Lart. Worthy sir, thou bleed'st; Thy exercise hath been too violent for Mar. Sir, praise me not: My work hath yet not warm'd me: Fare you well. Than dangerous to me: To Aufidius thus I will appear, and fight. Lart. Mar. SCENE VI. Near the Camp of Cominius. [Exit MAR. Enter COMINIUS and Forces, retreating. [Exeunt. Com. Breathe you, my friends; well fought: we are come off Like Romans, neither foolish in our stands, We shall be charg'd again. Whiles we have struck, That both our powers, with smiling fronts encountering, 7 Than dangerous to me: To Aufidius thus I will appear, and fight. Lart. Now the fair goddess, Fortune,] The metre being here violated, I think we might safely read with Sir T. Hanmer (omitting the words-to me:) Than dangerous: To Aufidius thus will I Now the fair goddess, Fortune The Roman gods, -. Steevens. Lead their successes as we wish our own;]i. e. May the Roman gods, &c. Malone. Enter a Messenger. May give you thankful sacrifice!-Thy news? Com, Though thou speak'st truth, Methinks, thou speak'st not well. How long is 't since? Mess. Above an hour, my lord. Com. 'Tis not a mile; briefly we heard their drums: How could'st thou in a mile confound an hour,9 And bring thy news so late? Spies of the Volces Mess. Com. Enter MARCIUS. Who's yonder, That does appear as he were flay'd? O gods! Mar. Come I too late? Com. The shepherd knows not thunder from a tabor, More than I know the sound of Marcius' tongue From every meaner man's.1 9 confound an hour,] Confound is here used not in its common acceptation, but in the sense of to expend. Conterere tempus. Malone. So, in King Henry IV, P. I, Act I, sc. iii: "He did confound the best part of an hour," &c. Steevens. 1 From every meaner man's.] [Old copy-meaner man.] That is, from that of every meaner man. This kind of phraseology is found in many places in these plays; and as the peculiarities of our author, or rather the language of his age, ought to be scrupulously attended to, Hanmer and the subsequent editors who read here every meaner man's, ought not in my apprehension to be followed, though we should now write so. Malone. When I am certified that this, and many corresponding offences against grammar, were common to the writers of our author's age, I shall not persevere in correcting them. But while I suspect (as in the present instance) that such irregularities were the gibberish of a theatre, or the blunders of a transcriber, I shall forbear to set nonsense before my readers; especially when it can be avoided by the insertion of a single letter, which indeed might have dropped out at the press. Steevens. Come I too late? Mar. Com. Ay, if you come not in the blood of others, Mar. Con. How is 't with Titus Lartius? Flower of warriors, Mar. As with a man busied about decrees: Condemning some to death, and some to exile; Ransoming him, or pitying,3 threat'ning the other; Holding Corioli in the name of Rome, Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash, To let him slip at will. Com. Where is that slave, Which told me they had beat you to your trenches? Let him alone, Mar. Com. But how prevail'd you? Mar. Will the time serve to tell? I do not thinkWhere is the enemy? Are you lords o' the field? If not, why cease you till you are so? Com. Marcius, We have at disadvantage fought, and did Mar. How lies their battle? Know you on which side* They have plac'd their men of trust? 2 to bedward.] So, in Albumazar, 1615: "Sweats hourly for a dry brown crust to bedward.” Steevens. 3 Ransoming him, or pitying,] i. e. remitting his ransom. Johnson 4 on which side &c.] So, in the old translation of Plutarch: "Martius asked him howe the order of the enemies battell was, and on which side they had placed their best fighting men. The consul made him auns wer that he thought the bandes which were in the vaward of their battell, were those of the Antiates, whom they esteemed to be the warlikest men, and which for valiant corage would geve no place to any of the hoste of their enemies. Then prayed Martius to be set directly against them. The consul graunted him, greatly praysing his corage" Steevens. As I guess, Marcius, Com. Mar. I do beseech you, By all the battles wherein we have fought, By the blood we have shed together, by the vows Filling the air with swords advanc'd, and darts, Com. Though I could wish And balms applied to you, yet dare I never That best can aid your action. Mar. Those are they 5 ▪ Antiates,] The old copy reads-Antients, which might mean veterans; but a following line, as well as the previous quotation, seems to prove-Antiates to be the proper reading: "Set me against Aufidius and his Antiates." Our author employs-Antiates as a trisyllable, as if it had been written-Antiats. Steevens. Mr. Pope made the correction. Malone. Their very heart of hope.] The same expression is found in Marlowe's Lust's Dominion: "Hath almost thrust quite through the heart of hope." In King Henry IV, P. I, we have: "The very bottom and the soul of hope." Steevens. 7 And that you not delay the present;] Delay, for let slip. Malone. Warburton. 8 -swords advanc'd.] That is, swords lifted high. Johnson. 9 if any fear Lesser his person than an ill report;] The old copy has lessen. If the present reading, which was introduced by Mr. Steevens, be right, his person must mean his personal danger.—If any one less fears personal danger, than an ill name, &c. If the fears of any man are less for his person, than they are from an apprehension of being esteemed a coward, &c. We have nearly the same sentiment in Troilus and Cressida: If any think, brave death outweighs bad life, Wave thus, [waving his hand] to express his disposition, And follow Marcius. [They all shout, and wave their swords; take him up in their arms, and cast up their Caps. O me, alone! Make you a sword of me? Com. March on, my fellows: "If there be one among the fair'st of Greece, Again, in King Henry VI, P. III: -. "But thou prefer'st thy life before thine honour." In this play we have already had lesser used for less. Malone. 1 Though thanks to all, I must select: the rest Shall bear &c.] The old copy-I must select from all. I have followed Sir Thomas Hanmer in the omission of words apparently needless and redundant. Steevens. 2 ·Please you to march; And four shall quickly draw out my command, Which men are best inclin'd.] I cannot but suspect this passage of corruption. Why should they march, that four might select those that were best inclin'd? How would their inclinations be known? Who were the four that should select them? Perhaps we may read: Please you to march: And fear shall quickly draw out my command, Which men are least inclin'd. It is easy to conceive that, by a little negligence, fear might be changed to four, and least to best. Let us march, and that fear which incites desertion will free my army from cowards. Mr. Heath thinks the poet wrote: Johnson. "And so I shall quickly draw out," &c. Some sense, however, may be extorted from the ancient read. ing. Coriolanus may mean, that as all the soldiers have offered to attend him on this expedition, and he wants only a part of them, he will submit the selection to four indifferent persons, |