CORIOLANUS. Thou dar'st not this, and that to prove more fortunes My throat to thee, and to thy ancient malice: O, Marcius, Marcius, Auf. Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart A root of ancient envy. If Jupiter Should from yon cloud speak divine things, and say, We have a power on foot; and I had purpose Had we no other quarrel else to Rome, but that Like a bold flood o'er-beat.4 O, come, go in, Cor. have 239 2 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. about with his finger and his thumb, as one would set up a top. 1 Serv. What an arm he has! He turned me 2 Serv. Nay, I knew by his face that there was something in him: He had, sir, a kind of face, nethought,-I cannot tell how to term it. 1 Serv. He had so: looking as it were,'Would I were hanged, but I thought there was more in him than I could think. 2 Serv. So did I, I'll be sworn: He is simply the rarest man i' the world. 1 Serv. I think, he is: but a greater soldier than he, you wot one. 2 Serv. Who? my master? 1 Serv. Nay, it's no matter for that. 2 Serv. Worth six of him. 1 Serv. Nay, not so neither; but I take him to be the greater soldier. 2 Serv. 'Faith, look you, one cannot tell how to say that: for the defence of a town, our general is excellent. 1 Serv. Ay, and for an assault too. 3 Serv. O, slaves, I can tell you news; news, you rascals. 1&2 Serv. What, what, what? let's partake. 3 Serv. I would not be a Roman, of all nations; I had as lieve be a condemned man. 1&2 Serv. Wherefore? wherefore? 3 Serv. Why, here's he that was wont to thwack our general,-Caius Marcius. I Serv. Why do you say, thwack onr general? 3 Serv. I do not say, thwack our general; but he was always good enough for him. 2 Serv. Come, we are fellows, and friends: he was ever too hard for him; I have heard him say so himself. 1 Serv. He was too hard for him directly, to say the truth on't: before Corioli, he scotched him and notched him like a carbonado. 2 Serv. An he had been cannibally given, he might have broiled and eaten him too. I Serv. But, more of thy news? 3 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 gehimself with his hand, and turns up the white o' the gods.neral himself makes a mistress of him; sanctifies eye to his discourse. But the bottom of the news half, by the entreaty and grant of the whole table. is, our general is cut i' the middle, and but one half of what he was yesterday; for the other has He'll go, he and owles the porter of Rome says, gates by the ears: He will mow down all before him, and leave his passage polled." The leading of thine own revenges, take 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 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! 1 Serv. [Advancing.] Here's a strange alteration! [Exeunt COR. and AUF. 1 To clip is to embrace. He calls Coriolanus the ancil of his sword, because he had formerly laid as heavy blows on him as a smith strikes on his anvil. Thus in Hamlet:- And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword 2 Shakspeare was unaware that a Roman bride, on her entry into her husband's house, was prohibited from bestriding his threshold; and that, lest she should even touch it, she was always lifted over it. Thus Lucan, lib. Li. 359: Steevens. 'Tralata vetuit contingere limine planta.' 3 i. e. fully, completely. 2 Serv. And he's as like to do't, as any man I can imagine. 3 Serv. Do't? he will do't: For, look you, sir, he has as many friends as enemies: which friends, themselves, (as we term it,) his friends, whilst he's sir, (as it were,) durst not, (look you, sir,) show in directitude. 1 Serv. Directitude! what's that? again, and the man in blood, they will out of their 3 Serv. But when they shall see, sir, his crest up burrows, like conies after rain, and revel all with him. 4 I think with Steevens that we should read, o'er bear instead of o'er-beat. Thus in Othello : Is of such flood-gate and o'er-bearing nature.' with the same reverence as a lover would clasp the 5 Considers the touch of his hand as holy; clasps it hand of his mistress.' cially in use for pulling, dragging, or lugging. 1 Serv. But when goes this forward? 3 Serv. To-morrow; to-day; presently. You shall have the drum struck up this afternoon: 'tis, as it were, a parcel of their feast, and to be executed ere they wipe their lips. 2 Serv. Why, then we shall have a stirring world again. This peace is nothing, but to rust iron, increase tailors, and breed ballad-makers. Men. Ed. 1 Serv. Let me have war, say I; it exceeds Worthy tribunes, peace, as far as day does night; it's sprightly, wak- There is a slave, whom we have put in prison, ing, audible, and full of vent.2 Peace is a very Reports, the Volces with two several powers apoplexy, lethargy; mulled, deaf, sleepy, insen-Are enter'd in the Roman territories; sible; a getter of more bastard children, than war's And with the deepest malice of the war a destroyer of men. Destroy what lies before them. 2 Serv. "Tis so: and as wars, in some sort, may be said to be a ravisher; so it cannot be denied, but peace is a great maker of cuckolds. 1 Serv. Ay, and it makes men hate one another. 3 Serv. Reason; because they then less need one another. The wars, for my money. I hope to see Romans as cheap as Volcians. They are rising, they are rising. All. In, in, in, in. Men. 'Tis Aufidius, Who, hearing of our Marcius' banishment, Thrusts forth his horns again into the world: Which were inshell'd, when Marcius stood for Bru. Go see this rumourer whipp'd. It cannot be, Cannot be! Sic. We hear not of him, neither need we fear We have record, that very well it can ; him; His remedies are tame i' the present peace And three examples of the like have been I know, this cannot be. Tell not me: Not possible. Enter a Messenger. To melt the city leads upon your pates; 1 We should probably read, "This peace is good for To see your wives dishonour'd to your noses ;nothing but,' &c. 2 i. e. full of rumour, full of materials for discourse. 3 Mulled is softened, as wine when it is burnt and sweetened. 4 i. e. he aimed at absolute power, he wanted to sway the state alone, without the participation of the tribunes. 5 We should surely read, have found it so ;' without this word the construction of the sentence is imperfect. 6 i. e. stood up in its defence. 'Had the expression in the text (says Steevens) been met with in a learned 7 To reason with is to talk with. 9 i. c. atone, accord, agree. Alone and atonement are many times used by Shakspeare in this sense. Men. The breath of garlic-eaters! Your Rome about your ears. He will shake As Hercules Com. You are goodly things, you voices! Men. You have made Good work, you and your cry!"-Shall us to the Capitol? Com. O, ay; what else? [Exeunt Coм. and MEN Sic. Go, masters, get you home, be not dismay'd, These are a side, that would be glad to have This true, which they so seem to fear. Go home, And show no sign of fear. 1 Cit. The gods be good to us! Come, masters, Did shake down mellow fruit: You have made fair let's home. I ever said, we were i' the wrong, when we banished him. work! Bru. But is this true, sir? 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? - our fate hid in an augre-hole. 2 i. e. mechanics. See Julius Cæsar, Act i. Sc. 2. Horace uses artes for artifices. In a future passage he calls them crafts. To smell of garlic was a brand of vulgarity; as to smell of leeks was no less so among the Roman people:- quis tecum sectile porrum Sutor, et elixi vervecis labra comedit?' 3 A ludicrous allusion to the apples of the Hesperides. 4 Revolt with pleasure. SCENE VII. A Camp; at a small distance from Rome. Enter AUFIDIUS, and his Lieutenant. Auf. Do they still fly to the Roman ? Lieu. I do not know what witchcraft's in him; but Your soldiers use him as the grace 'fore meat, Their talk at table, and their thanks at end; And you are darken'd in this action, sir, 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 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 To the vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly, And shows good husbandry for the Volcian 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'll 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: 5 They charg'd, and therein show'd,' has here the force of they would charge, and therein show.' 6 As they hooted at his departure, they will roar at his return; as he went out with scoffs, he will come back with lamentations.' 7 Pack, alluding to a pack of hounds. 8 The following account of the osprey shows the justness and beauty of this simile : 'I will provide thee with a princely osprey, By sovereignty of nature. First he was Even with the same austerity and garb As he controll'd the war: but, one of these 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. [Exeunt. Men. No, I'll not go: you hear, what he hath said, Which was sometime his general; who lov'd him Do you hear? Com. Yet one time he did call me by my name: I urg'd our old acquaintance, and the drops That we have bled together. Coriolanus He would not answer to: forbad all names; He was a kind of nothing, titleless, Till he had forg'd himself a name i' 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 'twas to pardon When it was less expected: He replied, The fish shall turn their glitt'ring bellies up, And thou shalt take thy liberal choice of all.' Drayton mentions the same fascinating power of the osprey in Polyolbion, Song xxv. The bird is described in Pennant's British Zoology. 1 Aufidius assigns three probable reasons for the miscarriage of Coriolanus; pride, which easily follows an uninterrupted train of success; unskilfulness to regulate the consequences of his own victories; a stubborn uniformity of nature, which could not make the proper transition from the casque to the cushion, or chair of civil authority; but acted with the same despotism in peace as in war.-Johnson. 2 Not all in their full extent. So in the Winter's Tale: Thy by-gone fooleries were but spices of it.' It was a bare petition of a state To one whom they had punish'd. Men. Could he say less? Very well: Com. I offer'd to awaken his regard For his private friends: His answer to me was, He could not stay to pick them in a pile Of noisome, musty chaff: He said, 'twas folly, For one poor grain or two, to leave unburnt, And still to nose the offence. For one poor grain Men. You are the musty chaff; and you are smelt No; I'll not meddle. I'll undertake it: Yet to bite his lip, I think, he'll hear me. To give or to forgive; but when we have stuff'd Till he be dieted to my request, And then I'll set upon him. Bru. You know the very road into his kindness, And cannot lose your way. Men. Good faith, I'll prove him, Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledge Of my success. [Exit. A hair has some propriety, as used for a thing almost invisible. As in The Tempest : "not a hair perish'd.' I take the meaning of the passage to be, 'So our virtues lie at the mercy of the time's interpretation, and power, which esteems itself while living so highly, hath not when defunct the least particle of praise al lotted to it.' 5 Rights by rights fouler, strengths by strengths do fail.' Malone reads founder, with a worthy but unsatisfactory argument in favour of his reading. I could wish to read, Rights by rights foiled,' &c. an easy and obvious emendation. Steevens has given the following explan ation of the passage:- What is already right, and is received as such, becomes less clear when supported by supernumerary proof.' 6 i. e. condescended unwillingly, with reserve, cold 3 But such is his merit as ought to choke the utter-ness. ance of his faults. 4 So our virtue Lie in the interpretation of the time; Thus the old copy. Well Steevens might exclaim that the passage and the comments upon it were equally in telligible. The whole speech is very incorrectly printed in the folio. Thus we have 'was for 'twas; detect for defect; virtue for virtues; and, evidently, chair for hair. What is the meaning of 'Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair? 7 Harassed by exactions. 8 Memorial. 9 Bare may mean palpable, evident; but I think we should read base. 10 This observation is not only from nature, and finely expressed, but admirably befits the mouth of one who, in the beginning of the play, had told us that he loved convivial doings.'-Warburton. 11 The poet had the discipline of modern Rome in his thoughts; by the discipline of whose church priests are forbid to break their fast before the celebration of mass, which must take place after sun-rise, and before mid day. Com. He'll never hear him. Sic. Not? Com. I tell you he does sit in gold,' his eye Unless his noble mother, and his wife; [Exeunt. SCENE II. An advanced Post of the Volcian Camp before Rome. The Guard at their Stations. Enter to them, MENENIUS. 1 G. Stay: Whence are you? 2 G. Stand, and go back. Men. You guard like men; 'tis well: But, by your leave, I am an officer of state, and come To speak with Coriolanus. 1 G. Men. From whence? From Rome. 1 G. You may not pass, you must return: our general Will no more hear from thence. 2 G. You'll see your Rome embrac'd with fire, before You'll speak with Coriolanus. Men. I tell thee, fellow, 2 G. 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. 1 G. You are a Roman, are you? Men. I am as thy general is. 1 G. 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 easy10 groans of old women, the virginal palms of your daughters, or with the palsied intercession of such a decayed out the intended fire your city is ready to flame in, dotant11 as you seem to be? Can you think to blow 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 reprieve and pardon. he would use me with estimation. 2 G. Come, my captain knows you not. 1 G. My general cares not for you. Back, I say, Enter CORIOLANUS and AUFIDIUS. Men. Now, you companion, I'll say an errand for you; you shall know now that I am in estimation; you shall perceive that a Jack12 guardant can not office me from my son Coriolanus: guess, but by my entertainment with him, if thou stand'st not in spectatorship, and crueller in suffering; behold 'the state of hanging, or of some death more long now presently, and swoon for what's to come upon thee. The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy particular prosperity, and love thee no worse The book of his good acts, whence men have read than thy old father Menenius does! O, my son! I have tumbled past the throw; and in his praise Have, almost, stamp'd the leasing: Therefore, fellow, I must have leave to pass. 1 G. '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. Men. Pr'ythee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius, always factionary on the part of your general. 1 So in North's Plutarch:- He was set in his chaire of state, with a marvellous and unspeakable majesty. The idea expressed by Cominius occurs in the eighth Iliad. Pope was perhaps indebted to Shakspeare in the translation of the passage: Th eternal Thunderer sat throned in gold.' "The things I have forsworn to grant may never 3 To satisfy modern notions of construction, this line: must be read as if written Unless in his noble mother and his wife.' 4 Lots to blanks is chances to nothing. Equivalent to another phrase in King Richard III. : 6 I. e. friend. All the world to nothing.' my son! thou art preparing fire for us; look thee, come to thee; but being assured, none but myself here's water to quench it. I was hardly moved to I could move thee, I have been blown out of your gates with sighs; and conjure thee to pardon Rome, assuage thy wrath, and turn the dregs of it upon and thy petitionary countrymen. The good gods this varlet here; this, who like a block, hath denied my access to thee. Cor. Away! Men. How! away? Cor. Wife, mother, child, I know not. My af- My revenge properly, my remission lies 7 Subtle here means smooth, level. Tityus's breast is counted the subtlest bowling ground in all Tartary.' Ben Jonson's Chlorida, vol. viii. p. 105. 8 i. e. have almost given the lie such a sanction as to render it current. 9 Factionary is adherent, partisan. See Sherwood in v. Faction. Thus in King Henry VI. Part ii. :'Her faction will be full as strong as ours.' 10 i. e. slight, inconsiderable. So in King Henry VI Part ii. Act v. Sc. 2: these faults are casy, quickly answer'd.' 11 Dotard. 12 Equivalent to Jack in office, one who is proud of his petty consequence. 13 Though I have a peculiar right in revenge, in the 6 Verified must here be used for displayed or testified, power of forgiveness the Volcians are joined.'" |