Enter COMINIUS. Com. O, you have made good work! Men. What news? what news? Com. You have holp to ravish your own daughters, and To melt the city leads upon your pates; Com. Your temples burned in their cement; and Men. Pray now, your news?— You have made fair work, I fear me:-Pray, your news? If Marcius should be join'd with Volscians, Com. He is their god; he leads them like a thing That shapes man better: and they follow him, Or butchers killing flies. Men. If! You have made good work, You, and your apron men; you that stood so much Upon the voice of occupation,' and The breath of garlick-eaters! Com. He will shake As Hercules Did shake down mellow fruit:2 You have made fair work! Upon the voice of occupation,] Occupation is here used for mechanicks, men occupied in daily business. As Hercules, &c.] A ludicrous allusion to the apples of the Hesperides. Bru. But is this true, sir? Com. Do smilingly revolt;3 and, Ay; and you'll look pale who resist, Are only mock'd for valiant ignorance, And perish constant fools. Who is't can blame him? Your enemies, and his, find something in him. The noble man have mercy. Who shall ask it? Com. Does of the shepherds: for his best friends, if they And therein show'd like enemies. Men. "Tis true: If he were putting to my house the brand hands, You, and your crafts! you have crafted fair! Com. You have brought A trembling upon Rome, such as was never So incapable of help. Tri. 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, But, I fear Com. 3 Do smilingly revolt;] To revolt smilingly is to revolt with signs of pleasure, or with marks of contempt. Is all the policy, strength, and defence, Men. Enter a Troop of Citizens. Here come the clusters. And is Aufidius with him?-You are they That made the air unwholesome, when you cast And not a hair upon a soldier's head, Which will not prove a whip; as many coxcombs, As you threw caps up, will he tumble down, And pay you pay you for your voices. 'Tis no matter; If he could burn us all into one coal, We have deserv'd it. Cit. 'Faith, we hear fearful news. 1 Cit. For mine own part, When I said, banish him, I said, 'twas pity. 2 Cit. And so did I. 3 Cit. And so did I; and, to say the truth, so did very many of us: That we did, we did for the best: and though we willingly consented to his banishment, yet it was against our will. Com. You are goodly things, you voices! Men. You have made Good work, you and your cry!-Shall us to the Capitol? Com. O, ay; what else? [Exeunt Coм. and MEN. Sic. Go, masters, get you home, be not dismay'd; These are a side, that would be glad to have This true, which they so seem to fear. Go home, And show no sign of fear. you and your cry!] Alluding to a pack of hounds. So, in Hamlet, a company of players are contemptuously called a cry of players. 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. Sic. Nor I. [Exeunt Citizens. Bru. Let's to the Capitol :-'Would, half my A Camp; at a small distance from Rome. Enter AUFIDIUS, and his Lieutenant. Auf. Do they still fly to the Roman? Lieu. I do not know what witchcraft's in him; but Your soldiers use him as the grace 'fore meat, Their talk at table, and their thanks at end; And you are darken'd in this action, sir, Auf. Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier Yet I wish, sir, Lieu. Auf. I understand thee well; and be thou sure, When he shall come to his account, he knows not To the vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly, 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: To expel him thence. I think, he'll be to Rome, First he was A noble servant to them; but he could not The happy man; whether defect of judgment, From the casque to the cushion, but commanding peace As is the osprey-] Osprey, a kind of eagle, ossifraga. 6 whether 'twas pride, Which out of daily fortune ever taints The happy man; whether, &c.] Aufidius assigns three probable reasons of the miscarriage of Coriolanus; pride, which easily follows an uninterrupted train of success; unskilfulness to regulate the consequences of his own victories; a stubborn uniformity of nature, which could not make the proper transition from the casque or helmet to the cushion or chair of civil authority; but acted with the same despotism in peace as in war. |