Masters o'the people, Men. That valour is the chiefest virtue, and The man I speak of cannot in the world Be singly counterpois'd. At sixteen years, 11 9 When Tarquin, who had been expelled, raised a power to recover Rome. 10 This does not mean that he gave Tarquin a blow on the knee, but gave him such a blow as occasioned him to fall on his knee: ad terram duplicato poplite Turnus.' 6 11 It has been before mentioned that the parts of women were, in Shakspeare's time, represented by the most smooth-faced young men to be found among the players. This is a palpable anachronism; there were no theatres at Rome for the exhibition of plays until about two hundred and fifty years after the death of Coriolanus. 12 Plutarch says, ' seventeen years of service in the wars, and many and sundry battles:' but from Coriolanus's first campaign to his death was only a period of eight years. He lurch'd 13 all swords o'the garland. For this last, I cannot speak him home: He stopp'd the fliers; Turn terror into sport: as waves 14 before A vessel under sail, so men obey'd, And fell below his stem: his sword (death's stamp) Men. Worthy man! 13 To lurch is to win or carry off easily the prize or stake at any game. It originally signified to devour greedily, from lurco, Lat. then to purloin, subtract, or withdraw any thing from another. Thus in Ben Jonson's Silent Woman:- You have lurch'd your friends of the better half of the garland.' Cole, in his Latin Dictionary, 1679, has A lurch, duplex palma facilis victoria.' 14 Thus the second folio. The first folio' as weeds,' &c. which Malone pertinaciously adheres to. I think with Steevens, that a vessel stemming the waves is an image much more suitable to the prowess of Coriolanus, than that which Malone would substitute. 15 The cries of the slaughtered regularly followed his motion, as music and a dancer accompany each other. 16 The gate which was made the scene of death. 17 Wearied. 1 Sen. He cannot but with measure fit the ho nours Which we devise him 18. Com. Our spoils he kick'd at; And look'd upon things precious, as they were The common muck o'the world; he covets less Than misery 19 itself would give; rewards His deeds with doing them; and is content To spend the time, to end it. Men. Let him be call'd for. He's right noble; 1 Sen. Call Coriolanus. Off. He doth appear. Re-enter CORIOLANUS. Men. The senate, Coriolanus, are well pleas'd I do beseech you, Let me o'erleap that custom; for I cannot 18 No honour will be too great for him; he will show a mind equal to any elevation. 19 Misery for avarice, because a miser signifies avaricious. Shak 20 Coriolanus (as Warburton observes) was banished A. U. C, 262. But till the time of Manlius Torquatus, A. U. C. 393, the senate chose both consuls; and then the people, assisted by the seditious temper of the tribunes, got the choice of one. speare follows Plutarch, who expressly says in the Life of Coriolanus, that it was the custome of Rome at that time, that such as dyd sue for any office, should for certen dayes before be in the market place, only with a poor gowne on their backes, and without any coate underneath, to praye the people to remember them at the day of election.' North's Translation, p. 244, For my wounds' sake, to give their suffrage: please you, That I may pass this doing. Sic. Sir, the people Must have their voices; neither will they bate One jot of ceremony. Put them not to't: Men. Cor. It is a part That I shall blush in acting, and might well Be taken from the people. Bru. Mark you that? Cor. To brag unto them,-Thus I did, and thus ;Show them the unaking scars which I should hide, As if I had receiv'd them for the hire Of their breath only: Men. Do not stand upon't.— We recommend to you, tribunes of the people, Sen. To Coriolanus come all joy and honour! As if he did contemn what he requested Should be in them to give. Come, we'll inform them [Exeunt. Bru. 21 Your form' is the form which custom prescribes to you. 22 < We recommend to you, tribunes of the people, to declare our purpose to them,' namely, the appointment of Coriolanus to the consulship. SCENE III. The same. The Forum. Enter several Citizens. 1 Cit. Once1, if he do require our voices, we ought not to deny him. 2 Cit. We may, sir, if we will. 3 Cit. We have power in ourselves to do it, but it is a power that we have no power to do 2: for if he show us his wounds, and tell us his deeds, we are to put our tongues into those wounds, and speak for them; so, if he tell us his noble deeds, we must also tell him our noble acceptance of them. Ingratitude is monstrous: and for the multitude to be ingrateful, were to make a monster of the multitude; of the which, we being members, should bring ourselves to be monstrous members. 1 Cit. And to make us no better thought of, a little help will serve: for once3 we stood up about the corn, he himself stuck not to call us the manyheaded multitude. 3 Cit. We have been called so of many; not that our heads are some brown, some black, some auburn, some bald, but that our wits are so diversely coloured: and truly I think, if all our wits were to issue out of one scull, they would fly east, west, north, south; and their consent of one direct way should be at once to all the points o'the compass. 1 i. e. once for all. See vol. ii. p. 129, note 35; vol. iv. p. 158, note 10. 2 Power in the first instance here means natural power, or force, and then moral power, or right. Davis has used the word with the same variety of meaning : Use all thy powers, that heavenly power to praise, 3 Once signifies here one time, and not as soon as ever, which Malone takes to be its meaning. Rowe inserted when after once, which is indeed elliptically understood. 4 Consent is accord, agreement. To suppose that their agree |