Sic. Have you, Ere now, deny'd the asker? and, now again, 3 Cit. He's not confirm'd, we may deny him yet. I'll have five hundred voices of that sound. 1 Cit. Itwice five hundred, and their friends to piece 'em. Bru. Get you hence instantly; and tell those friends, They have chose a consul, that will from them take Their liberties; make them of no more voice Than dogs, that are as often beat for barking, As therefore kept to do so. Sic. Let them assemble ; And, on a safer judgment, all revoke Your ignorant election: Enforce his pride, 5 A fault on us, your tribunes; that we labour'd Sic. Say, you chose him More after our commandment, than as guided Than what you should, made you against the grain Bru. Ay, spare us not. Say, we read lectures to you, How youngly he began to serve his country, How long continued: and what stock he springs of, Who, after great Hostilius, here was king: STEEV. [4] Your voices that hitherto have been solicited. Was his great ancestor. Sic. One thus descended, That hath beside well in his person wrought Bru. Say, you ne'er had done't, (Harp on that still,) but by our putting on: And presently, when you have drawn your number, Repair to the Capitol. Cit. We will so almost all Repent in their election. Bru. Let them go on ; This mutiny were better put in hazard, Than stay, past doubt, for greater: If, as his nature is, he fall in rage With their refusal, both observe and answer? The vantage of his anger. Sic. To the Capitol : Come; we'll be there before the stream o'the people; And this shall seem, as partly 'tis, their own, Which we have goaded onward. ACT III. [Exeunt. SCENE I-The same. A Street. Cornets. Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, COMINIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, Senators, and Patricians. Coriolanus. TULLUS Aufidius then had made new head? Lart. He had, my lord; and that it was, which caus'd Our swifter composition. Cor. So then the Volces stand but as at first; Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make road Com. They are worn, lord consul, so, That we shall hardly in our ages see Their banners wave again. Cor. Saw you Aufidius ? [6] That is, weighing his past and present behaviour. JOHNS. [7] Mark, catch, and improve the opportunity, which his hasty anger will afford us. JOHNS. Lart. On safe-guard he came to me; and did curse Against the Volces, for they had so vilely Yielded the town: he is retir'd to Antium. Lart. How often he had met you, sword to sword: Your person most: that he would pawn his fortunes Be call'd your vanquisher. Cor. At Antium lives he? Lart. At Antium. Cor. I wish, I had a cause to seek him there, To oppose his hatred fully.-Welcome home. [TO LART. Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS. Behold! these are the tribunes of the people, The tongues o'the common mouth. I do despise them; For they do prank them in authority, 8 Against all noble sufferance. Sic. Pass no further. Cor. Ha! what is that? Bru. It will de dangerous to Go on: no further. Cor. What makes this change? Men. The matter? Com. Hath he not pass'd the nobles, and the commons ? Bru. Cominius, no. Cor. Have I had children's voices? Sen. Tribunes, give way; he shall to the market-place. Bru. The people are incens'd against him. Sic. Stop, Or all will fall in broil, Cor. 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 ?9 Have you not set them on? Men. Be calm, be calm. Cor. It is a purpos'd thing, and grows by plot, To curb the will of the nobility: Suffer it, and live with such as cannot rule, 18 Plume, deck, dignify themselves. JOHN. [9] The metaphor is from man's setting a mastiff upon any one. WARB. Nor ever will be rul❜d. Bru. Call't not a plot : The people cry, you mock'd them; and, of late, When corn was given them gratis, you repin'd ; Scandal'd the suppliants for the people; call'd them Time-pleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness. Cor. Why, this was known before. Bru. Not to them all. Cor. Have you inform'd them since ? Cor. You are like to do such business. Each way, to better yours. Cor. Why then should I be consul? By yon clouds, Let me deserve so ill as you, and make me Your fellow tribune. Sic. 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. Men. Let's be calm. Com. The people are abus'd:-Set on.-This palt'ring Becomes not Rome; nor has Coriolanus Deserv'd this so dishonour'd rub, laid falsely I'the plain way of his merit. Cor. Tell me of corn! This was my speech, and I will speak't again ;- 1 Sen. Not in this heat, sir, now. Cor. Now, as I live, I will.-My nobler friends, I crave their pardons : But for the mutable, rank-scented many, Therein behold themselves :2 I say again, let them In soothing them, we nourish 'gainst our senate Which we ourselves have plough'd for,sow'd and scatter'd, Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that Which they have given to beggars. [1] That is, this trick of dissimulation; this shuffling. JOHNS. [2] Let them look in the mirror which I hold up to them, a mirror which does not flatter, and see themselves. JOHNS. [3] Cockle is a weed which grows up with the corn. STEEV. Men. Well, no more. 1 Sen. No more words, we beseech you. Cor. 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 meazels, 4 Bru. You speak o'the people, As if you were a god to punish, not A man of their infirmity. Sic. 'Twere well, we let the people know't. Cor. Choler! Were I as patient as the midnight sleep, Sic. It is a mind, That shall remain a poison where it is, Not poison any further. Cor. Shall remain ! Hear you this Triton of the minnows?5 mark you Com. 'Twas from the canon.6 Cor. Shall! O good, but most unwise patricians, why, You grave, but reckless senators, have you thus That with his peremptory shall, being but The horn and noise of the monsters, 7 wants not spirit And make your channel his? If he have power, Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians, When both your voices blended, the greatest taste [4] Mesell a leper. STEEV. [5] i. e. small fry. WARB.--A minnow is one of the smallest river fish. JOHNS. [6] Was contrary to the established rule; it was a form of speech of which he has no right. JOHNS. These words appear to me to imply the very reverse. MASON. 17] Alluding to his having called him Triton before. WARB. [8] The plain meaning is, that senators and plebeians are equal when the highest taste is best pleased with that which pleases the lowest. STEEV. |