[are,
Fol. You might have been enough the man you 15
With striving less to be so: Lesser had been
The thwartings of your dispositions, if

You had not shew'd'them how you were dispos'd
Ere they lack'd power to cross you.
Cor. Let them hang.

25 Of what is past.

Vol. I pr'ythee now, my son,

Go to them, with this bonnet in thy hand;
And thus far having stretch'd it, (here be with

3

i. e. our common clowns.

no established rank, or settled authority.
loves.

In this place, not seems to signify not only.
3A 2

Cor. Must go shew them my unbarb'd' sconce?
Must I,

2

With my base tongue, give to my noble heart
A lie, that it must bear? Well, I will do 't:
Yet were there but this single plot to lose, [it, 5
This mould of Marcius, they to dust should grind
And throw it against the wind.-To the market-
place:-

You have put me now to such a part, which never
I shall discharge to the life.

Com. Come, come, we'll prompt you.

Vol. I pr'ythee now, sweet son; as thou hast
said,

My praises made thee first a soldier, so,
To have my praise for this, perform a part
Thou hast not done before.

Cor. Well, I must do't:-
Away, my disposition, and possess me
Some harlot's spirit! My throat of war be turn'd,
Which quired with my drum, into a pipe
Small as an eunuch, or the virgin voice
That babies lulls asleep! The smiles of knaves
Tent in my cheeks; and school-boys'tears take up
The glasses of my sight! A beggar's tongue
Make motion through my lips; and my arm'd
knees,

Who bow'd but in my stirrup, bend like his
That hath receiv'd an alms !-I will not do't;
Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth,
And, by my body's action, teach my mind
A most inherent baseness.

Vol. At thy choice then :

To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour,
Than thou of them. Come all to ruin; let
Thy mother rather feel thy pride, than fear
Thy dangerous stoutness: for I mock at death
With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list.
Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck'dst it from
But own thy pride thyself.

[me;

Cor. Pray, be content;
Mother, I am going to the market-place;
Chide me no more. I'll mountebank their loves,
Cog their hearts from them, and come home be-
lov'd

Look, I am going:

I'll return consul;

Of all the trades in Rome.
Commend me to my wife.
Or never trust to what my tongue can do
the way of flattery, further.
Vol. Do your will.

[Exit Volumnia.

10

Bru. In this point charge him home, that he affects

Tyrannical power: If he evade us there, inforce him with his envy to the people; 15 And that the spoil, got on the Antiates, Was ne'er distributed.-What, will he come? Enter an Edile.

20

25

30

35)

Ed. He's coming.

Bru. How accompanied?

Ed. With old Menenius, and those senators That always favour'd him.

Sic. Have you a catalogue

Of all the voices that we have procur'd,
Set down by the poll?

Ed. I have; 'tis ready.

Sic. Have you collected them by tribes?
Ed. I have.

Sic. Assemble presently the people hither;
And when they hear me say, It shall be so,

I the right and strength o' the commons, be it either
For death, for fine, or banishment, then let them,
If I say fine, cry fine; if death, cry death;
Insisting on the old prerogative

And power

i' the truth o' the cause.

Ed. I shall inform them.

[to cry,

Bru. And when such time they have begun
Let them not cease, but with a din confus'd
Inforce the present execution

40Of what we chance to sentence.
Ed. Very well.

45

Com. Away; the tribunes do attend you: arm 50
yourself

To answer mildly; for they are prepar’d
With accusations, as I hear, more strong

Than are upon you yet.

Sic. Make them be strong, and ready for this

hint,

When we shall hap to give 't them.

Bru. Go about it.-
Put him to choler straight: He hath been us'd
[Exit Edile.
Ever to conquer, and to have his worth

Of contradiction: Being once chaf'd, he cannot
Be rein'd again to temperance; 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,
with others.

Sic. Well, here he comes.

Mr. Hawkins explains unbarbed by bare, uncovered; and adds, that in the times of chivalry, when a horse was fully armed and accoutered for the encounter, he was said to be barbed; probably from the old word barbe, which Chaucer uses for a veil or covering. Mr. Steevens, however, says, 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, carcase. which played in concert with my drum. To tent is to take up residence.

i. e. piece, 13 i. e.

'i. e. according to

Mr. Malone, He has been used to his worth, or (as we should now say) his pennyworth of contra-
What he has in his heart, is waiting there to help us to break his neck.
To look is to wait or expect.-The sense, I believe, is,

diction; his full quota or proportion.

Men

5

10

[sent? 15

Cor. Shall I be charg'd no further than this pre

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:

What you have seen him do, and heard him speak,
Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,
Opposing laws with strokes, and here defying
Those whose great power must try him; even this,
So criminal, and in such capital kind,
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?

[mother?

Men. Is this the promise that you made your
Com. Know, I pray you-

Cor. I'll know no further:

Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeïan death,
Vagabond exile, flaying: Pent to linger
But with a grain a day, I would not buy
Their mercy at the price of one fair word;
Nor check my courage for what they can give,
20 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 at last

5

The warlike service he has done, consider; think 25 Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence

Upon the wounds his body bears, which shew

Like graves i' the holy church-yard.

[only.

Cor. Scratches with briers, scars to move laughter
Men. Consider further,

That when he speaks not like a citizen,
You find him like a soldier: Do not take
His rougher accents for malicious sounds;
But, as I say, such as become a soldier,

2

Rather than envy you.

Com. Well, well, no more.

Cor. What's the matter,

That being past for consul with full voice,
I am so dishonour'd, that the very hour
You take it off again ?

Sic. Answer to us.

Cor. Say then: 'tis true, I ought so.

[take
Sic. We charge you, that you have contriv'd to
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: 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 thine 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.

Sie. Mark you this, people?

All.To the rock with him! to the rock with him!
Sic. Peace,

We need not lay new matter to his charge:

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;

30 In peril of precipitation

From off the rock Tarpeïan, never more
To enter our Rome gates: I' the people's name,
I say, it shall be so.

All. It shall be so, it shall be so; let him away:
35 He's banish'd, and it shall be so. [friends;-
Com. Hear me, my masters, and my common
Sic. He's sentenc'd: no more hearing.
Com. Let me speak:

I have been consul, and can shew from Rome,
40 Her enemies' marks upon me.
I do love

My country's good, with a respect more tender,
More holy, and profound, than mine own life,
My dear wife's estimate', her womb's increase,
And treasure of my loins: then if I would
45 Speak that-

50

Sic. We know your drift: Speak what?
Bru. There's no more to be said, but he is banish'd
As enemy to the people, and his country:
It shall be so.

[hate

All. It shall be so, it shall be so.
Cor. You common cry of curs! whose breath I
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;

55 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

1i. e. would bear being called a knave as often as would fill out a volume. 2 Ency is here taken

I shall be lov'd, when I am lack'd. Nay, mother,
Resume that spirit, when you were wont to say,
If you had been the wife of IIercules,

30

IV.

With cautelous baits and practice.

5

Vol. My first son,

Whither wilt thou go! Take good Cominius
With thee a while: Determine on some course,
More than a wild exposture to each chance
That starts the way before thee.

Cor. O the gods!

Com. I'll follow thee a month, devise with thee
Where thou shalt rest, that thou may'st hear of us,
And we of thee; so, if the time thrust forth
A cause for thy repeal, we shall not send
O'er the vast world, to seek a single man;
And lose advantage, which doth ever cool
I' the absence of the needer.

Cor. Fare ye well:

Thou hast years upon thee; and thou art too full
Of the war's surfeits, to go rove with one
35 That's yet unbruis'd: bring me but out at gate.
Come, my sweet wife, my dearest mother, and
My friends of noble touch: when I am forth,
Bid me farewell, and smile. I pray you, come.
While I remain above the ground, you shall
40 Hear from me still; and never of me aught
But what is like me formerly.

Men. That's worthily

As any car can hear.-Come, let's not weep.-
If I could shake off but one seven years

45 from these old arms and legs, by the good gods,
I'd with thee every foot.

Six of his labours you'd have done, and sav’d
Your husband so much sweat.-Cominius,
Droop not; adieu!--Farewell, my wife! my mother!
I'll do well yet.-Thou old and true Menenius,
Thy tears are salter than a younger man's, [ral,
And venomous to thine eyes.--My sometime gene-
I have seen thee stern, and thou hast oft beheld 50
Heart-hard'ning spectacles; tell these sad women,
"Tis fond' to wail inevitable strokes, [wel!,
As 'tis to laugh at them.-My mother, you wot
My hazards still have been your solace: and
Believe't not lightly, (though I go alone,
Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen

[son

Makes fear'd, and talk'd of more than seen) your
Will, or exceed the common, or be caught

Cor. Give me thy hand:-Come.
SCENE II.
A Street.

[Exeunt.

1 Abated is dejected, subdued, depressed in spirits. 2 The sense is, When fortune strikes her hardest blows, to be wounded, and yet continue calm, requires a generous policy. calmness cunning, because it is the effect of reflection and philosophy. artful and false tricks, and treason. 'First, i. e. noblest, and most eminent of men. true metal unallay'd: a metaphor taken from trying gold on the touchstone.

i.e. by i. e. of

But to confirm my curses! Could I meet 'em
But once a-day, it would unclog my heart
Of what lies heavy to 't.

Men. You have told them home, [with me?
5 And, by my troth, you have cause. You'll sup
Vol. Anger's my meat; I sup upon myself,
And so shall starve with feeding.-Come, let's go:
Leave this faint puling, and lament as I do,
In anger, Juno-like. Come, come, come.
Men. Fie, fie, fie!

10

Men. Peace, peace; be not so loud. [hear;-
Vol. If that I could for weeping, you should 15
Nay,and you shall hear some.-Will you be gone?
[To Brutus.

Vir. [To Sicin.] You shall stay too: I would,
I had the power

To say so to my husband.
Sie. Are you mankind 1?

[fool.

Vol. Av, fool; Is that a shame?-Note but this Was not a man my father? Hadst thou foxship2 To banish him that struck more blows for Rome, Than thou hast spoken words?

[words;

Sic. O blessed heavens!
Vol. More noble blows, than ever thou wise
And for Rome's good.-I'll tell thee what ;-Yet

go;

Nay, but thou shalt stay too:-I would my son
Were in Arabia, and thy tribe before him,
His good sword in his hand.

Sic. What then?

Vir. What then?

He'd make an end of thy posterity.

Vol. Bastards, and all.

20

[Exeunt.

Rom. I know you well, sir, and you know me: your name, I think, is Adrian.

Vol. It is so, sir: truly, I have forgot you.
Rom. I am a Roman; and my services are, as
you are, against 'em: Know you me yet?
Vol. Nicanor? No.

Rom. The same, sir.

Vol. You had more beard, when I last saw you; but your favour is well appear'd by your tongue. What's the news in Rome? I have a note from 25the Volcian state, to find you out there: You have well saved me a day's journey.

30

Rom. There hath been in Rome strange insurrection: the people against the senators, patricians, and nobles.

Vol. Hath been! Is it ended then? Our state thinks not so; they are in a most warlike preparation, and hope to come upon them in the heat of their division.

Rom. The main blaze of it is past, but a small 35thing would make it flame again. For the nobles receive so to heart the banishment of that worthy

Good man, the wounds that he does bear for Rome! Coriolanus, that they are in a ripe aptness, to

Bru. Pray, let us go.

Vol. Now, pray, sir, get you gone:.

You have done a brave deed. Ere you go,hearthis:
As far as doth the Capitol exceed

The meanest house in Rome; so far, my son,
(This lady's husband here, this, do you see)
Whom you have banish'd, does exceed you all.
Bru. Well, well, we'll leave you.
Sic. Why stay we to be baited

With one that wants her wits?

Vol. Take my prayers with you.—
I would the gods had nothing else to do,

[Exeunt Tribunes.

Vol. You will be welcome with this intelli45 gence, Nicanor.

Rom. The day serves well for them now. I have heard it said, The fittest time to corrupt a man's wife, is when she's fallen out with her husband. Your noble Tullus Aufidius will appear 50 well in these wars, his great opposer Coriolanus being now in no request of his country.

Vol. He cannot choose. I am most fortunate, thus accidentally to encounter you: You have ended my business, and I will merrily accom55pany you home.

Rom. I shall, between this and supper, tell you more strange things from Rome; all tending to the good of their adversaries. Have you an army ready, say you?

Dr. Johnson here remarks, that the word mankind is used maliciously by the first speaker, and taken perversely by the second. A mankind woman is a woman with the roughness of a man, and, in an aggravated sense, a woman ferocious, violent, and eager to shed blood. In this sense Sicinius asks Volumnia, if she be mankind. She takes mankind for a human creature, and accordingly cries pat: "Note but this fool.-Was not a man my father?" i, e, cunning enough.