QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Julius Caesar ACT/SCENE: 1.1 SPEAKER: Flavius CONTEXT: FLAVIUS
Go, go, good countrymen, and for this fault,
Assemble all the poor men of your sort,
Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears
Into the channel till the lowest stream
Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.
See whether their basest metal be not moved.
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.
Go you down that way towards the Capitol.
This way will I. Disrobe the images
If you do find them decked with ceremonies.
MURELLUS
May we do so?
You know it is the feast of Lupercal.
FLAVIUS
It is no matter. Let no images
Be hung with Caesar’s trophies. I’ll about
And drive away the vulgar from the streets.
So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
These growing feathers plucked from Caesar’s wing
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,
Who else would soar above the view of men
And keep us all in servile fearfulness. DUTCH: Ruk Caesar’s vleugels deze veeren uit ;
Dit houdt zijn vlucht wat lager bij den grond. MORE: Sort=Rank
Kiss=Touch
Most exalted=Highest river level
Metal=Punning on mettle: spirit, disposition
Disrobe=Undress
Ceremonies=Caesar’s supporters would put diadems on statues
Trophies=Symbols of the ruler
Lupercal=A fertility festival
Vulgar=Common people
Pitch=Height, highest point of flight. Plucking feathers would prevent Caesar from rising above ordinary Roman citizens.
Compleat:
Sort=Soort
Exalted=Verhoogd, verheven
Full of mettle=Vol vuurs, moedig
To disrobe=Den tabberd uitschudden; zich ontkleeden
Ceremony=Plegtigheyd
Trophy=Een zeegeteken, trofee
Vulgar=(common) Gemeen
Pitch=Pik

Burgersdijk notes:
Laat met Caesar’s zegeteek’nen enz. Plutarchus vermeldt, dat er beelden van Caesar werden opgericht met diademen op het hoofd, en dat de volkstribunen, Flavius en Marullus, die omverhaalden.
Ruk Caesar’s vleugels deze veed’ren uit. Namelijk de gunst van het gepeupel – the vulgar – een paar regels vroeger genoemd. In ‘t Engelsch wordt gesproken van ‘These growing feathers’, „dit wassend gevederte”; in de vertaling is het woord “wassend” weggevallen. Topics: guilt, ingratitude, order/society, status, leadership