Of all the trades in Rome. Look, I am going:
Commend me to my wife. I'll return consul;
Qr never trust to what my tongue can do,
l'the
way of flattery, further. Vol. Do your will.
[Exit VOLUMNIA.
Com. Arm yourself
To answer mildly; for they are prepar’d
With accusations, as I hear, more strong
Than are upon you yet,
Cor. The word is, mildly:—'Pray you, let us go
Let them accuse me by invention; I
Will answer in mine honour.
Men. Ay,—but mildly.
Cor. Well, mildly be it then-mildly! [Ereunt.
Enter SICINIUS, BRUTUS, and the CITIZENS, Bru. Put him to choler straight: He hath been
us'd
Ever to conquer, and to have his worth
Of contradiction. Being once chaf’d, he cannot
Be rein'd again to temp’rance; then he speaks
What's in his heart; and that is there, which looks
With us to break his neck.
Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, and COMINIUS.
Sic. Well, here he comes.
Men. Calmly, I do beseech you.
Cor. The honour'd gods
Keep Rome in safety, and the chairs of justice
Supply'd with worthy men! plant love among us !
Throng our large temples with the shows of peace,
And not our streets with war!
Men. Amen, amen! A noble wish.
Sic. Draw near, ye people.
Cor. Shall I be charg'd no further than this pre-
sent?
Must all determine here?
Sic. I do demand,
If you submit you to the people's voices,
Allow their officers, and are content
To suffer lawful censure for such faults
As shall be prov'd upon you?
Cor. I am content.
Men. Lo, citizens, he says he is content:
The warlike service he has done, consider;
Think on the wounds his body bears, which show
Like graves i'the holy churchyard.
Cor. Scratches with briars.
What is the matter,
That being pass’d for consul with full voice,
I'm so dishonour'd, that the
very
hour You take it off again?
Sic. Answer to us.
Cor. Say then : 'tis true, I ought so.
Sic. We charge you, that you have contriv'd to
take
From Rome all season'd office, and to wind
Yourself into a power tyrannical;
For which you are a traitor to the people.
Cor. How! traitor?
Men. Nay; temperately 3-Your promise.
Cor. The fires i'the lowest hell fold in the people !
Call me their traitor !-thou injurious tribune!
Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,
In thy hands clutch'd as many millions, in
Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say,
Thou liest, unto thee, with a voice as free
As I do
pray
the gods. Sic. Mark you this, people? All. To the rock with him; to the rock with him !
Sic. Peace:
We need not put new matter to his charge;
What you have seen him do, and heard him speak,
Deserves the extremest death.
Bru. But since he hath
Serv'd well for Rome, -
Cor. What do you prate of service ?
Bru. I talk of that, that know it.
Cor. You?
Men. Is this
The promise that you made your mother?
Com. Know,
I pray you, —
Cor. I'll know no further:
Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
Vagabond exile, flaying :-Pent to linger
But with a grain a day, I would not buy
Their niercy at the price of one fair word;
Nor check my courage for what they can give,
To have't with saying, “ Good morrow.”
Sic. For that he has,
As much as in him lies, from time to time,
Envy'd against the people, seeking means
To pluck away their power; as now as last
Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence
Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers
That do distribute it; in the name o’the people,
And in the power of us the tribunes, we,
Even from this instant, banish him our city.
Com. Hear me, my masters, and my common
friends ;Bru. There is no more to be said, but he is ba
nishid,
As enemy to the people, and his country:
It shall be so.
All. It shall be so, it shall be so.
Cor. Ye common cry of curs ! whose breath I hate
As reek o'the rotten fens,—whose loves I prize
As the dead carcases of unburied men,
That do corrupt the air,- 1 banish you, -
And here remain with your uncertainty !
Let every feeble rumour shake your
hearts !
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till, at length,
Your ignorance
Deliver
Abated captives, to some nation
That won you without blows !— Despising now,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back :
There is a world elsewhere.
[The People shout.- Exeunt.
Enter CORIOLANUs in mean Apparel, disguised, and
mufled. Cor. A goodly city is this Antium : City, *Tis I that made thy widows; many an heir Of these fair edifices, 'fore my wars, Have I heard groan, and drop: then know me not; Lest that thy wives with spits, and boys with stones, In puny battle slay me.
Enter a VOLSCIAN OFFICER. Save you, sir. .
Offi. And you.
Cor. Direct me, it be your will,
Where great Aufidius lies : Is he in Antium ?
Offi. He is; and feasts the nobles of the state,
At his house this night.
Cor. Which is his house, 'beseech you?
Otji. This here, before you.
Cor. Thank you, sir; farewell. [Exit OFFICER. O, world, thy slippery turns! Friends now fast
sworn, Whose double bosoms seem to wear one heart, Whose hours, whose bed, whose meal, and exercise, Are still together; who twin, as 'twere, in love Unseparable,—shall, within this hour, On a dissension of a doit, break out To bitterest enmity: So, fellest foes, Whose passions and whose plots have broke their
sleep To take the one the other, by some chance, Some trick, not worth an egg, shall grow dear friends, And interjoin their issues. So with me: My birthplace hate I, and my love's upon This enemy town.—I'll enter: if he slay me, He does fair justice; if he give me way, I'll do his country service.
[Exit.
A Room in AUFIDIUS' House in Antium.
Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS and VOLUSIUS.
Volu. Whence is it, Tullus, that our arms are
stopp'd
Here on the borders of the Roman state ?
Why sleeps that spirit, whose heroic ardour
Urg'd you to break the truce, and pour’d our host,
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