Able to bear against the great Aufidius
A shield as hard as his. A certain number,
'Though thanks to all, must I select: the rest
Shall bear the business in some other fight,
As cause will be obey'd. Please you to march;
And four shall quickly draw out my command,
Which men are best inclin'd.
Com.
March on, my fellows;
Make good this ostentation, and you shall
Divide in all with us.

Hadst thou beheld

Mar. Pray now, no more: my mother, [Exeunt. Who has a charter to extol her blood, SCENE VII.-The gates of Corioli. Titus Lar-As you have done; that's what I can; induc'd When she does praise me, grieves me. I have done, tius, having set a guard upon Corioli, going As you have been; that's for my country: with a drum and trumpet toward Cominius and He, that has but effected his good will, Caius Marcius, enters with a Lieutenant, a party Hath overta'en mine act. of Soldiers, and a Scout.

Lart. So, let the ports' be guarded: keep your
duties,

As I have set them down. If I do send, despatch
Those centuries to our aid; the rest will serve
For a short holding: If we lose the field,
We cannot keep the town.

Lieu.
Fear not our care, sir.
Lart. Hence, and shut your gates upon us.-
Our guider, come; to the Roman camp conduct us.

[Exeunt.

Com.

You shall not be
The grave of your deserving; Rome must know
The value of her own: "Twere a concealment
Worse than a theft, no less than a traducement,
To hide your doings; and to silence that,
Which to the spire and top of praises vouch'd,
Would seem but modest: Therefore, I beseech you,
(In sign of what you are, not to reward
What you have done,) before our army hear me.
Mar. I have some wounds upon me, and they

Com.

smart

Should they not,

SCENE VIII-A field of battle between the To hear themselves remember'd.
Roman and the Volscian camps. Alarum. En-Well might they fester 'gainst ingratitude,
And tent themselves with death. Of all the horses,
(Where of we have ta'en good, and good store,)

ter Marcius and Aufidius.

Mar. I'll fight with none but thee; for I do hate

thee

Not Afric owns a serpent, I abhor
More than thy fame and envy: Fix thy foot.
Mar. Let the first budger die the other's slave,
And the gods doom him after!
Auf.

Halloo me like a hare.

Mar.

If I fly, Marcius,
Within these three hours, Tullus,
Alone I fought in your Corioli walls,
And made what work I pleas'd; 'Tis not my blood,
Wherein thou see'st me mask'd; for thy revenge,
Wrench up thy power to the highest.
Auf.
Wert thou the Hector,
That was the whip' of your bragg'd progeny,
Thou should'st not scape me here.-

[They fight, and certain Volces come to the
aid of Aufidius.
Officious, and not valiant-you have sham'd me
In your condemned seconds.

of all

The treasure, in this field achiev'd, and city,
We render you the tenth; to be ta'en forth,
Before the common distribution, at
Your only choice.

Mar.

I thank you, general;
But cannot make my heart consent to take
A bribe to pay my sword: I do refuse it;
That have beheld the doing.
And stand upon my common part with those

[A long flourish. They all cry, Marcius! Mar-
cius! cast up their caps and lances: Co-
minius and Lartius stand bare.

Mar. May these same instruments, which you
profane,

Never sound more! When drums and trumpets shall
I'the field prove flatterers, let courts and cities be
Made all of false-fac'd soothing: When steel grows
Soft as the parasite's silk, let him be made
An overture for the wars! No more, I say;
For that I have not wash'd my nose that bled,
Or foil'd some debile wretch, which, without note,
Here's many else have done,-you shout me forth
In acclamations hyperbolical;

[Exeunt fighting, driven in by Marcius.
SCENE IX.-The Roman camp. Alarum. A
retreat is sounded. Flourish. Enter at one
side, Cominius and Romans; at the other side, As if I lov'd my little should be dieted
Marcius, with his arm in a scarf, and other In praises sauc'd with lies.
Romans.

Com. If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's
work,

Thou'lt not believe thy deeds: but I'll report it,
Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles;
Where great patricians shall attend, and shrug,
I'the end, admire; where ladies shall be frighted,
And, gladly quak'd, hear more; where the dull
tribunes,

That, with the fusty plebeians, hate thine honours,
Shall say, against their hearts-We thank the gods,
Our Rome hath such a soldier!-

(1) Gates. (2) Companies of a hundred men.
(3) Stirrer. (4) Boast, crack.
(5) In sending such help.

Com. Too modest are you; More cruel to your good report, than grateful To us that give you truly: by your patience, If 'gainst yourself you be incens'd, we'll put you (Like one that means his proper1o harm,) in manacles,

Then reason safely with you.-Therefore, be it
known,

As to us, to all the world, that Caius Marcius
Wears this war's garland: in token of the which,
My noble steed, known to the camp, I give him,
With all his trim belonging; and, from this time,
For what he did before Corioli, call him,

(6) Thrown into grateful trepidation.
(7) Forces. (8) Privilege.
(9) Weak, feeble. (10) Own.

With all the applause and clamour of the host,
Caius Marcius Coriolanus.-
Bear the addition nobly ever!

Wash my fierce hand in his heart. Go you to the city:

[Flourish. Trumpets sound, and drums. Be hostages for Rome.

All. Caius Marcius Coriolanus!
Cor. I will go wash;

And when my face is fair, you shall perceive
Whether I blush, or no: Howbeit, I thank you
I mean to stride your steed; and, at all times,
To undercrest' your good addition,

To the fairness of my power.

Com.
So, to our tent:
Where, ere we do repose us, we will write
To Rome of our success.-You, Titus Lartius,
Must to Corioli back: send us to Rome
The best, with whom we may articulate,3
For their own good, and ours.
Lart.

1 Sol.

Learn, how 'tis held; and what they are, that must
Will not you go?
Auf. I am attended" at the cypress grove:
I pray you

:-(Tis south the city mills,) bring me word thither
How the world goes; that to the pace of it
I may spur on my journey.
1 Sol.

-What is't?

I shall, my lord.
Cor. The gods begin to mock me. I that now
Refus'd most princely gifts, am bound to beg
Of my lord general.
Com.
Take it: 'tis yours.-
Cor. I sometime lay, here in Corioli,
At a poor man's house; he us'd me kindly:
He cried to me; I saw him prisoner;
But then Aufidius was within my view,

And wrath o'erwhelm'd my pity: I request you
To give my poor host freedom.

Com.

O, well begg'd!

I shall, sir. [Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I-Rome. A public place. Enier
Menenius, Sicinius, and Brutus.

Men. The augurer tells me, we shall have news to-night.

Bru. Good, or bad?

Men. Not according to the prayer of the people, for they love not Marcius.

Sic. Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.
Men. Pray you, who does the wolf love?
Sic. The lamb.

Men. Ay, to devour him; as the hungry plebeians would the noble Marcius.

Bru. He's a lamb, indeed, that bacs like a bear. Men. He's a bear, indeed, that lives like a lamb. You two are old men; tell me one thing that I shall ask you.

Both Trib. Well, sir.

Men. In what enormity is Marcius poor, that you two have not in abundance?

Bru. He's poor in no one fault, but stored with all.
Sic. Especially, in pride.

Bru. And topping all others in boasting.

Men. This is strange now: Do you two know

SCENE X.-The camp of the Volces. A flour-how you are censured here in the city, I mean of

ish. Cornets. Enter Tullus Aufidius, bloody,

with two or three Soldiers.

Auf. The town is ta'en!

1 Sol. "Twill be delivered back on good condition.
Auf. Condition ?-

I would, I were a Roman; for I cannot,
Being a Volce, be that I am.-Condition!
What good condition can a treaty find

I'the part that is at mercy? Five times, Marcius,
I have fought with thee; so often hast thou beat me;
And would'st do so, I think, should we encounter
As often as we eat.-By the elements,
If e'er again I meet him beard to beard,
He is mine, or I am his: Mine emulation
Hath not that honour in't, it had; for where*
I thought to crush him in an equal force
(True sword to sword,) I'll potch' at him some way;
Or wrath, or craft, may get him.
1 Sol.

He's the devil.

Auf. Bolder, though not so subtle: My val-
our's poison'd,

With only suffering stain by him; for him
Shall fly out of itself: nor sleep, nor sanctuary,
Being naked, sick: nor fane, nor Capitol,
The prayers of priests, nor times of sacrifice,
Embarquements all of fury, shall lift up
Their rotten privilege and custom 'gainst
My hate to Marcius: where I find him, were it
At home, upon my brother's guard, even there
Against the hospitable canon, would I

(1) Add more by doing his best.
(2) Chief men. (3) Enter into articles.
(5) Poke, push.

Whereas.

VOL. II.

us o'the right hand file? Do you?

Both Trib. Why, how are we censured?

Men. Because you talk of pride now,-Will you not be angry?

Both Trib. Well, well, sir, well.

Men. Why, 'tis no great matter; for a very little thief of occasion will rob you of a great deal of patience: give your disposition the reins, and be angry at your pleasure; at the least, if you take it as a pleasure to you, in being so. You blame Marcius for being proud?

Bru. We do it not alone, sir.

Men. I know, you can do very little alone; for your helps are many; or else your actions would grow wondrous single: your abilities are too infant-like, for doing much alone. You talk of pride: 0, that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks, and make but an interior survey of your good selves! O that you could!

Bru. What then, sir?

Men. Why, then you should discover a brace of unmeriting, proud, violent, testy magistrates (alias, fools,) as any in Rome.

Sic. Menenius, you are known well enough too. Men. I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one that loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying Tyber' in't; said to be something imperfect, in favouring the first complaint: hasty, and tinder-like, upon too trivial motion; one that converses more with the buttock of the night, than

(6) My brother posted to protect him,

(7) Waited for. (8) Back.

(9) Water of the Tyber.

2 Q

with the forehead of the morning. What I think, tion in Galen is but empiricutic, and to this preI utter; and spend my malice in my breath: Meet-servative, of no better report than a horse-drench. ing two such weals'-men as you are (I cannot call Is he not wounded? he was wont to come home you Lycurguses) if the drink you gave me, touch wounded. my palate adversely, I make a crooked face at it. Vir. O, no, no, no. I cannot say, your worships have delivered the matter well, when I find the ass in compound with the major part of your syllables: and though I'a must be content to bear with those that say you are reverend grave men; yet they lie deadly, that tell, you have good faces. If you see this in the map of my microcosm, follows it, that I am known well enough too? What harm can your bisson3 conspectuities glean out of this character, if I be known well enough too?

Vol. O, he is wounded, I thank the gods for't. Men. So do I too, if it be not too much:-Brings victory in his pocket?-The wounds become him.

Vol. On's brows, Menenius: he comes the third time home with the oaken garland. Men. Has he disciplined Aufidius soundly? Vol. Titus Lartius writes,-they fought together, but Aufidius got off.

Men. And 'twas time for him too, I'll warrant him that: an he had staid by him, I would not have been so fidiused for all the chests in Corioli, and the gold that's in them. Is the senate possessed' of this?

Bru. Come, sir, come, we know you well enough. Men. You know neither me, yourselves, nor any thing. You are ambitious for poor knaves' caps and legs; you wear out a good wholesome forenoon, in hearing a cause between an orange-wife and a Vol. Good ladies, let's go :-yes, yes, yes: the fosset-seller; and then rejourn the controversy of senate has letters from the general, wherein he gives three-pence to a second day of audience.-When my son the whole name of the war: he hath in you are hearing a matter between party and party, this action outdone his former deeds doubly. if you chance to be pinched with the colic, you Val. In troth, there's wondrous things spoke of make faces like mummers; set up the bloody flag against all patience; and, in roaring for a chamber- Men. Wondrous? ay, I warrant you, and not pot, dismiss the controversy bleeding, the more en-without his true purchasing. tangled by your hearing; all the peace you make in their cause, is calling both the parties knaves: You are a pair of strange ones.

Bru. Come, come, you are well understood to be a perfecter giber for the table, than a necessary bencher in the Capitol.

him.

Vir. The gods grant them true!
Vol. True? pow, wow.

Men. True? I'll be sworn they are true:Where is he wounded ?—God save your good worships! [To the Tribunes, who come forward.] Marcius is coming home; he has more cause to be Men. Our very priests must become mockers, if proud.-Where is he wounded? they shall encounter such ridiculous subjects as you Vol. I'the shoulder, and i'the left arm: There are. When you speak best unto the purpose, it is will be large cicatrices to show the people, when not worth the wagging of your beards; and your he shall stand for his place. He received in the beards deserve not so honourable a grave, as to repulse of Tarquin, seven hurts i'the body. stuff a botcher's cushion, or to be entombed in an ass's pack-saddle. Yet you must be saying, Marcius is proud; who, in a cheap estimation, is worth all your predecessors, since Deucalion; though, peradventure, some of the best of them were hereditary hangmen. Good e'en to your worships; more of your conversation would infect my brain, being the herdsmen of the beastly plebeians: I will be bold to take my leave of you.

[Bru. and Sic. retire to the back of the scene. Enter Volumnia, Virgilia, and Valeria, &c. How now, my fair as noble ladies, (and the moon, were she earthly, no nobler,) whither do you follow your eyes so fast?

Vol. Honourable Menenius, my boy Marcius approaches; for the love of Juno, let's go. Men. Ha! Marcius coming home!

Men. One in the neck, and two in the thigh,there's nine that I know.

Vol. He had, before this last expedition, twentyfive wounds upon him.

Men. Now it's twenty-seven: every gash was an enemy's grave: [A shout, and flourish.] Hark! the trumpets.

Vol. These are the ushers of Marcius: before him He carries noise, and behind him he leaves tears; Death, that dark spirit, in's nervy arm doth lie; Which, being advanc'd, declines; and then men die. A sennet. Trumpets sound. Enter Cominius and Titus Lartius; between them, Coriolanus, crowned with an oaken garland; with Captains, Soldiers, and a Herald.

Her. Know, Rome, that all alone Marcius did fight

Vol. Ay, worthy Menenius; and with most pros- Within Corioli's gates: where he hath won, perous approbation. With fame, a name to Caius Marcius; these

Men. Take my cap, Jupiter, and I thank thee:-In honour follows, Coriolanus: Hoo! Marcius coming home?

Two Ladies. Nay, 'tis true.

Vol. Look, here's a letter from him; the state hath another, his wife another; and, I think, there's one at home for you.

Men. I will make my very house reel to-night :A letter for me?

Vir. Yes, certain, there's a letter for you; I saw it.

Men. A letter for me? It gives me an estate of seven years' health; in which time I will make a lip at the physician: the most sovereign prescrip(2) Whole man. (4) Obeisance.

(1) States.
(3) Blind.

Welcome to Rome, renown'd Coriolanus!

[Flourish.

All. Welcome to Rome, renown'd Coriolanus! Cor. No more of this, it does offend my heart; Pray now, no more.

Com.
Cor.

Look, sir, your mother,

You have, I know, petition'd all the gods
For my prosperity.

Vol.

0! [Kneels. Nay, my good soldier, up; My gentle Marcius, worthy Caius, and By deed-achieving honour newly nam'd, What is it? Coriolanus, must I call thee? (5) Fully informed. (6) Flourish on cornets.

(5) Soiled with sweat and smoke. (6) Seldom. (11) Inform.

and there be many that they have loved, they know But tie him not to be their bedfellow.not wherefore so that, if they love they know not Worthy Cominius, speak.-Nay, keep your place. why, they hate upon no better a ground: Therefore, [Coriolanus rises, and offers to go away. for Coriolanus neither to care whether they love or 1 Sen. Sit, Coriolanus: never shame to hear hate him, manifests the true knowledge he has in What you have nobly done. their disposition; and out of his noble carelessness, Cor. Your honours' pardon; lets them plainly see't. I had rather have my wounds to heal again, Than hear say how I got them. Sir, I hope,