QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Iachimo
CONTEXT:
IACHIMO
The crickets sing, and man’s o’er-labour’d sense
Repairs itself by rest. Our Tarquin thus
Did softly press the rushes, ere he waken’d
The chastity he wounded. Cytherea,
How bravely thou becomest thy bed, fresh lily,
And whiter than the sheets! That I might touch!
But kiss; one kiss! Rubies unparagon’d,
How dearly they do’t! ‘Tis her breathing that
Perfumes the chamber thus: the flame o’ the taper
Bows toward her, and would under-peep her lids,
To see the enclosed lights, now canopied
Under these windows, white and azure laced
With blue of heaven’s own tinct. But my design,
To note the chamber: I will write all down:
Such and such pictures; there the window; such
The adornment of her bed; the arras; figures,
Why, such and such; and the contents o’ the story.
Ah, but some natural notes about her body,
Above ten thousand meaner moveables
Would testify, to enrich mine inventory.
O sleep, thou ape of death, lie dull upon her!
And be her sense but as a monument,
Thus in a chapel lying! Come off, come off:
As slippery as the Gordian knot was hard!
‘Tis mine; and this will witness outwardly,
As strongly as the conscience does within,
To the madding of her lord. On her left breast
A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops
I’ the bottom of a cowslip: here’s a voucher,
Stronger than ever law could make: this secret
Will force him think I have pick’d the lock and ta’en
The treasure of her honour. No more. To what end?
Why should I write this down, that’s riveted,
Screw’d to my memory? She hath been reading late
The tale of Tereus; here the leaf’s turn’d down
Where Philomel gave up. I have enough:
To the trunk again, and shut the spring of it.
Swift, swift, you dragons of the night, that dawning
May bare the raven’s eye! I lodge in fear;
Though this a heavenly angel, hell is here.

DUTCH:
t Glipt los; geen Gordiaansche knoop voorwaar!
‘t Is mijn! ‘k Zal dit getuig’nis laten geven,
En overtuiging wekken in zijn borst,
Dat haar gemaal er dol van wordt.

MORE:
Underpeep=Peep out from under
Unparagoned=Without equal
Lights=Eyes
Windows=Eyelids
Tinct=Colour
Design=Plan
Arras=Tapestry
Meaner=Less important
Ape=Imitator
Dull=Heavily
Gordian knot=A ‘difficult’ knot which Alexander the Great cut through with a sword
Voucher=Evidence
Tereus=In Greek mythology, raped Philomel and cut out her tongue. She got her revenge on him and was turned into a nightingale by the gods
Compleat:
Paragon=Iets zonder weergaa
Tinct (teint)=Verf
Design=Opzet, voorneemen, oogmerk, aanslag, toeleg, ontwerp
Cloth of Arras=Tapissery
Mean=Gering, slecht
Voucher=1) (he that vouches one at law): eisscher
Voucher=2) (authentick deed, to prove an allegation): Echt bewys, om eene aanhaaling to bevestigen

Topics: nature, conscience