Will be as rash in the repeal, as hafty

To expel him thence. I think, he'll be to Rome,
As is the ofprey to the fish, who takes it
By fovereignty of nature. First he was
A noble fervant to them; but he could not
Carry his honours even: whether 'twas pride,
Which out of daily fortune ever taints

The happy man; whether defect of judgment,
To fail in the difpofing of those chances

Which he was lord of; or whether nature,
Not to be other than one thing, not moving

From the cafque to the cushion, but commanding peace
Even with the fame aufterity and garb

As he controll'd the war: but, one of thefe,
(As he hath spices of them all, not all,
For I dare fo far free him,) made him fear'd,
So hated, and fo banish'd: But he has a merit,
To choke it in the utterance'. So our virtues

8 As is the ofprey-] Ofprey, a kind of eagle, offifraga. POPE. We find in Michael Drayton's Polyolbion, Song xxv. a full account of the ofprey, which fhews the juftnefs and beauty of the fimile:

The ofprey, oft here feen, though feldom here it breeds,
"Which over them the fish no fooner do efpy,
"But, betwixt him and them by an antipathy,
"Turning their bellies up, as though their death they faw,
"They at his pleasure lie, to stuff his gluttonous maw.”

LANGTON.

Such is the fabulous hiftory of the ofprey. I learn, however, from Mr. Lambe's notes to the ancient metrical legend of the Battle of Floddon, that the ofprey is a "rare, large, blackish hawk, with a long neck, and blue legs. Its prey is fifh, and it is fometimes feen hovering over the Tweed." STEEVENS.

9- whether 'twas pride,

Which out of daily fortune ever taints

The bappy man; whether, &c.] Aufidius affigns three probable reafons of the miscarriage of Coriolanus; pride, which easily follows an uninterruped train of fuccefs; unskilfulness to regulate the confequences of his own victories; a ftubborn uniformity of nature, which could not make the proper tranfition from the cafque or belmet to the cushion or chair of civil authority: but acted with the fame defpotifm in peace as in war. JOHNSON.

1- be bas a merit

To choke it in the utterance.] than to destroy it by boafting it.

He has a merit for no other purpose
JOHNSON.

Lie in the interpretation of the time:
And power, unto itself moft commendable,
Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair

To extol what it hath done".

One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail;
Rights by rights fouler 3, ftrengths by ftrengths, do fail.
Come, let's away. When, Caius, Rome is thine,
Thou art poor'ft of all; then shortly art thou mine.
[Exeunt.

A CT V.

SCENE I.

Rome. A publick Place.

Enter MENENIUS, COMINIUS, SICINIUS, BRUTUS,

and Others.

Men. No, I'll not go: you hear, what he hath faid,
Which was fometime his general; who lov'd him
In a moft dear particular. He call'd me, father:
But what o'that? Go, you that banish'd him,

2 And power, unto itself most commendable,

Hath not a tomb fo evident as a chair

To extol what it batb done.] The fenfe is, The virtue which delights to commend itself, will find the fureft tomb in that chair wherein it holds forth its own commendations.-unto itself moft commendable, i. e. which hath a very high opinion of itself. WARBURTON.

If our authour meant to place Coriolanus in this chair, he must have forgot his character, for, as Mr. Mafon has juftly obferved, he has already been described as one who was fo far from being a boaster, that he could not endure to hear his nothings monster'd." But I rather believe," in the utterance" alludes not to Coriolanus himself, but to the high encomiums pronounced on him by his friends; and then the lines of Horace quoted in p. 273, n. 1, may ferve as a comment on the paffage before us. MALONE.

Rights by rights fouler, &c.] Thefe words, which are exhibited exactly as they appear in the old copy, relate, I apprehend, to what follows, and not to what went before. As one nail, fays Aufidius, drives out anther, fo the ftrength of Coriolanus fhall be fubdued by my ftrength, and bis pretenfions yield to others, lefs fair perhaps, but more powerful. Aufidius has already declared that he will either break the neck of Coriolanus, or his own; and now adds, that jure vel injuria he will deftroy him. The modern editors read-Right's by right fouler, &c. which Mr. Steevens explains thus: "What is already right, and is received as fuch, becomes lefs clear when fupported by fupernumerary proofs." MALONE.

2

A mile

A mile before his tent fall down, and knee
The way into his mercy: Nay, if he coy'd
To hear Cominius fpeak, I'll keep at home.
Com. He would not feem to know me.
Men. Do you hear?

Com. Yet one time he did call me by my name:
I urg'd our old acquaintance, and the drops.
That we have bled together. Coriolanus
He would not anfwer to: forbad all names;
He was a kind of nothing, titleless,

Till he had forg'd himself a name i' the fire
Of burning Rome.

Men. Why, fo; you have made good work:
A pair of tribunes that have rack'd for Rome*,
To make coals cheap: A noble memory 5 !

Com. I minded him, how royal 'twas to pardon When it was lefs expected: He reply'd,

It was a bare petition of a state,

To one whom they had punish'd.
Men. Very well:

Could he fay lefs?

Com. I offer'd to awaken his regard

For his private friends: His anfwer to me was,
He could not ftay to pick them in a pile

4 — that have rack'd for Rome,] To rack means to barrass by exn actions, and in this fenfe the poet ufes it in other places:

"The commons haft thou rack'd; the clergy's bags

"Are lank and lean with thy extortions."

I believe it here means in general, You that have been fuch good fewards for the Roman people, as to get their houfes burned over their heads, to fave them the expence of coals. STEEVENS.

A noble memory!] Memory for memorial, STEEVENS.

See p. 262, n. 5. MALONE.

It was a bare petition] A bare petition,

believe, means only

a mere petition. Coriolanus weighs the confequence of verbal fupplication against that of actual punishment. STEEVENS.

In K. Henry IV. P. I. and in Timon of Athens, the word bare is ufed in the fense of thin, easily seen through; having only a flight fuperficial covering. Yet, I confefs, this interpretation will hardly apply here. In the former of the paffages alluded to, (See Vol. V. p. 136, n. 4.) the editor of the first folio fuhftituted bafe for bare, improperly. In the paffage before us perhaps bafe was the authour's word. MALONE.

Of noisome, mufty chaff: He faid, 'twas folly,
For one poor grain or two, to leave unburnt,
And ftill to nose the offence.

Men. For one poor grain or two?

I am one of those; his mother, wife, his child,
And this brave fellow too, we are the grains:
You are the mufty chaff; and you are smelt
Above the moon: We must be burnt for you.

Sic. Nay, pray, be patient: If you refufe your aid
In this fo never-needed help, yet do not

Upbraid us with our diftrefs. But, fure, if you
Would be your country's pleader, your good tongue,
More than the instant army we can make,
Might ftop our countryman.

Men. No; I'll not meddle.

Sic. Pray you, go to him.

Men. What fhould I do?

Bru. Only make trial what your love can do For Rome, towards Marcius.

Men. Well, and fay that Marcius

Return me, as Cominius is return'd,
Unheard; what then?-

But as a discontented friend, grief-fhot
With his unkindness? Say't be fo?

Sic. Yet your good will

Must have that thanks from Rome, after the measure
As you intended well.

Men. I'll undertake it:

I think, he'll hear me. Yet to bite his lip,
And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me.
He was not taken well; he had not din'd":
The veins unfill'd, our blood is cold, and then
We pout upon the morning, are unapt
To give or to forgive; but when we have stuff'd
Thefe pipes, and thefe conveyances of our blood
With wine and feeding, we have fuppler fouls
Than in our prieft-like fafts: therefore I'll watch him

7 He was not taken well; be had not din'd, &c.] This obfervation is not only from nature, and finely expressed, but admirably befits the mouth of one, who in the beginning of the play had told us, that he Loved convivial doings. WARBURTON.

Till he be dieted to my requeft,

And then I'll fet upon him.

Bru. You know the very road into his kindness, And cannot lose your way.

Men. Good faith, I'll prove him,

Speed how it will. I fhall ere long have knowledge

Of my fuccefs 8.

Com. He'll never hear him,

Sic. Not?

[Exit.

Com. I tell you, he does fit in gold, his eye
Red as 'twould burn Rome; and his injury
The gaoler to his pity. I kneel'd before him:
'Twas very faintly he faid, Rife; difmifs'd me
Thus, with his fpeechlefs hand: What he would do,
He fent in writing after me; what he would not,
Bound with an oath, to yield to his conditions':

8 I fhall ere long have knowledge

So,

Of my fuccefs.] Mr. Mafon fays, there could be no doubt that Menenius himself would foon have knowledge of his fuccefs; and therefore, for I, would read you. That Menenius at fome time would have knowledge of his fuccefs, is certain; but what he afferts, is, that he would ere long gain that knowledge. That this is not always the cafe, when applications for favours are made to perfons in high station, is well known to all who have ever been folicitors in courts; and if poetical authority be wanting, Spenfer furnishes one in these well known lines: "Full little knoweft thou that haft not tride, "What hell it is in fuing long to bide;

"To loose good dayes that might be better spent,
"To waft long nights in penfive difcontent, &c.

Mother Hubbard's Tale.

MALONE. 9 I tell you, be does fit in gold,-] He is inthroned in all the pomp and pride of imperial fplendour.

Xevoce, Hen.-Hom. JOHNSON.

So, in the old tranflation of Plutarch; "he was fet in his chaire of ftate, with a a marvellous and unfpeakable majeftie." Shakspeare has a fomewhat fimilar idea in K. Henry VIII. A&t I. fc. i:

STEEVENS.

"All clinquant, all in gold, like beatben gods." 1 Bound with an oath, to yield to bis conditions:] This whole fpeech is in confufion, and I fufpect fomething left out.

What be would do,

I fhould read:

He fent in writing after; what he would not,
Bound with an oath. To yield to bis conditions,

Here is, I think, a chafm. The speaker's purpose feems to be this: