I' the field prove flatterers, let courts and cities be When steel grows soft as the parasite's silk, a 1 Let it be made a coverture for the wars. In acclamations hyperbolical; As if I loved my little should be dieted In praises sauc'd with lies. Bear the addition nobly ever! Being a Volsce, be that I am. Condition! I' the part that is at mercy ?-Five times, Marcius, If e'er again I meet him beard to beard, He's the devil Auf. Bolder, though not so subtle. My valor's With only suffering stain by him: for him [Flourish. Trumpets sound, and Drums. Learn, how 'tis held; and what they are, that must All. Caius Marcius Coriolanus! Cor. I will go wash; And when my face is fair, you shall perceive To the fairness of my power. Com. The best, with whom we may articulate, I shall, my lord. Lart. Take it: 'tis yours.-What is't? And wrath o'erwhelm'd my pity. I request you Com. O, well-begg'd! By Jupiter, forgot: Be hostages for Rome. Will not you go! Men. Not according to the prayer of the people, for they love not Marcius. Sic. Nature teaches beasts to know their friends. Men. Ay, to devour him; as the hungry plebeians would the noble Marcius. Bru. He's a lamb, indeed, that baes like a bear. Men. He's a bear, indeed, that lives like a lamb. You two are old men: tell me one thing that I sbad ask you. Both Trib. Well, sir. Men. In what enormity is Marcius poor in, that you two have not in abundance ? Bru. He's poor in no one fault, but stor'd with all Bru. And topping all others in boasting. Both Trib. Why, how are we censured? Men. Because you talk of pride now,-Will you not be angry? Both Trib. Well, well, sir; well. • Whereas, -Thrust; push. "Upon my brother's guard," i. e., under my brother's protection. Against“ the hospitable canon," i. e, against the rules of hospitality. "Attended" (Fr. attendu), i. e., waited for; expected. Men. Why, 'tis no great matter; for a very little thief of occasion will rob you of a great deal of patience: give your dispositions the reins, and be angry at your pleasures; at the least, if you take it as a pleasure to you, in being so. You blame Marcius for being proud? Bru. We do it not alone, sir. Men. I know, you can do very little alone; for your helps are many, or else your actions would grow wondrous single: your abilities are too infant-like for doing much alone. You talk of pride: O! that you could turn your eyes toward the napes of your necks, and make but an interior survey of your good selves! O, that you could! Bru. What then, sir? Men. Why, then you should discover a brace of anmeriting, proud, violent, testy magistrates, (alias, fools) as any in Rome. Sic. Menenius, you are known well enough, too. Men. I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one that loves a cup of hot wine, without a drop of allaying Tiber in't: said to be something imperfect in favoring the thirst complaint; hasty, and tinderlike, upon too trivial motion: one that converses more with the buttock of the night, than with the forehead of the morning. What I think I utter, and spend my malice in my breath. Meeting two such a weals-men as you are, (I cannot call you Lycurguses) if the drink you give me touch my palate adversely, I make a crooked face at it. I cannot say, your worships have delivered the matter well, when I find the ass in compound with the major part of your syllables; and though I must be content to bear with those that say you are reverend grave men, yet they lie deadly, that tell you, you have good faces. If you see this in the map of my microcosm, follows it, that I am known well enough, too? What harm can your bisson conspectuities glean out of this character, if I be known well enough, too? hangmen. Good den to your worships: more of Enter VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, VALERIA, &c. How now, my as fair as noble ladies, (and the moon, were she earthly, no nobler) whither do you follow your eyes so fast? Vol. Honorable Menenius, my boy Marcius approaches: for the love of Juno, let's go. Men. Ha! Marcius coming home? Vol. Ay, worthy Menenius, and with most prosperous approbation. Ho! Marcius coming home? [Throwing up his Cap. Both Ladies. Nay, 'tis true. Vol. Look, here's a letter from him: the state hath another, his wife another; and, I think, there's one at home for you. Men. I will make my very house reel to-night.— A letter for me? Vir. Yes, certain, there's a letter for you; I saw it. Men. A letter for me? It gives me an estate of seven years' health; in which time I will make a lip at the physician: the most sovereign prescription in Galen is but empiric physic, and, to this preservative, of no better report than a horse-drench. Is he not wounded? he was wont to come home wounded. Vir. O! no, no, no. 'a Vol. O! he is wounded; I thank the gods for't. Men. So do I too, if it be not too much.-Brings victory in his pocket, the wounds become him. Vol. On's brows: Menenius, he comes the third time home with the oaken garland. Men. Has he disciplined Affidius soundly? Vol. Titus Lartius writes, they fought together, but Aufidius got off. Men. And 'twas time for him too; I'll warrant him that: an he had stay'd by him, I would not have been so fidiused for all the chests in Corioli, and the gold that's in them. Is the senate pos Bru. Come, sir, come; we know you well enough. Men. You know neither me, yourselves, nor any thing. You are ambitious for poor knaves' caps and legs: you wear out a good wholesome fore-sessed of this? noon in hearing a cause between an orange-wife and a e fosset-seHer, and then adjourn the controversy of three-pence to a second day of audience. -When you are hearing a matter between party and party, if you chance to be pinched with the colic, you make faces like mummers, set up the bloody flag against all patience, and, in roaring for a chamber-pot, dismiss the controversy 5 pleading, the more entangled by your hearing all the peace you make in their cause is calling both the parties knaves. You are a pair of strange ones. Bru. Come, come, you are well understood to be a perfecter giber for the table, than a necessary bencher in the Capitol. are. Men. Our very priests must become mockers, if they shall encounter such ridiculous subjects as you When you speak best unto the purpose, it is not worth the wagging of your beards; and your beards deserve not so honorable a grave as to stuff a botcher's cushion, or to be entombed in an ass's pack-saddle. Yet you must be saying, Marcius is proud; who, in a cheap estimation, is worth all your predecessors since Deucalion, though, perad venture, some of the best of 'em were hereditary Vol. Good ladies, let's go.-Yes, yes, yes: the senate has letters from the general, wherein he gives my son the whole name of the war. He hath in this action outdone his former deeds doubly. Val. In troth, there's wondrous things spoke of him. I warrant you, and not with Men. Wondrous: ay, Vir. The gods grant them true! Men. True! I'll be sworn they are true.-Where is he wounded?-God save your good worships! [To the Tribunes, who come forward.] Marcius is coming home: he has more cause to be proud.Where is he wounded? Vol. I' the shoulder, and i' the left arm: there will be large cicatrices to show the people, when he shall stand for his place. He received in the repulse of Tarquin seven hurts i' the body. Men. One i' the neck, and two i' the thigh,— there's nine that I know. Vol. He had, before this last expedition, twentyfive wounds upon him. Men. Now it's twenty-seven: every gash was an enemy's grave. [A Shout and Flourish.] Hark! the trumpets. Vol. These are the ushers of Marcius: before him Informed. Into a rapture lets her baby cry Are smother'd up, leads fill'd, and ridges hors'd Her. Know, Rome, that all alone Marcius did fight Do press among the popular throngs, and puff Within Corioli's gates: where he hath won, With fame a name to Caius Marcius; these In honor follows, Coriolanus:Welcome to Rome, renowned Coriolanus! [Flourish. All. Welcome to Rome, renowned Coriolanus! Cor. No more of this; it does offend my heart: Pray now, no more. Com. Cor. You have, I know, petition'd all the gods For my prosperity. Look, sir, your mother. Vol. O! [Kneels. Nay, my good soldier, up; Cor. And welcome, general;-and you are welcome all. That is not glad to see thee!-You are three, To win a vulgar station: our veil'd dames I warrant him consul. Bru. On the sudden Then our office may, During his power, go sleep. Sic. He cannot temperately transport his honors From where he should begin, and end; but will Lose those he hath won. Bru. In that there's comfort. Bru. Sic. *Tis right. Bru. It was his word. O! he would miss it, rather Than carry it but by the suit o' the gentry to him, And the desire of the nobles. Sic. I wish no better, Than have him hold that purpose, and to put it In execution. Sic. It shall be to him, then, at our good wills, A sure destruction. Bru. So it must fall out Of no more soul, nor fitness for the world, Sic. This, as you say, suggested At some time when his soaring insolence Shall touch the people, (which time shall not want, If he be put upon't; and that's as easy, As to set dogs on sheep) will be his fire To kindle their dry stubble; and their blaze Shall darken him for ever. Bru. Enter a Messenger. What's the matter! That Marcius shall be consul. I have seen Mess. You are sent for to the Capitol. "Tis thought, The dumb men throng to see him, and the blind "Into a rapture," i. e., into a fit- Maid.- Linen Smoky and greasy.-"Seld-shown flamens," ie, set dom-shown priests. Standing-place. Nicely-painted Threadbare. Inform. To his power," i, e., to the utmost of his power.- Provender. SCENE II.-The Same. The Capitol. Enter two Officers, to lay Cushions. 1 Off. Come, come; they are almost here. many stand for consulships? How 2 Off. Three, they say; but 'tis thought of every one Coriolanus will carry it. 1 Off. That's a brave fellow; but he's vengeance proud, and loves not the common people. 2 Of. 'Faith, there have been many great men that have flattered the people, who ne'er loved them; and there be many that they have loved, they know not wherefore: so that, if they love they know not why, they hate upon no better a ground. Therefore, for Coriolanus neither to care whether they love or hate him manifests the true knowledge he has in their disposition; and, out of his noble carelessness, lets them plainly see't. My words dis-bench'd you not. Cor. Sir, I hope, 1 Off. If he did not care whether he had their love or no, he wav'd indifferently 'twixt doing them No, sir: yet oft, neither good, nor harm; but he seeks their hate When blows have made me stay, I fled from words. with greater devotion than they can render it him, You sooth'd not, therefore hurt not. But, your people, and leaves nothing undone that may fully discover I love them as they weigh. b him their opposite. Now, to seem to affect the malice and displeasure of the people is as bad as that which he dislikes, to flatter them for their love. 2 Off. He hath deserved worthily of his country; and his ascent is not by such easy degrees as those, who, having been supple and courteous to the people, d bonneted, without any farther deed to have them at all into their estimation and report: but he hath so planted his honors in their eyes, and his actions in their hearts, that for their tongues to be silent, and not confess so much, were a kind of ingrateful injury; to report otherwise were a malice, that, giving itself the lie, would pluck reproof and rebuke from every ear that heard it. 1 Off. No more of him: he is a worthy man. Make way, they are coming. A Sennet. Enter, with Lictors before them, COMINIUS the Consul, MENENIUS, CORIOLANUS, many other Senators, SICINIUS and BRUTUS. The Senators take their places; the Tribunes take theirs also by themselves. Men. Pray now, sit down. Cor. I had rather have one scratch my head i' the When the alarum were struck, than idly sit To hear my nothings monstered. Men. [sun, [Exit. Masters of the people, I cannot speak him home: he stopp'd the fliers, • Convened. "Off" i. e., nothing to the purpose.Beardless. Bearded. That is, caused him to fall upon his knee. Reward. Robbed. He was a thing of blood, whose every motion Men. Worthy man! SCENE III.-The Same. The Forum. Enter several Citizens. 1 Cit. Once, if he do require our voices, we ought not to deny him. 2 Cit. We may, sir, if we will. 3 Cit. We have power in ourselves to do it, but it is a power that we have no power to do: for if he show us his wounds, and tell us his deeds, we are to put our tongues into those wounds, and speak for them; so, if he tell us his noble deeds, we must also tell him our noble acceptance of them. Ingrat itude is monstrous, and for the multitude to be ingrateful were to make a monster of the multitude; of the which we, being members, should bring our selves to be monstrous members. 1 Cit. And to make us no better thought of, a little help will serve: for once, when we stood up about the corn, he himself stuck not to call us the manyheaded multitude. 3 Cit. We have been called so of many; not that our heads are some brown, some black, some ar burn, some bald, but that our wits are so diversely colored: and truly, I think, if all our wits were to issue out of one skull, they would fly east, west, north, south; and their consent of one direct way should be at once to all the points o' the compass. 2 Cit. Think you so? Which way, do you judge, my wit would fly? 3 Cit. Nay, your wit will not so soon out as another man's will: 'tis strongly wedged up in a block-head; but if it were at liberty, 'twould, sure, southward. 3 Cit. Are you all resolved to give your voices? But that's no matter; the greater part carries it. I say, if he would incline to the people, there was never a worthier man. Enter CORIOLANUS and MENENIUS. Here he comes, and in the gown of humility: mark his behavior. We are not to stay all together, bot to come by him, where he stands, by ones, by twos, and by threes. He's to make his requests by particulars; wherein every one of us has a single honor, in giving him our own voices with our own tongues: therefore, follow me, and I'll direct you you shall go by him. All. Content, content. [Exeunt. how Men. O sir! you are not right: have you not known The worthiest men have done 't? Bru. Come; we'll inform them Of our proceedings here: on the market-place, I know they do attend us. [Exeunt. Think upon me? Hang 'em! I would they would forget me, like the virtues Which our divines lose by 'em. Men. You'll mar all: Wearied. Bequeath. -"Misery," i. e., avarice.· d" Your form," i, e., the form which custom prescribes to you. • Once for all. Accord; agreement. |
