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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 must caft your election on him.

Sic. 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 with 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 fprings of,
The noble houfe of Martius; from whence came
That Ancus Martius, 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 had befide well in his perfon wrought,
To be fet high in place, we did commend
To your remembrances; but you have found,
Scaling his present bearing with his past,

Plutarch in his account of the Martian family enumerates the feveral great men who had fprung from it, in which lift ftand Pub lius Martius and Quintus Martius and Cenforinus; who, though they lived before Plutarch, came after Coriolanus. Shakespear therefore by copying Plutarch too clofely and hastily hath fallen into this inad vertence of making a cotemporary with Coriolanus mention the men who lived long after him.

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That he's your fixed enemy, and revoke
Your fudden approbation.

Bru. Say, you ne'er had done'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; almost all

Repent in their election.

Bru. Let 'em go on :

This mutiny were better put in hazard,

Than ftay paft doubt for greater:

If, as his nature is, he fall in rage

[Exeunt Citizens.

With their refufal, both obferve and answer

The vantage of his anger.

Sic. Come; to th' Capitol.

We will be there before the ftream o' th' people :

And this shall feem, as partly 'tis, their own,

Which we have goaded onward.

ACT III. SCENE

[Exeunt.

I.

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

Cor. T

Ullus Aufidius then had made new head?

Lar. He had, my Lord, and that it was which

Our fwifter compofition.

Cor. So then the Volfcians ftand but as at first,

Ready when time fhall prompt them, to make inroad

Upon's again.

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

That we shall hardly in our ages fee

Their banners wave again.

Cor. Saw you Aufidius?

[caus'd

Lar. On fafe-guard he came to me, and did curfe

Against the Volfcians, for they had fo vilely

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

Cor. Spoke he of me?

Lar. He did, my Lord.

Cor. How! what?

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

Your

Your perfon moft: that he would pawn his fortunes
To hopeless reftitution, fo he might

Be call'd your vanquisher.

Cor. At Antium lives he?

Lar. At Antium.

Cor. I wish I had a cause to seek him there,
To oppofe his hatred fully. Welcome home.
Enter Sicinus 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 sufferance.

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Com. Hath he not pafs'd the Nobles and the Commons ? Bru. 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 thefe your herd?

Muft thefe have voices, that can yield them now,

And ftraight difclaim 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,
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.

Cor. Why, this was known before.

Bru. Not to them all.

Cor. Have you inform'd them fince ?
Bru. How! I inform them!

Cor. Yes, you are like enough to do fuch bufinefs.
Bru. Not unlike, either way, to better you.
Cor. Why then should I be Conful? by yond clouds,
Let me deferve fo 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 fpirit,
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, fet on; this paltring
Becomes not Rome: nor has Coriolanus

Deferv'd this fo difhonour'd rub, laid falfly
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

"

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 themfelves: I fay again,

In foothing them, we nourish 'gainst our Senate
The cockle of rebellion, infolence, fedition,

Which we our felves have plow'd for, fow'd and scatter'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 you

Cor. How!

no more!

As for my country I have shed my blood,

Not

Not fearing outward force; fo fhall my lungs
Coin words 'till their decay, against those measles
Which we disdain fhould tetter us, yet feek
The very way to catch them.

Bru. You fpeak o' th' people, Sir, as if you were

A God to punish, not as being a man

Of their infirmity.

Sic. "Twere well we let

The people know't.

Men. What, what! his choler?
Cor. Choler!

Were I as patient as the midnight fleep,
By Jove, 'twould be my mind.

Sic. It is a mind

That fhall remain a poison were it is,
Not poifon any further.

Cor. Shall remain ?

Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you
His abfolute ball?

Com. 'Twas from the canon,

Cor. Shall?

O good but moft unwife Patricians, why,

You grave but reckless Senators, have you thus
Given Hydra here to chufe an officer,

That with his peremptory fhall, being but
The horn and noife o' th' monfters, wants not fpirit
To fay, he'll turn your current in a ditch,
And make your channel his? if they have power,
Let them have cushions by you: if none, awake
Your dang❜rous lenity: if you are learned,
Be not as common fools: if you are not,
Then vail your ignorance. You are plebeians
If they be Senators; and they are no less,
When, both your voices blended, the greatest tafte
Moft palates theirs. They chufe their magiftrate,
And fuch a one as he, who puts his fall,
His popular fball, against a graver bench
Than ever frown'd in Greece. By Jove himself,
It makes the Confuls bafe; and my foul akes

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