QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Cloten
CONTEXT:
CLOTEN
If she be up, I’ll speak with her; if not,
Let her lie still and dream.
By your leave, ho! I know her women are about her: what
If I do line one of their hands? ‘Tis gold
Which buys admittance; oft it doth; yea, and makes
Diana’s rangers false themselves, yield up
Their deer to the stand o’ the stealer; and ’tis gold
Which makes the true man kill’d and saves the thief;
Nay, sometime hangs both thief and true man: what
Can it not do and undo? I will make
One of her women lawyer to me, for
I yet not understand the case myself.
By your leave.
LADY
Who’s there that knocks?
CLOTEN
A gentleman.
LADY
No more?
CLOTEN
Yes, and a gentlewoman’s son.
LADY
That’s more
Than some, whose tailors are as dear as yours,
Can justly boast of. What’s your lordship’s pleasure?

DUTCH:
Ik weet, zij heeft haar vrouwvolk bij zich. Wacht!
Vulde ik aan een de handen eens? Voor goud
Verkrijgt men toegang, dikwijls, ja; het maakt
Diana’s jagers zelfs ontrouw, zoodat
Zij ‘t wild den stroopers tegendrijven; goud
Brengt brave kerels om en redt den dief,
Maar soms ook brengt het beiden aan de galg.

MORE:
Proverb: If money go before all ways lie open
Proverb: To line one’s purse (coat, hand)

Line hands=Bribe
Diana’s rangers=Gamekeepers, nymphs vowed to chastity
False=1) (adjective) Betraying a trust; 2) (verb) falsify (see ‘falsing’ in Comedy of Errors, 2.2)
Stand=Hiding-place in the thickest brake, across which the deer were expected to pass”, Madden, Diary of Master William Silence
Lawyer to=Advocate for

Topics: poverty and wealth, corruption, honesty, lawyers, law/legal, understanding, proverbs and idioms