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2 Cit. Amen, sir: To my poor unworthy notice, He mock'd us, when he begg'd our voices.

3 Cit. Certainly, he flouted us down-right.
1 Cit. No, 'tis his kind of speech, he did not

mock us.

[says, 5 -2 Cit. Not one amongst us, save yourself, but He us'd us scornfully: he should have shew'd us His marks of merit, wounds receiv'd for his counSic. Why, so he did, I am sure. [try. All. No, no man saw 'em.

3 Cit. He said, he had wounds, which he could
shew in private;

And with his hat, thus waving it in scorn,
I would be consul, says he: aged custom,
But by your voices, will not so permit me:
Your voices therefore: When we granted that,
Here was,--I thank you for your voices, thank you,--
Your most sweet voices: now you have left yourvoices,
I have nothing further with you:— -Was not this
mockery?

Sic. Why, either, were you ignorant to see 't1?
Or, seeing it, of such childish friendliness

To yield your voices?

As

Bru. Could you not have told him,

1 Cit. I twice five hundred, and their friends to
piece 'em.
[friends,-
Bru. Get you hence instantly; and tell those
Theyhave chose a consul, that will from them take
Their liberties; make them of no more voice
Than dogs, that are as often beat for barking,
As therefore kept to do so..

Sic. Let them assemble;
And, on a safer judgement, all revoke
10 Your ignorant election: Enforce' his pride,
And his old hate unto you: besides, forget not
With what contempt he wore the humble weed;
How in his suit he scorn'd you: but your loves,
Thinking upon his services, took from you
15 The apprehension of his present portance,
Which most gibingly, ungravely, he did fashion
After the inveterate hate he bears you.
Bru. Lay

20

A fault on us, your tribunes; that we labour'd, (No impediment between) but that you must Cast your election on him.

Sic. Say, you chose him

More after our commandment, than as guided
By your own true affections: and that, your minds

you were lesson'd,—When he had no power, 25 Pre-occupy'd with what you rather must do

bear

But was a petty servant to the state,
He was your enemy; ever spake against
Your liberties, and the charters that
you
I' the body of the weal: and now, arriving
A place of potency, and sway o' the state,
If he should still malignantly remain
Fast foe to the plebeii, your voices might
Be curses to yourselves: You should have said,
That, as his worthy deeds did claim no less
Than what he stood for; so his gracious nature
Would think upon you for your voices, and
Translate his malice towards you into love,
Standing your friendly lord.

Sic. Thus to have said,

As you were fore-advis'd, had touch'd his spirit,
And try'd his inclination; from him pluck'd
Either his gracious promise, which you might,
As cause had call'd you up, have held him to;
Or else it would have gall'd his surly nature,
Which easily endures not article,

Tying him to aught; so, putting him to rage,
You should have ta'en the advantage of his choler,
And pass'd him unelected.

Bru. Did you perceive,

He did solicit you in free contempt,
When he did need your loves; and do you think,
This his contempt shall not be bruising to you,
When he hath power to crush? Why, had your

bodies

Than what you should, made you against the grain
To voice hum consul: Lay the fault on us. [you,
Bru. Ay, spare us not. Say, we read lectures to
How youngly he began to serve his country,
30 How long continued: and what stock he springs of,
The noble house o' the Marcians; from whence

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1 i. e. did you want knowledge to discern it?

Bru. Say, you ne'er had done 't,

(Harp on that still) but by our putting on:
And presently,whenyou have drawn your number,
Repair to the Capitol.

All. We will so: almost all

Repent in their election.

Bru. Let them go on;

[Exeunt Citizens.

This mutiny were better put in hazard,
Than stay, past doubt, for greater:
If, as his nature is, he fall in rage
With their refusal, both observe and answer
The vantage of his anger".

Sic. To the Capitol, come;

60 We will be there before the stream o' the people; And this shall seem, as partly 'tis, their own, Which we have goaded onward.

[Exeunt.

2 i. e. with contempt open and unrestrained.

Object his pride. * i. e. carriage. i. e. weighing his past and present behaviour. i. e. mark, catch, and improve the opportunity which his hasty anger will afford us.

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Cor. I wish I had a cause to seek him there, To oppose his hatred fully.--Welcome home. [To Lartius.

Enter Sicinius, and Brutus.

Behold! these are the tribunes of the people,

30

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Time-pleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness.
Cor. Why, this was known before.
Bru. Not to them all.

Cor. Have you inform'd them since?
Bru. How! I inform them!

Cor. You are like to do such business.
Bru. Not unlike,

Each way, to better yours.

[clouds, Cor. Why then should I be consul? "By yon Let me deserve so ill as you, and make me Your fellow-tribune.

Sic. You shew too much of that, For which the people stir: If you will pass To where you are bound, you must enquire your

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[palt'ring

Com. The people are abus'd:-Set on.-This
Becomes not Rome; nor has Coriolanus

Deserv'd this so dishonour'd rub, laid falsely
I' the plain way of his merit.

The tongues o' the commonmouth. I do despise 35 Cor. Tell me of corn!

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This was my speech, and I will speak 't again ;~~ Men. Not now, not now.

Sen. Not in this heat, sir, now.

Cor. Now, as I live, I will.-My nobler friends, 40I crave their pardons :

For the mutable, rank-scented many, let them Regard me as I do not flatter, and

Therein behold themselves: I say again, In soothing them, we nourish 'gainst our senate 45 The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition, Which we ourselves have plough'd for, sow'd, and scatter'd,

By mingling them with us, the honour'd number; Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that 50 Which they have given to beggars.

Men. Well, no more.

Sen. No more words, we beseech you.
Cor. How! no more?

As for my country I have shed my blood,

[teeth 55 Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungs, Coin words 'till their decay, against those meazels

You being their mouths, why rule you not their

1 Plume, deck, upon any one. up with the corn.

dignify themselves. i. e. shuffling.

• Mesell is used,

4

The metaphor is from men's setting a bull-dog or mastiff • Cockle is a weed which grows Falsely for treacherously.

in Pierce Plowman's Vision, for a leper.

Which

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They would not thread the gates': this kind of

service

Did not deserve corn gratis: Being i' the war, Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they shew'd 5 Most valour, spoke not for then? : The accusation Which they have often made against the senate, All cause unborn, could never be the native' Of our so frank donation. Well, what then? How shall this bosom multiplied digest 10 The senate's courtesy? Let deeds express What's like to be their words:-" We did request it ;

"We are the greater poll, and in true fear "They gave us our demands:"-Thus we debase 15 The nature of our seats, and make the rabble Call our cares, fears: which will in time break ope The locks o' the senate, and bring in the crows To peck the eagles

20

Men. Come, enough.

Bru. Enough, with over-measure.
Cor. No, take more:

What may be sworn by, both divine and human, Seal what I end withal-This double worship,-Where one part does disdain with cause, the other 25 Insult without all reason; where gentry, title, wisdom,

Cannot conclude, but by the yea and no
Of general ignorance,—it must omit
Real necessities, and give way the while

[lows

Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians, 30 To unstable slightness: purpose so barr'd, it fol

If they be senators: and they are no less,
When,both your voices blended, the greatest taste
Most palates theirs. They choose their magistrate;
And such a one as he, who puts his shall,
His popular shall, against a graver bench
Than ever frown'd in Greece! By Jove himself,
It makes the consuls base: and my soul aches,
To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither supreme, how soon confusion
May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take
The one by the other!

Com. Well,-on to the market-place.

Cor. Whoever gave that counsel, to give forth The corn o' the store-house gratis, as 'twas us'd Sometime in Greece,

Men. Well, well, no more of that.

Cor. (Though there the people had more absolute power)

I say, they nourish'd disobedience, fed

The ruin of the state.

Bru. Why, shall the people give One, that speaks thus, their voice?

Cor. I'll give my reasons,

[the corn

More worthier than their voices. They know, Was not our recompence; resting well assur'd They ne'er did service for 't: Being press'd to

the war,

Even when the navel of the state was touch'd,

35

Nothing is done to purpose: therefore, beseech

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To jump a body' with a dangerous physic,
That's sure of death without it,-at once pluck out
The multitudinous tongue, let them not lick

40 The sweet which is their poison: Your dishonour
Mangles true judgement, and bereaves the state
Of that integrity which should become it;
Not having power to do the good it would,
For the ill which doth controul it.

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[swer

Sic. He has spoken like a traitor, and shall anAs traitors do.

Cor. Thou wretch! despight o'erwhelm thee! What should the peopledowiththese bald tribunes? 50 On whom depending, their obedience fails To the greater bench: In a rebellion, When what's not meet, but what must be, was Then were they chosen: in a better hour, Let what is meet, be said, it must be meet,

55 And throw their power i' the dust. Bru. Manifest treason.

Sic. This a consul? no.

[law,

Bru. The ædiles, ho! Let him be apprehended.

Alluding to his

A minnow is one of the smallest river fish, called in some counties a pink. having called him Triton before. "Meaning, that senators and plebeians are equal, when the That is, pass them. › Or,

highest taste is best pleased with that which pleases the lowest. natural parent. • i. e. fear. To jump anciently signified to jolt, to give a rude concussion to any thing. To jump a body may therefore mean, to put it into a violent agitation or commotion. Integrity is in this place, soundness, uniformity, consistency.

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Re-enter Brutus with a rabble of Citizens, with
the Ediles.

Men. On both sides more respect.
Sic. Here's he, that would

Take from you all your power.

Bru. Seize him, ædiles.

All. Down with him, down with him! 2 Sen. Weapons, weapons, weapons !

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15 There's some among you have beheld me fighting;
Come,try upon yourselves whatyou have seen me.
Men. Down with that sword;-Tribunes, with-
Bru. Lay hands upon him. [draw a while.
Men. Help, Marcius! help,

[They all bustle about Coriolanus. 20 You that be noble; help him, young and old!

Tribunes, patricians, citizens !—what, ho!—
Sicinius, Brutus, Coriolanus, citizens!

All. Peace, peace, peace: stay, hold, peace!
Men. What is about to be?I am out of

breath;

All. Down with him, down with him! [Exeunt.
[In this mutiny, the Tribunes, the Ædiles,
and the People are beat in.
Men.Go, get you to your house; be gone,away,

[bunes 25 All will be naught else.

-You, tri

Confusion's near; I cannot speak:-
To the people,-Coriolanus, patience :→→
Speak, good Sicinius.

Sic. Hear me, people :—— -Peace.

All. Let's hear our tribunes:-Peace. Speak, 30 speak, speak.

Sic. You are at point to lose your liberties: Marcius would have all from you; Marcius, Whom late you nam'd for consul.

Men. Fie, fie, fie!

This is the way to kindle, not to quench.

i Sen. To unbuild the city, and to lay all flat.
Sic. What is the city, but the people?
All. True,

The people are the city.

Bru. By the consent of all, we were establish'd The people's magistrates.

All. You so remain.

Men. And so are like to do.

Cor. That is the way to lay the city flat;
To bring the roof to the foundation;
And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges,
In heaps and piles of ruin.

Sic. This deserves death.

Bru. Or let us stand to our authority,
Or let us lose it: We do here pronounce,
Upon the part o' the people, in whose power
We were elected theirs, Marcius is worthy
Of present death.

Sic. Therefore, lay hold of him;

Bear him to the rock Tarpeïan, and from thence
Into destruction cast him.

1

35

40

2 Sen. Get you gone.
Cor. Stand fast;

We have as many friends as enemies.
Men. Shall it be put to that?

1 Sen. The gods forbid !

I pr'ythee, noble friend, home to thy house;
Leave us to cure this cause.

Men. For 'tis a sore upon us,

You cannot tent yourself: Be gone, 'beseech you.
Com. Come, sir, along with us.

Cor. I would they were barbarians, (as they are,
Though in Rome litter'd;) not Romans, (as they

are not,

[gone. Though calv'd i' the porch o' the Capitol.)-Be Men. Put not your worthy rage into your tongue; One time will owe another.

Cor. On fair ground,

I could beat forty of them.

Men. I could myself

[tribunes.

45 Take up a brace of the best of them; yea, the two
Com. But now 'tis odds beyond arithmetick;
And manhood is call'd foolery, when it stands
Against a falling fabrick.-Will you hence,
Before the tag return? whose rage doth rend
50 Like interrupted waters, and o'erbear
What they are us'd to bear.

Men. Pray you, be gone!

I'll try whether my old wit be in request With those that have but little; this must be 55 With cloth of any colour. [patch'd

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1 Dr. Johnson on this passage, remarks, that he knows not whether to owe in this place means to possess by right, or to be indebted. Either sense may be admitted. One time, in which the people are seditious, will give us power in some other time: or, this time of the people's predominance will run them in debt; that is, will lay them open to the law, and expose them hereafter to more servile subjection. The lowest of the populace are still denominated by those a little above them, Tag, rag, and bobtail.

3 A

1 Sen.

1 Sen. This man has marr'd bis fortune.
Men. His nature is too noble for the world:
He would not flatter Neptune for his trident,
Or Jove for his power to thunder. His heart's
his mouth:

What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent;
And, being angry, doth forget that ever
He heard the name of death.
Here's goodly work!

[Anoise within.

5

2 Sen. I would they were a-bed! [vengeance, 10 Men. I would they were in Tiber!-What, the Could he not speak 'em fair?

Enter Brutus and Sicinius, with the rabble again.
Sic. Where is this viper,

That will depopulate the city, and
Be every man himself?

Men. You worthy tribunes,-

Sic. He shall be thrown down the Tarpeïan rock
With rigorous hands; he hath resisted law,
And therefore law shall scorn him further trial
Than the severity of publick power,
Which he so sets at nought.

1 Cit. He shall well know,

The noble triunes are the people's mouths,
And we their hands.

All. He shall sure out.

Men. Sir, sir,

Sic. Peace.

[but hunt

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Bru. Merely awry: When he did love his coun It honour'd him.

Men. The service of the foot

Being once gangren'd, is not then respected
For what before it was.-

Bru. We'll hear no more:

Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence;
Lest his infection, being of catching nature,
Spread further.

Men. One word more, one word.
This tyger-footed rage, when it shall find
The harm of unscann'd swiftness, will, too late,
Tie leaden pounds to his heels. Proceed by process;
Lest parties (as he is belov'd) break out,
20 And sack great Rome with Romans.
Bru. If it were so-

Sic. What do ye talk?

Have we not had a taste of his obedience?
Our ædiles smote? ourselves resisted?-Come-
Men. Consider this;-He hath been bred i' the

wars

Since he could draw a sword, and is ill school'd in boulted language; meal and bran together He throws without distinction. Give me leave, 30 I'll go to him, and undertake to bring him Where he shall answer, by a lawful form, (In peace) to his utmost peril.

1 Sen. Noble tribunes,

It is the humane way: the other course 35 Will prove too bloody; and the end of it Unknown to the beginning.

Men. If, by the tribunes' leave, and yours, good 40
I may be heard, I'd crave a word or two;
The which shall turn you to no further harm,
Than so much loss of time.

Sic. Speak briefly then;

For we are peremptory, to dispatch
This viperous traitor: to eject him hence,
Were but one danger; and, to keep him here,
Our certain death; therefore, it is decreed,
He dies to-night.

Men. Now the good gods forbid,
That our renowned Rome, whose gratitude
Towards her deserved children is enroll'd
In Jove's own book, like an unnatural dam
Should now eat up her own!

Sic. Noble Menenius,

Be you then as the people's officer:
Masters, lay down your weapons.
Bru. Go not home.

[you there:
Sic. Meet on the market-place :-We'll attend
Where, if you bring not Marcius, we'll proceed
In our first way.

Men. I'll bring him to you:- [must come, 45 Let me desireyour company. [To the Senators. He Or what is worst will follow.

150

1 Sen. Pray you, let's to him.

SCENE

[Exeunt.

II.

Coriolanus's House.

Enter Coriolanus, with Patricians.

Cor. Let them pull all about mine ears; present

me

Death on the wheel, or at wild horses' heels;
55 Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock,
That the precipitation might down stretch
Below the beam of sight, yet will I still
Be thus to them.

Sic. He's a disease that must be cut away.
Men. O, he's a limb, that has but a disease;
Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy.
What has he done to Rome, that's worthy death?
Killing our enemies? The blood he hath lost,
(Which, I dare vouch, is more than that he hath, 60

Enter Volumnia.
Pat. You do the nobler.

1i. e. Do not give the signal for unlimited slaughter, &c.-To cry hacock, was, I believe, originally a sporting phrase, from hufoc, which in Saxon signifies a hawk.-It was afterwards used in war, and seems to have been the signal for general slaughter. 2i. e. Awry. Hence a kambrel for a crooked stick, or the bend in a horse's hinder leg.-The Welch word for crooked is kam.

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