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Tent in my cheeks; and school boys' tears take up
The glasses of my sight! A beggar's tongue

Make motion through my lips; and my arm'd knees,
Who bow'd but in my stirrop, bend like his
That hath receiv'd an alms !-I will not do't:
Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth,
And, by my body's action, teach my mind
A most inherent baseness.

Vol.

At thy choice then:

To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour,
Than thou of them. Come all to ruin; let
Thy mother rather feel thy pride, than fear
Thy dangerous stoutness; for I mock at death
With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list.
Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck'dst it from me;
But owet thy pride thyself.

Cor.

Pray, be content; Mother, I am going to the market-place;

Chide me no more. I'll mountebank their loves,

Cog their hearts from them,

and come home belov'd
Look, I am going:
I'll return consul;

Of all the trades in Rome.
Commend me to my wife.
Or never trust to what my tongue can do
I' the way of flattery, further.

Vol.

Do your will. [Exit,

Com. Away, the tribunes do attend you: arm

yourself

To answer mildly; for they are prepar'd

With accusations, as I hear, more strong

Than are upon you yet.

Cor. The word is, mildly:-Pray you, let us go;

Let them accuse me by invention, I

Will answer in mine honour.

Men.

Cor. Well, mildly be it then; mildly.

Ay, but mildly.

[Exeunt,

• Dwell.

+ Own.

SCENE III.

The same. The Forum.

Enter Sicinius and Brutus.

Bru. In this point charge him home, that he affects

Tyrannical power: If he evade us there,
Enforce him with his envy to the people;
And that the spoil, got ou the Antiates,
Was ne'er distributed.-

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Have you a catalogue

Edi. With old Menenius, and those senators

That always favoured him.

Sic.

Of all the voices that we have procur'd,

Set down by the poll?

Edi.

I have; 'tis ready, here. Sic. Have you collected them by tribes? Edi.

I have.

Sic. Assemble presently the people hither: And when they hear me say, It shall be so I' the right and strength o' the commons, be it either

For death, for fine, or banishment, then let them, If I say, fine, cry fine; if death, cry death; Insisting on the old prerogative

And power i' the truth o' the cause.

Edi.

I shall inform them.

* Object his hatred.

Bru. And when such time they have begun to cry, Let them not cease, but with a din confus'd

Enforce the present execution

Of what we chance to sentence.

Edi.

Very well.

Sic. Make them be strong, and ready for this hint, When we shall hap to give't them.

Bru.

Go about it.

[Exit Edile.

Put him to choler straight: He hath been us'd
Ever to conquer, and to have his worth

Of contradiction: Being once chaf'd, he cannot
Be rein'd again to temperance; then he speaks
What's in his heart; and that is there, which looks
With us to break his neck.

Enter Coriolanus, Menenius, Cominius, Senators, and Patricians.

Sic. Well, here he comes.

Men.

Calmly, I do beseech you.

Cor. Ay, as an ostler, that for the poorest piece Will bear the knave* by the volume.-The honour'd gods

Keep Rome in safety, and the chairs of justice Supplied with worthy men! plant love among us! Throng our large temples with the shows of peace, And not our streets with war!

1 Sen.

Men. A noble wish.

Amen, amen!

Re-enter Edile, with Citizens.

Sic. Draw near, ye people.

Edi. List to your tribunes; audience: Peace, I

say.

Cor. First, hear me speak.

Both Tri.

Well, say.-Peace, ho.

* Will bear being called a knave.

Cor. Shall I be charg'd no further than this pre

sent?

Must all determine here?

Sic.

I do demand,

If you submit you to the people's voices,
Allow their officers, and are content
To suffer lawful censure for such faults
As shall be prov'd upon you?

Cor.

I am content. Men. Lo, citizens, he says, he is content: The warlike service he has done, consider;

Think on the wounds his body bears, which show Like graves i' the holy churchyard.

Cor.

Scars to move laughter only.

Men.

Scratches with briars,

Consider further,
That when he speaks not like a citizen,
You find him like a soldier: Do not take
His rougher accents for malicious sounds,
But, as I say, such as become a soldier,
Rather than envy* you.

Com.

Cor. What is the matter,

Well, well, no more.

That being pass'd for consul with full voice,

I am so dishonour'd, that the very hour

You take it off again?

Sic.

Answer to us.

Cor. Say then: 'tis true, I ought so.

Sic. We charge you, that you have contriv'd to

take

From Rome all season'dt office, and to wind

Yourself into a power tyrannical;

For which, you are a traitor to the people.
Cor. How! Traitor?

Men.

Nay; temperately: Your promise. Cor. The fires i' the lowest hell fold in the people! Call me their traitor?-Thou injurious tribune! Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,

* Injure.

+ Of long standing.

In thy hands clutch'd* as many millions, in
Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say,
Thou liest, unto thee, with a voice as free
As I do pray the gods.

Sic.

Mark you this, people? Cit. To the rock with him; to the rock with him! Sic.

We need not put new matter to his charge:

Peace.

What you have seen him do, and heard him speak, Beating your officers, cursing yourselves, Opposing laws with strokes, and here defying Those whose great power must try him; even this, So criminal, and in such capital kind,

Deserves the extremest death.

Bru.

Serv'd well for Rome,

Cor.

But since he hath

Bru. I talk of that, that know it.

What do you prate of service?

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Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
Vagabond exile, flaying; Pent to linger
But with a grain a day, I would not buy
Their mercy at the price of one fair word;
Nor check my courage for what they can give,
To have't with saying, Good-morrow.

Sic.

For that he has

(As much as in him lies) from time to time
Envied t against the people, seeking means
To pluck away their power; as now at last
Given hostile strokes, and that not in the
Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers
That do distribute it; In the name o'the people,
And in the power of us the tribunes, we,

* Grasped. + Showed hatred.

presence

Not only.

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