Ruins of RomeRuins of Ancient Rome.
Ruins of RomeRuins of Ancient Rome.
Ruins of Ancient Rome.
Duringthe time of the Roman commonwealth, there lived a noble warrior, whose name was Caius Marcius. He was scarcely less remarkable for the strength and symmetry of his body, than for the heroic magnanimity of his mind. From his earliest youth, he had been trained to feats of war; and his mother, who was a very noble matron, was anxious that he should be distinguished not only for his feats of arms, but for those other heroic qualities, which make a man truly great—such as justice, mercy, truth, honor, integrity, and disinterestedness. When Caius Marcius grew up, he soon proved to his mother that her good lessons had not been thrown away upon him; for, on occasion of an assault upon the town of Corioli, he distinguished himself with such extraordinary bravery, as to astonish all those who witnessed his exploits. Having headed a party which broke through the gates of the city, he entered it; but the gates being suddenly shut, Caius Marcius was left alone within the walls, surrounded by a host of enemies. Resolving to sell his life dearly, he made such an attack upon those within the walls, that they fled, and he was enabled to re-open the gates and let in his companions, who immediately took possession of the city.
After this brave action, honors and rewards would have been heaped upon Caius Marcius, but he refused them all, with the exception of a horse, the prisoners he had taken with his own hands,and the life of a person in the city, of whom he had formerly been the guest. In addition to this, he wished to take the surname of Coriolanus, as a remembrance of his victory, which was also granted him.
Coriolanus from this time signalized himself in a variety of battles, and always displayed the same disinterestedness and magnanimity. As he was above every mean act himself, he could not bear to see meanness in others; and observing the wickedness of the rich, and the hollow-hearted friendship of the common people, he despised both, and thus obtained a character for pride, and made himself a great many enemies.
But, still, Coriolanus was not without friends. An old senator, by name Menenius Agrippa, a very merry old fellow, was warmly attached to him, and wished, if possible, to raise him to the office of consul, which was the highest dignity the Romans could confer. But at this time, there was a great scarcity of bread and food in Rome, and the citizens were in a state of insurrection. Mobs paraded the streets, demanding food, and threatening death to the rich, whom they supposed had passed edicts to make provisions dear, that they might drain the pockets of the people. Menenius met a tumultuous body of the citizens going to pull down the house of Caius Marcius, and to kill him; for they thought that if they did so, they should get corn at their own price. Besides this, they wanted to govern, instead of being governed, and seemed determined to destroy all government, by a universal insurrection. Menenius, to stay them from their purpose, and to gain a little time, offered, if they would hear him, to tell a story which should put the subject of which they complained in its true light.
After a great deal of tumult, the citizens agreed to hear what the old man had to say, who proceeded as follows: “My friends,” said he, “there was a time when all the members rebelled against the stomach, and accused it of living an idle and luxurious life, in the midst of the body, without ever laboring for itself, or taking any trouble concerning the very things by which it was fed and comforted. To this the stomach replied, ‘It is true, I am the storehouse and shop of the whole body, but still, I have labor to perform that you know nothing of; for I have to convert the rude matters that the hands and mouth supply me with, into blood, and to send it in rivers both to the heart and brain, and every other part of the system, without which they could not live, nor could eye and ear, and heart and hand, see, or hear, or feel!’ Therefore, so it is with you, my friends; you feed the governing body of the state, and this sustains you for all the purposes for which you live.”
At this moment Coriolanus approached, and upbraided the citizens with their many vices, particularly with their disaffection and cowardice; and advancing towards them, the determined bearing he put on, so frightened them, that the more fearful fell back, and retired to a remote part of the city. At this moment, a messenger arrived with intelligence that the Volsci, a nation which harassed the Romans, were in arms, and that the city was in imminent danger. Upon this, Coriolanus immediately professed his readiness to head the Roman army against its enemies, and departed for the campaign.
Now, the chief enemies that Coriolanus had in Rome, were two senators, Junius Brutus and Sicinius Velutus, who hated him for his proud reserve, and more especially for his popularity with the aristocratical portion of the state of Rome, and as soon as he was gone, began to plot against him, having formed a resolution to contrive his downfall on the first fitting opportunity.
In the meantime, Coriolanus prosecutedthe war against the enemies of his country, and came home, as usual, victorious, preceded by the loudest acclamations of the people. A triumph was granted him; and a splendid triumph, such as Rome had rarely witnessed, was prepared for him. He was first crowned with an oaken garland, and then, mounted on a triumphal car, drawn by eight splendid horses, richly caparisoned, through the principal streets of the city towards the capital. Before him marched the prisoners he had taken in the war, and behind him were wagons richly decorated, and laden with the spoils of the Volsci. But in the midst of all this glorious array, Coriolanus beheld his mother coming towards him, and, descending from his chariot, ordered a way to be made for her, and as she approached, fell down on his knees before her in the lowest humility, that he might receive her blessing—a spectacle far more sublime than those which warriors generally exhibit to the world.
After this, it was proposed by the friends of Coriolanus, that he should stand for the consulship. Now, it was a custom in Rome that when any one desired this high office, he should present himself to the people in the market place, and solicit their votes; he was expected to be very humble and very smooth-tongued, and to ask the office as a great favor, and to boast of his noble deeds, and show his wounds, and declare how uprightly he would act, and how much he would do for the poor. But the heart of Coriolanus grew sick when he thought of this humiliation; and as Brutus and Sicinius knew his disposition, they determined that this part of the ceremony should in no wise be abated, in order that Coriolanus might be led to do or say something displeasing to the people, and thereby incur their dislike. And this, indeed, was actually the case, for instead of complimenting the citizens, he said, “Look at my wounds; see, I got them in my country’s service, when some of you ran away from the noise of your own drums.”
But notwithstanding this haughty bearing, Coriolanus was elected consul; for most of the people, although they did not like to see him so proud, had a great veneration for his character; and a great dependence upon him as a warrior. Brutus and Sicinius, however, determined to oppose him in the senate, when his election should be confirmed, and took the opportunity to influence the popular mind against him, that they might the more effectually oppose him. So when the senate met, Brutus and Sicinius openly charged him with showing contempt for the Roman citizens; while a great crowd collected in the market-place, who vowed the destruction of Coriolanus the instant he appeared among them.
Coriolanus repelled the charges of his enemies with such warmth and indignation that they turned upon him, and being made bold by the shoutings of the mob outside, called him a traitor, and wished the officers to come and apprehend him. He, farther incensed at this audacity, seized Brutus in his gripe, and shook him as if he would shake the bones out of his garment; at the same time, Sicinius ran out, crying for help, and brought out a rabble of citizens, who, with their rude weapons fell upon Coriolanus, with the determination to seize him, and drag him to the Tarpeian Rock, a high hill in Rome, from which malefactors used to be thrown headlong. “Down with him, down with him!” was heard on all sides. But Coriolanus drew his sword, and in a moment, the rabble fell back, as if struck by lightning. A great skirmish now ensued, and Coriolanus drove before him the ædiles and the tribunes and their partisans out of the forum, and passed unmolested to his house.
But the storm was not blown over, for the tribunes of the people, Brutus and Sicinius, determined not to give up their cause till their enemy was destroyed; and accordingly, used every means an their power, to incense the citizens still farther against him. They then summoned him to answer for his rude conduct before the people in the forum! They knew his hot and fiery temper, and determined, when the day arrived, to say something that might provoke him, so that he might, before the whole assembly, give vent to some expressions as offensive as those he had formerly used. Brutus, therefore, when the time arrived, openly charged Coriolanus with being atraitorto the people. Upon hearing the wordtraitor, the rage of the warrior knew no bounds, and he upbraided, in the most vehement terms, both the tribunes, and uttered the bitterest curses on the people. This was what Brutus and Sicinius had aimed at; and therefore, taking advantage of his passionate indiscretion, they called upon the people to bear witness of his contempt, and to join with them in pronouncing his banishment forever from Rome.
Coriolanus, wound up to the highest pitch of anger and indignation, instead of endeavoring to appease the torrent that overwhelmed him, turned his back upon Rome in the most supreme contempt, after having upbraided the citizens for their ingratitude and other vices. He then departed, with the shouts of execration ringing in his ears. But he had scarcely left the city when news was brought that the Volscians, under Tullius Aufidius, were again in arms, and were approaching Rome with rapid marches and in great numbers. Then would the citizens willingly have called back Coriolanus, but he was gone.
In the meantime, the banished warrior, not knowing where to go, and being without shelter or home, wandered into the camp of Aufidius, and was at last brought before the Volscian general. “Who art thou?” said the chieftain. “I am,” said he, “Coriolanus, who defeated thee at Corioli,—hence my surname, Coriolanus. Fortune hath thrown me upon thy hearth, and now I am ready to bow down my neck to thee: and thou canst, if thou wilt, revenge thy country’s wrongs, and thine own, by shedding my blood, and depriving me of the power of ever more driving thee to thy forests and thy hills.”
Tullius Aufidius was a man of noble bearing, and, instead of taking advantage of the situation of his enemy, offered him the rights of hospitality. “Come to my arms,” said he, “and be to me a brother.” “I will unite with thee,” replied Coriolanus, “against that hateful city, which has spurned me forth; and its ungrateful inhabitants shall perish by fire and sword.” And upon this compact, the two generals embraced each other, and vowed fidelity. They then took measures of preparation for an attack on Rome, having determined to destroy it utterly, and to kill, or sell into slavery all its inhabitants.
When the Roman people heard of the approach of the Volsci, they were greatly frightened; but their terror was increased when they were informed that Coriolanus had joined their enemies; and nothing was heard in Rome but howlings and lamentations. Brutus and Sicinius were greatly discomfited, for the popular fury was turned against them. They were upbraided for the banishment of Coriolanus, and were hooted and pelted by the rabble, in the same manner as Coriolanus had been; so that they were forced to hide themselves from their fury. The former friends of Coriolanus were rejoiced at this, but they were no less in consternation; for the destruction of a city in which we live is a terrible thing, and must be attendedwith ruin to all who live in it. They could not, however, forbear taunting the guilty citizens with their injustice in banishing so great a man. The poor people, who had before exhibited so much tyranny, now became wofully abject, and in the most humiliating accents begged the friends of Coriolanus to go to him and supplicate for mercy. They went, but their supplication was vain, for Coriolanus received them very coldly, and told them he had taken an oath for the destruction of the city, which he would not break, and nothing could move him from his purpose of revenge.
The city was now encompassed on all sides by the Volscian array, and the despair of the inhabitants was complete; they saw nothing before them but fire and devastation, havoc and slaughter; and after having put up prayers to the gods to avert the dreaded calamity, they went, at last, to the mother of Coriolanus, Veturia, and implored her to intercede with her avenging son. After many excuses, and bitter reproaches towards those who had so unworthily treated Coriolanus, the Roman matron at last consented to make her way to the Volscian camp, to obtain the salvation of the devoted city.
After a solemn fast, and supplication to the gods, Veturia called to her all the patrician ladies of Rome, and urged them to array themselves in deep mourning, and to wear on their heads every indication of profound grief. Everything being arranged, the procession of several hundred ladies, thus arrayed, descended the hill upon which the city was built, and passed through the principal barrier, and the gigantic gates which led to the Volscian camp. They passed along without molestation or opposition into the tent of Coriolanus, who having received information of their approach, sat in his chair of state, fixed, cold, and inflexible, to receive them.
When the Roman general saw his mother coming towards him, he could scarcely refrain from rising at her approach. He had been, from a child, so used to honor his parent, that after a violent struggle with himself, to keep his fierce and unbending look, he at last descended from his seat and threw himself at her feet. “Let me sink in the earth,” said he, “and as I am an uncommon man, let me show uncommon duty to my mother.”
But now there were other suppliants who clung around Coriolanus—his wife and his only child. But the moment they urged a word in favor of Rome, although done amid the most tender embraces, he immediately spoke coldly, and refused again to make any terms with the base spirits who had cast him forth and spurned him from the city. The mother of Coriolanus fell upon her knees before him; this touched him to the heart, and he endeavored to raise her up; but she persisted in kneeling, declaring that she would not rise from the earth till satisfied that Rome was safe from his revenge. His little son also fell down at his feet, and so did his wife, Volumnia; the whole of the Roman ladies also, following the example shown them, did the same; and poor Coriolanus soon found himself encompassed by a host of kneeling women.
“If thou wilt march to assault thy country,” said Veturia, “thou shalt tread on her who brought thee into the world;” while the boy said, “He shall not tread on me; I will run away till I am bigger; then I will fight.” This speech touched Coriolanus very much indeed, and he could not help catching him up in his arms and kissing him. Veturia then said, “Here is thy epitaph, obdurate man: the man was noble, but with his last bold deed, he wiped it out, destroyed his country, and his name remains abhorred to future ages.”
“O mother, mother!” said Coriolanus, who felt his determination giving way; “for you, my mother, for you alone I yield;” and then, after a severe struggle with himself, he said, “Rome shall indeed be saved; but thy son is lost. All the swords in Italy would not have made me yield, but I yield to thee, beloved mother.”
And so Rome was saved from destruction by the intercession of Veturia; but Coriolanus, thus overcome, was immediately upbraided by Aufidius and the other Volscian generals for selling Rome and their dear revenge for a few tears. Coriolanus replied fiercely, and told Aufidius that he should yet see the day when he would again make his countrymen sorry as he did at Corioli; and then called him a boy. This so aroused the Volscian general, that he, with his companions, immediately fell upon Coriolanus, and slew him on the spot. As soon, however, as he was dead, Aufidius,—his passion being over,—remembering his many great deeds, and his noble spirit, burst into tears. “I have slain the noblest heart in all the world,” said he, and then, as the only recompense he could make for his rash act, he ordered the most splendid funeral to be prepared, and followed it as chief mourner.