Thy exercise hath been too violent for

A fecond courfe of fight.

Mar. Sir, praise me not:

My work hath yet not warm'd me: Fare you well. The blood I drop is rather phyfical

Than dangerous to me: To Aufidius thus

I will appear, and fight,

Lart. Now the fair goddefs, Fortune,

Fall deep in love with thee; and her great charms Mifguide thy oppofers' fwords! Bold gentleman, Profperity be thy page!

Mar. Thy friend no lefs

Than those the places higheft! So, farewel.

Lart. Thou worthieft Marcius!

Go, found thy trumpet in the market-placé;
Call thither all the officers of the town,
Where they fhall know our mind: Away. [Exeunt.

Enter Cominius retreating, with foldiers.

Com. Breathe you, my friends; well fought: we are come off

Like Romans, neither foolish in our stands,
Nor cowardly in retire: believe me, firs,

We shall be charg'd again. Whiles we have ftruck,
By interims, and conveying gufts, we have heard
The charges of our friends :-3 Ye Roman gods,
Lead their fucceffes as we wish our own;

2 The Roman gods, &c.

That both our powers

May give you thankful facrifice!-]

This is an addrefs and invocation to them, therefore we should

read:

Ye Roman gods. WARBURTON.

Ааа

That

That both our powers, with fmiling fronts encoun

tring,

Enter a Meffenger.

May give you thankful facrifice !-Thy news?
Mef. The citizens of Corioli have issued,
And given to Lartius and to Marcius battle:
I faw our party to the trenches driven,
And then I came away..

Com. Though thou speak'st truth, Methinks, thou fpeak'st not well. ...fince ?

Mef. Above an hour, my lord.

How long is't

Com. "Tis not a mile; briefly we heard their

drums:

How could'ft thou in a mile confound an hour 3, And bring thy news fo late?

Mef. Spies of the Volces

Held me in chafe, that I was forc'd to wheel
Three or four miles about; else had I, fir,
Half an hour, fince brought my report.

Enter Marcius.

Com. Who's yonder,

That does appear as he were flead? O gods!
He has the ftamp of Marcius; and I have
Before-time feen him thus.

Mar. Come I too late?

Com. The fhepherd knows not thunder from a tabor,

3 Confound an hour,] Confound is here used not in its common acceptation, but in the sense of―to expend.

Conterere tempus.
MALONE.

He did confound the best part of an hour, &c.

STEEVENS.

More

More than I know the found of Marcius' tongue From every meaner man's.

Mar. Come I too late?

Com. Ay, if you come not in the blood of others, But mantled in your own.

Mar. O let me clip you

In arms as found, as when I woo'd; in heart
As merry, as when our nuptial day was done,
And tapers burnt to bedward 4.

Com. Flower of warriors,

How is't with Titus Lartius?

Mar. As with a man bufied about decrees:
Condemning fome to death, and fome to exile;
5 Ranfoming him, or pitying, threatening the other;
Holding Corioli in the name of Rome,

Even like a fawning greyhound in the leafh,
To let him flip at will.

Com. Where is that flave,

Which told me they had beat you to your trenches? Where is he? Call him hither.

Mar. Let him alone,

He did inform the truth: But for our gentlemen, The common file, (A plague! Tribunes for them!) The mouse ne'er fhunn'd the cat, as they did budge From rafcals worse than they.

Com. But how prevail'd you?

Mar. Will the time serve to tell? I do not thinkWhere is the enemy? Are you lords o' the field ? If not, why cease you 'till you are so?

Com. Marcius, we have at difadvantage fought, And did retire, to win our purpose.

Mar. How lies their battle? Know you on what fide

4to bedward.] So, in Albumazar, 1610:

"Sweats hourly for a dry brown crust to bedward."

They

STEEVENS.

• Ranfoming him, or pitying,] i. e. remitting his ransom.

JOHNSON.

-on what fide &c.] So, in the old tranflation of Plutarch:

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Mars

They have plac'd their men of truft?

Com. As I guefs, Marcius,

Their bands i' the vaward are the Antiates",

Of their beft truft: o'er them Aufidius,
Their very heart of hope.

Mar. I do befeech you,

By all the battles wherein we have fought,
By the blood we have fhed together, by the vows
We have made to endure friends, that you directly
Set me against Aufidius, and his Antiates:

* And that you not delay the prefent; but,
Filling the air with fwords advanc'd, and darts,
We prove this very hour.

Com. Though I could with

You were conducted to a gentle bath,
And balms applied to you, yet dare I never
Deny your afking; take your choice of those
That beft can aid your action.

Mar. Those are they

That most are willing:-If any fuch be here," (As it were fin to doubt) that love this painting Wherein you fee me fmear'd; if any fear

"Martius afked him howe the order of their enemies battell was, and on which fide they had placed their best fighting men. The conful made him aunfwer that he thought the bandes which were in the vaward of their battell, were thofe of the Antiates, whom they esteemed to be the warlikeft men, and which for valiant corage would geve no place to any of the hofte of their enemies. Then prayed Martius to be fet directly against them. The conful graunted him, greatly prayfing his corage." STEEVENS. 7-Antiates] The old copy reads-Aatients, which might mean veterans; but a following line, as well as the previous quotation, feems to prove Antiates to be the proper reading. me against Aufidius and his Antiates." STEEVENS. \ "And that you not delay the prefent,

--fwords advanc'd,

"Set

Delay, for let flip.

WARBURTON.

Leffer his perfon than an ill report';

If any think, brave death outweighs bad life,
And that his country's dearer than himself;
Let him, alone, or fo many, fo minded,
Wave thus, to exprefs his difpofition,

And follow Marcius.

[Waving his hand. [They all fhout, and wave their fwords, take him up in their arms, and caft up their caps. O me, alone! Make you a fword of me? If these fhews be not outward, which of you But is four Volces? None of you, but is Able to bear against the great Aufidius A fhield as hard as his. A certain number, Though thanks to all, muft I felect from all : The reft shall bear the bufinefs in fome other fight, As caufe will be obey'd. Pleafe you to march;

• Leffer his perfon than an ill report ;] The old I fufpect the authour wrote:

2

copy

Lefs in his perfon than in ill report. MALONE.
Pleafe you to march,

And four hall quickly draw out my command,
Which men are beft inclin'd.]

And

has lessen ;

I cannot but fufpect this paffage of corruption. Why should they march, that four might felect thofe that were beft inclin'd? How would their inclinations be known? Who were the four that fhould felect them? Perhaps, we may read :

Pleafe you to march;

And fear fhall quickly draw out of

Which men are least inclin'd.

my command,

It is eafy to conceive that, by a little negligence, fear might be changed to four, and leaft to beft. Let us march, and that fear which incites defertion will free my army from cowards.

The author of the Revifal thinks the poet wrote:

"And so I fhall quickly draw out." &c.

JOHNSON.

Some fenfe, however, may be extorted from the ancient reading. Coriolanus may mean that as all the foldiers have offered to attend him on this expedition, and he wants only a part of them, he will fubmit the felection to four indifferent perfons, that he himself may escape the charge of partiality. If this be the drift

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