CLOTEN
The villain would not stand me.
SECOND LORD
No, but he fled forward still, toward your face.
FIRST LORD
Stand you? You have land enough of your
own, but he added to your having, gave you some
ground.

DUTCH:
Zijn staal bleef in gebreke te betalen; het liep achteraf straten om.

MORE:
Proverb: He dares not show his head (himself) for debt

Passable=Can be passed through, in this case referring to the pass of a rapier.
Stand=Resist
Not so much as=Not even
The backside of the town=Like a debtor hiding in the back alleys to avoid a creditor. Also (from “An Account of King James I’s Visit to Cambridge”), certain Jesuits were not suffered to come through Cambridge, but were “by the Sheriff carried over the backe side of the town to Cambridge castle.”
Compleat:
Thorough-fare=Een doorgang
Passable=Doorganklyk, inschikkelyk, middelmaatig, schappelyk
Money that is passable=Gangbaar geld
A passable hand=Een tamelyke hand
Stand (against or before)=Tegen houden, tegenstaan, verweeren

Burgersdijk notes:
Zijn staal bleef in gebreke te betalen; het liep achterafstraten om. Er staat woordelijk: „Zijn staal had schulden en liep de stad achterom,” evenals een schuldenaar, die zich niet vrij door de stad bewegen durft; Posthumus’ staal spaarde Cloten. — De meening zou ook kunnen zijn: Cloten’s staal trof Posthumus niet.

Topics: debt/obligation, reason, law/legal, proverbs and idioms