Com. They are worn, lord consul, so, That we shall hardly in our ages see Their banners wave again. Cor. Saw you Aufidius? Lart. On safe-guard he came to me3; and did curse Against the Volces, for they had so vilely Yielded the town: he is retir'd to Antium. Cor. Spoke he of me? Lart. Cor. Lart. How often he had met you, sword to sword: That, of all things upon the earth, he hated Your person most: that he would pawn his fortunes Be call'd your vanquisher. Cor. Lart. At Antium. At Antium lives he? Cor. I wish I had a cause to seek him there, To oppose his hatred fully.- Welcome home. Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS. [TO LARTIUS. Behold! these are the tribunes of the people, Against all noble sufferance. Sic. Cor. Ha! what is that? Bru. Pass no further. It will be dangerous to Go on: no further. Cor. What makes this change? The matter? 5 On safe-guard he came to me;] i. e. with a convoy, a guard appointed to protect him. 6 ·prank them in authority,] Plume, deck, dignify themselves. Com. Hath he not pass'd the nobles, and the com mons? Bru. Cominius, no. Cor. Have I had children's voices? 1 Sen. Tribunes, give way; he shall to the market Must these have voices, that can yield them now, offices? You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth? 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, 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. Cor. Have you inform'd them since? Not to them all. How! I inform them! Not unlike, Cor. You are like to do such business. Bru. 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. Com. The people are abus'd: palt'ring Let's be calm. Set on. This Becomes not Rome; nor has Coriolanus Deserv'd this so dishonour'd rub, laid falsely 9 Cor. Tell me of corn! This was my speech, and I will speak't again; Men. Not now, not now. 1 Sen. Not in this heat, sir, now. Cor. Now, as I live, I will. My nobler friends, For the mutable, rank-scented many, let them Therein behold themselves1: I say again, In soothing them, we nourish 'gainst our senate Which we ourselves have plough'd for, sow'd and scat ter'd, By mingling them with us, the honour'd number; Which they have given to beggars. ic Men. This palt'ring Well, no more. Becomes not Rome;] That is, this trick of dissimulation; this shuffling. 9 1 rub, laid falsely, &c.] Falsely for treacherously. let them Regard me as I do not flatter, and Therein behold themselves:] Let them look in the mirror which I hold up to them, a mirror which does not flatter, and see themselves. JOHNSON. The cockle of rebellion,] Cockle is a weed which grows up with the corn. 1 Sen. No more words, we beseech you. Cor. How! no more? As for my country I have shed my blood, Bru. You speak o'the people, As if you were a god to punish, not A man of their infirmity. Were I as patient as the midnight sleep, Sic. That shall remain a poison where it is, Not poison any further. Cor. It is a mind, Shall remain ! Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you Com. Cor. 'Twas from the canon. 5 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 o'the monsters, wants not spirit say, he'll turn your current in a ditch, Το 3 meazels,] Mesell is used in Pierce Plowman's Vision, for a leper. minnows?] A minnow is one of the smallest river fish, called in some counties a pink. * 5 'Twas from the canon,] was contrary to the established rule; it was a form of speech to which he has no right; but Mr. Mason thinks these words imply the very reverse. 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 Most palates theirs 7. And such a one as he, They choose their magistrate; His popular shall, against a graver bench May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take Com. Well-on to the market-place. Cor. Whoever gave that counsel, to give forth The corn o'the store-house gratis, as 'twas us'd Sometime in Greece, Men. Well, well, no more of that. Cor. (Though there the people had more absolute power,) I say, they nourish'd disobedience, fed The ruin of the state. Bru. One, that speaks thus, their voice? Why, shall the people give I'll give my reasons, Cor. More worthier than their voices. They know, the corn 6 Then vail your ignorance :] If this man has power, let the ignorance gave it him vail or bow down before him. that 7— You are plebeians, If they be senators: and they are no less, When, both your voices blende 1, the greatest taste Most palates theirs.] Perhaps the meaning is, the plebeians are no less than senators, when, the voices of the senate and the people being blended together, the predominant state of the compound smacks more of the populace than the senate. |