Meaning of "Bore many gentlemen" in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure"?

Question

In act I, scene 5, of Measure for Measure, Lucio says:

Lucio. This is the point.
The Duke is very strangely gone from hence;
Bore many gentlemen (my selfe being one)
In hand, and hope of action: but we doe learne,
By those that know the very Nerues of State,
His giuing-out, were of an infinite distance
From his true meant designe: vpon his place,
(And with full line of his authority)
Gouernes Lord Angelo; [...]

I did some research on Wiktionary and ShakespearesWords.com but to no avail. What does "Bore many gentlemen" mean here?

Answer 1

I found this definition for To bear in hand from the 1913 edition of Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary.

to keep (one) up in expectation, usually by promises never to be realized; to amuse by false pretenses; to delude.
to keep in expectation with false pretenses.

Lucio appears to be saying that the Duke had deceived many gentlemen, including himself, into expecting 'action'; presumably military action.

(NB The OP originally stated that the lines are from Act 1, Scene 4. This is true for several editions of the play, though in the version shown it is indeed Scene 5.)