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.5 1 Serv. Let me have war, say I; it exceeds peace, as far as day does night; it's spritely, waking, audible, and fuli of vent. Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy; mulled, deaf, sleepy, insensible; a getter of more bastard children, than war 's a destroyer of men. 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. [Exeunt. SCENE VI. Rome. A publick Place. Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS. Sic. We hear not of him, neither need we fear him; His remedies are tame i' the present peace And quietness o' the people, which before 5 This peace is nothing, but to rust &c.] I believe a word or two have been lost. Shakspeare probably wrote: This peace is good for nothing but, &c. Malone. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads-is worth nothing, &c. Steevens. -full of vent.] Full of rumour, full of materials for discourse. Johnson. 7 mulled,] i. e. softened and dispirited, as wine is when burnt and sweetened. Lat. Mollitus. Hanmer. 8 than wars a destroyer of men.] i. e. than wars are a destroyer of men. Our author almost every where uses wars in the plural. See the next speech. Mr. Pope, not attending to this, reads than war's, &c. which all the subsequent editors have adopted. Walking, the reading of the old copy in this speech, was rightly corrected by him. Malone. I should have persisted in adherence to the reading of Mr. Pope, had not a similar irregularity in speech occurred in All's Well that Ends Well, Act II, sc. i, where the second Lord says"O, 'tis brave wars!" as we have here-" wars may be said to be a ravisher." Were in wild hurry. Here do we make his friends Enter MENENIUS. Bru. We stood to 't in good time. Is this Menenius? Sic. 'Tis he, 'tis he: O, he is grown most kind Of late.-Hail, sir! Sic. Your Coriolanus, sir, is not much miss'd,2 Perhaps, however, in all these instances, the old blundering transcribers or printers, may have given us wars instead of war. Steevens. is: 9 His remedies are tame i̇' the present peace —] The old reading "His remedies are tame, the present peace." I do not understand either line, but fancy it should be read thus: neither need we fear him; His remedies are ta'en, the present peace The meaning, somewhat harshly expressed, according to our author's custom, is this: We need not fear him, the proper remedies against him are taken, by restoring peace and quietness. I rather suppose the meaning of Sicinius to be this: His remedies are tame, Johnson. i. e. ineffectual in times of peace like these. When the people were in commotion, his friends might have strove to remedy his disgrace by tampering with them; but now, neither wanting to employ his bravery, nor remembering his former actions, they are unfit subjects for the factious to work upon. Mr. M. Mason would read, lame; but the epithets tame and wild were, I believe, designedly opposed to each other. Steevens. In, [ï' the present peace] which was omitted in the old copy, was inserted by Mr. Theobald. Malone. Hail to you both!] From this reply of Menenius, it should seem that both the tribunes had saluted him; a circumstance also to be inferred from the present deficiency in the metre, which would be restored by reading (according to the proposal of a modern editor :) Of late. Hail, sir! Bru. Men. Hail, sir! Hail to you both! Steevens. 2 Your Coriolanus, sir, is not much miss'd,] I have admitted the word-sir, for the sake of measure. Steevens. But with his friends: the common-wealth doth stand; And so would do, were he more angry at it. Men. All's well; and might have been much better, if He could have temporiz'd. Sic. Where is he, hear you? Men. Nay, I hear nothing; his mother and his wife Hear nothing from him. Enter Three or Four Citizens. Cit. The gods preserve you both! Sic. Good-e'en, our neighbours. Bru. Good-e'en to you all, good-e'en to you all. 1 Cit. Ourselves, our wives, and children, on our knees, Are bound to pray for you both. Sic. Live, and thrive! Bru. Farewel, kind neighbours: We wish'd Coriolanus Had lov'd you as we did. Cit. Now the gods keep you! Both Tri. Farewel, farewel. [Exeunt Citizens. Sic. This is a happier and more comely time, Than when these fellows ran about the streets, Crying, Confusion. Bru. Caius Marcius was A worthy officer i' the war; but insolent, O'ercome with pride, ambitious past all thinking, Sic. And affecting one sole throne, Without assistance.3 Men. I think not so. Sic. We should by this, to all our lamentation, If he had gone forth consul, found it so. Bru. The gods have well prevented it, and Rome Sits safe and still without him. 3 affecting one sole throne, Without assistance.] That is, without assessors; without any other suffrage. Johnson. Without assistance.] For the sake of measure I should wish to read: Without assistance in 't. This hemistich, joined to the following one, would then form a regular verse. It is also not improbable that Shakspeare instead of assistance wrote assistants. Thus in the old copies of our author, we have ingredience for ingredients, occurrence for occurrents, &c. Steevens. Ed. Enter Edile. Worthy tribunes, There is a slave, whom we have put in prison, Men. 'Tis Aufidius, Who, hearing of our Marcius' banishment, Which were inshell'd, when Marcius stood for Rome, Sic. Of Marcius? Come, what talk you Bru. Go see this rumourer whipp'd.-It cannot be, The Volces dare break with us. Men. Sic. I know, this cannot be. Bru. Tell not me: Not possible. Enter a Messenger. Mess. The nobles, in great earnestness, are going 4 stood for Rome,] i. e. stood up in its defence. Had the expression in the text been met with in a learned author, it might have passed for a Latinism: 66 summis stantem pro turribus Idam." Aneid IX, 575. Steevens. 5 reason with the fellow,] That is, have some talk with him. In this sense Shakspeare often uses the word. See Vol. II, p. 167, n. 6. Johnson. 6 —some news is come,] Old copy-redundantly,--some news is come in. The second folio-coming; but I think, erroneously. Steevens. 7 some news is come, That turns their countenances.] e. that renders their aspect VOL. XIII. Sic. 'Tis this slave ; Yes, worthy sir, Go whip him 'fore the people's eyes:-his raising! Nothing but his report! Mess. The slave's report is seconded; and more, Sic. What more fearful? Mess. It is spoke freely out of many mouths, Sic. Sic. Men. This is unlikely: The very trick on 't. He and Aufidius can no more atone,8 Than violentest contrariety.9 Enter another Messenger. Mess. You are sent for to the senate: sour. This allusion to the acescence of milk occurs again in Timon of Athens : "Has friendship such a faint and milky heart, "It turns in less than two nights?" Malone. I believe nothing more is meant than-changes their countenances. So, in Cymbeline: 66 Change you, madam ? "The noble Leonatus is in safety." Steevens. 8 ―can no more atone,] To atone, in the active sense, is to reconcile, and is so used by our author. To atone here, is in the neutral sense, to come to reconciliation. To atone is to unite. Johnson. The etymology of this verb may be known from the following passage in the second Book of Sidney's Arcadia: "Necessitie made us see, that a common enemie sets at one a civil warre." Steevens. Atone seems to be derived from at and one-to reconcile to, or, to be at, union. In some books of Shakspeare's age I have found the phrase in its original form: “. to reconcile and make them at one." Malone. 9 violentest contrariety.] I should read-violentest contrarieties. M. Mason. Mr. M. Mason might have supported his conjecture by the following passage in King Lear: "No contraries hold more antipathy "Than I and such a knave." Steevens. |