Lieu.

Yet I wish, sir,

I mean for your particular,—you had not
Join'd in commission with him; but either
Had borne the action of yourself, or else
To him had left it solely.

Auf. I understand thee well; and be thou sure,
When he shall come to his account, he knows not
What I can urge against him. Although it seems,
And so he thinks, and is no less apparent

To the vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly,
And shows good husbandry for the Volscian state,
Fights dragon-like, and does achieve as soon
As draw his sword; yet he hath left undone
That which shall break his neck or hazard mine,
Whene'er we come to our account.

Lieu. Sir, I beseech you, think you he'll carry

Rome?

Auf. All places yield to him ere he sits down ;
And the nobility of Rome are his :

The senators and patricians love him too:
The tribunes are no soldiers; and their people
Will be as rash in the

To expel him thence.

repeal, as hasty

I think he'll be to Rome
As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it
By sovereignty of nature.

A noble servant to them;

First he was

but he could not

Carry his honours even whether 'twas pride,
Which out of daily fortune ever taints

The happy man; whether defect of judgement,
To fail in the disposing of those chances
Which he was lord of; or whether nature,
Not to be other than one thing, not moving

34. As is the osprey to the fish. Fish are said to turn on their backs at the sight of the osprey, 'subdued ere they are touched';

20

30

40

cf. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1. 139. 41. nature, not to be other, etc., his unbending temperament.

From the casque to the cushion, but commanding

peace

Even with the same austerity and garb

As he controll'd the war; but one of these-
As he hath spices of them all, not all,

For I dare so far free him-made him fear'd,
So hated, and so banish'd; but he has a merit,
To choke it in the utterance. So our virtues
Lie in the interpretation of the time:

And power, unto itself most 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 falter, strengths by strengths do fail. Come, let's away. When, Caius, Rome is thine, Thou art poor'st of all; then shortly art thou mine. [Exeunt.

ACT V.

SCENE I. Rome. A public place.

Enter MENENIUS, COMINIUS, SICINIUS, BRUTUS, and others.

Men. No, I'll not go: you hear what he hath said Which was sometime his general, who loved him

49-53. our virtues lie, etc.; our reputation for virtue is in the hands of our contemporaries; and power, confident of its own merits, has no more obvious road to ruin than by proclaiming them.

sense.

This I think the clear
But some commentators

prefer to understand the whole as a tribute to Coriolanus, taking 'tomb' in the sense of 'monument.'

55. falter. So Dyce for the unintelligible fouler' of Ff. The emendation cannot be called certain.

In a most dear particular. He call'd me father:
But what o' that? Go, you that banish'd him;
A mile before his tent fall down, and knee
The way into his mercy: nay, if he coy'd
To hear Cominius speak, I'll keep at home.
Com. He would not seem to know me.

Men.

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

Till he had forged himself a name o' the fire
Of burning Rome.

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

Com. I minded him how royal 'twas to pardon
When it was less expected: he replied,

It was a bare petition of a state

To one whom they had punish'd.

Men.

Could he say less?

Very well:

Com. I offer'd to awaken his regard
For's private friends: his answer to me was,
He could not stay to pick them in a pile
Of noisome musty chaff: he said 'twas folly,
For one poor grain or two, to leave unburnt,
And still 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 musty chaff; and you are smelt

3. In a most dear particular,

as a dear personal friend.

16. rack'd, striven, strained.

10

20

30

20. bare petition, a request unaccompanied by any promise of atonement or restitution.

Above the moon: we must be burnt for you.

Sic. Nay, pray, be patient: if you refuse your aid

In this so never-needed help, yet do not

Upbraid's with our distress. But, sure, if you Would be your country's pleader, your good tongue, More than the instant army we can make,

Might stop our countryman.

Men.

Sic. Pray you, go to him.

Men.

No, I'll not meddle.

What should I do?

40

Bru. Only make trial what your love can do

For Rome, towards Marcius.

Men.

Well, and say that Marcius

Return me, as Cominius is return'd,

Unheard; what then?

But as a discontented friend, grief-shot

With his unkindness? say 't be so?

And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me.

He was not taken well; he had not dined:
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
These pipes and these conveyances of our blood
With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls
Than in our priest-like fasts: therefore I'll watch
him

Till he be dieted to my request,

And then I'll set upon him.

44. grief-shot, sorrow-stricken.

50

Bru. You know the very road into his kindness,

And cannot lose your way.

Men.

Good faith, I'll prove him, 60

Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledge

Of my success.

Com.

Sic.

[Exit.

He'll never hear him.

Not?

Com. I tell you, he does sit 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 said 'Rise ;' dismiss'd me
Thus, with his speechless hand: what he would do,
He sent in writing after me, what he would not,
Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions:
So that all hope is vain,

Unless his noble mother, and his wife;
Who, as I hear, mean to solicit him

For mercy to his country. Therefore, let's hence,
And with our fair entreaties haste them on.

[Exeunt.

70

Entrance of the Volscian camp before

SCENE II.

Rome.

Two Sentinels on guard.

Enter to them, MENENIUS.

First Sen. Stay: whence are you?

63 f. The ambassadors that in his chair of state, with a

were sent were Martius' familiar friends and acquaintance, who looked at the least for a courteous welcome of him, as of their familiar friend and kinsman. Howbeit they found nothing less; for at their coming they were brought through the camp to the place where he was set

marvellous and unspeakable majesty' (North).

69. Bound with an oath. The transaction is obscurely described. Apparently it is thus. Coriolanus indicates what he will concede, and binds himself by oath to concede nothing

more.