have held him to;

As cause had call'd you up,
Or else it would have gall'd his surly nature,
Which easily endures not article

Tying him to aught; so, putting him to rage,
You should have ta' en th' advantage of his choler,
And pass'd him unelected.

Bru.

Did you perceive, He did solicit you in free contempt,'

When he did need your loves; and do you think,
That his contempt shall not be bruising to you,
When he hath power to crush? Why, had your bodies
No heart among you? Or had you tongues, to cry
Against the rectorship of judgment?

Sic.

Have you,

Ere now, deny'd the asker? and, now again,
On him, that did not ask, but mock, bestow
Your su'd-for tongues?

3 Cit. He's not confirm'd, we may deny him yet. 2 Cit. And will deny him:

I'll have five hundred voices of that sound.

1 Cit. I twice five hundred, and their friends to piece 'em.

Bru. Get you hence instantly; and tell those

friends,

They have chose a consul, that will from them take
Their liberties; make them of no more voice

Than dogs, that are as often beat for barking,
As therefore kept to do so.

2

Sic.
Let them assemble;
And, on a safer judgment, all revoke
Your ignorant election: Enforce his pride,
And his old hate unto you: besides, forget not
With what contempt he wore the humble weed;
How in his suit he scorn'd you: but your loves,
Thinking upon his services, took from you
The apprehension of his present portance,3

.

Contempt open and unrestrained.

Enforce, object. 'portance, carriage, conduct.

[COR. 49]

X

Which gibingly, ungravely he did fashion
After the inveterate hate he bears you.

Bru.

Lay

A fault on us, your tribunes; that we labour'd (No impediment between) but that you must election on him.

Cast

your Sic.

Say, you chose him More after our commandment, than as guided By your own true affections: and that, your minds Pre-occupy'd with what you rather must do

Than what you should, made you against the grain To voice him consul: Lay the fault on us.

Bru. Ay, spare us not. Say, we read lectures to

you,

How youngly he began to serve his country,
How long continued: and what stock he springs of,
The noble house o' th' Marcians; from whence came
That Ancus Marcius, Numa's daughter's son,
Who, after great Hostilius, here was king:
Of the same house Publius and Quintus were,
That our best water brought by conduits hither;
And Censorinus, darling of the people,

And nobly nam'd so, being censor1 twice,
Was his great ancestor.

Sic.

One thus descended,

That hath beside well in his person wrought
To be set high in place, we did commend
To your remembrances: but you have found,
Scaling his present bearing with his past,
That he's your fixed enemy, and revoke
Your sudden approbation.

Bru.

2

Say, you ne'er had done't

(Harp on that still,) but by our putting on:

And presently, when you have drawn your number, Repair to th' Capitol.

The first censor was created U. C. 314, and Coriolanus was banished U. C. 262.

Weighing his past and present behaviour.

[COR. 50]

Cit.

We will so: almost all [Several speak

Repent in their election.
Bru.

[Exeunt Citizens

Let them go on;

This mutiny were better put in hazard,
Than stay, past doubt, for greater:

If, as his nature is, he fall in rage

With their refusal, both observe and answer
The vantage' of his anger.

To the Capitol :

Sic. Come; we'll be there before the stream o' th' people; And this shall seem, as partly 'tis, their own, Which we have goaded onward.

[Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE I.-The same: A street.

Cornets. Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, COMINIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, Senators, and Patricians.

Cor. Tullus Aufidius then had made new head? Lart. He had, my lord; and that it was, which Our swifter composition.

[caus'd Cor. So then the Volces stand but as at first; Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make road Upon us again.

Com.

2

They are worn, lord consul, so, That we shall hardly in our ages see

Their banners wave again.

Mark, catch at, and improve the opportunity, which his hasty anger will afford us.

2

Shakspeare has here, as in other places, attributed the usage of England to Rome. In his time the title of lord was given to many officers of state who were not peers; thus, lord general, lord ambassador, &c.

[COR. 51]

x 2

Cor.

Saw you Aufidius?

Lart. On safe-guard he came to me; and did curse Against the Volces, for they had so vilely Yielded the town: he is retir'd to Antium.

Cor. Spoke he of me?

Lart.

Cor.

He did, my lord.

How? what?

Lart. How often he had met you, sword to sword: That, of all things upon the earth, he hated

Your person most: that he would pawn his fortunes To hopeless restitution, so he might

Be call'd your vanquisher.

To

Cor.

Lart. At Antium.

At Antium lives he?

Cor. I wish, I had a cause to seek him there, oppose his hatred fully.-Welcome home.

[TO LARTIUS.

Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS.

Behold! these are the tribunes of the people,
The tongues o' th' common mouth. I do despise them;
For they do prank' them in authority,

Against all noble sufferance.

Com. Hath he not pass'd the nobles, and the comBru. Cominius, no.

[mons?

Cor.
1 Sen. Tribunes, give way; he shall to th' market-
Bru. The people are incens'd against him. [place.
Sic.

Have I had children's voices?

Or all will fall in broil.

Stop,

Cor.

Are these your herd?-Must these have voices, that can yield them now, And straight disclaim their tongues ?-What are your offices?

You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth? Have you not set them on?

Men.

Be calm, be calm. Cor. It is a purpos'd thing, and grows by plot, To curb the will of the nobility :—

Suffer it, and live with such as cannot rule,

Nor ever will be rul'd.

Bru.

Call't not a plot:

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.

Cor. Have

Bru.

you inform'd them since?

Not to them all.

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 calm.

Com. The people are abus'd:-Set on.-This palBecomes not Rome; nor has Coriolanus

[t'ring

• Likely, whether as tribune or as consul, to provide better for the security of the state than you will do, To which the reply is pertinent, Why then should I be consul?

[COR. 53]