Whether for caft, or weft: The dearth is great;
The people mutinous: and it is rumour'd,
Cominius, Marcius your old enemy,

(Who is of Rome worse hated than of you,)
And Titus Lartius, a moft valiant Roman,
Thefe three lead on this preparation

Whither 'tis bent: moft likely, 'tis for you:
Confider of it.

1 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 They needs muft fhow themselves; which in the hatching,

It feem'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.

2 SEN.
Noble Aufidius,
Take your commiffion; hie you to your bands:
Let us alone to guard Corioli:

If they fet down before us, for the remove
Bring up your army;' but, I think, you'll find

To take in many towns,] To take in is here, as in many other places, to fubdue. So, in The Execration of Vulcan, by Ben Jonfon:

The Globe, the glory of the Bank, "I faw with two poor chambers taken in, "And raz'd." MALONE.

Again, more appofitely, in Antony and Cleopatra :

I

cut the Ionian fea,

"And take in Toryne." STEEVENS.

-for the remove

Bring up your army;] Says the Senator to Aufidius, Go to 'your troops, we will garrifon Corioli. If the Romans befiege

They have not prepar❜d for us.

AUF.

O, doubt not that;

I speak from certainties. Nay, more.2

Some parcels of their powers are forth already,
And only hitherward. I leave your honours.
If we and Caius Marcius chance to meet,
"Tis fworn between us, we fhall never strike
Till one can do no more.

us, bring up your army to remove them. If any change should be made, I would read :

The remove and their remove are so near in found, that the transcriber's ear might eafily have deceived him. But it is always dangerous to let conjecture loose where there is no difficulty. MALONE.

"Ifpeak from certainties. Nay, more,] Sir Thomas Hanmer completes this line by reading:

Ifpeak from very certainties. &c. STEEVENS,

SCENE III.

Rome. An Apartment in Marcius' Houfe.

Enter VOLUMNIA, and VIRGILIA: They fit down on two low Stools, and few.

VOL. I pray you, daughter, fing; or exprefs yourfelf in a more comfortable fort: If my fon were my husband, I should freelier rejoice in that abfence wherein he won honour, than in the embracements of his bed, where he would show moft love. When yet he was but tender-bodied, and the only fon of my womb; when youth with comeliness plucked

all

gaze his way;3 when, for a day of kings' entreaties, a mother should not fell him an hour from her beholding; I,-confidering how honour would become fuch a perfon; that it was no better than picture-like to hang by the wall, if renown made it not ftir, was pleafed to let him feek danger where he was like to find fame. To a cruel war I fent him; from whence he returned, his brows bound with oak. I tell thee, daughter,-I fprang not more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child, than now in first seeing he had proved himself a

man.

2

VIR. But had he died in the business, madam ? how then?

3 when youth with comeliness plucked all gaze his way;] i. e. attracted the attention of every one towards him. Douce.

4 brows bound with oak.] The crown given by the Romans to him that saved the life of a Citizen, which was accounted more honourable than any other. JOHNSON.

VOL. Then his good report should have been my fon; I therein would have found iffue. Hear me profefs fincerely-Had I a dozen fons,-each in my love alike, and none lefs dear than thine and my good Marcius,-I had rather had eleven die onbly for their country, than one voluptuously furfeit out of action.

Enter a Gentlewoman.

GENT. Madam, the lady Valeria is come to vifit you.

VIR. 'Beseech you, give me leave to retire myfelf.5

VOL. Indeed, you fhall not.

Methinks, I hear hither your husband's drum;
See him pluck Aufidius down by the hair

;

As children from a bear, the Volces fhunning him:
Methinks, I fee him ftamp 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 harveft-man, that's tafk'd to mow
Or all, or lose his hire.

S.

VIR. His bloody brow! O, Jupiter, no blood! VOL. Away, you fool! it more becomes a man,

to retire myself.] This verb active (fignifying to withdraw) has already occurred in The Tempeft:

I will thence

"Retire me to my Milan-."

Again, in Timon of Athens:

"I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock,-." STEEvens. See Vol. XI. p. 67, n. 4. MALONE.

With his mail'd hand then wiping,] i. e. his hand cover'd or arm'd with mail. Douce.

Than gilt his trophy: The breafts of Hecuba,
When the did fuckle Hector, look'd not lovelier
Than Hector's forehead, when it spit forth blood
At Grecian fwords' contending.-Tell Valeria,8
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.

Re-enter Gentlewoman, with VALERIA and her Usher.

VAL. My ladies both, good day to you.
VOL. Sweet madam,-

VIR. I am glad to fee your ladyfhip.

VAL. How do you both? you are manifest housekeepers. What, are you fewing here? A fine spot," in good faith.-How does your little fon?

VIR. I thank your ladyfhip; well, good ma

dam.

VOL. He had rather see the swords, and hear a drum, than look upon his fchool-master.

7 Than gilt his trophy :]

gold, a word now obsolete.

Gilt means a fuperficial difplay of
So, in King Henry V:

"Our gayness and our gilt, are all besmirch'd."

STEEVENS.

8 At Grecian fwords' contending.-Tell Valeria,] The accuracy of the firft folio may be ascertained from the manner in which this line is printed :

At Grecian fword. Contenning, tell Valeria.

STEEVENS.

9 A fine Spot,] This expreffion (whatever may be the precife meaning of it,) is ftill in ufe among the vulgar : "You have made a fine fpot of work of it," being a common phrase of reproach to those who have brought themselves into a scrape.

STEEVENS,