Which we devise him.

Сом. Our spoils he kick'd at; And look'd upon things precious, as they were The common muck o' the world: he covets lefs Than mifery itself would give; rewards

2

His deeds with doing them; and is content
To spend the time, to end it.3

MEN. The fenate, Coriolanus, are well pleas'd To make thee conful.

COR.

My life, and fervices.

I do owe them still

will be too great for him; he will show a mind equal to any ele vation. JOHNSON.

2 Than mifery itself would give;] Mifery for avarice; because a wifer fignifies an avaricious. WARBURTON.

3 - -and is content

To Spend the time, to end it.] I know not whether my conceit will be approved, but I cannot forbear to think that our author wrote thus:

he rewards

His deeds with doing them, and is content

To Spend his time, to spend it.

To do great acts, for the fake of doing them; to spend his life, for the fake of fpending it. JOHNSON.

I think the words afford this meaning, without any alteration.

MALONE.

4 Call for Coriolanus.] I have fupplied the prepofition-for, to complete the measure. STEEVENS.

MEN.

It then remains,

That you do speak to the people.'

COR.

I do beseech you, Let me o'er-leap that custom; for I cannot

Put on the gown, stand naked, and entreat them, For my wounds' fake, to give their fuffrage: please

you,

That I may pass this doing.

SIC.

Sir, the people

Must have their voices; neither will they bate
One jot of ceremony.

MEN.

Put them not to't:

Pray you, go fit you to the custom; and
Take to you, as your predeceffors have,
Your honour with your form.6

3 It then remains,

That you do speak to the people.] Coriolanus was banished U. C. 262. But till the time of Manlius Torquatus, U. C. 393, the fenate chofe both the confuls: And then the people, affifted by the feditious temper of the tribunes, got the choice of one. But if Shakspeare makes Rome a democracy, which at this time was a perfect ariftocracy; he fets the balance even in his Timon, and turns Athens, which was a perfect democracy, into an ariftocracy. But it would be unjust to attribute this entirely to his ignorance; it fometimes proceeded from the too powerful blaze of his imagination, which, when once lighted up, made all acquired knowledge fade and difappear before it. For fometimes again we find him, when occafion ferves, not only writing up to the truth of hiftory, but fitting his fentiments to the niceft manners of his peculiar subject, as well to the dignity of his characters, or the dictates of nature in general. WARBURTON.

The inaccuracy is to be attributed, not to our author, but to Plutarch, who exprefsly fays, in his life of Coriolanus, that "it was the cuftome of Rome at that time, that fuch as dyd fue for any office, fhould for certen dayes before be in the market-place, only with a poor gowne on their backes, and without any coate underneath, to praye the people to remember them at the day of election." North's tranflation, p. 244. MALONE.

6 Your honour with your form.] I believe we fhould read " Your honour with the form."-That is, the ufual form. M. MASON.

COR.

It is a part

That I fhall blush in acting, and might well
Be taken from the people.

BRU.

Mark you that?

COR. To brag unto them,-Thus I did, and

thus ;

Show them the unaking fcars which I fhould hide, As if I had receiv'd them for the hire

Of their breath only :

ΜΕΝ.

Do not stand upon't.

tribunes of the people, and to our noble conful

We recommend to you,
Our purpose to them;
With we all joy and honour.

SEN. To Coriolanus come all joy and honour!
[Flourish. Then Exeunt Senators.
BRU. You fee how he intends to use the people.
SIC. May they perceive 's intent! He will re-
quire them,

As if he did contemn what he requested

Should be in them to give.

BRU.

Come, we'll inform them

Your form, may mean the form which cuftom prescribes to you.

7 We recommend to you, tribunes of the people,

STEEVENS.

Our purpose to them;] We entreat you, tribunes of the people, to recommend and enforce to the plebeians, what we propose to them for their approbation; namely the appointment of Coriolanus to the confulfhip. MALONE.

This paffage is rendered almoft unintelligible by the falfe punctuation. It should evidently be pointed thus, and then the fenfe will be clear :

We recommend to you, tribunes of the people,

Our purpose-to them, and to our noble conful,

Wish we all joy and honour.

To them, means to the people, whom Menenius artfully joins to the conful, in the good wishes of the fenate. M. MASON.

[Exeunt

Of our proceedings here: on the market-place,
I know, they do attend us.

SCENE III.

The fame. The Forum.

Enter feveral Citizens.

1. CIT. Once, if he do require our voices, we ought not to deny him,

2. CIT. We may, fir, if we will.

3. CIT. We have power in ourselves to do it, but it is a power that we have no power to do: for if he fhow us his wounds, and tell us his deeds, we are to put our tongues into those wounds, and speak

• Once,] Once here means the fame as when we fay, once for all, WARBURTON. This ufe of the word once is found in The Supposes by Gascoigne :

"Once, twenty-four ducattes he coft me." FARMER. Again, in The Comedy of Errors:

"Once this, your long experience of her wifdom-." STEEVENS.

I doubt whether once here fignifies once for all. I believe, it means, if he do but fo much as require our voices;" as in the following paffage in Holinfhed's Chronicle: " -they left many of their fervants and men of war behind them, and fome of them would not once ftay for their standards." MALONE.

We have power in ourselves to do it, but it is a power that we bave no power to do:] Power first fignifies natural power or force, and then moral power or right. Davies has ufed the fame word with great variety of meaning:

Ufe all thy powers that heavenly power to praise,
That gave thee power to do..
JOHNSON.

for them; fo, if he tell us his noble deeds, we must alfo tell him our noble acceptance of them. Ingratitude is monftrous: and for the multitude to be ingrateful, were to make a monster of the multitude; of the which, we being members, fhould bring ourselves to be monstrous members.

1. CIT. And to make us no better thought of, a little help will ferve: for once, when we ftood up about the corn,' he himself stuck not to call usthe many-headed multitude.'

3. CIT. We have been call'd fo of many; not that our heads are some brown, fome black, fome auburn, fome bald, but that our wits are fo diverfly colour'd: and truly I think, if all our wits were to iffue out of one fkull,' they would fly east, weft,

2

-for once, when e ftood up about the corn,] [Old copy→→ once we stood up] That is, as foon as ever we ftood up. This word is ftill ufed in nearly the fame fenfe, in familiar or rather vulgar language, fuch as Shakspeare wifhed to allot to the Roman populace. "Once the will of the monarch is the only law, the conftitution is deftroyed." Mr. Rowe and all the subsequent editors read-for once, when we ftood up, &c. MALONE.

As no decifive evidence is brought to prove that the adverb once has at any time fignified-as foon as ever, I have not rejected the word introduced by Mr. Rowe, which, in my judgement, is neceffary to the speaker's meaning. STEEVENS.

3

-many-headed multitude.] Hanmer reads, many-headed monster, but without neceffity. To be many-headed includes monfroufness. JOHNSON.

-fome auburn,] The folio reads, fome Abram. I fhould unwillingly fuppofe this to be the true reading; but we have already heard of Cain and Abram-coloured beards. STEEVENS.

The emendation was made in the fourth folio. MALONE.

5 —if all our wits were to iffue out of one fkull, &c.] Meaning though our having but one intereft was moft apparent, yet our wishes and projects would be infinitely difcordant. WARBURTON.

To fuppofe all their wits to iffue from one fcull, and that their common confent and agreement to go all one way, should end in