ACT IIISCENE I. Rome. A streetCornets. EnterCoriolanus, Menenius,all the Gentry,Cominius, Titus Lartiusand other Senators.CORIOLANUS.Tullus Aufidius then had made new head?LARTIUS.He had, my lord, and that it was which causedOur swifter composition.CORIOLANUS.So then the Volsces stand but as at first,Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make roadUpon’s again.COMINIUS.They are worn, lord consul, soThat we shall hardly in our ages seeTheir banners wave again.CORIOLANUS.Saw you Aufidius?LARTIUS.On safeguard he came to me, and did curseAgainst the Volsces, for they had so vilelyYielded the town. He is retired to Antium.CORIOLANUS.Spoke he of me?LARTIUS.He did, my lord.CORIOLANUS.How? What?LARTIUS.How often he had met you sword to sword;That of all things upon the earth he hatedYour person most; that he would pawn his fortunesTo hopeless restitution, so he mightBe called your vanquisher.CORIOLANUS.At Antium lives he?LARTIUS.At Antium.CORIOLANUS.I wish I had a cause to seek him there,To oppose his hatred fully. Welcome home.EnterSiciniusandBrutus.Behold, these are the tribunes of the people,The tongues o’ th’ common mouth. I do despise them,For they do prank them in authorityAgainst all noble sufferance.SICINIUS.Pass no further.CORIOLANUS.Ha? What is that?BRUTUS.It will be dangerous to go on. No further.CORIOLANUS.What makes this change?MENENIUS.The matter?COMINIUS.Hath he not passed the noble and the common?BRUTUS.Cominius, no.CORIOLANUS.Have I had children’s voices?FIRST SENATOR.Tribunes, give way. He shall to the marketplace.BRUTUS.The people are incensed against him.SICINIUS.Stop,Or all will fall in broil.CORIOLANUS.Are these your herd?Must these have voices, that can yield them nowAnd straight disclaim their tongues? What are your offices?You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth?Have you not set them on?MENENIUS.Be calm, be calm.CORIOLANUS.It is a purposed thing, and grows by plot,To curb the will of the nobility.Suffer’t, and live with such as cannot ruleNor ever will be ruled.BRUTUS.Call’t not a plot.The people cry you mocked them; and, of late,When corn was given them gratis, you repined,Scandaled the suppliants for the people, called themTimepleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness.CORIOLANUS.Why, this was known before.BRUTUS.Not to them all.CORIOLANUS.Have you informed them sithence?BRUTUS.How? I inform them?COMINIUS.You are like to do such business.BRUTUS.Not unlike, each way, to better yours.CORIOLANUS.Why then should I be consul? By yond clouds,Let me deserve so ill as you, and make meYour fellow tribune.SICINIUS.You show too much of thatFor which the people stir. If you will passTo 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.MENENIUS.Let’s be calm.COMINIUS.The people are abused, set on. This palt’ringBecomes not Rome, nor has CoriolanusDeserved this so dishonoured rub, laid falselyI’ th’ plain way of his merit.CORIOLANUS.Tell me of corn?This was my speech, and I will speak’t again.MENENIUS.Not now, not now.FIRST SENATOR.Not in this heat, sir, now.CORIOLANUS.Now, as I live, I will.My nobler friends, I crave their pardons. ForThe mutable, rank-scented many, let themRegard me, as I do not flatter, andTherein behold themselves. I say again,In soothing them we nourish ’gainst our senateThe cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition,Which we ourselves have ploughed for, sowed, and scatteredBy mingling them with us, the honoured number,Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but thatWhich they have given to beggars.MENENIUS.Well, no more.FIRST SENATOR.No more words, we beseech you.CORIOLANUS.How? No more?As for my country I have shed my blood,Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungsCoin words till their decay against those measlesWhich we disdain should tetter us, yet soughtThe very way to catch them.BRUTUS.You speak o’ th’ peopleAs if you were a god to punish, notA man of their infirmity.SICINIUS.’Twere wellWe let the people know’t.MENENIUS.What, what? His choler?CORIOLANUS.Choler?Were I as patient as the midnight sleep,By Jove, ’twould be my mind.SICINIUS.It is a mindThat shall remain a poison where it is,Not poison any further.CORIOLANUS.“Shall remain”?Hear you this Triton of the minnows? Mark youHis absolute “shall”?COMINIUS.’Twas from the canon.CORIOLANUS.“Shall”?O good but most unwise patricians, why,You grave but reckless senators, have you thusGiven Hydra leave to choose an officer,That with his peremptory “shall,” being butThe horn and noise o’ th’ monster’s, wants not spiritTo say he’ll turn your current in a ditchAnd make your channel his? If he have power,Then vail your ignorance; if none, awakeYour dangerous lenity. If you are learned,Be not as common fools; if you are not,Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians,If they be senators; and they are no lessWhen, both your voices blended, the great’st tasteMost palates theirs. They choose their magistrate,And such a one as he, who puts his “shall,”His popular “shall,” against a graver benchThan ever frowned in Greece. By Jove himself,It makes the consuls base! And my soul achesTo know, when two authorities are up,Neither supreme, how soon confusionMay enter ’twixt the gap of both and takeThe one by th’ other.COMINIUS.Well, on to th’ marketplace.CORIOLANUS.Whoever gave that counsel to give forthThe corn o’ th’ storehouse gratis, as ’twas usedSometime in Greece—MENENIUS.Well, well, no more of that.CORIOLANUS.Though there the people had more absolute power,I say they nourished disobedience, fedThe ruin of the state.BRUTUS.Why shall the people giveOne that speaks thus their voice?CORIOLANUS.I’ll give my reasons,More worthier than their voices. They know the cornWas not our recompense, resting well assuredThey ne’er did service for’t. Being pressed to th’ war,Even when the navel of the state was touched,They would not thread the gates. This kind of serviceDid not deserve corn gratis. Being i’ th’ war,Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they showedMost valour, spoke not for them. Th’ accusationWhich they have often made against the Senate,All cause unborn, could never be the nativeOf our so frank donation. Well, what then?How shall this bosom multitude digestThe senate’s courtesy? Let deeds expressWhat’s like to be their words: “We did request it;We are the greater poll, and in true fearThey gave us our demands.” Thus we debaseThe nature of our seats and make the rabbleCall our cares fears, which will in timeBreak ope the locks o’ th’ Senate and bring inThe crows to peck the eagles.MENENIUS.Come, enough.BRUTUS.Enough, with over-measure.CORIOLANUS.No, take more!What may be sworn by, both divine and human,Seal what I end withal! This double worship—Where one part does disdain with cause, the otherInsult without all reason, where gentry, title, wisdomCannot conclude but by the yea and noOf general ignorance—it must omitReal necessities and give way the whileTo unstable slightness. Purpose so barred, it followsNothing is done to purpose. Therefore, beseech you—You that will be less fearful than discreet,That love the fundamental part of stateMore than you doubt the change on’t, that preferA noble life before a long, and wishTo jump a body with a dangerous physicThat’s sure of death without it—at once pluck outThe multitudinous tongue; let them not lickThe sweet which is their poison. Your dishonourMangles true judgment and bereaves the stateOf that integrity which should become’t,Not having the power to do the good it wouldFor th’ ill which doth control’t.BRUTUS.’Has said enough.SICINIUS.’Has spoken like a traitor, and shall answerAs traitors do.CORIOLANUS.Thou wretch, despite o’erwhelm thee!What should the people do with these bald tribunes,On whom depending, their obedience failsTo th’ greater bench. In a rebellion,When what’s not meet but what must be was law,Then were they chosen. In a better hour,Let what is meet be said it must be meet,And throw their power i’ th’ dust.BRUTUS.Manifest treason.SICINIUS.This a consul? No.BRUTUS.The aediles, ho! Let him be apprehended.Enter anAedile.SICINIUS.Go call the people;[ExitAedile.]in whose name myselfAttach thee as a traitorous innovator,A foe to th’ public weal. Obey, I charge thee,And follow to thine answer.CORIOLANUS.Hence, old goat.ALL PATRICIANS.We’ll surety him.COMINIUS.[to Sicinius.] Aged sir, hands off.CORIOLANUS.[to Sicinius.] Hence, rotten thing, or I shall shake thy bonesOut of thy garments.SICINIUS.Help, ye citizens!Enter a rabble of Plebeians with theAediles.MENENIUS.On both sides more respect!SICINIUS.Here’s he that would take from you all your power.BRUTUS.Seize him, aediles.ALL PLEBEIANS.Down with him, down with him!SECOND SENATOR.Weapons, weapons, weapons![They all bustle aboutCoriolanus.]Tribunes, patricians, citizens, what, ho!Sicinius, Brutus, Coriolanus, citizens!ALL.Peace, peace, peace! Stay, hold, peace!MENENIUS.What is about to be? I am out of breath.Confusion’s near. I cannot speak. You tribunesTo th’ people!—Coriolanus, patience!—Speak, good Sicinius.SICINIUS.Hear me, people! Peace!ALL PLEBEIANS.Let’s hear our tribune. Peace! Speak, speak, speak.SICINIUS.You are at point to lose your liberties.Martius would have all from you, Martius,Whom late you have named for consul.MENENIUS.Fie, fie, fie!This is the way to kindle, not to quench.FIRST SENATOR.To unbuild the city and to lay all flat.SICINIUS.What is the city but the people?ALL PLEBEIANS.True,The people are the city.BRUTUS.By the consent of all, we were establishedThe people’s magistrates.ALL PLEBEIANS.You so remain.MENENIUS.And so are like to do.COMINIUS.That is the way to lay the city flat,To bring the roof to the foundationAnd bury all which yet distinctly rangesIn heaps and piles of ruin.SICINIUS.This deserves death.BRUTUS.Or let us stand to our authorityOr let us lose it. We do here pronounce,Upon the part o’ th’ people, in whose powerWe were elected theirs, Martius is worthyOf present death.SICINIUS.Therefore lay hold of him,Bear him to th’ rock Tarpeian, and from thenceInto destruction cast him.BRUTUS.Aediles, seize him!ALL PLEBEIANS.Yield, Martius, yield!MENENIUS.Hear me one word.Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word.AEDILES.Peace, peace!MENENIUS.Be that you seem, truly your country’s friend,And temp’rately proceed to what you wouldThus violently redress.BRUTUS.Sir, those cold ways,That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonousWhere the disease is violent.—Lay hands upon him,And bear him to the rock.[Coriolanusdraws his sword.]CORIOLANUS.No; I’ll die here.There’s some among you have beheld me fighting.Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me.MENENIUS.Down with that sword!—Tribunes, withdraw awhile.BRUTUS.Lay hands upon him!MENENIUS.Help Martius, help!You that be noble, help him, young and old!ALL PLEBEIANS.Down with him, down with him![In this mutiny theTribunes, theAedilesand the People are beat in.]MENENIUS.Go, get you to your house. Begone, away.All will be naught else.SECOND SENATOR.Get you gone.CORIOLANUS.Stand fast!We have as many friends as enemies.MENENIUS.Shall it be put to that?FIRST SENATOR.The gods forbid!I prithee, noble friend, home to thy house;Leave us to cure this cause.MENENIUS.For ’tis a sore upon usYou cannot tent yourself. Begone, beseech you.COMINIUS.Come, sir, along with us.CORIOLANUS.I would they were barbarians, as they are,Though in Rome littered, not Romans, as they are not,Though calved i’ th’ porch o’ th’ Capitol.MENENIUS.Begone!Put not your worthy rage into your tongue.One time will owe another.CORIOLANUS.On fair groundI could beat forty of them.MENENIUS.I could myselfTake up a brace o’ th’ best of them, yea, the two tribunes.COMINIUS.But now ’tis odds beyond arithmetic,And manhood is called foolery when it standsAgainst a falling fabric. Will you hence,Before the tag return, whose rage doth rendLike interrupted waters, and o’erbearWhat they are used to bear?MENENIUS.Pray you, begone.I’ll try whether my old wit be in requestWith those that have but little. This must be patchedWith cloth of any colour.COMINIUS.Nay, come away.[ExeuntCoriolanusandCominius.]PATRICIAN.This man has marred his fortune.MENENIUS.His nature is too noble for the world.He would not flatter Neptune for his tridentOr Jove for’s power to thunder. His heart’s his mouth;What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent,And, being angry, does forget that everHe heard the name of death.[A noise within.]Here’s goodly work.PATRICIAN.I would they were abed!MENENIUS.I would they were in Tiber! What the vengeance,Could he not speak ’em fair?EnterBrutusandSiciniuswith the rabble again.SICINIUS.Where is this viperThat would depopulate the city andBe every man himself?MENENIUS.You worthy tribunes—SICINIUS.He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rockWith rigorous hands. He hath resisted law,And therefore law shall scorn him further trialThan the severity of the public powerWhich he so sets at naught.FIRST CITIZEN.He shall well knowThe noble tribunes are the people’s mouths,And we their hands.ALL PLEBEIANS.He shall, sure on’t.MENENIUS.Sir, sir—SICINIUS.Peace!MENENIUS.Do not cry havoc where you should but huntWith modest warrant.SICINIUS.Sir, how comes’t that youHave holp to make this rescue?MENENIUS.Hear me speak.As I do know the Consul’s worthiness,So can I name his faults.SICINIUS.Consul? What consul?MENENIUS.The consul Coriolanus.BRUTUS.He consul?ALL PLEBEIANS.No, no, no, no, no!MENENIUS.If, by the Tribunes’ leave, and yours, good people,I may be heard, I would crave a word or two,The which shall turn you to no further harmThan so much loss of time.SICINIUS.Speak briefly then,For we are peremptory to dispatchThis viperous traitor. To eject him henceWere but one danger, and to keep him hereOur certain death. Therefore it is decreedHe dies tonight.MENENIUS.Now the good gods forbidThat our renowned Rome, whose gratitudeTowards her deserved children is enrolledIn Jove’s own book, like an unnatural damShould now eat up her own.SICINIUS.He’s a disease that must be cut away.MENENIUS.O, he’s a limb that has but a disease—Mortal to cut it off; to cure it easy.What has he done to Rome that’s worthy death?Killing our enemies, the blood he hath lost—Which I dare vouch is more than that he hathBy many an ounce—he dropt it for his country;And what is left, to lose it by his countryWere to us all, that do’t and suffer itA brand to th’ end o’ th’ world.SICINIUS.This is clean cam.BRUTUS.Merely awry. When he did love his country,It honoured him.MENENIUS.The service of the foot,Being once gangrened, is not then respectedFor what before it was.BRUTUS.We’ll hear no more.Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence,Lest his infection, being of catching nature,Spread further.MENENIUS.One word more, one word!This tiger-footed rage, when it shall findThe harm of unscanned swiftness, will too late,Tie leaden pounds to’s heels. Proceed by process,Lest parties—as he is beloved—break outAnd sack great Rome with Romans.BRUTUS.If it were so—SICINIUS.What do ye talk?Have we not had a taste of his obedience?Our aediles smote! Ourselves resisted? Come.MENENIUS.Consider this: he has been bred i’ th’ warsSince he could draw a sword, and is ill schooledIn bolted language; meal and bran togetherHe throws without distinction. Give me leave,I’ll go to him and undertake to bring himWhere he shall answer by a lawful form,In peace, to his utmost peril.FIRST SENATOR.Noble tribunes,It is the humane way: the other courseWill prove too bloody, and the end of itUnknown to the beginning.SICINIUS.Noble Menenius,Be you then as the people’s officer.—Masters, lay down your weapons.BRUTUS.Go not home.SICINIUS.Meet on the marketplace. We’ll attend you there,Where if you bring not Martius, we’ll proceedIn our first way.MENENIUS.I’ll bring him to you.[To Senators.] Let me desire your company. He must come,Or what is worst will follow.FIRST SENATOR.Pray you, let’s to him.[Exeunt.]SCENE II. Rome. A room in Coriolanus’s houseEnterCoriolanuswith Nobles.CORIOLANUS.Let them pull all about mine ears, present meDeath on the wheel or at wild horses’ heels,Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock,That the precipitation might down stretchBelow the beam of sight, yet will I stillBe thus to them.FIRST PATRICIAN.You do the nobler.CORIOLANUS.I muse my motherDoes not approve me further, who was wontTo call them woollen vassals, things createdTo buy and sell with groats, to show bare headsIn congregations, to yawn, be still, and wonderWhen one but of my ordinance stood upTo speak of peace or war.EnterVolumnia.I talk of you.Why did you wish me milder? Would you have meFalse to my nature? Rather say I playThe man I am.VOLUMNIA.O, sir, sir, sir,I would have had you put your power well onBefore you had worn it out.CORIOLANUS.Let go.VOLUMNIA.You might have been enough the man you areWith striving less to be so. Lesser had beenThe thwartings of your dispositions ifYou had not showed them how ye were disposedEre they lacked power to cross you.CORIOLANUS.Let them hang!VOLUMNIA.Ay, and burn too.EnterMeneniuswith theSenators.MENENIUS.Come, come, you have been too rough, something too rough.You must return and mend it.FIRST SENATOR.There’s no remedy,Unless, by not so doing, our good cityCleave in the midst and perish.VOLUMNIA.Pray be counselled.I have a heart as little apt as yours,But yet a brain that leads my use of angerTo better vantage.MENENIUS.Well said, noble woman.Before he should thus stoop to th’ herd—but thatThe violent fit o’ th’ time craves it as physicFor the whole state—I would put mine armour on,Which I can scarcely bear.CORIOLANUS.What must I do?MENENIUS.Return to th’ Tribunes.CORIOLANUS.Well, what then? What then?MENENIUS.Repent what you have spoke.CORIOLANUS.For them? I cannot do it to the gods.Must I then do’t to them?VOLUMNIA.You are too absolute,Though therein you can never be too nobleBut when extremities speak. I have heard you sayHonour and policy, like unsevered friends,I’ th’ war do grow together. Grant that, and tell meIn peace what each of them by th’ other loseThat they combine not there.CORIOLANUS.Tush, tush!MENENIUS.A good demand.VOLUMNIA.If it be honour in your wars to seemThe same you are not, which for your best endsYou adopt your policy, how is it less or worseThat it shall hold companionship in peaceWith honour as in war, since that to bothIt stands in like request?CORIOLANUS.Why force you this?VOLUMNIA.Because that now it lies you on to speakTo th’ people, not by your own instruction,Nor by th’ matter which your heart prompts you,But with such words that are but rooted inYour tongue, though but bastards and syllablesOf no allowance to your bosom’s truth.Now, this no more dishonours you at allThan to take in a town with gentle words,Which else would put you to your fortune andThe hazard of much blood.I would dissemble with my nature whereMy fortunes and my friends at stake requiredI should do so in honour. I am in thisYour wife, your son, these senators, the nobles;And you will rather show our general loutsHow you can frown than spend a fawn upon ’emFor the inheritance of their loves and safeguardOf what that want might ruin.MENENIUS.Noble lady!—Come, go with us; speak fair. You may salve so,Not what is dangerous present, but the lossOf what is past.VOLUMNIA.I prithee now, my son,Go to them with this bonnet in thy hand,And thus far having stretched it—here be with them—Thy knee bussing the stones—for in such businesAction is eloquence, and the eyes of th’ ignorantMore learned than the ears—waving thy head,Which often thus correcting thy stout heart,Now humble as the ripest mulberryThat will not hold the handling. Or say to themThou art their soldier and, being bred in broils,Hast not the soft way, which thou dost confessWere fit for thee to use, as they to claim,In asking their good loves; but thou wilt frameThyself, forsooth, hereafter theirs, so farAs thou hast power and person.MENENIUS.This but doneEven as she speaks, why, their hearts were yours;For they have pardons, being asked, as freeAs words to little purpose.VOLUMNIA.Prithee now,Go, and be ruled; although I know thou hadst ratherFollow thine enemy in a fiery gulfThan flatter him in a bower.EnterCominius.Here is Cominius.COMINIUS.I have been i’ th’ marketplace; and, sir, ’tis fitYou make strong party or defend yourselfBy calmness or by absence. All’s in anger.MENENIUS.Only fair speech.COMINIUS.I think ’twill serve, if heCan thereto frame his spirit.VOLUMNIA.He must, and will.—Prithee, now, say you will, and go about it.CORIOLANUS.Must I go show them my unbarbed sconce? Must IWith my base tongue give to my noble heartA lie that it must bear? Well, I will do’t.Yet, were there but this single plot to lose,This mould of Martius, they to dust should grind itAnd throw’t against the wind. To th’ marketplace!You have put me now to such a part which neverI shall discharge to th’ life.COMINIUS.Come, come, we’ll prompt you.VOLUMNIA.I prithee now, sweet son, as thou hast saidMy praises made thee first a soldier, so,To have my praise for this, perform a partThou hast not done before.CORIOLANUS.Well, I must do’t.Away, my disposition, and possess meSome harlot’s spirit! My throat of war be turned,Which choired with my drum, into a pipeSmall as an eunuch or the virgin voiceThat babies lulls asleep! The smiles of knavesTent in my cheeks, and schoolboys’ tears take upThe glasses of my sight! A beggar’s tongueMake motion through my lips, and my armed knees,Who bowed but in my stirrup, bend like hisThat hath received an alms! I will not do’t,Lest I surcease to honour mine own truthAnd, by my body’s action, teach my mindA most inherent baseness.VOLUMNIA.At thy choice, then.To beg of thee, it is my more dishonourThan thou of them. Come all to ruin. LetThy mother rather feel thy pride than fearThy dangerous stoutness, for I mock at deathWith as big heart as thou. Do as thou list.Thy valiantness was mine; thou suck’dst it from me,But owe thy pride thyself.CORIOLANUS.Pray, be content.Mother, I am going to the marketplace.Chide me no more. I’ll mountebank their loves,Cog their hearts from them, and come home belovedOf all the trades in Rome. Look, I am going.Commend me to my wife. I’ll return consul,Or never trust to what my tongue can doI’ th’ way of flattery further.VOLUMNIA.Do your will.[ExitVolumnia.]COMINIUS.Away! The Tribunes do attend you. Arm yourselfTo answer mildly, for they are preparedWith accusations, as I hear, more strongThan are upon you yet.CORIOLANUS.The word is “mildly.” Pray you, let us go.Let them accuse me by invention, IWill answer in mine honour.MENENIUS.Ay, but mildly.CORIOLANUS.Well, mildly be it, then. Mildly.[Exeunt.]SCENE III. Rome. The ForumEnterSiciniusandBrutus.BRUTUS.In this point charge him home, that he affectsTyrannical power. If he evade us there,Enforce him with his envy to the people,And that the spoil got on the AntiatesWas ne’er distributed.Enter anAedile.What, will he come?AEDILE.He’s coming.BRUTUS.How accompanied?AEDILE.With old Menenius, and those senatorsThat always favoured him.SICINIUS.Have you a catalogueOf all the voices that we have procured,Set down by th’ poll?AEDILE.I have. ’Tis ready.SICINIUS.Have you collected them by tribes?AEDILE.I have.SICINIUS.Assemble presently the people hither;And when they hear me say “It shall be soI’ th’ right and strength o’ th’ commons,” be it eitherFor death, for fine, or banishment, then let themIf I say “Fine,” cry “Fine,” if “Death,” cry “Death,”Insisting on the old prerogativeAnd power i’ th’ truth o’ th’ cause.AEDILE.I shall inform them.BRUTUS.And when such time they have begun to cry,Let them not cease, but with a din confusedEnforce the present executionOf what we chance to sentence.AEDILE.Very well.SICINIUS.Make them be strong and ready for this hintWhen we shall hap to give’t them.BRUTUS.Go about it.[ExitAedile.]Put him to choler straight. He hath been usedEver to conquer and to have his worthOf contradiction. Being once chafed, he cannotBe reined again to temperance; then he speaksWhat’s in his heart; and that is there which looksWith us to break his neck.EnterCoriolanus, MeneniusandCominiuswith other Senators.SICINIUS.Well, here he comes.MENENIUS.Calmly, I do beseech you.CORIOLANUS.Ay, as an ostler, that for th’ poorest pieceWill bear the knave by th’ volume.—Th’ honoured godsKeep Rome in safety and the chairs of justiceSupplied with worthy men! Plant love among’s!Throng our large temples with the shows of peaceAnd not our streets with war!FIRST SENATOR.Amen, amen.MENENIUS.A noble wish.Enter theAedilewith the Plebeians.SICINIUS.Draw near, ye people.AEDILE.List to your tribunes. Audience! Peace, I say!CORIOLANUS.First, hear me speak.BOTH TRIBUNES.Well, say.—Peace, ho!CORIOLANUS.Shall I be charged no further than this present?Must all determine here?SICINIUS.I do demandIf you submit you to the people’s voices,Allow their officers, and are contentTo suffer lawful censure for such faultsAs shall be proved upon you.CORIOLANUS.I am content.MENENIUS.Lo, citizens, he says he is content.The warlike service he has done, consider. ThinkUpon the wounds his body bears, which showLike graves i’ th’ holy churchyard.CORIOLANUS.Scratches with briars,Scars to move laughter only.MENENIUS.Consider further,That when he speaks not like a citizen,You find him like a soldier. Do not takeHis rougher accents for malicious sounds,But, as I say, such as become a soldierRather than envy you.COMINIUS.Well, well, no more.CORIOLANUS.What is the matter,That, being passed for consul with full voice,I am so dishonoured that the very hourYou take it off again?SICINIUS.Answer to us.CORIOLANUS.Say then. ’Tis true, I ought so.SICINIUS.We charge you that you have contrived to takeFrom Rome all seasoned office and to windYourself into a power tyrannical,For which you are a traitor to the people.CORIOLANUS.How? Traitor?MENENIUS.Nay, temperately! Your promise.CORIOLANUS.The fires i’ th’ lowest hell fold in the people!Call me their traitor? Thou injurious tribune!Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,In thy hands clutched as many millions, inThy lying tongue both numbers, I would say“Thou liest” unto thee with a voice as freeAs I do pray the gods.SICINIUS.Mark you this, people?ALL PLEBEIANS.To th’ rock, to th’ rock with him!SICINIUS.Peace!We need not put new matter to his charge.What you have seen him do and heard him speak,Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,Opposing laws with strokes, and here defyingThose whose great power must try him—even this,So criminal and in such capital kind,Deserves th’ extremest death.BRUTUS.But since he hathServed well for Rome—CORIOLANUS.What do you prate of service?BRUTUS.I talk of that that know it.CORIOLANUS.You?MENENIUS.Is this the promise that you made your mother?COMINIUS.Know, I pray you—CORIOLANUS.I’ll know no further.Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to lingerBut with a grain a day, I would not buyTheir mercy at the price of one fair word,Nor check my courage for what they can give,To have’t with saying “Good morrow.”SICINIUS.For that he has,As much as in him lies, from time to timeEnvied against the people, seeking meansTo pluck away their power, as now at lastGiven hostile strokes, and that not in the presenceOf dreaded justice, but on the ministersThat do distribute it, in the name o’ th’ peopleAnd in the power of us the Tribunes, we,Even from this instant, banish him our cityIn peril of precipitationFrom off the rock Tarpeian, never moreTo enter our Rome gates. I’ th’ people’s name,I say it shall be so.ALL PLEBEIANS.It shall be so, it shall be so! Let him away!He’s banished, and it shall be so.COMINIUS.Hear me, my masters and my common friends—SICINIUS.He’s sentenced. No more hearing.COMINIUS.Let me speak.I have been consul and can show for RomeHer enemies’ marks upon me. I do loveMy country’s good with a respect more tender,More holy and profound, than mine own life,My dear wife’s estimate, her womb’s increase,And treasure of my loins. Then if I wouldSpeak that—SICINIUS.We know your drift. Speak what?BRUTUS.There’s no more to be said, but he is banishedAs enemy to the people and his country.It shall be so.ALL PLEBEIANS.It shall be so, it shall be so!CORIOLANUS.You common cry of curs, whose breath I hateAs reek o’ th’ rotten fens, whose loves I prizeAs the dead carcasses of unburied menThat do corrupt my air, I banish you!And here remain with your uncertainty;Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts;Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,Fan you into despair! Have the power stillTo banish your defenders, till at lengthYour ignorance—which finds not till it feels,Making but reservation of yourselves,Still your own foes—deliver you,As most abated captives to some nationThat won you without blows! DespisingFor you the city, thus I turn my back.There is a world elsewhere.[ExeuntCoriolanus, Cominius,with other Senators.]AEDILE.The people’s enemy is gone, is gone.ALL PLEBEIANS.Our enemy is banished; he is gone. Hoo, hoo![They all shout and throw up their caps.]SICINIUS.Go see him out at gates, and follow him,As he hath followed you, with all despite.Give him deserved vexation. Let a guardAttend us through the city.ALL PLEBEIANS.Come, come, let’s see him out at gates! Come!The gods preserve our noble tribunes! Come.[Exeunt.]
Cornets. EnterCoriolanus, Menenius,all the Gentry,Cominius, Titus Lartiusand other Senators.
CORIOLANUS.Tullus Aufidius then had made new head?
LARTIUS.He had, my lord, and that it was which causedOur swifter composition.
CORIOLANUS.So then the Volsces stand but as at first,Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make roadUpon’s again.
COMINIUS.They are worn, lord consul, soThat we shall hardly in our ages seeTheir banners wave again.
CORIOLANUS.Saw you Aufidius?
LARTIUS.On safeguard he came to me, and did curseAgainst the Volsces, for they had so vilelyYielded the town. He is retired to Antium.
CORIOLANUS.Spoke he of me?
LARTIUS.He did, my lord.
CORIOLANUS.How? What?
LARTIUS.How often he had met you sword to sword;That of all things upon the earth he hatedYour person most; that he would pawn his fortunesTo hopeless restitution, so he mightBe called your vanquisher.
CORIOLANUS.At Antium lives he?
LARTIUS.At Antium.
CORIOLANUS.I wish I had a cause to seek him there,To oppose his hatred fully. Welcome home.
EnterSiciniusandBrutus.
Behold, these are the tribunes of the people,The tongues o’ th’ common mouth. I do despise them,For they do prank them in authorityAgainst all noble sufferance.
SICINIUS.Pass no further.
CORIOLANUS.Ha? What is that?
BRUTUS.It will be dangerous to go on. No further.
CORIOLANUS.What makes this change?
MENENIUS.The matter?
COMINIUS.Hath he not passed the noble and the common?
BRUTUS.Cominius, no.
CORIOLANUS.Have I had children’s voices?
FIRST SENATOR.Tribunes, give way. He shall to the marketplace.
BRUTUS.The people are incensed against him.
SICINIUS.Stop,Or all will fall in broil.
CORIOLANUS.Are these your herd?Must these have voices, that can yield them nowAnd straight disclaim their tongues? What are your offices?You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth?Have you not set them on?
MENENIUS.Be calm, be calm.
CORIOLANUS.It is a purposed thing, and grows by plot,To curb the will of the nobility.Suffer’t, and live with such as cannot ruleNor ever will be ruled.
BRUTUS.Call’t not a plot.The people cry you mocked them; and, of late,When corn was given them gratis, you repined,Scandaled the suppliants for the people, called themTimepleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness.
CORIOLANUS.Why, this was known before.
BRUTUS.Not to them all.
CORIOLANUS.Have you informed them sithence?
BRUTUS.How? I inform them?
COMINIUS.You are like to do such business.
BRUTUS.Not unlike, each way, to better yours.
CORIOLANUS.Why then should I be consul? By yond clouds,Let me deserve so ill as you, and make meYour fellow tribune.
SICINIUS.You show too much of thatFor which the people stir. If you will passTo 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.
MENENIUS.Let’s be calm.
COMINIUS.The people are abused, set on. This palt’ringBecomes not Rome, nor has CoriolanusDeserved this so dishonoured rub, laid falselyI’ th’ plain way of his merit.
CORIOLANUS.Tell me of corn?This was my speech, and I will speak’t again.
MENENIUS.Not now, not now.
FIRST SENATOR.Not in this heat, sir, now.
CORIOLANUS.Now, as I live, I will.My nobler friends, I crave their pardons. ForThe mutable, rank-scented many, let themRegard me, as I do not flatter, andTherein behold themselves. I say again,In soothing them we nourish ’gainst our senateThe cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition,Which we ourselves have ploughed for, sowed, and scatteredBy mingling them with us, the honoured number,Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but thatWhich they have given to beggars.
MENENIUS.Well, no more.
FIRST SENATOR.No more words, we beseech you.
CORIOLANUS.How? No more?As for my country I have shed my blood,Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungsCoin words till their decay against those measlesWhich we disdain should tetter us, yet soughtThe very way to catch them.
BRUTUS.You speak o’ th’ peopleAs if you were a god to punish, notA man of their infirmity.
SICINIUS.’Twere wellWe let the people know’t.
MENENIUS.What, what? His choler?
CORIOLANUS.Choler?Were I as patient as the midnight sleep,By Jove, ’twould be my mind.
SICINIUS.It is a mindThat shall remain a poison where it is,Not poison any further.
CORIOLANUS.“Shall remain”?Hear you this Triton of the minnows? Mark youHis absolute “shall”?
COMINIUS.’Twas from the canon.
CORIOLANUS.“Shall”?O good but most unwise patricians, why,You grave but reckless senators, have you thusGiven Hydra leave to choose an officer,That with his peremptory “shall,” being butThe horn and noise o’ th’ monster’s, wants not spiritTo say he’ll turn your current in a ditchAnd make your channel his? If he have power,Then vail your ignorance; if none, awakeYour dangerous lenity. If you are learned,Be not as common fools; if you are not,Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians,If they be senators; and they are no lessWhen, both your voices blended, the great’st tasteMost palates theirs. They choose their magistrate,And such a one as he, who puts his “shall,”His popular “shall,” against a graver benchThan ever frowned in Greece. By Jove himself,It makes the consuls base! And my soul achesTo know, when two authorities are up,Neither supreme, how soon confusionMay enter ’twixt the gap of both and takeThe one by th’ other.
COMINIUS.Well, on to th’ marketplace.
CORIOLANUS.Whoever gave that counsel to give forthThe corn o’ th’ storehouse gratis, as ’twas usedSometime in Greece—
MENENIUS.Well, well, no more of that.
CORIOLANUS.Though there the people had more absolute power,I say they nourished disobedience, fedThe ruin of the state.
BRUTUS.Why shall the people giveOne that speaks thus their voice?
CORIOLANUS.I’ll give my reasons,More worthier than their voices. They know the cornWas not our recompense, resting well assuredThey ne’er did service for’t. Being pressed to th’ war,Even when the navel of the state was touched,They would not thread the gates. This kind of serviceDid not deserve corn gratis. Being i’ th’ war,Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they showedMost valour, spoke not for them. Th’ accusationWhich they have often made against the Senate,All cause unborn, could never be the nativeOf our so frank donation. Well, what then?How shall this bosom multitude digestThe senate’s courtesy? Let deeds expressWhat’s like to be their words: “We did request it;We are the greater poll, and in true fearThey gave us our demands.” Thus we debaseThe nature of our seats and make the rabbleCall our cares fears, which will in timeBreak ope the locks o’ th’ Senate and bring inThe crows to peck the eagles.
MENENIUS.Come, enough.
BRUTUS.Enough, with over-measure.
CORIOLANUS.No, take more!What may be sworn by, both divine and human,Seal what I end withal! This double worship—Where one part does disdain with cause, the otherInsult without all reason, where gentry, title, wisdomCannot conclude but by the yea and noOf general ignorance—it must omitReal necessities and give way the whileTo unstable slightness. Purpose so barred, it followsNothing is done to purpose. Therefore, beseech you—You that will be less fearful than discreet,That love the fundamental part of stateMore than you doubt the change on’t, that preferA noble life before a long, and wishTo jump a body with a dangerous physicThat’s sure of death without it—at once pluck outThe multitudinous tongue; let them not lickThe sweet which is their poison. Your dishonourMangles true judgment and bereaves the stateOf that integrity which should become’t,Not having the power to do the good it wouldFor th’ ill which doth control’t.
BRUTUS.’Has said enough.
SICINIUS.’Has spoken like a traitor, and shall answerAs traitors do.
CORIOLANUS.Thou wretch, despite o’erwhelm thee!What should the people do with these bald tribunes,On whom depending, their obedience failsTo th’ greater bench. In a rebellion,When what’s not meet but what must be was law,Then were they chosen. In a better hour,Let what is meet be said it must be meet,And throw their power i’ th’ dust.
BRUTUS.Manifest treason.
SICINIUS.This a consul? No.
BRUTUS.The aediles, ho! Let him be apprehended.
Enter anAedile.
SICINIUS.Go call the people;
[ExitAedile.]
in whose name myselfAttach thee as a traitorous innovator,A foe to th’ public weal. Obey, I charge thee,And follow to thine answer.
CORIOLANUS.Hence, old goat.
ALL PATRICIANS.We’ll surety him.
COMINIUS.[to Sicinius.] Aged sir, hands off.
CORIOLANUS.[to Sicinius.] Hence, rotten thing, or I shall shake thy bonesOut of thy garments.
SICINIUS.Help, ye citizens!
Enter a rabble of Plebeians with theAediles.
MENENIUS.On both sides more respect!
SICINIUS.Here’s he that would take from you all your power.
BRUTUS.Seize him, aediles.
ALL PLEBEIANS.Down with him, down with him!
SECOND SENATOR.Weapons, weapons, weapons!
[They all bustle aboutCoriolanus.]
Tribunes, patricians, citizens, what, ho!Sicinius, Brutus, Coriolanus, citizens!
ALL.Peace, peace, peace! Stay, hold, peace!
MENENIUS.What is about to be? I am out of breath.Confusion’s near. I cannot speak. You tribunesTo th’ people!—Coriolanus, patience!—Speak, good Sicinius.
SICINIUS.Hear me, people! Peace!
ALL PLEBEIANS.Let’s hear our tribune. Peace! Speak, speak, speak.
SICINIUS.You are at point to lose your liberties.Martius would have all from you, Martius,Whom late you have named for consul.
MENENIUS.Fie, fie, fie!This is the way to kindle, not to quench.
FIRST SENATOR.To unbuild the city and to lay all flat.
SICINIUS.What is the city but the people?
ALL PLEBEIANS.True,The people are the city.
BRUTUS.By the consent of all, we were establishedThe people’s magistrates.
ALL PLEBEIANS.You so remain.
MENENIUS.And so are like to do.
COMINIUS.That is the way to lay the city flat,To bring the roof to the foundationAnd bury all which yet distinctly rangesIn heaps and piles of ruin.
SICINIUS.This deserves death.
BRUTUS.Or let us stand to our authorityOr let us lose it. We do here pronounce,Upon the part o’ th’ people, in whose powerWe were elected theirs, Martius is worthyOf present death.
SICINIUS.Therefore lay hold of him,Bear him to th’ rock Tarpeian, and from thenceInto destruction cast him.
BRUTUS.Aediles, seize him!
ALL PLEBEIANS.Yield, Martius, yield!
MENENIUS.Hear me one word.Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word.
AEDILES.Peace, peace!
MENENIUS.Be that you seem, truly your country’s friend,And temp’rately proceed to what you wouldThus violently redress.
BRUTUS.Sir, those cold ways,That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonousWhere the disease is violent.—Lay hands upon him,And bear him to the rock.
[Coriolanusdraws his sword.]
CORIOLANUS.No; I’ll die here.There’s some among you have beheld me fighting.Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me.
MENENIUS.Down with that sword!—Tribunes, withdraw awhile.
BRUTUS.Lay hands upon him!
MENENIUS.Help Martius, help!You that be noble, help him, young and old!
ALL PLEBEIANS.Down with him, down with him!
[In this mutiny theTribunes, theAedilesand the People are beat in.]
MENENIUS.Go, get you to your house. Begone, away.All will be naught else.
SECOND SENATOR.Get you gone.
CORIOLANUS.Stand fast!We have as many friends as enemies.
MENENIUS.Shall it be put to that?
FIRST SENATOR.The gods forbid!I prithee, noble friend, home to thy house;Leave us to cure this cause.
MENENIUS.For ’tis a sore upon usYou cannot tent yourself. Begone, beseech you.
COMINIUS.Come, sir, along with us.
CORIOLANUS.I would they were barbarians, as they are,Though in Rome littered, not Romans, as they are not,Though calved i’ th’ porch o’ th’ Capitol.
MENENIUS.Begone!Put not your worthy rage into your tongue.One time will owe another.
CORIOLANUS.On fair groundI could beat forty of them.
MENENIUS.I could myselfTake up a brace o’ th’ best of them, yea, the two tribunes.
COMINIUS.But now ’tis odds beyond arithmetic,And manhood is called foolery when it standsAgainst a falling fabric. Will you hence,Before the tag return, whose rage doth rendLike interrupted waters, and o’erbearWhat they are used to bear?
MENENIUS.Pray you, begone.I’ll try whether my old wit be in requestWith those that have but little. This must be patchedWith cloth of any colour.
COMINIUS.Nay, come away.
[ExeuntCoriolanusandCominius.]
PATRICIAN.This man has marred his fortune.
MENENIUS.His nature is too noble for the world.He would not flatter Neptune for his tridentOr Jove for’s power to thunder. His heart’s his mouth;What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent,And, being angry, does forget that everHe heard the name of death.
[A noise within.]
Here’s goodly work.
PATRICIAN.I would they were abed!
MENENIUS.I would they were in Tiber! What the vengeance,Could he not speak ’em fair?
EnterBrutusandSiciniuswith the rabble again.
SICINIUS.Where is this viperThat would depopulate the city andBe every man himself?
MENENIUS.You worthy tribunes—
SICINIUS.He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rockWith rigorous hands. He hath resisted law,And therefore law shall scorn him further trialThan the severity of the public powerWhich he so sets at naught.
FIRST CITIZEN.He shall well knowThe noble tribunes are the people’s mouths,And we their hands.
ALL PLEBEIANS.He shall, sure on’t.
MENENIUS.Sir, sir—
SICINIUS.Peace!
MENENIUS.Do not cry havoc where you should but huntWith modest warrant.
SICINIUS.Sir, how comes’t that youHave holp to make this rescue?
MENENIUS.Hear me speak.As I do know the Consul’s worthiness,So can I name his faults.
SICINIUS.Consul? What consul?
MENENIUS.The consul Coriolanus.
BRUTUS.He consul?
ALL PLEBEIANS.No, no, no, no, no!
MENENIUS.If, by the Tribunes’ leave, and yours, good people,I may be heard, I would crave a word or two,The which shall turn you to no further harmThan so much loss of time.
SICINIUS.Speak briefly then,For we are peremptory to dispatchThis viperous traitor. To eject him henceWere but one danger, and to keep him hereOur certain death. Therefore it is decreedHe dies tonight.
MENENIUS.Now the good gods forbidThat our renowned Rome, whose gratitudeTowards her deserved children is enrolledIn Jove’s own book, like an unnatural damShould now eat up her own.
SICINIUS.He’s a disease that must be cut away.
MENENIUS.O, he’s a limb that has but a disease—Mortal to cut it off; to cure it easy.What has he done to Rome that’s worthy death?Killing our enemies, the blood he hath lost—Which I dare vouch is more than that he hathBy many an ounce—he dropt it for his country;And what is left, to lose it by his countryWere to us all, that do’t and suffer itA brand to th’ end o’ th’ world.
SICINIUS.This is clean cam.
BRUTUS.Merely awry. When he did love his country,It honoured him.
MENENIUS.The service of the foot,Being once gangrened, is not then respectedFor what before it was.
BRUTUS.We’ll hear no more.Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence,Lest his infection, being of catching nature,Spread further.
MENENIUS.One word more, one word!This tiger-footed rage, when it shall findThe harm of unscanned swiftness, will too late,Tie leaden pounds to’s heels. Proceed by process,Lest parties—as he is beloved—break outAnd sack great Rome with Romans.
BRUTUS.If it were so—
SICINIUS.What do ye talk?Have we not had a taste of his obedience?Our aediles smote! Ourselves resisted? Come.
MENENIUS.Consider this: he has been bred i’ th’ warsSince he could draw a sword, and is ill schooledIn bolted language; meal and bran togetherHe throws without distinction. Give me leave,I’ll go to him and undertake to bring himWhere he shall answer by a lawful form,In peace, to his utmost peril.
FIRST SENATOR.Noble tribunes,It is the humane way: the other courseWill prove too bloody, and the end of itUnknown to the beginning.
SICINIUS.Noble Menenius,Be you then as the people’s officer.—Masters, lay down your weapons.
BRUTUS.Go not home.
SICINIUS.Meet on the marketplace. We’ll attend you there,Where if you bring not Martius, we’ll proceedIn our first way.
MENENIUS.I’ll bring him to you.[To Senators.] Let me desire your company. He must come,Or what is worst will follow.
FIRST SENATOR.Pray you, let’s to him.
[Exeunt.]
EnterCoriolanuswith Nobles.
CORIOLANUS.Let them pull all about mine ears, present meDeath on the wheel or at wild horses’ heels,Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock,That the precipitation might down stretchBelow the beam of sight, yet will I stillBe thus to them.
FIRST PATRICIAN.You do the nobler.
CORIOLANUS.I muse my motherDoes not approve me further, who was wontTo call them woollen vassals, things createdTo buy and sell with groats, to show bare headsIn congregations, to yawn, be still, and wonderWhen one but of my ordinance stood upTo speak of peace or war.
EnterVolumnia.
I talk of you.Why did you wish me milder? Would you have meFalse to my nature? Rather say I playThe man I am.
VOLUMNIA.O, sir, sir, sir,I would have had you put your power well onBefore you had worn it out.
CORIOLANUS.Let go.
VOLUMNIA.You might have been enough the man you areWith striving less to be so. Lesser had beenThe thwartings of your dispositions ifYou had not showed them how ye were disposedEre they lacked power to cross you.
CORIOLANUS.Let them hang!
VOLUMNIA.Ay, and burn too.
EnterMeneniuswith theSenators.
MENENIUS.Come, come, you have been too rough, something too rough.You must return and mend it.
FIRST SENATOR.There’s no remedy,Unless, by not so doing, our good cityCleave in the midst and perish.
VOLUMNIA.Pray be counselled.I have a heart as little apt as yours,But yet a brain that leads my use of angerTo better vantage.
MENENIUS.Well said, noble woman.Before he should thus stoop to th’ herd—but thatThe violent fit o’ th’ time craves it as physicFor the whole state—I would put mine armour on,Which I can scarcely bear.
CORIOLANUS.What must I do?
MENENIUS.Return to th’ Tribunes.
CORIOLANUS.Well, what then? What then?
MENENIUS.Repent what you have spoke.
CORIOLANUS.For them? I cannot do it to the gods.Must I then do’t to them?
VOLUMNIA.You are too absolute,Though therein you can never be too nobleBut when extremities speak. I have heard you sayHonour and policy, like unsevered friends,I’ th’ war do grow together. Grant that, and tell meIn peace what each of them by th’ other loseThat they combine not there.
CORIOLANUS.Tush, tush!
MENENIUS.A good demand.
VOLUMNIA.If it be honour in your wars to seemThe same you are not, which for your best endsYou adopt your policy, how is it less or worseThat it shall hold companionship in peaceWith honour as in war, since that to bothIt stands in like request?
CORIOLANUS.Why force you this?
VOLUMNIA.Because that now it lies you on to speakTo th’ people, not by your own instruction,Nor by th’ matter which your heart prompts you,But with such words that are but rooted inYour tongue, though but bastards and syllablesOf no allowance to your bosom’s truth.Now, this no more dishonours you at allThan to take in a town with gentle words,Which else would put you to your fortune andThe hazard of much blood.I would dissemble with my nature whereMy fortunes and my friends at stake requiredI should do so in honour. I am in thisYour wife, your son, these senators, the nobles;And you will rather show our general loutsHow you can frown than spend a fawn upon ’emFor the inheritance of their loves and safeguardOf what that want might ruin.
MENENIUS.Noble lady!—Come, go with us; speak fair. You may salve so,Not what is dangerous present, but the lossOf what is past.
VOLUMNIA.I prithee now, my son,Go to them with this bonnet in thy hand,And thus far having stretched it—here be with them—Thy knee bussing the stones—for in such businesAction is eloquence, and the eyes of th’ ignorantMore learned than the ears—waving thy head,Which often thus correcting thy stout heart,Now humble as the ripest mulberryThat will not hold the handling. Or say to themThou art their soldier and, being bred in broils,Hast not the soft way, which thou dost confessWere fit for thee to use, as they to claim,In asking their good loves; but thou wilt frameThyself, forsooth, hereafter theirs, so farAs thou hast power and person.
MENENIUS.This but doneEven as she speaks, why, their hearts were yours;For they have pardons, being asked, as freeAs words to little purpose.
VOLUMNIA.Prithee now,Go, and be ruled; although I know thou hadst ratherFollow thine enemy in a fiery gulfThan flatter him in a bower.
EnterCominius.
Here is Cominius.
COMINIUS.I have been i’ th’ marketplace; and, sir, ’tis fitYou make strong party or defend yourselfBy calmness or by absence. All’s in anger.
MENENIUS.Only fair speech.
COMINIUS.I think ’twill serve, if heCan thereto frame his spirit.
VOLUMNIA.He must, and will.—Prithee, now, say you will, and go about it.
CORIOLANUS.Must I go show them my unbarbed sconce? Must IWith my base tongue give to my noble heartA lie that it must bear? Well, I will do’t.Yet, were there but this single plot to lose,This mould of Martius, they to dust should grind itAnd throw’t against the wind. To th’ marketplace!You have put me now to such a part which neverI shall discharge to th’ life.
COMINIUS.Come, come, we’ll prompt you.
VOLUMNIA.I prithee now, sweet son, as thou hast saidMy praises made thee first a soldier, so,To have my praise for this, perform a partThou hast not done before.
CORIOLANUS.Well, I must do’t.Away, my disposition, and possess meSome harlot’s spirit! My throat of war be turned,Which choired with my drum, into a pipeSmall as an eunuch or the virgin voiceThat babies lulls asleep! The smiles of knavesTent in my cheeks, and schoolboys’ tears take upThe glasses of my sight! A beggar’s tongueMake motion through my lips, and my armed knees,Who bowed but in my stirrup, bend like hisThat hath received an alms! I will not do’t,Lest I surcease to honour mine own truthAnd, by my body’s action, teach my mindA most inherent baseness.
VOLUMNIA.At thy choice, then.To beg of thee, it is my more dishonourThan thou of them. Come all to ruin. LetThy mother rather feel thy pride than fearThy dangerous stoutness, for I mock at deathWith as big heart as thou. Do as thou list.Thy valiantness was mine; thou suck’dst it from me,But owe thy pride thyself.
CORIOLANUS.Pray, be content.Mother, I am going to the marketplace.Chide me no more. I’ll mountebank their loves,Cog their hearts from them, and come home belovedOf all the trades in Rome. Look, I am going.Commend me to my wife. I’ll return consul,Or never trust to what my tongue can doI’ th’ way of flattery further.
VOLUMNIA.Do your will.
[ExitVolumnia.]
COMINIUS.Away! The Tribunes do attend you. Arm yourselfTo answer mildly, for they are preparedWith accusations, as I hear, more strongThan are upon you yet.
CORIOLANUS.The word is “mildly.” Pray you, let us go.Let them accuse me by invention, IWill answer in mine honour.
MENENIUS.Ay, but mildly.
CORIOLANUS.Well, mildly be it, then. Mildly.
[Exeunt.]
EnterSiciniusandBrutus.
BRUTUS.In this point charge him home, that he affectsTyrannical power. If he evade us there,Enforce him with his envy to the people,And that the spoil got on the AntiatesWas ne’er distributed.
Enter anAedile.
What, will he come?
AEDILE.He’s coming.
BRUTUS.How accompanied?
AEDILE.With old Menenius, and those senatorsThat always favoured him.
SICINIUS.Have you a catalogueOf all the voices that we have procured,Set down by th’ poll?
AEDILE.I have. ’Tis ready.
SICINIUS.Have you collected them by tribes?
AEDILE.I have.
SICINIUS.Assemble presently the people hither;And when they hear me say “It shall be soI’ th’ right and strength o’ th’ commons,” be it eitherFor death, for fine, or banishment, then let themIf I say “Fine,” cry “Fine,” if “Death,” cry “Death,”Insisting on the old prerogativeAnd power i’ th’ truth o’ th’ cause.
AEDILE.I shall inform them.
BRUTUS.And when such time they have begun to cry,Let them not cease, but with a din confusedEnforce the present executionOf what we chance to sentence.
AEDILE.Very well.
SICINIUS.Make them be strong and ready for this hintWhen we shall hap to give’t them.
BRUTUS.Go about it.
[ExitAedile.]
Put him to choler straight. He hath been usedEver to conquer and to have his worthOf contradiction. Being once chafed, he cannotBe reined again to temperance; then he speaksWhat’s in his heart; and that is there which looksWith us to break his neck.
EnterCoriolanus, MeneniusandCominiuswith other Senators.
SICINIUS.Well, here he comes.
MENENIUS.Calmly, I do beseech you.
CORIOLANUS.Ay, as an ostler, that for th’ poorest pieceWill bear the knave by th’ volume.—Th’ honoured godsKeep Rome in safety and the chairs of justiceSupplied with worthy men! Plant love among’s!Throng our large temples with the shows of peaceAnd not our streets with war!
FIRST SENATOR.Amen, amen.
MENENIUS.A noble wish.
Enter theAedilewith the Plebeians.
SICINIUS.Draw near, ye people.
AEDILE.List to your tribunes. Audience! Peace, I say!
CORIOLANUS.First, hear me speak.
BOTH TRIBUNES.Well, say.—Peace, ho!
CORIOLANUS.Shall I be charged no further than this present?Must all determine here?
SICINIUS.I do demandIf you submit you to the people’s voices,Allow their officers, and are contentTo suffer lawful censure for such faultsAs shall be proved upon you.
CORIOLANUS.I am content.
MENENIUS.Lo, citizens, he says he is content.The warlike service he has done, consider. ThinkUpon the wounds his body bears, which showLike graves i’ th’ holy churchyard.
CORIOLANUS.Scratches with briars,Scars to move laughter only.
MENENIUS.Consider further,That when he speaks not like a citizen,You find him like a soldier. Do not takeHis rougher accents for malicious sounds,But, as I say, such as become a soldierRather than envy you.
COMINIUS.Well, well, no more.
CORIOLANUS.What is the matter,That, being passed for consul with full voice,I am so dishonoured that the very hourYou take it off again?
SICINIUS.Answer to us.
CORIOLANUS.Say then. ’Tis true, I ought so.
SICINIUS.We charge you that you have contrived to takeFrom Rome all seasoned office and to windYourself into a power tyrannical,For which you are a traitor to the people.
CORIOLANUS.How? Traitor?
MENENIUS.Nay, temperately! Your promise.
CORIOLANUS.The fires i’ th’ lowest hell fold in the people!Call me their traitor? Thou injurious tribune!Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,In thy hands clutched as many millions, inThy lying tongue both numbers, I would say“Thou liest” unto thee with a voice as freeAs I do pray the gods.
SICINIUS.Mark you this, people?
ALL PLEBEIANS.To th’ rock, to th’ rock with him!
SICINIUS.Peace!We need not put new matter to his charge.What you have seen him do and heard him speak,Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,Opposing laws with strokes, and here defyingThose whose great power must try him—even this,So criminal and in such capital kind,Deserves th’ extremest death.
BRUTUS.But since he hathServed well for Rome—
CORIOLANUS.What do you prate of service?
BRUTUS.I talk of that that know it.
CORIOLANUS.You?
MENENIUS.Is this the promise that you made your mother?
COMINIUS.Know, I pray you—
CORIOLANUS.I’ll know no further.Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to lingerBut with a grain a day, I would not buyTheir mercy at the price of one fair word,Nor check my courage for what they can give,To have’t with saying “Good morrow.”
SICINIUS.For that he has,As much as in him lies, from time to timeEnvied against the people, seeking meansTo pluck away their power, as now at lastGiven hostile strokes, and that not in the presenceOf dreaded justice, but on the ministersThat do distribute it, in the name o’ th’ peopleAnd in the power of us the Tribunes, we,Even from this instant, banish him our cityIn peril of precipitationFrom off the rock Tarpeian, never moreTo enter our Rome gates. I’ th’ people’s name,I say it shall be so.
ALL PLEBEIANS.It shall be so, it shall be so! Let him away!He’s banished, and it shall be so.
COMINIUS.Hear me, my masters and my common friends—
SICINIUS.He’s sentenced. No more hearing.
COMINIUS.Let me speak.I have been consul and can show for RomeHer enemies’ marks upon me. I do loveMy country’s good with a respect more tender,More holy and profound, than mine own life,My dear wife’s estimate, her womb’s increase,And treasure of my loins. Then if I wouldSpeak that—
SICINIUS.We know your drift. Speak what?
BRUTUS.There’s no more to be said, but he is banishedAs enemy to the people and his country.It shall be so.
ALL PLEBEIANS.It shall be so, it shall be so!
CORIOLANUS.You common cry of curs, whose breath I hateAs reek o’ th’ rotten fens, whose loves I prizeAs the dead carcasses of unburied menThat do corrupt my air, I banish you!And here remain with your uncertainty;Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts;Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,Fan you into despair! Have the power stillTo banish your defenders, till at lengthYour ignorance—which finds not till it feels,Making but reservation of yourselves,Still your own foes—deliver you,As most abated captives to some nationThat won you without blows! DespisingFor you the city, thus I turn my back.There is a world elsewhere.
[ExeuntCoriolanus, Cominius,with other Senators.]
AEDILE.The people’s enemy is gone, is gone.
ALL PLEBEIANS.Our enemy is banished; he is gone. Hoo, hoo!
[They all shout and throw up their caps.]
SICINIUS.Go see him out at gates, and follow him,As he hath followed you, with all despite.Give him deserved vexation. Let a guardAttend us through the city.
ALL PLEBEIANS.Come, come, let’s see him out at gates! Come!The gods preserve our noble tribunes! Come.
[Exeunt.]