SCENE, a publick Street in Rome.

Cornets. Enter Coriolanus, Menenius, Cominius, Titus Lartius, and other Senators.

CORIOLANUS.

Ullus Aufidius then had made new head?

Ti

Lart. He had, my Lord; and that it was, which caus'd Our swifter compofition.

Cor. So then the Volfcians ftand but as at first,

Ready, when time fhall prompt them, to make road Upon's again.

Com. They're worn, Lord conful, fo, That we fhall hardly in our ages fee Their banners wave again.

Cor. Saw you Aufidius?

Lart. On fafe-guard he came to me, and did curfe Against the Volfcians, for they had fo vilely Yielded the town; he is retir'd to Antium.

Cor. Spoke he of me?

Lart. He did, my Lord.

Cor. How?-what?

Lart. How often he had met you, fword to fword: That of all things upon the earth he hated

Your perfon moft: that he would pawn his fortunes To hopeless reftitution, fo he might

Be call'd your vanquisher.

Cor. At Antium lives he?

Eart. At Antium.

Cor. I wish, I had a cause to feek him there;

To oppofe his hatred fully.-Welcome home.

[To Lartius.

Enter

Enter Sicinius and Brutus.

Behold! thefe are the tribunes of the people,

The tongues o' th' common mouth: I do despise thems For they do prank them in authority

Against all noble fufferance.

Sic. Pafs no further.

Cor. Hah!-what is that!

Bru. It will be dangerous to go on-no further.
Cor. What makes this change?

Men. The matter?

Com. Hath he not pafs'd the nobles and the commons ? Bru. Cominius, no.

Cor. Have I had childrens voices ?

Sen. Tribunes, give way; he fhall to th' market-place. Bru. The people are incens'd against him.

Sic. Stop,

Or all will fall in broil.

Cor. Are these your herd?

Muft thefe have voices, that can yield them now,
And ftraight difclaim their tongues? what are your offices?
You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth?
Have you not set them on?

Men. Be calm, be calm.

Cor. It is a purpos'd thing, and grows by plot,
To curb the will of the nobility:

Suffer', and live with fuch as cannot rule,
Nor ever will be rul'd.

Bru. Call't not a plot;

The people cry, you mock'd them; and, of late, When corn was given them gratis, you repin'd; Scandal'd the fuppliants for the people; call'd them Time-pleafers, flatterers, foes to nobleness.

Cor. Why, this was known before.

Bru. Not to them all.

Cor. Have you inform'd them fince?
Bru. How! I inform them!

Cor. You are like to do fuch bufinefs.

Bru. Not unlike, each way, to better yours.

Cor. Why then fhould I be conful? by yond clouds,

Let

Let me deferve fo ill as you, and make me
Your fellow-tribune.

Sic. You fhew too much of that,

For which the people ftir; if you will pafs
To where you're bound, you must enquire your way
Which you are out of, with a gentler fpirit,
Or never be fo noble as a conful,
Nor yoke with him for tribune.

Men. Let's be calm.

Com.The people are abus'd.--Seton;--this paltring(23)

Becomes not Rome: nor has Coriolanus

Deferv'd this fo dishonour'd rub, laid falsly

I' th' plain way of his merit.

Cor. Tell me of corn!

This was my fpeech, and I will speak't again
Men. Not now, not now.

Sen. Not in this heat, Sir, now,

Cor. Now as I live, I will

As for my nobler friends, I crave their pardons :
But for the mutable rank-fcented many,
Let them regard me, as I do not flatter,
And there behold themfelves: I fay again,
In foothing them, we nourish 'gainft our Senate
The cockle of rebellion, infolence, fedition,

Which we ourselves have plow'd for, fow'd and fcatter'd,
By mingling them with us, the honour'd number:
Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that

Which we have given to beggars.

Men. Well, no more

Sen. No more words, we beseech you

Cor. How!-no more!

As for my country I have fhed my blood,

Not fearing outward force; fo fhall my lungs
Coin words 'till their decay, against those measles,

(23) The people are abus'd, fet on;] This is pointed, as if the fenfe were, the people are fet on by the tribunes: but I don't take that to be the poet's meaning. Cominius makes a fingle reflection, and then bids the train fet forward, as again afterwards;

Well, on to th' market-place.

And fo in Julius Cæfar;

Set on, and leave no ceremony out.

Which we difdain fhould tetter us, yet feek
The very way to catch them.

Bru. You fpeak o' th' people, as you were a god To punish, not a man of their infirmity.

Sic. "Twere well, we let the people know't..

Men. What, what! his choler?

Cor. Choler! were I as patient as the midnight fleep, By Jove, 'twould be my mind.

Sic. It is a mind

That fhall remain a poison where it is,

Not poifon any further.

Cor: Shall remain ?

Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you
His abfolute shall?

Com. 'Twas from the canon.

Cor. Shall!

O good, but moft unwife patricians, why,

You grave, but wreaklefs fenators, have you thus
Given Hydra here to chufe an officer,

That with his peremptory hall, being but
The horn and noise o' th' monfters, wants not fpirit
To fay, 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're plebeians,
If they be fenators; and they are no lefs,

When, both your voices blended, the great'ft take
Moft palates theirs. They chufe their magiftrate!
And fuch a one as he, who puts his hall,
His popular ball, against a graver bench
Than ever frown'd in Greece! by Jove himself,
It makes the confuls bafe; and my foul akes
To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither fupreme, how foon confufion
May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take
The one by th' other.

Com. Well-On to th' market-place.

Cor. Who ever gave that counfel, to give forth

The

The corn o' th' ftorehouse, gratis, as 'twas us’d
Sometime in Greece

Men. Well, well, no more of that.

Cor.Though there the people had more abfolute power: I fay, they nourish'd difobedience, fed

The ruin of the state.

Bru. Why fhall the people give One, that fpeaks thus, their voice?

Cor. I'll give my reasons,

More worthy than their voice. They know, the corn Was not our recompence; refting affur'd,

They ne'er did fervice for't; being preft to th' war,
Even when the navel of the ftate was touch'd,

They would not thread the gates: this kind of fervice
Did not deferve corn gratis: Being i' th' war,
Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they fhew'd
Moft valour, fpoke not for them. Th' accufation,
Which they have often made against the Senate,
All caufe unborn, could never be the native
Of our fo frank donation. Well, what then?
How shall this bofom-multiplied digeft
The Senate's courte fy? let deeds exprefs,
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 debafe
The nature of our feats, and make the rabble

Call our cares, fears; which will in time break ope
The locks o' th' 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 fworn by, both divine and human,
Seal what I end withal!-This double worship,
Where one part does difdain with caufe, the other
Infult without all reafon; where gentry, title, wisdom,
Cannot conclude but by the yea and no

Of gen'ral ignorance, it muft omit

Real neceffities, and give way the while

T'unftable flightnefs; purpofe fo barr'd, it follows,

Nothing