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 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
By sovereignty of nature. First he was
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,

For I dare so far free him,-made him fear'd,
So hated, and so banish'd: but he has a merit
To choke it in the utterance. So our virtues
Lie in the interpretation of the time:
And power, unto itself most commendable,
Hath not a tomb so evident as a cheer

To extol what it hath done.

One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail;

Rights by rights falter, 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 knee
The way into his mercy: nay, if he coy'd
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;
He was a kind of nothing, titleless,

Till he had forg'd 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 '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's 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.
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'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'll not meddle.

What should I do?

Bru. Only make trial what your love can do For Rome, towards Marcius.

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't:

Yet to bite his lip

And hum at good Cominius much unhearts me.
He was not taken well: he had not din'd:
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
Of my success.

Com.

Sic.

He'll never hear him.

Not?

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,
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,

Unless in 's noble mother and his wife;
Who, as I hear, mean to solicit him

[Exit.

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.

Men.

Stand, and go back.

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.
Good my friends,
If you have heard your general talk of Rome,

And of his friends there, it is lots to blanks
My name hath touch'd your ears: it is Menenius.
1 G. 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,

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 utter'd 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 party of your general.

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 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 reprieve and pardon.

Men. Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here he would use me with estimation.

2 G. Come, my captain knows you not.

Men. I mean thy general.

1 G. 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,

Enter CORIOLANUS and AUFIDIUS.

Cor. What's the matter?

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 jack guardant cannot office me from my son Coriolanus: 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.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 thee 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.

Cor. Away!

Men. How! away!

Cor. Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs