Auf. I know thee not. I love the maid I married; never man Into the bowels of ungrateful Rome, Cor. My name is Caius Marcius, who hath done From twelve to seventy; and, pouring war To thee particularly, and to all the Volces, Great hurt and mischief; thereto witness may My surname, Coriolanus: The painful service, The extreme dangers, and the drops of blood Shed for my thankless country, are requited But with that surname; a good memory 3, And witness of the malice and displeasure Which thou shouldst bear me: only that name remains; The cruelty and envy of the people, Have all forsook me, hath devour'd the rest; I had fear'd death, of all the men i' the world And make my misery serve thy turn; so use it, Against my canker'd country with the spleen Thou dar'st not this, and that to prove more fortunes Cor. The one half of my commission; and set down, Whether to knock against the gates of Rome, To fright them, ere destroy. But come in: [Exeunt CORIOLANUS and AUFIDIUS. 1 Serv. [Advancing.] Here's a strange alteration! 2 Serv. By my hand, I had thought to have strucken him with a cudgel; and yet my mind gave me, his clothes made a false report of him. 1 Serv. What an arm he has! He turned me about with his finger and his thumb, as one would set up a top. 2 Serv. Nay, I knew by his face that there was something in him: He had, sir, a kind of face, methought, I cannot tell how to term it. 1 Serv. He had so: looking, as it were, - 'Would I were hanged, but I thought there was more in him than I could think. 2 Serv. So did I, I'll be sworn: He is simply the rarest man i' the world. 1 Serv. I think, he is: but a greater soldier than he, you wot one. 2 Serv. Who? my master? 1 Serv. Nay, it's no matter for that. 2 Serv. Worth six of him. 1 Serv. Nay, not so neither; but I take him to be the greater soldier. 2 Serv. 'Faith, look you, one cannot tell how to say that for the defence of a town, our general is excellent. 1 Serv. Ay, and for an assault too. Re-enter third Servant. 3 Serv. I would not be a Roman, of all nations; | Blush, that the world goes well; who rather had, I had as lieve be a condemned man. 1 Serv. Why do you say, thwack our general? 3 Serv. I do not say, thwack our general; but he was always good enough for him. 2 Serv. Come, we are fellows and friends: he was ever too hard for him; I have heard him say so himself. 1 Serv. He was too hard for him directly, to say the truth on't before Corioli, he scotched him and notched him like a carbonado.' Though they themselves did suffer by't, behold Dissentious numbers pestering streets, than see Our tradesmen singing in their shops, and going About their functions friendly. Sic. Your Coriolanus, sir, is not much miss'd, But with his friends: the commonwealth doth stand; 2 Serv. An he had been cannibally given, he might And so would do, were he more angry at it. have broiled and eaten him too. 1 Serv. But, more of thy news? 3 Serv. Why, he is so made on here within, as if he were son and heir to Mars: set at upper end o' the table: no question asked him by any of the senators, but they stand bald before him: Our general himself makes a mistress of him; sanctifies himself with's hand, and turns up the white o' the eye to his discourse. But the bottom of the news is, our general is cut i' the middle, and but one half of what he was yesterday; for the other has half, by the entreaty and grant of the whole table. He'll go, he says, and sowle 2 the porter of Rome gates by the ears: He will mow down all before him, and leave his passage polled.3 2 Serv. And he's as like to do't, as any man I can imagine. 3 Serv. Do't? he will do't: For, look you, sir, he has as many friends as enemies: which friends, sir, (as it were,) durst not (look you, sir,) show themselves (as we term it) his friends, whilst he's in directitude. 1 Serv. Directitude! what's that? 3 Serv. But when they shall see, sir, his crest up again, and the man in blood, they will out of their burrows, like rabbits after rain, and revel all with him. 1 Serv. But when goes this forward? 3 Serv. To-morrow; to-day; presently. You shall have the drum struck up this afternoon: 'tis, as it were, a parcel of their feast, and to be executed ere they wipe their lips. 2 Serv. Why then we shall have a stirring world again. This peace is nothing, but to rust iron, increase tailors, and breed ballad-makers. 1 Serv. Let me have war, say I; it exceeds peace, as far as day does night; its sprightly, waking, audible, and full of vent.4 Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy; mulled, deaf, sleepy, insensible. 2 Serv. 'Tis so. Men. All's well; and might have been much better, if He could have temporiz'd. Sic. Where is he, hear you? Men. Nay, I hear nothing; his mother and his wife Hear nothing from him. Enter three or four Citizens. Cit. The gods preserve you both! Sic. Good e'en, our neighbours. Bru. Good e'en to you all, good e'en to you all. 1 Cit. Ourselves, our wives, and children, on our knees, Are bound to pray for you both. Had lov'd you as we did. Bru. Caius Marcius was Ed. Worthy tribunes, There is a slave, whom we have put in prison, Reports, the Volces with two several powers Are enter'd in the Roman territories; And with the deepest malice of the war Destroy what lies before them. Men. 'Tis Aufidius, Who, hearing of our Marcius' banishment, Thrusts forth his horns again into the world: Which were inshell'd, when Marcius stood for Rome, And durst not once peep out. Sic. Of Marcius? Come, what talk you Bru. Go see this rumourer whipp'd. be, The Volces dare break with us. Men. Cannot be! We have record, that very well it can ; • Suffrage. As Hercules Did shake down mellow fruit: You have made fair work! Bru. But is this true, sir? Com. Ay; and you'll look pale Before you find it other. All the regions Do smilingly revolt; and, who resist, And perish constant fools. Who is't can blame him? Com. Who shall ask it? The tribunes cannot do't for shame: the people Does of the shepherds: for his best friends, if they Men. 'Tis true: If he were putting to my house the brand You and your crafts! you have crafted fair! You have brought Say not, we brought it. Men. How! Was it we? We lov'd him; but, like beasts, And cowardly nobles, gave way to your clusters, Com. 1 Cit. The gods be good to us! Come, masters, let's home. I ever said, we were i' the wrong, when we banished him. 2 Cit. So did we all. But come, let's home. Bru. I do not like this news, Bru. Let's to the Capitol : Would buy this for a lie. Fights dragon-like, and does achieve as soon Lieu. Sir, I beseech you, think you he'll carry Auf. All places yield to him ere he sits down; The senators, and patricians, love him too. SCENE VII. - A Camp; at a small distance Enter AUFIDIUS, and his Lieutenant. Auf. Do they still fly to the Roman ? Auf. Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier Lieu. Auf. I understand thee well; and be thou sure, To the vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly, To expel him thence. I think, he'll be to Rome, peace Even with the same austerity and garb As he controll'd the war; but, one of these, One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail; fail. Come, let's away. When, Caius, Rome is thine, Thou art poor'st of all; then shortly art thou mine. [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. Rome. A publick Place. Enter MENENIUS, COMINIUS, SICINIUS, BRUTUS, and others. Men. No, I'll not go: you hear, what he hath Which was sometime his general; who lov'd him Till he had forg'd himself a name i' the fire 1 Condescended unwillingly. I'll undertake it: Yet to bite his lip, 1 think, he'll hear me. And then I'll set upon him. Bru. You know the very road into his kindness, And cannot lose your way. Men. Good faith, I'll prove him, Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledge Of my success. [Exit. Com. Sic. He'll never hear him. Not? Com. I tell you, he does sit in gold, his eye Unless his noble mother, and his wife; [Exeunt. - An advanced Post of the Volscian Camp before Rome. The Guard at their Stations. SCENE II. Enter to them MENENIUS. 1 G. Sir, if you had told as many lies in his behalf, as you have uttered words in your own, you should not pass here: no, though it were as virtuous to lie, as to live chastely. Therefore, go back. Men. Pr'ythee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius, always factionary on the party of your general. 2 G. Howsoever you have been his liar, (as you say, you have,) I am one that, telling true under him, must say, you cannot pass. Therefore, go back. Men. Has he dined, can'st thou tell? for I would not speak with him till after dinner. 1 G. You are a Roman, are you? Men. I am as thy general is. 1 G. Then you should hate Rome, as he does. Can you, when you have pushed out your gates the very defender of them, and, in a violent popular ignorance, given your enemy your shield, think to front his revenges with the easy groans of old women, the virginal palms of your daughters, or with the palsied intercession of such a decayed dotant as you seem to be? Can you think to blow out the intended fire your city is ready to flame in, with such weak breath as this? No, you are deceived; therefore, back to Rome, and prepare for your execution: you are condemned, our general has sworn you out of reprieve and pardon. Men. Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here, he would use me with estimation. 2 G. Come, my captain knows you not. Men. I mean, thy general. 1 G. My general cares not for you. Back, I say; go, lest I let forth your half pint of blood: back, — that's the utmost of your having:-back. Men. Nay, but fellow, fellow. Enter CORIOLANUS and AUFIDIUS. Cor. What's the matter? Men. Now, you companion, I'll say an errand for you; you shall know now that I am in estimation; you shall perceive that a Jack guardant cannot office me from my son Coriolanus: guess, but by my entertainment with him, if thou stand'st not i' the state of hanging, or of some death more long in spectatorship, and crueller in suffering; behold now presently, and swoon for what's to coine upon thee. The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy particular prosperity, and love thee 9 Deceitful. 2 Dotard. 3 Fellow. 4 Jack in office. 7 Prizes. 1 Lie. 8 Friend. |