K. Henry. It sorts' well with your fierceness. 5 Flu. So in the name Cheshu Christ, speak fewer. It is the greatest admiration in the universal 'orld, when the true and auncient prerogatifes and laws of the wars is not kept: if you would take the pains but to examine the wars of 10 Pompey the great, you shall find, I warrant you, that there is no tittle tattle, nor pibble pabble, in Pompey's camp: I warrant you, you shall find the ceremonies of the wars, and the cares of it, and the forms of it, and the sobriety of it, and the modesty of it, to be otherwise. Gow. Why, the enemy is loud; you heard him all night. Bates. He may shew what outward courage he will: but, I believe, as cold a night as 'tis, he could wish himself in the Thames up to the neck; and so I would he were, and I by him, at all adventures, so we were quit here. K. Henry. By my troth, I will speak my con science of the king; I think, he would not wish himself any where but where he is. Bates. Then, 'would he were here alone; so should he be sure to be ransom'd, and a many poor men's lives sav'd. K. Henry. I dare say, you love him not so ill, to wish him here alone; howsoever you speak this, to feel other men's minds: Methinks, I 15 could not die any where so contented, as in the king's company; his cause being just, and his quarrel honourable. Flu. If the enemy is an ass and a fool, and a prating coxcomb, is it meet, think you, that we 20 should also, look you, be an ass and a fool, and a prating coxcomb; in your own conscience now? Gow. I will speak lower. Flu. I pray you, and beseech you, that you Enter three Soldiers; John Butes, Alexander Court. Brother John Bates, is not that the morning which breaks yonder? Bates. I think it be: but we have no great cause to desire the approach of day. Will. That's more than we know. Bates. Ay, or more than we should seek after; for we know enough, if we know we are the king's subjects: If his cause be wrong, our obedience to the king wipes the crime of it out of us. Will. But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy, reckoning to make; when all those legs, and arms, and heads, chopp'd off in a battle, shall join together at the latter day, and Jcry all,We dy'd in such a place; some, swearing; some, crying for a surgeon; some, upon their wives left poor behind them; some, upon the 30 debts they owe; some, upon their children rawly' left. I am afeard there are few die well, that die in a battle; for how can they charitably dispose of any thing, when blood is their argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it; whom to disobey, were against all proportion of subjection. Will. We see yonder the beginning of the day, 35 but, I think, we shall never see the end of it.Who goes there? K. Henry. A friend. Will. Under what captain serve you? K Henry. Under Sir Thomas Erpingham. Will. A good old commander, and a most kind gentleman: I pray you, what thinks he of our estate? K. Henry. Even as men wreck'd upon the sand, that look to be wash'd off the next tide. Bates. He hath not told his thought to the| king? K. Henry. So, if a son, that is by his father sent about merchandize, do sinfully miscarry upon the 40 sea, the imputation of his wickedness, by your rule, should be imposed upon his father that sent him; or, if a servant, under his master's command, transporting a sum of money, be assail'd by robbers, and die in many irreconcil'd iniquities, you may 45 call the business of the master the author of the servant's damnation:-But this is not so: the king is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers, the father of his son, nor the master of his servant; for they purpose not their death, when they purpose their services. Besides, there is no king, be his cause never so spotless, if it come to the arbitrement of swords, can try it out with all unspotted soldiers. Some, peradventure, have on them the guilt of permeditated and contrived murder; some, of beguiling virgins with the broken scals of perjury; some, making the wars their bulwark, that have before gored the gentle bosom of peace with pillage and robbery. Now if these man have defeated the law and outrun native punishment, though they can out-strip men, they have no wings to fly from God: war That is, punishment K. Henry. No; nor it is not meet he should.For, though I speak it to you, I think, the king is but a man, as I am: the violet smells to him, 50 as it doth to me; the element shews to him, as it doth to me; all his senses have but human conditions': his ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man; and though his affections are higher mounted than ours, yet, when they stoop, 55 they stoop with the like wing; therefore, when he sees reason of fears, as we do, his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish as ours are: Yet, in reason, no man should possess him with any appearance of fear, lest he, by shewing it, should dishearten his army. 60 1i. e. it agrees. 2 Conditions means qualities. in their native country: or, such as they are born to 'i. e. hastily, suddenly. if they offend. : Sic. Go, call the people: [Exit Brutus.] in] whose name, myself Attach thee, as a traitorous innovator, A foe to the public weal: Obey, I charge thee, Cor. Hence, old goat! All. We'll surety him. [bones Cor. Hence, rotten thing, or I shall shake thy Out of thy garments. S.c. Help me, citizens. Re-enter Brutus with a rabble of Citizens, with Men. On both sides more respect. Take from you all your power. Bru. Seize him, ædiles. All. Down with him, down with him! 2 Sen. Weapons, weapons, weapons! 5 Bru. Ediles, seize him. All. Yield, Marcius, yield. Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word. [friends, Men. Be that you seem, truly your country's And temperately proceed to what you would' Thus violently redress. Bru. Sir, those cold ways, 10 That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous Where the disease is violent:-Lay hands upon And bear him to the rock. [him, [Coriolanus draws his sword. Cor. No; I'll die here. 15 There's some among you have beheld me fighting;` [They all bustle about Coriolanus. 20 You that be noble; help him, young and old! Tribunes, patricians, citizens !—what, ho!— All. Peace, peace, peace: stay, hold, peace! [bunes 25 Sic. Hear me, people:-Peace. All. Let's hear our tribunes:-Peace. Speak, 30 speak, speak. Sic. You are at point to lose your liberties: Marcius would have all from you; Marcius, Whom late you nam'd for consul. Men Fie, fie, fie! This is the way to kindle, not to quench. 1 Sen. To unbuild the city, and to lay all flat. Sic. What is the city, but the people? All. True, The people are the city. Bru. By the consent of all, we were establish'd The people's magistrates. All. You so remain. Men. And so are like to do. Cor. That is the way to lay the city flat; Sic. This deserves death. Bru. Or let us stand to our authority, Sic. Therefore, lay hold of him; Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from thence 35 40 All. Down with him, down with him! [Exeunt. [In this mutiny, the Tribunes, the Ediles, and the People are beat in. Men.Go, get you to your house; be gone,away, All will be naught else. 2 Sen. Get you gone. Cor. Stand fast; We have as many friends as enemies. Men. Shall it be put to that? 1 Sen. The gods forbid! pr'ythee, noble friend, home to thy house; Leave us to cure this cause. Men. For 'tis a sore upon us, You cannot tent yourself: Be gone, 'beseech you. Cor. I would they were barbarians, (as they are, are not, [gone. Though calv'd i' the porch o' the Capitol.)-Be Men. Put not your worthy rage into your tongue; One time will owe another. Cor. On fair ground, I could beat forty of them. [tribunes. 45 Take up a brace of the best of them; yea, the two Men. Pray you, be gone: I'll try whether my old wit be in request With those that have but little; this must be 55 With cloth of any colour. [patch'd Com. Nay, come away. [Exeunt Coriclanus and Cominius. 1 Dr. Johnson on this passage, remarks, that he knows not whether to owe in this place means to possess by right, or to be indebted. Either sense may be admitted. One time, in which the people are seditious, will give us power in some other time: or, this time of the people's predominance will run them in debt; that is, will lay them open to the law, and expose them hereafter to more servile subjection. The lowest of the populace are still denominated by those a little above them, Tag, rag, and bobtail. ЗА 1 San. 1 Sen. This man has marr'd his fortune. Men. His nature is too noble for the world: He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, Or Jove for his power to thunder. His heart's his mouth: What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent; 5 [A noise within. [vengeance, 10 2 Sen. I would they were a-bed! Men. I would they were in Tiber!-What, the Could he not speak 'em fair? Enter Brutus and Sicinius, with the rabble again. That will depopulate the city, and Men. You worthy tribunes, Sic. He shall be thrown down the Tarpeïan rock With rigorous hands; he hath resisted law, And therefore law shall scorn him further trial Than the severity of publick power, Which he so sets at nought. 1 Cit. He shall well know, The noble tribunes are the people's mouths, All. He shall sure out. Men. Sir, sir, Sic. Peace. [but hunt 15 Bru. Merely awry: When he did love his counIt honour'd hiin. Men. The service of the foot Being once gangren'd, is not then respected Bru. We'll hear no more: Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence; Lest his infection, being of catching nature, Spread further. Men. One word more, one word. This tyger-footed rage, when it shall find The harm of unscann'd swiftness, will, too late, Tie leaden pounds to his heels. Proceed by process; Lest parties (as he is belov'd) break out, 20 And sack great Rome with Romans. Bru. If it were so It is the humane way: the other course 35 Will prove too bloody; and the end of it Unknown to the beginning. Men. If, by the tribunes' leave, and yours, good 40 Sie. Speak briefly then; For we are peremptory, to dispatch Men. Now the good gods forbid, Sic. Noble Menenius, Be you then as the people's officer: Men. I'll bring him to you:- [must come, 45 Let me desirey our company. [To the Senators.}lie Or what is worst will follow. 50 1 Sen. Pray you, let's to him. SCENE [Exeunt, II. Coriolanus's House. Enter Coriolanus, with Patricians. Cor. Let them pull all about mine ears; present me Death on the wheel, or at wild horses' heels; 55 Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeïan rock, That the precipitation might down stretch Below the beam of sight, yet will I still Be thus to them. Sic. He's a disease that must be cut away. Enter Volumnia. Pat. You do the nobler. 1i. e. Do not give the signal for unlimited slaughter, &c.-To cry havock, was, I believe, originally a sporting phrase, from hafoc, which in Saxon signifies a hawk.-It was afterwards used in war, and seems to have been the signal for general slaughter. i. e. Awry. Hence a kambrel for a crooked stick, or the bend in a horse's hinder leg.-The Welch word for crooked is kum. 2 Vol. You might have been enough the man you 15 You had not shew'd them how you were dispos'd Vol. Ay, and burn too. Enter Menenius, with the Senators. Men. Come, come, you have been too rough, You must return and mend it. Sen. There's no remedy; Unless, by not so doing, our good city Vol. Pray, be counsell'd: I have a heart as little apt as yours, But yet a brain, that leads my use of anger, Men. Well said, noble woman: Before he should thus stoop to the herd', but that Cor. What must I do? Cor. For them?-I cannot do it to the gods; Vol. You are too absolute; Though therein you can never be too noble. In peace, what each of them by the other lose, Cor. Tush, tush! Men. A good demand. Vol. If it be honour, in your wars, to seem 1i. e. I wonder. 2 i, e. my rank. no established rank. or settled author My fortunes, and my friends, at stake, require Men. Noble lady! 8 'em Come, go with us; speak fair: you may salve so Not what is dangerous present, but the loss 25 Of what is past. Vol. I pr'ythee now, my son, Go to them, with this bonnet in thy hand; them) 30 Thy knee bussing the stones, (for in such business 35 That will not hold the handling: Or, say to them, Men. This but done, Even as she speaks, why, their hearts were yours: For they have pardons, being ask’d, as free 45 As words to little purpose. 50 Vol. Pr'ythee now, [rather Go, and be rul'd: although, I know, thou hadst T'han flatter him in a bower. Here is Cominius. You make strong party, or defend yourself Com. I think, 'twill serve, if he Vol. He must, and will: (60 Pr'ythee, now, say, you will, and go about it. said, My praises made thee first a soldier, so, Cor. Well, I must do't:- Who bow'd but in my stirrup, bend like his Vol. At thy choice then : To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour, Cor. Pray, be content; 10 Men. Ay, but mildly. SCENE The Forum. Enter Sicinius, and 1 Bru. In this point charge hi affects Tyrannical power: If he evade Inforce him with his envy to th 15 And that the spoil, got on the 4 Was ne'er distributed.-What, Enter an Edile 20 25 30 [me; 40 45 Com. Away; the tribunes do attend you: arm50 To answer mildly; for they are prepar❜d Ed. He's coming. Bru. How accompanied? Ad. With old Menenius, and That always favour'd him. Sic. Have you a catalogue Of all the voices that we have p Set down by the poll? Ad. I have; 'tis ready. Sic. Assemble presently the Sic. Make them be strong, ar hint, When we shall hap to give 't the Bru. Go about it. Put him to choler straight: He Mr. Hawkins explains unbarbed by bare, uncovered; and adds, that in the tir when a horse was fully armed and accoutered for the encounter, he was said to be ba from the old word barbe, which Chaucer uses for a veil or covering. Mr. Steevens, unbarbed sconce is untrimm'd or unshaven head.—To barb a man was to shave him. portion; applied to a piece of earth, and here elegantly transferred to the body, car which played in concert with my drum. 5 i. Mr. Malone, He has been used to his worth, or (as we should now say) his pennyu diction; his full quota or proportion. To look is to wait or expect.-The sense To tent is to take up residence. What he has in his heart, is waiting there to help us to break his neck. |