SHAKESPEARE ON DISK. CORIOLANUS. ACT III. SCENE I. [Rome. A street.] [Cornets. Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, all the GENTRY, COMINIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, and other SENATORS.] CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Tullus Aufidius, then, had made new head? 3/1/1 TITUS LARTIUS. He had, my lord; and that it was which caused Our swifter composition. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. So, then, the Volsces stand but as at first; Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make road Upon's again. COMINIUS. They are worn, lord consul, so, That we shall hardly in our ages see Their banners wave again. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Saw you Aufidius? TITUS LARTIUS. On safe-guard he came to me; and did curse Against the Volsces, for they had so vilely 3/1/10 Yielded the town: he is retired to Antium. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Spoke he of me? TITUS LARTIUS. He did, my lord. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. How? what? TITUS LARTIUS. 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. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. At Antium lives he? TITUS LARTIUS. At Antium. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. I wish I had a cause to seek him there, To oppose his hatred fully. Welcome home. 3/1/20 [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. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Pass no further. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Ha! what is that? JUNIUS BRUTUS. It will be dangerous to go on: no further. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. What makes this change? MENENIUS AGRIPPA. The matter? COMINIUS. Hath he not pass'd the noble and the common? JUNIUS BRUTUS. Cominius, no. 3/1/30 CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Have I had children's voices? FIRST SENATOR. Tribunes, give way; he shall to the market-place. JUNIUS BRUTUS. The people are incensed against him. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Stop, Or all will fall in broil. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. 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? MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Be calm, be calm. CAIUS MARCIUS 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 rule, 3/1/40 Nor ever will be ruled. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Call't not a plot: The people cry you mock'd them; and of late, When corn was given them gratis, you repined; Scandal'd the suppliants for the people,- call'd them Time-pleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Why, this was known before. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Not to them all. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Have you inform'd them sithence? JUNIUS BRUTUS. How! I inform them! CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. You are like to do such business. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Not unlike, Each way, to better yours. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Why, then, should I be consul? By yond clouds, 3/1/50 Let me deserve so ill as you, and make me Your fellow tribune. SICINIUS VELUTUS. 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. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Let's be calm. COMINIUS. The people are abused; set on. This paltering Becomes not Rome; nor has Coriolanus Deserved this so dishonour'd rub, laid falsely 3/1/60 I' the plain way of his merit. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Tell me of corn! This was my speech, and I will speak't again,- MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Not now, not now. FIRST SENATOR. Not in this heat, sir, now. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Now, as I live, I will.- My nobler friends, I crave their pardons:- For the mutable, rank-scented meiny, let them Regard me as I do not flatter, and Therein behold themselves: I say again, In soothing them, we nourish 'gainst our senate The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition, 3/1/70 Which we ourselves have plough'd for, sow'd, and scatter'd, By mingling them with us, the honour'd number; Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that Which they have given to beggars. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Well, no more. FIRST SENATOR. No more words, we beseech you. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. How! no more! As for my country I have shed my blood, Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungs Coin words till their decay against those measles, Which we disdain should tetter us, yet sought The very way to catch them. 3/1/80 JUNIUS BRUTUS. You speak o' the people, As if you were a god to punish, not A man of their infirmity. SICINIUS VELUTUS. 'Twere well We let the people know't. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. What, what? his choler? CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Choler! Were I as patient as the midnight sleep, By Jove, 'twould be my mind! SICINIUS VELUTUS. It is a mind That shall remain a poison where it is, Not poison any further. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Shall remain!- Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you His absolute "shall"? 3/1/90 COMINIUS. 'Twas from the canon. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. "Shall"! O good, but most unwise patricians! why, You grave, but reckless senators, have you thus Given Hydra here to choose an officer, That with his peremptory "shall," being but The horn and noise o' th'monster, wants not spirit To say he'll turn your current in a ditch, And make your channel his? If he have power, Then vail your ignorance; if none, awake Your dangerous lenity. If you are learn'd, Be not as common fools; if you are not, 3/1/100 Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians, If they be senators: and they are no less, When, both your voices blended, the great'st taste Most palates theirs. They choose their magistrate; And such a one as he, who puts his "shall," His popular "shall," against a graver bench Than ever frown'd in Greece. By Jove himself, It makes the consuls base! and my soul aches To know, when two authorities are up, Neither supreme, how soon confusion 3/1/110 May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take The one by th'other. COMINIUS. Well,- on to the market-place. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Whoever gave that counsel, to give forth The corn o' the storehouse gratis, as 'twas used Sometime in Greece,- MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Well, well, no more of that. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Though there the people had more absolute power,- I say, they nourish'd disobedience, fed The ruin of the state. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Why, shall the people give One, that speaks thus, their voice? CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. I'll give my reasons, More worthier than their voices. They know the corn 3/1/120 Was not their recompense, resting well assured They ne'er did service for't: being press'd to the war, Even when the navel of the state was touch'd, They would not thread the gates:- this kind of service Did not deserve corn gratis: being i' the war, Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they show'd Most valour, spoke not for them: th'accusation Which they have often made against the senate, All cause unborn, could never be the native Of our so frank donation. Well, what then? 3/1/130 How shall this bosom multiplied digest The senate's courtesy? Let deeds express What's like to be their words;- "We did request it; We are the greater poll, and in true fear They gave us our demands:"- thus we debase The nature of our seats, and make the rabble Call our cares fears; which will in time Break ope the locks o' the senate, and bring in The crows to peck the eagles. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Come, enough. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Enough, with over-measure. 3/1/140 CAIUS MARCIUS 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 other Insult without all reason; where gentry, title, wisdom, Cannot conclude but by the yea and no Of general ignorance,- it must omit Real necessities, and give way the while To unstable slightness: purpose so barr'd, it follows, Nothing is done to purpose. Therefore, beseech you,- You that will be less fearful than discreet; 3/1/150 That love the fundamental part of state More than you doubt the change on't; that prefer A noble life before a long, and wish To jump a body with a dangerous physic That's sure of death without it,- at once pluck out The multitudinous tongue; let them not lick The sweet which is their poison: your dishonor Mangles true judgement, and bereaves the state Of that integrity which should become't; Not having the power to do the good it would, 3/1/160 For th'ill which doth control't. JUNIUS BRUTUS. 'Has said enough. SICINIUS VELUTUS. 'Has spoken like a traitor, and shall answer As traitors do. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Thou wretch, despite o'erwhelm thee!- What should the people do with these bald tribunes? On whom depending, their obedience fails To the 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' the dust. 3/1/170 JUNIUS BRUTUS. Manifest treason! SICINIUS VELUTUS. This a consul? no. JUNIUS BRUTUS. The aediles, ho! [Enter an AEDILE.] Let him be apprehended. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Go, call the people [exit AEDILE.]:- in whose name myself Attach thee as a traitorous innovator, A foe to the public weal: obey, I charge thee, And follow to thine answer. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Hence, old goat! SENATORS, etc. We'll surety him. COMINIUS. Aged sir, hands off. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Hence, rotten thing! or I shall shake thy bones Out of thy garments. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Help, ye citizens! [Enter a rabble of CITIZENS, with the AEDILES.] MENENIUS AGRIPPA. On both sides more respect. 3/1/180 SICINIUS VELUTUS. Here's he that would take from you all your power. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Seize him, aediles! CITIZENS. Down with him! down with him! SENATORS, &c. Weapons, weapons, weapons! [They all bustle about CORIOLANUS.] Tribunes!- Patricians!- Citizens!- What, ho!- Sicinius!- Brutus!- Coriolanus!- Citizens!- Peace, peace, peace!- Stay, hold, peace! MENENIUS AGRIPPA. What is about to be?- I am out of breath; Confusion's near; I cannot speak.- You, tribunes To the people!- Coriolanus, patience:- 3/1/190 Speak, good Sicinius. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Hear me, people; peace! CITIZENS. Let's hear our tribune: peace!- Speak, speak, speak. SICINIUS VELUTUS. You are at point to lose your liberties: Marcius would have all from you; Marcius Whom late you have named for consul. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Fie, fie, fie! This is the way to kindle, not to quench. FIRST SENATOR. To unbuild the city, and to lay all flat. SICINIUS VELUTUS. What is the city but the people? CITIZENS. True, The people are the city. JUNIUS BRUTUS. By the consent of all, we were establish'd 3/1/200 The people's magistrates. CITIZENS. You so remain. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. And so are like to do. COMINIUS. That is the way to lay the city flat; To bring the roof to the foundation, And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges, In heaps and piles of ruin. SICINIUS VELUTUS. This deserves death. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Or let us stand to our authority, Or let us lose it.- We do here pronounce, Upon the part o' the people, in whose power We were elected theirs, Marcius is worthy 3/1/210 Of present death. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Therefore lay hold of him; Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from thence Into destruction cast him. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Aediles, seize him! CITIZENS. Yield, Marcius, yield! MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Hear me one word: Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word. AEDILES. Peace, peace! MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Be that you seem, truly your country's friends, And temperately proceed to what you would Thus violently redress. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Sir, those cold ways, That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous 3/1/220 Where the disease is violent.- Lay hands upon him, And bear him to the rock. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. No, I'll die here. [Drawing his sword.] There's some among you have beheld me fighting: Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Down with that sword!- Tribunes, withdraw awhile. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Lay hands upon him. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Help Marcius, help, You that be noble; help him, young and old! CITIZENS. Down with him! down with him! [In this mutiny the TRIBUNES, the AEDILES, and the PEOPLE, are beat in.] MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Go, get you to your house; be gone, away! All will be naught else. 3/1/230 SECOND SENATOR. Get you gone. COMINIUS. Stand fast; We have as many friends as enemies. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. 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 AGRIPPA. For 'tis a sore upon us, You cannot tent yourself: be gone, beseech you. COMINIUS. Come, sir, along with us. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. I would they were barbarians, as they are, Though in Rome litter'd; not Romans, as they are not, Though calved i' the porch o' the Capitol.- MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Be gone; Put not your worthy rage into your tongue; 3/1/240 One time will owe another. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. On fair ground I could beat forty of them. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. I could myself Take up a brace o' the best of them; yea, the two tribunes. COMINIUS. But now 'tis odds beyond arithmetic; And manhood is call'd foolery, when it stands Against a falling fabric.- Will you hence, Before the tag return? whose rage doth rend Like interrupted waters, and o'erbear What they are used to bear. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Pray you, be gone: I'll try whether my old wit be in request 3/1/250 With those that have but little: this must be patch'd With cloth of any colour. COMINIUS. Nay, come away. [Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, and others.] FIRST PATRICIAN. This man has marr'd his fortune. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. His nature is too noble for the world: He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, Or 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 ever He heard the name of death.- [A noise within.] Here's goodly work! 3/1/260 SECOND PATRICIAN. I would they were a-bed! MENENIUS AGRIPPA. I would they were in Tiber! What the vengeance Could he not speak 'em fair? [Enter BRUTUS and SICINIUS, with the rabble again.] SICINIUS VELUTUS. Where is this viper, That would depopulate the city, and Be every man himself? MENENIUS AGRIPPA. You worthy tribunes,- SICINIUS VELUTUS. He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rock With rigorous hands; he hath resisted law, And therefore law shall scorn him further trial Than the severity of the public power, Which he so sets at naught. FIRST CITIZEN. He shall well know The noble tribunes are the people's mouths, 3/1/270 And we their hands. CITIZENS. He shall, sure on't. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Sir, sir,- SICINIUS VELUTUS. Peace! MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt With modest warrant. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Sir, how comes't that you Have holp to make this rescue? MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Hear me speak:- As I do know the consul's worthiness, So can I name his faults,- SICINIUS VELUTUS. Consul!- what consul? MENENIUS AGRIPPA. The consul Coriolanus. JUNIUS BRUTUS. He consul! CITIZENS. No, no, no, no, no. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. If, by the tribunes' leave, and yours, good people, 3/1/280 I may be heard, I'ld crave a word or two; The which shall turn you to no further harm Than so much loss of time. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Speak briefly, then; For we are peremptory to dispatch This viperous traitor: to eject him hence Were but our danger; and to keep him here Our certain death: therefore it is decreed He dies to-night. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Now the good gods forbid That our renowned Rome, whose gratitude Towards her deserved children is enroll'd 3/1/290 In Jove's own book, like an unnatural dam Should now eat up her own! SICINIUS VELUTUS. He's a disease that must be cut away. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. 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 hath, By many an ounce- he dropp'd it for his country; And what is left, to lose it by his country, 3/1/300 Were to us all, that do't and suffer it, A brand to the end o' the world. SICINIUS VELUTUS. This is clean kam. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Merely awry: when he did love his country, It honour'd him. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. The service of the foot Being once gangrened, is not then respected For what before it was. JUNIUS 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 AGRIPPA. One word more, one word. This tiger-footed rage, when it shall find 3/1/310 The harm of unscann'd swiftness, will, too late, Tie leaden pounds to's heels. Proceed by process; Lest parties- as he is beloved- break out, And sack great Rome with Romans. JUNIUS BRUTUS. If it were so,- SICINIUS VELUTUS. What do ye talk? Have we not had a taste of his obedience? Our aediles smote? ourselves resisted? Come,- MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Consider this:- he has been bred i' the wars Since he could draw a sword, and is ill school'd In bolted language; meal and bran together 3/1/320 He throws without distinction. Give me leave, I'll go to him, and undertake to bring him Where he shall answer, by a lawful form,- In peace,- to his utmost peril. FIRST SENATOR. Noble tribunes, It is the humane way: the other course Will prove too bloody; and the end of it Unknown to the beginning. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Noble Menenius, Be you, then, as the people's officer.- Masters, lay down your weapons. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Go not home. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Meet on the market-place. We'll attend you there: 3/1/330 Where, if you bring not Marcius, we'll proceed In our first way. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. I'll bring him to you.- [to the 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. [A room in Coriolanus' house.] [Enter CORIOLANUS and PATRICIANS.] CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Let them pull all about mine ears; present me 3/2/1 Death on the wheel or at wild horses' heels; Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock, That the precipitation might down stretch Below the beam of sight; yet will I still Be thus to them. FIRST PATRICIAN. You do the nobler. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. I muse my mother Does not approve me further, who was wont To call them woollen vassals, things created To buy and sell with groats; to show bare heads 3/2/10 In congregations, to yawn, be still, and wonder, When one but of my ordinance stood up To speak of peace or war. [Enter VOLUMNIA.] I talk of you: Why did you wish me milder? would you have me False to my nature? Rather say, I play The man I am. VOLUMNIA. O, sir, sir, sir, I would have had you put your power well on, Before you had worn it out. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Let go. VOLUMNIA. You might have been enough the man you are, With striving less to be so: lesser had been 3/2/20 The thwartings of your disposition, if You had not show'd them how ye were disposed Ere they lack'd power to cross you. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Let them hang. VOLUMNIA. Ay, and burn too. [Enter MENENIUS with the SENATORS.] MENENIUS AGRIPPA. 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 city Cleave in the midst, and perish. VOLUMNIA. Pray, be counsell'd: I have a heart as little apt as yours, But yet a brain that leads my use of anger 3/2/30 To better vantage. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Well said, noble woman! Before he should thus stoop to the herd, but that The violent fit o' the time craves it as physic For the whole state, I would put mine armour on, Which I can scarcely bear. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. What must I do? MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Return to the tribunes. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Well, what then? what then? MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Repent what you have spoke. CAIUS MARCIUS 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 noble, 3/2/40 But when extremities speak. I have heard you say, Honour and policy, like unsever'd friends, I' the war do grow together: grant that, and tell me, In peace what each of them by th'other lose, That they combine not there. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Tush, tush! MENENIUS AGRIPPA. A good demand. VOLUMNIA. If it be honour in your wars to seem The same you are not,- which, for your best ends, You adopt your policy,- how is it less or worse, That it shall hold companionship in peace With honour, as in war; since that to both 3/2/50 It stands in like request? CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Why force you this? VOLUMNIA. Because that now it lies you on to speak To the people; not by your own instruction, Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you, But with such words that are but roted in Your tongue, though but bastards, and syllables Of no allowance to your bosom's truth. Now, this no more dishonours you at all Than to take in a town with gentle words, Which else would put you to your fortune, and 3/2/60 The hazard of much blood. I would dissemble with my nature, where My fortunes and my friends at stake required I should do so in honour: I am, in this, Your wife, your son, these senators, the nobles; And you will rather show our general louts How you can frown than spend a fawn upon 'em, For the inheritance of their loves, and safeguard Of what that want might ruin. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Noble lady!- Come, go with us; speak fair: you may salve so, 3/2/70 Not what is dangerous present, but the loss Of what is past. VOLUMNIA. I prithee now, my son, Go to them, with this bonnet in thy hand; And thus far having stretch'd it,- here be with them,- Thy knee bussing the stones,- for in such business Action is eloquence, and the eyes of th'ignorant More learned than the ears,- waving thy head, Which often, thus, correcting thy stout heart, Now humble as the ripest mulberry That will not hold the handling,- or say to them, 3/2/80 Thou art their soldier, and, being bred in broils, Hast not the soft way which, thou dost confess, Were fit for thee to use, as they to claim, In asking their good loves; but thou wilt frame Thyself, forsooth, hereafter theirs, so far As thou hast power and person. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. This but done, Even as she speaks it, why, their hearts were yours; For they have pardons, being ask'd, as free As words to little purpose. VOLUMNIA. Prithee now, Go, and be ruled: although I know thou hadst rather 3/2/90 Follow thine enemy in a fiery gulf Than flatter him in a bower.- Here is Cominius. [Enter COMINIUS.] COMINIUS. I have been i' the market-place; and, sir, 'tis fit You make strong party, or defend yourself By calmness or by absence: all's in anger. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Only fair speech. COMINIUS. I think 'twill serve, if he Can thereto frame his spirit. VOLUMNIA. He must, and will.- Prithee now, say you will, and go about it. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Must I go show them my unbarb'd sconce? must I With my base tongue give to my noble heart 3/2/100 A lie that it must bear? Well, I will do't: Yet, were there but this single plot to lose, This mould of Marcius, they to dust should grind it, And throw't against the wind.- To the marketplace!- You have put me now to such a part, which never I shall discharge to the life. COMINIUS. Come, come, we'll prompt you. VOLUMNIA. I prithee now, sweet son,- as thou hast said My praises made thee first a soldier, so To have my praise for this, perform a part Thou hast not done before. 3/2/110 CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Well, I must do't: Away, my disposition, and possess me Some harlot's spirit! my throat of war be turn'd, Which quired with my drum, into a pipe Small as an eunuch, or the virgin voice That babies lulls asleep! the smiles of knaves Tent in my cheeks; and schoolboys' tears take up The glasses of my sight! a beggar's tongue Make motion through my lips; and my arm'd knees, Who bow'd but in my stirrup, bend like his That hath received an alms!- I will not do't; 3/2/120 Lest I surcease to honor mine own truth, And by my body's action teach my mind A most inherent baseness. VOLUMNIA. At thy choice, then: To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour Than thou of them. Come all to ruin: let Thy mother rather feel thy pride than fear Thy dangerous stoutness; for I mock at death With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list. Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck'dst it from me; But owe thy pride thyself. 3/2/130 CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Pray, be content: Mother, I am going to the market-place; Chide me no more. I'll mountebank their loves, Cog their hearts from them, and come home beloved Of 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 do I' the way of flattery further. VOLUMNIA. Do your will. [Exit.] COMINIUS. Away! the tribunes do attend you: arm yourself To answer mildly; for they are prepared With accusations, as I hear, more strong 3/2/140 Than are upon you yet. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. The word is "mildly:"- pray you, let us go: Let them accuse me by invention, I Will answer in mine honour. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Ay, but mildly. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Well, mildly be it, then,- mildly! [Exeunt.] SCENE III. [Rome. The Forum.] [Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS.] JUNIUS BRUTUS. In this point charge him home,- that he affects 3/3/1 Tyrannical power: if he evade us there, Enforce him with his envy to the people; And that the spoil got on the Antiates Was ne'er distributed. [Enter an AEDILE.] What, will he come? AEDILE. He's coming. JUNIUS BRUTUS. How accompanied? AEDILE. With old Menenius, and those senators That always favour'd him. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Have you a catalogue Of all the voices that we have procured, Set down by the poll? 3/3/10 AEDILE. I have; 'tis ready. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Have you collected them by tribes? AEDILE. I have. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Assemble presently the people hither: And when they hear me say, "It shall be so I' th'right and strength o' th'commons," be it either For death, for fine, or banishment, then let them, If I say fine, cry "Fine,"- if death, cry "Death;" Insisting on the old prerogative And power i' the truth o' the cause. AEDILE. I shall inform them. JUNIUS BRUTUS. And when such time they have begun to cry, Let them not cease, but with a din confused 3/3/20 Enforce the present execution Of what we chance to sentence. AEDILE. Very well. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Make them be strong, and ready for this hint, When we shall hap to give't them. JUNIUS BRUTUS. Go about it.- [Exit AEDILE.] Put him to choler straight: he hath been used Ever to conquer, and to have his worth Of contradiction: being once chafed, he cannot Be rein'd again to temperance; then he speaks What's in his heart; and that is there which looks With us to break his neck. 3/3/30 SICINIUS VELUTUS. Well, here he comes. [Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, COMINIUS, with SENATORS and PATRICIANS.] MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Calmly, I do beseech you. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Ay, as an ostler, that for the poorest piece Will bear the knave by the volume.- The honour'd gods Keep Rome in safety, and the chairs of justice Supplied with worthy men! plant love among's! Throng our large temples with the shows of peace, And not our streets with war! FIRST SENATOR. Amen, amen. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. A noble wish. [Enter the AEDILE, with CITIZENS.] SICINIUS VELUTUS. Draw near, ye people. AEDILE. List to your tribunes; audience! peace, I say! 3/3/40 CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. First, hear me speak. BOTH TRIBUNES. Well, say.- Peace, ho! CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Shall I be charged no further than this present? Must all determine here? SICINIUS VELUTUS. I do demand If you submit you to the people's voices, Allow their officers, and are content To suffer lawful censure for such faults As shall be proved upon you? CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. I am content. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Lo, citizens, he says he is content: The warlike service he has done consider; think Upon the wounds his body bears, which show 3/3/50 Like graves i' the holy churchyard. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Scratches with briers, Scars to move laughter only. MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Consider further, That when he speaks not like a citizen, You find him like a soldier: do not take His rougher accents for malicious sounds, But, as I say, such as become a soldier, Rather than envy you. COMINIUS. Well, well, no more. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. What is the matter, That being pass'd for consul with full voice, I am so dishonour'd, that the very hour 3/3/60 You take it off again? SICINIUS VELUTUS. Answer to us. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. Say, then: 'tis true, I ought so. SICINIUS VELUTUS. We charge you, that you have contrived to take From Rome all season'd office, and to wind Yourself into a power tyrannical; For which you are a traitor to the people. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. How! traitor! MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Nay, temperately; your promise. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. The fires i' the lowest hell fold-in the people! Call me their traitor!- Thou injurious tribune! Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths, 3/3/70 In thy hands clutch'd as many millions, in Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say "Thou liest" unto thee with a voice as free As I do pray the gods. SICINIUS VELUTUS. Mark you this, people? CITIZENS. To the rock, to the rock with him! SICINIUS VELUTUS. 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 defying 3/3/80 Those whose great power must try him; even this, So criminal, and in such capital kind, Deserves th'extremest death. JUNIUS BRUTUS. But since he hath Served well for Rome,- CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. What do you prate of service? JUNIUS BRUTUS. I talk of that, that know it. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. You? MENENIUS AGRIPPA. Is this the promise that you made your mother? COMINIUS. Know, I pray you,- CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. I'll know no further: Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death, Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to linger 3/3/90 But with a grain a day,- I would not buy Their 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 VELUTUS. For that he has, As much as in him lies, from time to time Envied against the people, seeking means To pluck away their power; as now at last Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers That do distribute it;- in the name o' the people, 3/3/100 And in the power of us the tribunes, we, Even from this instant, banish him our city; In peril of precipitation From off the rock Tarpeian, never more To enter our Rome gates: i' the people's name, I say it shall be so. CITIZENS. It shall be so, It shall be so; let him away: he's banish'd, And it shall be so. COMINIUS. Hear me, my masters and my common friends,- SICINIUS VELUTUS. He's sentenced; no more hearing. 3/3/110 COMINIUS. Let me speak: I have been consul, and can show for Rome Her enemies' marks upon me. I do love My 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 would Speak that,- SICINIUS VELUTUS. We know your drift:- speak what? JUNIUS BRUTUS. There's no more to be said, but he is banish'd, As enemy to the people and his country: It shall be so. 3/3/120 CITIZENS. It shall be so, it shall be so. CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS. You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize As the dead carcasses of unburied men That 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 still To banish your defenders; till at length 3/3/130 Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels, Making not reservation of yourselves, Still your own foes, deliver you, as most Abated captives, to some nation That won you without blows! Despising, For you, the city, thus I turn my back: There is a world elsewhere. [Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, MENENIUS, SENATORS, and PATRICIANS.] AEDILE. The people's enemy is gone, is gone! CITIZENS. Our enemy is banish'd! he is gone! Hoo! hoo! [They all shout and throw up their caps.] 3/3/140 SICINIUS VELUTUS. Go, see him out at gates, and follow him, As he hath follow'd you, with all despite; Give him deserved vexation. Let a guard Attend us through the city. CITIZENS. Come, come, let's see him out at gates; come:- The gods preserve our noble tribunes!- come. [Exeunt.] ACT III. END.