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 9

Mr. Malone had collected twenty-four instances from various contemporaries of Shakspeare, in support of the text, but as the phraseology which Mr. Steevens questioned is not altogether disused even at this day, I have forborne to insert them.

BOSWELL.

9 His remedies are tame 1' the present peace-] The old reading is:

"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;

66

"His remedies are ta'en, the present peace,
"And quietness o' the people.

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.

JOHNSON.

I rather suppose the meaning of Sicinius to be this:

"His remedies are tame,"

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

And quietness o' the people, which before
Were in wild hurry. Here do we make his friends
Blush, that the world goes well; who rather had,
Though they themselves did suffer by't, behold
Dissentious numbers pestering streets, than see
Our tradesmen singing in their shops, and going
About their functions friendly.

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!

ΜΕΝ.

1

Hail to you both 1!

SIC. Your Coriolanus, is not much miss'd 2,

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.

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, [i' the present peace] which was omitted in the old copy, was inserted by Mr. Theobald. MALONE.

I 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!

2 Your Coriolanus, SIR, is not much miss'd,] I have admitted the word-sir, for the sake of measure. STEEVens.

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

Had lov'd you as we did.

CIT. Now the gods keep you BOTH TRI. Farewell, farewell. [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,

Self-loving,

SIC.

And affecting one sole throne,

Without assistance 3.

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.

VOL. XIV.

N

STEEVENS.

MEN.

I think not so.

SIC. We should by this, to all our lamentation, If he had gone forth consul, found it so3.

BRU. The gods have well prevented it, and Rome

Sits safe and still without him.

ED.

Enter Edile.

Worthy tribunes,

There is a slave, whom we have put in prison,

--

Reports, the Volces with two several powers
Are enter'd in the Roman territories;

And with the deepest malice of the war
Destroy what lies before them.

MEN.

"Tis Aufidius,

Who, hearing of our Marcius' banishment,

Thrusts forth his horns again into the world; Which were inshell'd, when Marcius stood for

Rome1,

And durst not once peep out.

SIC.

Of Marcius?

Come, what talk you

BRU. Go see this rumourer whipp'd.-It cannot

be,

The Volces dare break with us.

MEN.

Cannot be !

We have record, that very well it can ;
And three examples of the like have been

3 We should by this, to all our lamentation,

If he had gone forth consul, found it so.] Perhaps the author wrote: We should have by this, or, have found it so. Without one or other of these insertions the construction is imperfect.

4

MALONE.

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:

summis stantem pro turribus Idam.

Eneid IX. 575. STEEVENS.

Within my age. But reason with the fellow 5,
Before you punish him, where he heard this:
Lest you shall chance to whip your information,
And beat the messenger who bids beware
Of what is to be dreaded.

MESS. The nobles, in great earnestness, are

going

All to the senate house: some news is come in o, That turns their countenances".

"Tis this slave ;

SIC. Go whip him 'fore the people's eyes :—his raising! Nothing but his report!

MESS.

Yes, worthy sir,

What more fearful?

The slave's report is seconded; and more,
More fearful, is deliver❜d.

SIC.

5

6

REASON With the fellow,] That is, have some talk with him. In this sense Shakspeare often uses the word. JOHNSON. some news is come,] Old copy, redundantly, some news is come in. The second folio-coming; but I think, erroneously. STEEVENS.

I have already remarked in a note on Cymbeline, vol. xiii. p. 212, that such redundant terminations, laying the emphasis on the first of two words, is common among Shakspeare's contemporaries. See The Essay on Shakspeare's Versification. BOSWELL.

some news is come in,

That TURNS their countenances,] i. e. that renders their aspect 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 counteSo, in Cymbeline:

nances.

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Change yon, madam?

"The noble Leonatus is in safety." STEEVENS.