All. The gods assist you! 2 Sen. All. Farewell. Vol. He had rather see the swords, and hear a drum, than look upon his school master. Val. O' my word, the father's son: I'll swear Farewell. 'tis a very pretty boy. O' my troth, I looked upon [Exeunt. him o' Wednesday half an hour together: he has such a confirmed countenance. I saw him run after a gilded butterfly, and when he caught it, he let it go again; and after it again; and over and over he comes, and up again; catched it again: or SCENE III. Rome. An Apartmennt in Marcius' House. Enter VOLUMNIA and VIRGILIA: They sit down on two low stools, and sew. Vol. I pray you, daughter, sing; or express your-whether his fall enraged him, or how 'twas, he did self in a more comfortable sort: If my son were my husband, I should freelier rejoice in that absence wherein he won honour, than in the embracements of his bed, where he would show most love. When yet he was but tender-bodied, and the only son of my womb; when youth with comeliness plucked all gaze his way; when, for a day of kings' entreaties, her mother should not sell him an hour from her beholding; I, considering how honour would become such a person; that it was no better than picture-like to hang by the wall, if renown made it not stir, was pleased to let him seek danger where he was like to find fame. To a cruel war I sent him; from whence he returned, his brows bound with oak. I tell thee, daughter, I sprang not more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child, than now in first seeing he had proved himself a so set his teeth, and tear it; O, I warrant, how he mammocked it! Vol. One of his father's moods. Val. Indeed la, 'tis a noble child. Val. Come, lay aside your stitchery; I must have you play the idle huswife with me this afternoon. Vir. No, good madam; I will not out of doors. Vol. She shall, she shall. Vir. Indeed, no, by your patience: I will not over the threshold, till my lord return from the wars. Val. Fye, you confine yourself most unreasonably; Come, you must go visit the good lady that lies in. Vir. I will wish her speedy strength, and visit her with my prayers; but I cannot go thither. Vol. Why, I pray you? Vir. "Tis not to save labour, nor that I want love. Val. You would be another Penelope: yet they say, all the yarn she spun, in Ulysses' absence, did but fill Ithaca full of moths. Come, I would, your cambric were sensible as your finger, that you might leave pricking it for pity. Come, you shall go with us. Vir. No, good madam, pardon me; indeed, I will not forth. Val. In truth, la, go with me; and I'll tell you excellent news of your husband. Vir. O, good madam, there can be none yet. Val. Verily, I do not jest with you; there came news from him last night. Vir. Indeed, madam? Methinks, I hear hither your husband's drum; Though you were born in Rome: His bloody brow Or all, or lose his hire. Val. In earnest, it's true; I heard a senator speak it. Thus it is: - The Volces have an army forth; against whom Cominius the general is gone, with one part of our Roman power: your lord, and Titus Lartius, are set down before their city Corioli; they nothing doubt prevailing, and to make it brief wars. This is true, on mine honour; and so, I pray, go with us. Vir. His bloody brow! O, Jupiter, no blood! Vir. Heavens bless my lord from fell Aufidius! And tread upon his neck. Re-enter Gentlewoman, with VALERIA and her Val. My ladies both, good day to you. Vir. I am glad to see your ladyship. Val. How do you both? you are manifest housekeepers. What, are you sewing here? A fine spot, in good faith. How does your little son? Vir. I thank your ladyship; well, good madam. 1 Attracted the attention of every one toward him. 2 The crown given by the Romans to him that saved the life of a citizen, which was accounted more honourable than any other, 3 This verb active (signifying to withdraw) occurs in The Tempest: 'I will thence Retire me to my Milan." 4 Gilt means a superficial display of gold. The word Vir. Give me excuse, good madam; I will obey you in every thing hereafter. Vol. Let her alone, lady; as she is now, she will but disease our better mirth. Val. In troth, I think she would :--Fare you well, then. Come, good sweet lady.-Pr'ythee, Virgilia, turn thy solemness out o' door, and go along with us. Vir. No: at a word, madam; indeed, I must not. I wish you much mirth. Val. Well, then, farewell. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. Before Corioli. Enter, with Drum and Colours, MARCIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, Officers and Soldiers. To them a Messenger. Mar. Yonder comes news:-A wager, they have met. Lart. My horse to yours, no. Lart. 'Tis done. Agreed. Mar, Say, has our general met the enemy? 5 i.e. a handsome spot of embroidery. We often hear of spotted muslin. 6 To mammock is to tear or cut in pieces. 7 A crack signifies a sprightly forward boy, it is often used by Jonson and his contemporaries :'If we could get a witty boy, now, Eugine, That were an excellent crack, I could instruct him To the true height." Devil is an Ass. 'A notable dissembling lad, a crack. Four Prentices of London, 1615 Tullus Aufidius, is he within your walls? 1 Sen. No, nor a man that fears you less than he, That's lesser than a little. Hark, our drums [Alarums afar off. Are bringing forth our youth: We'll break our walls, Rather than they shall pound us up: our gates, Which yet seem shut, we have but pinn'd with rushes, They'll open of themselves. Hark you, far off; [Other Alarums. There is Aufidius; list, what work he makes Mar. O, they are at it! Lart. Their noise be our instruction.-Ladders, ho! The Volces enter and pass over the Stage. Mar. They fear us not, but issue forth their city. Now put your shields before your hearts, and fight With hearts more proof than shields. Advance, brave Titus: They do disdain us much beyond our thoughts, Which makes me sweat with wrath. Come on, my fellows; He that retires, I'll take him for a Volce, And he shall feel mine edge. Alarum, and exeunt Romans and Volces, fighting. The Romans are beaten back to their trenches.Re-enter MARCIUS. Mar. All the contagion of the south light on you, You shames of Rome! you herd of Boils and plagues, Plaster you o'er; that you may be abhorr'd Against the wind a mile! You souls of geese, All hurt behind; backs red, and faces pale With flight and agued fear! Mend, and charge home, Or, by the fires of heaven, I'll leave the foe, And make my wars on you: look to't: Come on; If you'll stand fast, we'll beat them to their wives, As they us to our trenches followed. Another Alarum. The Volces and Romans re-enter, and the fight is renewed. The Volces retire into Corioli, and MARCIUS follows them to the gates. So, now the gates are ope:-Now prove good seconds: 'Tis for the followers fortune widens them, Not for the fliers: mark me, and do the like. [He enters the gates, and is shut in. 1 i. e. our friends who are in the field of battle. 2 The poet means-No, nor a man that fears you more than he; but he often entangles himself in the use of less and more. 3 'You herd of cowards! Marcius would proba bly have said, but his rage prevents him. 4 The old copy reads : Who sensibly outdares' Sensible is here having sensation. So before:-'I would your cambrick were as sensible as your finger." Though Coriolanus has the feeling of pain like other men, he is more hardy in daring exploits than his senseless sword; for after it is bent, he yet stands firm in the field. A carbuncle entire, as big as thou art, 1 Sol. Lart. Let's fetch him off, or make remain alike. [They fight, and all enter the City. SCENE V. Within the Town. A Street. Enter certain Romans, with spoils. 1 Rom. This will I carry to Rome 2 Rom. And I this. 3 Rom. A murrain on't! I took this for silver. [Alarum continues still afar of. Enter MARCIUS, and TITUS LARTIUS, with a Trumpet. Mar. See here these movers, that do prize their hours At a crack'd drachm! Cushions, leaden spoons, him: And hark, what noise the general makes!-To There is the man of my soul's hate, Aufidius, Piercing our Romans: Then, valiant Titus, take Convenient numbers to make good the city; Whilst I, with those that have the spirit, will haste To help Cominius. Lart. Worthy sir, thou bleed'st; Thy exercise hath been too violent for 1 Sir, praise me not: My work hath yet not warm'd me: Fare you well. Lart. Now the fair goddess, Fortune, Fall deep in love with thee; and her great charms Bold gentleman, Misguide thy opposers' swords? Mar. thy page! opposers Thy friend no less Than those she placeth highest! So farewell. Lart. Thou worthiest Marcius! [Exit MARCIUS. 5 We have a similar thought in Othello : 'If heaven had made me such another woman, I'd not have ta'en it from her." 6 The old copy has erroneously Calues wish; the error would easily arise: Shakspeare wrote, according to the mode of his time, 'Catoes wish, omitting to cross the t, and forming the o inaccurately. Cato was not born till the year of Rome 519, that is, 255 years after the death of Coriolanus; but the poet was led into the anachronism by following Plutarch. Macbeth. 8 'Make remain, is an old manner of speaking, which means no more than remain. 9 i. e. their time. Johnson adopted Pope's reading -honours; for which there was no necessity. He did inform the truth: But for our gentlemen, The common file (A plague!-Tribunes for them!) 1 So in King Henry VI. Part i. Act i. Sc. 3: He did confound the best part of an hour, &c. Confound is here used not in its common acceptation, but in the sense of to expend: conterere tempus. 2 i. e. towards bed or rest, or the time of resting. Compounds were formerly made at pleasure, by subjoining ward to the thing towards which the action tended. 3 i. e. remitting his ransom. 4 i. e. in the front are the soldiers of Antium. Shak. speare uses Antiates as a trisyllable, as if it had been written Antiats. 5 i. e. 'do not let slip the present time. 6 The old copy reads Lessen. The reading of the text was introduced by Steevens His person means his personal danger. We have nearly the same sentiment in Troilus and Cressida : • If there be one among the fair'st of Greece [They all shout and wave their swords; take O me, alone! Make you a sword of me? Com. March on, my fellows: Make good this ostentation, and you shall Divide in all with us. [Exeunt. 7 From the obscurity of this passage there is good reason to suspect its correctness. Perhaps we might read some instead of four, words easily confounded in old MSS.; and then the last line may be interrogative, thus: Please you to march, And some shall quickly draw out my command: The passage as it stands in the old copy has been thus Halloo me like a hare. Mar. If I fly, Marcius, Within these three hours, Tullus, Alone I fought in your Corioli walls, And made what work I pleas'd; 'Tis not my blood, Wherein thou seest me mask'd; for thy revenge, Wrench up thy power to the highest. Auf. Wert thou the Hector, That was the whip of your bragg'd progeny, Thou should'st not scape me here. [They fight, and certain Volces come to the Officious, and not valiant-you have sham'd me [Exeunt fighting, driven in by MARCIUS. SCENE IX. The Roman Camp. Alarum. A Retreat is sounded. Flourish. Enter at one side, COMINIUS, and Romans; at the other side, MARCIUS, with his arm in a scarf, and other Romans. Com. If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work, Thou'lt not believe thy deeds; but I'll report it, Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles; Where great patricians shall attend, and shrug, I' the end, admire; where ladies shall be frighted, And, gladly quak'd,5 hear more; where the dull tribunes, That, with the fusty plebeians, hate thine honours, Shall say, against their hearts-We thank the gods, Our Rome hath such a soldier! Yet cam'st thou to a morsel of this feast, L Enter TITUS LARTIUS, with his Power, from the Lart pursuit. O general, Here is the steed, we the caparison:6 Hadst thou beheld You shall not be The grave of your deserving; Rome must know 1 The construction here appears to be, 'Not Afric owns a serpent I more abhor and envy than thy fame. The verb to envy, in ancient language, signified to hate. 2 Thus in Macbeth: 'And damn'd be he that first cries, Hold, enough!" 3 i. e. the whip that your bragg'd progenitors were possessed of. Steevens suggests that whip might be used as crack has been since, to denote any thing peculiarly boasted of; as the crack house in the country, the crack boy of the school, &c. 4 You have to my shame sent me help, which I must condemn as intrusive, instead of applauding it as necessary.' 5 i. e. thrown into grateful trepidation. To quake is used as a verb active by T. Heywood in his Silver Age, 1613: We'll quake them at the bar, 6 This is an odd encomium. The meaning is, This man performed the action, and we only filled up the show." 7 Country is used here and in other place as a trisyllable. Well might they fester 'gainst ingratitude, Your only choice. Mar. I thank you, general; But cannot make my heart consent to take A bribe to pay my sword: I do refuse it; And stand upon my common part with those That have beheld the doing. [A long Flourish. They all cry, Marcius! May these same instruments, which you profane, note, Here's many else have done, you shout me forth Com. More cruel to your good report, than grateful known, As to us, to all the world, that Caius Marcius [Flourish. Trumpets sound, and Drums. All. Caius Marcius Coriolanus 1 And when my face is fair, you shall perceive S That is, 'has done as much as I have done, inasmuch as my ardour to serve the state is such that I have never been able to effect all that I wished. So in Macbeth : The flighty purpose never is o'crtook, Unless the deed goes with it." 9 That is, not be remember'd. 10 The old copy reads : -When steel grows Soft as silk, let him be made Auf. The town is ta'en! 1 Sol. 'Twill be deliver'd back on good condition. Auf. Condition? I would, I were a Roman; for I cannot, Being a Volce, be that I am.-Condition!- I' the part that is at mercy? Five times, Marcius, 1 Sol. 6 He's the devil. Auf. Bolder, though not so subtle: My valour's 1 To undercrest your good addition, To the fairness of my power'appears to, mean, he will endeavour to support the honourable distinction conferred upon him to the fair extent of his power." 2 i, e. the chief men of Corioli, with whom we may enter into articles. Bullokar has the word 'articulate, to set down articles, or conditions of agreement. We still retain the word capitulate, which anciently had nearly the same meaning, viz. To article or agree upon articles." 3 The Volsci are called Volsces throughout the old translation of Plutarch, which Shakspeare followed. 4 Where for whereas, as in other places before noticed. Men. Not according to the prayer of the people, for they love not Marcius. Sic. Nature teaches beasts to know their friends. Men, Ay, to devour him; as the hungry plebeians would the noble Marcius. Bru. He's a lamb indeed, that baes like a bear. Men. He's a bear indeed, that lives like a lamb. You two are old men; tell me one thing that I shall ask you. Both Trib. Well, sir. Men. In what enormity is Marcius poor in, 12 that you two have not in abundance? Bru. He's poor in no one fault but stored with all. Bru. And topping all others in boasting. Men. This is strange, now: Do you two know how you are censured here in the city, I mean of us o' the right hand file? Do you? Both Trib. Why, how are we censured? Men. Because you talk of pride now,-Will you not be angry? Both Trib. Well, well, sir, well. Men. Why, 'tis no great matter; for a very little thief of occasion will rob you of a great deal of patience: give your disposition the reins, and be angry at your pleasures; at the least, if you take it as a pleasure to you, in being so. You blame Marcius for being proud! Bru. We do it not alone, sir. Men. I know you can do very little alone: or your helps are many; or else your actions would grow wondrous single: your abilities are too infant-like, for doing much alone. You talk of pride. O, that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks, 13 and make but an interior survey of your good selves! O, that you could! Bru. What then, sir? 5 To potch is to thrust at with a sharp pointed instru-whom does the wolf love? implying that there are ment. Thus in Carew's Survey of Cornewall, p. 31:-They use to potche them [i. e. fish] with an instrument somewhat like a salmon speare. It is from the Fr. pocher. 6 Mr. Tyrwhitt proposed to read :My valour poison'd, &c. And the context seems to require this emendation. To mischief him my valour should deviate from its native generosity." 11 When the tribune, in reply to Menenius's remark on the people's hate to Coriolanus, had observed that even beasts know their friends, Menenius asks, beasts which love nobody, and that among those beasts are the people. 12 It has been already observed that pleonasms of this kind were by no means unfrequent in Shakspeare's age. 13 With allusion to the fable, which says, that every man has a bag hanging before him, in which he puts his neighbour's faults; and another behind him, in which he stows his own. |