Upon the voice of occupation, and

The breath of garlick-eaters.

Com. He'll shake your Rome about your ears. Men. As Hercules did fhake down mellow fruit: You have made fair work!

Bru. But is this true, Sir?

Com. Ay, and you'll look pale

Before you find it other. All the Regions

Do fmilingly revolt; and, who refist,

Are mock'd for valiant ignorance,

And perish conftant fools: who is't can blame him?
Your enemies and his find fomething in him.

Men. We're all undone, unless

The noble man have mercy.

Com. Who fhall ask it?

The Tribunes cannot do't for fhame; the people
Deferve fuch pity of him, as the wolf

Does of the fhepherds: his best friends, if they
Shou'd fay, "Be good to Rome;" they charge him even
As those should do that had deferv'd his hate,

And therein fhew'd like enemies.

Men. 'Tis true.

If he were putting to my house the brand
That would confume it, I have not the face

To fay, "Befeech you, cease." You've made fair hands,
You and your crafts! you've crafted fair!

Com. You've brought

A trembling upon Rome, fuch as was never
So incapable of help.

Tri. Say not, we brought it.

Men. How? was it we? we lov'd him; but, like

beafts,

And coward Nobles, gave way to your clusters,

Who did hoot him out o'th' city.

Com. But I fear,

They'll roar him in again. Tullus Aufidius,
The fecond name of men, obeys his points
As if he were his officer: Defperation
Is all the policy, ftrength, and defence,

T 4

That

That Rome can make against them.

Enter a Troop of Citizens.

Men. Here come the clufters.

And is Aufidius with him?

You are they,

That made the air unwholfome, when you caft

Your ftinking, greafy caps, in hooting at
Coriolanus' Exile. Now he's coming,

And not a hair upon a foldier's head,

Which will not prove a whip: as many coxcombs,
As you threw caps up, will he tumble down,
And pay you for your voices. 'Tis no matter,

If he fhould burn us all into one coal,
We have deferv'd it.

Omnes. Faith, we hear fearful news.
1 Cit. For mine own part,

When I faid, banish him; I faid, 'twas pity. 2 Cit. And fo did I.

3 Cit. And fo did I ; and to say the truth, fo did very many of us; that we did, we did for the best; and tho' we willingly confented to his Banishment, yet it was against our will.

Com. Y'are goodly things; you, voices!

Men. You have made good work,

You and your cry. Shall's to the Capitol ?
Com. Oh, ay, what else?

[Exeunt.

Sic. Go, mafters, get you home, be not difmay'd.

These are a Side, that would be glad to have
This true, which they fo feem to fear. Go home,
And fhew no fign of fear.

I Cit. The Gods be good to us: come, mafters, let's home. I ever faid, we were i'th' wrong, when we banifh'd him.

2 Cit. So did we all; but come, let's home.

Bru. I do not like this news.

Sic. Nor I.

[Ex. Cit.

Bru. Let's to the Capitol; 'would, half my wealth

Would

Would buy this for a lie!

Sic. Pray, let us go.

[Exeunt Tribunes.

SCENE, a Camp; at a small distance from

Rome.

Enter Aufidius, with his Lieutenant.

Auf D Lieu. I do not know what witchcraft's in

O they ftill flie to th' Roman?

him; but

Your foldiers use him as the grace 'fore meat,
Their talk at table, and their thanks at end:
And you are darken'd in this action, Sir,

Even by your own.

Auf. I cannot help it now,

Unless, by ufing means, I lame the foot

Of our defign. He bears himself more proudly
Even to my perfon, than, I thought, he would
When firft I did embrace him. Yet his nature
In that's no changling, and I must excuse
What cannot be amended.

Lieu. Yet I wish, Sir,

(1 mean for your particular) you had not Join'd in Commiffion with him; but had borne The action of your self, or else to him

Had left it solely.

Auf. I understand thee well; and be thou fure,
When he fhall come to his account, he knows not,
What I can urge against him; though it seems,
And fo he thinks, and is no lefs apparent
To th' vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly;
And fhews good husbandry for the Volfcian State,.
Fights dragon-like, and does atchieve as foon
As draw his fword: yet he hath left undone
That which shall break his neck, or hazard mine,
When e'er we come to our account.

Lieu. Sir, I befeech, think you, he'll carry Rome?
T 5.

Auf

Auf. All places yield to him ere he fits down, And the Nobility of Rome are his :

The Senators and Patricians love him too:

The Tribunes are no foldiers; and their people.
Will be as rafh in the Repeal, as hafty

To expel him thence. I think, he'll be to Rome (25)
As is the Ofprey to the fish, who takes it
By Sovereignty of Nature. First, he was
A noble fervant to them, but he could not
Carry his Honours even; whether pride,
(Which out of daily fortune ever taints
The happy man) whether defect of judgment,
(To fail in the difpofing of those chances,
Whereof he was the lord) or whether nature,
(Not to be other than one thing; not moving
From th' cask to th' cufhion; but commanding peace
Even with the fame aufterity and garb,

As he controll'd the war ;) But one of these,

(25)

- I think, he'll be to Rome

As is the Afpray to the Fish, who takes it

By Sov'reignty of Nature.]

Though one's Search might have been very vain to find any fuch Word as Aspray, yet eafily imagin'd, fomething muft be couch'd, under the Corruption, in its Nature deftructive to Fish, and that made a Prey of them. And this Sufpicion led me to the Discovery. The Ofprey is a Species of the Eagle, of a ftrong Make, that haunts the Sea and Lakes for its Food, and altogether preys on Fish. But how will Coriolanus be to Rome, as the Ofprey to the Fish,

he'll take it

By Sov'reignty of Nature?

Shakespeare, 'tis well known, has a Peculiarity in Thinking; and, wherever he is acquainted with Nature, is fure to allude to her most uncommon Effects and Operations. I am very apt to imagine, therefore, that the Poet meant, Coriolanus would take Rome by the very Opinion and Terror of his Name, as Fish are taken by the Osprey, thro' an instinctive Fear they have of him.

(As

(As he hath spices of them all) not all,
For I dare fo far free him, made him fear'd,
So hated, and fo banish'd; but he has merit
To choak it in the utt'rance: fo our virtues
Lie in th' interpretation of the time;
And Power, unto it felf moft commendable,
Hath not a tomb fo evident, as a chair
T' extol what it hath done.

One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail; Right's by right fouler, ftrengths by ftrengths do fail. Come, let's away; when, Caius, Rome is thine, Thou'rt poor'ft of all, then fhortly art thou mine.

[Exeunt.

SCENE, a publick Place in Rome..

Enter Menenius, Cominius, Sicinius, Brutus, with others.

N

MENENI U S.

O, I'll not go you hear, what he hath faid,
Which was fometime his General; who lov'd.
him

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 fpeak, I'll keep at home..
Com. He would not feem to know me.
Men. Do you hear?

Com. Yet one time he did call me by my name: '
I urg'd our old acquaintance, and the drops
That we have bled together. Coriolanus
He would not answer to; forbad all names;.

He