TITUS LARTIUS, having set a Guard upon Corioli, going with a Drum and Trumpet toward COMINIUS and CAIUS MARCIUS, enters with a Lieutenant, a Party 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. Fear not our care, sir. Lieu. Lart. Hence, and shut your gates upon us.Our guider, come; to the Roman camp conduct us. SCENE VIII. [Exeunt. A Field of Battle between the Roman and the Volscian Camps. Alarum. Enter MARCIUS and AUFIDIUS. Mar. I'll fight with none but thee; for I do hate thee Worse than a promise-breaker. Auf. We hate alike; 1 Those centuries-] i, e. companies consisting each of a hundred men. Not Africk owns a serpent, I abhor More than thy fame and envy: Fix thy foot. 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 seest 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,2 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 [Exeunt fighting, driven in by MARCIUS. That was the whip of your bragg'd progeny,] Whip might anciently be used, as crack is now, to denote any thing peculiarly boasted of; as the crack house in the county-the crack boy of a school, &c. Modern phraseology, perhaps, has only passed from the whip, to the crack of it. STEEVENS. 3 you have sham'd me In your condemned seconds.] i. e. You have, to my shame, sent me help, which I must condemn as intrusive, instead of applauding it as necessary. SCENE IX. The Roman Camp. Alarum. A Retreat is sounded. Flourish. Enter at one side, COMINIUS, and Romans; at the other side, MARCIUS, with his Arm in a Scarf, and other 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 siniles; 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, Yet cam'st thou to a morsel of this feast, Enter TITUS LARTIUS, with his Power, from the Lart. pursuit. O general, Here is the steed, we the caparison: 5 Hadst thou beheld Mar. Pray now, no more: my mother, Who has a charter to extol" her blood, When she does praise me, grieves me. I have done, As you have done: that's what I can; induc'd + And, gladly quak'd,] i. e. thrown into grateful trepidation. Here is the steed, we the caparison;] This is an odd encomium. The meaning is, this man performed the action, and we only filled up the show. JOHNSON. 6 a charter to extol-] A privilege to praise her own son. As you have been; that's for my country: 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 (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 smart To hear themselves remember'd. Com. you, Should they not, Well might they fester 'gainst ingratitude, And tent themselves with death. Of all the horses, Your only choice. Mar. I thank you, general; [A long Flourish. They all cry, Marcius! Marcius! cast up their Caps and Lances: COMINIUS and LARTIUS stand bare. He, that hath but effected his good will, Hath overta'en mine act.] That is, has done as much as I have done, inasmuch as my ardour to serve the state is such that I have never been able to effect all that I wish'd. * Should they not,] That is, not be remembered. Mar. May these same instruments, which you profane, Never sound more! When drums and trumpets shall An overture for the wars! No more, I say; As if I loved my little should be dieted In praises sauc'd with lies. Com. With all the applause and clamour of the host, Bear the addition nobly ever! [Flourish. Trumpets sound, and Drums. 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." 9 To undercrest your good addition, To the fairness of my power.] I understand the meaning to be, |