QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Agrippa
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
Say not so, Agrippa.
If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof
Were well deserved of rashness.
ANTONY
I am not married, Caesar. Let me hear
Agrippa further speak.
AGRIPPA
To hold you in perpetual amity,
To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts
With an unslipping knot, take Antony
Octavia to his wife, whose beauty claims
No worse a husband than the best of men,
Whose virtue and whose general graces speak
That which none else can utter. By this marriage,
All little jealousies, which now seem great,
And all great fears, which now import their dangers,
Would then be nothing. Truths would be tales,
Where now half-tales be truths. Her love to both
Would each to other and all loves to both
Draw after her. Pardon what I have spoke,
For ’tis a studied, not a present thought,
By duty ruminated.

DUTCH:
Wordt nietige ijverzucht, die ‘t kleine groot maakt,
En groote vrees, die met gevaar thans dreigt,
Tot niets; wat nu een waarheid is, wordt sprookjen,
Terwijl thans halve sprookjes waarheid zijn.


MORE:
Rashness=Haste
Well-deserved=Befitting
Jealousies=Suspicions
Import=Bring with them
Tales=Hearsay
Half-tales=Unsubstantiated rumours
Present=Immediate, unconsidered
By duty=As a duty
Ruminated=Considered
Compleat:
Rashness=Voorbaarigheyd, haastigheyd, onbedachtheyd
Deserved=Verdiend
Deservedly=Naar verdienste; naar behoore
Jealousy (Jealoesie)(or suspicion)=Agterdogtig
Full of jealousies=Zeer agterdenkend
To import=Medebrengen, betekenen; invoeren
His words seemed to import thus much=Zyne woorden, zo ‘t scheen, bragten zoveel mee
To tell tales=Verklikken
Hearsay=Hooren zeggen
Present=Tegenwoordig
Duty=Eerbiedenis
To ruminate upon (to consider of) a thing=Eene zaak overweegen

Topics: truth, communication, friendship, unity/collaboration, resolution

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