To banish him that struck more blows for Rome, Sic. O blessed heavens! Vol. More noble blows, than ever thou wise words; And for Rome's good.-I'll tell thee what;-Yet go:Nay, but thou shalt stay too:-I would my son Were in Arabia, and thy tribe before him, His good sword in his hand. Sic. Vir. What then? What then? He'd make an end of thy posterity. Vol. Bastards, and all.— Good man, the wounds that he does bear for Rome! Men. Come, come, peace. Sic. I would he had continu'd to his country, As he began; and not unknit himself The noble knot he made.8 Bru. I would he had. Vol. I would he had? 'Twas you incens'd the rabble: Cats, that can judge as fitly of his worth, As I can of those mysteries which heaven Will not have earth to know. Bru. Pray, let us go. Vol. Now, pray, sir, get you gone: You have done a brave deed. Ere you go, hear this: ger to shed blood. In this sense Sicinius asks Volumnia, if she be mankind. She takes mankind for a human creature, and ac cordingly cries out: Note but this fool. Was not a man my father? Johnson. So, Jonson, in The Silent Woman: "O mankind generation!" Shakspeare himself, in The Winter's Tale: 66 a mankind witch." Fairfax, in his translation of Tasso: "See, see this mankind strumpet; see, she cry'd, See Vol. VI, p. 213, n. 2. Steevens. Hadst thou foxship-] Hadst thou, fool as thou art, mean cunning enough to banish Coriolanus? Johnson. 8 unknit himself The noble knot he made.] So, in King Henry IV, P. I: 66 will you again unknit "This churlish knot" &c. Steevens. The meanest house in Rome; so far, my son, Sic. With one that wants her wits? Vol. Why stay we to be baited Take my prayers with you. I would the gods had nothing else to do, [Exeunt Tribunes. But to confirm my curses! Could I meet them But once a day, it would unclog my heart Of what lies heavy to 't. Men. You have told them home,9 And, by my troth, you have cause. You'll sup with me? Men. Fy, fy, fy! [Exeunt. SCENE III. A Highway between Rome and Antium. Enter a Roman and a Volce, meeting. Rom. I know you well, sir, and you know me: your name, I think, is Adrian. Vol. It is so, sir: truly, I have forgot you. Rom. I am a Roman; and my services are, as you are, against them: Know you me yet? Vol. Nicanor? No. Rom. The same, sir. Vol. You had more beard, when I last saw you; but your favour is well appeared by your tongue.2 What's 9 You have told them home,] So again, in this play: "I cannot speak him home." Malone. 1 And so shall starve with feeding.] This idea is repeated in Antony and Cleopatra, Act II, sc. ii, and in Pericles: "Who starves the ears she feeds," &c. Steevens. 2 but your favour is well appeared by your tongue.] This is strange nonsense. We should read: is well appealed, i. e. brought into remembrance. Warburton. the news in Rome? I have a note from the Volcian state, to find you out there: You have well saved me a day's journey. Rom. There hath been in Rome strange insurrection: the people against the senators, patricians, and nobles. Vol. Hath been! is it ended then? Our state thinks not so; they are in a most warlike preparation, and hope to come upon them in the heat of their division. Rom. The main blaze of it is past, but a small thing would make it flame again. For the nobles receive so to heart the banishment of that worthy Coriolanus, that they are in a ripe aptness, to take all power from the people, and to pluck from them their tribunes for ever. This lies glowing, I can tell you, and is almost mature for the violent breaking out. Vol. Coriolanus banished? Rom. Banished, sir. Vol. You will be welcome with this intelligence, Ni eanor. Rom. The day serves well for them now. I have heard it said, The fittest time to corrupt a man's wife, is when she 's fallen out with her husband. Your noble Tullus 1 would read: - is well affeared. That is, strengthened, attested, a word used by our author. "His title is affear'd." Macbeth. To repeal may be to bring to remembrance, but appeal has another meaning. Johnson. i.e. I would read: Your favour is well approved by your tongue. e. your tongue confirms the evidence of your face. So, in Hamlet, sc. i: "That if again this apparition come, "He may approve our eyes, and speak to it." Steevens. If there be any corruption in the old copy, perhaps it rather is in a preceding word. Our author might have written your favour has well appeared by your tongue: but the old text may, in Shakspeare's licentious dialect, be right. Your favour is fully manifested, or rendered apparent, by your tongue. In support of the old copy it may be observed, that becomed was formerly used as a participle. So, in North's translation of Plutarch, Life of Sylla, p. 622, edit. 1575: "- - which perhaps would not have becomed Pericles or Aristides." We have, I think, the same participle in Timon of Athens. So Chaucer uses dispaired: "Alas, quod Pandarus, what may this be Aufidius will appear well in these wars, his great opposer, Coriolanus, being now in no request of his country. Vol. He cannot choose. I am most fortunate, thus accidentally to encounter you: You have ended my business, and I will merrily accompany you home. Rom. I shall, between this and supper, tell you most strange things from Rome; all tending to the good of their adversaries. Have you an army ready, say you? Vol. A most royal one: the centurions, and their charges, distinctly billetted, already in the entertainment, and to be on foot at an hour's warning. Rom. I am joyful to hear of their readiness, and am the man, I think, that shall set them in present action. So, sir, heartily well met, and most glad of your company. Vol. You take my part from me, sir; I have the most cause to be glad of yours. Rom. Well, let us go together. SCENE IV. Antium. Before Aufidius's House. [Exeunt. Enter CORIOLANUS, in mean Apparel, disguised and muffled. Cor. A goodly city is this Antium: City, "Tis I that made thy widows; many an heir Of these fair edifices 'fore my wars Have I heard groan, and drop: then know me not; Lest that thy wives with spits, and boys with stones, In Enter a Citizen. puny battle slay me.-Save you, sir. Cit. And you. Cor. Direct me, if it be your will, Where great Aufidius lies: Is he in Antium? Cit. He is, and feasts the nobles of the state, At his house this night. 3 Cor. Which is his house, 'beseech you? Cit. This, here, before you. Cor. Thank you, sir; farewel. [Exit Cit. already in the entertainment,] That is, though not ac tually encamped, yet already in pay. To entertain an army is to take them into pay. Johnson. See Vol. III, p. 34, n. 6. Malone. O, world, thy slippery turns!4 Friends now fast sworn, On a dissention of a doit, break out Whose passions and whose plots have broke their sleep Some trick not worth an egg, shall grow dear friends, My birth-place hate I, and my love 's upon [Exit. 40, world, thy slippery turns! &c.] This fine picture of common friendship, is an artful introduction to the sudden league, which the poet made him enter into with Aufidius, and no less artful an apology for his commencing enemy to Rome. Warburton. 5 Whose hours, whose bed, whose meal, and exercise, Are still together, who twin, as 'twere, in love —] Our author has again used this verb in Othello: "And he that is approv'd in this offence, "Though he had twinn'd with me," &c. Part of this description naturally reminds us of the following lines in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, "Have with our neelds created both one flower, "Two lovely berries molded on one stem: "Two of the first," &c. Malone. 6 hate I,] The old copy instead of hate reads-have. The emendation was made by Mr. Steevens. "I'll enter," means, 'll enter the house of Aufidius. Malone. 7 This enemy town.-I 'll enter :] Here, as in other places, our author is indebted to Sir Thomas North's Plutarch: "For he disguised him sclfe in suche arraye and attire, as he thought no man could cner haue knowen him for the persone he was, seeing him in that apparell he had vpon his backe: and as Homer sayed of Vlysses: "So dyd he enter into the enemies tovvne.” |