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As cause had call'd you up, have held him to;
Or else it would have gall'd his surly nature,
Which easily endures not article

Tying him to aught; so, putting him to rage,
You should have ta'en the advantage of his choler,
And pass'd him unelected.

Bru.
Did you perceive,
He did solicit you in free contempt,
When he did need your loves; and do you think
That his contempt shall not be bruising to you,
When he hath power to crush? Why, had your
bodies

No heart among you? Or had you tongues, to cry
Against the rectorship of judgment?
Sic.

Have you,
Ere now, deny'd the asker? and, now again,
On him, that did not ask, but mock, bestow
Your sued-for tongues ?2

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Let them go on;

This mutiny were better put in hazard,
Than stay, past doubt, for greater:
If, as his nature is, he fall in rage
With their refusal, both observe and answer
The vantage of his anger.
Sic.
To the Capitol :
Come, we'll be there before the stream o' the people;

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
friends,-

They have chose a consul, that will from them take
Their liberties; make them of no more voice
Than dogs, that are as often beat for barking,
As therefore kept to do so.

Sic.
Let them assemble;
And, on a safer judgment, all revoke
Your ignorant election: Enforce3 his pride,
And his old hate unto you: besides, forget not
With what contempt he wore the humble weed;
How in his suit he scorn'd you: but your loves,
Thinking upon his services, took from you
The apprehension of his present portance,
Which most gibingly, ungravely he did fashion
After the inveterate hate he bears you.

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How youngly he began to serve his country,

Which we have goaded onward.

ACT III.

[Exeunt.

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Cor.
How? what?
Lart. How often he had met you, sword to sword:
That, of all things upon the earth, he hated
Your
To hopeless restitution, so he might
person most: that he would pawn his fortunes
Be call'd your vanquisher.
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
That Ancus Marcius, Numa's daughter's son,
Who, after great Hostilius, here was king:
Of the same house Publius and Quintus were,
That our best water brought by conduits hither;
And Censorinus, darling of the people,
And nobly nam'd so, being censor twice,
Was his great ancestor.

Sic.

One thus descended,

That hath beside well in his person wrought
To be set high in place, we did commend

1 That is, in pure contempt, open and unrestrained.
2 Your voices, to obtain which so many have
hitherto solicited.'

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,
The tongues o' the common mouth. I do despise
them;

For they do prank1o them in authority,
Against all noble sufferance.

Sic.

Cor. Ha! what is that?
Bru.

Go on: no further.

Pass no further.

It will be dangerous to

the ancestors of Coriolanus, but his descendants. Cajus
Martius Rutilius did not obtain the name of Censorinus
till the year of Rome 487; and the Marcian waters were
not brought to the city by aqueducts till the year 613, near
350 years after the death of Coriolanus. Shakspeare
has confounded the ancestors and posterity of Coriola-
nus together.

6 That is, weighing his past and present behaviour.
7 i. e. our incitation. So in King Lear:-
"you protect this course,

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,"

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Men. Well, no more.

1 Sen. No more words, we beseech you.
Cor.
How! no more?

As for my country I have shed my blood,
Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungs
Coin words till their decay, against those meazels,
Which we disdain should tetter us, yet sought
The very way to catch them.

Bru.

You speak o' the people,
As if you were a god to punish, not
A man of their infirmity.
Sic.

We let the people know't.
Men.

In soothing them, we nourish 'gainst our senate
The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition,
Which we ourselves have plough'd for, sow'd, and
scatter'd,

By mingling them with us, the honour'd number;
Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that
Which they have given to beggars.

Cor. Choler!

"Twere well

What, what? his choler?

Were I as patient as the midnight sleep,
By Jove, 'twould be my mind.
Sic.

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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,
You grave, but reckless senators, have you thus
Given Hydra here to choose an officer,
That with his peremptory shall, being but
The horn and noise1o o' the monsters, wants not
spirit

To say, he'll turn your current in a ditch,
And make your channel his? If he have power,
Then vail your ignorance: if none, awake
Your dangerous lenity. If you are learned,
Be not as common fools; if you are not,
Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians,
If they be senators: and they are no less,
When both your voices blended, the greatest taste
Most palates theirs.12 They choose their magis-
trate;

And such a one as he, who puts his shall,
His popular shall, against a graver bench
Than ever frown'd in Greece! By Jove himself,
It makes the consuls base: and my soul aches,
To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither supreme, how soon confusion
May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take
The one by the other.13

Com.
Well-on to the market place.
Cor. Whoever gave that counsel, to give forth
The corn o' the storehouse gratis, as 'twas us'd
Sometime in Greece,-

Men.
Well, well, no more of that.
Cor. (Though there the people had more abso-
lute power,)

I say they nourish'd disobedience, fed
The ruin of the state.

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Cor. Hence, old goat!

That would not thread' the gates: this kind of

service

Did not deserve corn gratis: being i' the war,
Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they show'd
Most valour, spoke not for them: The accusation
Which they have often made against the senate,
All cause unborn, could never be the native2
Of our so frank donation. Well, what then?
How shall this bosom multiplied3 digest
The senate's courtesy? Let deeds express
What's like to be their words :-We did request it;
We are the greater poll, and in true fear
They gave us our demands:Thus we debase
The nature of our seats, and make the rabble
Call our cares, fears: which will in time break ope
The locks o' the senate, and bring in the crows
To peck the eagles.-

Men.

Come, enough.

Bru. Enough, with over measure.
Cor.
No, take more:
What may be sworn by, both divine and human,
Seal what I end withal!4-This double worship,-
Where one part does disdain with cause, the other
Insult without all reason; where gentry, title, wis-
dom

Cannot conclude, but by the yea and no
Of general ignorance, it must omit
Real necessities, and give way the while

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;
That love the fundamental
of state,
part
More than you doubt the change of't; that pre-
fer

A noble life before a long, and wish
To jump a body with a dangerous physic
That's sure of death without it,-at once pluck out
The multitudinous tongue, let them not lick
The sweet which is their poison: your dishonour
Mangles true judgment, and bereaves the state
Of that integrity which should become it ;7
Not having the power to do the good it would,
For the ill which doth control it.

Bru.

He has said enough. Sic. He has spoken like a traitor, and shall an

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This a consul? no.

Sic.
Bru. The Ediles, ho!-Let him be appre-

hended.

Sen. & Pat. We'll surety him.

Com.

Aged sir, hands off. Cor. Hence, rotten thing, or I shall shake thy

bones

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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.

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power

Bru. Or let us stand to our authority,
Or let us lose it :-We do here pronounce,
Upon the part o' the people, in whose
We were elected theirs, Marcius is worthy
Of present death.
Sic.

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.
Men.

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

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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.

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Stand fast; As I do know the consul's worthiness,
So can I name his faults.
Sic.

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;
And manhood is call'd foolery, when it stands
Against a falling fabric.-Will
you hence,
Before the tag2 return? whose rage doth rend
Like interrupted waters, and o'erboar
What they are used to bear.

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;
And, being angry, does forget that ever
He heard the name of death.
Here's goodly work!

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.
Sic.
Where is this viper,

That would depopulate the city, and
Be every man himself?

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?

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Now, the good gods forbid,
That our renowned Rome, whose gratitude
Towards her deserved children is enroll'd
In Jove's own book, like an unnatural dam
Should now eat up her own!

Sic. He's a disease, that must be cut away.
Men. O, he's a limb, that has but a disease;
Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy.

What has he done to Rome, that's worthy death?
Killing our enemies? The blood he hath lost,
(Which, I dare vouch, is more than that he bath,
By many an ounce,) he dropp'd it for his country:
And, what is left, to lose it by his country,
Were to us all, that do't, and suffer it,
A brand to the end o' the world.
Sic.
This is clean kam."
Bru. Merely awry: when he did love his coun-
try,
It honour'd him.
Men.

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Death on the wheel, or at wild horses' heels;1
Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock,
That the precipitation might down stretch
Below the beam of sight, yet will I still
Be thus to them.

1 Pat.

Enter VOLUMNIA.

You do the nobler.
Cor. I muse, my mother
Does not approve me further, who was wont
To call them woollen vassals, things created
To buy and sell with groats; to show bare heads
In congregations, to yawn, be still, and wonder,
When one but of my ordinance3 stood up
To speak of peace, or war. I talk of you;

[To VOLUMNIA.
Why did you wish me milder? Would you have me
False to my nature? Rather say, I play
The man I am.

Vol.

O, sir, sir, sir,

I would have had you put your power well on,
Before you had worn it out.

Cor.

Let go.
Vol. You might have been enough the man you are,
With striving less to be so: Lesser had been
The thwartings of your dispositions, if
You had not show'd them how you were dispos'd
Ere they lack'd power to cross you.
Cor.

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

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I have a heart as little apt as yours,
But yet a brain, that leads my use of anger,
To better vantage.

Men.
Well said, noble woman :
Before he should thus stoop to the herd, but that
The violent fit o' the time craves it as physic
For the whole state, I would put mine armour on,
Which I can scarcely bear.

Cor. What must I do?
Men.

Cor.

What then? what then?

Return to the tribunes.
Well,

Men.
Repent what you have spoke.
Cor. For them!-I cannot do it to the gods;
Must I then do't to them?
Vol.
You are too absolute;
Though therein you can never be too noble,
But when extremities speak. I have heard you say,
Honour and policy, like unsever'd friends,

I' the war do grow together: Grant that, and tell

me,

In peace, what each of them by th' other lose,
That they combine pot there.

Cor.
Men.

Tush, tush!
A good demand.
Vol. If it be honour, in your wars, to seem
The same you are not, (which, for your best ends,
You adopt your policy,) how is it less, or worse,
That it shall hold companionship in peace
With honour, as in war; since that to both
It stands in like request?

Cor.
Why force' you this?
Vol. Because that now it lies you on to speak
To the people; not by your own instruction,
Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you to,
But with such words that are but roted" in
Your tongue, though but bastards, and syllables
Of no allowance, to your bosom's truth.i
Now, this no more dishonours you at all,
Than to take in a town with gentle words,
Which else would put you to your fortune, and
The hazard of much blood.-

I would dissemble with my nature, where
My fortunes, and my friends, at stake, requir'd,
I should do so in honour: I am in this,
And you will rather show our general lowts12
Your wife, your son, these senators, the nobles;
How you can frown, than spend a fawn upon them,
For the inheritance of their loves, and safeguard
Of what that want13 might ruin.

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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.
14 Not seems here to signify not only.

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