Imatges de pàgina
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Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.

BRUTUS.

I am not well in health, and that is all.

PORTIA.

Brutus is wise, and were he not in health,
He would embrace the means to come by it.

BRUTUS.

Why, so I do. - Good Portia, go to bed.

PORTIA.

Is Brutus sick, and is it physical 1)
To walk unbraced, and suck up the humours
Of the dank morning? What! is Brutus sick,
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,
To dare the vile contagion of the night,
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus;
You have some sick offence within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: and upon my knees
I charm 2) you, by my once commended beauty,
By all your vows of love, and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, your self, your half,
Why you are heavy, and what men to-night
Have had resort to you; for here have been
Some six or seven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.

daar leest men: I should not know you Brutus, d. i. dan zou ik niet weten dat gij Brutus waart, u niet als Brutus herkennen.

:

1) Physical is hier voor de gezondheid voordeelig. Zoo lezen we in Coriolanus (I. 5).

„The blood I drop is rather physical

Than dangerous to me."

2) d. i. ik bezweer.

BRUTUS.

Kneel not, gentle Portia.

PORTIA.

I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted I should know no secrets
That appertain to you? Am I your self
But, as it were, in sort or limitation 1),

To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed 2),

And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs 3) Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,

Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

BRUTUS.

You are my true and honourable wife;
As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart.

PORTIA.

If this were true, then should I know his secret.

1) d. t. slechts in zekeren zin en in een beperkte maat.

2) Men verklaart to comfort hier door to recreate, to solace. Maar heeft men door de aanwijzing van die beteekenis het woord ook verklaard en gerechtvaardigd in het verband van deze plaats, waar het den accusatief achter zich heeft niet van den persoon, maar van een zaak, comfort your bed? Kan men het nu maar stoutweg door aangenaam, genoegelijk maken vertalen? Ik kan niet ontveinzen, dat Theobald's gissing consort mij bijzonder zou behagen, als ook hier de verbinding met your bed geen moeilijkheid baarde. Ook dit zou haar aanbevelen, dat consort den toon op de laatste, comfort op de eerste sylbe heeft.

3) De voorsteden worden hier tegenover de ware stad gesteld. In de voorsteden te wonen is niet eigenlijk in de stad te wonen, is het rechte niet. In de voorsteden van iemands welbehagen te wonen is dus niet op de rechte hoogte bij hem aangeschreven te staan. Hetgeen onmiddellijk volgt bewijst, dat het woord suburbs den dichter tegelijk op een andere gedachte heeft gebracht. Steevens maakt dan ook deze opmerking: „Perhaps here is an illusion to the place in which the harlots of Shakespeare's age resided," waarom zoo eene een suburb saint werd genoemd.

I grant I am a woman; but withal,
A woman that lord Brutus took to wife:
I grant I am a woman; but withal,
A woman well-reputed, Cato's daughter.
Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so father'd, and so husbanded?

Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em.
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience,
And not my husband's secrets?

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And by and by thy bosom shall partake

The secrets of my heart.

All my engagements I will construe to thee,

All the charactery 1) of my sad brows.

Leave me with haste.

Enter LUCIUS and LIGARIUS.

[Exit PORTIA.

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O! what a time have you chose out, brave Caius,

1) d. i. het schrift. De zin is dus: al wat op mijn somber gelaat te

lezen is. De toon is op de tweede lettergreep.

To wear a kerchief! Would you were not sick!

LIGARIUS.

I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand
Any exploit worthy the name of honour.

BRUTUS.

Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,
Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.

LIGARIUS.

By all the gods that Romans bow before,
I here discard my sickness. Soul of Rome!
Brave son, deriv'd from honourable loins,
Thou, like an exorcist 1), hast conjur'd up
My mortified spirit. Now bid me run,
And I will strive with things impossible;
Yea, get the better of them. What's to do?

BRUTUS.

A piece of work that will make sick men whole.

LIGARIUS.

But are not some whole that we must make sick?

BRUTUS.

That must we also. What it is, my Caius,
I shall unfold to thee, as we are going
To whom it must be done.

LIGARIUS.

Set on your foot,

And with a heart new-fir'd I follow you,
To do I know not what; but it sufficeth
That Brutus leads me on.

1) An exorcist is niet alleen iemand die geesten bant, maar komt ook elders bij Shakespeare voor in den zin van iemand die geesten oproept.

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Thunder and lightning. Enter CESAR, in his night-gown.

CÆSAR.

Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night:
Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried out,
» Help, ho! They murder Cæsar!"

Enter a Servant.

Who's within?

My lord.

SERVANT.

CÆSAR.

Go bid the priests do present sacrifice,
And bring me their opinions of success 1).

I will, my lord.

SERVANT.

[Exit.

Enter CALPHURNIA.

CALPHURNIA.

What mean you, Cæsar? Think you to walk forth?
You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

1) Their opinions of success zijn hun meeningen over den al of niet gelukkigen afloop van het gaan naar den senaat. Ofschoon success zonder adjectief er bij meestal den zin van een gelukkigen afloop, een welslagen heeft, is toch zijn beteekenis inderdaad algemeen, en vinden we dan ook zoowel van bad success als van good success gesproken.

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