MEN. Nay, these are almost thoroughly per suaded; For though abundantly they lack discretion, Yet are they passing cowardly. But, I beseech you, What says the other troop? MAR. They are dissolved: Hang 'em! They said, they were an-hungry; sigh'd forth pro verbs; That, hunger broke stone walls; that, dogs must eat; That, meat was made for mouths; that, the gods sent not Corn for the rich men only:-With these shreds They vented their complainings; which being answer'd, And a petition granted them, a strange one, (To break the heart of generosity', And make bold power look pale,) they threw their caps As they would hang them on the horns o' the moon 2, * 3. 3 Shouting their emulation * First folio, shooting. Thus, in Froissart's Chronicle, cap. C.lxiii. fo. lxxxii. b: and as he stouped downe to take up his swerde, the Frenche squyer dyd pycke his swerde at hym, and by hap strake hym through bothe the thyes." STEEVENS. So, in An Account of Auntient Customes and Games, &c. MSS. Harl. 2057, fol. 10, b: "To wrestle, play at strole-ball, [stool-ball] or to runne, "To picke the barre, or to shoot off a gun." The word is again used in King Henry VIII. Act V. Sc. III. with only a slight variation in the spelling: "I'll peck you o'er the pales else." MALONE. 1 the heart of GENEROSITY,] To give the final blow to the nobles. Generosity is high birth. JOHNSON. 2 So, in Measure for Measure: "The generous and gravest citizens —.” See vol. ix. p. 176, n. 2. STEEVENS. hang them on the horns o' the moon,] So, in Antony and Cleopatra MEN. What is granted them ? MAR. Five tribunes, to defend their vulgar wis doms, Of their own choice: One's Junius Brutus, Win upon power, and throw forth greater themes MEN. This is strange. MAR. Go, get you home, you fragments! Enter a Messenger. MESS. Where's Caius Marcius? MAR. Here: What's the matter? MESS. The news is, sir, the Volces are in arms. MAR. I am glad on't; then we shall have means to vent Our musty superfluity :-See, our best elders. "Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o' the moon." STEEVENS. 3 Shouting their emulation.] Each of them striving to shout louder than the rest. MALONE. Emulation, in the present instance, I believe, signifies faction. Shouting their emulation," may mean, 'expressing the triumph of their faction by shouts.' Emulation, in our author, is sometimes used in an unfavourable sense, and not to imply an honest contest for superior excellence. Thus, in King Henry VI. Part I.: 66 66 the trust of England's honour Keep off aloof with worthless emulation." Again, in Troilus and Cressida : While emulation in the army crept." i. e. faction. STEEVENS. 4 - UNROOF'D the city,] Old copy-unroost. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. 5 For insurrection's arguing.] For insurgents to debate upon. MALONE. Enter COMINIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, and other Senators; JUNIUS BRUTUS, and SICINIUS VELUTUS. 1 SEN. Marcius, 'tis true, that you have lately told us; The Volces are in arms". They have a leader, MAR. I sin in envying his nobility: And were I any thing but what I am, Сом. You have fought together. MAR. Were half to half the world by the ears, and he Upon my party, I'd revolt, to make Only my wars with him: he is a lion 1 SEN. Then, worthy Marcius, Sir, it is; Attend upon Cominius to these wars. MAR. And I am constant.-Titus Lartius, thou No, Caius Marcius; TIT. I'll lean upon one crutch, and fight with the other, Ere stay behind this business. MEN. O, true bred! 6 'tis true, that you have lately told us; The Volces are in arms.] Coriolanus had been just told himself that "the Volces were in arms." The meaning is, 'The intelligence which you gave us some little time ago of the designs of the Volces is now verified; they are in arms.' JOHNSON. 7 constant.] i. e. immoveable in my resolution. So, in Julius Cæsar : "But I am constant as the northern star." STEEVENS. 1 SEN. Your company to the Capitol; where, I know, Our greatest friends attend us. TIT. Follow, Cominius; we must follow you; Сом. 8 Lead you on: Noble Lartius ?! To the Citizens. Nay, let them follow: 1 SEN. Hence! To your homes, be gone. MAR. The Volces have much corn; take these rats thither, To gnaw their garners :-Worshipful mutineers, [Exeunt Senators, Coм. MAR. TIT. and SIC. Was ever man so proud as is this Marcius? BRU. He has no equal. SIC. When we were chosen tribunes for the people, BRU. Mark'd you his lip, and eyes? 2 SIC. 8 Right worthy you priority.] You being right worthy of precedence. MALONE. Mr. M. Mason would read-your priority. STEEVENS. 9 Noble LARTIUS!] Old copy-Martius. Corrected by Mr. Theobald. I am not sure that the emendation is necessary. Perhaps Lartius in the latter part of the preceding speech addresses Marcius, MALONE. 1 Your valour puts well forth :] tiny shown fair blossoms of valour. So, in King Henry VIII. : 2 66 -To-day he puts forth That is, You have in this mu "The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms," &c. MALONE. to GIRD-] To sneer, to gibe. So Falstaff uses the noun, when he says, every man has a gird at me." JOHNSON. 66 SIC. Be-mock the modest moon. BRU. The present wars devour him he is grown Too proud to be so valiant 3. Again, in The Taming of The Shrew : "I thank thee for that gird, good Tranio." Many instances of the use of this word might be added. STEEVENS. To gird, as an anonymous correspondent observes to me, “in some parts of England means to push vehemently. So, when a ram pushes at any thing with his head, they say he girds at it." To gird likewise signified, to pluck or twinge. Hence probably it was metaphorically used in the sense of to taunt, or annoy by a stroke of sarcasm. Cotgrave makes gird, nip, and twinge, synonymous. MALONE. 3 The present wars devour him: he is grown Too proud to be so valiant.] Mr. Theobald says, "This is obscurely expressed," but that "the poet's meaning must certainly be, that Marcius is so conscious of, and so elate upon the notion of his own valour, that he is eaten up with pride," &c. According to this critick then, we must conclude, that when Shakspeare had a mind to say, A man was eaten up with pride, he was so great a blunderer in expression, as to say, He was eaten up with war. But our poet wrote at another rate, and the blunder is his critick's. The present wars devour him, is an imprecation, and should be so pointed. As much as to say, May he fall in those wars! The reason of the curse is subjoined, for (says the speaker) having so much pride with so much valour, his life, with increase of honours, is dangerous to the republick. WARBURTON. I am by no means convinced that Dr. Warburton's punctuation, or explanation, is right. The sense may be, that " the present wars annihilate his gentler qualities.' To eat up, and consequently to devour, has this meaning. So, in The Second Part of King Henry IV. Act IV. Sc. IV.: "But thou [the crown] most fine, most honour'd, most re'nown'd, "Hast eat thy bearer up." To be "eat up with pride," is still a phrase in common and vulgar use. "He is grown too proud to be so valiant," may signify, 'his pride is such as not to deserve the accompanyment of so much valour.' STEEvens. I concur with Mr. Steevens. "The present wars," Shakspeare uses to express the pride of Coriolanus grounded on his military prowess; which kind of pride Brutus says devours him. So, in Troilus and Cressida, Act II. Sc. III. : He that's proud, eats up himself." |
