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CORIOLANUS
V/iJfi^^ iff^^ke peart
EDITED BY
R. WHITELAW
LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND ASSISTANT
MASTER IN RUGBY SCHOOL
NEW EDITION
RIVINGTONS
Hontion, D;:fortJ, anti Cambritige
1873
73/
cr
INTRODUCTION
THE argument of the Play is as follows.
There is a famine in Rome ; the poor are starving.
Patrician selfishness — with its justice for the rich, its legis-
lation for the privileged — above all, its cruel " edicts for
usury, to support usurers '' — has done its worst. The men
of the commons, who till now have patiently fought the
battles of the republic, can live no longer on these terms.
They make known their wants in a voice which " gener-
osity^' dares not disobey. They must have bread — the
contents of the well-stocked storehouses of the city must
be distributed, gratis, or at a price which all can pay :
and, for the future, they must have Protectors — five
Tribunes, of their own number and of their own choice.
Both demands are granted : and the storm of indignation,
averted, growls itself away.
But we already foresee that it will return, to pour out
its concentrated violence on the head of one man. One
man, of all the Patricians, dares to " repine " at the dis-
tribution of the corn : " rogues,'^ " curs,'' " hares," " geese,"
and '^ fragments " he calls the angry people to their faces,
and swears that "ere the rabble should have so prevailed"
with him, to grant them Tribunes of their own for their
protection, they " should have first unroofed the city."
For Caius Marcius, proud son of a proud mother, has
an ungovernable tongue, and has been accustomed all his
life to despise Plebeians.
Scarcely, however, are the people satisfied, when to
780
vi INTRODUCTION
Marcius, still in full torrent of abuse, is brought the news
that a Volscian army is in the field, and that he, under
COMINIUS, is to lead the Roman levies. With the Sena-
tors who bring the news come two of the new Tribunes,
Brutus and Sicinius, who have already marked out
Marcius as their enemy, and talk of him (behind his
back) as spitefully as he contemptuously of them.
The Volscian army, commanded by AUFIDIUS, of old
the especial enemy and rival of the Roman Marcius, is
encamped near to Corioli. The Romans advance in two
divisions to meet the army and to assault the town. The
two battles are simultaneous. Corioli is taken ; and the
Roman triumph is due to the prowess of Marcius, who
sustains the battle at the critical minute, within the gates
of the town, single-handed against a multitude. Thence,
" masked in blood,'' he hastens to the help of COMINIUS.
The Romans have fought " at disadvantage " and retired :
but Marcius leads them to victory. He vanquishes
AUFIDIUS in single combat, and the best of the Volscian
troops give way before him. Returning in triumph to
the camp, he receives, with applause of all the army,
the surname of CORIOLANUS. But AUFIDIUS swears
to be revenged- upon him, by fair means or by foul.
(Act I.)
He comes to Rome : and his pride and scorn of the
commons seems to be forgotten. A thunder of applause
attends his progress through the crowded streets. Only
the Tribunes stand apart, and calculate that this is the
pride after which the fall will come. COMINIUS recounts
his exploits to the assembled Senators. It is proposed to
make him Consul : and the Tribunes are enjoined by a
unanimous vote of the Senate to procure his election by
the people. At first CORIOLANUS declines to submit to
the humihating formalities of candidature — the " custom
of request," to stand in the Forum dressed in the " gown
of humility," asking for ** voices " for his wounds' sake.
But he goes : and, having with humorous audacity at once
INTRODUCTION vii
insulted the voters and secured the votes, is " admitted "
to be Consul. The votes, however, are no sooner given
than the voters, prompted by their Tribunes, reflect that
they have been " mocked " and ^' flouted." An inarticu-
late puzzled murmur of discontent begins and spreads.
The Tribunes give it voice. It is not yet too late : let
them repair to the Capitol, and there "revoke their sudden
approbation.'' (Act II.)
Presently CORIOLANUS, going to be installed as Consul
in the Forum, is met by the Tribunes, and warned that
the people are incensed. He angrily justifies himself: and
then with weighty arguments, enforced by rhetoric as
vehement as it is ill-timed, assails the institution of the
Tribunate, and calls upon the Senators to abolish it.
This is all that the Tribunes could desire : " he has spoken
like a traitor," they exclaim, " and shall answer as traitors
do." An attempt is made to arrest him : but, in the
general uproar which follows, the Tribunes and their sup-
porters are discomfited, and Coriolanus withdraws.
" To the Tarpeian rock with him " is now the cry : but
here Menenius, pleasantest of Senators, and staunchest
friend of Coriolanus, interposes with the shrewd good
sense that never fails, and persuades the angry Tribunes
to be satisfied with his promise, that he will bring Corio-
lanus to stand his trial before the people. To persuade
Coriolanus is a harder task. Nor is it indeed Menen-
ius, but the proud mother, VOLUMNIA herself, who, dis-
owning her son's pride whilst she applauds his valour, at
last prevails on him to go. " Mildly : the word is mildly"
— so schooling himself, he goes. Arrived in the Forum,
where the people are assembled according to their tribes
to try him, one of the Tribunes charges him with treason.
At once he forgets his prudence and his promise, and in
a furious outbreak of passion consigns his enemies to the
nethermost hellfires. He is banished. " Curs," as he
turns to go, he thunders out, " /banish j^^^." (Act III.)
He says not a word of revenge. To his wife and mother
viii INTRODUCTION
and friends, at parting, he gives no hint of such a purpose,
or of any purpose. Only he promises them that they
shall hear from him, and hear of him nothing that is un-
like him. But whilst his mother at Rome is cursing the
Tribunes to their faces, and whilst at Antium the Volscian
army lies in readiness, waiting only the signal to be on
foot for Rome, Coriolanus is making his way in silence
from Rome to Antium. Arrived, he goes straight to the
house of AUFiDius, and offers himself and his revenge to
the Volscian service, to fight against his countrymen with
" the spleen of all the under-fiends.'' Aufidius welcomes
him with enthusiasm : and at once entrusts him with the
command of half the Volscian army. The Volscian army
enters the Roman territory, destroying as it goes. All at
Rome is consternation : the Tribunes are uneasy : and
the " clusters '' recollect that, ^^ when they said Banish
him, they said ^Twas pity." The Volscians meanwhile
begin to resent the arrogance of their new general. AUFI-
DIUS already is sorry for his rash fit of generosity, and
consoles himself with calculating that, as before at Rome
so now again at Antium, the triumph of CoRlOLANUS will
be the opportunity of his enemies. (Act IV.) The Vol-
scian army sits down before the gates of Rome. In all
the panic-stricken city no man speaks of resistance : that
the prayers of his friends may move CORIOLANUS to have
mercy is the one hope*that remains. But his friends, first
COMINIUS, then Menenius, intercede in vain. Then his
mother and his wife, and Valeria the noble sister of
PUBLICOLA, take with them his child and go to him.
Here, and here only, through his love for child and wife
and mother, the compassion of Coriolanus can be reach-
ed. The eloquence of Volumnia prevails. He consents
to make peace : forewarning his mother that, though
happily for Rome, most dangerously, perhaps fatally, for
him, she has prevailed with him in this. So he returns to
Antium. There, in a public place, in presence of the
lords of the city, Aufidius charges him with treason.
INTRODUCTION ix
He answers fiercely, and in the confusion that ensues is
murdered, according to a preconcerted plan, by AUFIDIUS
and a party of his friends. (Act V.)
Shakspere's authority for this, as well as for the other
Roman Flays, Julius Ccesar and Ajttony and Cleopatra^
was Sir Thomas North's translation (pub. 1579) of the
French translation of Plutarch by Amyot (pub. 1559).
This was probably the latest of the three. Its date is not
known ; but the conjectural date (1610) assigned to it by
M alone has been generally accepted as a near approxima-
tion to the truth. In style and versification Antoiiy and
Cleopatra • and Troilus and Cressida (the former entered
in the books of thfi Stationers' Company in 1608, the latter
printed in 1609) are the Plays which most nearly resemble
Coriolanus, Tiinon of Athens seems to have been
written also in 1610 ; and The Tempest and The
Winter* s Tale in 161 1. Julius Coesar is referred by
Professor Gervinus to the same period with Othello and
Hamlet, 1600-2.
Shakspere follows his original for the most part closely :
the speeches, for example, of Coriolanus (Act IV. Sc.
5), and of VOLUMNIA (Act V. Sc. 3), are taken almost
verbatim from North. But, for the sake of dramatic
effect and unity, he has somewhat condensed the story.
The passage of events from the institution of Tribunes to
the death of CORIOLANUS, occupies in the legend six
years. In the Play it is continuous, with no longer inter-
val than is required for the march from Rome to Antium,
or from Antium to Rome. In the mutiny with which the
Play begins, the Plebeians urge two demands, for Tribunes
and for corn. In other words, the secession to the Sacred
Mount provoked by the cruel law of debt is combined
with the later outbreak, when Coriolanus would have
dissuaded the Senate from distributing the contents of
the Sicilian corn-ships. The antagonism between the
Tribunes and Coriolanus is by this means set before us
X INTRODUCTION
all the more pointedly in the opening scene. In Plutarch,
again, it is for his speech about the corn that CORIOLANUS
is impeached, and the impeachment follows close upon
the speech ; but in Shakspere, though this is mainly the
cause of his rejection for the Consulship, he is afterwards
accused before the people of later offences, of having
spoken against the Tribunate, and of resisting the
Tribunes' officers, the -^diles.
The Play contains some of Shakspere's most startling
anachronisms of detail, such as the allusions to Cato and to
Galen, to divines and to churchyards. Nor must it be sup-
posed that even in its general outline we have an altogether
correct picture of place and time. These Romans who run
away in battle are not the sturdy Roman yeomen of the
early republic. They are too like the city rabble of a later
time. Correspondingly the Tribunes show too nmch of
the demagogue, their later rdle^ too little of their original
character, Protectors of the Poor. But, whatever the
accuracy of the historical form, it is certain that Shak-
spere, by the reality and life with which he has reanimated
this story of the beginning of the conflicts between the
orders, has given us a glimpse of more than dramatic
value, perhaps the most vivid glimpse we get, of their
depth of " moral and political disgrace." We must not
fall into the mistake, against which Professor Gervinus
warns us, of supposing that the political substratum is
the subject of the Play. But the character of CORIOLANUS
and the character of the times explain each other : and
the drama which illustrates one by the other makes both
intelligible.
" It is a powerful rather than a pleasant impression,^' as
Gervinus says, " which we carry away from the considera-
tion of this play, and of the character which fills it."
There is little or no beauty to attract us in the subject or
the style. In the comic passages we are thoroughly at
home from the first. Good-natured Menenius making
his fun of the " mutinous Citizens, with staves, clubs, and
INTRODUCTION xi
other weapons" — Coriolanus in the " gown of humiUty,"
choking between mirth and spleen, whilst honest voters
by twos and threes sniff round him and promise him their
votes — the belated but discriminative sagacity evinced by
the conversation of the Volscian serving-men — all these
produce their effect at once. But the style of the tragic
scenes is always severe ; singularly, for Shakspere, terse
and unadorned; with very occasional pathos, and, by com-
parison, very few felicities. It is also often very difficult
to understand, provocative of commentators, and hardly to
be disentangled from their serviceable meshes. More-
over, the character of CORIOLANUS is not easily mastered,
and seems at first harsh and repellent. His violent out-
breaks of passion and intemperate speech are undignified
and unlovely. His incapacity of sympathy with any but
his peers is as a curse of sterility upon his nature. And
what can be said of his pride and his ambition but that
they are intolerable ?
But let us remember that on his worst side he represents
to us the realized Patrician ideal, the ideal of his peers.
He is the perfection of the Roman virtus of that un-
civilized time : exaggerated, only because the ideal is so
narrow and the nature of the man so intense. The ideal
demands indeed a noble integrity of soul : it demands
also that, for the sake of his class, a man shall make it
his one aim to do bravely, raising himself thereby and his
class with him to an eminence of glory where he and they
may be at least unassailable by, if possible unaware of,
the accursed ones outside the pale. And if (surprising
possibility) hunger and misery arm themselves to
assail, and indeed assail, the sacred height — nay, are
found in act of scrambling upon the Capitoline plat-
form itself— what then '^. There are no precedents.
Yes there is one. Eagerly it is tried, but without avail.
Sonorous hissing henceforth wakes Manlius in vain.
The ideal is helpless. Manlius is hurled down his own
Tarpeian.
xii INTRODUCTION
This is the tragedy. Coriolanus is first starved and
impoverished by an ideal from which he has no escape,
an ideal which as in duty bound he satisfies, and more
than satisfies: and then he is annihilated by it. And the
cruellest of the tragedy is this, that he possesses in him-
self in high perfection that very capacity — namely, of
sympathy — which the ideal proscribes, the obedient
renunciation of which is his ruin. Consider his beautiful
love and reverence for "the most noble mother of the
world " — VOLUMNIA, the splendid Patrician woman with-
out sympathy, who " framed " him. Three times in the
Play she, for a purpose, untightens the strain of his
nature ; and he, for his love for her, submits. Or his
still more beautiful and tender love for his wife ViRGiLlA,
Patrician indeed, but so unlike the .type — " best of his
flesh,'' his "gracious silence," whose kiss is sweeter to
him than revenge. Or, again, his friendship for Menen-
lUS, the old man who worships him, whose heart is cracked
by his enforced unkindness. How alien all this is from
the mere Patrician mould of selfish isolation into which
his nature is, for the rest, compressed. But it may be
urged that, had his nature been truly generous, he would
have practically recoiled from such excesses of insolence
and of revenge — however logically forced upon him by
the triple combination of aggressive Plebeians, narrow
Patrician ideal, and boiling pent-up energy of soul. Can
we not, on the contrary, almost put ourselves at his stand-
point and sympathize with him ? Are not the Tribunes
ignoble, malevolent, treacherous, mean ? And are not the
people cowardly, foolish, fickle, without an ideal, led
through the nose by demagogues ? He seems not to
have believed in the starvation and misery of the commons
when they clamoured for corn : and it is certain that the
idea of patriotism, in the largest sense, was impossible to
him. The Patricians were, to him, his countrymen ; and
the Plebeians, since the institution of the Tribunate, his
countrymen's worst enemies. This misconception was at
INTRODUCTION xiii
the root of the mischief : but his sifi^ his treason, was
not that he was ready to fight against his country, but
that he was ready to involve his friends in one common
destruction with his foes-/^^
Compare Coriolani^ lastly, with Aufidius. The
hearts of both men are ae't upon glory. Both men are
cruelly revengeful. AgFiDius too is noble sometimes,
but only sometimes. [ H^ can be enviou.^ j^and this, (in
spite of his accusation of himself, " I sin in envying his
nobility," and the slander of the Tribunes, that he sub-
mits to be commanded by COMINIUS only that he may
have the honours for himself and let the faults be charged
to his superior), CORIOLANUS cannot be. And, what is
most unlike the true Coriolanus, the Volscian can con-
ceal a purpose, calculate an opportunity, spring treacher-
ously upon an unsuspecting foe. He has, nevertheless,
bursts of nobleness. His welcome of Coriolanus (the
most eloquent passage in the Play) is the expression of a
real, though transient, enthusiasm.
What is the dramatic fitness, dramatic teaching, of the
death of Coriolanus by the hand of Aufidius? Is it
not that Coriolanus is in this most false to himself—
that, to effect his revenge, he allies himself with, so de-
bases himself to the level of, a meaner nature ? How un-
like him, how like AUFIDIUS, the silence as to his purpose
of revenge in which he parts from his friends when he
leaves Rome ; the silence of his journey to Antium ; and,
most of all, the cynical cold speech which breaks the sil-
ence as he passes through the streets of Antium to the
house of Aufidius. In all this he is dishonest, unnatural ;
revenge has warped the straightness of his soul. Had he
been true to his nature, he would have been still the foe
of Aufidius, and, as a foe, he leads a life charmed against
all possible assaults. It is as if his magnificent honesty
had been the panoply of the man, and that here he dis-
covers for the first time a vulnerable point. It seems that
his nobleness, exaggerated by all the circumstances of his
xiv INTRODUCTION
life — the milk he has sucked, the very air he has breathed
— gives away at last and cracks under the over-strain of
the conflict with the Tribunes : and though, when the
strain has abated, the man becomes natural again, him-
self again, the fatal crack remains, and admits the knife
of the assassin.
We have seen how stormy excesses of passion, through
the shock and breach of the sacred ties of country and of
blood, avenge themselves — in Coriolanus, as in Lear and
in Macbeth. We do not know what it was that, in this
latest period of his works, so constantly attracted Shak-
spere to the theme of iuipiety^ of unnatural hate and in-
gratitude and treason. Events may to some extent have
shaped his thoughts. It has been suggested that Julius
Ccesar was written not without reference to the rebellion
of the Earl of Essex. And we may suppose that in Coriol-
anus Shakspere intended a twofold warning, to the pride
of James and to the gathering resistance of the Commons.
The first of the Stuart kings had lost no time in propound-
ing his theory of kingship. From the first meeting of his
first parhament to its dissolution in this year 1610, there
were continual bickerings between King and Commons.
" His command upon our allegiance," they said, " is like
the roaring of a lion." The straining of the prerogative
and the doctrine of the duty of passive obedience were
met by statements of grievances, by the assertion of the
privileges of parliament, and in February of this year by a
Remonstrance against illegal impositions.
But the lesson of Coriolanus (standing as it does among
the plays of this period) is less political than moral.
Between the haughtiness of the aristocrat and the clamour
of the demagogue there is little to choose : both are ex-
cess. Man is violent, but the Erinys of violence is sure :
in moderation, not excess, is strength.
We do not find ideals, political or moral, upon the stage
of Shakspere. All that moves there is real. But it is
there as in the life which is there portrayed : those who
INTRODUCTION xv
have eyes to see can discern, through the distempered
atmosphere of the actual, the presence of an all-control-
ling law. Violence may drown the voice of reason and of
conscience ; but reason and conscience assert themselves
at last. Disorder yields to order : and the anarchic im-
pulses of men obey the calm supremacy of right.
For Shakspere, like Sophocles, is a harmonist of dis-
cords : himself harmonious, whole, he sees the whole, and
not the part, and sees that all is good.
Rugby, November 1872.
SiCINIUS Velutus,
Junius Brutus,
DRAMATIS PERSONiE
Caius MARCius,afterwards Caius Marcius Coriolanus.
Titus Lartius, ) . , • . .-r tt i •
f generals against the Volscians.
COMINIUS, )
Menenius Agrippa, friend to Coriolanus.
I tribunes of the people.
Young Marcius, son to Coriolanus.
A Roman Herald.
TuLLUS AuFiDius, general of the Volscians.
Lieutenant to Aufidius.
Conspirators with Aufidius.
A Citizen of Antium.
Two Volscian Guards.
VOLUMNIA, mother to Coriolanus.
Virgilia, wife to Coriolanus.
Valeria, friend, to Virgilia.
Gentlewoman, attending on Virgili^
Roman and Volscian Senators, Patricians, -^diles, Lictors,
Soldiers, Citizens, Messengers, Servants to Aufidius,
and other Attendants.
Scene : Ro77ie and the neighboicrhood j Corioli and the
neighbourhood J Antiuni,
*^* For convenience of reference, the numbering of the lines is
that of the Globe edition. Some additional notes on the words
marked with an asterisk (*) will be found in the Glossary at the
end of the volume.
CORIOLANUS
ACT I.
SCENE I.— Rome. A street.
Enter a company of mutinous Citizens, with staves,
clubs, and other weapons.
First Cit. Before we proceed any further, hear me
speak.
All. Speak, speak.
First Cit. You are all resolved rather to die than to
famish.
All. Resolved, resolved.
First Cit. First, you know Caius Marcius is chief
enemy to the people.
All. We know 't, we know 't.
First Cit. Let us kill him, and we '11 have corn at our
own price. Is't a verdict.^* ii
All. No more talking on't; let it be done: away,
away !
Sec. Cit. One word, good citizens.
First Cit. We are accounted ^|»oor citizens, the patri-
cians good. What authority surfeits on would relieve us ;
Act I.^Scene I. Rome in tumult. The starving commons
clamorous for corn at their own price. Here, the rioters are kept
amused and quiet by Menenius, till Marcius brings the news that
elsewhere their companions are appeased. The patricians have
granted their demands : they are to have tribunes to defend them ;
and (as appears afterwards) corn is to be given them gratis.
Shakspere's rearrangement of his historical materials has been
noticed in the Introduction.
II IsH a verdict ? Are we agreed ?
1 6 Good. In the monied sense — safe, substantial, sound of
credit. So Shylock (Merchant of Venice, i. 3, 15), " My mean-
ing in saying Antonio is a good man is to have you imderstand
that he is sufficient. " Authority. Our rulers.
2 CORIOLANUS [Act I
if they would yield us but the superfluity, while it were
wholesome, we might guess they relieved us humanely ;
but they think we are too dear : the leanness that afflicts
us, the object of our "lisery, j^as^an^nvenj^y to particu-
larize their abundance ; our smftrance^Wagain to them.
Let us revenge this with our pikes, ere we become rakes i
for the gods know I speak this in hunger for bread, not
in thirst for revenge.
Sec. Cit. Would you proceed especially against Caius
Marcius ?
All. Against him first : he 's a very dog to the com-
monalty. 29
Sec. Cit. Consider you what services he has done for
his country ?
First Cit. Very well ; and could be content to give him
good report for 't, but that he pays himself with being proud.
Sec. Cit. Nay, but speak not maliciously.
First Cit. I say unto you, what he hath done famously,
he did it to that end : though soft-conscienced men can
be content to say it was for his country, he did it to please
his mother, and to be partly proud : which he is, even to
the altitude of his virtue. 41
Sec. Cit. What he cannot help in his nature, you
account a vice in him. You must in no way say he is
covetous.
First Cit. If I must not, I need not be barren of
accusations ; he hath faults, with surplus, to tire in repeti-
tion. [Shouts within.'] What shouts are these ? The
other side o' the city is risen : why stay we prating here }
to the Capitol !
All. Come, come. 50
First Cit. Soft ! who comes here ?
17 If they would yield us, ^c. Small proof of humanity, that
the poor man should be allowed to eat of the crumbs which fall
from the rich man's table ; yet at least this might have been sup-
posed humane. But no, this they account too lavish : what
Lazarus has not, be it but a crumb, that Dives has : the *' misery"
of the one is the *' abundance " of the other, the ** sufferance " of
the one the other's ** gain."
24 Erewe becomerakes. Cp. Spenser, Faery Queen, ii. 11, 22 —
*' His body lean and meagre as a rake."
41 To be partly pj'oud. Partly for his mother's sake, partly
the sake of his own pride. See Abbott, Sh. G., 420 ; and cp.
Much Ado, ii. i, 143, "only his gift."
Scene 1] CORIOLANUS 3
Enter Menenius Agrippa.
Sec. Cit. Worthy Menenius Agrippa ; one that hath
always loved the people.
First Cit. He's one honest enough: would all the
rest were so !
Men. What work's, my countrymen, in hand? where
^^^^ go you
With tats"^ and clubs ? The matter? speak, I pray you.
First Cit. Our business is not unknown to the senate ;
they have had inkling this fortnight what we intend to do,
which now we'll show 'em in deeds. They say poor
suitors have strong breaths : they shall know we have
strong arms too. 62
Men. Why, masters, my good friends, mine honest
neighbours,
Will you undo yourselves ?
First Cit. We cannot, sir, we are undone already.
Men. I tell you, friends, most charitable care
Have the patricians of you. For your wants.
Your suffering in this dearth, you may as well
Strike at the heaven with your staves as lift them 70
Against the Roman state, whose course will on
The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curlDS
Of more strong link asunder than can ever
Appear in your impediment. For the dearth.
The gods, not the patricians, make it, and
Your knees to them, not arms, must help. Alack,
You are transported by calamity
Thither where more attends you, and you slander
The helms o' the state, who care for you like fathers,
When you curse them as enemies. 80
First Cit. Care for us ! True, indeed ! They ne'er
cared for us yet : suffer us to famish, and their store-
houses crammed with grain ; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers ; repeal daily any wholesome act estab-
74 ht yotir i7Jtpedinietti. In any hindrance of your making.
76 Your knees to thefn, not arms. Your knees to gods, not
arms against patricians.
78 7 'hither where more attends you. To excesses which fresh
sufferings must expiate.
84 Edicts for the repression of usury, made now and now
unmade, and. always for the protection of the usurers. ** On
the occasion of a late expedition against the Sabines, their
4 CORIOLANUS [Act I
lished against the rich, and provide more piercing statutes
daily, to chain up' and restrain the poor. If the wars eat
us not up,, they will ; and there 's all the love they bear us.
Men. Either you must 90
Confess yourselves wondrous malicious,
Or be accused of folly. I shall tell you
A pretty tale : it may be you have heard it :
But, since it serves my purpose, I will venture
To scale 't* a little more.
First Cit. Well, I '11 hear it, sir : yet you must not
think to fob* off our disgrace with a tale : but, an 't please
you, deliver.
Men. There was a time when all the body's members
Rebeird against the belly, thus accused it : 100
That only like a gulf it did remain
r the midst o' the body, idle and unactive,
Still cupboarding the viand, never bearing
Like labour with the rest, where* the other instruments
Did see and hear, devise, instruct, walk, feel,
And, mutually participate,* did minister
Unto the appetite and affection common
Of the whole body. The belly answer'd —
First Cit. Well, sir, what answer made the belly ? no
Men. Sir, I shall tell you. With a kind of smile,
Which ne'er came from the lungs, but even thus —
For, look you, I may make the belly smile
As well as speak — it tauntingly replied
To the discontented members, the mutinous parts
That envied his* receipt ; even so most fitly,
creditors promised to treat them with more lenity ; and, in pur-
suance of a decree of the senate, M. Valerius, the consul, was
guarantee of that promise. But, when they were returned
victorious, they found that the usurers made them no abatement,
and that the senate pretended to remember nothing of that agree-
ment. " — Plutarch.
95 Scale' t Yi. StaleH Theobald conj., adopted by most
editors. See Glossary.
112 But even thus. * When you have said that, you have
described it.' A smile that had no laughter in it. Cp. As You
Like It, ii. 7, 30, " My lungs began to crow like chanticleer."
116 Envied his receipt. * Grudged that the belly should
receive all good things. '
ib. Most fitly, * A parallel most exact.'
Scene 1] CORIOLANUS S
As you malign our senators for that*
They are not such as you.
First Cit. Your belly's answer — what ?
The kingly-crowned head, the vigilant eye,
The counsellor heart, the arm our soldier, 1 20
Our steed the leg, the tongue our trumpeter,
With other muniments and petty helps
In this our fabric, if that* they —
Men. What then?
'Fore me, this fellow speaks ! What then ? what then ?
First Cit. Should by the cormorant belly be restrained,
Who is the sink o' the body, —
Men. Well, what then ?
First Cit. The former agents, if they did complain.
What could the belly answer ?
Men. I will tell you :
If you'll bestow a small— of what you have little —
Patience awhile, you'll hear the belly's answer. 130
First Cit. Ye 're long about it.
Men. Note me this, good friend ;
Your most grave belly was deliberate.
Not rash like his accusers, and thus answer'd :
* True is it, my incorporate friends,' quoth he,
* That I receive the general food at first,
Which you do live upon ; and fit it is,
Because I am the store-house and the shop
Of the whole body : but, if you do remember,
I send it through the rivers of your blood,
Even to the court, the heart — to the seat o' the brain ; 140
And, through the cranks* and offices* of man,
The strongest nerves and small inferior veins
From me receive that natural competency*
Whereby they live : and though that* all at once.
You, my good friends,' — this says the belly, mark me, —
124 * As I live, the man 's an orator 1 '
132 Vour 77iost grave belly. This use of the pronoun, by
grammarians called * ethical ' (analogous to the mihi of * Quid
mihi Celsus agit?' and the z/^-? of *note me this, good friend')
puts the matter, for liveliness, as personal to the person addressed.
Cp. Mids. N. D. iii. i, 33 ; *' To bring in a lion among ladies
is a most dreadful thing ; for there is not a more fearful wild
fowl thsLiiyour lion living."
140 *To the heart and to the brain.' Heart, brain, and
nerves alike depend upon the belly.
6 CORIOLANUS [Act I
First Cit. Ay, sir ; well, well.
Men. * Though all at once cannot
See what I do deliver out to each,
Yet I can make my audit "^ up, that all
From me do back receive the flour of all,
And leave me but the bran.' What say you to 't .'* 150
First Cit. It was an answer : how apply you this ?
Men. The senators of Rome are this good belly.
And you the mutinous members ; for examine
Their counsels and their cares,, digest things rightly
Touching the weal"^ o' tJjKommon, you shall find
No public benefit which you receive
But it proceeds or comes from them to you
And no way from yourselves. What do you think.
You, the great toe of this assembly 1
First Cit. I the great toe ! why the great toe ? 160
Men. For that, being one o' the lowest, basest, poorest,
Of this most wise rebellion, thou go'st foremost : ^ .
Thou, rascal,* that art worst in blood to run, /luli. djIOT ^
Lead'st first to win some vantage.
But make you ready your stiff bats "^ and clubs :
Rome and her rats are at the point of battle ;
The one side must have bale.*
148 Make my audit up^ that . . : * Prove by the black
and white of my accounts that . . '
155 The weal the commoii ■=■ The common weal, or wealth.
'The common,' used substantively, as (Julius Csesar, ii. i, 12),
* the general ' —
" I know no personal cause to spurn at him,
But for the general. "
159 Assembly. Pronounced as four syllables (as if * as-
semble-y'). Cp. Two Gent. i. 3, 84, "O how this spring of
love resembleth.^^ ib. ii. 4, 210, "And that hath dazzled my
reason's light." As You Like It, ii. 2, 13, "The parts and
graces of the wrestler.""
163 Rascal and in blood are hunting terms. A rascal is a
lean deer, out of condition, ht blood is said of a stag that is in
good condition, *game,' high-spirited. *You, the worst con-
ditioned of the herd, are, for your own advantage, their leader,'
Cp. I Henry VI. iv. 2, 48 —
** If we be English deer, be then in blood :
Not rascal-like, to fall down with a pinch,
But rather, moody-mad and desperate stags,
Turn on the bloody hounds with heads of steel."
And infra, iv. 5, 225.
Scene 1] CORIOLANUS 7
Enter Caius Marcius.
Hail, noble Marcius !
Mar. Thanks. What 's the matter, you dissentious
rogues,
That, rubbing the poor itch of your opinion,
Make yourselves scabs ?
First Cit. We have ever your good word. 170
Mar. He that will give good words to thee will
flatter
Beneath abhorring. What would you have, you curs,
That like not peace nor war ? the one affrights you.
The other makes you proud. He that trusts to you,
Where he should find you lions, finds you hares :
Where foxes, geese : you are no surer, no.
Than is the coal of fire upon the ice,
Or hailstone in the sun. Your virtue is
To make him worthy whose offence subdues him
And curse that justice did it. Who deserves greatness
Deserves your hate ; and your affections are 181
A sick man's appetite, who desires most that
Which would increase his evil. He that depends
Upon your favours swims with fins of lead
And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye ! Trust ye?
With every minute you do change a mind.
And call him noble that was now your hate,
Him vile that was your garland. What's the matter,
That in these several places of the city
You cry against the noble senate, who, 190
Under the gods, keep you in awe, which else
Would feed on one another ? What 's their seeking ?
Men. For corn at their own rates \ whereof, they
say,
The city is well stored.
Mar. Hang 'em ! They say !
169 The poor itch of your opinion. A mange of discontented
fancies — inflamed with scratching.
178 So soon your ardour is cooled, your resolution melted.
1 79 * To extol the worth of the offender who has met with
deserved disgrace, and curse the justice by which he fell ' (* which
did it ').
188 'Of whom you were so proud, you wore him as a gar-
land.*
8 CORIOLANUS [Act I
They '11 sit by the fire, and presume to know
What 's done i' the Capitol ; who 's like to rise,
Who thrives and who declines ; side factions and give out
Conjectural marriages ; making parties strong
And feebling such asfetand not in their liking
Below their cobbled shoes. They say there's grain enough !
Would the nobility lay aside their ruth,* 20l
And let me use my sword, I 'Id make a quarry"^
With thousands of these quartered slaves, as high
As I could pick"^ my lance.
Men. Nay, these are almost thoroughly persuaded ;
For though abundantly they lack discretion, ' . /.^i^/Oc-^
Yet are they passing cowardly. But, I beseech you, A
What says the other troop ?
Mar. They are dissolved : hang 'em !
They said they were an-hungry* ; sigh'd forth proverbs,
That hunger broke stone walls, that dogs must eat, 210
That meat was made for mouths, that the gods sent not
Corn for the rich men only : with these shreds
They vented their complainings ; which being answer'd,
And a petition granted them, a strange one —
To break the heart of generosity,
And make bold power look pale — they threw their caps
As they would hang them on the horns o' the moon,
Shouting their emulation.*
Men. What is granted them.'*
Mar. Five tribunes to defend their vulgar wisdoms,
Of their own choice : one is Junius Brutus, 220
195 *■ Fii'e^ to be pronounced as two syllables: so Julius
Caesar, iii. i, 171 —
" As fire drives out fire, so pity pity."
** Than tzT^d eyelids upon tir'd eyes." — Tennyson, Lotos Eaters,
So below, 1. 4, 2, yours.
197 * Part factions'; * range well-known names on this side
and on that, conjecture marriages also that shall strengthen these
and weaken those ; till, in their talk, friends win the day, and
foes are trampled under foot. '
212 * These scraps and shreds of speech.*
215 * Which they suppose will sap the strength of the patri-
cian spirit' Generosity, the sentiment (class feeling) of the
generous, i.e. the noble, (So Meas. for Meas. iv. 6, 13 : *' The
generous and gravest citizens. ")
220 Choice has the time of two syllables, the voice resting on
the diphthong. See Abbott, Sh. G., 484.
Scene 1] CORIOLANUS 9
Sicinius Velutus, and I know not — 'Sdeath !
The rabble should have first unroof d the city
Ere so prevaiFd with me : it will in time
Win upon power and throw forth greater themes
For insurrection's arguing.
Men. This is strange.
Mar. Go, get you home, you fragments !
Enter a Messenger, hastily.
Mess. Where's Caius Marcius t
Mar. Here : what*s the matter 1
Mess. The news is, sir, the Volsces are in arms.
Mar. I am glad on't : then we shall ha' means to vent
Our musty superfluity. See, our best elders. 230
Enter Cominius, Titus Lartius, and other Senators ;
Junius Brutus and Sicinius Velutus.
First Sen. Marcius, 'tis true that you have lately told
us ;
The Volsces are in arms.
Mar. They have a leader,
Tullus Aufidius, that will put you to 't.
I sin in envying his nobility,
And were I anything but what I am,
I would wish me only he.
Com. You have fought together.
Mar. Were half to half the world by the ears, and he
Upon my party, I 'Id revolt, to make
Only my wars with him : he is a lion
That I am proud to hunt.
First Sen. Then, worthy Marcius, 240
Attend upon Cominius to these wars.
Com. It is your former promise.
224 Win upon power, * Gain upon, gain ground against,
authority.*
225 Eor insurrections arguing. * For insurrection to go to
work upon.' Cp. Henry V. iii. I, 21, *' And sheathed their
swords for lack oi argument'' (i.e. of more Frenchmen to kill).
226 Youfragi7ients, You * tag and rag,' you odds and ends of
Rome. So Achilles calls Thersites * fragment,' Tro. and Cress.
V. I, 9.
233 Will put you to 'if. Will press you hard, give you enough
to do.
236 Wish me only he. Wish only that I were he.
10 CORIOLANUS [Act I
Mar. Sir, it is ;
And I am constant. Titus Lartius, thou
Shalt see me once more strike at Tullus' face.
What, art thou stiff? stand'st out ?
Tit. No, Caius Marcius ;
V\\ lean upon one crutch and fight with V other,
Ere stay behind this business.
Men. O, true-bred !
First Sen. Your company to the Capitol; where, I
know,
Our greatest friends attend us.
Tit. [To Com.] Lead you on.
[To Mar.] Follow Cominius ; we must follow you ; 250
Right worthy you priority.
Com. Noble Marcius !
First Sen. [To the Citizens.] Hence to your homes ;
be gone !
Mar. Nay, let them follow :
The Volsces have much corn ; take these rats thither
To gnaw their garners. Worshipful mutiners,"'^
Your valour puts well forth : pray, follow.
[QXtYL^n^stealaway, Exeimf alll^ut SICINIVS and Brvtus,
Sic. Was ever man so proud as is this Marcius ?
Bru. He has no equal.
Sic. When we were chosen tribunes for the people, —
Bru. Mark'd you his lip and eyes ?
Sic. Nay, but his taunts.
Bru. Being moved, he will not spare to gird* the
gods. 260
Sic. Be-mock the modest moon.
Bru. The present wars devour him : he is grown
Too proud to be so valiant.
Sic. Such a nature.
Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow
25 1 * Right worthy as you are of such precedence. *
255 Tuts well forth. * Shows well,' * makes a pretty exhibi-
tion of itself. '
262 The present wars devour him : i. e. he is eaten up with
pride, which they engender. Some edd. make the words an
imprecation : " The present wars devour him ! "
263 Too ■proud to be, i.e. of being, so valiant.
264 * Is impatient of the company even of his noonday
shadow.'
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS ii
Which he treads on at noon : but I do wonder
His insolence can brook to be commanded
Under Cominius.
Bru. Fame, at the which he aims,
In whom already he's well graced, can not
Better be held nor more attain'd than by
A place below the first : for what miscarries 270
Shall be the general's fault, though he perform
To the utmost of a man, and giddy censure*
Will then cry out of Marcius * O, if he
Had borne the business I'
Sic. Besides, if things go well,
Opinion"'^ that so sticks on Marcius shall
Of his demerits* rob Cominius.
Bru. Come :
Half all Cominius' honours are to Marcius,
Though Marcius earn'd them not, and all his faults
To Marcius shall be honours, though indeed
In aught he merit not.
Sic. Let's hence, and hear 280
How the dispatch is made, and in what fashion,
More than his singularity,* he goes
Upon this present action.
Bru. Let's along. [Exeunt.
S CE N E 1 1. — Coriolu The Senate-house.
E7tter TULLUS Aufidius and certain Senators.
First Sen. So, your opinion is, Aufidius,
That they of Rome are enter'd in our counsels
And know how we proceed.
AUF. Is it not yours ?
What ever hath been thought on in this state.
That could be brought to bodily act ere Rome
268 In whom. We should have expected either by whom or
m which.
272 To the utmost of a man. * Pro virili parte.'
274 Had borne the business. * Rem gessisset.' Cp. i. 6, 82.
282 His singularity. Ironical, * This paragon of generals,
how he is accompanied,' 'with what force — over and above his
own great self—hQ takes the field.'
2 Are entered in our counsels. Have crept into our secret.
12 CORIOLANUS [Act I
Had circumvention ? 'Tis not four days gone
Since I heard thence : these are the words : I think
I have the letter here ; yes, here it is.
[Reads] ' They have pressed* a power, but it is not known
Whether for east or west : the dearth is great ; lo
The people mutinous ; and it is rumoured,
Cominius, Marcius your old enemy,
Who is of Rome worse hated than of you,
And Titus Lartius, a most valiant Roman,
These three lead on this preparation
Whither 't is bent* : most likely 'tis for you :
Consider of it.'
First Sen. Our army's in the field :
We never yet made doubt but Rome was ready
To answer us.
AUF. Nor did you think it folly
To keep your great pretences* veil'd till when 20
They needs must show themselves ; which in the hatching,
It seem'd, appear'd to Rome. By the discovery
We shall be shorten'd in our aim, which was
To take in many towns ere almost Rome
Should know we were afoot.
Sec. Sen. Noble Aufidius,
Take your commission : hie you to your bands :
Let us alone to guard Corioli :
If they set down before 's, for the remove
Bring up your army ; but, I think, you'll find
They've not prepared for us.
AuF. O, doubt not that ; 30
I speak from certainties. Nay, more,
Some parcels of their power are forth already,
And only hitherward. I leave your honours.
If we and Caius Marcius chance to meet,
6 Had circumvention, A mixture of 'circumvented it'
and * had intelligence of it. '
19 * True, and yet you did not think it folly.*
22 It seem'd, appear d — * were wont to appear. ' But perhaps
we should read it see??is.
24 Take in — take. So Ant. and Cle. iii. 7, 24, **Take in
Toryne."
28 For the remove — * removal ' of the besiegers : for the
relief of the town. Dr. Johnson proposed to read * for their
Scenes] CORIOLANUS 13
'Tis sworn between us we shall ever strike
Till one can do no more.
All. The gods assist you f
AUF. And keep your honours safe !
First Sen. Farewell.
Sec. Sen. Farewell.
All. Farewell. [Exemit,
SCENE lll.—Ro7ne. A room in Marcius' house.
Enter Volumnia and Virgilia : they set them down
on two low stools J and sew.
Vol. I pray you, daughter, sing ; or express yourself
in a more comfortable* sort : if my son were my husband,
I should freelier rejoice in that absence wherein he won
honour than in those embracements wherein he would
show most love. When yet he was but tender-bodied
and the only son of my womb, when youth with come-
liness plucked all gaze his way, when for a day of kings'
entreaties a 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 man. 19
ViR. But had he died in the business, madam ; how
then?
Vol. Then his good report should have been my son ;
I therein would have found issue. Hear me profess
sincerely : had I a dozen sons, each in my love alike and
9 Should not sell him : (future in past time) * was not going
to sell him.' So Spenser, F. Q. i. i, 26 —
" His foes have slain themselves, with whom he should contend,"
i.e. was to contend. (Germ. * Ich sollte es thun.')
10 * Considering that to be so comely and yet unstirred by
honour was to be no better than a picture. ' // (if we should not
rather read him) is his * person,' 'his comeliness.'
16 Jlis brows bound with oak. The oaken garland {corona
civicd) presented to a soldier who had saved the life of a Roman
citizen in battle ; inscribed with the words *' ob civem servatum."
14 CORIOLANUS [Act I
none less dear than thine and my good Marcius, I had
rather had eleven die nobly for their country than one
voluptuously surfeit out of action.
Enter a Gentlewoman.
Gent. Madam, the Lady Valeria is come to visit you.
ViR. Beseech you, give me leave to retire"^ myself. 30
Vol. Indeed, you shall not.
Methinks I hear hither your husband's drum,
See him pluck Aufidius down by the hair,
As children from a bear, the Volsces shunning him :
Methinks I see him stamp thus, and call thus :
' Come on, you cowards ! you were got in fear.
Though you were born in Rome :' his bloody brow
With his mail'd hand then wiping, forth he goes,
Like to a harvest-man that 's task'd to mow
Or all or lose his hire. 40
ViR. His bloody brow ! O Jupiter, no blood !
Vol. Away, you fool ! it more becomes a man
Than gilt"^ his trophy : the breasts of Hecuba,
When she did suckle Hector, look'd not lovelier
Than Hector's forehead when it spit forth blood
At Grecian sword, contemning. Tell Valeria,
We are fit to bid her welcome. {Exit Gent.
ViR. Heavens bless* my lord from fell Aufidius !
Vol. He'll beat Aufidius' head below his knee
And tread upon his neck. 50
Enter Valeria, with an Usher and Gentlewoman.
Val. My ladies both, good day to you.
Vol. Sweet madam.
ViR. I am glad to see your ladyship.
Val. How do you both .? you are manifest house-
keepers. What are you sewing here ? A fine spot, in
good faith. How does your httle son .''
ViR. I thank your ladyship ; well, good madam.
Vol. He had rather see the swords, and hear a drum,
than look upon his schoolmaster. 61
32 Hear hither. * Hear it approaching. '
34 * Flying from him, as children from a bear. *
40 * Either to mow all, or lose his hire. '
54 Manifest. Caught in the act.
56 A fine spot— of embroidery.
Scenes] CORIOLANUS 15
Val. O^ my word, the father's son : 111 swear, 't is a
very pretty boy. O' my troth, I looked upon him o'
Wednesday half an hour together : 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 whether his fall enraged him, or
how 't was, he did so set his teeth and tear it ; 0,1
warrant, how he mammocked* it ! 71
Vol. One on 's father's moods.
Val. Indeed, la,'t is a noble child.
ViR. A crack,* madam.
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. •
Val. Not out of doors !
Vol, She shall, she shall. 80
ViR. Indeed, no, by your patience; I'll not over the
threshold till my lord return from the wars.
Val. Fie, 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. 91
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 ex-
cellent news of your husband. loi
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 ?
Val. In earnest, it 's true ; I heard a senator speak it.
Thus it is : the Volsces have an army forth ; against
whom Cominius the general is gone,, with one part of our
69 * Either that, perhaps, his fall enraged him, or however
it was.'
I6 CORIOLANUS [Act I
Roman power : your lord and Titus Lartius are set down
before their city Corioli ; they nothing doubt prevaihng
and to make it brief wars. This is true, on mine honour ;
and so, I pray, go with us. 113
ViR. Give me excuse, good madam ; I will obey you
in everything 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. Prithee, Virgilia, turn thy
solemnness out o' door, and go along with us. 12!
ViR. No, at a word, madam ; indeed, I must not. I
wish you much mirth.
Val. Well, then, farewell. [^Exeunt.
SCENE IN,— Before Corioli,
Enter ^ with drum and colours, Marcius, Titus Lartius,
Captains and Soldiers. To them a Messenger.
Mar. Yonder comes news. A wager they have met.
Lart. My horse to yours, no.
Mar. 'T is done.
Lart. Agreed.
Mar. Say, has our general met the enemy 1
Mess. They he in view ; but have not spoke as yet.
Lart. So, the good horse is mine.
Mar. I '11 buy him of you.
Lart. No, I '11 nor sell nor give him : lend you him I will
For half a hundred years. Summon the town.
Mar. How far off lie these armies .f*
Mess. Within this mile and half.
Mar. Then shall we hear their 'larum,"^ and they ours.
Now, Mars, I prithee, make us quick in work, 10
That we with smoking swords may march from hence.
To help our fielded friends ! Come, blow thy blast.
112 * They are confident of victory and of making short work
of it. '
123 Virgilia answers the familiar thou oi Valeria, more dis-
tantly, vi\\h.you. See Abbott, Sh. G., 231.
I News from Cominius.
4 * In sight of each other : but they have not yet given signal
of battle.'
ir Smoking swords. So Rich. III. i. 2, 94 —
* Thy murderous falchion smoking in his blood.*
Scene 4] CORIOLANUS 17
They sound a parley. Enter two Senators with others
on the walls.
Tullus Aufidius, is he within your walls ?
First Sen. No, nor a man that fears you less than he,
That's lesser than a little. {Drums afar off.'l Hark ! our
drums
Are bringing forth our youth. We '11 break our walls,
Rather than they shall pound"^ us up : our gates,
Which yet seem shut, we have but pinn'd with rushes ;
They '11 open of themselves. [Alarum afar off.'] Hark
you, far off ! IJ^ <^-" ^ - • ^a n
There is Aufidius ; list, what work he makes " 20
Amongst your cloven army.
Mar. O, they are at it !
Lart. Their noise be our instruction. Ladders, ho !
Enter the army of the Volsces.
Mar. They fear us not, but issue forth their city.
Now put your shields before your hearts, and fight
With hearts moreproof 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, Til take him for a Volsce,
And he shall feel mine edge.
Alarum. The Romans are beat back to their trenches.
Re-enter Marcius, cursing.
Mar. All the contagion of the south light on you, 30
You shames of Rome ! you herd of — Boils and plagues
Plaster you o'er, that you may be abhorred
Further than seen and one infect another
Against the wind a mile ! You souls of geese,
That bear the shapes of men, how have you run
From slaves that apes would beat ! Pluto and hell !
All hurt behind ; backs red, and faces pale
With flight and agued fear! Mend and charge home,
14 * He is not within our walls, and of all men living he fears
you least.* Dr. Johnson altered less to 7nore: meaning, He is
not here ; and we who are here fear you as little as he does. ' This
is better sense ; and perhaps less is due to a confusion, not unlike
that in Lear, ii. 4, 142 (where see note), and W. T. iii. 2, 35.
25 Hearts more proof than shields, dvfio^s eTrra^oelovs. So
* Arms of proof arms proved and approved. (Cp. Spens. F. Q.
ii. 7, I. "The masters of his long experiment.")
i8 CORIOLANUS [Act I
Or, by the fires of heaven, 1 11 leave the foe
And make my wars on you : look to 't : come on ; 40
If you 11 stand fast, we '11 beat them to their wives,
As they us to our trenches followed.
A7toiher alarum. The Volsces ^, and yiAKCivs 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.
\_E Titers the gates.
First Sol. Fool-hardiness ; not I.
Sec. Sol. Nor I. [Marcius is shut in.
First Sol. See, they have shut him in.
All. To the pot, I warrant him.
{Alarum continues.
Re-enter Titus Lartius.
Lart. What is become of Marcius.?
All. Slain, sir, doubtless.
First Sol. Following the fliers at the very heels.
With them he enters ; who, upon the sudden, 50
Clapp'd to their gates : he is himself alone.
To answer all the city. ..
Lart. O noble fellow !
Who sensibly* outdares his senseless sword,
And, when it bows, stands up. Thou art left, Marcius :
A carbuncle entire, as big as thou art.
Were not so rich a jewel. Thou wast a soldier
■ Even to .Cato's wi sh, not fierce and terrible OL-i<~cttK\cicai/iAi,
47. To the pot ( = pit) of destruction. (* *T\vas a whirlin'/<?/
of Clyde's water she got sweet Willie in.' — Ballad.)
52 To answer all the city. So Sc. 2. 18, * Rome was ready to
answer us. *
53 The endurance of the man is more wonderful than that of
the sword, because he can feel and the sword cannot, and yet he
endures the longer. Steevens quotes from the Arcadia: " Their
very armour by piecemeal fell away from them : and yet their
flesh abode the wounds constantly, as though it were less sensible
of smart than the senseless armour. "
57 Even to Catd's wish : the words are Plutarch's, but to
Shakspere belongs the responsibility of putting them in Lartius'
mouth. "For he was even such another" (Plutarch says), *'as
Cato would have a soldier and a captain to be : not only terrible
and fierce to lay about him, but to make the enemy afeard with
the sound of his voice and grimness of his countenance."
Scene 5] CORIOLANUS 19
Only in strokes ; but, with thy grim looks and
The thunder-like percussion of thy sounds,
Thou madest thine enemies shake, as if the world 60
Were feverous and did tremble.
Re-e7iter Marcius, bleedings assaulted by the enemy.
First Sol. Look, sir,
Lart. O, 'tis Marcius !
Let's fetch him off, or make remain* alike.
{They fight., and all enter the city,
SCENE ^,—€0^011, A street.
Enter certain Romans, with spoils.
First Rom. This will I carry to Rome.
Sec. Rom. And I this.
Third Rom. A murrain on 't ! I took this for silver.
\Ala7 um continues still afar off.
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, i)Atfi/c*!u=K.
Irons of a doit,* doublets that hangmen would gLol t /?' r
Bury with those that wore them, these base slaves,
Ere yet the fight be done, pack up : down with them!
And hark, what noise the general makes ! To him ! 10
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.
60 Cp. Macb. ii. 3. 65, '' Some say, the earth was feverous
and did shake."
Scene 5 — "Martius was marvellous angry with them, and
cried out on them thac it was no time now to look after spoil, and
to run straggling here and there to enrich themselves, whilst the
other consul and their fellow-citizens peradventure were fighting
with their enemies." — Plutarch.
5 These movers : these clamourers for their rights, these dis-
turbers of the State. (Sc. 6. 43: 'A plague! tribunes for
t/iem / ') — jPrize their hours at a cracked drachm : * waste precious
minutes for the sake of trumpery — worth no more than a cracked
drachm.'
7 Irons of a doit: iron vessels worth a doit.
20 CORIOLANUS [Act I
Lart. Worthy sir, thou bleed'st ;
Thy exercise hath been too violent for
A second course of fight.
Mar. Sir, praise me not;
My work hath yet not warnVd me: fare you well:
The blood I drop is rather physical"^
Than dangerous to me : to Aufidius thus 20
I will appear, and fight.
Lart. Now the fair goddess. Fortune,
FaU deep in love with thee ; and her great charms
Misguide thy opposers* swords ! Bold gentleman.
Prosperity be thy page !
Mar. Thy friend no less
Than those she placeth highest ! So, farewell.
Lart. Thou worthiest Marcius ! [Exit Marcius.
Go, sound thy trumpet in the market-place ;
Call thither all the officers o' the town.
Where they shall know our mind : away ! [Exeunt,
SCENE VL — Near the camp ^Cominius.
Enter Cominius, as it were in retire, with Soldiers.
Com. Breathe you, my friends : well fought ; we are
come off
Like Romans, neither foolish in our stands,
Nor cowardly in retire: beheve me, sirs,
We shall be charged again. Whiles we have struck,
By interims and conveying gusts we have heard
The charges of our friends. Ye Roman gods !
Lead their successes as we wish our own.
That both our powers, with smiling fronts encountering,
May give you thankful sacrifice.
Enter a Messenger.
Thy news ?
Mess. The citizens of Corioli have issued, lo
And given to Lartius and to Marcius battle :
I saw our party to their trenches driven.
And then I came away.
24 * Thy friend no less than friend of those. *
5 * Ever and anon, when the wind has carried the sound this
way. '
Scene 6] CORIOLANUS 2i
Com. Though thou speak'st truth,
Methinks thou speak'st not well. How long is 't since ?
Mess. Above an hour, my lord.
Com. 'Tis not a mile ; briefly we heard their drums :
How couldst thou in a mile confound* an hour,
And bring thy news so late ?
Mess. Spies of the Volsces
Held me in chase, that I was forced to wheel
Three or four miles about, else had I, sir, 20
Half an hour since brought my report.
Com. Who 's yonder,
That does appear as he were flay'd ? O gods !
He has the stamp"^ of Marcius ; and I have
Before-time seen him thus.
Mar. [ Withifil Come I too late ?
Com. The shepherd knows not thunder from a tabor
More than I know the sound of Marcius' tongue
From every meaner man.
Enter Marcius.
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 * ye
In arms as sound in heart as merry, as when 30
I woo'd and wedded.
Com. Flower of warriors,
How is't with Titus Lartius?
Mar. As with a man busied about decrees :
Condemning some to death, and some to exile ;
Ransoming* him or pitying, threatening the other ;
Holding Corioli in the name of Rome,
Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash,
To let him slip at will.
Com. Where is that slave
Which told me they had beat you to your trenches ? 40
Where is he ? call him hither.
Mar. Let him alone ;
16 Briefly — * a short time ago ' (Abbott).
19 To wheel—*' to make a circuit.'
27 = from every meaner man's. As in Greek, Ki^kai Xapirea-ffiv
ofio'iai ; and even in Latin, * vita Deorum similis.*
22 CORIOLANUS [Act I
He did inform the truth : but for our gentlemen,
The common file — a plague ! tribunes for them ! —
The mouse ne'er shunn'd the cat as they did budge
From rascals worse than they.
Com. But how prevaiPd you ?
Mar. Will the time serve to tell ? I do not think.
Where is the enemy ? are you lords o' the field ?
If not, why cease you till you are so ?
Com. Marcius,
We have at disadvantage fought and did
Retire to win our purpose. 50
Mar. How lies their battle ? know you on which side
They have placed their men of trust ?
Com. ^^ ^ . , ,., ,^^ As I guess, Marcius,
There bands i' the vaward are the Ailtiates,
Of their best trust ; "6^ r them Aufidius,
Their very heart of hope.
Mar. I do beseech you,
By all the battles wherein we have fought.
By the blood we have shed 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 present, but, 60
Filling the air with swords advanced"^ and darts,
We prove this very hour.
Com. Though I could wish
You were conducted to a gentle bath
And balms applied to you, yet dare I never
Deny your asking : take your choice of those
That best can aid your action.
Mar. Those are they
That most are willing. If any such be here —
As"^ it were sin to doubt — that love this painting
Wherein you see me smear'd ; if any fear
Lesser his person than an ill report ; 70
If any think brave death outweighs bad life
42 He was going to say. ' But for the gentlemen, the cowar-
dice of the common file had lost the day.'
60 Delay the pi'esent, * Put off that which is present, claims
to be done now.'
70 * Fear less^^r his person than he fears an ill report.' In
such expressions as (2 Henry IV. v. 5, 84), "fear not your
advancements, " ' fear ' rather = * doubt. '
Scene 6] CORIOLANUS 23
And that"* his country's dearer than himself;
Let him alone, or so many so minded,
Wave thus, to express his disposition,
And follow Marcius.
{They all shout a7id wave their swords^ take him up
in their arms, a7id cast up their caps,
fO, me alone ! make you a sword of me ?
If these shows be not outward, which of you
But is four Volsces ? none of you but is
Able to bear against the great Aufidius
A shield as hard as his, A certain number, 80
Though thanks to all, must I select from all : the rest
Shall bear the business in some other fight,
As cause will be obey'd. Please you to march ;
And four shall quickly draw out my command,
Which men arc best inclined.
Com. March on, my fellows :
Make good this ostentation, and you shall
Divide in all with us. {Exeunt,
73 * As many as are so minded.'
76 The reading of the folios has been explained — (i) Let me
alone. Set me down. (2) Oh me! that I should have said
* alone!' Both explanations seem inadmissible. Two emen-
dations deserve notice : (i) that proposed by Mr. Collier, Of me
alone 1 — adopting which, it would be better to punctuate " O*
me alo7te make you a swordl o' me? " [When every one of you is
as good as four Volscians, why am I your only sword ? What
so great need have you of me?]: (2) that of Mr. Singer, '* Ocome
along:" (more Shaksperian would be ' Go we along:') The sense
is then — connecting ' Make you a sword of me ' with what follows
— ' Use me for your sword, as now you use me' [in a literal sense:
they had taken him in their arms] *and every man of you (such
men with such a leader) will be worth four Volscians. '
83 As cause will be obeyed. As occasion shall require.
84 * Shall detach upon this service (all meanwhile going for-
ward, that no time may be lost) the bravest of their followers.' —
My co77tmand : 'the company to be commanded by me.' — Four
{foure) Ff. some Singer conj.
86 * This profession of valour.'
87 * Go shares in all the spoil with us, the generals.'
24 CORIOLANUS [Act I
SCENE Ylh— The gates of Corioli,
TlTUS Lartius, having set a guard tip on Corioli, going
with drum and trumpet toward COMINIUS and Caius
Marcius, enters with a Lieutenant, other Soldiers,
a7id a Scout.
Lart. So, let the ports* be guarded : keep your duties.
As I have set them down. If I do send, dispatch
Those centuries* to our aid : the rest will serve
For a short holding : if we lose the field,
We cannot keep the town.
Lieu. Fear not our care, sir.
Lart. Hence, and shut your gates upon 's.
Our guider, come; tothe Roman camp conductus. [Exemit.
SCENE N\\l,~A field of battle.
Alarum as in battle. Enter,frofn opposite sides, MarciuS
and AUFIDIUS.
Mar. I ^11 fight with none but thee ; for I do hate thee
Worse than a prorriise-breaker.
AUF. We hate alike :
Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor
More than thy fame, and envy.* Fix thy foot.
Mar. Let the first budger die the other's slave,
And the gods doom him after 1
AUF. If I fly, Marcius,
Holloa me like a hare.
Mar. Within these three hours, Tullus,
Alone I fought in your Corioli walls,
And made what work I pleased : 'tis not my blood
Wherein thou seest me mask'd ; for thy revenge lo
Wrench up thy power to the highest.
AuF. Wert thou the Hector
That was the whip of your bragg'd progeny,*
Thou shouldst not scape me here.
[They fight, and certain Volsces cojnetotheaidofAiJYlDUJS.
M.ARC1VS fights till they be drivejt in breathless,
viii. 4 ' Which I abhor and envy more than thy fame.'
1 1 Wrench up. Screw up. Macb. i. 7, 79 —
" I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat."
12 * The Hector with whom the Trojans, the progenitors you
Romans boast o^, whipped the Greeks. '
Scene 9] CORIOLANUS 25
Officious, and not valiant, you have shamed me
In your condemned seconds.''^ [Exeunt,
SCENE IX.— The Rojnan camp.
Flourish. Alaruin, A retreat is sounded. Flourish.
Enter ^ from one side, Cominius with the Romans ;
fro7n the other side, Marcius,7£////^ his arm in a scarf.
Com. If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work.
Thou 'Idst not believe thy deeds : but I '11 report it
Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles.
Where great patricians shall attend and shrug,
V the end admire, where ladies shall be frighted,
And, gladly quaked,* 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 earnest thou to a morsel of this feast, 10
Having fully dined before.
Enter TiTXi'S, Lartius, with his power, from the pursuit.
Lart. O general,
Here is the steed, we the caparison' :
Hadst thou beheld —
Mar. Pray now, no more : my mother,
Who has a charter* to extol her blood,
When she does praise me grieves me. I have done
As you have done ; that's what I can ; induced
As you have been ; that's for my country :
15 Conde7nned seconds. Vain help, tried and found wanting.
7 Fusty plebeians. So Coriolanus calls them "a musty
superfluity," "musty chaft'." Mr. Sidney Walker (Shakspere's
Versification, p. 161,) points out that Shakspere commonly
accentuates the first syllable of plebeian. So, in this play, ii. 3,
192, *Fast foe to th' plebeii, your voices might;' v. 4, 39, *The
plebeians have got your fellow tribune. '
10 * Yet what I have seen here and praise was but a morsel
compared with thy full feast yonder, the capture of Corioli. '
12 He has done the work : we have helped as trappings help
the horse. So Browning (Ring and Book, iv. 412):
" To serve in some ambiguous sort, as serve
To draw the coach the plumes o' the horses' heads. "
13 Even my mother, who is privileged to praise me.
26 CORIOLANUS [Act I
He that has but effected his good will
Hath overtaken mine act.
Com. You shall not be
The grave of your deserving ; Rome must know 20
The value of her own : 't were a concealment
Worse than a theft, no less than a traducement,
To hide your doings ; and to silence that,
Which, to the spire and top of praises vouched,*
Would seem but modest : therefore, I beseech you —
In sign of what you are, not to reward
What you have done — before our army hear me.
Mar. I have some wounds upon me, and they smart
To hear themselves remember'd.
Com. Should they not.
Well might they fester 'gainst ingratitude, 30
And tent"^ themselves with death. Of all the horses,
Whereof we have ta'en good and good store, of all
The treasure in this field achieved and city,
We render you the tenth, to be ta'en forth,
Before the common distribution, at
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. 40
20 You shall not thus bury out of sight your own great
actions.
22 ' Worse than theft, as bad as slander.'
24 * Deeds, whose recital, though the language of praise
should be exhausted in describing them, would still come short
of the truth : ' ( ' which, even though vouched.')
31 So Roderigo says, (0th. i. 3, 309,) "It is silliness to live
when to live is torment : and then have we a prescription to die
when death is our physician." Here, death is compared to the
physician's probe : * well might they (in protest against such in-
gratitude) fester themselves past healing — refuse to be probed
but with the probe of death.'
34 To be ta' en forth : i^aiperov ddjprjfjLa : at your only choice:
only, absolutely, at your choice.
40 That have beheld the doing. He is too proud to be re-
warded, too proud to be praised : too proud also to praise others,
at least plebeians. * They have seen me fight: I will claim no
more than an equal share with them. '
Scene 9] CORIOLANUS 57
[A long flourish. They all cry ^ Marcius ! Marcius ! '
cast Mp their caps and lances: COMINIUS and Lartius
stand bare.
Mar. May these same instruments, which you profane,
Never sound more ! when drum.s and trumpets shall
r the field prove flatterers, let courts and cities be
Made all of false-faced soothing"^ : when steel grows
Soft as the parasite's silk — Let them be made
An overture for the wars no more, I say !
For that I have not washed my nose that bled,
Or foil'd some debile wretch, — which, without note,
Here 's many else have done, — you shout me forth 50
In acclamations hyperbolical ;
As if I loved my little should be dieted
In praises sauced with lies.
Com. Too modest are you ;
More cruel to your good report than grateful
To us that give you truly : by your patience,
45 silk — ] silk, Ff. theni\ him Ff. 46 wars no niore\ wars.
No fiiore Ff.
41 — 46 These lines have been very variously explained and
altered. It is possible that the word overture (not used elsewhere
by Shakspere in the sense oi prelude) is corrupt ; but, failing any
probable correction of it, the passage, as printed above, may be
explained thus — * Let your drums and trumpets, profaned to vul-
gar uses of flatteiy, never sound more ! If even they must learn
to flatter, — if the soldier in his coat of steel must ape the parasite
in his silk, —let truth vanish out of the earth, and courts and cities
go their own way undisturbed : let your drums and trumpets, I
say, henceforth be silent !'
For the abruptness of line 45, as characteristic of Coriolatius,
comp. for example, i. 4, 31. The alteration of ' them' for * him'
has been made by several editors. The words, being commonly
written for shortness 'm and 'em, "are very often confounded by
our early printers." (Marlowe, ed. Dyce, vol. i. p. 76.)
49 Foiled — ' or that I have foiled.'
52 ' As if I desired that, in your exaggerated praises, my little
should be fed fat, made much.' Cp. Othello ii. i, 303, *'to diet
my revenge."
55 Give you truly — 'make true report of you.' Cp. As You
Like It, iv. 3, 123, "And he did render\\\\T\. the most unnatural,
that lived 'mongst men." Ant. and Cle. i. 4, 40, "men's reports
give him much wronged." By your patience: *pace tua,' *by
your leave:* as above, so. 3, 81.
28 CORIOLANUS [Act I
If 'gainst yourself you be incensed, we '11 put you,
Like one that means his proper* harm, in manacles,
Then reason safely with you. Therefore, be it known,
As to us, to all the world, that Caius Marcius
Wears this war's garland : in token of the which, 60
My noble steed, known to the camp, I give him,
With all his trim belonging ; and from this timCj
For what he did before Corioli, call him.
With all the applause and clamour of the host;
Caius Marcius Coriolanus ! Bear
The addition* nobly ever !
{Flourish. Tru7npets sound, and drums.
All. Caius Marcius Coriolanus !
Cor. I will go wash ;
And when my face is fair, you shall perceive
Whether I blush or no : howbeit, I thank you. *Jo
I mean to stride your steed,' and at all times
To undercrest your good addition*
To the fairness of my power.
Com. So, to our tent ;
Where, ere we do repose us, we will write
To Rome of our success. You, Titus Lartius^
Must to Corioli back : send us to Rome
The best, with whom we may articulate,*
For their own good and ours.
Lart. I shall, my lord.
Cor. The gods begin to mock me. I, that now
Refused most princely gifts, am bound to beg 80
Of my lord general.
Com. Take 't ; \ is yours. What is 't 1
Cor. I sometime lay here in Corioli
At a poor man's house ; he used me kindly :
He cried to me ; I saw him prisoner ;
But then Aufidius was within my view.
And wrath o'erwhelm'd my pity : I request you
To give my poor host freedom.
60 Weaj's this war's garland : the corona triumphalis of
laurel : confounded elsewhere with the * the oaken garland, ' the
corona civica.
72 ' To stick your title in my helmet and wear it as a badge,
with what grace I may,' ('as fairly as I can.')
77 The best : the best men of Corioli.
79 Now = but now, just now.
Scene lo] CORIOLANUS 29
Com. O, well begg'd !
Were he the butcher of my son, he should
Be free as is the wind. Deliver him, Titus.
Lart. Marcius, his name ?
Cor. By Jupiter ! forgot. 90
I am weary ; yea, my memory is tired.
Have we no wine here ?
Com. Go we to our tent :
The blood upon your visage dries ; 't is time
It should be look'd to : come. [Exeunt.
SCENE yi.—The camp of the Volsces.
A flourish. Cornets, Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS, bloody ^
with two or three Soldiers.
AUF. The town is ta'en !
First Sol. ^T will be deliver'd back on good condition.
AuF. Condition !
I would I were a Roman ; for I cannot,
Being a Volsce, be that I am. Condition !
What good condition can a treaty find
r the part that is at mercy ? Five times, Marcius,
I have fought with thee ; so often hast thou beat me.
And wouldst do so, I think, should we encounter
As often as we eat. By the elements, lo
If e'er again I meet him beard to beard.
He's mine, or I am his ; mine emulation
Hath not that honour in't it had ; for where ''^
I thought to crush him in an equal force.
True sword to sword, I '11 potch* at him some way
Or wrath or craft may get him.
First Sol. He's the devil.
AUF. Bolder, though not so subtle. My valour's
poison'd
With only suffering stain by him ; for him
5 Being a Volscian, and therefore the enemy of Marcius, I
cannot be myseli : * my valour's poisoned. *
6 * What good condition can be devised on the beaten side?'
14 In an equal force. In a fair struggle.
15 Some way, or zvrath or craft may get hiui. Some way by
which my craft, if not my wrath, may get the upper hand.
18 With only siiffe^'ing stain by hif?i. For no other cause
than that it is disgraced by him.
ib. For hint. For his sake, for hate of him.
30 CORIOLANUS [Act II
Shall fly out of itself : nor sleep nor sanctuary,
Being naked, sick, nor fane nor Capitol, 20
The prayers of priests nor times of sacrifice,
Embarquements* all of fury, shall lift up
Their rotten privilege and custom 'gainst
My hate to Marcius : where I find him, .were it
At home, upon my brother's guard, even there,
Against the hospitable canon, would I
Wash my fierce hand in 's heart. Go you to the city ;
Learn how 't is held ; and what they are that must
Be hostages for Rome.
First Sol. Will not you go ?
AUF. I am attended at the cypress grove : I pray
vou — 30
'T is south the city mills — bring me word thither
How the world goes, that to the pace of it
I may spur on my journey.
First Sol. I shall, sir. [Exeunt
ACT 11.
SCENE I. — Ro?ne, A public place.
Enter Menenius with the two Tribunes of the people,
SiciNius and Brutus.
Men. The augurer tells me we shall have news to-night.
Bru. Good or bad ?
Men. Not according to the prayer of the people, for
they love not Marcius,
Sic. Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.
Men. Pray you, who does the wolf love ?
20 Bemg naked, sick. * Nor nakedness, nor sickness.'
25 Ubon my bi-other's guard: in reliance on the protection
of my brother.
28 How ^tis held : the strength of the Roman garrison.
30 / am attended : my followers wait for me.
32 * That I may miss no opportunity, ' * not lag behind events. '
Act XL — Scene i. 6 — 14. Stc. The people know that
Marcius is not their friend. Men. Wolves that they are — they
will call none of us their friends. Sic. Their friends are lambs,
not bears. Men. Yes, lambs for their devouring : as they would
devour Marcius. Bru. Is /le a. lamb ? If he is a lamb, yet he
baes like a bear. Men. If he is a bear, yet he lives like a lamb.
Scene 1] CORIOLANUS 31.
Sic. The lamb.
Men. Ay, to devour him ; as the hungry plebeians
would the noble Marcius. 1 1
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. Well, sir.
Men. In what enormity is Marcius poor in, that you
two have not in abundance ?
Bru. He's poor in no one fault, but stored with all. 21
Sic. Especially in pride.
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. Why, how are we censured ?
Men. Because you talk of pride now, — will you not be
angry ?
Both. Well, well, sir, well. 30
Men. Why, 'tis no great matter ; for a very little thief
of occasion will rob you of a great deal of patience : give
your dispositions 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 ; for 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 toward the napes of your necks, and make but an
interior survey of your good selves ! O that you could ! 44
Bru. What then, sir ?
Men. Why, then you should discover a brace of un-
18 — 21 Men. Name, if you can, a fault which he has,
slightly, and which you have not yourselves, abundantly. Bru.
Nay, he has no fault slightly. Cp. for the preposition, As You
Like It, ii. 7, 139; *'The scene wherein we play in;" Rom.
and Jul. ii. Prol. 3, "that fair, for which love groaned for."
31 ' After all, it is no matter if I do offend you : be angry to
your hearts' content.'
44 Because **peras imposuit Jupiter nobis duas : propriis
repletam vitiis post tergum dedit," etc : we cannot see ourselves
as others see us ; we live ' ' occipiti caeco. "
32 CORIOLANUS [Act II
meriting, proud, violent, testy '^ magistrates, alias fools,
as any in Rome.
Sic. Menenius, you are known well enough too. 50
Men. I am known to be a humorous"^ patrician, and
one that loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allay-
ing Tiber in't ; said to be something imperfect in favour-
ing the first complaint ; hasty and tinder-like upon too
trivial motion ; what I think I utter, and spend my malice
in my breath. Meeting two such wealsmen* as you are
— I cannot call you Lycurguses — if the drink you give me
touch my palate adversely, I make a crooked face at it.
I can't say your worships have delivered the matter well,
when I find the ass in compound with the major part of
your syllables : and though I must be content to bear with
those that say you are reverend grave men, yet they lie
deadly that tell you you have good faces. If you see this
in the map of my microcosm,"^ follows it that I am * known
well enough too\? what harm can your bisson* conspec-
tuities glean out of this character, if I be * known well
enough too'.? 72
Bru. Come, sir, come, we know you well enough.
Men. You know neither me, yourselves, ngr any thing.
You are ambitious for poor knaves' caps and legs : you
wear out a good wholesome forenoon in hearing a cause
between an orange-wife and a fosset-seller"^ ; and then
rejourn* the controversy of three pence to a second day
of audience. When you are hearing a matter between
64 * When I find that your vocabulary owes so much to the
ass,' *that you talk for the most part the language of asses.'
68 — 72 'You see this perhaps in my character (that I am quick
of temper and plain of speech) ; is this what you mean by my
being "known well enough too?" And, if so, what harm are
you pleased to discover in this ? '
Your bisson conspeciuities. Your bleared sights, dull wisdoms.
The long and strange words are of course contemptuous. Perhaps
Shakspere wrote conspectivities, Conspectivity at least would
be a correct formation (like activity, receptivity, etc.) for *the
power of seeing.'
76 For poor knaves' caps and legs. For their obeisance. * To
make a leg' was 'to make a bow': as Rich. II. iii. 3, 175 —
" You make a leg, and Bolingbroke says ay." All's Well, ii. 2,
10 — " He that cannot make a leg, put off 's cap, kiss his hand
and say nothing."
Scene l] CORIOLANUS 33
party and party, if you chance to be pinched with the
colic, you make faces hke mummers'^ ; set up the bloody
flag against all patience ; and so dismiss the controversy
bleeding, the more entangled by your hearing : all the
peace you make in their cause is, calling both the parties
knaves. You are a pair of strange ones. 89
Bru. Come, come, you are well understood to be a
perfecter giber for the table than a necessary bencher in
the Capitol.
Men. Our very priests must become mockers, if they
shall encounter such ridiculous subjects as you are.
When you speak best unto the purpose, it is not worth
the wagging of your beards ; and your beards deserve not
so honourable a grave as to stuff a botcher's* cushion, or
to be entombed in an ass's pack-saddle. Yet you must be
saying, Marcius is proud ; who, in a cheap estimation, is
worth all your predecessors since Deucalion, though per-
adventure some of the best of 'em were hereditary hang-
men. God-den to your worships : more of your conversa-
tion would infect my brain, being the herdsmen of the
beastly plebeians : I will be bold to take my leave of
you. 106
[Brutus and Sicinius^^ aside.
Enter VOLUMNIA, Virgilia, ^/^^'Valeria.
How now, my as fair as noble ladies, — and the moon, were
she earthly, no nobler, — whither do you follow your eyes
so fast ?
Vol. Honourable Menenius, my boy Marcius ap-
proaches; for the love of Juno, let's go. iii
Men. Ha ! Marcius coming home !
Vol. Ay, Worthy Menenius ; and with most prosper-
ous approbation.
84 Set up the bloody flag. Wage war against all patience.
Cp. Henry V. i. 2, loi, ** Stand for your own : unwind your
bloody flag." Jul. Cses. v. I, 15, "Their bloody sign of
battle is hung out."
Lord Campbell (Shakspere's Legal Acquirements, p. 96) re-
marks, "Shakspere here mistakes the duties of the Tribune
for those of the Praetor ; but in truth he was recollecting with
disgust what he had himself witnessed in his own country."
92 Bencher: i.e. senator. Cp. iii. i, 106, 166.
lOl Predecessors. Ancestors.
103 God-den. So ^ood den {good Q\Qn) and God ye ^ood den.
c
34 CORIOLANUS [Act 11
Men. Take my cap, Jupiter, and I thank thee. Hoo !
Marcius coming home !
Vol. Vir. Nay, 'tis true.
Vol. Look, here's a letter from him : the state hath
another, his wife another; and, I think, there 's one at
home for you. 120
Men. I will make my very house reel to-night : a letter
for me !
Vir. Yes, certain, there 's a letter for you ; I saw 't.
Men. a letter for me ! it gives me an estate of seven
years' health ; in which time I will make a lip at the
physician : the most sovereign prescription in Galen is
but empiricutic,* and, to this preservative, of no better
report than a horse-drench.* Is he not wounded.'* he
was wont to come home wounded. 131
Vir. O, no, no, no.
Vol. O, he is wounded ; I thank the gods for 't.
Men. So do I too, if it be not too much : brings a'
victory in his pocket? the wounds become him.
Vol. On 's brows, Menenius : he comes the third time
home with the oaken garland.
Men. Has he disciplined Aufidius soundly?
Vol. Titus Lartius writes, they fought together, but
Aufidius got off. - ' 141
Men. And 'twas time for him too, I'll warrant him that:
an* he had stayed by him, I would not have been so
fidiused for all the chests in Corioli, and the gold that 's
in them. Is the senate possessed* of this ?
Vol. Good ladies, let 's go. Yes, yes, yes ; the senate
has letters from the general, wherein he gives my son the
whole name of the war : he hath in this action outdone
his former deeds doubly. 151
115 Take ?ny cap, Jupiter. Throwing it into the air.
125 It estates me, endows me, with seven years' health.
128 Galen, the gi-eat physician, who died about 200 A. D. Cp.
the allusion to Cato above, i. 4, 57 ; and to Alexander, v. 4,
23. To this, compared with this.
135 'If he brings home victory in his pocket, the wounds
become him.'
136 On ^s brows. * He brings victory on his brows.'
137 The oaken garland. See i. 3, 16 ; 9, 60, n.
144 * Sojidiiised as Aufidius would have been :' * I would
not have had such a benefit of being Aufidius as Marcius would
have given him. *
Scene l] CORIOLANUS 35
Val. In troth, there's wondrous things spoke of him.
Men. Wondrous! ay, I warrant you, and not without
his true purchasing.
ViR. The gods grant them true !
Vol. True ! pow, wow.
Men. True ! I '11 be sworn they are true. Where is he
wounded? [To the Tribunes] God save your good wor-
ships! Marcius is toming home: he has more cause to
be proud. Where is he wounded ? 162
Vol. r the shoulder and i' the left arm : there will be
large cicatrices to show the people, when he shall stand
for his place. He received in the repulse of Tarquin
seven hurts i' the body.
Men. One i' the neck, and two i' the thigh, — there's
nine that I know.
Vol. He had, before this last expedition, twenty-five
wounds upon him. 170
Men. Now it's twenty-seven: every gash was an enemy's
grave. [A shout and flourish.'] Hark! the trumpets.
Vol. These are the ushers"^ of Marcius : before him he
carries noise, and behind him he leaves tears : 1
Death, that dark spirit, in 's nervy"'^ arm doth lie ;
Which, being advanced,"^ declines, and then men die. '
A sennet* Truittpets sound. Enter COMINIUS the gen-
eral, and Titus Lartius; between them, CORio-
LANUS, crowned with an oaketi garland ; with
Captains and Soldiers, and a Herald.
Her. Know, Rome, that all alone Marcius did fight
Within Corioli gates : where he hath won, 180
W^ith fame, a name to Caius Marcius ; these
In honour follows Coriolanus.
156 The gods grant them t7'ue ! Virginia feels too deeply to
proclaim her happiness as Volumnia does : it is so great that she
is even afi-aid to believe the news.
165 His place. The consulship.
167 In the repidse of Tarquin. At the Lake Regillus.
168 One V the neck and tzvo V the thigh. He finishes the
enumeration to himself, and finds that he remembers nine.
172 Every gash was ajt enemy's grave. They dug their own
graves when they wounded him ; for for every gash he was
avenged.
182 These in honour follows. Follows Caius and Marcius as
an honourable addition.
36 CORIOLANUS [Act II
Welcome to Rome, renowned Coriolanus ! [Flourish,
All. Welcome to Rome, renowned Coriolanus !
Cor. No more of this; it does offend my heart :
Pray now, no more.
Com. Look, sir, your mother !
Cor. O,
You have, I know, petitioned all the gods
For my prosperity ! [Kneels.
Vol. Nay, my good soldier, up ;
My gentle Marcius, worthy Caius, and
By deed-achieving honour newly named, — 190
What is it.^ — Coriolanus must I call thee? —
But, O, thy wife!
Cor. My gracious"^ silence, hail !
Wouldst thou have laughed had I come coffin'd home,
That weep'st to see me triumph } Ah, my dear,
Such eyes the widows in Corioli wear.
And mothers that lack sons.
Men. Now, the gods crown thee!
Cor. [To Menenius] And live you yet? [To Valeria]
O my sweet lady, pardon.
Vol. I know not where to turn : O, welcome home :
And welcome, general : and ye 're welcome all.
Men. a hundred thousand welcomes. I could weep 200
And I could laugh, I am light and heavy. Welcome.
A curse begin at very root on 's heart.
That is not glad to see thee ! You are three
That Rome should dote on : yet, by the faith of men,
We have some old crab-trees here at home that will not
Be grafted to your relish. Yet welcome, warriors :
We call a nettle but a nettle and
190 Deed-achieving honour. Honour that, by inciting men
to, may be said itself to achieve great deeds,
192 My gracious silence. Steevens quotes from Daniel's Com-
plaint of Rosamond (1599), " Sweet silent rhetoric of persuading
eyes. "
204 By the faith of men. * As we are true men,' *on oui
faith as men.' So Othello, i. I, 10: "By the faith of man, I
know my price. "
205 The sour old crab trees that will not leave their sourness
are of course the Tribunes. They refuse to be grafted with the
nobleness of Coriolanus, to bear fruit of his flavour. {Relish ~
flavour : or * to your relish ' may mean ' to your liking. ')
Scene l] CORIOLANUS 37,
The faults of fools but folly.
Com. Ever right.
Cor. Menenius ever, ever.
Herald. Give way there, and go on !
Cor. [To Volumnia and Virgilia] Your hand, and
Ere in our own house I do shade my head, [yours: 210
The good patricians must be visited ;
From whom I have received not only greetings,
But with them change of honours.
Vol. » I have lived
To see inherited* my very wishes
And the buildings of my fancy : only [yet]
There 's one thing wanting, which I doubt not but
Our Rome will cast upon thee.
Cor. Know, good mother,
I had rather be their servant in my way
Than sway with them in theirs.
Com. On, to the Capitol ! 220
\_Flourish, Cornets. Exeunt in state, as before. Brutus
and SICINIUS C07ne forward.
Bru. All tongues speak of him, and the bleared sights
Are spectacled to see him : your prattling nurse
Into a rapture lets her baby cry
While she chats him : the kitchen malkin* pins
Her richest lockram* 'bout her reechy* neck.
Clambering the walls to eye him : stalls,* bulks,* windows,
Are smother'd up, leads filFd, and ridges horsed
With variable* complexions,* all agreeing
208 — 9 Coi?i. * Always the same : wise as ever.' Cor. 'Al-
ways the same Menenius : blunt as ever.' So Jul. Cses. v. I, 63,
" Old Cassius still !"
214 Change of honours. New honours.
215 * To see myself in possession of all I wished for.'
219-^20 The more power, the more responsibility, and the
less freedom.
223 Cry info a rapture. Cry itself into a passion, at being
forgotten.
224 * Chats ' or * talks Coriolanus ' : as we say that a man talks
crops, talks dogs, talks fences : *'sulcos et vineta crepat mera."
227 Ridges horsed. Men astride of the gables.
228 Variable complexions. All sorts of men with all sorts of
faces, but all alike in this. * Horsed with faces ' may be com-
pared with * pluck reproof from every ear,' (ii. 2, 37.)
38 CORIOLANUS [Act II
In earnestness to see him: seld-shown* flamens
Do press among the popular throngs and puff 230
To win a vulgar station : our veiVd dames
Commit the war of white and damask in
Their nicely-gawded cheeks to the wanton spoil
Of Phoebus' burning kisses : such a pother
As if that* whatsoever god who leads him
Were slily crept into his human powers
And gave him graceful posture.
Sic. On the sudden,
I warrant him consul.
Bru. Then our office may,
During his power, go sleep.
Sic. He cannot temperately transport his honours 240
From where he should begin, and end, but will
Lose those he hath won.
Bru. In that there's comfort.
Sic. Doubt not
The commoners, for whom we stand, but they
Upon their ancient malice will forget
With the least cause these his new honours, which
That he will give them make I as little question
232 The war of white and damask. Cp. Tarn, of Shrew, iv.
5»29—
*'Hast thou beheld a fresher gentlewoman?
Such war of white and red within her cheeks ?"
233 Nicely-gawded. Adorned so daintily — whether by art or
nature.
235 * As if it were not he, the man himself, but "whatsoever
god who leads him," (the god, whoever he may be, his guardian,)
in his likeness. '
240 — 2 ' He will make shipwreck by the way : for he will begin
by claiming too much, and he will not know where to stop.'
From where he should begin, and end — is usually explained as =
'from where he should begin, to where he should end :' and a
similar expression is quoted from Cymb. iii. 2, 65 — "the gap
in \xsx\^,fro7n our hence-going and our return." The passage
in Cymbeline admits of no other explanation : but here it
seems better to connect * transport . . . and end' — *He
will not know how to advance temperately, step by step of
honour, from a modest and wise beginning — and so temperately
end.'
244 Upon, On the strength of the old grudge.
Scene l] CORIOLANUS 39
As he is proud to do 't.
Bru. I heard him swear,
Were he to stand for consul, never would he
Appear i' the market-place nor on him put
The napless vesture of humility ; 250
Nor, showing, as the manner is, his wounds
To the people, beg their stinking breaths.
Sic. T is right.
Bru. It was his word : O, he would miss it rather
Than carry it but by the suit of the gentry to him
And the desire of the nobles.
Sic. I wish no better
Than have him hold that purpose and to put it
In execution.
Bru. 'T is most like he will.
Sic. It shall be to him then as our good wills,
A sure destruction.
Bru. So it must fall out
To him or our authorities. For an end, 260
We must suggest the people in what hatred <
He still hath held them ; that to 's power he would
Have made them mules, silenced their pleaders and
Dispropertied their freedoms, holding them,
246 — 7 As he is proud of giving them cause of offence, so I
am sure he will.
250 Naj>/ess—thTe2Ldh3.Ye. This is from Plutarch, who says
(in North's translation), *'It was the custom of Rome at that
time, that such as did sue for any office should for certain days
before be in the market-place, only with a poor gown on their
backs, and without any coat underneath, to pray the people to
remember them at the day of election."
258 As our good wills: scil. are. *It will fare with him
then, as we cordially desire it may.'
260 Our authorities. Our authority as tribunes. Plural,
like *our good wills,' and above, 'your dispositions,' your
pleasures. '
ib. For an end. * Lastly* — we have a part to play.
261 Suggest the people. So Rich. II. i. i, loi — '* suggest
his soon believing adversaries. " Henry VIII. i. i, 164: "sug-
gests the king our master. "
262 To's poiver. To the utmost of his power.
264 Dispropertied their freedo7fis. Made their freedom no
freedom ; taken from it all properties of freedom.
40 CORTOLANUS [Act II
In human action and capacity,
Of no more soul nor fitness for the world
Than camels in the war, who have their provand*
Only for bearing burdens, and sore blows
For sinking under them.
Sic. This, as you say, suggested
At some time when his soaring insolence 270
Shall teach the people — which time shall not want,
If he be put upon 't ; and that 's as easy
As to set dogs on sheep — will be his fire
To kindle their dry stubble ; and their blaze
Shall darken him for ever.
E7tter a Messenger.
Bru. What 's the matter ?
Mess. You are sent for to the Capitol. Tis thought
That Marcius shall be consul :
I have seen the dumb men throng to see him and
The blind to hear him speak : matrons flung gloves,
Ladies and maids their scarfs and handkerchers, 280
Upon him as he pass'd : the nobles bended,
As to Jove's statue, and the commons made
A shower and thunder with their caps and shouts :
I never saw the like.
Bru. Let 's to the Capitol ;
And carry with us ears and eyes for the time.
But hearts for the event.
Sic. Have with you. {Exeunt
SCENE \\.— The same. The Capitol
Enter two Officers, to lay cushions.
First Off. Come, come, they are almost here. How
many stand for consulships ?
Sec. Off. Three, they say: but 'tis thought of ever}'
one Coriolanus will carry it.
First Off. That 's a brave fellow ; but he 's vengeance
proud, and loves not the common people. 7
27 1 Shall teach the people. What manner of man he is ; open
their eyes. Or, perhaps, as Gideon "taught" the men of Suc-
coth. teach Ff. touch Hanmer (followed by Camb. edd.)
278 Dumb 7Jien, dumb and deaf : to see him, see him speak.
285 For the time, the present : for the event, what is to gome.
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS 41
Sec. Off. Faith, there have been many great men
that have flattered the people, who ne'er loved them ; and
there be many that they have loved, they know not where-
fore : so that, if they love they know not why, they hate
upon no better a ground : therefore, for Coriolanus
neither to care whether they love or hate him manifests
the true knowledge he has in their disposition ; and out
of his noble carelessness lets them plainly see't. 17
First Off. If he did not care whether he had their
love or no, he waved indifferently 'twixt doing them
neither good nor harm : but he seeks their hate with
greater devotion than they can render it him ; and leaves
nothing undone that may fully discover him their
opposite.* Now, to seem to affect the malice and dis-
pleasure of the people is as bad as that which he dislikes,
to flatter them for their love. 26
Sec. Off. He hath deserved worthily of his country ;
and his ascent is not by such easy degrees as those who,
having been supple and courteous to the people, bonneted,
without any further deed to have them at all, into their
estimation and report : but he hath so planted his
I onours in their eyes, and his actions in their hearts, that
for their tongues to be silent, and not confess so much,
were a kind of ingrateful injury ; to report otherwise,
14 * To care in neither case — if they love him, or if they hate
him: ' Cp. i. 3, 69 — *" or whether or.^
ib. * Such carelessness shews that he understands them : and,
of his carelessness, he lets them see that he does.' He to be
understood before lets : as often, especially in Spenser ; e.g. F. Q.
ii. 2, 8 — " At last, when failing breath began to faint, And saw
no means to scape."
19 He waved. Conditional, would wave. * He would swing
to and fro between doing them good and doing them harm,
neutral, so as to do neither : ' * stop short, here, of doing good,
there, of doing harm/
29 As those. As the ascent of those.
30 To bonnet (or cap) a man is to uncover in sign of respect.
Bonneted into their estimation and report, bonneted their way,
made their way by dint of bonneting and servility, into the
favour of the people. So v. i, 5, *'Knee the way into his
mercy." — Without any further deed to have them at all, doing no
single other thing to win them, (viz. estimation and report.) —
The punctuation and explanation of the passage are due to Dr.
Delius.
42 CORIOLANUS [Act II
were a malice, that, giving itself the lie, would pluck re-
proof and rebuke from every ear that heard it.
First Off. No more of him ; he's a worthy man :
make way, they are coming. 40
A semiet.^ Enter ^ with Lictors before them^ COMINIUS
the cofisid^ Menenius, Coriolanus, Senators,
SiClNlUS and Brutus. The Senators take their
places ; the Tribunes take their places by themselves,
Coriolanus stands.
Men. Having determined of the Volsces and
To send for Titus Lartius, it remains.
As the main point of this our after-meeting,
To gratify his noble service that
Hath thus stood for his country : therefore, please you,
Most reverend and grave elders, to desire
The present consul, and last general
In our well-found successes, to report
A little of that worthy work perform'd
By Caius Marcius Coriolanus, whom 50
We met here both to thank and to remember
With honours like himself.
First Sen. Speak, good Cominius :
Leave nothing out for length, and make us think
Rather our state 's defective for requital
Than we to stretch it out. \To the Tribunes] Masters o'
the people,
We do request your kindest ears, and after,
Your loving motion toward the common body,
To yield what passes here.
37 Phick. Draw, compel. So above, i. 3, 8 — "plucked
all gaze his way."
44 Gratify. Return thanks for. Cp. M. of V. iv. I, 406
(Abbott.)
47 * Still consul, lately general.'
48 Well found successes. We still say *to find success' (as
Tro. and Cress, iv. 5, 149), though not " to find successes."
50 Whom. Governed by * to thank and to remember. *
55 Tha7t we to stretch it out. Make us think that, if defect
is anywhere, it is rather the state that is defective in power to
requite deserving, than we in zeal to stretch its power to the
utmost : let that which is surely most impossible seems possible
rather than this.
56 * After listening to us, so to bear yourselves towards the
people that they shall be moved to grant what we agree to. '
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS 43
Sic. We are convented*
Upon a pleasing treaty, and have hearts
Indinable"'^ to honour and advance 60
The theme of our assembly.
Bru. Which the rather
We shall be blest to do, if he remember
A kinder value of the people than
He hath hereto prized them at.
Men. That 's off, that 's off ;
I would you rather had been silent. Please you
To hear Cominius speak ?
Bru. Most willingly ;
But yet my caution was more pertinent
Than the rebuke you give it.
Men. He loves your people ;
But tie him not to be their bedfellow.
Worthy Cominius, speak. [Coriolanus qff^ers to go away.
Nay, keep your place. 70
First Sen. Sit, Coriolanus ; never shame to hear
What you have nobly done.
Cor. Your honours' pardon :
I had rather have my wounds to heal again
Than hear say how I got them.
Bru. Sir, I hope
My words disbench'd you not.
Cor. No, sir : yet oft,
When blows have made me stay, I fled from words.
You soothed* not, therefore hurt not : but your people,
I love them as they weigh.
Men. Pray now, sit down.
Cor. I had rather have one scratch my head i' the sun
59 * To make a treaty (touching Coriolanus) which we are
nothing loth to make.'
61 The the7?ie of our assembly, Coriolanus.
62 Blest to do. Blessed in doing.
64 Off. Wide of the matter, irrelevant.
75 Disbenched you. Caused you to rise.
78 As they -weigh. In proportion to their weight, their
worth.
79 Have one scratch viy head i the stm. Amorously : sit
to be fondled in the sunshine. So 2 Henry IV. ii. 4, 281 —
**Look whether the withered elder hath not his poll clawed 11
a parrot."
44 CORIOLANUS [Act II
Wlien the alarum"^ were struck than idly sit 80
To hear my nothings monster'd. [Exit
Men. Masters of the people,
Your multiplying spawn how can he flatter —
That 's thousand to one good one — when you now see
He had rather venture all his limbs for honour
Than one on 's ears to hear it ? Proceed, Cominius.
Com. I shall lack voice : the deeds of Coriolanus
Should not be utter'd feebly. It is held
That valour is the chiefest virtue, and
Most dignifies the haver : if it be.
The man I speak of cannot in the world 90
Be singly counterpoised. At sixteen years,
When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought
Beyond the mark of others : our then dictator.
Whom with all praise I point at, saw him fight,
When with his Amazonian chin he drove
The bristled lips before him : he bestrid
An o'er-press'd Roman and i' the consults view
Slew three opposers : Tarquin's self he met,
And struck him on his knee : in that day's feats.
When he might act the woman in the scene, loo
He proved best man i' the field, and for his meed
80 When the alariwi were struck. So Rich. III. iv. 4, 148 :
'* Strike alarum, drums !"
81 Monster d. Magnified into monsters. So Lear i. i, 223
— "Sure, her offence Must be of such unnatural degree, That
7nonsters it. "
83 That's thousand to one good one. * Spawn, that, for one
good man among the worthless, may be counted by the thousand.'
85 Than one on 's ears to here it. * Than lend so much as one
ear' (we say 'half an ear') *to hear it, hear how he ventured.*
Perhaps, but not so well, * hear flattery.'
91 Be singly counterpoised. Find his match, man against man.
92 Made a head. Raised an army. We say, * to make
head ' against an enemy. I Henry IV. 4, 25 — * *a headoi gallant
warriors."
ib. For Rome. His army's destination.
99 On his knee. So that he dropped upon his knee.
100 He might act. It was permitted him to act, (er
mochte,) being so young. (We say 'He might have acted.')
With allusion to the stage : women's parts in Shakspere's time
being played by boys. Hence Ant. and Cle. v. 2, 219 — " I shall
see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness. "
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS 45
Was brow-bound with the oak. His pupil-age
Man-enter'd thus, he waxed hke a sea,
And in the brunt* of seventeen battles since
He lurched* all ^words of the garland. For this last,
Before and in Corioli, let me say,
I cannot speak him home : he stopp'd the fliers ;
And by his rare example made the coward
Turn terror into sport : as weeds before
A vessel under sail, so men obey'd lio
And fell below his stem : his sword, death's stamp,*
Where it did mark, it took ; from face to foot
He was a thing of blood, whose every motion
Was timed with dying cries : alone he enter'd
1 02 Brow-bound ivith the oak. His reward, in strictness,
not for being *best man i' the field,' but for saving 'the o'er-
pressed Roman.' See i. 9, 60, 7iote,
ib. His pupil- age man- entered. Having entered as a man
the age of boyhood .
105 Lttrched all swords of the garland. Bore away the palm
from all the Romans.
107 I cannot speak him home. Describe him fully, to the
core, {penitus.) A * home-thrust' is one that 'comes home'
to a man : Kaipia irXTjyi^. So Shakspere has, in this play,
*'to strike home," "to charge home,"" to tell home:" and
(Macb. 1. 3, 120,) "to trust home ; " (Cymb. iii. 5, 92,) "to
satisfy home ; " (Meas. for Meas. iv. 4, 148,) " accuse him home
and home," etc.
109 Weeds. 1st Folio. Some editors prefer the reading
of the later Folios, 'waves,* as more poetical and dignified.
The earlier reading, however, (besides having the superior
authority of the ist Folio,) is really more appropriate, expressing,
in the helplessness of the Volscians before Coriolanus, his heroic
and superhuman prowess, whereas the image of a ship stemming
the waves would rather suggest that his courage triumphed over
superior strength. Again, waves could hardly be said to fall
under the vessel's stem.
11 1 His sword ^ death's stamp. Sword, with which Death
stamps men, seals men, for his own.
112 Where it did ?narkf it took. Where it marked, marked
effectually : set no doubtful or illegible mark upon its victims .
never half-killed. So BacOn, Nat. Hist, (quoted by Johnson),
" In impressions from mind to mind, the impression taketh^ but
is overcome, etc. "
114 ' The cries of the dying were the music to which he
moved. '
46 CORIOLANUS [ActU
The mortal gate of the city, which he painted
With shunless destiny ; aidless came off,
And with a sudden re-inforcement struck
Corioli like a planet : now all 's his :
When, by and by, the din of war gan pierce
His ready sense ; then straight his doubled spirit I20
Requicken'd what in flesh was fatigate,
And to the battle came he ; where he did
Run reeking o'er the lives of men, as if
'T were a perpetual spoil : and till we call'd
Both field and city ours, he never stood
To ease his breast with panting.
Men. Worthy man !
First Sen. He cannot but with measure fit the honours
Which we devise him.
Com. Our spoils he kicked at,
And look'd upon things precious as they were
The common muck of the world : he covets less 130
115 Mortal, deadly — though not to him.
ib. Whuh he painted with shunless destiny. The inevitable
doom of the city was as it were portrayed on the gates, in the
blood that splashed them. Shakspere often speaks of the stains
of blood 2.% paintiitg : as above, i. 6, 68, *'this painting wherein
ye see me smeared," and 3 Henry VI. I, 4, 12, "with purple
falchion, painted to the hilt in blood:" but here the word
expresses representation as well as colour. So perhaps Tro. and
Cress, i. i, 93 :
*' Helen must needs be fair,
When with your blood you daily paint her thus. "
118 StriicJz Co7'ioli like a planet. Like some planet of "ill
aspect," that shakes the world with plagues and portents. Cp.
Tro. and Cress, i. 3, 85 — loi : and Tim. of Ath. iv. 3, 108 —
" Be as a planetary plague, when Jove
"Will o'er some high-viced city hang his poison
In the sick air : let not thy sword skip one."
And Hamlet i. i, 162: "The nights are wholesome ; then no
planets striked
119 The din oftvar. Above, i. 5, 9.
120 His ready sense. Quick hearing.
123 Reeking. Smoking with blood, as above, i. 4, ir.
124 As if 'twere a perpetual spoil. As if he had only to spoil
men slain already ; so they "went down before him at a touch."
127 Fit zvith measure. Fill as by measurement, no room to
spare, whatever honours we devise for him to wear.
1 30 Muck of the world : * ' vilia rerum. ' '
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS 47
Than misery itself would give ; rewards
His deeds with doing them, and is content
To spend the time, to end it.
Men. He's right noble:
Let him be call'd for.
First Sen. Call Coriolanus.
Off. He doth appear.
Re-enter CORIOLANUS.
. Men. The senate, Coriolanus, are well pleased
To make thee consul.
Cor. I do owe them still
My life and services.
Men. It then remains
That you do speak to the people.
Cor. I do beseech you,
Let me o'erleap that custom, for I cannot 140
Put on the gown, stand naked and entreat them,
For my wounds' sake, to give their suffrage : please you
That I may pass this doing.
Sic. Sir, the people
Must have their voices ; neither will they bate*
One jot of ceremony.
Men. Put them not to 't :
Pray you, go fit you to the custom and
Take to you, as your predecessors have.
Your honour with your form.
Cor. It is a part
That I shall blush in acting, and might well
Be taken from the people.
Bru. Mark you that? 150
131 Misery. Poverty.
* 133 Is content to spend the ti7?ie, to end it. That the time
should pass, and the end come, bringing no reward — no more to
be said of it than that, the time having passed, the end has come
— to this he is contented to look forward.
137 Still. Always.
141 Stand naked. "With a poor gown on their backs, and
without any coat underneath :" Plutarch. See ii. i, 250, note.
143 Pass this doing. Omit this ceremony.
145 Put them not to V. Press not too hard upon them. Cp.
i- I, 233.
148 With your form. With all formalities that are required
of you.
48 CORIOLANUS [Act n
Cor. To brag unto them, thus I did, and thus ;
Show them the unaching scars which I should hide,
As if I had received them for the hire
Of their breath only !
Men. Do not stand upon 't.
We recommend to you, tribunes of the people,
Our purpose to them : and to our noble consul
Wish we all joy and honour.
Senators. To Coriolanus come all joy and honour !
[Flourish of cornets, Exeimt all but SiCiNius and
Brutus.
Bru. You see how he intends to use the people.
Sic. May they perceive 's intent ! He will require them.
As if he did contemn what he requested i6i
Should be in them to give.
Bru. Come, we '11 inform them
Of our proceedings here : on the market-place,
I know, they do attend us. {Exeunt,
SCENE III. — The same. The Forum,
Enter seven or eight Citizens.
First Cit. Once, if he do require our voices, we ought
not to deny him.
Sec. Cit. We may, sir, if we will.
Third Cit. We have power in ourselves to do it, but
it is a power that we have no power to do ; for if he show
us his wounds and tell us his deeds, we are to put our
tongues into those wounds and speak for them ; so, if he
tell us his noble deeds, we must also tell him our noble
acceptance of them. Ingratitude is monstrous, and for
the multitude to be ingrateful, were to make a monster of
the multitude ; of the which we being members, shoulH
bring ourselves to be monstrous members. 14
152 Unaching. Painless ; to be forgotten therefore. Cp. iii.
3, 52 : ** scars to move laughter only."
154 Their breath. Their voices for my election.
156 Our pic^'pose to them. What we propose to them.
161 * That the consulship he sues for should be theirs to give.*
I Once. Once for all. So Com. of Err. iii. i, 89 — " Once
this."
5 A power that we have no power to do. A right that we
cannot exercise. Legally, we can ; morally, we cannot.
Scene 3] CORIOLANUS 49
First Cit. And to make us no better thought of,
a little help will serve ; for once we stood up about the
corn, he himself stuck not to call us the many-headed
multitude.
Third Cit. We have been called so of many ; not that
our heads are some brown, some black, some auburn,
some bald, but that our wits are so diversely coloured :
and truly I think if all our wits were to issue out of one
skull, they would fly east, west, north, south, and their
consent of one direct way should be at once to all the
points o' the compass. 26
Sec. Cit. Think you so ? Which way do you judge
my wit would fly ?
Third Cit. Nay, your wit will not so soon out as
another man's will ; 'tis strongly wedged up in a block-
head, but if it were at liberty, 'twould, sure, southward.
Sec. Cit. Why that way?
Third Cit. To lose itself in a fog, where being three
parts melted away with rotten dews, the fourth would
return for conscience sake, to help to get thee a wife.
Sec. Cit. You are never without your tricks ; you may,
you may. 39
Third Cit. Are you all resolved to give your voices ?
But that's no matter, the greater part carries it. I say, if
he would incline to the people, there was never a worthier
man.
[Enter CORIOLANUS tn a gown of humility, with
Menenius.
Here he comes, and in the gown of humility: mark his beha-
viour. We are not to stay all together, but to come by him
where he stands, by ones, by twos, and by threes. He's
16 For, Because.
18 The many-headed multitude. The ttolkIXov kuI x6\vKi<pa\ov
driplov of Plato (Rep. ix. p. 588) represents, in men or states,
the multifarious appetites of human nature, turbulent and strong :
of the three principles — rational, ambitious, appetitive — the last
and lowest in the scale. So Horace to the Roman public —
**Bellua multorum es capitum. Nam quid sequar aut quern?"
24 Their consent^ etc. They would agree to disagree : their
one way would be at once to go all ways.
39 You mayy you may. Have your joke out. Pray go on.
So Tro. and Cress, iii. I, 118.
50 CORIOLANUS [Act II
to make his requests by particulars ; wherein every one
of us has a single honour, in giving him our own voices
with our own tongues : therefore follow me, and I '11
direct you how you shall go by him. 52
All. Content, content. {Exeunt Citizens.
Men. O sir, you are not right : have you not known
The worthiest men have done 't ?
Cor. What must I say 1
' I pray, sir,' — Plague upon 't ! I cannot bring
My tongue to such a pace : — ^ Look, sir, my wounds !
I got them in my country's service, when
Some certain of your brethren roar'd and ran
From the noise of our own drums.'
Men. O me, the gods ! 60
You must not speak of that : you must desire them
To think upon you.
Cor. Think upon me ! hang 'em !
I would they would forget me, like the virtues
Which our divines lose by 'em.
Men. You '11 mar all :
I '11 leave you : pray you, speak to 'em, I pray you,
In wholesome manner. \Exit
Cor. Bid them wash their faces
And keep their teeth clean. {Re-enter two of the Citizens.
So, here comes a brace. {Re-enter a third Citizen.
You know the cause, sir, of my standing here.
Third Cit. We do, sir ; tell us what hath brought
you to 't. 70
Cor. Mine own desert.
Sec. Cit. Your own desert !
Cor. Ay, but not mine own desire.
Third Cit. How not your own desire ?
Cor. No, sir, 't was never my desire yet to trouble the
poor with begging.
48 By particulars. Addressing himself to us * particularly '
one by one.
49 Has a single honour. Is specially and personally honoured.
64 Like the virtues which our divines lose by 'em. As they for-
get the virtues which our divines, (cp. the allusion to graves in the
churchyard, iii. 3, 51,) in pure waste preach to them.
66 Wholesome. Rational. So Hamlet iii. 2, 328 : ** Cuil,
If it shall please you to make me a wholesome answer . . . Ham,
Sir, I cannot . . . my wit 's diseased. "
Scene 3] CORIOLANUS 51
Third Cit. You must think, if we give you any thing,
we hope to gain by you. 79
Cor. Well then, I pray, your price o' the consulship ?
First Cit. The price is to ask it kindly.
Cor. Kindly ! Sir, I pray, let me ha 't : I have wounds
to show you, which shall be yours in private. Your good
voice, sir ; what say you ?
Sec. Cit. You shall ha' it, worthy sir.
Cor. a match, sir. There 's in all two worthy voices
begged. I have your alms : adieu.
Third Cit. But this is something odd. 89
Sec. Cit. An 't were to give again, — but 't is no matter.
[Exeunt the three Citizens.
Re-enter two other Citizens.
Cor. Pray you now, if it may stand with the tune of
your voices that I may be consul, I have here the cus-
tomary gown.
Fourth Cit. You have deserved nobly of your country,
and you have not deserved nobly.
Cor. Your enigma 1
Fourth Cit. You have been a scourge to her enemies,
you have been a rod to her friends ; you have not indeed
loved the common people. 99
Cor. You should account me the more virtuous that I
have not been common in my love. I will, sir, flatter my
sworn brother, the people, to earn a dearer estimation of
them : 'tis a condition"^ they account gentle : and since
the wisdom of their choice is rather to have my hat than
my heart, I will practise the insinuating nod and be off to
them most counterfeitly ; that is, sir, I will counterfeit the
bewitchment of some popular man and give it bountiful to
the desirers. • Therefore, beseech you, I may be consul. 1 10
Fifth Cit. We hope to find you our friend; and there-
fore give you our voices heartily.
Fourth Cit. You have received many wounds for
your country.
91 If it may stand with. If it be not inconsistent with.
96 Your enigma 1 How shall I read your riddle ?
103 'Tis a condition they account gentle. The disposition,
namely, to flatter them.
107 Be off to them, Ofl* with my hat.
52 CORIOLANUS [Act II
Cor. I will not seal your knowledge with showing
them. I will make much of your voices, and so trouble
you no further.
Both Cit. The gods give you joy, sir, heartily ! {Exeunt
Cor. Most sweet voices !
Better it is to die, better to sterve,* 129
Than crave the hire which first we do deserve.
Why in this -f woolvish toge should I stand here.
To beg of Hob and Dick, that do appear.
Their needless vouches ? Custom calls me to 't :
What custom wills, in all things should we do 't,
The dust on antique time would lie unswept,
And mountainous error be too highly heapt
For truth to o'er-peer. Rather than fool it so,
Let the high office and the honour go
To one that would do thus. — I am half through ; 130
The one part suffer'd, the other will I do.
Re-enter three Citizens 7nore,
Here come moe"^ voices.
115 Seal your knowledge. Confirm it.
116 I will make much of your voices — Which you have given
me : content myself with them, and ask for no more of your
company.
122 Toge Steevens conj. tongue Folio i : gozvn Folios 2, 3, 4.
Of 'woolvish,' so spelt in all the Folios, Coleridge asks — "Does
' woolvish ' mean 'made of wool?' If it means 'wolfish,' what
is the sense?" * Wolfish* has been explained (i) as =' shaggy,'
or ' coarse ; ' (2) ' hypocritical ' — a strangely tortuous allusion to
the wolf in sheep's clothing. But, if ' woolvish * can mean
'woollen,* it is either contemptuous, like "woollen vassals,"
(iii. 2, 9,) or, since there was "no coat underneath the poor
gown," it may perhaps be explained by comparison with Love's
L. L. V. 2, 716, "I have no shirt, I go woolward for penance.**
[Perhaps Shakspere wrote zvoollish (or woolish) — the strangeness
of the word suggesting either repugnance or contempt.]
123 Hob and Dick. Roman roughs with names of English
rustics.
124 Their needless vouches. The voice of the senate, he
means, should need no such confirmation by the voice of the
people.
127 Mountainous error. Error, a dust-heap mountain-high.
129 * Let it go,' he says : then suddenly changes his mind.
Scene 3] CORIOLANUS 53
Your voices : for your voices I have fought ;
Watched for your voices ; for your voices bear
Of wounds two dozen odd ; battles thrice six
I have seen and heard of ; for your voices have
Done many things, some less, some more : your voices :
Indeed, I would be consul.
Sixth Cit. He has done nobly, and cannot go without
any honest man's voice. 140
Seventh Cit. Therefore let him be consul : the gods
give him joy, and make him good friend to the people !
All Cit. Amen, amen. God save thee, noble consul !
[Exeujit,
Cor. Worthy voices !
• Re-enter Menenius, with Brutus a7td Sicinius.
Men. You have stood your limitation ;* and the tribunes
Endue you with the people's voice : remains
That, in the official marks invested, you
Anon do meet the senate.
Cor. Is this done?
Sic. The custom of request you have discharged :
The people do admit you, and are summoned 150
To meet anon,"^ upon your approbation.
Cor. Where ? at the senate-house ?
Sic. There, Coriolanus.
Cor. May I change these garments ?
Sic. You may, sir.
Cor. That I '11 straight do; and, knowing myself again,
Repair to the senate-house.
Men. I '11 keep you company. Will you along?
134 Watched for your voices. Passed sleepless nights for
them.
136 / have seen and heard of. Contemptuously, *have had
more or less acquaintance with.'
146 Your limitation. As much as is required of you ; the
prescribed amount of standing.
147 Remains. Where we say it remains ; the subject being
* that you do meet the senate. ' The usual construction of imper-
sonal verbs (so called) in our old writers : e.g. Spens. F. Q. i. i,
130 : *' With holy father sits not with such things to mell."
152 Upon your approbation. For the purpose of approving,
confirming your election. So above, ii. 2, 58: **we are con-
vented upon a pleasing treaty."
54 CORIOLANUS [Act II
Bru. We stay here for the people.
Sic. Fare you well.
[Exeunt Coriolanus and Menenius.
He has it now, and by his looks methinks
'Tis warm at 's heart. i6o
Bru. With a proud heart he wore his humble weeds. *
Will you dismiss the people }
Re-enter Citizens.
Sic. How now, my masters ! have you chose this man ?
First Cit. He has our voices, sir.
Bru. We pray the gods he may deserve your loves.
Sec. Cit. Amen, sir : to my poor unworthy notice.
He mock'd us when he begg'd our voices.
Third Cit. Certainly
He flouted us downright.
First Cit. No, 't is his kind of speech : he did not
mock us.
Sec. Cit. Not one amongst us, save yourself, but
says 170
He used us scornfully : he should have showed us
His marks of merit, wounds received for 's country.
Sic. Why, so he did, I am sure.
Citizens. No, no ; no man saw 'em.
Third Cit. He said he had wounds, which he could
show in private ;
And with his hat, thus waving it in scorn,
* I would be consul/ says he : ^ aged custom,
But by your voices, will not so permit me ;
Your voices therefore.' When we granted that,
Here was ' I thank you for your voices : thank you :
Your most sweet voices : now you have left your voices,
I have no further with you.' Was not this mockery ? 181
Sic. Why either were you ignorant to see 't,
160 'Tis warm at^s heart. There is rage in his heart.
166 My poor u7vworthy notice. My humble powers of observa-
tion.
176 Aged custotn. Perhaps custom personified — "Use and
wont, gray sisters." Or, more probably, Shakspere had
forgotten that consular government was only eighteen years old.
So iii. 3, 17, "the old prerogative."
1 77 Will not so per??tit me. Permit me to be so, to be consul.
182 Ignorant to see V. Blind to it, too ignorant to see it.
Scene 3] CORIOLANUS 55
Or, seeing it, of such childish friendliness
To yield your voices ?
Bru. Could you not have told him
As you were lessonM, when he had no power,
But was a petty servant to the state.
He was your enemy, ever spake against
Your liberties and the charters that you bear
r the body of the weal* ; and now, arriving*
A place of potency and sway o' the state, 190
If he should still malignantly remain
Fast foe to the plebeii, your voices might
Be curses to yourselves ? You should have said
That as his worthy deeds did claim no less
Than what he stood for, so his gracious nature
Would think upon you for your voices and
Translate* his malice towards you into love,
Standing your friendly lord.
Sic. Thus to have said,
As you were fore-advised, had touch'd his spirit
And tried his inclination ; from him pluck'd 200
Either his gracious promise, which you might.
As cause had calFd you up, have held him to ;
Or else it would have gall'd his surly nature,
Which easily endures not article*
Tying him to aught ; so putting him to rage,
You should have ta'en the advantage of his choler
And passed him unelected.
Bru. Did you perceive
He did solicit you in free contempt
When he did need your loves, and do you think
That his contempt shall not be bruising to you, 210
When he hath power to crush ? Why, had your bodies
No heart among you ? or had you tongues to cry
183 Of stick childish friendUness to yield. So childishly good-
natured as to yield.
192 Plebeii. See i. 9, 7, note.
195 Would stand. Would, you doubted not.
198 Standing. Understand he from his gracious naiwe.
202 Cause. Occasion. Cp. i. 6, 83.
212 Heart. Sense, wisdom. Cp. i. I, 120, ** the counsellor
heart." So, in Latin, cor^ cordatiis.
ib. Tongues to cry out, etc. Rebellious tongues, clamorous
against the dictates of common sense.
56 CORIOLANUS [Act II
Against the rectorship of judgment ?
Sic. Have you
Ere now denied the asker ? and now again
On him that did not ask, but mock, bestow
Your sued-for tongues ?
Third Cit. He's not confirmed ; we may deny him yet.
Sec. Cit. And will deny him :
I '11 have five hundred voices of that sound.
First Cit. I twice five hundred and their friends to
piece 'em. 220
Bru. Get you hence instantly, and tell those friends,
They have chose a consul that will from them take
Their liberties ; make them of no more voice
Than dogs that are as often beat for barking
As therefore kept to do so.
Sic. Let them assemble,
And on a safer judgment all revoke
Your ignorant election ; enforce his pride,
And his old hate unto you ; besides, forget not
With what contempt he wore the humble weed,"^
How in this suit he scorn'd you ; but your loves, 230
Thinking upon his services, took from you
The apprehension of his present portance,"'^ which
Most gibingly, ungravely, he did fashion
After the inveterate hate he bears you.
Bru. Lay
A fault on us, your tribunes ; that we laboured,
No impediment between, but that you must
Cast your election on him.
Sic. Say, you chose him
215 On him, Theobald. Of hint, Ff: a natural confusion,
arising from the use of on, colloquially, for of.
216 Yoicr sued for tongues. Accustomed to be sued for,
220 To piece ^etn. To supplement them, piece them out.
223 Of no more voice. No more authority.
224 * Dogs that are kept on purpose that they may bark, and
yet are often beaten for their pains. '
227 Enfo7'ce. Urge, dwell upon.
238 After. According to. So below, 238, ** after our com-
mandment."
236 No iuipediment between. No obstacle being left in the
way. Say that we so laboured for him, that no obstacle was left
which might have made it possible for you to reject him.
Scenes] CORIOLANUS 57
More after our commandment than as guided
By your own true affections, and that your minds,
Pre-occupied with what you rather must do 240
Than what you should, made you against the grain "'^
To voice him consul : lay the fault on us.
Bru. Ay, spare us not. Say we read lectures to you,
How youngly he began to serve his country.
How long continued, and what stock he springs of.
The noble house o' the Marcians, from whence came
That Ancus Marcius, Numa's daughter's son.
Who, after great Hostilius, here was king ;
Of the same house Publius and Quintus were.
That our best water brought by conduits hither : 250
And [Censorinus,] nobly named so,
Twice being [by the people chosen] censor,
Was his great ancestor.
Sic. One thus descended,
That hath beside well in his person wrought
To be set high in place, we did commend
To your remembrances : but you have found,
Scaling* his present bearing with his past,
That he 's your fixed enemy, and revoke
Your sudden approbation.
Bru. Say, you ne'er had done 't —
Harp on that still — but by our putting on ; 260
239 Affections. Feelings.
251 — 2 And Censorinus .... ancestor. The Folios have —
"And nobly nam'd, so twice being Censor
Was his great Ancestor. "
The life of Coriolanus, in North's Plutarch, begins thus : "The
house of the Martians at Rome was of the number of the
patricians, .... Of the same house was Publius and Quintus,
who brought to Rome their best water they had by conduits.
Censorinus also came of that family, that was so surnamed because
the people had chosen him censor twice." From this the text
has been variously restored. The reading given above is that of
the Cambridge Editors. After the allusions to Cato and Galen,
it does not surprise us to be reminded that there were no censors
at Rome till 48 years after the banishment of Coriolanus, and that
the noble personages here mentioned (with the exception of Ancus)
were his descendants, not his ancestors.
260 Onr putting on. Our instigation. So Henry VIII. i. 2,
24, "putter-on of these exactions."
S8 CORIOLANUS [Act III
And presently, when you have drawn your number,
Repair to the Capitol.
All. We will so : almost all
Repent in their election. [Exeunt Citizens.
Bru. Let them go on ;
This mutiny were better put in hazard,
Than stay, past doubt, for greater :
If, as his nature is, he fall in rage
With their refusal, both observe and answer
The vantage of his anger.
Sic. To the Capitol, come :
We will be there before the stream o' the people :
And this shall seem, as partly 't is, their own, 270
Which we have goaded onward. [Exeunt,
ACT III.
SCENE I,— Rome. A street.
Cornets. Enter Coriolanus, Menenius, all the Gentry,
CoMiNius, Titus Lartius, and other Senators.
Cor. Tullus Aufidius then had made new head ?
Lart. He had, my lord ; and that it was which caused
Our swifter composition.*
Cor. So then the Volsces stand but as at first,
Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make road
Upon 's again.
Com. They are worn, lord consul, so,
That we shall hardly in our ages see
Their banners wave again.
261 Drawn. So i. 6, 83, *'draw out my command."
263 Repent in their election. Not ' repent that they elected
him,' which would require of, but * elect him with altered feel-
ings,' 'feel differently in electing him.' His election is not yet
completed.
266 Fall in rage. In — into . So iii. 1,33, * * fall in broil. " Jul.
Cses. i. 3, 60, " You cast yourself in wonder." So to fall in lave.
268 Answer the vantage. " Improve the opportunity " (John-
son), be ready for it, equal to it.
270 Shall seem, etc. Shall seem their own — which indeed it
partly is, though goaded on by us.
I Made ncw head. See ii. 2, 92, note.
7 In our ages. In this age, the age of any of us. Cp. for
the plural, ii. i, 260, 264 — " our authorities," *' their freedoms."
Scene l] CORIOLANUS 59
Cor. Saw you Aufidius ?
Lart. On safe-guard he came to me ; and did curse
Against the Volsces, for they had so vilely 10
Yielded the town : he is retired to Antium.
Cor. Spoke he of me ?
Lart. He did, my lord,
Cor. How ? what ?
Lart. How often he had met you, sword to sword ;
That of all things upon the earth he hated
Your person most, that he would pawn his fortunes
To hopeless restitution, so he might
Be call'd your vanquisher.
Cor. At Antium lives he ?
Lart. At Antium.
Cor. I wish I had a cause to seek him there,
To oppose his hatred fully. Welcome home. 20
jEnUr SiciNius and Brutus.
Behold, these are the tribunes of the people.
The tongues o' the common mouth : I do despise them ;
For they do prank* them in authority,
Against all noble sufferance.
Sic. Pass no further.
Cor. Ha ! 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 pass'd the noble and the common ?
Bru. Cominius, no.
Cor. Have I had children's voices ? 30
First Sen. Tribunes, give way ; he shall to the market-
place,
9 On safe-guard. So i. 10,25 — " upon my brother's guard. "
16 To hopeless restitution — ^o hopelessness (impossibility) of
restitution.
20 To oppose his hatred. To meet hate with hate.
23 Prank them in authority. Cp. Meas. for Meas. ii. 2, 1 18
— " Drest in a little brief authority."
24 Against all noble sufferance. Their assumption of authority
offends the long-suffering patricians.
29 Passed. Been approved by.
ib. The noble and the common. The nobility and the com-
monalty, (what is noble and what is common.) So the co?n7non,
i. I, 155.
6o CORIOLANUS [Act III
BrU. The people are incensed against him.
Sic. Stop,
Or all will fall in broil."^
Cor. Are these your herd?
Must these have voices, that can yield them now
And straight disclaimtheir 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 purposed thing, and grows by plot,
To curb the will of the nobility :
Suffer 't, and live with such as cannot rule 40
Nor ever will be ruled.
Bru. Call 't not a plot :
The people cry you mock'd them, and of late.
When corn was given them gratis, you repined ;
Scandal'd* the suppliants for the people, call'd them
Time-pleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness.
Cor. Why, this was known before.
Bru. Not to them all.
Cor. Have you informed them sithence* ?
Bru. How ! I inform them !
Com. You are like to do such business.
Bru. Not unlike,
Each way, to better yours.
Cor. Why then should I be consul ? By yond clouds, 50
Let me deserve so ill as you, and make me
Your fellow tribune.
Sic. You show too much of that
For which the people stir : if you will pass
To where you are bound, you must inquire your way,
Which you are out of, with a gentler spirit.
Or never be so noble as a consul,
Nor yoke with him for tribune.
Men. Let 's be calm.
Com. The people are abused ; set on. This paltering*
Becomes not Rome, nor has Coriolanus
40 Suffer V and live. Suffer it now and you will have to live
henceforth.
49 Each way, every way. — Yours, your way.
5 r Let me deserve so ill as you . Raise me to your bad eminence.
58 Abused. Deceived.
ib. Set on. Goon, set out. Jul. Cass. ii. i, 331 — **set on
Scene l] CORIOLANUS 6i
Deserved this so dishonoured rub,"^ laid falsely 60
V the plain way of his merit.
Cor. Tell me of corn !
This was my speech, and I will speak 't again —
Men. Not now, not now.
First Sen. Not in this heat, sir, now.
Cor. Now, as I live, I will. My nobler friends,
I crave their pardons :
For the mutable, rank-scented many,* let them
Regard me as I do not flatter, and
Therein behold themselves : I say again,
In soothing"^ them, we nourish 'gainst our senate
The cockle* o' rebellion, insolence, sedition, 70
Which we ourselves have ploughed for, sow'd, and scatter'd,
By mingling them with us, the honoured number,
Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that
Which they have given to beggars.
Men. Well, no more.
First Sen. No more words, we beseech you.
Cor. How ! no more !
As for my country I have shed my blood.
Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungs
Coin words till their decay against those measles,
Which we disdain should tetter"^ us, yet sought
The very way to catch them.
Bru. You speak o' the people.
As if you were a god to punish, not 81
A man of their infirmity.
Sic. 'T were well
We let the people know 't.
Men. What, what ? his choler ?
your foot ; " iv. 3, 308 — " bid him set on his powers ; " v. 2, 3
— "let them set on at once."
60 Dishonour'' d. Dishonourable. — Falsely^ treacherously.
61 /' the plain way of his merit : making rough the smooth
path by which he has deserved to come to honour.
67 Regard me as I do not flatter. As — that : * regard this in
me, that I am no flatterer, and in this, in my plain speaking,
behold themselves.'
78 Against those measles. 'Measles' sometimes = lepers. But
he rather compares the commons to a disease, with which the
state is smitten.
83 What, whati his choler 1 Would you repeat the rasli
words of an angry mar. ?
62 CORIOLANUS [Act III
Cor. Choler!
Were I as patient as the midnight sleep,
By Jove, 't would be my mind !
Sic. It is a mind
That shall remain a poison where it is.
Not poison any further.
Cor. Shall remain !
Hear you this Triton of the minnows ? mark you
His absolute * shall ? '
Com. 'T was from the canon.
Cor. ' Shair ! 90
O good but most unwise patricians ! why,
You grave but reckless senators, have you thus
Given Hydra here to choose an officer.
That with his peremptory ^ shall,' being but
The horn and noise o' the monsters, wants not spirit
To say he '11 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, lOO
Let them have cushions, by you. You are plebeians,
If they be senators : and they are no less,
When, both your voices blended, the greatest taste
89 TAis Triton of the minnows. This god of little fishes.
90 ^ T was from the canon. It was illegal, he exceeded his
powers. From — 2i\v^y from : as Jul. Cass. i. 3, 35 : "Clean from
the purpose of the things themselves."
93 Hydra here. Cp. ii. 3, 18, *' the many-headed multitude."
95 Horn and noise. They blow through him — he is their
clamour. So before, l, 36, *'you being their mouths :^^ and i,
22, "tongues of the common mouth." Mo^zsters, ( = monster heads,)
is the reading of the Folios. Perhaps we should read, as some
Edd. do, monster. Dr. Delius and the Cambridge Edd. have o^
the monster'' s — a double genitive, which after the def. art. used
absolutely {^ the horn and noise') can hardly be right.
98 Vail your ignorance. Abase your ignorance — your folly,
fools that you were to give away such power — before him.
ib. Awake your lenity. Shake it off, disturb it. So Othello
ii. 3, 258 — -"to have their balmy slumbers waked with strife."
10 1 Let them have cushions by you. Let the tribunes be
senators too.
103 The gj^eafst taste most palates theirs. * The prevailing
flavour of the whole smacks rather of their voice (their authority)
Scene l] CORIOLANUS 63
Most palates theirs. They choose their magistrate,
And such a one as he, who puts his ' shall/
His popular ' shall/ against a graver bench
Than ever frown'd in Greece. By Jove himself!
It makes the consuls base : and my soul aches
To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither supreme, how soon confusion IIO
May enter 'twixt the gap of both and take
The one by the other.
Com. Well, on to the market-place.
Cor. Whoever gave that counsel, to give forth
The corn o' the storehouse gratis, as 't was used
Sometime in Greece, —
Men. Well, well, no more of that.
Cor. Though there the people had more absolute
power,
I say, they nourished disobedience, fed
The ruin of the state.
Bru. Why, shall the people give
One that speaks thus their voice ?
Cor. 1 11 give my reasons.
More worthier than their voices. They know the
corn 120
Was not our recompense, resting well assured
They ne'er did service for't : being press'd to the war.
Even when the navel of the state was touched.
than of yours.' Judged by results, (the taste it leaves in the
mouth) this dualized government of compromise gives expression
to the popular, rather than to the patrician, will : the tribunicial
nay is stronger than the consular yea. To palate — elsewhere, of
the person who tastes : here, of the thing, or flavour, which
affects the palate.
106 Bench. So ^^;^(:/^<?r= senator, ii. i, 92.
108 My soul aches to know, etc. Notice here (as above, ii. 3,
105), whatever the motive, the wisdom and largeness of view —
of a patriot, rather than a partisan.
Ill' ^ Twixt the gap of both. Through the gap between the
two.
112 By the other. By means of the other.
116 Though there the people had more absolute power. Though
the people are not so formidable at present here as there, none
the less the precedent is disastrous.
121 Not our recompense. Not meant by us as a recompense.
64 CORIOLANUS [Act III
They would not thread the gates. This kind of service
Did not deserve corn gratis. Being i' the war,
Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they showed
Most valour, spoke not for them : the accusation
Which they have often made against the senate,
All cause unborn, could never be the motive
Of our so frank donation. Well, what then .'* 130
How shall this bosom multiplied digest
The senate's courtesy ? Let deeds express
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 debase
The nature of our seats and make the rabble
Call our cares fears ; which will in time
Break ope the locks o' the senate and bring in
The crows to peck the eagles.
Men. Come, enough.
Bru. Enough, with over-measure.
Cor. No, take more : 140
What may be sworn by, both divine and human,
124 Would not thread the gates. Refused to march against
the enemy. Cp. Rich. II. v. 5, 16 —
*' It is as hard to come as for a camel
To thread the postern of a small needle's eye. "
129 All cause unboi-n. 'Without a cause,' *no cause in
nature for their making it.'
ib. Motive. Mason conj. The Folios have native: retaining
which, we must either take it as a subst. = native (or natural)
cause, or understand cause from the beginning of the line.
131 This bosom multiplied. This multitudinous bosom ; the
bosoms of the multitude. Cp. Lear v. 3, 48 —
** Whose age has charms in it, whose title more,
To pluck the comiriojt bosom on his side :"
and (if the metaphor of the bosom's digestion seems strange)
2 Henry IV. i. 3, 97 —
*' So, so, thou common dog, didst thou disgorge
Thy glutton bosom of the royal Richard."
Most editors adopt the MS. correction in Mr. Collier's copy of
the second Folio — this bisson (or bissom) multitude.
132 Let deeds express what^s like to be their words. Their
deeds are sufficient answer to the question : you have seen how
they digest — in what sense they accept — your courtesy.
137 Call our cares fears. When we are careful for them,
thev think we fear them.
141 What may be sworn by, etc. He appeals to all that is
Scene l] CORIOLANUS 65
Seal what I end withal ! This double worship,
Where one part does disdain with cause, the other
Insult without all reason, where gentry, title, wisdom.
Cannot conclude but by the yea and no
Of general ignorance, — it must omit
Real necessities, and give way the while
To unstable slightness* : purpose so barr'd, it follows,
Nothing is done to purpose. Therefore, beseech you, —
You that will be less fearful than discreet, 150
That love the fundamental part of state
More than you doubt the change on% that prefer
A noble life before a long, and wish
To jump a body with a dangerous physic
That 's sure of death without it, at once pluck out
The multitudinous tongue ; let them not lick
The sweet which is their poison : your dishonour
Mangles true judgment and bereaves the state
Of that integrity which should become 't,
most sacred in heaven and earth to give force to what he is now
about to urge — his proposal to abolish the tribunate.
142 Worship. Dignity (worthiness) of senate and of tribunes.
144 Without all reason. So Henry VIII. iv. i, 113, "with-
out all cause ;" and above, I, 129, *'all cause unborn."
ib. Gentry. Gentle blood.
145 * Can determine nothing but with the assent of an igno-
rant populace.'
148 UnstaTjle slightness. The feebleness of vacillation.
150 Less fearful than discreet. He does not disguise the
danger of the course that he advises, but to be fearless here is
true discretion, for it is the single chance of safety.
152 More than you doubt the change on''t. More than you
fear its downfall — should you fail.
154 To ju7np a body, etc. Kill or cure — neck or nothing.
'Yo jump the ailing body — as it were, to put it at a desperate leap.
So Ant. and Cle. iii. 8, 5 — " Our fortune lies upon this jump:''
and Macb. i. 7, 7 — "We '\djump {i.e. chance) the life to come."
155 Pluck out the multitudinous tongue. Abolish the tribun-
ate. Cp. above, i, 22 : "thetongues of the common mouth."
157 Their poison. In a larger spirit again, identifying the
true interests (as he conceives them) of the commons with those
of the patricians. Steevens compares Meas. for Meas. i, 2, 133
— "Like rats that ravin down their proper bane."
158 Mangles. Distorts.
159 Integrity. Thoroughness and singleness of purpose.
66 CORIOLANUS [Act III
Not having the power to do the good it would, i6o
For the ill which doth control 't.
Bru. He has said enough.
Sic. He has spoken like a traitor, and shall answer
As traitors do.
Cor. Thou wretch, despite"^ o'erwhelm thee !
What should the people do with these bald* tribunes ?
On whom depending, their obedience fails
To the greater bench : in a rebellion,
When what 's not meet, but what must be, was law.
Then were they chosen : in a better hour.
Let what is meet be said it must be meet, 170
And throw their power i' the dust.
Bru. Manifest treason !
Sic. This a consul ? no,
Bru. The sediles, ho !
Enter a7t ^dile.
Let him be apprehended.
Sic. Go, call the people : {Exit -^dile] in whose name
myself
Attach* thee as a traitorous innovator,
A foe to the public weal* : obey, I charge thee,
And follow to thine answer.
Cor. Hence, old goat !
Senators, &c. We '11 surety him.
Com. Aged sir, hands off.
Cor. Hence, rotten thing ! or I shall shake thy bones
Out of thy garments.
Sic. Help, ye citizens ! 180
Enter a rabble of Citizens (Plebeians), with the ^diles.
Men. On both sides more respect.
Sic. Here 's he that would take from you all your power.
Bru. Seize him, aediles !
Citizens. Down with him ! down with him !
Senators, &c. Weapons, weapons, weapons !
{They all bustle about Coriolanus, crying
' Tribunes ! ' * Patricians ! ' ' Citizens ! ' ' What, ho ! *
* Sicinius ! ' ^ Brutus ! ' * Coriolanus ! ' * Citizens ! '
170 It must be meet. *lt is meet* and *it must be* no longer
sundered.
177 To thine anyiver. To thine account.
Scene l] CORIOLANUS 67
* Peace, peace, peace ! ' ' Stay, hold, peace ! '
Men. What is about to be ? I am out of breath ;
Confusion's near ; I cannot speak. You, tribunes 190
To the people ! Coriolanus, patience !
Speak, good Sicinius.
Sic. Hear me, people ; peace !
Citizens. Let 's hear our tribune : peace ! Speak,
speak, speak.
Sic. You are at point to lose your liberties :
Marcius would have all from you ; Marcius,
Whom late you have named for consul.
Men. Fie, fie, fie !
This is the way to kindle, not to quench.
First Sen. To unbuild the city and to lay all flat.
Sic. What is the city but the people ?
Citizens. True,
The people are the city. 200
Bru. By the consent of all, we were established
The people's magistrates.
Citizens. You so remain.
Men. And so are like to do.
Com. That is the way to lay the city flat ;
To bring the roof to the foundation.
And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges.
In heaps and piles of ruin.
Sic. This deserves death.
Bru. Or let us stand to our authority,
Or let us lose it. We do here pronounce,
Upon the part o' the people, in whose power 210
We were elected theirs, Marcius is worthy
Of present death.
Sic. Therefore lay hold of him ;
Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from thence
Into destruction cast him.
Bru. -^diles, seize him !
Citizens. Yield, Marcius, yield !
191 To the people = of the people.
199 ws ovMv iariv oiire inupyos oijre yaOs
'4p7][XOS dvdpQv /JLT] ^VV0LK0VVT0)V '4(703.
203 And so are like to do. To appease them — ignoring what
Coriolanus had said.
206 All which yet distinctly ranges. The fabric which stands as
yet, from end to end, in ali its due proportions — every part perfect.
68 CORIOLANUS [Act HI
Men. • Hear me one word ;
Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word.
^D. Peace, peace !
Men. [To Brutus] Be that you seem, truly your
country's friend,
And temperately proceed to what you would
Thus violently redress.
Bru. Sir, those cold ways, 220
That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous
Where the disease is violent. Lay hands upon him,
And bear him to the rock.
Cor. No, I '11 die here. [Drawz7tg his sword.
There 's some among you have beheld me fighting :
Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me.
Men. Down with that sword ! Tribunes, withdraw
awhile.
Bru. Lay hands upon him.
Com. Help Marcius, help.
You that be noble ; help him, young and old !
Citizens. Down with him, down with him !
[lit this jntitiny, the Tribunes, the -^diles, and the
People, are beat in.
Men. Go, get you to your house ; be gone, away ! 230
All will be naught else.
Sec. Sen. Get you gone.
Cor. Stand fast ;
We have as many friends as enemies.
Men. Shall it be put to that 1
First Sen. The gods forbid !
I prithee, noble friend, home to thy house ;
Leave us to cure this cause.
Men. For 't is a sore upon us,
You cannot tent* yourself : be gone, beseech you.
Com. Come, sir, along with us.
Cor. I would they were barbarians — as they are.
Though in Rome litter'd — not Romans — as they are not,
Though calved i' the porch o' the Capitol —
231 All will be naughty will come to nothing : we shall be
undone.
233 To that. To a trial of strength.
236 Which you cannot tent.
Scene 1] CORIOLANUS 69
Men. Be gone ; 240
Put not your worthy rage into your tongue ;
One time will owe another.
Cor. On fair ground
I could beat forty of them.
Com. I could myself.
Take up a brace o' the best of them ; yea, the two tribunes :
But now 't is odds beyond arithmetic ;
And manhood is calFd foolery, when it stands
Against a falling fabric. Will you hence,
Before the tag return ? whose rage doth rend
Like interrupted waters and o'erbear
What they are used to bear.
Men. Pray you, be gone : 250
I '11 try whether my old wit be in request
With those that have but little : this must be patch'd
With cloth of any colour.
Com. Nay, come away.
\Exeimt CoRiOLANUS, Cominius, (^;^<^ others.
A Patrician. This man has marr'd his fortune.
Men. His nature is too noble for the world :
He would not flatter Neptune for his trident,
Or Jove for's power to thunder. His heart's his mouth :
What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent ;
And, being angry, does forget that ever 259
He heard the name of .death. \_A noise withvi.
Here's goodly work !
242 One time will owe another. Our time will come. "Non
si male nunc, et olim Sic erit." To-day's reverse will give us a
claim to another day of better fortune.
246 To resist their fury now would be as foolhardy as to
stand still in the way of a falling house.
248 The tag. Jul. Cces. i. 2, 259 : " The tag-rag people."
Cp. above, i. i, 228 : ** You fragments."
ib. Rend. Intransitive, to be violent.
25 1 Whether, pronounced almost as one syllable ; sometimes
written whir. So whither, iv. i, 34.
252 The quarrel must be patched, no matter how : with con-
cession, if need be, or with flattery.
258 What his b?'east forges, etc. Cp. ** Who have whet their
tongue like a sword, and shoot out their arrows, even bitter
words." — Ps, Ixiv. 3.
259 Does forget. Understand he, Cp. ii. 2, 16, note.
70 CORIOLANUS [Act III
Sec. Pat. I would they were a-bed !
Men. I would they were in Tiber ! What the ven-
geance !
Could he not speak 'em fair ?
Re-enter Brutus and SiciNius, with the rabble.
Sic. Where is this viper
That would depopulate the city and
Be every man himself.?
Men. You worthy tribunes, —
Sic. He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian reck
With rigorous hands : he hath resisted law,
And therefore law shall scorn him further trial
Than the severity of the public power
Which he so sets at nought.
First Cit. He shall well know 270
The noble tribunes are the people's mouths,
And we their hands.
Citizens. He shall, sure on't.
Men. Sir, sir, —
Sic. Peace !
Men. Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt
With modest warrant.
Sic. Sir, how comes 't that you
Have holp to make this rescue .-^
Men. Hear me speak :
As I do know the consul's worthiness.
So can I name his faults, —
Sic. Consul! what consul .f*
Men. The consul Coriolanus.
Bru. He consul ! 280
Citizens. No, no, no, no, no.
Men. If, by the tribunes' leave, and yours, good people,
I may be heard, I would crave a word or two;
268 Punishment is the only trial he shall have.
272 Theii' hands. The tribunes' hands.
ib. Sure on V. No doubt about it. For be sure.
l*jdf Do not cry havoc, etc. You are empowered to pursue
and arrest him, not yourselves to punish him with death. To cry
havoc, in battle, was to give the word to kill and give no quarter .
Perhaps also a hunting phrase. (From A. S. * hafoc, ' destruction :
whence 'hawk.') Cp. Jul. Cses. iii. I, 273: ** Cry havoc, and
let slip the dogs of war."
Scene l] CORIOLANUS 71
The which shall turn you to no further harm
Than so much loss of time.
Sic. Speak briefly then ;
For we are peremptory to dispatch
This viperous traitor : to eject him hence
Were but one danger, and to keep him here
Our certain death : therefore it is decreed
He dies to-night.
Men. Now the good gods forbid 290
That our renowned Rome, whose gratitude
Towards her deserved children is enrolled
In Jove's own book, like an unnatural dam
Should now eat up her own !
Sic. He's a disease that must be cut away.
Men. O, he 's a limb that has but a disease ;
Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy.
What has he done to Rome that 's worthy death ?
Killing our enemies, the blood he hath lost —
Which, I dare vouch,* is more than that he hath, 3CX)
By many an ounce — he dropp'd it for his country;
And what is left, to lose it by his country,
Were to us all, that do 't, and suffer it,
A brand to the end o' the world.
Sic. This is clean kam.*
Bru. Merely* awry : when he did love his country,
It honour'd him.
Men. The service of the foot
Being once gangrened, is not then respected
For what before it was.
284 Twn you to harm. So 3 Henry VI. v, 5, 16 : "And
all the trouble thou hast turned me to."
288 Oiie dangi7'. Either * one continual danger,' or * danger
pure and simple' — as Macb. ii. 2, 63 : "Making the green one red.''
292 Her deserved children. Her children that have deserved
well : a participle, past and active. See iv. 3, 9, note. Not
to be compared with delighted^ for * delightful/ 'dowered
with delight/ (Oth. i. 3, 290: "If virtue no delighted beauty
lack"), and dishonour d iox dishonourable, above i, 60: both
of them adjectives, and formed from the the substantive. {Fair-
spoken seems to be for fair-speeched, being properly no more
a participle than fair-skinned. )
304 Clean kai7i^ Mere perversion and distortion of the truth.
306 Menenius takes up the tribune's speech, and bitterly
72 CORIOLANUS [Act III
Bru. We '11 hear no more.
Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence ;
Lest his infection, being of catching nature, 310
Spread further.
Men. One word more, one word.
This tiger-footed rage, when it shall find
The harm of unscann'd"^ swiftness, will too late
Tie leaden pounds to 's heels. Proceed by process ;
Lest parties, as he is beloved, break out,
And sack great Rome with Romans.
Bru. If it were so, —
Sic. What do ye talk ?
Have we not had a taste of his obedience ?
Our asdiles smote ? ourselves resisted ? Come.
Men. Consider this : he has been bred i^ the wars 320
Since he could draw a sword, and is ill schooled
In bolted"^ language; meal and bran together
He throws without distinction. Give me leave,
I '11 go to him, and undertake to bring him
Where he shall answer, by a lawful form.
In peace, to his utmost peril.
First Sen. Noble tribunes,
It is the humane way : the other course
Will prove too bloody, and the end of it
Unknown to the beginning.
Sic. Noble Menenius,
Be you then as the people's officer. 330
Masters, lay down your weapons.
Bru. Go not home.
Sic. Meet on the market-place. We'll attend you
there :
continues : ** We honoured him then : why should we honour
him now ? Who remembers the sometime service of a rangrened
foot?"
314 7b V = To his. His ox its. See Glossary, /^/j.
316 Brutus w^s gomg on to say — 'That he would obey'j
* if we coidd proceed against him so.*
326 Answei' to his 21 1 most peril. Answer for his life.
328 The end of it tmknown to the beginning. The passions
which you can let loose you cannot control : you can begin,
but not end. Cp. Tempest ii. i, 157: *'The latter end oi
his commonwealth forgets the beginning."
330 It shall devolve on you to bring him to his trial.
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS 73
Where, if you bring not Marcius, we '11 proceed
In our first way.
Men. I '11 bring him to you.
[7i? the Senators] Let me desire your company : he must
come,
Or what is worst will follow.
First Sen. Pray you, let's to him. [Exeunt
SCENE II. — A roojn in CoRlOLANUS's house.
Enter Coriolanus with Patricians.
Cor. Let them pull all about mine ears, present me
Death on the wheel or at wild horses' heels,
Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock.
That the precipitation might down stretch
Below the beam of sight, yet will I still
Be thus to them.
A Patrician. You do the nobler.
Cor. I muse* my mother
Does not approve me further, who was wont
To call them woollen vassals, things created
To buy and sell with groats, to show bare heads 10
In congregations, to yawn, be still and wonder.
When one but of my ordinance stood up
To speak of peace or war.
Enter Volumnia.
I talk of you :
Why did you wish me milder ? would you have me
False to my nature ? Rather say I play
The mai; I am.
Vol. O, sir, sir, sir,
I would have had you put your power well on,
4 Precipitation — precipice.
6 NobltT-^\Q be pronounced noble-er. See i. i, 159, note.
9 Woollen : togati, unfit for war. Or, better, with contempt
of poor and coarse clothing, as in Chaucer, *' borel folk," and in
Mids. N. D. iii. i, 79, *' hempen homespuns."
10 To show hare heads ^ etc. To stand bare-headed, silent,
and admiring, when their betters rise to speak in the assembly.
12 My ordinance. My order, my rank. When . . . dut,
if only such an one should rise.
17 Put yonr powe7"well on. Make yourseli consul.
74 CORIOLANUS [Act III
Before you had worn it out.
Cor. Let go.
Vol. You might have been enough the man you are,
With striving less to be so : lesser had been 20
The thwartings of your dispositions, if
You had not shovv'd them how ye were disposed
Ere they lacked power to cross you.
Cor. Let them hang.
A Patrician. Ay, and burn too.
E7tter Menenius and Senators.
Men. Come, come, you have been too rough, something
too rough ;
You must return and mend it.
First Sen. There's no remedy;
Unless, by not so doing, our good city
Cleave in the midst, and perish.
Vol. Pray, be counsell'd :
I have a heart as little apt as yours.
But yet a brain that leads my use of anger 30
To better vantage.
Men. Well said, noble woman !
Before he should thus stoop to the herd, but that*
The violent fit* o' the time craves it as physic
For the whole state, I would put mine armour on,
Which I can scarcely bear.
Cor. What must I do ?
Men. Return to the tribunes.
Cor. Well, what then } what then ?
Men. Repent what you have spoke.
Cor. For them ! I cannot do it to the gods ;
20 Lesser had been^ etc. Your disposition would have been
less thwarted had you kept it to yourself till you could indulge it
in despite of opposition.
21 77/7£/<7r/m^^ Theobald conj. things Yi.
26 There'' s 7to retftedy, etc. You must do this, or else — there
is one alternative — the state must perish.
29 This line has been altered by most editors, and is marked
as corrupt in the Globe Ed. But apt means willing, teachable,
(as we say, *' an apt scholar.") Dr. Delius compares Henry V.
V. 2, 412 : " Is she not apt?" Hamlet, i. 5, 32 : **I find thee
apt." So Twelfth Night, v. i, 135: "most jocund, apt, and
willingly."
32 He7'd Theobald conj. heart Ff.
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS 75
Must I then do 't to them ?
Vol. You are too absolute ;
Though therein you can never be too noble, 40
But when extremities speak. I have heard you say,
Honour and policy,* like unsever'd friends,
r the war do grow together : grant that, and tell me,
In peace what each of them by the other lose,
That they combine not there.
Cor. Tush, tush !
Men. a good demand.
Vol. If it be honour in your wars to seem
The same you are not, which, for your best ends,
You adopt your policy, how is it less or worse,
That it shall hold companionship in peace
With honour, as in war, since that"'^ to both 50
It stands in like request ?
Cor. Why force you this ?
Vol. Because that"^ now it lies you on to speak
To the people ; not by your own instruction,
Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you,
39 Absolute. Positive, making no exceptions, allowing for
nothing.
41 Speak — and demand to be heard.
44 Lose, What they lose by each other.
47 The same you are not. The strongest possible instance of
the merely demonstrative use of the sa7?ie, like * derselbe. *
48 Your policy. As your policy. //, the policy of seeming
other than you are.
50 To doth. Such policy is as necessary, belongs as much,
to peace as to war.
51 Force: as enfoixe^ ii. 3, 227.
52 It lies you on: *es liegt dir auf.' Cp. Rich. III. iv. 2, 59:
"It stands me much upon To stop all hopes :" and Rich. II. ii. 3,
138 : "It stands your grace upon to do him right." See Abbott,
Sh. G. 204.
53 Not by your own instruction. Not saying what you your-
self instruct yourself to say. Instruction^ pronounced as four
syllables.
54 Pi'ompts you : Folio i. The 2nd Folio "^12,% prompts you
to, making heart much less emphatic. Steevens is wrong in
saying that the verse wants the additional syllable. With it,
matter is virtually one syllable ; without it, two. For the ap-
parently trochaic ending, we have in reality, by laying a strong
emphasis on heart, two unaccented syllables. Cp. 2 Henry IV.
i. I, 87: ''YQt speak, Morton."
76 CORIOLANUS [Act III
But with such words that are but roted''^ in
Your tongue, though but bastards and syllables
Of no allowance* to your bosom's truth.
Now, this no more dishonours you at all
Than to take in a town with gentle words,
Which else would put you to your fortune and 60
The hazard of much blood.
I would dissemble with my nature where
My fortunes and my friends at stake required
I should do so in honour : I am in this
Your wife, your son, these senators, the nobles ;
And you will rather show our general louts
How you can frown than spend a fawn upon 'em,
For the inheritance"^ of their loves and safeguard
Of what that want might ruin.
Men. Noble lady !
Come, go with us ; speak fair : you may salve so, 70
Not what is dangerous present, but the loss
Of what is past.
Vol. I prithee now, my son.
Go to them, with this bonnet in thy hand ;
And thus far having stretch'd it — here be with them —
55 Roted in your tongue: roated Ff. : rooted Johnson conj.
For roted, see Glossary. For the use of in, cp. Ps. cxxxix. 3 :
' ' Lo, there is not a word in my tongue, but thou, O Lord,
knowest it altogether."
56 Though hit bastards, etc. To speak these words, although
*your bosom's truth' repudiates them as false pretenders, un-
worthy recognition.
59 To take iit. See i. 2, 24, note.
60 Put you to your fortune. To gain which you would otherwise
have to commit yourselves to fortune — to the chances of a battle.
62 Where my forttmes, etc. If, to save my fortunes and my
friends, I were in honour bound to do so.
64 I am in this your wife, etc. I speak for them.
66 And—2C[i^y^\.. Our general louts, \\\(t\oVi\\^\r£iQ^i.
69 That want. The want of "a fawn" bestowed upon them.
71 What is dangerous pi'esent. Present-dangerous, the pre-
sent danger. * Fair words will prove a remedy that will — not,
avert the present danger : much more than that — they will recover
all that your rash words have lost. ' Not, for not only : but more
emphatic. So next scene, 97.
73 This bo7znet . . . thus far. She takes up his cap, and
performs the needful salutation.
74 Here be with them. Satisfy them in this.
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS 77
Thy knee bussing the stones — for in such business
Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant,
More learned than the ears — waving thy head,
Which often, thus, correcting thy stout heart,
Now humble as the ripest mulberry
That will not hold the handling — say to them, 80
Thou art their soldier, and being bred in broils
Hast not the soft way which, thou dost confess,
Were fit for thee to use as they to claim,
In asking their good loves, but thou wilt frame
Thyself, forsooth, hereafter theirs, so far
As thou hast power and person.
Men. This but done,
Even as she speaks, why, their hearts were yours ;
For they have pardons, being ask'd, as free
As words to little purpose.
Vol. Prithee now,
Go, and be ruled : although I know thou hadst rather 90
Follow thine enemy in a fiery gulf
Than flatter him in a bower. "^ Here is Cominius.
76 Action is eloquence. As Demosthenes is said to have held
it an orator's first need, his second, and his third.
78 Which often . . . humble. Often is the emphatic word :
■ * waving thy head — and remember to do it often enough. ' Humble
is a verb, imperative mood. Thus — as before, shewing him how it
must be done. Cp. Hamlet ii. I, 93: "And thrice his head
thus waving up and down."
80 That tvill not hold the handling. Hold to the tree whilst
you handle it : will not give you time to pick it, but drop at a
touch.
ib. Handling— say to them Hanmer conj. handling: or say
to them Ff. Or deranges the construction of the sentence, and
seems to spoil the meaning. Without it, the connection (omitting
parentheses) is, ' Go . . . with this bonnet . . . and^ thus far
having stretched it, . . . thy knee bussing the stones, . . .
waving thy head, . . , say to them. '
83 As they to claim. A confused expression, between * as for
them to claim, ' and ' as that they should claim it. ' Cp. As You
Like It, i. 2, 279 : " More suits you to conceive than I to speak of."
85 So far as thou hast . . . person. You may not be able
quite to look the part : are scarcely personable enough, perhaps.
88 Pardons as free. Their pardons are as free as (and free
because) all their words are purposeless.
91 /« = into.
78 . CORIOLANUS [Act III
Enter Cominius.
Com. I have been i' the market-place ; and, sir, 't is fit
You make strong party, or defend yourself
By calmness or by absence : all's in anger.
Men. Only fair speech.
Com. I think 't will serve, if he
Can thereto frame his spirit.
Vol. He must, and will.
Prithee now, say you will, and go about it.
Cor. Must I go show them my unbarbed"'^ sconce 1
Must I with base tongue give my noble heart loo
A lie that it must bear 1 Well, I will do 't :
Yet, were there but this single plot to lose,
This mould of Marcius, they to dust should grind it
And throw 't against "the wind. To the market-place !
You have put me now to such a part which never
I shall discharge to the life.
Com. Come, come, we'll prompt you.
Vol. I prithee now, sweet son, as thou hast said
My praises made thee first a soldier, so.
To have my praise for this, perform a part
Thou hast not done before.
Cor. Well, I must do't : no
Away, my disposition, and possess me
Some harlot's spirit ! my throat of war be turn'd,
Which quired with my drum, into a pipe
Small as an eunuch, or the virgin voice
That babies lulls asleep ! the smiles of knaves
94 You make strojig party , etc. Go either well attended, or
prepared to be calm, or else stay away.
99 My unbarbed sconce. My head uncovered. "Barde,
barbed or trapped as a great horse." — Cotgrave, French-Eng.
Diet. 1650.
100 Must 1 with base tongue, etc. Must my tongue belie my
heart, and must my heart be patient ?
102 This single plot. This piece of earth, this "lump of
clay," myself.
112 Cp. Tennyson —
*' Modulate me, soul of mincing mimicry :
Make liquid treble of that bassoon, my throat."
113 Quired with. Was in tune with. — A pipe, a piping
sound, a squeak.
1 14 As an eumich. As the piping of an eunuch. Cp. i. 6, 27.
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS 79
Tent in my cheeks, and schoolboys' tears take up
The glasses of my sight ! a beggar's tongue
Make motion through my lips, and my arm'd knees,
Who bow'd but in my stirrup, bend like his
That hath received an alms ! — I will not do't, 120
Lest I surcease* to honour mine own truth
And by my body's action teach my mind
A most inherent baseness.
Vol. At thy choice, then :
To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour
Than thou of them. Come all to ruin ; let
Thy mother rather feel thy pride than fear
Thy dangerous stoutness, for I mock at death
With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list."^
Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck'dst it from me,
But owe* thy pride thyself.
Cor. Pray, be content : 130
Mother, I am going to the market-place ;
Chide me no more. I '11 mountebank their loves.
Cog* their hearts from them, and come home beloved
Of all the trades in Rome. Look, I am going :
Commend me to my wife. I '11 return consul ;
Or never trust to what my tongue can do
I' the way of flattery further.
Vol. Do your will. [Exi'f,
116 Teni in my cheeks. Possess them : bivouac there — as an
invading army.
ib. Take up the glasses. Obstruct (the tears intruders also,
like the smiles) the windows of my sight.
118 Make motion through my lips. Use my lips to vent its
suppleness.
119 The antecedent of who is the personal pronoun implied
in my.
123 A most inherent baseness. A baseness most apt to stick.
124 It is my more dishonour than thou of them. Dishonours
me more than to beg of them would dishonour thee. He should
have said than thine.
126 Rather feel thy pride^ etc. Rather submit to your pride,
which rejects her prayer, than fear (or seem to lear, by pleading
with you any more) what dangers your courage may provoke.
130 Owe thy pride thyself. Impute to me no part-ownership
of that.
132 Mountebank their loves. Play the conjurer with their love.
8o CORIOLANUS [Act III
Com. Away ! the tribunes do attend you : arm yourself
To answer mildly ; for they are prepared
With accusations, as I hear, more strong 140
Than are upon you yet.
Cor. The word is * mildly.' Pray you, let us go :
Let them accuse me by invention, I
Will answer in mine honour.
Men. Ay, but mildly.
Cor. Well, mildly be it then. Mildly ! [Exeunt
SCENE III. — The saine. The Forum.
Enter SiciNius and Brutus.
Bru. In this point charge him home, that he affects
Tyrannical power : if he evade us there.
Enforce him with his envy* to the people,
And that the spoil got on the Antiates
Was ne'er distributed.
'Enter aji ^dile.
What, will he come 1
Mv>, He's coming.
Bru. How accompanied .^
JEd. With old Menenius, and those senators
That always favoured him.
Sic. Have you a catalogue
Of all the voices that we have procured
Set down by the poll }
Mt>. I have ; 'tis ready. lO
Sic. Have you collected them by tribes .?
-^D. I have.
Sic. Assemble presently the people hither ;
And when they hear me say ' It shall be so,
I' the right and strength o^ the commons,' be it either
For death, for fine, or banishment, then let them,
If I say fine, cry ' Fine ;' if death, cry ^ Death.'
•I Charge him home. See ii. 2, 107, note,
4 On the Antiates. Cp. **I will get me honour upon
Pharaoh and all his host. "
10 By the poll. By the head, viritim.
14 /' the right, etc. In the right and strength of the com-
mons we demand it.
Scene 3] CORIOLANUS 8l
Insisting on the old prerogative
And power i* the truth o' the cause.
^D. I shall inform them.
Bru. And when such time they have begun to cry,
Let them not cease, but with a din confused 20
Enforce the present execution
Of what we chance to sentence.
^D. Very well.
Sic. Make them be strong and ready for this hint,
When we shall hap to give 't them.
Bru. . Go about it. [Exi/ ^dile.
Put him to choler straight : he hath been used
Ever to conquer, and to have his worth
Of contradiction : being once chafed, he cannot
Be rein'd again to temperance ; then he speaks
What's in his heart ; and that is there w"hich looks
With us to break his neck.
Sic. Well, here he comes. 30
Enfer CORIOLANUS, Menenius, and Cominius, wM
Senators and Patricians.
Men. Calmly, I do beseech you.
Cor. Ay, as an ostler, that for the poorest piece
Will bear the knave by the volume. The honoured gods
Keep Rome in safety, and the chairs of justice
Supplied with worthy men ! plant love among 's !
Throng our large temples with the shows of peace,
And not our streets with war !
First Sen. Amen, amen.
Men. a noble wish.
Re-enter .^dile, with Citizens.
Sic. Draw near, ye people.
17 'Insisting on their prerogative and on the justice of their
cause. ' The old prerogative^ cp. ii. 3, 1 76, 7tote.
19 Such time. Having got their cue from us.
26 To have his worth ^contradiction. Not to have the worst
of the quarrel ; to give as good as he gets.
29 That is there which looksy etc. There is that in his heart
— the ungovernable disposition of the man — which means, (goes
about, makes as if, ) to combine with us for his destruction. To
break his neck. Hurl him from the Tarpeian rock.
33 Will bear the knave by the volume. Let you call him
knave by the volume : bear volumes of abuse.
82 CORIOLANUS [Act III
-^D. List to your tribunes. Audience ! peace, I say ! 40
Cor. First, hear me speak.
Both Tri. Well, say. Peace, ho !
Cor. Shall I be charged no further than this present ?
Must all determine"^ here?
Sic. I do demand,
If you submit you to the people's voices,
Allow* their officers and are content
To suffer lawful censure for such faults
As shall be proved upon you ?
Cor. I am content.
Men. Lo, citizens, he says he is content :
The warlike service he has done, consider ; think
Upon the wounds his body bears, which show* 50
L ike graves i' the holy churchyard.
Cor. " Scratches with briers,
Scars to move laughter only.
Men. Consider further,
That when he speaks not like a citizen.
You find him like a soldier : do not take
His rougher accents for malicious sounds,
But, as I say, such as become a soldier,
Rather than envy"^ you.
Com. Well, well, no more.
Cor. What is the matter
That being passed for consul with full voice,
I am so dishonoured that the very hour 60
You take it off again ?
Sic. Answer to us.
Cor. Say, then : 't is true, I ought so.
Sic. We charge you, that you have contrived to take
From Rome all seasoned office and to wind
Yourself into a power tyrannical ;
For which you are a traitor to the people.
42 No farther than this present. What I see here — is this my
final trial?
51 Graves i' the holy churchyard. Cp. ii. 3, 64, "our divines."
55 Accents. Theobald's correction again : actions Ff.
57 Envy you. Express dislike of you.
61 Take it off again. The consular dignity, with wliich
you had invested me.
ib. Answer to us. You to us, not we to you.
64 Seasoned — like wood, by time. Wind, insinuate.
Scene 3] CORIOLANUS 83
Cor. How ! traitor !
Men. Nay, temperately ; your promise.
Cor. The fires i' the lowest hell fold-in the people !
Call me their traitor ! Thou injurious tribune !
Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths, 70
In thy hands clutched as many millions, in
Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say
' Thou liest' unto thee with a voice as free
As I do pray the gods.
Sic. Mark you this, people ?
Citizens. To the rock, to the rock with him !
Sic. Peace !
We need not put new matter to his charge :
What you have seen him do and heard him speak,
Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,
Opposing laws with strokes and here defying
Those whose great power must try him ; even this, 80
So criminal and in such capital kind.
Deserves the extremest death.
Bru. But since he hath
Served well for Rome, —
Cor. What do you prate of service?
Bru. I talk of that, that know it.
Cor. You?
Men. Is this the promise that you made your mother?
Com. Know, I pray you, —
Cor. 1 11 know no further ;
Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to linger
But with a grain a day, I would not buy 90
Their mercy at the price of one fair word ;
Nor check my courage for what they can give,
68 Fold-in. Enfold, enwrap.
70 Sat. Conditional, * did there sit.'
71 Clutched. Participle. *Thy hands clutching as many
millions more : ' as thunderbolts.
84 / talk of that. The demonstrative pronoun should have
been followed by a relative agreeing with it. He seems about to
launch out : then, checking himself, adds simply, * who know it : '
i.e. who know what serving Rome well means.
89 Pent to linger. Let them sentence me to die slow in a
dungeon.
92 To check my courage. As above, 1. 28, "he cannot
be reined again to temperance."
84 CORIOLANUS [Act III
To have 't with saying ' Good morrow/
Sic. For that he has,
As much as in him lies, from time to time
Envied against the people, seeking means
To pluck away their power, as now at last
Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence
Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers
That do distribute it ; in the name o' the people
And in the power of us the tribunes, we, lOO
Even from this instant, banish him our city,
In peril of precipitation
From off the rock Tarpeian never more
To enter our Rome gates : i' the people's name,
I say it shall be so.
Citizens. It shall be so, it shall be so ; let him away :
He's banished, and it shall be so.
Com. Hear me, my masters, and my common friends, —
Sic. He's sentenced ; no more hearing.
Com. Let me speak :
I have been consul, and can show for Rome no
Her enemies' marks upon me. I do love
My country's good with a respect more tender.
More holy and profound, than mine own life,
My dear wife's estimate, her womb's increase.
And treasure of my loins ; then if I would
Speak that —
Sic. We know your drift : speak what ?
Bru. There 's no more to be said, but he is banish'd,
As enemy to the people and his country :
It shall be so.
Citizens. It shall be so, it shall be so.
Cor. You common cry of curs ! whose breath I hate
As reek"^ o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize 121
93 To have V. On condition of having it, if I might have it.
97 Given. Understand he has.
ib. Not in the presence, etc. Say not in the presence of
justice — that were to state the crime too weakly — but on the
ministers themselves of justice. See sc. 6, 1. 71, note.
108 My comijion frie7tds. Friends, all of you.
no For Theobald : j^^w Ff. Dr. Delius suggests 'fore
Rome.
1 14 Estimate. Worth ; the rate at which I value her.
120 You cojnmon cry. Consonant pack.
Scene 3] CORIOLANUS 85
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you ;
And here remain with your uncertainty !
Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts !
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair ! Have the power still
To banish your defenders ; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making but reservation of yourselves, 130
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows ! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back :
There is a world elsewhere.
[Exetmt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, Menenius, Senators,
a7td Patricians.
^D. The people's enemy is gone, is gone !
Citizens. Our enemy is banished ! he is gone ! Hoo !
hoo ! {Shoutings and Ihrowing up their caps.
Sic. Go, see him out at gates, and follow him,
As he hath followed you, with all despite ;
Give him deserved vexation. Let a guard 140
Attend us through the city.
Citizens. Come, come ; let 's see him out at gates ;
come.
The gods preserve our noble tribunes ! Come. {Exeunt
123 I banish you. Cp. Rich. IL i. 3, 279 —
"Think not the king did banish thee,
But thou the king."
129 Which finds not till it feels. Your folly, which only
suffering instructs : which only learns wisdom when it is too
late.
130 Making but reservation of yourselves. Banishing your
defenders, the nobles, one by one, till you yourselves remain
alone. Capell, whom most editors have followed, altered but
into not. The meaning is then * not sparing even yourselves. '
But Coriolanus says that the mischief is just this : that they spare
none but themselves, their own worst enemies.
132 Abated, Humbled, dispirited. From ahattre^ to cast
down.
86 CORIOLANUS [Act IV
ACT IV.
SCENE I. — Rome. Before a gate of the city.
Enter Coriolanus, Volumnia, Virgilta, Menenius,
COMINIUS, with the young Nobility of Rome,
Cor. Come, leave your tears : a brief farewell : the
beast
With many heads butts me away. Nay, mother,
Where is your ancient courage ? you were used
To say extremity was the trier of spirits ;
That common chances common men could bear;
That when the sea was calm all boats alike
Show'd mastership in floating ; fortune's blows.
When most struck home — being gentle, wounded, craves
A noble cunning^ : you were used to load me
With precepts that would make invincible lo
The heart that conn'd them.
ViR. O heavens ! O heavens !
Cor. Nay, I prithee, woman, —
Vol. Now the red pestilence strike all trades in Rome,
And occupations perish !
Cor. What, what, what !
I shall be loved when I am lack'd. Nay, mother,
Resume that spirit, when you were wont to say,
If you had been the wife of Hercules,
Six of his labours you ^Id have done, and saved
Your husband so much sweat. Cominius,
Droop not ; adieu. Farewell, my wife, my mother : 20
I '11 do well yet. Thou old and true Menenius,
I The beast with many heads. Cp. ii. 3, 18, note.
7 Fortune's blows^ etc. But that, when Fortune's blows are
most struck home, then — in one so wounded — to be gentle craves
a cunning (a skill, a mastery) impossible save to noble natures.
The construction of the sentence is irregular : * Fortune's cruellest
blows — to bear them gently craves,' &c.
8 Home. See ii. 2, 107, note.
13 The red 'bestilence. So Tempest i. 2, 364: "The red
plague rid you : " and Tro. and Cress, ii. I, 20 : "A red murrain
o' thy jade's tricks."
16 That spirit ^ when — the spirit of the time when. .
Scone 1] CORIOLANUS 87
Thy tears are Salter than a younger man's,
And venomous to thine eyes. My sometime general,
I have seen thee stern, and thou hast oft beheld
Heart-hardening spectacles ; tell these sad women
'T is fond"^ to wail inevitable strokes,
As 't is to laugh at 'em. My mother, you wot well
My hazards still have been your solace : and
BeHeve't not lightly — though I go alone,
Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen 30
Makes fear'd and talked of more than seen — your son
Will or exceed the common or be caught
With cautelous* baits and practice."^
Vol. My first son,
Whither wilt thou go ? Take good Cominius
With thee awhile : determine on some course,
More than a wild exposure to each chance
That starts i' the way before thee.
Cor. O the gods !
Com. I '11 follow thee a month, devise with thee
Where thou shalt rest, that thou mayest hear of us
And we of thee : so if the time thrust forth 40
A cause for thy repeal,"^ we shall not send
O'er the vast world to seek a single man,
And lose advantage, which doth ever cool
r the absence of the needer.
Cor. Fare ye well :
Thou hast years upon thee ; and thou art too full
Of the wars' surfeits, to go rove with one
That 's yet unbruised : bring me but out at gate.
22 Thy tears are Salter, etc. He is touched by the sight of
Menenius' sorrow — keener than the sorrow of a younger man.
30 His fen, etc. Men fear him and talk of him, but cannot
come where he is.
32 Or be caught, etc. He may be caught in a trap ; strength
against strength, he is invincible.
33 First. First-born.
36 More. Something more definite.
40 Thrust forth — as a plant new shoots.
43 Lose advantage. Lose the opportunity, not knowing where
to find you, who need and alone can use it. — Doth ever cool.
The iron cools, unstruck.
46 Of the war's surfeits. What warriors surfeit on — ^fatigues
of war.
88 CORIOLANUS [Act IV
Come, my sweet wife, my dearest mother, and
My friends of noble touch, when I am forth,
Bid me farewell, and smile. I pray you, come. 50 ^
While I remain above the ground, you shall
Hear from me still, and never of me aught
But what is like me formerly.
Men. That 's worthily
As any ear can hear. Come, let 's not weep.
If I could shake off but one seven years
From these old arms and legs, by the good gods,
I 'Id with thee every foot.
Cor. Give me thy hand :
Come. [Exeunt.
SCE N E 1 1. — The same. A street near the gate.
Enter SICINIUS, Brutus, and an ^dile.
Sic. Bid them all home; he's gone, and we'll no
further.
The nobility are vex'd, whom we see have sided
In his behalf.
Bru. Now we have shown our power,
Let us seem humbler after it is done
Than when it was a-doing.*
Sic. Bid them home :
Say their great enemy is gone, and they
Stand in their ancient strength.
Bru. Dismiss them home. {Exit iEdile.
Here comes his mother.
Sic. Let 's not meet her.
Bru. Why.?
Sic. They say she's mad.
Bru. They have ta'en note of us : keep on your
way. 10
49 Of noble touch. Tried and found noble. So Spenser
F. Q, ii. 4, 40 : ** A knight of wondroi'^^ power and great assay : "
and i. 2, 13, *' Purfled with gold and y<\r\ of rich assay.*'
53 Like mefoi'inerly. Like my former self.
2 Whom we see have sided — (have sided, infinitive mood).
Ungrammatical now, not when Shakspere wrote. We say,
arbitrarily, *whom we see side,' but *whom we see to have
sided. '
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS 89
Enter Volumnia, Virgilia, and Menenius.
Vol. O ye 're well met : the hoarded plague o' the gods
Requite your love 1
Men. Peace, peace ; be not so loud.
Vol. If that I could for weeping, you should hear, —
Nay, and you shall hear some. \To Brutus] Will you
be gone ?
ViR. \To SiCiNiUS] You shall stay too : I would I had
the power
To say so to my husband.
Sic. Are you mankind ?
Vol. Ay, fool; is that a shame? Note but this fool.
Was not a man my father ? Hadst thou foxship
To banish him that struck more blows for Rome
Than thou hast spoken words ?
Sic. O blessed heavens !
Vol. Moe"'^ noble blows than ever thou wise words ;
And for Rome's good. 1 11 tell thee what ; yet go :
Nay, but thou shalt stay too : I would my son
Were in Arabia, and thy tribe before him,
His good sword in his hand.
Sic. What then.?
ViR. What then !
He 'Id make an end of thy posterity.
Vol. Bastards and all.
Good man, the wounds that he does bear for Rome !
Men. Come, come, peace.
II The hoarded plague of the gods. Cp. Lear ii. 4, 164:
"All the stored vengeances of heaven."
16 Are you mankind "i *Are you viragos?' So Winter's
Tale ii. 3, 67 : ** A mankind witch ! " Dr. Delius quotes from
Fletcher's Woman Hater ^ "Are women grown so mankind ? must
they be wooing?" (where mankind = bold. ) Mr. Singer quotes
from Hall (Epigram against Marston, 1597) — ** I asked physicians
what their counsel was For a mad dog or for a mankind ass."
17 Is that a shame 1 — to be human .? Mistaking, or affecting
to mistake, his meaning.
18 Hadst thou foxship, etc. Fool that you are — ^how were j^«
fox enough to banish from Rome Rome's greatest soldier ?
22 Yet go. She will leave it unsaid : then — once more
changing her mind — "Nay, but you shall stay." Too — * after
all,'= * and yet I see reasons too why you should stay.*
24 Thy tribe — contemptuously : not in the Roman sense.
90 CORIOLANUS LAct IV
Sic. I would he had continued to his country 30
As he began, and not unknit himself
The noble knot he made.
Bru. I would he had.
Vol. *I would he hadM 'Twas you incensed the
rabble :
Cats, that can judge as fitly of his worth
As I can of those mysteries which heaven
Will not have earth to know.
Bru. Pray, let us go.
Vol. Now, pray, sir, get you gone :
You have done a brave deed. Ere you go, hear this : —
As far as doth the Capitol exceed
The meanest house in Rome, so far my son — 40
This lady's husband here, this, do you see —
Whom you have banish'd, does exceed you all.
Bru. Well, well, we 11 leave you.
Sic. Why stay we to be baited"^
With one that wants her wits ?
Vol. Take my prayers with you,
[Exeunt Tribunes.
I would the gods had nothing else to do
But to confirm my curses ! Could I meet 'em
But once a-day, it would unclog"^ my heart
Of what lies heavy to 't.
Men. You have told them home ;
And, by my troth, you have cause. You'll sup with
. me?
Vol. Anger 's my meat ; I sup upon myself, 50
And so shall sterve*^ with feeding. Come, let's go :
Leave this faint puling and lament as I do,
In anger, Juno-like. Come, come, come.
Men. Fie, fie, fie ! [Exeunt.
32 The noble knot. The knot of noble service that bound
him to his countrymen.
43 To be baited with one that wants her wits. Baited, as
it were, with a mad dog. The bull is baited by the huntsmen,
with the dogs.
46 ■ Meet 'em. Meet the tribunes, and curse them.
48 Told thei7i home. Told them some home -truths. Cp. ii.
2, 107, note.
Scene 3] CORIOLANUS 91
SCENE III. — A highway between Rome and Antiwn,
Enter a Roman a7td a Volsce, meeting,
Rom. I know you well, sir, and you know me : your
name, I think, is Adrian.
Vols. It is so, sir : truly, I have forgot you.
Rom. I am a Roman ; and my services are, as you are,
against 'em : know you me yet ?
Vols. Nicanor? no.
ROM. The same, sir. 7
Vols. You had more beard when I last saw you ; but
your favour"^ is well appeared by your tongue. What's
the news in Rome? I have a note from the Volscian
state, to find you out there : you have well saved me a
day's journey.
ROM. There hath been in Rome strange insurrections ;
the people against the senators, patricians, and nobles.
Vols. Hath been ! is it ended, then ? Our state thinks
not so : they are in a most warlike preparation, and hope
to come upon them in the heat of their division. 19
Rom. The main blaze of it is past, but a small thing
would make it flame again : for the nobles receive so to
heart the banishment of that worthy Coriolanus, that
they are in a ripe aptness to take all power from the
people and to pluck from them their tribunes for ever.
This lies glowing, I can tell you, and is almost mature
for the violent breaking out.
Vols. Coriolanus banished !
Rom. Banished, sir. 29
Vols. You will be welcome with this intelligence,
Nicanor.
Rom. The day serves well for them now. Your noble
TuUus Aufidius will appear well in these wars, his great
opposer, Coriolanus, being now in no request of his
country. 38
9 Your favour is well appeared by your tongue. * Now that
you tell me who you are, I recognise your face. ' Appeared—
apparent : it has appeared and is now unmistakeable. Cp.
above, iii. l, 292 : *' her t/^j^;^^^ children : " and Othello ii. 3,
188 : "How comes it, Michael, you are thus forgot?" Lear i.
I, 275 : *' Your professed bosoms." Most editors alter the word.
32 For the?n. For your state ; implicitly mentioned by the
Volscian, when he said, "You will be welcome."
92 CORIOLANUS [Act IV
Vols. He cannot choose. I am most fortunate, thus
accidentally to encounter you : you have ended my busi-
ness, and I will merrily accompany you home.
Rom. I shall, between this and supper, tell you most
strange things from Rome ; all tending to the good of
their adversaries. Have you an army ready, say you ?
Vols. A most royal one ; the centurions and their
charges, distinctly billeted, already in the entertainment,"^
and to be on foot at an hour's warning. 50
Rom. I am joyful to hear of their readiness, and am the
man, I think, that shall set them in present action. So,
sir, heartily well met, and most glad of your company.
Vols. You take my part from me, sir ; I have the most
cause to be glad of yours.
Rom. Well, let us go together. {Exeunt.
SCENE IV. — AntiMin. Before Aufidius's hotise.
Enter Coriolanus in mean apparel, disguised and
muffled.
Cor. a goodly city is this Antium. City, t
'T is I that made thy widows : many an heir
Of these fair edifices 'fore my wars
Have I heard groan and drop : then know me not,
Lest that thy wives with spits and boys with stones
In puny battle slay me.
Enter a Citizen.
Save you, sir.
CiT, And you.
Cor, Direct me, if it be your will,
Where great Aufidius lies : is he in Antium ?
CiT. He is, and feasts the nobles of the state
At his house this night.
48 Their charges. Their companies. Distinctly, each com-
pany by itself.
49 In the entertaininent. Receiving their pay, though they
have not yet taken the field.
55 You take my part from me. To be glad that we met is for
me, not for you.
3 ^Fore my wars. Many an one who before my wars was
heir.
S Lies. Is quartered, lodged^
Scene 5] CORIOLANUS 93
Cor. Which is his house, beseech you ? 10
CiT. This, here before you.
Cor. Thank you, sir ; farewell.
[Exit Citizen.
world, thy slippery turns ! Friends now fast sworn,
Whose double bosoms seem to wear one heart, .
Whose house, whose bed, whose meal, and exercise,
Are still together, who twin, as 't were, in love
Unseparable, shall within this hour,
On a dissension of a doit,"^ break out
To bitterest enmity : so, fellest foes.
Whose passions and whose plots have broke their sleep
To take the one the other, by some chance, 20
Some trick not worth an egg, shall grow dear friends
And interjoin their issues. So with me :
My birth-place hate I, and my love 's upon
This enemy town. I ^11 enter ; if he slay me,
He does fair justice ; if he give me way,
1 '11 do his country service. [Exit,
SCENE Y^—The same, A hall in Aufidius's house.
Music withi7z. Enter a Servingman.
First Serv. Wine, wine, wine ! What service is
here !
I think our fellows are asleep. \Exii,
Enter a second Servingman.
Sec. Serv. Where 's Cotus ? my master calls for him.
Cotus ! [Exit,
Enter CORIOLANUS.
Cor. a goodly house : the feast smells well ; but I
Appear not like a guest.
12 O world, thy slippery turns ! O the changes in this slippery
world — too slippery for firm standing 1
15 Who twin. Who pair like twins together.
17 On a dissension of a doit, Cp. ii. i, 80. *'The con-
troversy of three pence. "
21 So7ne trick not worth an egg. Some freak of fortune, some
accident, worthless in itself.
22 Inte7'join their issues. Intermarry their children.
23 Hate Capell conj. have Ff.
94 CORIOLANUS [Act IV
Re-enter the first Servingman.
First Serv. What would you have, friend ? whence are
you? Here's no placefor you : pray,go to the door. {Exit.
Cor. I have deserved no better entertainment,
In being Coriolanus. II
Re-enter second Servingman.
Sec. Serv. Whence are you, sir? Has the porter his
eyes in his head, that he gives entrance to such com-
panions ?'^ Pray, get you out.
Cor. Away !
Sec. Serv. ^ Away ! ' get you away.
Cor. Now thou Vt troublesome.
Sec. Serv. Are you so brave ? I '11 have you talked
with anon."^
Enter a third Servingman. The first meets hiin.
Third Serv. What fellow's this? 20
First Serv. A strange one as ever I looked on : I
cannot get him out o' the house : prithee, call my master
to him. [Retires,
Third Serv. What have you to do here, fellow ? Pray
you, avoid"^ the house.
Cor. Let me but stand ; I will not hurt your hearth.
Third Serv. What are you ?
Cor. a gentleman.
Third Serv. A marvellous poor one. 30
Cor. True, so I am.
Third Serv. Pray you, poor gentleman, take up some
other station ; here 's no place for you ; pray you, avoid :
come.
Cor. Follow your function, go, and batten on cold bits.
[Pushes hi?n away.
Third Serv. What, you will not? Prithee, tell my
master what a strange guest he has here. [Exit,
Sec. Serv. And I shall.
Third Serv. Where dwellest thou ? 40
Cor. Under the canopy.
Third Serv. Under the canopy !
Cor. Ay.
35 Batten on cold bits. Cp. Cymb. ii. 3, 119 —
' ' One bred of alms and foster'd with cold dishes.
With scraps o' the court. "
Scene 6] CORIOLANUS 95
Third Serv. Where 's that ?
Cor. F the city of kites and crows.
Third Serv. V the city of kites and crows ! What an
ass it is ! Then thou dwellest with daws too ?
Cor. No, I serve not thy master.
Third Serv. How, sir ! do you meddle with my
master ? 51
Cor. Thou pratest, and pratest ; serve with thy trencher,
hence ! [Beats Imn away. £xit t/iird Ser\mgm.2in.
Enter Aufidius with the second Servingman.
AUF. Where is this fellow .?
Sec. Serv. Here, sir : I 'Id have beaten him like a dog,
but for disturbing the lords within. {Retires.
AUF. Whence comest thou? what wouldst thou.^ thy
name?
Why speak'st not ? speak, man : what's thy name ?
Cor. If, Tullus, \Unmuffli71g. 60
Not yet thou knowest me, and, seeing me, dost not
Think me for the man I am, necessity
Commands me name myself.
AUF. What is thy name ?
Cor. a name unmusical to the Volscians' ears.
And harsh in sound to thine.
AUF. Say, what 's thy name ?
Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face
Bears a command in 't ; though thy tackle 's torn.
Thou show'st^ a noble vessel : what's thy name ?
Cor. Prepare thy brow to frown : know'st thou me yet ?
AuF. I know thee not : thy name ? 70
Cor. My name is Caius Marcius, who hath done
To thee particularly and to all the Volsces
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,"^
And witness of the malice and displeasure
47 Then thou divellest tvith daws too .? Cp. I Henry VI. ii. 4,
18. ** I am no wiser than a daw."
51 Meddte tvith my master. Insult him, pick a quaiTel with
hun.
96 CORIOLANUS [Act IV
Which thou shouldst bear me : only that name remains ;
The cruelty and envy of the people, 80
Permitted by our dastard nobles, who
Have all forsook me, hath devoured the rest ;
And suffered me by the voice of slaves to be
Whoop'd out of Rome. Now this extremity
Hath brought me to thy hearth ; not out of hope —
Mistake me not — to save my life, for if
I had fear'd death, of all the men i' the world
I would have Voided thee, but in mere spite,
To be full quit"^ of those my banishers.
Stand I before thee here. Then if thou hast 90
A heart of wreak-^ in thee, that wilt revenge
Thine own particular wrongs and stop those maims
Of shame seen through thy country, speed thee straight,
And make my misery serve thy turn : so use it
That my revengeful services may prove
As benefits to thee, for I will fight
Against my cankered country with the spleen
Of all the under fiends. But if so be
Thou darest not this and that"^ to prove more fortunes
Thou 'rt tired, then, in a word, I also am lOO
Longer to live most weary, and present
My throat to thee and to thy ancient malice ;
Which not to cut would show thee but a fool.
Since I have ever follow'd thee with hate,
Drawn tuns of blood out of thy country's breast,
And cannot live but to thy shame, unless
It be to do thee service.
AUF. O Marcius, Marcius !
Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart
A root of ancient envy. If Jupiter
91 That wilt. A confusion between * that will' and *and
wilt.'
92 Those maims of shame seen through thy country. The gap-
ing wounds made through thy country's honour. Cp. Rich. III.
V. 5, 40 : *' Now civil wounds are stopped, peace lives again."
97 Cankered— w\i.^\)i\&^ with tribunes or envy — unsound at
heart : so, ill-conditioned. Cp. I Henry IV. i. 3, 137 : "This
ingrate and cajtkered Bolingbroke," and again, i, 176, **This
thorn, \}ci\% canker, Bolingbroke."
98 Under. Infernal : fiends of the under-world.
99 To prove mo7'e fortunes. To try thy fortune any more.
Scenes] CORIOLANUS 97
Should from yond cloud speak divine things, no
And say * Tis true/ I 'Id not believe them more
Than thee, all noble Marcius. Let me twine
Mine arms about that body, whereagainst
My grained ash an hundred times hath broke.
And scarr'd the moon with splinters : here I clip*
The anvil of my sword, and do contest
As hotly and as nobly with thy love
As ever in ambitious strength I did
Contend against thy valour. Know thou first,
I loved the maid I married ; never man 120
Sigh'd truer breath ; but that I see thee here.
Thou noble thing ! more dances my rapt heart
Than when I first my wedded mistress saw
Bestride my threshold. Why, thou Mars ! I tell thee,
We have a power on foot ; and I had purpose
Once more to hew thy target from thy brawn,
Or lose mine arm for't : thou hast beat me out
Twelve several times, and I have nightly since
Dreamt of encounters 'twixt thyself and me ;
We have been down together in my sleep, 130
Unbuckling helms, fisting each other's throat, .
And waked half dead with nothing. Worthy Marcius,
Had we no quarrel else to Rome, but that
Thou art thence banish'd, we would muster all
From twelve to seventy, and pouring war
Into the bowels of ungrateful Rome,
Like a bold flood o'er-bear. O, come, go in,
And take our friendly senators by the hands ;
Who now are here, taking their leaves of me,
114 Ash. Ashen spear. Grained. Rough, showing the
grain. So Com. of Err. v. i, 311 : "This grained face."
115 And sca7'red the moon with splinte7's. Cp. Winter's Tale
iii* 3> 93 • ** Now the ship boring the moon with her mainmast."
Some editors read scared.
116 The aitvil of my sword. Coriolaniis, on whom "he had
formerly laid as heavy blows as a smith strikes on his anvil." —
Steevens : who quotes from Hamlet (ii. 2, 511,) "And never did
the Cyclops' hammers fall On Mars's armour, &c."
126 Thy target fro77i thy brawn. Thy shield from thine arm.
127 Beat vie out. * Out of the game,' ' out of the field * — ^so
* thoroughly,' 'out and out.'
137 Cerbear. Overturn, carry all before us.
9$ CORIOLANUS [Act IV
Who am prepared against your territories, 140
Though not for Rome itself.
Cor. You bless me, gods !
AuF. Therefore, most absolute sir, if thou wilt have
The leading of thine own revenges, take
The one half of my commission ; and set down —
As best thou art experienced, since thou know'st
Thy country's strength and weakness, — thine own ways ;
Whether to knock against the gates of Rome,
Or rudely visit them in parts remote.
To fright them, ere destroy. But come in :
Let me commend thee first to those that shall 150
Say yea to thy desires. A thousand welcomes !
And more a friend than e'er an enemy ;
Yet, Marcius, that was much. Your hand : most welcome !
[Exeunt CORIOLANUS ^;/^ AUFiDius. The two Serv-
ingmen come forward.
First Serv. Here's a strange alteration !
Sec. 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.
First Serv. What an arm he has ! he turned me
about with his finger and his thumb, as one would set up
a top. 161
Sec. 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.
First Serv. He had so ; looking as it were — would I
were hanged, but I thought there was more in him than
I could think.
Sec Serv. So did I, I '11 be sworn : he is simply the
rarest man i' the world.
First Serv. I think he is : but a greater soldier than
he you wot on. 171
Sec. Serv. Who, my master ?
First Serv. Nay, it 's no matter for that.
Sec. Serv. Worth six on him.
First Serv. Nay, not so neither : but I take him to
be the greater soldier.
142 Absolute. Consummate.
157 Gave me = * Misgave me. *
Scenes] CORIOLANUS 99
Sec. Serv. Faith, look you, one cannot tell how to say
that : for the defence of a town, our general is excellent.
First Serv. Ay, and for an assault too. 180
Re-enter third Servingman.
Third Serv. O slaves, I can tell you news, — news,
you rascals !
First AND Sec. Serv. What, what, what? Let's
partake.
Third Serv. I would not be a Roman, of all nations ;
I had as lieve* be a condemned man. .
First and Sec. Serv. Wherefore 1 wherefore ?
Third Serv. Why, here 's he that was wont to thwack
our general, Caius Marcius.
First Serv. Why do you say 'thwack ourgeneraF? 191
Third Serv. I do not say 'thwack our general' ; but
he was always good enough for him.
Sec. Serv. Come, we are fellows and friends : Ke was
ever too hard for him ; I have heard him say so himself.
First Serv. He was too hard for him, directly to say
the troth on 't : before Corioli he scotched him and notched
him like a carbonado."^
Sec. Serv. An*^ he had been cannibally given, he
might have broiled and eaten him too. 201
First Serv. But, more of thy news.?
Third 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 '11 go,
he says, and sowl"^the porter of Rome gates by the ears :
he will mow all down before him, and leave his passage
polled."^ 215
Sec. Serv. And he's as like to do't as any man I can
imagine.
Third Serv. Do 't ! he will do 't ; for, look you, sir,
he has as many friends as enemies ; which friends, sir, as
208 Sanctifies himself with 'j hand. Touches his hand
devoutly, as a holy thing.
215 Leave his passage polled. Leave all bare behind him»
TOO CORIOLANUS [Act IV
it were, durst not, look you, sir, show themselves, as we
term it, his friends whilst he's in directitude. 222
First Serv. Directitude ! what's that?
Third Serv. But when they shall see, sir, his crest up
again, and the man in blood, they will out of their burrows,
like conies after rain, and revel all with him.
First Serv. But when goes this forward ?
Third Serv. To-morrow ; to-day ; presently ; you
shall have the drum struck up this afternoon : 't is, as it
were, a parcel of their feast, and to be executed ere they
wipe their lips. 232
Sec. Serv. Why, then we shall have a stirring world
again. This peace is nothing, but to rust iron, increase
tailors, and breed ballad-makers.
First Serv. Let me have war, say I ; it exceeds peace
as far as day does night; it's spritely, waking, audible,
and i"ull of vent.* Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy ;
mulled, deaf, sleepy, insensible. 245
Sec. Serv. Ay, and it makes men hate one another.
Third Serv. Reason ; because they then less need
one another. The wars for my money. I hope to see
Romans as cheap as Volscians. They are rising, they
are rising.
All. In, in, in, in ! {^Exeunt.
SCENE VI . — Ro7ite. A public place.
Enter SICINIUS a7id BRUTUS.
Sic. We hear not of him, neither need we fear him ;
His remedies are tame i' the present peace
222 Whilst he 'j in directitude. Holds straight on the way
prescribed to him, like a beast submitting to be driven. The
word is no doubt an intentionally clumsy coinage (whether from
direct or from direction) on the pattern oi rectitude.
225 In blood. See i. i, 163, note.
238 Waking: Pope conj. Walking Ff. — Full of vent.
Of excitement, letting off of steam, freedom of utterance.
239 Mulled. " Softened and dispirited, as wine is when
burnt and sweetened." — Hanmer.
247 Reason — and reason good : no wonder.
2 His remedies a^^ tame, etc. Let him do his worst : he is
harmless, so long as the people, lately so turbulent, are orderly
and contented, and give his friends no pretext for recalling him.
Scene 6] CORIOLANUS lOl
And quietness of the people, which before
Were in wild hurry. Here do we make his friends
Blush that the world goes well, who rather had,
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.
Bru. We stood to 't in good time. [Enter Menenius.]
Is this Menenius .-^ lo
Sic. 'T is he, 't is he : O, he is grown most kind
Of late.
Both Tri. Hail, sir !
Men. Hail to you both !
Sic. Your Coriolanus is not much miss'd,
But with his friends : the commonwealth doth stand ;
And so would do, were he more angry at it.
Men. Airs well ; and might have been much better, if
He could have temporized.
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.
Citizens. The gods preserve you both !
Sic. God-den, our neighbours. 20
Bru. God-den to you all, god-den to you all.
First Cit. Ourselves, our wives, and children, on our
knees.
Are bound to pray for you both.
Sic. Live, and thrive !
Bru. Farewell, kind neighbours : we wished Coriolanus
Had loved you as we did.
Citizens. Now the gods keep you !
Both Tri. Farewell, farewell. {Exeunt Citizens.
Sic. This is a happier and more comely time
Than when these fellows ran about the streets.
Crying confusion.
Bru. Caius Marcius was
A worthy officer i^ the war ; but insolent, 30
4 ^^r^=: hereby.
5 Blush that the world goes zvell. Perceive with shame that
the world can go on, and go on well, without him.
ib. Rather had . . . behold. We say * had rather.'
102 CORIOLANUS [Act IV
Overcome with pride, ambitious past all thinking,
Self-lovingj —
Sic. And affecting one sole throne,
Without assistance.
Men. I think not so.
Sic. We had by this, to all our lamentation.
If he had gone forth consul, found it so.
Bru. The gods have well prevented it, and Rome
Sits safe and still without him.
Enter an ^dile.
^D. Worthy tribunes,
There is a slave, whom we have put in prison,
Reports, the Vol sees with two several powers
Are entered in the Roman territories, 40
And with the deepest malice of the war
Destroy what lies before ^em.
Men. 'T is Aufidius,
Who, hearing of our Marcius' banishment,
Thrusts forth his horns again into the world ;
Which were inshelFd when Marcius stood for Rome,
And durst not once peep out.
Sic. Come, what talk you
Of Marcius ?
Bru. Go see this rumourer whippM. It cannot be
The Volsces dare break with us.
Men. Cannot be !
We have record that very well it can,
And three examples of the like have been 50
Within my age. But reason with the fellow,
Before you punish him, where he heard this.
Lest you shall chance to whip your information
And beat the messenger who bids beware
Of what is to be dreaded.
Sic. Tell not me :
I know this cannot be.
Bru. Not possible.
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. The nobles in great earnestness are going
33 One sole throne, without assistance. To reign alone and
absolute.
35 To all our lamentation. To the sorrow of all of us.
Scene 6] CORIOLANUS 103
All to the senate-house : some news is come
That turns their countenances.
Sic. 'T is this slave ; —
Go whip him 'fore the people's eyes : — his raising ; 60
Nothing but his report.
Mess. Yes, worthy sir,
The slave's report is seconded ; and more,
More fearful, is deliver'd.
Sic. What more fearful ?
Mess. It is spoke freely out of many mouths —
How probable I do not know — that Marcius,
Join'd with Aufidius, leads a power 'gainst Rome,
And vows revenge as spacious as between
The young'st and oldest thing.
Sic This is most likely !
Bru. Raised only, that the weaker sort may wish
Good Marcius home again.
Sic. The very trick on 't. 70
Men. This is unlikely :
He and Aufidius can no more atone*
Than violentest contrariety.
Enter a secoitd Messenger.
Sec. Mess. You are sent for to the senate :
A fearful army, led by Caius Marcius
Associated with Aufidius, rages
Upon our territories ; and have already
O'erborne their way, consumed with fire, and took
What lay before them.
Enter COMiNius.
Com. O, you have made good work !
Men. What news ? what news ? 80
Com. You have holp
To melt the city leads upon your pates.
To see your wives dishonour'd to your noses, —
Men. What 's the news ? what 's the news ?
59 Turns their countenances, makes them change colour.
67 Revenge as spacious^ etc. Revenge that shall embrace all,
from the youngest to the oldest.
73 Than contrariety— zzxi become agreement ; than con-
traries can agree.
7S Overborne their way. Have irresistibly made way.
104 CORIOLANUS [Act IV
Com. Your temples burned in their cement, and
Your franchises, whereon you stood, confined
Into an auger's bore.
Men. Pray now, your news ?
You have made fair work, I fear me. — Pray, your news ? —
If Marcius should bejoin'd with Volscians, —
Com. If!
He is their god : he leads them like a thing 90
Made by some other deity than nature,
That shapes man better ; and they follow him,
Against us brats, with no less confidence
Than boys pursuing summer butterflies,
Or butchers killing flies.
Men. You have made good work,
You and your apron-men ; you that stood so much
Upon the voice of occupation and
The breath of garlic-eaters !
Com. He will shake
Your Rome about your ears.
Men. As Hercules
Did shake down mellow fruit. You have made fair work !
Bru. But is this true, sir ? loi
Com. Ay ; and you'll look pale
Before you find it other. All the regions
Do smilingly revolt ; and who resist
Are mock'd for valiant ignorance.
And perish constant fools.* Who is 't can blame him ?
Your enemies and his find something in him.
85 Burn' din their cement. In for into : the very walls pene-
trated and crumbled by the fire. Cement, with the accent on ,
the first syllable, as Ant. and Cle. ii. i, 48 ; iii. 2, 29.
86 Whereon yoti stood — against Coriolanus.
ib. Confined into an auger's bore. Confined by the conquerors
within narrowest limits ; shut up in an auger-hole.
96 Stood. Insisted, laid stress.
97 Occupation, trade, = mechanics, artisans : as above, iv. 1, 14.
99 As easily as Hercules shook down the golden apples of
the Hesperides.
105 Constant. Valiant, unflinching.
ib. Who is V can blame him ? What wonder he prefers
enemies who appreciate him to fellow-citizens who could find
only harm in him ?
Scene 6] CORIOLANUS I05
Men. We are all undone, unless
The noble man have mercy.
Com. Who shall ask it ?
The tribunes cannot do 't for shame ; the people
Deserve such pity of him as the wolf no
Does of the shepherds : for his best friends, if they
Should say * Be good to Rome,' they charged him even
As those should do that had deserved his hate,
And therein showed* like enemies.
Men. 'T is true :
If he were putting to my house the brand
That should consume it, I have not the face
To say ^ Beseech you, cease.' You have made fair 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.
Both Tri. Say not we brought it. 120
Men. How ! Was it we ! we loved him ; but, like
beasts
And cowardly nobles, gave way unto your clusters,
Who did hoot him out o' the city.
Com. But I fear
They '11 roar him in again. Tullus Aufidius,
The second name of men, obeys his points
As if he were his officer : desperation
Is all the policy, strength and defence,
That Rome can make against them.
Enter a troop of Citizens.
Men. Here come the clusters.
112 — 114 Charged . . . showed. Conditional. They would
be urging the same petition with his enemies, the tribunes ; so
would themselves appear like enemies.
117 You have made fair hands — ironically, *You have not
soiled your hands at all ! '
119 A trembling, etc. A panic, the like of which — so
desperate as this is — never was. [Or we might read, referring so
incapable of help to Rome, such as Hwas never: such as = such that,
a usage not ungrammatical when Shakspere wrote.]
122 Your clusters. The swarms that follow you.
124 Roar him in again. Bring him in with howling and
lamentation.
125 Obeys his points. Exactly does all points of his command.
I06 CORIOLANUS [Act IV
And is Aufidius with him ? You are they
That made the air unwholesome, when you cast 130
Your stinking greasy caps in hooting at
Coriolanus' exile. Now he 's coming ;
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 for your voices. 'T is no matter ;
If he could burn us all into one coal,
We have deserved it.
Citizens. Faith, we hear fearful news.
First Cit. For mine own part,
When I said, banish him, I said, 't was pity. 140
Sec. Cit. And so did I.
Third 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. Ye 're goodly things, you voices !
Men. You have made
Good work, you and your cry ! Shall 's to the Capitol ?
Com. O, ay, what else ?
{Exeunt Cominius ^/^^Menenius.
Sic. Go, masters, get you home ; be not dismay'd: 150
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.
First Cit. The gods be good to us ! Come, masters,
let 's home.
I ever said we were i' the wrong when we banished him.
Sec. Cit. So did we all. But, come, let 's home.
\Exeu7it Citizens.
Bru. I do not like this news.
Sic. Nor I.
Bru. Let's to the Capitol. Would half my wealth 160
Would buy this for a lie !
Sic. Pi'ay, let us go. {Exeunt,
134 Coxcombs. Fools' heads. \ f ' ^ i ' >
149 You and your cry. To the Tribunes, *you and your
pack.'
Scene 7] CORIOLANUS 107
SCENE VII. — A camp, at a small distance from Rome,
Enter Aufidius and his Lieutenant.
AUF. Do they still fly to the Roman 1
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 darkened in this action, sir,
Even by your own.
AUF. I cannot help it now,
Unless, by using means, I lame the foot
Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier,
Even to my person, than I thought he would
When first I did embrace him : yet his nature 10
In that's no changeling ; and I must excuse
What cannot be amended.
Lieu. Yet I wish, sir, —
I mean for your particular,"^ — you had not
Join'd in commission with him ; but either
Had borne the action of yourself, or else
To him had left it solely.
AUF. I understand thee well ; and be thou sure,
When he shall come to his account, he knows not
What I can urge against him. Although it seems,
And so he thinks, and is no less apparent 20
To the vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly,
And shows good husbandry for the Volscian state,
Fights dragon-like, and does achieve as soon
As draw his sword ; yet he hath left undone
That which shall break his neck or hazard mine,
Whene'er we come to our account.
Lieu. Sir, I beseech you, think you he '11 carry Rome ?
AUF. All places yield to him ere he sits down ;
And the nobility of Rome are his :
The senators and patricians love him too : 30
15 Had borne the action. Rem gessisses : as i. i, 274, "Had
borne the business : " and 1. 21, "bears all things fairly."
22 Husbandry. Care.
28 —57 Coleridge says of this speech : * ' I have always thought
this in itself so beautiful speech the least explicable from the mood
and full intention of the speaker of any in the whole works of
Shakspere." So much however is clear, that it contains two
thoughts: *Rome will open her gates to Coriolanus,' (this at
io8 CORIOLANUS [Act IV
The tribunes are no soldiers ; and their people
Will be as rash in the repeal,"^ as hasty
To expel him thence. I think he '11 be to Rome
As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it
By sovereignty of nature. First he was
A noble servant to them ; but he could not
Carry his honours even : whether 't was pride,
Which out of daily fortune ever taints
The happy man ; whether defect of judgment,
To fail in the disposing of those chances 40
Which he was lord of ; or whether nature,
Not to be other than one thing, not moving
From the casque to the cushion, but commanding peace
Even with the same austerity and garb
As he controird the war ; but one of these —
As he hath spices of them all, not all,
For I dare so far free him — made him fear'd,
So hated, and so banish'd : but he has a merit,
length : then, briefly, resuming his former train of thought), ' but,
when he is flushed with triumph, then I will accuse him to the
Volscians.' The latter part of the speech is very difficult —
perhaps corrupt.
28 Sits down. Lays siege to them.
34 As is the osprey to the fish. As fish, overcome by fear, are
said to surrender themselves to the osprey. Steevens quotes from
Peele's Battle of Alcazar (1594):
" I will provide thee with a princely osprey,
That, as she flieth over fish in pools,
The fish shall turn their glittering bellies up,
And thou sbalt take thy liberal choice of all."
36 Could not carry his honours even. Could not balance
til em ; like an ill-adjusted burthen, they bore him to the
ground.
39 Defect of judginent, etc. Want of tact in using the
opportunities he had gained.
42 Not to be other than one thing. Unable in the city to lay
aside the imperious bearing proper to the camp.
46 Spices , . . 7zot all. Not the fault — only a touch of it, a
taste.
48 But he has a merits etc. He did noble service as a soldier:
and, though as a statesman, promoted for his service in the wars,
he fell into disgrace, yet, confronted with the transcendent merit
of the man, (which only waits its opportunity, war not peace) the
very name of his fault must stick in the throats of his accusers.
Scene?] CORIOLANUS 109
To choke it in the utterance. So our virtues
Lie in the interpretation of the time : 50
And power, unto itself most commendable, ^
Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair
To extol what it hath done.
One fire drives out one fire ; one nail, one nail ;
Rights by rights fouler, strengths by strengths do fail.
Come, let 's away. When, Caius, Rome is thine,
Thou art poor'st of all ; then shortly art thou mine.
[^Exetmt,
ACT V.
SCENE l.—Rome. A piiblic place.
Enter Menenius, Cominius, Sicinius, Brutus, and
others.
Men. No, I '11 not go : you hear what he hath said
Which was sometime his general ; who loved him
In a most dear particular.^ He calFd me father :
But what o' that ? Go, you that banish'd him ;
49 So our virtues, eic. Our virtues are virtues no longer if
the time interprets them as none. The soldier who is all soldier
is misinterpreted in time of peace : for his unfitness for peace is
seen, his fitness for war is not seen. So Coriolanus — the power
he had won in war but wielded in peace, conscious of having de-
served well, could io itself commend itself, but the chair of
authority, which irritated the people by seeming to do nothing
else but commend his past exploits to thein, proved just the tomb
— the evident, inevitable tomb — that swallowed up the power it
was intended to display. So he offended the Romans when he
had taken Corioli : much more he will offend the Volscians when
he has taken Rome.
54 One fire drives out one fi^'e, etc. ''Even as one heat
another heat expels, Or as one nail by strength drives out
another," (Two Gent, of Ver. ii. 4, 192. Cp. Rom. and Jul. i.
2, 46 ; Jul. Caes. iii. i, 171 ; K. John iii. I, 277:) so, says Aufi-
dius, when the time is ripe, will I drive out him — his rights with
my rights, his strength with my strength. Fouler has been altered
in a variety of ways, but may after all be right, and is at least as
good as the conjectures. The meaning seems to be — * Rights
yield to rights — often the fairer to the fouler, when strength yields
to strength ; ' * It is the superior strength, not the better right,
that wins.' Aufidius (as in Act i. Sc. 2) confesses his own base-
ness.
no CORIOLANUS [Act V
A mile before his tent fall down, and knee
The way into his mercy : nay, if he coy'd
To hear Cominius speak, I '11 keep at home.
Com* He would not seem to know me.
Men. Do you hear?
Com. Yet one time he did call me by my name :
I urged our old acquaintance, and the drops lo
That we have bled together. Coriolanus
He would not answer to : forbad all names ;
He was a kind of nothing, titleless,
Till he had forged himself a name o' the fire
Of burning Rome.
Men. Why, so : you have made good work !
A pair of tribunes that have rack'd"^ for Rome,
To make coals cheap, — a noble memory !
Com. I minded him how royal 't was to pardon
When it was less expected : he replied,
It was a bare petition of a state ' 20
To one whom they had punish'd.
Men. Very well :
Could he say less ?
Com. I offer'd to awaken his regard
For 's private friends : his answer to me was,
He could not stay to pick them in a pile
Of noisome musty chaff, he said 't was folly,
For one poor grain or two, to leave unburnt,
And still to nose the offence.
Men. For one poor grain or two ! r
I am one of those ; his mother, wife, his child, j
And this brave fellow too, we are the grains : 30
You are the musty chaff ; and you are smelt
Above the moon : we must be burnt for you.
6 Coyd. Listened with cold reserve. Commonly, of the re-
serve of affected modesty.
16 Have racked for Rome, etc. **Have been such good
stewards for the Roman people, as to get their houses burned
over their heads, to save them the expense of coals." — Steevens.
20 It was a bare petition, etc. ' Considering whence it was,
and to whom addressed, could I not adorn it with eloquence —
clothe it at least with decency of better reasons ? '
26 He said V was folly, etc. Relative understood ; ' which he
said it was folly to leave unburnt. '
28 Offence. Nuisance,
Scene 1] CORIOLANUS lU
Sic. Nay, pray, be patient : if you refuse your aid
In this so-never-needed help, yet do not
Upbraid 's with our distress. But, sure, if you
Would be your country's pleader, your good tongue,
More than the instant army we can make,
Might stop our countryman.
Men. No, I '11 not meddle.
Sic. Pray you, go to him.
Men. What should I do ?
Bru. Only make trial what your love can do 40
For Rome, towards Marcius.
Men. Well, and say that Marcius
R)eturn me, as Cominius is returned.
Unheard ; what then ?
But as a discontented friend, grief-shot
With his unkindness ? say 't be so ?
Sic. Yet your good will
Must have that thanks from Rome, after the measure
As you intended well.
Men. I '11 undertake 't :
I think he '11 hear me. Yet, to bite his lip
And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me.
He was not taken well ; he had not dined : (5^
The veins unfill'd, our blood is cold, and then
We pout upon the morning, are unapt
To give or to forgive ; but when we have stufif'd
These pipes and these conveyances of our blood
With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls
Than in our priest-like fasts : therefore I '11 watch him
Till he be dieted to my request.
And then I '11 set upon him.
Bru. You know the very road into his kindness,
And cannot lose your way.
Men. Good faith, I '11 prove him, 60
34 So -nrjer -needed. Needed as never was help needed before.
44 Grief-shot. Bearing away in my heart the grievous shaft
of his unkindness.
46 That thanks, etc. Such gratitude as shall be according to
the measure of your good intentions.
50 He was not taken well. Cominius did not go to him at a
propitious moment.
57 Dieted to my request. In the humour, having dined, to
hear me.
112 CORIOLANUS [ActV
Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledge
Of my success. [Exz^.
Com. He '11 never hear him.
Sic. Not ?
Com. I tell you, he does sit in gold, his eye
Red as 't would burn Rome ; and his injury
The gaoler to his pity. I kneel'd before him ;
'T was very faintly hie said ^ Rise ; ' dismiss'd me
Thus, with his speechless hand : what he would do,
He sent in writing after me, what he would not —
Bound with an oath, to yield to his conditions :
So that all hope is vain, 70
Unless his noble mother, and his wife ;
Who, as I hear, mean to solicit him
For mercy to his country. Therefore, let 's hence.
And with our fair entreaties haste them on. [^Exeunt.
SCENE n. — Entrance of the Volscia7i camp before Rome,
Two Sentinels 07i guard.
Enter to thejn, Menenius.
First Sen. Stay : whence are you 1
Sec. Sen. Stand, and go back.
Men. You guard like men ; 't is well : but, by your
leave,
I am an officer of state, and come
To speak with Coriolanus.
First Sen. From whence?
6 1 Speed how it tvill : {let it speed — my proving him :) however
he receives me, I will not be discouraged, but go on till I have
sounded him. I shall soon know what my success is.
63 In gold. '*He was set in his chair of state, with a
marvellous and unspeakable majesty." — North's Plutarch.
Steevens comp. Henry VIII. i. I, 19: **A11 clinquant, all in
gold, like heathen gods."
64 His iftjury. Remembrance of the wrong that he has
suffered.
67 What he would do, etc. Sent after me, in writing, what
he would, what he would not, consent to do ; confirming this
with an oath which only our acceptance of his terms can cancel.
Cp. Sc. 3, 12-17. — With the construction "An oath to yield,"
cp. iv. 7, 48, 52 : '*a merit, to choke it," "a chair to extol."
71 His mother and wife are our only hope.
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS 113
Men. From Rome.
First Sen. You may not pass, you must return : our
general
Will no more hear from thence.
Sec. Sen. You'll see your Rome embraced with fire
before
You '11 speak with Coriolanus.
Men. Good my friends,
If you have heard your general talk of Rome,
And of his friends there, it is lots to blanks, 10
My name hath touch'd your ears : it is Menenius.
First Sen. Be it so ; go back : the virtue of your
name
Is not here passable."^
Men. I tell thee, fellow,
Thy general is my lover : I have been
The book of his good acts, whence men have read
His fame unparallel'd, haply amplified ;
For I have ever verified my friends,
Of whom he 's chief, with all the size that verity
Would without lapsing suffer : nay, sometimes,
Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground, 20
I have tumbled past the throw ; and in his praise
Have almost stamp'd the leasing"^ : therefore, fellow,
I must have leave to pass.
First Sen. Faith, 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. .
10 Lots of blanks. Seems to be a colloquial expression for a
certainty ; * No question here of drawing a prize — the thing is as
certain as drawing a ticket.^ Lots = bla^iks + prizes,
13 Ls not here passable. Cannot pass (or procure you passage)
here.
17 / have ever verified, etc. I have always told the truth
about my friends' good acts — always the whole truth — sometimes
perhaps a little more than the truth.
20 A subtle groimd. So sloped as to require delicate play,
deceptive, hard to calculate.
22 Have almost stamped the leasing. In my eagerness to praise
him have scarcely checked myself from giving currency to the
falsehood — letting it go forth stamped with my authority.
H
114 CORIOLANUS [Act V
Men. Prithee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius,
always factionary on the party of your general. 3 1
Sec. Sen. 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, canst thou tell ? for I would not
speak with him till after dinner.
First Sen. You are a Roman, are you ?
Men. I am, as thy general is. 39
First Sen. 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 re-
prieve and pardon. 54
Men. Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here, he would
use me with estimation.
Sec. Sen. Come, my captain knows you not.
Men. I mean, thy general.
First Sen. 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, —
EnUr CORIOLANUS and AUFIDIUS.
COR. What 's the matter ? 64
Men. Now, you companion,"^ Pll say an errand for
you : you shall know now that I am in estimation ; you
31 Factionary. Always a partisan in party struggles, and on
your general's side.
44 Fronts confront : — easy, ready, at command : — virginal
pilms, hands of maidens lifted in supplication.
65 I'll say an errand for you^ You shall hear how I can say
what I was sent to say.
Scene 2] CORIOLANUS riS
shall perceive that a Jack guardant cannot office me from
my son Coriolaniis : guess, but by my entertainment with
him, if thou standest 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 come upon
thee. [To Cor.] The glorious gods sit in hourly synod
about thy particular prosperity, and love thee no worse
than thy old father Menenius does ! O my son, my son !
thou art preparing -fire for us ; look thee, here 's water to
quench it. I was hardly moved to come to thee ; but,
being assured none but myself could move thee, I have
been blown out of your gates with sighs ; and conjure
t^ee to pardon Rome, and thy petitionary countrymen.
The good gods assuage thy wrath, and turn the dregs of
it upon this varlet here, — this, who, like a block, hath
denied my access to thee. 85
Cor. Away !
Men. How ! away !
Cor. Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs
Are servanted to others : though I owe"^
My revenge properly, my remission lies 90
In Volscian breasts. That we have been familiar,
Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison, rather
Than pity note how much. Therefore, be gone.
Mine ears against your suits are stronger than
Your gates against my force. Yet, for I loved thee.
Take this along ; I writ it for thy sake, [Gives a letter.
And would have sent it. Another word, Menenius,
I will not hear thee speak. This man, Aufidius,
Was my beloved in Rome : yet thou behold'st !
AUF. You keep a constant temper. 100
[Exeunt CORIOLANUS aitd AUFIDIUS.
First Sen. Now, sir, is your name Menenius 1
Sec. Sen. 'T is a spell, you see, of much power : you
know the way home again.
67 A Jack g7iardant. Contemptuously, ' a Jack on guard. *
So Mer. of Ven. iii. 4, 77: "these bragging Jacks : " Much Ado
i. I, 186: "the flouting Jack.'* Steevens compares "a term
still in use — a Jack in office ; Le. one who is as proud of his petty
consequence as an exciseman."
89 Though I owe, etc. The Volscians have charged me with
the execution of my own revenge ; it is mine therefore to execute,
but not to remit.
Ii6 CORIOLANUS [Act V
First Sen. Do you hear how we are shent^ for keep-
ing your greatness back ?
Sec. Sen. What cause, do you think, I have to swoon.-*
Men. I neither care for the world nor your general :
for such things as you, I can scarce think there 's any,
ye 're so slight.-^ He that hath a will to die by himself
fears it not from another : let your general do his worst.
For you, be that you are, long ; and your misery increase
with your age ! I say to you, as I was said to, Away ! 114
First Sen. A noble fellow, I warrant him.
Sec. Sen. The worthy fellow is our general : he's the
rock, the oak not to be wind-shaken. [Exetmt.
SCENE III.— 7:^^ /^;^/^/ CORIOLANUS.
Enter CORIOLANUS, AUFIDIUS, and others. .
Cor. We will before the walls of Rome to-morrow
Set down our host. My partner in this action,
You must report to the Volscian lords, how plainly
I have borne this business.
AUF. Only their ends
You have respected ; stopp'd your ears against
The general suit of Rome ; never admitted
A private whisper, no, not with such friends
That thought them sure of you.
Cor. This last old man,
Whom with a crack'd heart I have sent to Rome,
Loved me above the measure of a father ; lO
Nay, godded me, indeed. Their latest refuge
Was to send him ; for whose old love I have.
Though I show'd"^ sourly to him, once more offer'd
The first conditions, which they did refuse
And cannot now accept ; to grace him only
That thought he could do more, a very little
1 have yielded to : fresh embassies and suits.
Nor from the state nor private friends, hereafter
Will I lend ear to. Ha ! what shout is this.^ {Shout within.
Shall I be tempted to infringe my vow 20
In the same time 't is made t I will not.
Enter ^ in motirniiig habits^ ViRGiLi A, VOLUMNIA, leading
young Marcius, VALERIA, a7id Attendants.
My wife comes foremost ; then the honour'd mould
Scene 3] CORIOLANUS 117
Wherein this trunk was framed, and in her hand
The grandchild to her blood. But, out, affection !
All bond and privilege of nature, break !
Let it be virtuous to be obstinate.
What is that curf sy worth ? or those doves' eyes,
Which can make gods forsworn ? I melt, and am not
Of stronger earth than others. My mother bows ;
As if Olympus to a molehill should 30
In supphcation nod : and my young boy
Hath an aspect of intercession, which
Great nature cries ^ Deny not.' Let the Volsces
Plough Rome, and harrow Italy ; 1 11 never
Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand,
As if a man were author of himself
And knew no other kin.
ViR. My lord and husband !
Cor. These eyes are not the same I wore in Rome.
ViR. The sorrow that delivers us thus changed
Makes you think so.
Cor. Like a dull actor now, 40
I have forgot my part, and I am out,
Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh,
Forgive my tyranny ; but do not say
For that ^ Forgive our Romans.' O, a kiss
Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge !
Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss
I carried from thee, dear ; and my true lip
Hath virgin'd it e'er since. You gods ! I prate,
And the most noble mother of the world
Leave unsaluted : sink, my knee, i' the earth ; \Kneels, 50
Of thy deep duty more impression show
Than that of common sons.
Vol. O, stand up blest !
Whilst, with no softer cushion than the flint,
27 What is thai curfsy woj'th ? Rebuking his own weakness.
39 * It is the change that sorrow has wrought in us, which
makes you think you see us with other eyes than formerly.'
44 For that. In answer, prayer for prayer.
46 That kiss I carried from thee. I give you back the kiss
you gave me when we parted.
48 Vi7'giiid it. Played the virgin. So ii. 3, 128, "fool
it ; " and elsewhere, "queen it," "duke it," &c.
ib. Prate Theobald conj. pray Ff.
Ii8 CORIOLANUS [Act V
I kneel before thee ; and improperly
Show duty, as mistaken all this while
Between the child and parent. {Kneels,
Cor. What is this ?
Your knees to me ? to your corrected son ?
Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach
Fillip the stars ; then let the mutinous winds
Strike the proud cedars Against the fiery sun ; 60
Murdering impossibility, to make
What cannot be, slight work.
Vol. Thou art my warrior ;
I holp to frame thee. Do you know this lady 1
Cor. The noble sister of Publicola,
The moon of Rome, chaste as the icicle
That's curdied"^ by the frost from purest snow
And hangs on Dian's temple : dear Valeria !
Vol. This is a poor epitome of yours,
Which by the interpretation of full time
May show"^ like all yourself.
Cor. The god of soldiers, 70
With the consent of supreme Jove, inform
Thy thoughts with nobleness ; that thou mayst prove
To shame unvulnerable, and stick i' the wars
Like a great sea-mark, standing every flaw,"^
And saving those that eye thee !
Vol. Your knee, sirrah.
Cor. That 's my brave boy 1
Vol. Even he, your wife, this lady, and myself,
Are suitors to you.
Cor. I beseech you, peace :
Or, if you 'Id ask, remember this before :
55 Mistaken all this while. Mistakenly till now supposed
due, not from parent to child, but from child to parent.
57 Corrected. Rebuked by the sight.
61 Murdei'iizg impossibility — let nothing be impossible any
more.
68 A poor epitome ofyou7's. Johnson proposed to read * of
you : ' which however is implied in epitome, {of yotirs being
possessive :) 'an abridgment, which, with time's commentary,
may grow to th6 full proportions of its original, yourself. '
76 That V 7ny brave boy. It has been suggested that the boy
refuses to kneel and that Coriolanus admires his courage. But
'brave ' of course means 'good.'
Scene 3] CORIOLANUS 119
The thing I have forsworn to grant may never 80
Be held by you denials. Do not bid me
Dismiss my soldiers, or capitulate"^
Again with Rome's mechanics : tell me liot
Wherein I seem unnatural : desire not
To allay my rages and revenges with
Your colder reasons.
Vol. O, no more, no more !
You have said you will not grant us any thing ;
For we have nothing else to ask, but that
Which you deny already : yet we will ask ;
That, if you fail in our request, the blame 90
May hang upon your hardness : therefore hear us.
Cor. Aufidius, and you Volsces, mark ; for we 11
Hear nought from Rome in private. Your request ?
Vol. Should we be silent and not speak, our raiment
And state of bodies would bewray"^ what life
We have led since thy exile. Think with thyself
How more unfortunate than all living women
Are we come hither : since that thy sight, which should
Make our eyes flow with joy, hearts dance with comforts,
Constrains them weep and shake with fear and sorrow ;
Making the mother, wife and child to see loi
The son, the husband and the father tearing
His country's bowels out. And to poor we
Thine enmity's most capital : thou barr'st us
Our prayers to the gods, which is a comfort
That all but we enjoy ; for how can we,
Alas, how can we for our country pray.
Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory,
Whereto we are bound ? alack, or we must lose
The country, our dear nurse, or else thy person, no
Our comfort in the country. We must find
An evident calamity, though we had
80 Forsworn to grant. Sworn not to grant.
81 Denials. The plural is colloquial. Cp. i. 3, 112: "To
make it brief wars:" iv. 3, 13: "There hath been strange
insurrections."
90 Fail in our request. Fail us where we seek your succour.
94 Volumnia's speech is taken, almost verbatim, from North's
Plutarch.
103 To poor zve. As if the epithet gave the pronoun a right to
go undeclined, as for example in As You Like It, iii. 2, 10.
120 CORIOLANUS • [Act V
Our wish, which side should win ; for either thou
Must, as a foreign recreant,"^ be led
With manacles through our streets, or else
Triumphantly tread on thy country's ruin,
And bear the palm for having bravely shed
Thy wife and children's blood. For myself, son,
I purpose not to wait on fortune till
These wars determine .-"^ if I cannot persuade thee I20
Rather to show a noble grace to both parts
Than seek the end of one, thou shalt no sooner
March to assault thy country than to tread —
Trust to 't, thou shalt not — on thy mother's womb,
That brought thee to this world.
ViR. Ay, and mine,
That brought you forth this boy, to keep your name
Living to time.
Young Mar. A' shall not tread on me ;
I '11 run away till I am bigger, but then I '11 fight.
Cor. Not of a woman's tenderness to be.
Requires nor child nor woman's face to see. 130
I have sat too long. {Rising.
Vol. Nay, go not from us thus.
If it were so that our request did tend
To save the Romans, thereby to destroy
The Volsces whom you serve, you might condemn us,
As poisonous of your honour : no ; our suit
Is, that you reconcile them : while the Volsces
May say * This mercy we have show'd ;' the Romans,
' This we received ;' and each in either side
Give the all-hail to thee, and cry ^ Be blest
For making up this peace !' Thou know'st, great son, 140
The end of war's uncertain, but this certain,
That, if thou conquer Rome, the benefit
Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name,
Whose repetition will be dogg'd with curses ;
Whose chronicle thus writ : ' The man was noble.
But with his last attempt he wiped it out ;
Destroy'd his country, and his name remains
To the ensuing age abhorr'd.' Speak to me, son :
Thou hast affected the fine strains'^ of honour,
125 World. Pronounced as two syllables. Cp. i. I, 195, wt»/^.
149 Fine strains of honour. Touches, traits of the heroic ; a
more than ordinary, almost more than human, elevation and
magnificence of nature.
Scene 3] CORIOLANUS 121
To imitate the graces of the gods ; ^ 150
To tear with thunder the wide cheeks o' the air,
And yet to charge thy sulphur with a bolt
That should but rive an oak. Why dost not speak ?
Think'st thou it honourable for a noble man
Still to remember wrongs ? Daughter, speak you :
He cares not for your weeping. Speak thou, boy :
Perhaps thy childishness will move him more
Than can our reasons. There 's no man in the world
More bound to 's mother ; yet here he lets me prate
Like one i' the stocks. Thou hast never in thy life 160
Showed thy dear mother any courtesy,
When she, poor hen, fond of no second brood.
Has cluck'd thee to the wars and safely home,
Loaden with honour. Say my request 's unjust,
And spurn me back : but if it be not so,
Thou art not honest ; and the gods will plague thee.
That thou restrain^st from me the duty which
To a mother's part belongs. He turns away :
Down, ladies ; let us shame him with our knees.
To his surname Coriolanus 'longs more pride 170
Than pity to our prayers. Down : an end ;
This is the last : so we will home to Rome,
And die among our neighbours. Nay, behold 's :
This boy, that cannot tell what he would have,
But kneels and holds up hands for fellowship.
Does reason our petition with more strength
Than thou hast to deny 't. Come, let us go :
This fellow had a Volscian to his mother ;
His wife is in Corioli and his child
Like him by chance. Yet give us our dispatch : 1 80
150 To imitate, etc. To be strong gracefully as the gods are
strong, whose strength is force, not violence — omnipotence wielded
by absolute will — able to rend the universe, yet charged to rend
an oak.
153 Why dost not speak 1 You who have so affected noble-
ness — is this noble ?
160 Like one V the stocks — as ineffectually.
172 So, with this : if this our last petition fails.
179 * His child is not his child.' Theobald proposed to read
this child.
180 * We are going : there is no more for us to say : it only
remains for you to bid us go. '
122 CORIOLANUS [Act V
I am hush'd until our city be a-fire,
And then I '11 speak a little.
[^He holds her by the hand, silettt.
Cor. O mother, mother !
What have you done ? Behold, the heavens do ope,
The gods look down, and this unnatural scene
They laugh at. O my mother, mother ! O !
You have won a happy victory to Rome ;
But, for your son, — believe it, O, believe it,
Most dangerously you have with him prevail'd,
If not most mortal to him. But, let it come.
Aufidius, though I cannot make true wars, 190
I '11 frame convenient peace. Now, good Aufidius,
Were you in my stead, would you have heard
A mother less .^ or granted less, Aufidius .?
AUF. I was moved withal.
Cor. I dare be sworn you were :
And, sir, it is no little thing to make
Mine eyes to sweat compassion. But, good sir,
What peace you '11 make, advise me : for my part,
I '11 not to Rome, I '11 back with you ; and pray you,
Stand to me in this cause. O mother ! wife !
AUF. [Aside.] I am glad thou hast set thy mercy and
thy honour
At difference in thee : out of that I '11 work 201
Myself a former fortune.
[The Ladies make signs to CORIOLANUS.
Cor. Ay, by and by ; [To VOLUMNI A, ViRGlLIA, &c.
But we will drink together ; and you shall bear
A better witness back than words, which we,
On like conditions, will have counter-seal'd.
Come, enter with us. Ladies, you deserve
To have a temple built you : all the swords
In Italy, and her confederate arms,
Could not have made this peace. [Exeunt. 209
192 The emphasis on you causes it to occupy the time of two
syllables. Cp. i. i, 220, note.
202 A for7nei' fortune. Such fortune as I possessed before I
renounced a share of my power in favour of Coriolanus.
203 But we zuill drink together. But first Aufidius and I will
meet, and discuss the terms to be offered.
204 Which we, etc. An agreement, written and subscribed
by us — to the terms of which the Romans, on their part, must
signify consent.
Scene 4] CORIOLANUS 123
SCENE W.—Roine. A public place.
Enter Menenius a7id Sicinius.
Men. See you yond coign "^ o' the Capitol, yond corner-
stone ?
Sic. Why, what of that ?
Men. If it be possible for you to displace it with your
little finger, there is some hope the ladies of Rome,
especially his mother, may prevail with him. But I say
there is no hope in 't : our throats are sentenced and stay
upon execution.
Sic. Is 't possible that so short a time can alter the con-
dition"^ of a man ? 10
Men. There is differency between a grub and a butter-
fly ; yet your butterfly was a grub. This Marcius is
grown from man to dragon : he has wings ; he 's more
than a creeping thing.
Sic. He loved his mother dearly.
Men. So did he me : and he no more remembers his
mother now than an eight-year-old horse. The tartness
of his face sours ripe grapes : when he walks, he moves
like an engine, and the ground shrinks before his tread-
ing : he is able to pierce a corslet with his eye ; talks like
a knell, and his hum is a battery. He sits in his state,"*
as a thing made for Alexander. What he bids be done
is finished with his bidding. He wants nothing of a god
but eternity and a heaven to throne in. 26
Sic. Yes, mercy, if you report him truly.
Men. I paint him in the character. Mark what
mercy his mother shall bring from him : there is no more
mercy in him than there is milk in a male tiger ; that
shall our poor city find : and all this is long of you.
Sic. The gods be good unto us !
Men. No, in such a case the gods will not be good
unto us. When we banished him, we respected not them ;
and, he returning to break our necks, they respect not
us.
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. Sir, if you 'Id save your life, fly to your house :
23 A thing made for Alexander. An image of him.
28 In the character. To the life.
124 CORIOLANUS [Act V
The plebeians have got your fellow-tribune
And hale him up and down, all swearing, if 40
The Roman ladies bring not comfort home,
They 11 give him death by inches.
Enter a second Messenger.
Sic. What 's the news ?
Sec. Mess. Good news, good news ; the ladies have
prevailed.
The Volscians are dislodged, and Marcius gone :
A merrier day did never yet greet Rome,
No, not the expulsion of the Tarquins.
Sic. Friend,
Art thou certain this is true ? is it most certain ?
Sec. Mess. As certain as I know the sun is fire :
Where have you lurk'd, that you make doubt of it t
Ne'er through an arch so hurried the blown tide, 50
As the recomforted through the gates. Why, hark you !
{Trumpets; hautboys; drums beat; all together.
The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries, and fifes,
Tabors and cymbals and the shouting Romans,
Make the sun dance. Hark you ! {A shout within.
Men. This is good news :
I will go meet the ladies. This Volumnia
Is worth of consuls, senators, patricians,
A city full ; of tribunes, such as you,
A sea and land full. You have prayed well to-day :
This morning for ten thousand of your throats
I Id not have given a doit. Hark, how they joy ! 60
{Music stilly with shouts.
Sic. First, the gods bless you for your tidings ; next,
Accept my thankfulness.
Sec. Mess. Sir, we have all
Great cause to give great thanks.
Sic. They are near the city t
Sec. Mess. Almost at point to enter.
Sic. We will meet them.
And help the joy. [Exeunt,
50 Blown, Driven before the wind.
Scene 5] CORIOLANUS 125
SCENE V. — The smne, A street near the gate.
Enter two Senators with VOLUMNIA, ViRGiLiA, Valeria,
&c. passing over the stage, followed by Patricians,
and others.
First Sen. Behold our patroness, the life of Rome !
Call all your tribes together, praise the gods,
And make triumphant fires ; strew flowers before them :
Unshout the noise that banish'd Marcius,
Repeal"^ him with the welcome of his mother ;
Cry ' Welcome, ladies, welcome ! '
All. Welcome, ladies,
Welcome !
\A flourish with drums and trumpets. Exeunt.
S CE N E VI. — A ntium, A public place.
Enter Tullus Aufidius, with Attendants.
AUF. Go tell the lords o' the city I am here :
Deliver them this paper : having read it,
Bid them repair to the market-place ; where I,
Even in theirs and in the commons' ears.
Will vouch the truth of it. Him I accuse
The city ports "^ by this hath enter'd and
Intends to appear before the people, hoping
To purge himself with words : dispatch.
{Exeunt Attendants.
Enter three or four Conspirators of Aufibivs^ faction.
Most welcome !
First Con. How is it with our general .^^
AuF. Even so 10
As with a man by his own alms empoison'd,
And with his charity slain.
Sec, Con. Most noble sir,
If you do hold the same intent wherein
You wish'd us parties, we 'U deliver you
Of your great danger.
4 Unshout the noise. Annul the former noise with shouts of
welcome to his mother.
5 Him 1 accuse. The converse of the Greek * attraction ' —
antecedent in case of omitted relative. So As You Like It, i. i,
46 : "Him I am before.'*
176 CORIOLANUS [Act V
AUF. Sir, 1 cannot tell :
We must proceed as we do find the people.
Third Con. The people will remain uncertain whilst
'Twixt you there 's difference ; but the fall of either
Makes the survivor heir of all.
AUF. I know it ;
And my pretext to strike at him admits 20
A good construction. I raised him, and I pawn'd
Mine honour for his truth : who being so heightened,
He water'd his new plants with dews of flattery,
Seducing so my friends ; and, to this end.
He bow'd his nature, never known before
But to be rough, unswayable and free.
Third Con. Sir, his stoutness
When he did stand for consul, which he lost
By lack of stooping, —
AuF. That I would have spoke of :
Being banish'd for 't, he came unto my hearth ; 30
Presented to my knife his throat : I took him ;
Made him joint-servant with me ; gave him way
In all his own desires ; nay, let him choose
Out of my files, his projects to accomplish.
My best and freshest men : served his designments
In mine own person ; holp to reap the fame
Which he did end all his ; and took some pride
To do myself this wrong : till, at the last,
I seem'd his follower, not partner, and
He waged me with his countenance, as if 40
I had been mercenary.
First Con. So he did, my lord :
The army marvell'd at it, and, in the last.
When he had carried Rome and that"^ we looked
For no less spoil than glory, —
1 7 You will 7vaii in vain for the people : they will be on your
side when you have struck the blow.
27 Sir, his stoutness^ etc. This rough ungovernable disposi-
tion which he displayed at Rome, (the Conspirator would have
said), may itself be urged against him. Aufidius interrupts with
a third charge — of supercilious treatment of himself.
37 Did end all his. Contrived finally to appropriate.
40 Wagd vie zuith his countenance. Paid me with his patron-
age : made me feel that, when he approved of me, he was paying
me wages.
Scene 6] CORIOLANUS 127
AUF. There was it,
For which my sinews shall be stretch'd upon him.
At a few drops of women's rheum, which are
As cheap as lies, he sold the blood and labour
Of our great action : therefore shall he die,
And 111 renew me in his fall. But, hark !
\^Drums and trumpets sotind^ with great shouts of the people.
First Con. Your native town you enter'd like a post,"^
And had no welcomes home ; but he returns, 5 1
Splitting the air with noise.
Sec. Con. And patient fools.
Whose children he hath slain, their base throats tear
With giving him glory.
Third Con. Therefore, at your vantage.
Ere he express himself, or move the people
With what he w^ould say, let him feel your sword,
Which we will second. When he lies along.
After your way his tale pronounced shall bury
His reasons with his body.
AuF. Say no more :
Here come the lords. 60
Enter the Lords of the city.
All the Lords. You are most welcome home.
AuF. I have not deserved it.
But, worthy lords, have you with heed perused
What I have written to you 1
Lords. We have.
First Lord. And grieve to hear 't.
What faults he made before the last, I think
Might have found easy fines : but there to end
Where he was to begin and give away
The benefit of our levies, answering us
With our own charge, making a treaty where
There was a yielding, — this admits no excuse.
AUF. He approaches : you shall hear him. 70
45 For which my siytezvs, etc. The point on which I will put
forth my whole strength against him.
46 At. At the price of.
58 After your way his tale pronounced. Your version of his story.
59 His reasons. His arguments, defence.
67 A7tswering tts with our own charge. Instead of spoils and
victory, bringing back the bill — for ourselves to pay.
I2S CORIOLANUS [Act V
Enter Coriolanus, marchmg with drum and colours j
Commoners being with him.
Cor. Hail, lords ! I am returned your soldier,
No more infected with my country's love
Than when I parted hence, but still subsisting
Under your great command. You are to know
That prosperously I have attempted and
With bloody passage led your wars even to
The gates of Rome. Our spoils we have brought home
Do more than counterpoise a full third part
The charges of the action. We have made peace
With no less honour to the Antiates 80
Than shame to the Romans : and we here deliver,
Subscribed by the consuls and patricians,
Together with the seal o' the senate, what
We have compounded on.
AuF. Read it not, noble lords ;
But tell the traitor, in the highest degree
He hath abused your powers.
Cor. Traitor ! how now !
AuF. - Ay, traitor, Marcius !
Cor. Marcius !
AuF. Ay, Marcius, Caius Marcius : dost thou think
I '11 grace thee with that robbery, thy stol'n name
Coriolanus in Corioli 1 90
You lords and heads o' the state, perfidiously
He has betray'd your business, and given up,
For certain drops of salt, your city Rome,
I say ' your city,' to his wife and mother ;
Breaking his oath and resolution like
A twist of rotten silk, never admitting
Counsel o' the war, but at his nurse's tears
He whined and roar'd away your victory,
That pages blushed at him and men of heart
Looked wondering each at other.
Cor. Hear'st thou, Mars ? icx)
71 Soldier. Three syllables, as i. i, 120.
90 In Corioli — * and, if not there, how in any Volscian city
— how here in Antium ? ' For (unless in this line) we have no
indication, and it is unlikely, that Shakspere intended the scene
(as some editors have thought) to be laid in Corioli. The Folios
do not assign it to either place.
96 N'ever admitting counsel of. Admitting no thought of.
Scene 6] CORIOLANUS 129
AuF. Name not the god, thou boy of tears !
Cor. Ha !
AuF. No more.
Cor. Measureless liar, thou hast made my heart
Too great for what contains it. ' BoyM O slave!
Pardon me, lords, 't is the first time that ever
I was forced to scold. Your judgments, my grave
lords.
Must give this cur the lie : and his own notion —
Who wears my stripes impressed upon him ; that
Must bear my beating to his grave — shall join
To thi-ust the lie unto him. no
First Lord. Peace, both, and hear me speak.
Cor. Cut me to pieces, Volsces ; men and lads.
Stain all your edges on me. ' Boy' ! false hound !
If you have writ your annals true, 'tis there,
That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I
Fluttered your Volscians in Corioli :
Alone I did it. *BoyM
AuF. Why, noble lords,
Will you be put in mind of his blind fortune.
Which was your shame, by this unholy braggart,
'Fore your own eyes and ears ?
All Consp. Let him die for't. 120
All the People. * Tear him to pieces.' ' Do it pre-
sently.' ' He killed my son.' * My daughter.' ' He
killed my cousin Marcus.' ' He killed my father.'
Sec. Lord. Peace, ho ! no outrage : peace !
The man is noble and his fame folds-in
This orb o' the earth. His last offences to us
Shall have judicious hearing. Stand, Aufidius,
And trouble not the peace.
loi Tears, See i. i, 195, note.
107 Notion. His own mind, his own thoughts. So Macb.
iii. I, 83 : "To half a soul and to a notion crazed ;" Lear i. 4,
248, *' His notion weakens."
126 Folds in. Enfolds. So iii. 3, 68.
127 This orb d* the earth — i.e. is world-wide. Or, as Dr.
Delius explains it, this side (or disc) of the earth : as Ham. i. I,
85 : ** This side of our known world."
128 Judicious. Wise and careful. Steevens explains it as=
judicial : but Shakspere does not so use it elsewhere*
I
I30 CORIOLANUS [Act V
Cor. O that I had him,
With six Aufidiuses, or more, his tribe, 130
To use my lawful sword !
AuF. Insolent villain !
All Consp. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill him !
\_The Conspirators draw, and kill CORIOLANUS :
AUFIDIUS stands on his body.
Lords. Hold, hold, hold, hold !
AuF. My noble masters, hear me speak.
First Lord. O Tullus, —
Sec. Lord. Thou hast done a deed whereat valour
will weep.
Third Lord. Tread not upon him. Masters all, be
quiet ;
Put up your swords.
AUF. My lords, when you shall know — as in this rage,
Provoked by him, you cannot — the great danger
Which this man's life did owe you, you ^11 rejoice
That he is thus cut off. Please it your honours 140
To call me to your senate, 1 11 deliver
Myself your loyal servant, or endure
Your heaviest censure.
First Lord. Bear from hence his body ;
And mourn you for him : let him be regarded
As the most noble corse that ever herald
Did follow to his urn.
Sec. Lord. His own impatience
Takes from Aufrdius a great part of blame.
Let 's make the best of it.
AuF. My rage is gone ;
And I am struck with sorrow. Take him up.
Help, three o' the chiefest soldiers ; 1 11 be one. 150
Beat thou the drum, that it speak mournfully :
129 Coriolanus ends, as he began, with intemperate speech,
which would "take from Aufidius a great part of blame," had
we not overheard him plotting the murder of the Roman in cold
blood. It is to be noticed how our admiration of the noble side
of the character of Coriolanus, on which depends the tragic
interest of his death, is excited to the utmost by the contrast
between him and Aufidius, strongly marked throughout the play,
most strongly here.
Scene 6] CORIOLANUS 131
Trail your steel pikes. Though in this city he
Hath widow'd and unchilded many a one,
Which to this hour bewail the injury,
Yet he shall have a noble memory. ^^
Assist [£xeun^, bearing the body of CORIOLANUS.
A dead march sowtded.
GLOSSARY
addition — i. 9, 66, 72. An added name or title. Cp. Mac-
beth, i. 3, 106 —
** He bade me from him call thee Thane of Cawdor ;
In which addition hail, most worthy Thane !"
a -doing — iv. 2, 5. *In the act.* Doing vs, a siibst., like be-
ginni7tg, lem'ning^ &c. : not to be confounded with the participle
— the termination having been substantival before it was par-
ticipial. Comp. termination -ung of verbal substantives in
German. ^ is a corruption of the preposition on, sometimes
equivalent to in. To go a-hunting is to go on hunting (so on a
journey, on an errand, on business): to be a-gomg, on (= in)
going, in the act of going. Cp. asleep, — *on sleep,' (Acts xiii.
36) : alive = in life, (Gower has * on live'): anon, a-tivo (in one,
in two) : afoot, abed, asunder, &c.
advance — i. 6, 61 ; ii. i, 178. To lift. So Tempest, i. 2,
408: " The fringed curtains of thine eye ^^z'<2;z<:^"; ib. iv. i, 177:
'''' Advanced \h.€\x eyelids"; Rich. III. i. 2, 40: '■^ Advance \}ivj
halberd higher than my breast."
alarum — ii. 2, 80. Alarm. (Ital. aW armc: to arms !) sum-
mons to battle.
allow — iii. 3, 45. To acknowledge. Hence, to approve : as
Ps. xi. 6 : **The Lord alloweth the righteous."
allowance — iii. 2, 57. *'0f no allowance" = without a
character, disallowed, unrecognized. Cp. Othello, ii. i, 48 —
" His bark is stoutly timbered, and his pilot
Of very expert and approved allowance:'"
i.e. with an established character for skill and experience.
an — iv. 5, 200 : = if. To the derivation from A. S.annan =
unnaii, which seems to have been generally accepted without sus-
picion on the authority of Home Tooke, Garnett (Philological
Essays, p. 22), objects — * No such word exists.' That ingenious
but unsound and paradoxical writer, Home Tooke, imagined that
134 GLOSSARY [am
all or most English conjunctions were derivable from imperative
moods of verbs. This theoiy Mr. Garnett promptly demolishes.
"Tooke's if imperative,''^ he says, *'led him into a labyrinth of
errors. " We have all heard tf derived from the verb to give;
and we have been convinced by the mention of its Scottish equi-
valent^//" or ^/;^. Who could doubt that ** Gin a body meet a
body " meant " Suppose or gra7it or give that favourable circum-
stance"? Mr. Garnett, however, takes us back to the Sanskrit
iva (sicut). He finds in Old German the forms ibu, ipit, which
he describes as the instrumental case of a word meaning doubt-
ful ; and compares, in Icelandic, efa, to doubt, efi, a doubt, ef
if, [A kindred word in Gothic, jabai, seems to lead us to the
Scottish gifl
To take one illustration more of the theory and its demolition
— the conjunction but. Tooke says there are two buts, one the
imper. of A. S. botan, the other the imper. of A. S. beon (to be),
combined with utan {out). Garnett shows that But is always,
(like Greek irapeKTds, or our own lait^out, ) a combination of the
preposition bjy with the adverb out. (A. S. bi utan.)
To return to An. Side by side with the form an we have
and, clearly the same word, knd used in the same manner, and
the combination and if
Thus Bacon says, "They will set their house on fire and it
were but to roast their eggs."
And Shakspere, (i Henry VI. v. 4, 75,)
** It dies and if it had a thousand lives."
Two things may be remarked by the way. (i.) It is against
all analogy to suppose that an is the original word ; evidently
and has been corrupted or shortened into an.
(2. ) The combination and if (or an if) is almost absurd, if
both words be i?nperative moods.
This brings us to the end. An\% nothing but another form
of the conjunction and, limited by a freak of language to a
special use. There is reason to suppose that and ^2i% once a
conjunction of all work ; in other words, that there were no
special conjunctions — and that and, the simple connecter of
clauses, served instead of them.
Mr. Earle (Philology of the English Tongue, p. 458), who
cannot part with the familiar if imperative, and is neutral upon
an, though he would "as lief think it merely a special habit of
the common and," writes thus — "This colourless link-word
seems invested with a meaning which recalls to mind what the
and of the Hebrew is able to do in the subtle department of the
conjunction. Indeed we may say that we are coming back in
regard to our conjunctions to a simplicity such as that from
which the Hebrew language never departed. The Book of
Proverbs abounds in examples of the versatility of the Hebrew
an] glossary 135
and.'*'* And more to the same effect. And how possible it is
in English to do with hardly any relative or conjunctive or
connecting words at all — he proves by quoting from Shakspere,
*' For I am he am born to tame you, Kate ;"
and from Keble,
" Where is it mothers learn their love?'*
— and all readers of Shakspere and Carlyle and Browning knew
already.
And finally, Mr. Abbott (Grammar, § 102) — **The true expla-
nation (of and with the subjunctive) appears to be that the
hypothesis, the if^ is expressed not by the and^ but by the sub-
junctive, and that and merely means with the addition of, plus,
just as bid means leaving out, or minus.
The hypothesis is expressed by the simple subjunctive thus :
* Go not my horse the better
I must become a borrower of the night.'
Macb. iii. I, 25.
This sentence with and would become — * I must become a
borrower of the night and my horse go not the better,* i.e. * with,
or on, the supposition that my horse go not the better.' "
But, when a colourless and was felt to be insufficient for all
purposes, and a distinctly-coloured if had come into existence,
then the two were combined. And introduced the limitation,
(with a " Mark you, there is more to come,") and 2/" defined the
definition to be, not temporal nor causal, nor the rest, but
hypothetical.
Lastly and, no longer needed, ceased, and ^remained.
an hungry — i. i, 209. For clearness it may be well to trace
the meanings of the Teutonic prefix a, or an, each to its origin.
This of course will be exclusive of all its meanings as a Romance
prefix derived from Romance particles.
The eight meanings enumerated by Morris (Accidence, p.
224) seem practically to reduce themselves to four —
(l.) From an, — ane, (= one,) we have the indefinite article
a, (or an.) Cp. anon — on ane, (combining I with 3).
(2.) From of ox ^(Sanskrit apa, Greek d7r(5, Latin ah).
e.g. akin {— of kin), athirst (r= of thirst), af'aid or afeard
(— O. E. aferen and offaeren), a-weary (= ofwery, i.e. tired
out', of — off. Abbott, Gr. § 24). ashamed {— O. E. of-
ashamed. Morris, Ace. § 324), adown ( = O. E. of-dune:
<?/"=: off = away.)
(3.) From on (or an) — in. E.g. af7'07it, afire, a-row, a-tiptoe,
a-twain, a-high, etc., «-^^/^ (Milton : = on gape) ', a-eo/d {hesir :
= in cold); a-live (= in life, O. E. on live)-, on <^r^^^ (Hamlet);
a-doing, a-coming, etc. (= in, or on, doing, etc.)
[Probably athirst, ashamed, afeard^ a-weary (see 2), are
136 GLOSSARY [ano-art
examples of the intensive use of the prefix a — of {or off). Cp.
Greek dTrd, (as in airoKTeiveLV, to kill off,) where the intensify is
expressed by suggestion of continuance to the end, a clean job,
nothing left to do.
But was the prefix of convertible into on or an ? Probably
not : in spite of the confusion so common in Shakspere's time
between the prepositions of and on, as *' one on 's ears." — CoR.
ii. 2, 85. There seems to be nothing in English corresponding
to the moveable v {y €(P€\kv(ttlk6v) in Greek.
On the other hand, the verbs alight, a7'02ise, ahy, abide,
awake, etc., (quoted by Morris, p. 224,) are probably to be
referred to 3 as examples of the intensive use of the prefix
a ^^ an — on (or in.) Here the intensity is implied in the idea
of concentration to one end, in one set direction. Lat. interidere,
ittdolere, etc.; like Gr. ^Tmrod6Lv.'\
(4.) - y- (or i-) from ge-, the A. S. prefix of the past parti-
ciple. So along {— O. E. gelang), among {gemang), alike
{gelice), aware (ge-wozre).
Now an-hungry is found also in the forms an-hujigred (Mark
ii. 25), O. E. of-hyngred (Morris, p. 228), whence a-flngred
(Abbott, p. 34).
Is it then a participle (under 4), and an-htingry an adj.
formed from a part., with participial meaning? If so, why is it
an, not a 1
Must not of-hyngred or a-himgred be another example of the
intensive of, and an~hungry or an-hungred of the intensive on'i
Precisely such an example of the application of the two inten-
sive prefixes of and on to the same verb appears to be the verb
ahange (Morris, p. 224), compared with anhanged (Chaucer,
N. P. T. 15068).
anon — ii. 3, 149, 152 ; iv. 5, 19. At once. Corrupted from A. S.
on ane, * in one,' which is found in Gawin Douglas (who trans-
lated the ^neid, about 1 5 13). Chaucer has frequently * in one.'
arrive — ii. 3, 189: = to#,rrive at. So Jul. Caes. i. 2, no:
" But ere we could arrive the point proposed." And Tennyson,
" arrive at last the blessed goal."
article — ii. 3, 204. Condition, stipulation.
— Lat. artiailus. (l.) joint, (2.) limb.
(i.) That which joints or articulates or defines [as in gram-
mar: indefinite article being a contradiction in terms, except
that it defines a thing as being without definition.] (2.) Limb.
In grammar, clause. (Cp. Gr. kC^Kov.) So articles — terms,
each term separate and clear ; clauses, particulars, of contract :
e.g. articles of apprenticeship.
articulate, to speak clearly, to define, distinguish, (as by
as-bat] glossary 137
joints,) each word or syllable. Or (Cor. i. 9, 77), to divide
and explain, analyse, (as by joints,) terms of agreement.
as — In time of Shaks. (i) jel. pron. (2) conjunction (see
that) ; though now we no longer use it as a conj. at all, and as
a pron. only after such or the same, and in a few expressions like
'As I believe,' * As who can doubt?' (i) Cor. i. 6, 68. Cp.
Jul. Cses. i. 2, 34: "I have not from your eyes that gentle-
ness as\ was wont to have : " (conversely. Cor. iii. 2,
55, *'such words that are but roted"): (2) from Bacon's
Apophthegms (quoted by Richardson) — " Peter said, * Why do
you knock? You have the keys.' Sixtus answered, *It is true,
but it is so long since they were given, as I doubt the wards of
the lock be altered.'"
attach — iii. i, 175. To arrest. Properly, to fasten; as to.
attack is to fasten upon.
atone — iv. 6, 72. To agree, combine, be at one. So As
You Like It, v. 4, 116 —
** When earthly things made even
Atone together."
audit — i. I, 148. Properly (= audience) the hearing, or
scrutiny, of accounts ; here, the audited accounts themselves.
avoid — iv. 5, 25, 34. To quit (the house), clear out. To
make empty: like Fr. vider la maison. So Lear, i. i, 126:
** Hence and avoid my sight." ** To avoid a contract, to make
it void, of none effect, and hence to escape from the consequences
of it. To avoid vengeance may be interpreted either to make
void, or to escape, vengeance ; shewing clearly the transition to
the modern meaning." — Wedgwood.
B
bait — iv. 2, 43. Probably derived in all its senses (so Mr.
Wedgwood in second edition) from root-meaning to bite, so that
to bait a bull is to set the dogs to bite it ; and we bait the dogs,
as we bait a horse, or a hook — give them their bite.
bald — iii. i, 164. Naked, bare — so, senseless, empty. Hence
balder, balderdash. So I Henry IV. i. 3, 65 : " This bald,
unjointed chat."
bale — i. i, 167. Grief, trouble, sorrow. In Spenser often :
e.g. F. Q. i. 8, 14, ** The eternal bale of heavie wounded hearts " :
not elsewhere in Shakspere: but "baleful" often — as "baleful
sorcery," "baleful news."
bat — ^i. I, 58, 165. Staff, cudgel. " The origin of the word
i3» GLOSSARY [bat-car
is an imitation of the sound of a blow by the syllable bat, the
root of E. beat, It. battere, Fr. battre." — Wedgwood.
bate — ii. 2, 144. To remit. From Fr. ahattre: to abate,
bring down, lessen. To *' bate one jot of ceremony" = to lessen
the amount of ceremony by so much as one jot.
bend — ^i. 2, 16. To direct. So Milton, Par. Lost, 2, 729 :
" To bend the mortal dart." So to bend one's course, steps, &c.
bewray — v. 3, 95. To accuse — give information — discover.
From A.S. vregan, to accuse.
bisson — ii. i, 70. Blind (properly near-sighted). Hamlet
ii. 2, 529 : *' Threatening the flames with bissoit rheum \ (with
blinding tears).
bless — i. 3, 48. So Spenser, F. Q. i. 2, 18, of a blow that
turns aside and spares the knight : "And glauncing down his
shield from blame him fairly blessed ; " i. 9, 28, " God from him
me bless !"
bolt — (or boult) iii. I, 322. To sift. So Henry V. ii. 2, 138 :
*' Such and so finely boulted didst thou seem."
botcher — ii. i, 98. A tailor who mends. To botch is to
patch.
bower — iii. 2, 92. Where we now say boudoir. But, properly,
it simp]y means a chamber. Byre is another form of the same
word.
broil — iii. i, 33. Confusion, tumult. Fr. brouiller, It. broglio,
imbroglio. Hence embroil, e7?ibroilment ,
brunt — ii. 2, 104. The front, the hottest, of the battle. From
A.S. byrnan. Germ, brennen to burn; Germ, bi'unst, heat,
passion.
bulk — ii. I, 226. Any buttress or projection. So Othello,
"^•^^^- « Here, stand behind this bulk."
capitulate — v. 3, 82. To settle the heads, or terms of an
agreement.
carbonado — iv. 5, 199. Meat chopped or sliced for broiling.
From Lat. carbo. Fr. carbonade, — **a rasher on the coals,"
(Cotgrave). Hence, as a verb, to chop or slice. So Lear, ii.
2, 40 — *'Draw, you rogue, or I'll so carbonado your shanks."
Spectator, No. 324. — "Some are knocked down, others
stabbed, others cut and carbonadoed. "
cau-com] glossary 139
cautelous — iv. 1,33. Cunning. Craik — on Jul. Cses. ii. i,
129, ("Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous,") — says
** Cautelous is given to cautels, full oicautels : cautious and wary,
to the point of cowardice, if not to that of trickery. A cautel^
from the Roman law-term cautela (a security) is mostly used in a
discreditable sense by our old English writers ;" and he compares
Ham. i. 3, 15—
" And now no soil nor cauiel doth besmirch
The virtue of his will."
censure — i. i, 272. * Criticism,' favourable or unfavourable.
Cp. ii. I, 25. So *' Censure me in your wisdom," [i.e. form your
opinion of me, for or against). Jul. Caes. iii. 2, 18.
century— i. 7, 3. A hundred men. Cymb. iv. 2, 391, "a
century of prayers ; " Browning, ** a century of sonnets."
charter — i. 9, 14. ** Has a charter," is privileged. So As
You Like It, ii. 7, 48, ** As large a charter as the wind ;" and
Henry V. 1. I, 48, **The air, a chartered libertine." ;
clip — i. 6, 29 ; iv. 5, 115 : — clasp, (cp. grip, grasp,) embrace.
So 0th. iii. 3, 464, ** You elements that clip us round about."
cockle — iii. i, 70. A weed in corn.
cog — iii. 2, 133. To flatter, hence cheat (by flattery, as here ; .
or otherwise). Merry Wives, iii. 3, 50, *' Mistress Ford, I can-
not cog ; I cannot prate. Mistress Ford." Othello, iv. 2, 132,
** Some cogging, cozening slave."
coign — ^v. 4, I. Angle, comer. From cuneiis. So Macb.
i 6, 7 : *' No jutty, frieze, buttress, nor coign of vantage."
comfortable— i. 3, 2. Cheerful. So As You Like It, ii.
6, 9 : ** For my sake be comfortable." And, in the active sense,
*' so divine and comfortable a thing." (See inclinable.) The
adjective is almost limited now (though the subst. and verb are
not) to physical comforts.
companion — iv. 5, 14; v. 2, 65. Contemptuously, of an
inferior, as still * fellow.' So Jul. Cses. iv. 3, 138, "Companion,
hence;" 2 Henry VL iv. 10, 33,
** Why, rude companion, whatsoe'er thou be,
I know thee not. "
competency — i. i, 143. * Sufficiency,' here *force,' 'energy';
as * competent' (like * sufficient'; "Who is sufficient for these
things ? " ) means * able. '
complexion — (i) Physical constitution ; (2) colour of the skin,
** as marking a healthy or unhealthy constitution " (Wedgwood);
(3) disposition or temper of the mind, as Merch. of Yen. iii. i,
140 GLOSSARY [com-cun
32, ** And then it is the complexion of them all to leave the dam.*'
In ii. I, 228, of this play it seems to be used not of the colour
but of the expression of the face. So Othello, iv. 2, 62,
* * Turn thy complexion there,
Patience, thou young and rose-lipped chembim, —
Ay, there, look grim as hell ! "
And Winter's Tale, ii. i, 381, " Your changed complexions are
to me a mirror."
composition — iii. i, 3. Agreement, arrangement of the
terms of a. treaty. So * to compose a quarrel.'
con — iv. I, II. To learn, get by heart. From A.S. connan,
to know.
condition — ii. 3, 103 ; v. 4, 10. Disposition, temper. So As
You Like It, i. 2, 276 —
** Yet such is now the duke's condition
That he misconstrues all that you have done."
Merch of Ven, i. 2, 143 : ** If he have the condition of a saint."
So, still, * ill-conditioned.'
confound — i. 6, 17. To consume. So i Henry IV. i.
3» 100,
*' He did confound \he best part of an hour
In changing hardiment with great Glendower."
convent — ii. 2, 58. To summon. So Henry VIII. v. I, 52,
" Hath commanded
To-morrow morning to the council-board
He he convented.'*
crack — i. 3, 74. * A youngster,' disparagingly. So 2 Henry
IV. iii. 2, 32, "I see him break Skogan's head at the court-
gate, when a' was a cf^ack not thus high."
cranks — i. i, 141. 'Windings,' the winding ducts, **the
natural gates and alleys of the body. "
curdled — v. 3, 66. Congealed. From a verb to curdy, (un-
less we should read curded, or curdled), formed from an adjective
curdy ; as, in All's Well, v. 2, 23, *' muddied." Curd, some-
times spelt crud, (whence curdle, or cruddle, to clot, coagulate)
is probably only another form of crowd, something lumped or
massed together.
cunning — iv. l, 9. Skill. From A.S. connan or cunnan,
to know or to be able. " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my
right hand forget her cunning." Craft (which vi\e2Xi?> strength)
has suffered, though not absolutely, the same degradation of
meaning.
DEM-EMP] GLOSSARY 141
D
demerits — i. i, 276. Deserts, in good sense. So Othello,
i. 2, 22 —
** My demerits
May spealc nnbonneted to as proud a fortune
As this that I have reached." ♦
We have in Latin deinereri, always in good sense ; in French
dimerite, in bad sense ; and in English demerit, once neutral,
now bad. The bad sense seems to have arisen, in French, from
a confusion between de and dis, the latter having a negative or
destructive force. This supposition may derive support from
a reference to a theory of Max Miiller's, (Lect. ii. p. 273,
and foil.) viz., that the Frank conquerors of Gaul, speaking
a Germanized Latin, dressed their own words in a Latin
garb ; converting, for instance, tmterhalten into entretenir,
zukunft into Vavenir, iinpass into malade : and M. M. supposes
that the conquered Gauls respectfully adopted the blunders of
their conquerors. We may suppose that, conversely, the Ger-
mans found the Latin word deinerite, mistook the de- — and mis-
used it.
despite — iii. i, 163. Contempt. From Fr. deplt {despit)\
Lat. despicere, despectus.
determine — iii. 3, 43 ; v. 3, 120. To end, be settled.
doit — i. 5, 6; iv. 4, 17. A small coin. Germ. Deut,
Merchant of Venice, i. 3, 128 : " Take no doit of usance for my
moneys."
dotant — V. 2, 47 = dotard.
drench — ii. i, 130. A draught. Henry V. iii. 5, 19,
*' Can sodden water,
A drench for sur-reined jades, their barley-broth,
Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat?"
E
embarquement — i. 10, 22. Inhibition, arrest, restraint.
From an old verb * to e??ibai'gue' (or * embarge^ ) ; Span, embargar
(first meaning * to impede ' ) ; embargo. Embargo, in English,
* seizure, in the name of the State, and detention in port, of ships
about to sail;' ("to lay an embargo on merchandise or ship-
ping").
empiricutic — ii. i, 128: ior empirical. An ^/??//r/V is a quack ;
one who {e.g. in medicine) goes to work by the light of his own
experience {ifxireipia), despising science and all ascertained con-
clusions.
142 GLOSSARY [emu-fob
emulation — i. i, 218. Not, as now, confined to the good
sense. In bad sense, as here, of * malicious rivalry.'
" My heart laments that virtue cannot live
Out of the teeth oi emulation ^ — Jul. Cses. ii. 3, 13.
*' Whilst emulation in the army crept." — Tro. and Cress, ii. 2, 212.
entertainment — iv. 3, 49. To entertain is to maintain ; e.g.
to keep a servant ; (as Two Gent, of Verona, ii. 4, no, *' Sweet
lady, entei'tain him for your servant "), to keep an army in pay
(as here), to set food before a guest, to keep a company amused,
to cherish a thought or purpose.
envy — i. 8, 4 ; iii. 3, 57. To hate, maliciously, spitefully ;
iii- 3) 95> intrans. to be spiteful ; iii. 3, 3, hatred, ill-will. So
commonly in Shaks. e.g. Jul. Cses. ii. I, 164, *'Like wrath in
death and envy afterwards. "
favour— iv. 3, 9. Face. So As You Like It, iv. 3, 87 :
** The boy is fair, of female y^T/^wr."
fit — iii. 2, 33. A struggle, as with tears, laughter, death,
passion, etc.; a convulsion; or the like. Lat. pugno. Germ.
fechten, E. fight. To be distinguished from fit (or fytte), a
canto ; from A. S. fittian, to sing.
Spenser uses the word continually. It occurs in books I and
2 of the Faery Queen, with the epithets * bitter/ dying,'
* sharp,' 'furious,' * furious loving, * frantic, * merry,* * deadly' ;
and (ii. 3, 37), ** Soon into other fits he was transmewed." So
probably it is used in Henry VIII. (iii. i, 77), ** I feel the last fit
of my greatness." So Macb. iv. 2, 17, "Theyf/j o' the season."
flaw — (i.) as v. 3, 74. A squall or gust of wind. Radical mean-
ing to blow. Swed. and Norse, flaga, in the same sense
(Wedgwood), and \.?X. fiare.
(2. ) A crack or split^ connected with flag (of stone), and "^xo-
hahlyflahe {— fi'agment \ as of snow or shredded steel). Radi-
cal meaning to break. Sw. flaga, a breach : Old Norse, flaga,
chips, splinters.
Mr. Wedgwood identifies (i) and (2) by the process of
explaining (without evidence in either case) — (i.) as the noise of
the wind, (2.) as the noise of the cracking or splitting.
fob — i. I, 97. To fob, fob off; to delude, put off with a
trick. " They may not think to fob us off with colourable testi-
monies" — Bp. Hall.
** His excellence had each razxifiobbed
For he had sunk their pay. " — Prior.
FON-His] GLOSSARY 143
fond — iv. I, 26. Foolish. As still we call a vain hope fond
Fonne^ in Chaucer, is a fool. With the passage of the word
through the limited idea oi foolish affection to the general meaning
affectionate, compare the successive meanings of to dote — which
however never quite parts with the idea of folly.
fosset-seller — ii. i, 79. A fosset {or faucet) is the tap of a
barrel — a mouthpiece, outlet. Lat. fauces. The Fr. fatcsser,
(quoted by Mr. Wedgwood as meaning to pierce,) means to
bend or spoil, {fausser une epee, fausser sa parole ;) only means
something like to piei'ce in the phrase which he quotes, fausser
une serrure, to spoil a lock in order to open it ; and is derived
from \jqX. f alter e.
G
gilt — i. 3, 43. Gilding, gold. So Henry V. Act ii. prol. 26,
** The gilt of France."
gird — i. I, 260. The same word perhaps z.% gride: meant first
to strike or cut (as in Chaucer, K. T. 1012, ^^ girt with many a
wound"); hence, metaph. of raillery and sarcasm. So, as a
subst.. Tarn, of Shrew, v. 2, 58, '*I thank thee for that gird,
good Tranio."
gracious — ii. i, 192. Graceful, beautiful. {^* Full of grace
are thy lips." Ps. xlv. 2.) Merch. of Ven. iii. 2, 76, ^^ A gracious
voice." Twelfth Night, i. 5, 281 ;
• ** And in dimension and the shape of nature
A gracious person. "
grain — Fibre of wood. Hence ' against the grain ' (as ii. 3,
241,) when we speak of the resistance which has to be overcome
by anything that runs counter to natural bent and prepossession.
H
having — ^v. 2, 62 ; subst. Cp. As You Like It, iii. 2, 396,
** Your having in beard."
his — i. I, 133 ; iii. i, 314 : for its. Its never occurs in the
authorized translation of the Bible. (Gen. i. 11, '* It shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.") Shakspere uses it,
though seldom ; e.g. in Meas. for Meas. i. 2, 4 (colloquially) :
** Heaven grant us its peace." In the Winter's Tale (one of the
latest plays) it occurs a good many times ; in one scene (i. 2. )
four times, and not colloquially. Milton uses it rarely : {e.g. " The
mind is its own place "). Itself is formed from the personal
pronoun, like himself; not from the possessive, like myself
[See Craik's English of Shakspere.]
144 GLOSSARY [hum~kam
humorous — ii. i, 51. One who gives way to the mood or
caprice of the moment, capricious (here quick-tempered). Jul.
Cses. ii. I, 250 —
*' Hoping it was but an effect oi humour.
Which sometime hath his hour with every man. "
So As You Like It, i. 2, 278, " The Duke is humorous j" and
again, ii. 3, 8. 2 Henry IV. iv. 4, 34 —
** As hujnorous as winter and as sudden
As flaws congealed in the spring of day,"
inclinable — ii. 2, 60. Inclining, inclined, disposed. We
find the termination -ble ( = Lat. -bilis) affixed —
A. to verb-stems (i.) passively potential, as amiable, chat can,
or ought to, be loved ; (2. ) actively potential, as capable, that
can contain, durable, delectable : (3. ) More vaguely, to express
tendency, as conducible, agreeable, and inclinable itself.
B. to noun-stems, to express tendency, (or chaj^acter,) zs, peace-
able {-=^ peaceful), /^m3/<? ( = forceful), charitable.
Now in Latin the termination -bilis occurs only with verb-
stems, though in late Latin we get amicabilis. But in Italian,
though it is more common with verb-stems, we find also, from
nouns, caritatevole, a7?iicavole, forzevole, etc. Home Tooke's
suggestion that the Italian termination -vole is the Teutonic -vol
or -ful is both impossible and unnecessary ; -vole is only another
form of -bile, as bevere = bibere, nuvolo — nubes.
We have therefore in English a Romance termination -ble,
which attaches itself, as in Italian (and French), to substantives
as well as verbs, expressing (i.) potentiality, (2.) tendency.
And this is totally distinct from the Teutonic termination -fid ;
though it may often happen that we find both terminations
attached to the same noun, as is the case with peaceable and
peaceful,
inherit — ^ii. i, 215. To become possessed of: So Cymb.
iii. 2, 63 —
** Tell me how Wales was made so happy as
To inherit such a haven. "
So "for the inheritance of their loves " (iii. 2, 68) = to gain their
loves.
kam — iii. i, 304. Adj. or adv., crooked, awry. " A ship's
deck is said to lie cambering when it does not lie level, but is
higher in the middle than at the ends."— Bailey. Fr. cambrer,
to crook. Steevens says, ** Vulgar pronunciation has corrupted
lar-mam] glossary 145
clean kam into kifn kaniy'' and quotes from Stanyhurst's trans-
lation of Virgil — 1582 — {iox studia in co7ttraria) *'in kym-kam
sectes. " And in another old translation, ** All goes topsy-turvy ;
all kim-ka?n ; all is tricks and devices ; all riddles and unknown
mysteries."
L
'larum — i. 4, 9. See Alarujji.
leasing — v. 2, 22. Lying, falsehood. A.S. leas^ empty,
false ; leasian, to lie. So Ps. iv. 2, *' Seek after leasing ;^^ v. 6,
" Speak leasing r
lieve — iv. 5, 186 = lief ; adv. willingly. As lief— as soon.
Liefer [liever) = rather. Lief (adj.) = dear, of persons ; agree
able, of things. (Germ, lieden to love.) So 2 Henry VI.
iii, I, 164, *' My liefest liege ;" Chaucer, K. T. 1839 ; " Al be
him loth or lefe." Tennyson's combination "As thou art lie/
and dear '* occurs often in Chaucer and other old writers.
limitation — ii. 3, 146. What is prescribed, appointed. So
the verb, Macb. ii. 3, 56, "I '11 make so bold to call : it is my
limited ^QrYiCQ." Meas. for Meas. iv. 3, 175, "Having the
hour limited, and an express command." Act of Uniformity of
Eliz., sect. 27, " Service, administration of sacraments, or com-
mon prayer limitedy established, or set forth to be used within
this realm. "
list — iii. 2, 128. To wish, take pleasure, (to do a thing).
A.S. lyst, lystan ; Germ, lust^ our listless. Chaucer has list,
lust (subst.) = pleasure; and list (verb impers.) — "me lisV' =
it pleases me. Spenser uses the verb both personally and im-
personally. In Shaks. it is always personal. He has "thou
list" again, Temp. iii. 2, 138: and "she list" Tit. And. iv. I,
100 ; Othello, ii. 3, 352.
lockram — ii. i, 225. A kind of cheap linen.'
lurch — ii. 2, 105. To filch, steal ; as to lurk is to lie stealthily
in wait. Merry Wives, ii. 2, 25, "I am fain to shuffle, to
hedge, and to lurch." Ben Jonson, The Silent Wo7nan, v. I,
ad fin. " You have lurched your friends of the better half of the
garland, by concealing this part of the plot."
M
malkin — ii. i, 224. From Mall or Moll, the short for Mary,
the kitchen wench.
mammock — i. 3, 71. To tear. Richardson quotes from
Skelton [flor. 1490], "Whan mammockes was your meate,"
meaning scraps.
K
146 GLOSSARY [man-ner
many — iii. i, 66. Subst. the populace. As still when we
say, 'a great many,' and Tennyson — *'they have not shed a
many tears, dear eyes" (= a many of tears). From O. E.
manege Germ, manck, not to be confounded with Old Fr. mesnee,
a household, (whence our menial) from maison (Lat. mansio,
77ianere.)
memory — iv. 5, 77. Memorial. So, perhaps, v. 6, 155
monument. So Lear, iv. 7, 7 : " These w^ords are memories of
those worser hours. "
merely — iii. i, 305. Absolutely. "Merely awry" now
means only awry ; awry and nothing more : then it meant utterly
awry, awry and nothing less.
microcosm — From fjLLKpds and kSc/jloSj a world in miniature.
" Because in the little frame of man's body, there is a represen-
tation of the universal, and (by allusion) a kind of participation
of all the parts there, therefore man was called microcosmos, or
the little zvo7'ld.'" — Raleigh, Hist, of the World, b. i. ch. 2. In
the same sense, not only man in the abstract, but every man, is a
microcosm in himself. So Lear, iii. i, 10 —
*' Strives in his little world of man to out-scorn
The to-and -fro-conflicting wind and rain."
So ii. I, 68, by the "map of his microcosm," Menenius means
* his individuality, ' * himself.'
moe — ii. 3, 132 ; iv. 2, 21 : = more.
mummers — ii. i, 83. Maskers, masqueraders. German,
mumme a mask ; miimmel a bugbear (as Latin, larva —
both a mask and a goblin). *' The object of terror presented to
the mind of the infant by the masked nurse (covering her face
and crying Bo ! or Mum !) is the primitive type of a bugbear."
— Wedgwood.
muse — iii. 2, 7. To wonder. Fr. muser, to be absorbed in
silent thought. Often in Shaks. of surprise or perplexity. 2
Henry VI. iii. I, I, ** I 7?iuse my lord of Gloucester is not
come."
mutiners — i. i, 254. The older and probably correcter form
of the word, from the verb to mutine (which occurs in Hamlet).
So, too, Shaks. wxoio. pioner, not piojteer ; but the lengthened
termination here comes from the Yx^noSi pionnier.
N
nervy — ii. i, 177. Nervous, strong.
off-pas] glossary 147
O
offices — i. I, 141. 'Serviceable organs.' Compare the
ordinary local sense of the word ; * a place where official ' (or
serviceable) * acts are performed.'
opinion — i. i, 275. * Fame.' So often ; as Tro. and Cress.
i. 3, 142,
" The great Achilles, whom opinion crowns
The sinew and the forehand of our host ; "
and, in a similar sense, Mer. of Ven. i. i, 91
** With purpose to be dressed in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit."
opposite — ii. 2, 23. Adversary. So Hamlet, v. 2, 62, ^' Be-
tween the pass and fell incensed points of mighty opposites.^'
owe — iii. 2, 130; v. 2, 89. To own. So often : e.g. Macb.
i. 4, 10
** To throw away the dearest thing he owed
As 'twere a careless trifle."
The two words are etymologically the same. * I own money, '
77ioney is my own, is my property, belongs to me. So * I ought
to pay money' : to pay money is my duty, is proper to me (or for
me), and, in this sense, belongs to me. Lastly, " I owe money"
(in the sense to which it is limited now) seems to be an elliptical
expression for this. As * I owe obedience ' means * I owe ' (or
* ought ') * to obey ' ; so * I owe money to you ' means * I owe *
for * ought ') * to make transfer or payment of money to you. '
paltering — iii. i, 58. Trifling, (hence /^//rjj/), with an implied
sense of shuflling or equivocating. So Jul. Cses. ii. I, 125,
" Secret Romans, that have spoke the word, and will not palter "
Macb. V. 8, 19
** And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That/^//^r with us in a double sense."
participate — i. i, 107.: adj. for participant, or participative.
particular — iv. 7, 13 ; v. l, 3. Subst. = particularity. * Your
particular' — what is particular to you, your private interest. So
Tro. and Cress, ii. 2, 9, " As far as toucheth my particular." —
*'In a most dt^x particular'' (particularity of love) = with an
especial degree of tenderness. Cp. Henry VI H. iii. 2, 189,
** As 'twere in love's particular."
passable — v. 2, 13. That will pass; current, as coin. So
Bacon, Essay xlviii. : **It is better to take with the more pass-
148 GLOSSARY [pHY-pou
able than with the more able." And, Essay li. : ** To adhere so
moderately, as he be a man of the one faction, which is most
passable with the other, commonly giveth best way."
physical — i. 5, 19. Medicinal, restorative. So Jul. Cses. ii.
I, 261,
** Is Brutus sick? and is \i physical
To walk unbraced, and suck up the humours
Of the dank morning ? "
pick— i. I, 204. To pitch, throw. So '* I'll peck you o'er
the pales else." — Henry VIII. v. 4, 95.
policy — iii. 2, 42. Prudence. From statecraft the word
passes into the meaning of prudence (as politic — prudent) and
from this to stratagem, and even cunnijtg,
poll— (i) iii. I, 134. Number. To poll is to count by the
head, from poll, a head. (2) iv. 5, 215. To shave — make
smooth, lay bare. Richardson quotes from North's Plutarch, p.
280, " His death did so grieve them that they /(?//<?<^ themselves,
and clipped off their horses' and mules' hairs ; " and from Black-
stone, (Comm. b. ii. c. 20), ** A deed made by one party only is
not indented, but polled or shaved quite even ; and, therefore,
called a deed poll." The meaning * to plunder ' (common in our
old writers) comes from the exactions of the tax-gatherer, who
taxes by the poll.
port — i. 7, I ; V. 6, 6. Gate: (vAience portal, poj'ter, etc.)
** within \.\\Q ports of the daughter of Zion,'' Ps. ix. 14. (Prayer
Book V.)
portance — ii. 3, 232. Behaviour, carriage. So p07't and
poi'tage.
possess — ii. l, 145. To infoim; (*to put in possession of
the facts.') Mer. of Ven. i. 3, 65, "Is he yet possessed how
much ye would?" iv. i. 35, "I \\2iWQ possessed yo\xx grace of
what I purpose."
post — V. 6, 50. Messenger, courier. So Mer. of Ven. ii. 9,
ICX), *' Quick Cupid's post that comes so mannerly."
potch — i. 10, 15. To /^/^^, thrust at. Same word as /^^<r/^,
"to intrude on another man's land in search of game." From
Fr. pocher.
pound — i. 4, 17. = impound: from A.S. pyndan, to enclose.
^o pond, pen, pin, (as m pinfold), Wedgwood however derives
it from Tiwich. pand. Germ, pfand, (whence pawn :) impounded
cattle being cattle taken in damage and retained as a pledge of
restitution.
PRA-Qui] GLOSSARY 149
practice — iv. i, 33. Treachery. Cp. As You Like Tt, i. i,
156 : *' He ^N"^ practise against thee by poison." Othello, v. 2,
292 : " Fallen in \he. practice of a damned slave."
prank — iii, i, 23. To deck, dress out. Germ, prangen, to
make a show. A prank is a trick, a frolic : something done
in bravado. To prance is properly to show off.
pressed — i. 2, 9 = Impressed. Nothing to do with prest,
* ready,' {L,2Xvi\ praesto^ Fr. pret :) which could not be used as an
active participle.
pretence — i. 2, 20. Intention, purpose. So Macb. ii. 3,
137: "The undivulged /r^/<?;2<r^ of treasonous malice;" and ii.
4, 24, "What good could they /;r/^;2^'?" Lear i. 4, 75 : **A
\txy p7'etence and purpose of unkindness."
progeny — i. 8, 12 = Progenitors. So 'offspring,' Spenser F.
Q. i. 6, 30, "To see his sire and offspring ancient." And ii.
9, 60.
proper — i. 9, 57. (Proprius) own. 2 Henry IV. v. 2, 108,
" Happy am I, that have a man so bold.
That dares do justice on vs\y proper son."
provand — ii. i, 267. Provender. Lat. prcebenda (res proe-
benda), \f\\GncQ prebend : Yx.provende: an allowance of food.
Q
quake — i. 9, 6. To cause to tremble. Steevens quotes from
T. Heywood, Silver Age (1613), " We '11 quake them at that bar
where all souls wait for sentence."
quarry — i. i, 202. From Fr. ciiree^ Ital, both coraia and
curata: (derived from cor.) " The entrails of the game, given to
the dogs at the death." The word was also written cuyerie, and
came into English in the form of querre or queriy {Defendre la
curee, *to keep the dogs from the game till it was properly
prepared for them. ') From this it came to mean simply the slain
animal. (See Wedgwood.) This is certainly better than the
derivation from cai'ree * the square enclosure into which the game
was driven. ' Shakspere here and elsewhere uses the word for a
heap of dead bodies. So " This quarry cries on havoc," Ham. v.
2, 375. Macb. iv. 3, 205,
" To relate the manner
Were, on the qiiai'ry of these murdered deer,
To add the death of you."
quit — iv. 5, 89. From quietus. At rest, set free from any
claim or obligation. A man is quit of his creditors when he has
ISO GLOSSARY [rac-ret
paid his debts, quit of his enemies when he is revenged upon
them. So to be quits. To quite or requite a service is to pay it
back, so as to be free from the obligation. The adv. quite (or
quitely^ as in Chaucer,) means completely, " in a way that quits."
R
rack— v. i, i6. To stretch, strain — as an economical steward
does, for thrift. " Dutch rekken^ Germ, recken to stretch. To
rack one's brains is to strain them : rack-rent is rent strained to
the uttermost." — Wedgwood. Richardson quotes from the
Arcadia, b. i, " The court of affection, held by that racking
steward, remembrance."
ransom — To redeem ; (Fr. ranqon^ Lat. redemptio) : but, i. 6,
36, to release for ransom. So Love's L. L. i. 2, 64, "I would
take Desire prisoner, and ransom him to any French courtier for
a new-devised courtesy."
rascal — i. i, 163. Offscouring, refuse ; connected with to
rasp J and Span, rascar, raspar: It. rascare, to scrape. (Wedg-
wood). So As You Like It, iii. 3, 58, "The noblest deer hath
them as huge as the rascal.''^ 2 Henry IV. v. 4, 34, " Come,
you thin thing, come, you rascal.''
recreant — v. 3, 114. One who yields in battle; hence,
coward, as F. Q. i. 4, 41. From Low Lat. recredere, a legal
term, to give back or give up the subject of dispute ; hence,
to give in. ** When slaves, upon trial of their claim to freedom,
were found to have no just claim, they were said recredere se
to their masters ; hence those were said recredere j-<? who acknow-
ledged themselves defeated ; and these were consequently de-
graded, disgraced. " — Richardson.
reechy — ii. i, 225: (reeky f from reek, *to smoke,') hot and
reeking. So Hamlet iii. 4, 184, "His reechy kisses." (In
Much Ado, iii. 3, 143, "The reeky picture" is "grimy,"
" blackened by the smoke.")
reek — iii. 3, 121. Vapour, miasma.
rejourn — ii. i, 79. = Adjourn; (from Yr.Jour;) to put off to
another day.
remain — i. 4, 63. Subst. So Macb. iv. 3, 148, " Since my
here-rettiain in England."
repeal — iv. i, 41 ; iv. 7, 32 ; v. 5, 5. Recall (from exile).
retire — i. 3, 30. Used transitively. So often ; e.g. Rich. II.
ii. 2, 46, " That he, our hope, might have reti^rd his power."
rot-sca] glossary 151
rote — iii. 2, 55. To repeat without meaning. ** To rote is to
hum a tune.
* And if by chance a tune you rote
'T will foot it finely to your note.' — Drayton.
The rote or rut is the roar of the sea. To learn a piece by rote is
to fix it in the mind like the notes of a tune, so as to be able to
repeat it without thinking of the meaning of the words." —
Wedgwood.
rub — iii. i, 60. Hindrance, So K. John iii. 4, 128 —
** Shall blow each dust, each straw, each little rub
Out of the path."
Henry V. v. 2, 33, ** What rub or what impediment." Hamlet
iii. I, 65, ** To sleep, perchance to dream : ay, there's the rub^
ruth — i. I, 201. Pity — whence r^/Z/zZ^j-j". Subst. from verb to
rue; Germ. ^ reuen^ Reue.'
s
scale — Besides passages where it has its usual meaning from
scalce, a ladder, the word occurs in Shakspere five times, (i)
Ant. and Cle. ii. 5, 95, ** A cistern for scaled snakes." Here a
mere epithet, == scaly. So probably (2) Tro. and Cress, v. 5, 22,
"And there they fly or die, like scaled scvXls ( = shoals) before
the belching whale." There remain (3) Meas. for Meas. iii. i,
266, ' ' By this is your brother saved . . . and the corrupt deputy
scaled:'^ and, in this play, (4) i. I, 95, "To scale it (the fable) a
little more : " (5) ii. 3, 257, " .SV^//;?^ his present bearing with his
past." In (5) scaling is commonly explained as = weighing (from
scales of a balance): but this meaning does not suit (3) and (4) at
all, and suits (5) only imperfectly, the obvious sense of * weighing
his present bearing with his past' — weighing one against the
other — being inadmissible. But to scale also means to pick or
strip off the husk, peel, outside of a thing. So, in colloquial
Scotch, *Has the church scaled?* means *Are they out of
church?* So we have scale (of a fish), scull, scall, ( = scurf,
whence scalled or scald head) scalp, shale, shell : Germ, schale ;
Ital. scaglia ; Fr. escaille. Home Tooke derives all these words
(and more) from the A.S. scylan, to separate. So, he says, skill
is discernment : it skills not, in our old writers, means * it makes
no difference ;' and he quotes from Beaumont and Fletcher, " I
skill ^^/ what it is." So too (in Lancashire dialect,) to scale
the fire, i.e. to poke it and clear it when it is crusted. Cp. Gr.
(TKa\e}j€LV (roi)s dvOpaKas.) Cp. also a-K^Wetu, to strip, o-KvXa,
spoils. This meaning suits all our three passages. The corrupt
deputy will be unmasked, exposed, discerned. Menenius pro-
poses to look a little more deeply into the inner meaning of
152 GLOSSARY [sca-sit
the fable wliicli all his hearers have heard, but not discerned,
before. The people have found, taking the behaviour of
Coriolanus to pieces and scrutinizing it carefully, present and
past together, that under the covering of compliance the old hate
still rankles.
scandal — iii. i, 44. To malign, defame. Cp. Jul. Cses. i.
2, 76, " That I do fawn on men . . . and after scandal them."
So to scandalize^ I Henry IV. i. 3, 154, *' We in the world's wide
mouth live scandalized."
second — i. 8, 15. The part of the seconder or backer: generally,
the person, as i. 4, 43.
seld- shown — ii. i, 229. Seldior seldom occurs again in Tro.
and Cress, iv. 5, 150. "As seld\ have the chance."
sennet — ii. i and 2, (stage directions): a flourish of tmmpets.
sensible — i. 3, 95. Sensitive. So Jul. Caes. i. 3, i8 —
* ' And yet his hand.
Not sensible of fire, remained unscorched. "
Merch. of Ven. ii. 8, 48, "With affection wondrous sensible."
So ' sensibly ' Cor. i. 4, 53. "We have senseful, sensitive, sensible:
— * full of sense ' — * which can feel ' — * which may be felt.' Yet
it is not very uncommon to hear persons talk of a sensible man,
who is very sensible of the cold and of any sensible change in the
weather. " — Horne Tooke, Div. of Purley.
shent — V. 2, 104. Part, of to shend, to disgrace, to shame.
A.S. scendan: German, schanden.
show — iii. 3, 50 ; IV. 5, 68 ; iv. 6, 1 14; v. 3, 137. To appear.
So, As You Like It, i. 3, 83. "And thou wilt show more bright.'
single — ii. i, 40 ; = weak, poor ; (from the notion oiunhelped,
alone.) So Macb. i. 3, 140, " Shakes so my j/;z^/<? state of man ; "
i. 6, 16, " Poor and j-/;^^/^ business : " 2 Henry IV. i. 2, 207,
"Your chin double, your wit single." Cp. Spenser F. Q. i. 7,
1 1, "His bootless, single blade ; " (sword without shield or other
weapons): i. 8, 12 ; ii. 3, 12.
singularity — i. i, 282. * Excellence,' 'distinction.' So
Twelfth N. ii. 5, 164, "Cast thy humble slough and appear
fresh . . . put thyself into the trick of j/«'^2^/<3;W/)/; "?*.(?. affect a
distinguished air, an air of superiority. Winter's Tale, v. 3, 1 1 —
" Your gallery
Have we passed through, not without much content
In many singularities ^
And so Shakspere always uses the adj. : " of singular integrity : '*
" singular in his art : " "so singular in each particular."
sithence — iii. i, 47. Since.
sli-str] glossary 153'
slight — V. 2, no: slightness, iii. i, 148 ; Feebleness. Slight
(Germ, schlecht)— poor, mean, worthless; as Jul. Caes. iv, i, 12,
**This is a slight, unmeritable man."
sooth — ii. 2, 77 ; iii. I, 69. To flatter, soothing, i. 9, 44,
Flattery. So l Henry IV. iv. I, 6,
*' I cannot flatter ; I do defy
The tongues of J^^Z/^^rj-."
sowl — ^iv. 5, 213. " To sowle one by the ears (Lincolnshire)
— to pull by the ears as dogs pull swine, (Grose). The word is
common in Nottingham and other parts northerly, as well as in
Suffolk. " — Richardson.
stall — ii. I, 226 — of a shop or booth ; anything on which
commodities are laid and exposed for sale. So Mids. N. D. iii.
2, 10, " Upon Athenian stalls'^ From stahulu??!^ that on or in
which anything stands.
stamp — Either (i) the impression, or (2) the instrument which
makes the impression, as ii. 2, 112, of this play, "death's j"/^?;/?/,"
or (3) the thing marked or stamped, as Macb. iv. 3, 153, *'a
^oXA^xi stamp. '^ Or again metaphorically character, (its Greek
equivalent) as ^ stamp of merit,' ^ stamp of honour ; ' or, more
generally, form, fashion, make, as Cor. i. 6, 23, " The j'/a;;// of
Marcius ; " i Henry IV. iv. I, 4, **A soldier of this season's
stamp.''"'
state — V. 4, 22. Canopied chair of state. Twelfth N. ii. 5,
50, ** Sitting in my state.'" Macb. iii. 4, 5, " Our hostess keeps
her state;"" and Milton P. L. x. 445: *' Under ^/^/^ of richest
texture spread," — canopy.
sterve — ii. 3, 129; iv. 2, 51. This, the reading of the first
three Folios, should probably be retained. The word (of which
starve is a later form) is common in Chaucer {to ste7"ven : Germ.
sterben) and in Spenser, in its first and wider meaning, to die.
Here, probably, — starve, to suffer extremities of cold or hunger.
strain — v. 3, 149. Disposition. From A.S. stfynan, to
beget ; strynd, stock, race. The word passes (as breed does)
from the original meaning, *race' or 'family,' (as Jul. Caes. v. I,
59, " If thou wert the noblest of thy strain ; " and in Chapman's
Homer, Hymn to Venus, "Happiest of the human straijt,'') to
that of * hereditary disposition' (as Lear, v. 3, 40, " Sir, you
have shewn to-day your valiant strain;") then comes to be
applied, as here, to any innate disposition, any feature or trait of
character. So Merry Wives, ii. i, 91, ** Unless he know some
strain in me, that I know not myself ; " and Tro. and Cress, ii.
2, 154, "So degenemte a strain ; " Cymb. iii. 4, 95, "A strain
of rareness." (Wedgwood quotes from Jamieson's Diet, of
154 GLOSSARY [<
SUF— UNA
Scottish Lang. "He has a sfrynd ox strain of his grandfather,"
i.e. resembles him. Comp. the uses oi trait — les traits de son pere,
and un trait defripon or de f}dponnerie. )
sufferance — i. i, 22. *' What we suffer," "suffering ; " iii.
I, 24 : ^^ How we suffer," "endurance."
surcease — iii. 2, 121. To omit, postpone. Shakspere uses
the subst. too. Macb. i. 7, 4, "And catch, with his surcease,
success." Fr. surseoir^ (to postpone) ; our supersede^ make
secondary.
tent — i. 9, 31 ; iii. i, 236. To probe, (search, try,) a sore ;
from tentare ( = tempt from temptare) : as probe from probare,
Haml. ii. 2, 626, "I'll tent him to the quick."
testy — ii. i, 47. Headstrong, heady, (from old F. teste):
irascible.
tetter — Generally subst. ; a disease of the skin : iii. i, 79,
verb, to fasten upon the skin, as such diseases do.
that — After conjunctions, as since, because, for {— because),
if, though, but: and relatives, as when (v. 6, 43). Conjunctive
use of that, as of quod in Latin, is properly relative. Cp. Quod
(conj.) vivo, tuum est, -with quod (rel.) mihi superest vitcB, tuumest:
and, in English, " That I live, &c.," with "Life that remains
to me, &c. " Cp. also in Greek 6' rt and ^ti : and note the use of
such expressions as kv (p, dvd' Sov, resolvable into demonstrative
and conjunction.) The word is in both uses an article which
articulates or defines a clause, makes it grammatically coherent —
only in the pronominal use entering itself into the construction of
its clause. It is in this articzilating sense that the conjunction
that is used after conjunctions and relative words, whether pleo-
nastically — or, rather, elliptically, so that e.g. "when that we
looked" = "when this [was so] that we looked." Comp.
whenas, whereas: and in early Greek the adhesion of the con-
junctive and relative re to all relative words whatsoever, as
permanently to 6s, cos, oTos.
translate — ii. 3, 197. To transform. So Mids. N. D. iii. I,
121, "Bless thee. Bottom ! bless thee ! thou art translated."
u
unbarbed — iii. 2, '99. See paper on *New Shaksperian
Interpretations' {Edinburgh Review, Oct. 1872). Barb, (which
uNc-vou] GLOSSARY . 155
must of course not be confounded with barba^ a beard, whence
barb of an arrow,) is a corruption of bard, and means properly
armour or trappings of a horse, especially its head-gear. So
Fr. bardes, and generally barde — ornamented, as barde de
cordons; Sp. and It. bar da, horse-armour or trappings. Diez
suggests for the Sp. albarda (a pack-saddle) an Arabic deri-
vation. Cp. Browning, James Lee, *' No cricket, I'll say, but
a war-horse, barded and chanfroned too. " The Reviewer adds
that Chaucer uses barbe for a hood, covering the head and
shoulders.
unclog — iv. 2, 47. Relieve (my heart) of what clogs it ;
oppression, weight that chokes it, stops its action. Clog == clod :
a lump, a heavy mass.
unscanned — iii. i, 313. Unconsidered, rash. So Hamlet
iii. 3, 75, "That would be scanned.^^
usher — ii. i, 174. (Orhusher): Fr. kuissier, Lat. ostiarlus.
It. usciere : a door-keeper, one who introduces, or in general who
leads the way ; {e.g. in the scholastic sense, into the precincts of
learning).
vail — iii. i, 98. To lower, abase. Tam. of Shrew, v. 2, 176,
** Then zjail your stomachs," (your pride): and Mer. of Ven. i.
I, 28, (of a ship) *' Vailing hex high-top lower than her ribs."
variable — ii. i, 228. Various. So Hamlet iii. i, 180,
* * Variable obj e cts . "
vent — iv. 5, 238. Explained and illustrated by the WTiter cf
the paper on *New Shaksperian Interpretations' {Edinburgh
Review, Oct. 1 872), as a technical term in hunting. To vent
the game, he says, is to wind or scent it ; and he supposes that
war is conceived as a dog full of the excitement of the chase, and
straining at the leash.
But Shakspere nowhere uses the word in this sense, and uses
it often, both as verb and noun, in its ordinary sense. Thus 2
Hen. IV. Induct. 2, *'To stop the z'^;^/ of hearing. " Tro. and
Cress. V. 3, 82, '* Thy wounds do bleed at many vents ; " (where
vent — passage, inlet or outlet.) Ant. and Cle. v. 2, 352,
" Here on her breast there is a vent of blood ; " {i.e. a trickling
stream,) and, exactly as in Coriolanus, All's Well, ii. 3, 213,
**Thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel;" (where z/^«/
= utterance.)
vouch — (Avouch) : i. 9, 24 ; iii. I, 300. To affirm, assert :
properly, the rights of another when impugned, ii. 3, 124, subst
* vote,' * support.'
156 GLOSSARY [wEA-wRB
w
weal — i. I, 155; iii. l, 176. Well-being, prosperity: ii. 3,
189 ; = common weal, commonwealth, state. So Macb. iii. 4,
76 : '* Ere human statute purged the gentle weal.'*
wealsman — ii. i, 59. Statesman. See weal.
weed — ii. 3, 229 : weeds, ii. 3, 161, clothe^. *> From A.S.
Wizd. So still, ** widow's weeds. " ^^
where — i. i, 104; 10, 13 : = Whereas. ^ -^
wreak — iv. 5, 91 : (subst.) resentment, revenge. So.lTit^And.
iv. 3, 33, *^T2i\i& wreak on Rome for this ingratitude. "^/wrom
A.S. zurecan, to drive, (whence perhaps wrack, drift of the sea,
and 7^ack, drift of the sky,) pursue. Spenser J[F. Q. ii. 3, 12, 13,
14) has "to W7'eak a hateful deed," ( = to punish), and (the
modern usage) "to wreak enmity," "to wreak despite." Cp.
Gareth and Lynette, p. 24, " Kill the foul thief and ze;;^/&
( = avenge) me for my son. " Cp. iire^eXdeip, eJtner otkmf^ or
<p6vop : exsequi^ either ultionem or scelus.
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