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'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 :
The tribunes are no soldiers; and their people
Will be as rash in the repeal, as hasty

To expel him thence. I think, he'll be to Rome,
As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it
First he was
By sovereignty of nature.

A noble servant to them; but he could not
Carry his honours even: whether 'twas pride,
Which out of daily fortune ever taints

The happy man; whether defect of judgment,
To fail in the disposing of those chances
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 controll'd the war; but, one of these,

(As he hath spices of them all, not all,7
For I dare so far free him,) made him fear'd,

So hated, and so banish'd: But he has a merit,

5 As is the osprey,—] Osprey, a kind of eagle, ossifraga.
6- whether 'twas pride,

Which out of daily fortune ever taints

The happy man; whether, &c.] Aufidius assigns three probable reasons of 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 or helmet to the cushion or chair of civil authority; but acted with the same despotism in peace as in war.

7 As he hath spices of them all, not all,] i. e. not all complete, not all in their full extent.

So our virtues

To choke it in the utterance.9

Lie in the interpretation of the time:

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.

[Exeunt.

ACT V.

SCENE I. Rome. A public Place.

Enter MENENIUS, COMINIUS, SICINIUS, BRutus, and Others.

Men. No, I'll not go: you hear, what he hath said, Which was sometime his general; who lov'd him In a most dear particular. He call'd me, father: But what o'that? Go, you that banish'd him, A mile before his tent fall down, and kneel The way into his mercy: Nay, if he coy'd9 To hear Cominius speak, I'll 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 urg'd our old acquaintance, and the drops That we have bled together. Coriolanus He would not answer to: forbad all names;

To choke it in the utterance.] He has a merit, for no other purpose than to destroy it by boasting it.

+"founder," MALONE.

9

coy'd —] i. e. condescended unwillingly, with reserve.

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 12 Com. I minded him, how royal 'twas to pardon When it was less expected: He replied,

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.

Men.

For one poor grain

Or two? I am one of those; his mother, wife,

His child, and this brave fellow too, we are the grains: You are the musty chaff; and you are smelt

Above the moon: We must be burnt for you.

Sic. Nay, pray, be patient: If you refuse your aid

In this so never-heeded help, yet do not

Upbraid us 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.

Sic. I pray you, go to him.+

Men.

No; I'll not meddle.

What should I do?

Bru. Only make trial what your love can do

For Rome, towards Marcius.

2

that have rack'd-] To rack means to harass by exactions. memory!] for memorial.

+ Mr. Malone omits the personal pronoun I.

Men.

Well, and say that Marcius

Return me, as Cominius is return'd,
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 think, he'll hear me.

I'll undertake it :

Yet to bite his lip,

And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me.
He was not taken well; he had not din'd:3
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 stuff'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'll watch him
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

[Exit.

Com.

Sic.

Not?

:*

He'll never hear him.

Com. I tell you, he does sit in gold: his eye
Red as 'twould burn Rome; and his injury
The gaoler to his pity. I kneel'd before him;
'Twas very faintly he said, Rise; dismiss'd me
Thus, with his speechless hand: What he would do,

3 He was not taken well; he had not din'd: &c.] 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.

4 I tell you, he does sit in gold:] He is enthroned in all the pomp and pride of imperial splendour.

He sent in writing after me; what he would not,
Bound with an oath, to yield to his conditions; 5
So, that all hope is vain,

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 II.

An advanced Post of the Volscian 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

1 G. You may not pass, you must return: our ge

neral

Will no more hear from thence.

2 G. You'll see your Rome embrac'd with fire, before You'll speak with Coriolanus.

Men.

Good my friends,

5 Bound with an oath, to yield to his conditions ;] What he would do, i. e. the conditions on which he offered to return, he sent in writing after Cominius, intending that he should have carried them to Menenius. What he would not, i. e. his resolution of neither dismissing his soldiers, nor capitulating with Rome's mechanicks, in case the terms he prescribed should be refused, he bound himself by an oath to maintain. If these conditions were admitted, the oath of course, being grounded on that proviso, must yield to them, and be cancelled.