The people cry, you mock'd them; and, of late,
When corn was given them gratis, you repin'd;
Scandal'the suppliants for the people; call'd them
Time pleasers, fatterers, 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.
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 voble as a consul,
Nor yoke with him for tribune.
Men.

Let's be calın.
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 +
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 to let them
Regard me as I do not flatter, and
Therein behold themselves: I say again,
In soothing them, we uourish'gainst our senato
The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition,

Shuffing

+ Treacherously.

Populace.

Cr.

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.

You speak o'the people, As if you were a god to punisl, not A man of their infirmity. Sic.

'Twere well, We let the people know't. Men.

What, what? bis choler?
Cor. 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 minnowst? mark you
Ilis absolute shall ?
Com,

'Twas from the canons. Cor.

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 shull, 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. Scab.

According to law.

Small fish. # 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 frowu'd in Greece! By Jove bimself,
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.

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

I'll give my reasons, More worthier than their voices. They know, the

corn Was not our recompence; resting well assur'd They ne'er did service fort: 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 accusatiou

• Pass through.

Men.

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 bosoni multiplied digest
The senate's courtesy? Let deeds express
What's like to be their words :- We did request it;
We are the greater pollt, 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.-

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; wiere 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, o 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 é 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 hereaves the state Of that integrity which should become it;

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

1 Fear.

Risk,

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

He has said enongh. 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.

Hence, old goat!
Sen. & Pat. We'll surety him.
Com.

Aged sir, bands 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

Citizeas.
Men. On both sides more respect.
Sic.

Here's he, that would
Take from you all your power.
Bru.

Seize him, ædiles, Cit. Down with him, down with him !

(Several speak. 2 Sen.

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