SCENE III.

The same The Forum.

Enter, SICINIUS and BRUTUS,

Bru. In this point charge him home, that he affects

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 Edile.

What, will he come?

Æd.

He's coming.

Bru.

How accompanied?

Ed. With old Menenius, and those senators That always favour'd him.

Have you a catalogue

Sic.
Of all the voices that we have procur'd,

Set down by the poll?

Ed.

I have; 'tis ready, here: Sic. Have you collected them by tribes?! Ed.

I have.

Sic. Assemble presently the people hither:And when they hear me say,. It shall be so

I the right and strength o'the 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.

Ed.

I shall inform them,

Bru. And when such time they have begun to cry,

5-envy.-] i. e. malice, hatred.

Let them not cease, but with a din confus'd
Enforce the present execution

Of what we chance to sentence.

Ed.

Very well.

Sic. Make them be strong, and ready for this hint, When we shall hap to giv't them.

Bru.

Go about it.

Exit Edile.

Put him to choler straight: He hath been us'd
Ever to conquer, and to have his worth

Of contradiction: Being once chaf'd, 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."

Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, COMINIUS, Senators, and Patricians.

Sic. Well, here he comes.

Men.

Calmly, I do beseech you. Cor. 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 us! Throng our large temples with the shows of peace, And not our streets with war!

1 Sen.

Men. A noble wish.

• —— and to have his worth

Amen, amen!

Of contradiction:] He has been used to have his worth, or (as we should now say) his pennyworth of contradiction; his full quota or proportion.

7

which looks

With us to break his neck.] The tribune seems to mean- The sentiments of Coriolanus's heart are our coadjutors, and look to have their share in promoting his destruction.

Will bear the knave by the volume,] i. e. would bear being called a knave as often as would fill out a volume.

4

Re-enter Edile, with Citizens.

Sic. Draw near, ye people.

Ed. List to your tribunes; audience: Peace, I

say.

Cor. First, hear me speak.

Both Tri.

Well, say.-Peace, ho.

Cor. Shall I be charg'd no further than this pre

sent?

Must all determine here?

I do demand,

Sic.
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 prov'd upon you?

"Cor.

I am content. Men. Lo, citizens, he says, he is content: The warlike service he has done, consider;

Think on the wounds his body bears, which show Like graves i'the holy churchyard.

Cor.

Scars to move laughter only.

Scratches with briars,

Men.
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.9

.Com.

Well, well, no more.

Cor. What is the matter,

That being pass'd for consul with full voice,
I am so dishonour'd, that the very hour
You take it off again?

Sic.

Answer to us.

Cor. Say then: 'tis true, I ought so.

› Rather than envy you.] Rather than import ill will to you.

Sic. We charge you, that you have contriv'd 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.
Cor. How! Traitor?

Men.

Nay; temperately: Your promise. Cor. The fires i 'the lowest hell fold in the people! Call me their traitor!-Thou injurious tribune! Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths, 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.

Sic.

Mark you this, people?

Cit. To the rock with him; to the rock with him! Sic. 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
Those whose great power must try him; even this,
So criminal, and in such capital kind,

Deserves the extremest death.

season'd office,] All office established and settled by time,

and made familiar to the people by long use.

-clutch'd-] i. e. grasp'd,

Cor.

I'll know no further::
Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
Vagabond exile, flaying; Pent to linger
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.

Sic.
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,
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, it shall be so.

I

say,

Cit.

It shall be so,

It shall be so; let him away: he's banish'd,

And so it shall be.

Com. Hear me, my masters, and my common

friends

1

Sic. He's sentenc'd; no-more hearing.

Com Let me speak: I have been consul, and can show from 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

3 Envied against the people,] i. e. behaved with signs of hatred to the people.

My dear wife's estimate,] I love my country beyond the rate at which I value my dear wife.