BRU, Ædiles, seize him. CIT. Yield, Marcius, yield. MEN. Hear me one word. Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word. ÆDI. Peace, peace. MEN. Be that you seem, truly your country's friend, And temperately proceed to what you would BRU. 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. COR. No; I'll die here. 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 a while. BRU. Lay hands upon MEN. him. Help, Marcius! help, You that be noble; help him, young, and old! [In this Mutiny, the Tribunes, the Ædiles, MEN. Go, get you to your house; be gone, away, very poisonous-] I read: are very poisons. JOHNSON. - get you to your house;] Old copy-our house. Cor rected by Mr. Rowe. So below: "I pr'ythee, noble friend, home to thy house." MALONE. All will be naught else. 2 SEN. COR. Get you gone. Stand fast; We have as many friends as enemies. MEN. Shall it be put to that? 1 SEN. 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,7 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;8 Stand fast; &c.] [Old copy-Com. Stand fast; &c.] This speech certainly should be given to Coriolanus; for all his friends persuade him to retire. So, Cominius presently after: "Come, sir, along with us." WARBURTON. For 'tis a sore upon us,] The two last impertinent words, which destroy the measure, are an apparent interpolation. STEEVENS. * Cor. I would they were barbarians, (as they are, Be gone; &c.] The beginning of this speech, [attributed in the old copy to Menenius,] I am persuaded, should be given to Coriolanus. The latter part only belongs to Menenius: "Be gone; "Put not your worthy rage" &c. TYRWHITT. I have divided this speech according to Mr. Tyrwhitt's direction. STEEvens. The word, begone, certainly belongs to Menenius, who was very anxious to get Coriolanus away. In the preceding page he says: "Go, get you to your house; begone, away,-." Put not your worthy rage into your tongue; 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 arithmetick; MEN. Pray you, be gone; I'll try whether my old wit be in request And, in a few lines after, he repeats the same request: "Pray you, be gone: "I'll try whether my old wit be in request "With those that have but little." M. MASON. 9 One time will owe another.] I know 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. JOHNSON. I believe Menenius means, "This time will owe us one more fortunate." It is common expression to say, "This day is yours, the next may be mine." M. MASON. The meaning seems to be, One time will compensate for another. Our time of triumph will come hereafter: time will be in our debt, will owe us a good turn, for our present disgrace. Let us trust to futurity. MALONE. Before the tag return?] The lowest and most despicable of the populace are still denominated by those a little above them, Tag, rag, and bobtail. JOHNSON. With those that have but little; this must be patch'd With cloth of any colour. Сом. Nay, come away. [Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, 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; Here's goodly work! 2 PAT. [A Noise within. I would they were a-bed! MEN. I would they were in Tyber!-What, the Re-enter BRUTUS and SICINIUS, with the Rabble. SIC. He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rock With rigorous hands; he hath resisted law, And therefore law shall scorn him further trial Which he so sets at nought. 1 CIT. He shall well know, The noble tribunes are the people's mouths, MEN. Do not cry, havock, where you should but hunt * He shall, sure on't.] The meaning of these words is not very obvious. Perhaps they mean, He shall, that's sure. I am inclined to think that the same error has happened here and in a passage in Antony and Cleopatra, and that in both places sure is printed instead of sore. He shall suffer for it, he shall rue the vengeance of the people. The editor of the second folio reads -He shall, sure out; and u and n being often confounded, the emendation might be admitted, but that there is not here any question concerning the expulsion of Coriolanus. What is now proposed, is, to throw him down the Tarpeian rock. It is absurd, therefore, that the rabble should by way of confirmation of what their leader Sicinius had said, propose a punishment he has not so much as mentioned, and which, when he does afterwards mention it, he disapproved of: 66 to eject him hence, "Were but one danger." I have therefore left the old copy undisturbed. MALONE, Perhaps our author wrote-with reference to the foregoing speech: He shall, be sure on't. i. e. be assured that he shall be taught the respect due to both the tribunes and the people. STEEVENS. 3 * Sir,] Old copy, redundantly-Sir, sir. STEEVENS. * Do not cry, havock, where you should but hunt With modest warrant.] i, e. Do not give the signal for unlimited slaughter, &c. See Vol, X. p. 392, n. 1. STEEVENS. To cry havock was, I believe, originally a sporting phrase, from hafoc, which in Saxon signifies a hawk. It was afterwards used in war. So, in King John: 66 Cry havock, kings." And in Julius Cæsar: "Cry havock, and let slip the dogs of war." It seems to have been the signal for general slaughter, and is expressly forbid in The Ordinances des Battailles, 9 Ř. ii, art. 10: |
