Rome and her rats are at the point of battle,
The one side must have bale 13. Hail, noble Marcius!

Enter CAIUS MARCIUS.

Mar. Thanks.-What's the matter, you dissen

tious rogues,

That rubbing the poor itch of your opinion,
Make yourselves scabs?

1 Cit.

We have ever your good word. Mar. He that will give good words to thee, will flatter

Beneath abhorring.-What would you have, you

curs,

That like nor peace, nor war? the one affrights you,
The other makes you proud 14. He that trusts you,
Where he should find you lions, finds you hares;
Where foxes, geese: You are no surer, no,
Than is the coal of fire upon the ice,

Or hailstone in the sun. Your virtue is,

To make him worthy, whose offence subdues him, And curse that justice did it 15. Who deserves greatness,

Deserves your hate: and your affections are
A sick man's appetite, who desires most that
Which would increase his evil. He that depends
Upon your favours, swims with fins of lead,

And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye! Trust ye?

13 Bale is evil or mischief, harm or injury. The word is pure Saxon, and was becoming obsolete in Shakspeare's time. 14That like nor peace, nor war? the one affrights you,

The other makes you proud.'

Coriolanus does not use these two sentences consequentially; but first reproaches them with unsteadiness, then with their other occasional vices.

15 Your virtue is to speak well of him whom his own offences have subjected to justice; and to rail at those laws by which he whom you praise was punished.'

With every minute you do change a mind;
And call him noble that was now your hate,

Him vile, that was your garland. What's the matter,
That in these several places of the city
You cry against the noble senate, who,

Under the gods, keep you in awe, which else
Would feed on one another?-What's their seeking?
Men. For corn at their own rates; whereof, they

say,

The city is well stor❜d.

Mar.

Hang 'em! They say ? They'll sit by the fire, and presume to know

What's done i̇' the Capitol: who's like to rise, Who thrives, and who declines: side factions, and give out

Conjectural marriages; making parties strong,
And feebling such as stand not in their liking,
Below their cobbled shoes. They say, there's grain
enough?

17

Would the nobility lay aside their ruth16,
And let me use my sword, I'd make a quarry
With thousands of these quarter'd slaves, as high
As I could pick 18 my lance.

Men. Nay, these are almost thoroughly per-
suaded;

For though abundantly they lack discretion,

Yet are they passing cowardly. But I beseech you, What says the other troop?

16 i. e. pity, compassion.

17 Quarry or querre signified slaughtered game of any kind, which was so denominated from being deposited in a square enclosed space in royal hunting. See note on Macbeth, vol. iv. p. 304.

18 Pick, peck, or picke, i. e. pitch; still in provincial use. The fact is, that, in ancient language, to pick was used for to cast, throw, or hurl: to pitch was to set or fix any thing in a particular spot.

Mar.

They are dissolved: Hang 'em!

They said, they were an hungry; sigh'd forth pro

verbs;

That, hunger broke stone walls; that, dogs must eat; That, meat was made for mouths; that, the gods

sent not

Corn for the rich men only:-With these shreds They vented their complainings; which being answer'd,

And a petition granted them, a strange one

(To break the heart of generosity 19,

And make bold power look pale), they threw their

caps

As they would hang them on the horns o' the moon, Shouting their emulation 20.

Men.

What is granted them? Mar. Five tribunes to defend their vulgar wisdoms, Of their own choice: One's Junius Brutus, Sicinius Velutus, and I know not—'Sdeath! The rabble should have first unroof'd the city, Ere so prevail'd with me: it will in time

Win upon power, and throw forth greater themes For insurrection's arguing21.

Men.

This is strange.

Mar. Go, get you home, you fragments!

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. Where's Caius Marcius?

Mar.

Here: What's the matter?

Mess. The news is, sir, the Volces are in arms.

19 Generosity, in the sense of its Latin original, for nobleness, high birth. Thus in Measure for Measure :

'The generous and gravest citizens.'

See vol. ii. p. 92, note 4.

20 Emulation is factious contention. See Troilus and Cressida, Act ii. Sc. 2, note 25.

21 For insurgents to debate upon.

Mar. I am glad on't; then we shall have means

to vent

Our musty superfluity:-See, our best elders.

Enter COMINIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, and other Senators; JUNIUS BRUTUS, and SICINIUS VE

LUTUS.

1 Sen. Marcius, 'tis true, that you have lately told us;

The Volces are in arms.

Mar.
They have a leader,
Tullus Aufidius, that will put you to't.
I sin in envying his nobility:

And were I any thing but what I am,
I would wish me only he.

Com.

You have fought together.

Mar. Were half to half the world by the ears,

and he

Upon my party, I'd revolt, to make

Only my wars with him: he is a lion

That I am proud to hunt.

1 Sen.

Then, worthy Marcius,

Sir, it is;

Attend upon Cominius to these wars.
Com. It is your former promise.

Mar.

And I am constant 22.-Titus Lartius, thou
Shalt see me once more strike at Tullus' face:
What, art thou stiff? stand'st out?

Tit.
No, Caius Marcius:
I'll lean upon one crutch, and fight with the other,
Ere stay behind this business.

Men.

O, true bred!

1 Sen. Your company to the Capitol; where, I know, Our greatest friends attend us.

22 i.e. immoveable in my resolution. So in Julius Cæsar :'But I am constant as the northern star.'

Tit.

Follow, Cominius; we must follow you;
Right worthy you priority 23.

Com.

Lead you on:

Noble Lartius 24 !

[To the Citizens.

Nay, let them follow:

1 Sen. Hence! To your homes, be gone.

Mar.

The Volces have much corn; take these rats thither, To gnaw their garners:-Worshipful mutineers, Your valour puts 25 well forth: pray, follow.

[Exeunt Senators, COM. MAR. TIT. and MENEN. Citizens steal away.

Sic. Was ever man so proud as is this Marcius? Bru. He has no equal.

Sic. When we were chosen tribunes for the peo

ple,

Bru. Mark'd you his lip, and eyes?

Sic.

Nay, but his taunts.

Bru. Being mov'd, he will not spare to gird 26 the

gods.

Sic. Be-mock the modest moon.

Bru. The present wars devour him: he is grown Too proud to be so valiant27.

23 You being right worthy of precedence.

24 The old copy has Marcius.

25 That is, You have in this mutiny shown fair blossoms of valour. So in King Henry VIII. :

The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms,' &c.

26 A gird is a cut, a sarcasm, or stroke of satire. See King Henry IV. Part II. Act i. Sc. 2, p. 262.

27 The present wars' Shakspeare uses to express the pride of Coriolanus, grounded on his military prowess; which kind of pride, Brutus says, devours him. In Troilus and Cressida, Act ii. Sc. 3, we have:

He that's proud eats up himself.' Perhaps the meaning of the latter member of the sentence is, 'He is grown too proud of being so valiant to be endured.' It is still a common expression to say, eat up with pride.'