Mar. I am glad on't; then we shall have means to vent Our musty superfluity :-See, our best elders. Enter COMINIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, and other Senators; JUNIUS BRUTUS, and SICINIUS VE LUTUS. 1 Sen. Marcius, 'tis true, that you have lately told us; The Volces are in arms. They have a leader, Mar. And were I any thing 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'd revolt, to make Only my wars with him: he is a lion That I am proud to hunt. 1 Sen. Attend upon Cominius to these wars. Then, worthy Marcius, Sir, it is; Com. It is your former promise. Mar. Tit. Men. O, true bred! 1.Sen. Your company to the Capitol; where, I know, Our greatest friends attend us. 22 i. e. immoveable in my resolution. So in Julius Cæsar:→→ 'But I am constant as the northern star.' Tit. Follow, Cominius; we must follow you; Com. Lead you on: Noble Lartius 24 ! [To the Citizens. Nay, let them follow: 1 Sen. Hence! To your homes, be gone. Mar. The Volces have much corn; take these rats thither, To gnaw their garners:-Worshipful mutineers, Your valour puts 25 well forth: pray, follow. [Exeunt Senators, COм. MAR. TIT. and MENEN. Citizens steal away. 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 mov'd, he will not spare to gird 26 the gods. Sic. Be-mock the modest moon. Bru. The present wars devour him: he is grown Too proud to be so valiant27. 23 You being right worthy of precedence. 24 The old copy has Marcius. 25 That is, You have in this mutiny shown fair blossoms of valour. So in King Henry VIII. : To day he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms,' &c. 26 A gird is a cut, a sarcasm, or stroke of satire. See King Henry IV. Part II. Act i. Sc. 2, p. 262. 6 27 The present wars' Shakspeare uses to express the pride of Coriolanus, grounded on his military prowess; which kind of pride, Brutus says, devours him. In Troilus and Cressida, Act ii. Sc. 3, we have: He that's proud eats up himself.' Perhaps the meaning of the latter member of the sentence is, 'He is grown too proud of being so valiant to be endured.' It is still a common expression to say, 'eat up with pride.' Sic. Such a nature, Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow Bru. Fame, at the which he aims,— In whom already he is well grac'd,—cannot Better be held, nor more attain'd, than by A place below the first: for what miscarries 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! Sic. Besides, if things go well, Opinion, that so sticks on Marcius, shall 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 How the despatch is made; and in what fashion, More than in singularity 29, he goes Upon his present action. Bru. Let's along. [Exeunt. 28 Demerits and merits had anciently the same meaning. Thus in Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, p. 200, ed. 1825 :-' I have not promoted and preferred you to condign preferments according to your demerits.' 29 Perhaps the word singularity implies a sarcasm on Coriolanus, and the speaker means to say-after what fashion beside that in which his own singularity of disposition invests him, he goes into the field. So in Twelfth Night: SCENE II. Corioli. The Senate-House. Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS, and certain Senators. 1 Sen. So, your opinion is, Aufidius, That they of Rome are enter'd in our counsels, Auf. [Reads. They have prest2 a power, but it is not known Whether for east, or west: 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 most valiant Roman, These three lead on this preparation Whither 'tis bent: most likely, 'tis for you: Consider of it. 1 Sen. Our army's in the field: Auf. Nor did you think it folly, To keep your great pretences veil'd, till when They needs must show themselves; which in the hatching, The old copy reads: What have been ever thought on in this state.' We must either suppose this an ellipsis for What things have,' &c. or read, with Steevens, hath, as in the text. 2 i. e. ready; from the old French prest. Thus in the Merchant of Venice, Act i. Sc. 1: say to me what I should do That in your knowledge may by me be done, It seem❜d, appear'd to Rome. By the discovery, 2 Sen. Noble Aufidius, you to your Take your commission; hie bands: If they set down before us, for the remove1 Auf. O, doubt not that; I speak from certainties. Nay, more. Some parcels of their powers are forth already, And only hitherward. I leave your honours. If we and Caius Marcius chance to meet, 'Tis sworn between us, we shall never strike Till one can do no more. All. The gods assist you! Auf. And keep your honours safe! 1 Sen. 2 Sen. All. Farewell. Farewell. Farewell. [Exeunt. SCENE III. Rome. An Apartment in Marcius' House. Enter VOLUMNIA, and VIRGILIA: They sit down on two low stools, 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 3 To take in was formerly used as we now use to take for to subdue, to conquer. Thus in Antony and Cleopatra :cut the Ionian seas, And take in Toryne.' 4 If the Romans besiege us, bring up your army to remove them.' |