The people cry, you mock'd them; and, of late,
When corn was given them gratis, you repin'd;
Scandal'd the suppliants for the people; call'd them
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?

Not unlike,

Cor. You are like to do such business.
Bru.

Each way to better yours.

Cor. Why then should I be consul? By yon

clouds,

Let me deserve so ill as you, and make me

Your fellow-tribune.

Sic.

You show too much of that,

For which the people stir: If you will pass

To where you are bound, you must inquire your way, Which you are out of, with a gentler spirit;

Or never be so noble as a consul,

Nor yoke with him for tribune.

Men.

Let's be calin.

Com. The people are abus'd:-Set on:-This pal

t'ring*

Becomes not Rome; nor has Coriolanus

Deserv'd this so dishonour'd rub, laid falsely t

I' the plain way of his merit.

Cor.

Tell me of corn!

This was my speech, and I will speak't again;—

Men. Not now, not now.

1 Sen.

Not in this heat, sir, now.

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

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

Therein behold themselves: I say again,

In soothing them, we nourish 'gainst our senate
The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition,

* Shuffling.

+ Treacherously.

Populace.

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 Which they have given o beggars.

Men.

Well, no more.

1 Sen. No more words, we beseech you. Cor.

How! no more?

As for my country I have shed my blood,
Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungs
Coin words till their decay, against those meazels
Which we disdain should tettert us, yet sought
The very way to catch them.

Bru.

As if you were a god to punish, not
A man of their infirmity.

Sic.

We let the people know't.

Men.

Cor. Choler!

You speak o'the people,

'Twere well,

What, what? his choler?

Were I as patient as the midnight sleep,

By Jove, 'twould be my mind.

Sic.

It is a mind,

That shall remain a poison where it is,

Not poison any further.

Cor.

Shall remain !

Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you

Ilis absolute shall?

Com.

Cor.

'Twas from the canons.

Shall!

O good, but most unwise patricians, why,

You grave, but reckless || senators, have you thus Given Hydra here to choose an officer,

That with his peremptory shall, being but

The horn and noise o'the monsters, wants not spirit
To say, he'll turn your current in a ditch,
And make your channel his? If he have power,

* Lepers.
According to law.

+ Scab.

Small fish.

H Careless.

Then vail your ignorance: if none, awake
Your dangerous lenity. If you are learned,
Be not as common fools; if you are not,

Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians,
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 akes,
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.

One, that speaks thus, their voice?

Why, shall the people give

I'll give my reasons,

Cor. More worthier than their voices. They know, the

corn

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,
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 show'd Most valour, spoke not for them: The accusation

• Pass through.

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

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
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.-

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 Insult without all reason; where gentry, title, wis

dom,

Cannot conclude, but by the yea and no
Of general ignorance,—it must omit

Real necessities, and give way the while

To unstable slightness: purpose so barr'd, it follows, Nothing is done to purpose: Therefore, beseech you,

You that will be less fearful than discreet;
That love the fundamental part of state,

More than you doubt the change of't; that prefer
A noble life before a long, and wish

To jump a body with a dangerous physick
That's sure of death without it,-at once pluck out
The multitudinous tongue, let them not lick
The sweet which is their poison: your dishonour
Mangles true judgement, and bereaves the state
Of that integrity which should become it;

* Motive, no doubt, was Shakspeare's word.
+ Number.
Fear.

§ Risk.

Not having the power to do the good it would,
For the ill which doth control it.

Bru.

He has said enough.

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

Cor. Thou wretch! despite o'erwhelm thee!— What should the people do with these bald tribunes? On whom depending, their obedience fails

To the greater bench: In a rebellion,

When what's not meet, but what must be, was law, Then were they chosen; in a better hour,

Let what is meet, be said it must be meet,

And throw their power i' the dust.

Bru. Manifest treason.

Sic.

This a consul? no.

Bru. The ædiles, ho!-Let him be apprehended. Sic. Go, call the people; [Exit Brutus.] in whose name, myself

Attach thee, as a traitorous innovator,

A foe to the public weal: Obey, I charge thee,

And follow to thine answer.

Cor.

Sen. & Pat. We'll surety him.

Com.

Hence, old goat!

Aged sir, hands off.

Cor. Hence, rotten thing, or I shall shake thy

bones

Out of thy garments.

Sic.

Help, ye citizens.

Re-enter Brutus, with the Ædiles, and a rabble of

Cit. Down with him, down with him!

2 Sen.

[Several speak.

Weapons, weapons, weapons! [They all bustle about Coriolanus.