QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: First Jailer
CONTEXT:
MESSENGER
Knock off his manacles; bring your prisoner to the king.
POSTHUMUS LEONATUS
Thou bring’st good news; I am called to be made free.
FIRST GAOLER
I’ll be hang’d then.
POSTHUMUS LEONATUS
Thou shalt be then freer than a gaoler; no bolts for the dead.
FIRST JAILER
Unless a man would marry a gallows and beget
young gibbets, I never saw one so prone. Yet, on my
conscience, there are verier knaves desire to live,
for all he be a Roman; and there be some of them
too that die against their wills. So should I, if I
were one. I would we were all of one mind, and
one mind good. O, there were desolation of jailers
and gallowses! I speak against my present profit,
but my wish hath a preferment in ’t.

DUTCH:
Ik wenschte, dat wij allen eensgezind waren, en dan
goedgezind.


MORE:
Desolation=Destitution, solitariness
Prone=Eagerly inclined
Gibbet=Gallows
Preferment=Promotion
Very=Veritable, true, real. Verier=greater
Speak against my present profit=Arguing against my current gain
Compleat:
Prone=Geneigd
Gibbet=Een mik, halve galg
Preferment=Verhooging, voortrekking, bevordering tot Staat
Very (true or perfect)=Echt. Veriest=Grootste
He is the veriest rogue that ever lived=Hy is de grootste schurk die op twe beenen gaat

Topics: offence, good and bad, unity/collabouration, order/society

Click on one of the Plays or Topics in the Shakespeare.Legal menu on the left for more Shakespeare quotes.