Mess. Above an hour, my lord.

Com. 'Tis not a mile; briefly we heard their drums. How couldst thou in a mile confound1 an hour,

And bring thy news so late?

Mess.
Spies of the Volces
Held me in chase, that I was forced to wheel
Three or four miles about; else had I, sir,
Half an hour since brought my report.

Com.

Enter MARCIUS.

Who's yonder

That does appear as he were flayed? O gods!.
He has the stamp of Marcius; and I have
Before-time seen him thus.

Mar.

Come I too late?

Com. The shepherd knows not thunder from a tabor, More than I know the sound of Marcius' tongue

O! let me clip you

In arms as sound, as when I wooed; in heart
As merry, as when our nuptial day was done,
And tapers burned to bedward.

Com.

How is't with Titus Lartius?

Flower of warriors,

Mar. As with a man busied about decrees; Condemning some to death, and some to exile; Ransoming him, or pitying, threatening the other; Holding Corioli in the name of Rome,

2

Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash,

To let him slip at will.

Com.

Where is that slave,

Which told me they had beat you to your trenches? Where is he? Call him hither.

1 So in King Henry VI. Part i. Act i. Sc. 3:

"He did confound the best part of an hour," &c.

Confound is here used in the sense of to expend. 2 i. e. remitting his ransom.

Let him alone;

Mar. He did inform the truth. But for our gentlemen, The common file; (a plague!-tribunes for them!) The mouse ne'er shunned the cat, as they did budge From rascals worse than they.

Com. But how prevailed you?

Mar. Will the time serve to tell? I do not thinkWhere is the enemy? Are you lords o'the field? If not, why cease you till you are so?

Com.

We have at disadvantage fought, and did

Retire to win our purpose.

Marcius,

Mar. How lies their battle? Know you on which

side

They have placed their men of trust?

Com. As I guess, Marcius, Their bands in the vaward are the Antiates,1 1 Of their best trust; o'er them Aufidius,

Their very heart of hope.

Mar.

I do beseech you,

By all the battles wherein we have fought,
By the blood we have shed together, by the vows
We have made to endure friends, that you directly
Set me against Aufidius, and his Antiates;
And that you not delay the present; 2 but,

Filling the air with swords advanced, and darts,
We prove this very hour.

Com.

Though I could wish
You were conducted to a gentle bath,
And balms applied to you, yet dare I never
Deny your asking; take your choice of those
That best can aid your action.

Mar.

Those are they

That most are willing:-If any such be here
(As it were sin to doubt) that love this painting
Wherein you see me smeared; if any fear

1 i. e. in the front are the soldiers of Antium. Shakspeare uses Antiates as a trisyllable, as if it had been written Antiats.

2 i. e. " do not let slip the present time.”

Lesser his person than an ill report; '

1

If any think brave death outweighs bad life,
And that his country's dearer than himself;
Let him, alone, or so many, so minded,

Wave thus, [Waving his hand,] to express his disposition, And follow Marcius.

[They all shout, and wave their swords; take him
up in their arms, and cast up their caps.

O me, alone! Make you a sword of me?
If these shows be not outward, which of you
But is four Volces? None of you but is
Able to bear against the great Aufidius

A shield as hard as his. A certain number,
Though thanks to all, must I select from all; the rest
Shall bear the business in some other fight,

As cause will be obeyed. Please you to march;
And four shall quickly draw out my command,
Which men are best inclined.2

Com.

March on, my fellows:

[Exeunt.

Make good this ostentation, and you shall
Divide in all with us.

SCENE VII. The Gates of Corioli.

TITUS LARTIUS, having set a guard upon Corioli, going with a drum and trumpet toward Cominius and Caius Marcius, enters with a Lieutenant, a party of Soldiers, and a scout.

Lart. So, let the ports3 be guarded; keep your duties, As I have set them down. If I do send, despatch Those centuries to our aid; the rest will serve

4

1 The old copy reads lessen. The reading of the text was introduced by Steevens. His person means his personal danger.

2 From the obscurity of this passage there is good reason to suspect its correctness. Perhaps we might read some instead of four, words easily confounded in old MSS. The old translation of Plutarch only says:"Wherefore, with those that willingly offered themselves to follow him, he went out of the citie."

3 Gates.

VOL. V.

60

4 Companies of a hundred men.

For a short holding. If we lose the field,
We cannot keep the town.

Lieu.

Fear not our care, sir.

Lart. Hence and shut your gates upon us.Our guider, come; to the Roman camp conduct us.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VIII. A Field of Battle between the Roman and the Volcian Camps.

Alarum. Enter MARCIUS and AUFIDIUS.

Mar. I'll fight with none but thee; for I do hate thee Worse than a promise-breaker.

Auf.

Not Afric owns a serpent, I abhor

We hate alike;

More than thy fame and envy. Fix thy foot.
Mar. Let the first budger die the other's slave,
And the gods doom him after!

Auf.

Halloo me like a hare.

Mar.

If I fly, Marcius,

Within these three hours, Tullus,

Alone I fought in your Corioli walls,

And made what work I pleased. 'Tis not my blood, Wherein thou seest me masked; for thy revenge, Wrench up thy power to the highest.

Wert thou the Hector,

Auf.
That was the whip 2 of your bragged progeny,
Thou shouldst not scape me here.—

[They fight, and certain Volces come to the
aid of AUFIDIUS.

Officious, and not valiant-you have shamed me
In your condemned seconds.3

[Exeunt, fighting, driven in by MARCIUS.

1 The construction here appears to be, "Not Afric owns a serpent I more abhor and envy than thy fame." The verb to envy, in ancient language, signified to hate.

2 i. e. the whip that your bragged progenitors were possessed of.

3 "You have to my shame sent me help, which I must condemn as intrusive."

Alarum.

SCENE IX. The Roman Camp.

A Retreat is sounded. Flourish. Enter, at one side, COMINIUS and Romans; at the other side, MARCIUS, with his arm in a scarf, and other Romans.

Com. If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work, Thou❜lt not believe thy deeds; but I'll report it, Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles; Where great patricians shall attend, and shrug, I'the end, admire; where ladies shall be frighted, And, gladly quaked,1 hear more; where the dull tribunes, That, with the fusty plebeians, hate thine honors, Shall say, against their hearts-We thank the gods, Our Rome hath such a soldier !—

Yet cam'st thou to a morsel of this feast,

Having fully dined before.

Enter TITUS LARTIUS, with his Power, from the pursuit.

Lart.

O general,

Here is the steed, we the caparison; 2

Hadst thou beheld

Mar.

Pray now, no more; my mother,

Who has a charter to extol her blood,

When she does praise me, grieves me.

I have done As you have done; that's what I can induced As you have been; that's for my country.3 He that has but effected his good will, Hath overta'en mine act.4

Com.

You shall not be

'Twere a concealment

The grave of your deserving; Rome must know

The value of her own.

1 i. e. thrown into grateful trepidation.

2 The meaning is, "This man performed the action, and we only filled

up the show."

3 Country is used here and in other places as a trisyllable.

4 That is, "has done as much as I have done."