Which eafily endures not article,

Tying him to aught; fo putting him to rage,
You fhould have ta'n th' advantage of his choler,
And pafs'd him unelected.

Bru. Did you perceive,

He did folicit you in free contempt,

When he did need your loves? and do you think, That his contempt fhall not be bruifing to you, When he hath power to crufh? why, had your bodies No heart among you? or had you tongues, to cry Against the rectorship of judgment?

Sic. Have you,

Ere now, deny'd the afker? and, now again
On him that did not ask, but mock, bestow
Your fu'd-for tongues?

3 Cit. He's not confirm'd, we may deny him.
2 Cit. And will deny him :

I'll have five hundred voices of that found.

yet.

1 Cit. I, twice five hundred, and their friends to piece 'em.

Bru. Get you hence inftantly, and tell those friends, They've chofe a Conful 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 fo.

Sic. Let them affemble;

And on a fafer Judgment all revoke

Your ignorant election: enforce his Pride,
And his old hate to you: befides, forget not,
With what contempt he wore the humble Weed:
How in his fuit he fcorn'd you: but your loves,
Thinking upon his fervices, took from you
The apprehenfion of his prefent portance;
Which gibingly, ungravely, he did fashion
After th inveterate hate he bears to you.
Bru. Nay, lay a fault on us, your Tribunes, that
We labour'd (no impediment between)
But that you muft caft your election on him.

Sir. Say, you chofe him, more after our commandment,

Than guided by your own affections;

And that your minds, pre-occupied with what
You rather muft do, than what you fhould do,
Made you against the grain to voice him Conful.
Lay the fault on us.

Bru. Ay, fpare us not: fay, we read lectures to you, How youngly he began to ferve his Country,

How long continued; and what ftock he springs of,
The noble House of Marcius; from whence came
That Ancus Marcius, Numa's daughter's fon,
Who, after great Hoftilius, here was King:
Of the fame houfe Publius and Quintus were,
That our best water brought by conduits hither.
And Cenforinus, darling of the people,

(And nobly nam'd fo for twice being Cenfor)
Was his great Ancestor.

Sic. One thus defcended,

That hath befide well in his perfon wrought
To be fet high in place, we did commend
To your remembrances; but you have found,
Scaling his prefent Bearing with his past,
That he's your fixed enemy, and revoke
Your fudden approbation.

Bru. Say, you ne'er had don't,

(Harp on that ftill) but by our putting on;

And prefently, when you have drawn your number, Repair to th' Capitol.

All. We will fo; almost all repent in their election.

Bru. Let them go on:

[Exeunt Plebeians.

This mutiny were better put in hazard,

Than ftay paft doubt for greater:

If, as his nature is, he fall in rage

With their refufal, both obferve and answer

The vantage of his anger.

Sic. To th' Capitol, come;

We will be there before the ftream o'th' people:
And this fhall feem, as partly 'tis, their own,
Which we have goaded onward.

[Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

A public Street in Rome.

Cornets. Enter Coriolanus, Menenius, Cominius, Titus Lartius, and other Senators.

CORIOLAN U S.

TULLUS Aufidius then had made new head?
Lart. He had, my lord; and that it was, which

Our fwifter compofition.

[caus'd Cor. So then the Volfcians ftand but as at first, Ready, when time fhall prompt them, to make road Upon's again.

Com. They're worn, Lord Conful, fo,

That we fhall hardly in our ages fee
Their Banners wave again.

Cor. Saw you Aufidius?

Lart. On fafe-guard he came to me, and did curfe Against the Volcians, for they had fo vilely

Yielded the Town; he is retir'd to Antium.

Cor. Spoke he of me?
Lart. He did, my Lord.
Cor. How?what?

Lart. How often he had met you, fword to sword: That of all things upon the earth he hated

Your person moft: that he would pawn his fortunes

To hopeless reftitution, fo he might

Be call'd your vanquisher.

Cor. At Antium lives he?

Lart. At Antium.

Cor. I wifh, I had a caufe to feek him there;

To oppose his hatred fully.-Welcome home.

[To Lartius.

Enter

Enter Sicinius and Brutus.

Behold! these are the Tribunes of the people,
The tongues o'th' common mouth: I do defpife them;
For they do prank them in authority

Against all noble fufferance.

Sic. Pafs no further.

Cor. Hah!

what is that!

Bru. It will be dangerous to go on-no further. Cor. What makes this change?

Men. The matter?

Com. Hath he not pafs'd the Nobles and the Commons?

Bur. Cominius, no.

Cor. Have I had childrens' voices?..

Sen. Tribunes, give way; he fhall to th' market place.

Bru. The people are incens'd against him.
Sic. Stop,

Or all will fall in broil.

Cor. Are these your herd?

Muft 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? Have you not fet 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't, and live with fuch as cannot rule,
Nor ever will be rul'd.

Bru. Call't not a plot ;

The people cry, you mock'd them; and, of late, 1 When corn was given them gratis, you repin'd; Scandal'd the fuppliants for the people; call'd them Time-pleafers, flatterers, foes to Nobleness.

Cor. Why, this was known before..

Bru. Not to them all.

Cor. Have you inform'd them fince?

Bru. How! I inform them!

Cor. You are like to do fuch business.. Bru. Not unlike, each way, to better yours. Cor. Why then should I be Conful? by yond clouds, Let me deserve so ill as you, and make me Your Fellow-Tribune.

Sic. You fhew too much of That,

For which the people ftir; if you will pafs
To where you're bound, you must enquire your way
Which you are out of, with a gentler spirit;
Or never be fo noble as a Conful,

Nor yoke with him for Tribune.

Men. Let's be calm.

Com. The people are abus'd.Set on ;paltring

Becomes not Rome: nor has Coriolanus

Deferv'd this fo diflonour'd Rub, laid falfely
I' th' plain way of his merit.

Cor. Tell me of corn!

This was my speech, and I will speak't again-
Men. Not now, not now.

Sen. Not in this heat, Sir, now.

Cor. Now as I live, I will

this

As for my nobler friends, I crave their pardons :
But for the mutable rank-fcented Many,.
Let them regard me, as I do not flatter,
And there behold themselves: I fay again,
In foothing them, we nourish 'gainft our Senate
The cockle of rebellion, infolence, fedition,
Which we ourselves have plow'd for, fow'd and fcat-
ter'd

By mingling them with us, the honour'd number:
Who lack not Virtue, no, nor Power, but that
Which we have given to beggars.

Men. Well, no more—

Sen. No more words, we beseech

Cor. How!- no more!

you

As