As cause had call'd you up, have held him to; Tying him to aught; so, putting him to rage, Bru. No heart among you? Or had you tongues, to cry Have you, Let them go on; This mutiny were better put in hazard, 3 Cit. He's not confirm'd, we may deny him yet. And this shall seem, as partly 'tis, their own, 2 Cit. And will deny him: I'll have five hundred voices of that sound. 1 C. I twice five hundred, and their friends to piece 'em. Bru. Get you hence instantly; and tell those They have chose a consul, that will from them take Sic. How youngly he began to serve his country, Which we have goaded onward. ACT III. [Exeunt. Cor. Lart. At Antium. At Antium lives he? Cor. I wish, I had cause to seek him there How long continued: and what stock he springs of, To oppose his hatred fully.-Welcome home The noble house o' the Marcians; from whence came Sic. One thus descended, That hath beside well in his person wrought 1 That is, in pure contempt, open and unrestrained. 3 Object his pride, and enforce the objection. afterwards: Enforce him with his envy to the people.' 4 i. e. carriage. So in Othello : And portance in my travels' history.' So 5 Pope supplied this verse, which the context evidently requires, and which is warranted by the narration in Plutarch, from whence this passage is taken :-The house of the Martians at Rome was of the number of the patricians, out of which sprung many noble personages, whereof Ancus Martius was one, King Numaes daughter's sonne, who was King of Rome after Tullus Hostilius. Of the same house were Publius and Quintus, who brought to Rome their best water they had by conduits. Censorinus came of that familie, that was so surnamed because the people had chosen him censor twice.' Publius and Quintus and Censoribus were not [TO LARTIUS. Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS. Behold! these are the tribunes of the people, For they do prank1o them in authority, Sic. Cor. Ha! what is that? Go on: no further. Pass no further. It will be dangerous to the ancestors of Coriolanus, but his descendants. Cajus 6 That is, weighing his past and present behaviour. And put it on by your allowance. 8 Shakspeare has here again given the usage of England to Rome. In his time the title of lord was given to many officers of state who were not peers, as lords of the council, lord ambassador, lord general, &c. 9 That is, with a convoy, a guard appointed to protect him. 10 So in Measure for Measure, Act ii. Sc. 2:Drest in a little brief authority," Men. Well, no more. 1 Sen. No more words, we beseech you. As for my country I have shed my blood, Bru. You speak o' the people, We let the people know't. In soothing them, we nourish 'gainst our senate By mingling them with us, the honour'd number; Cor. Choler! "Twere well What, what? his choler? Were I as patient as the midnight sleep, It is a mind, That shall remain a poison where it is, Not poison any further. 6 Meazel, or mesell, is the old term for a leper, from the Fr. meselle. Cor. Shall remain!— Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you His absolute shall? Com. Cor. 'Twas from the canon. Shall! O good, but most unwise patricians, why, To say, he'll turn your current in a ditch, And such a one as he, who puts his shall, Com. Men. I say they nourish'd disobedience, fed Cor. Hence, old goat! That would not thread' the gates: this kind of service Did not deserve corn gratis: being i' the war, Men. Come, enough. Bru. Enough, with over measure. Cannot conclude, but by the yea and no To unstable slightness: purpose so barr'd, it follows, Nothing is done to purpose: Therefore, beseech you, You that will be less fearful than discreet; A noble life before a long, and wish Bru. He has said enough. Sic. He has spoken like a traitor, and shall an This a consul? no. Sic. hended. Sen. & Pat. We'll surety him. Com. Aged sir, hands off. Cor. Hence, rotten thing, or I shall shake thy bones Cit. Down with him, down with him! [Several speak. 2 Sen. Weapons, weapons, weapons! [They all bustle about CORIOLANUS. Tribunes, patricians, citizens !-what ho!Sicinius, Brutus, Coriolanus, citizens! bunes Cit. Peace, peace, peace; stay, hold, peace! Men. What is about to be ?-I am out of breath; Confusions's near: I cannot speak :-You, triTo the people,-Coriolanus, patience :Speak, good Sicinius. Sic. Hear me, people ;-Peace. Cit. Let's hear our tribune:-Peace. Speak, speak, speak. Sic. You are at point to lose your liberties; Marcius would have all from you; Marcius, Whom late you have nam'd for consul. power Bru. Or let us stand to our authority, Therefore, lay hold of him; Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from thence Into destruction cast him. Bru. Ediles, seize him. Hear me one word. Cit. Yield, Marcius, yield. Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word. Edi. Peace, peace. Men. Be that you seem, truly your country's friend, Sic. Go, call the people; [Exit BRUTUS.] in And temperately proceed to what you would Sir, those cold ways That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous Where the disease is violent:-Lay hands upon him, And bear him to the rock. If we looke for good successe in our cure by ministering hellebore, &c. for certainly it putteth the patient to a jumpe or greate hazard.' 7 Mangles true judgment, and bereaves the state Of that integrity which should become it.' Judgment is the faculty by which right is distinguished from wrong. Integrity is in this place soundness, uniformity, consistency. 8 Let it be said by you that what is meet to be done, must be meet, i. e. shall be done and put an end at once to the tribunitian power, which was established when irresistible violence, not a regard to propriety, directed the legislature.' 9. here's a stay, That shakes the rotten carcase of old death Out of his rags! King John. Cor. No; I'll die here [Drawing his Sword. There's some among you have beheld me fighting; Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me. Men. Down with that sword;-Tribunes, withdraw awhile. Bru. Lay hands upon him. Men. Help, help, Marcius! help, You that be noble; help him, young, and old! Cit. Down with him, down with him! [In this Mutiny, the Tribunes, the Ediles, and the People, are all beat in. Men. Go, get you to your house; be gone away, All will be naught else, 2 Sen. Cor. Get you gone. We have as many friends as enemies. Men. Shall it be put to that? Sen. Stand fast; As I do know the consul's worthiness, The gods forbid! I 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: Begone, 'beseech you." Com. Come, sir, along with us. Cor. I would they were barbarians (as they are, Though in Rome litter'd,) not Romans, (as they are not, Though calv'd i' the porch o' the Capitol,) Men. Be gone; Put not your worthy rage into your tongue; One time will owe another.1 Cor. I could beat forty of them. Men. On fair ground, I could myself Take up a brace of the best of them; yea, the two tribunes. Com. But now 'tis odds beyond arithmetic; Men. Pray you, begone: I'll try whether my old wit be in request With those that have but little; this must be patch'd With cloth of any colour. Com. Nay, come away. [Exeunt COR. COM. and others. 1 Pat. 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; 2 Pat. [A noise within. I would they were a-bed! Men. I would they were in Tyber!-What, the vengeance, Could he not speak them fair? Re-enter BRUTUS and SICINIUS, with the Rabble. That would depopulate the city, and Men. You worthy tribunes, Sic. He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rock With rigorous hands; he hath resisted law, And therefore law shall scorn him further trial 1 One time will owe another.' I think Menenius means to say, 'Another time will offer when you may be quits with them. There is a common proverbial phrase, One good turn deserves another.' 2 The lowest of the populace, tag, rag, and bobtail. 3 We should probably read: He shall, be sure on't.' 4 This signal for general slaughter was not to be pronounced with impunity, but by authority: Item que nul soit si hardy de crier harak, sur peine d'avoir la test coupe.'-Ordinances des Battuiles, 9 R. ii. Art. 10. Again, in the Statutes and Ordynaunces of Warre, print ed by Pynson, 1513:-- That no man be so hardy to cry havoke, upon payne of him that is so founde begynner, Consul!-what consul? Now, the good gods forbid, Sic. He's a disease, that must be cut away. What has he done to Rome, that's worthy death? Death on the wheel, or at wild horses' heels;1 1 Pat. Enter VOLUMNIA. You do the nobler. [To VOLUMNIA. Vol. O, sir, sir, sir, I would have had you put your power well on, Cor. Let go. Vol. Ay, and burn too. Let them hang. 1 Breaking a criminal on the wheel was a punishment unknown to the Romans; and, except in the single instance of Metius Suffetius, according to Livy, dis memberment by being torn to death by wild horses never took place in Rome. Shakspeare attributes to them the cruel punishments of a later age. 21 muse, that is, I wonder. 8 Ordinance is here used for rank. 4 The old copy reads things of your disposition.' The emendation is Theobald's. 5 Old copy, stoop to the heart. Theobald made the correction. Herd being anciently heard, the error easily crept in. Coriolanus thus describes the people in another passage: You shames of Rome, you herd of I have a heart as little apt as yours, Men. Cor. What must I do? Cor. What then? what then? Return to the tribunes. Men. I' the war do grow together: Grant that, and tell me, In peace, what each of them by th' other lose, Cor. Tush, tush! Cor. I would dissemble with my nature, where old reading, and Steevens says that we should perhaps read:- Nor by the matter which your heart prompts in you.' Without some additional syllable the line, as it stands in the first folio, is defective. 9 The old copy reads roated. Mr. Boswell says, perhaps it should be rooted: we have no example of roted for got by rote, but it is much in Shakspeare's manner of forming expressions. 10 i. e. of no approbation. Allowance has no connection with the subsequent words, to your bosom's truth,' The construction is though but bastards to your bosom's truth, not the lawful issue of your heart. The words and syllables of no allowance,' are put in oppo :-sition with bastards, and are as it were parenthetical. 6 Except in cases of extreme necessity, when your resolute and noble spirit, however commendable at other times, ought to yield to the occasion.' 7 Why urge you this? So in King Henry VIII. "If you will now unite in your complaints, And force them with a constancy.' 8 The word to, which is wanting in the first folio, was supplied in the second. Malone contends for the. 11 See Act i. Sc. 2. 12 Common clowns. 13 i. e. the want of their loves. |