1 Serv. A strange one as ever I looked on; I cannot get him out o' the house. Pr'ythee call my master to him. 3 Serv. What have you to do here, fellow? Pray you, avoid the house. Cor. Let me but stand; I will not hurt your hearth. 3 Serv. What are you? Cor. A gentleman. 3 Serv. A marvellous poor one. Cor. True, so I am. 3 Serv. Pray you, poor gentleman, take up some other station; here's no place for you; pray you, avoid. Come. Cor. Follow your function, go! And batten1 on cold bits. [Pushes him away. 3 Serv. What, will you not? Pr'ythee, tell my master what a strange guest he has here. 2 Serv. And I shall. 3 Serv. Where dwellest thou? Cor. Under the canopy. 3 Serv. Under the canopy? Cor. Ay. 3 Serv. Where's that? Cor. I' the city of kites and crows. [Exit. 3 Serv. I' the city of kites and crows ?-What an ass it is! Then thou dwellest with daws too? Cor. No, I serve not thy master. 3 Serv. How, sir! Do you meddle with my master? Cor. Ay; 'tis an honester service than to meddle with thy mistress. Thou prat'st, and prat'st; serve with thy trencher, [Beats him away. hence! Enter AUFIDIUS and the second Servant. Auf. Where is this fellow? 2 Serv. Here, sir; I'd have beaten him like a dog, but for disturbing the lords within. 1 Feed. Auf. Whence comest thou? what wouldest thou? Thy name? Why speak'st not? Speak, man; what's thy name? Commands me name myself. Auf. What is thy name? [Servants retire. Cor. A name unmusical to the Volcians' ears, And harsh in sound to thine. Auf. Say, what's thy name? Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face Bears a command in't; though thy tackle's torn, Thou show'st a noble vessel. What's thy name? Cor. Prepare thy brow to frown. Know'st thou me yet? Auf. I know thee not.-Thy name? Cor. My name is Caius Marcius, who hath done The cruelty and envy of the people, Have all forsook me, hath devoured the rest; I had feared death, of all the men i' the world Stand I before thee here. Then if thou hast Thine own particular wrongs, and stop those maims As benefits to thee; for I will fight Against my cankered country with the spleen Of all the under-fiends. But if so be Thou dar'st not this, and that to prove more fortunes My throat to thee, and to thy ancient malice; It be to do thee service. Auf. O Marcius, Marcius, Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart A root of ancient envy. If Jupiter Should from yon cloud speak divine things, and say, Mine arms about that body, where against Sighed truer breath; but that I see thee here, 1 Wreak is an old term for revenge. 2 i. e. disgraceful diminutions of territory. 3 To clip is to embrace. He calls Coriolanus the anvil of his sword. 4 Shakspeare was unaware that a Roman bride, on her entry into her We have a power on foot; and I had purpose Like a bold flood o'erbeat.2 O, come, go in, Cor. You bless me, gods. The one half of my commission; and set down- ways; Whether to knock against the gates of Rome, Most To fright them, ere destroy. But, come in; Let me commend thee first to those, that shall Say, Yea, to thy desires. A thousand welcomes! And more a friend than e'er an enemy; Yet, Marcius, that was much. Your hand! [Exeunt COR. and AUF. 1 Serv. [Advancing.] Here's a strange alteration! 2 Serv. By my hand, I had thought to have strucken him with a cudgel; and yet my mind gave me, his clothes made a false report of him. welcome! husband's house, was prohibited from bestriding his threshold; lest she should even touch it, she was always lifted over it. 1 i. e. fully, completely. 2 Steevens thinks that we should read o'erbear instead of o'erbeat. 1 Serv. What an arm he has! He turned me about with his finger and his thumb, as one would set up a top. 2 Serv. Nay, I knew by his face that there was something in him. He had, sir, a kind of face, methought, I cannot tell how to term it. 1 Serv. He had so; looking as it were,'Would I were hanged, but I thought there was more in him than I could think. 2 Serv. So did I, I'll be sworn. He is simply the rarest man i' the world. 1 Serv. I think he is; but a greater soldier than he, you wot one. 2 Serv. Who? my master? 1 Serv. Nay, it's no matter for that. 2 Serv. Worth six of him. 1 Serv. Nay, not so neither; but I take him to be the greater soldier. 2 Serv. 'Faith, look you, one cannot tell how to say that; for the defence of a town, our general is excellent. 1 Serv. Ay, and for an assault too. Re-enter third Servant. 3 Serv. O slaves, I can tell you news; news, you rascals. 1 & 2 Serv. What, what, what? let's partake. 3 Serv. I would not be a Roman, of all nations; I had as lieve be a condemned man. 1 & 2 Serv. Wherefore? wherefore? 3 Serv. Why, here's he that was wont to thwack our general,-Caius Marcius. 1 Serv. Why do you say thwack our general? 3 Serv. I do not say thwack our general; but he was always good enough for him. 2 Serv. Come, we are fellows, and friends. He was ever too hard for him; I have heard him say so himself. 1 Serv. He was too hard for him directly, to say the truth on't: before Corioli, he scotched him and notched him like a carbonado. |