Cor.

Well, I must do 't.

Away, my disposition, and possess me

Some harlot's spirit! My throat of war be turned
(Which quiréd with my drum) into a pipe
Small as an eunuch, or the virgin voice
That babies lulls asleep! The smiles of knaves
Tent in my cheeks; and shoolboys' tears take up
The glasses of my sight! A beggar's tongue
Make motion through my lips! and my armed
knees,

Who bowed but in my stirrup, bend like his
That hath received an alms!-I will not do 't!
Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth,
And by my body's action teach my mind
A most inherent baseness.

Vol. At thy choice, then :
To beg of thee it is my more dishonour,
Than thou of them. Come all to ruin : let
Thy mother rather feel thy pride than fear
Thy dangerous stoutness: for I mock at death
With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list.
Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck'dst it from

me:

But owe thy pride thyself.

Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS.

Bru. In this point charge him home, that he affects

Tyrannical power. If he evade us there,
Enforce him with his envy to the people;
And that the spoil got on the Antiates
Was ne'er distributed.

Enter an Edile.

Cor. Say, then: 'tis true I ought so.
Sic. We charge you, that you have contrived to
take

From Rome all seasoned office, and to wind
Yourself into a power tyrannical:

For which you are a traitor to the people.
Cor. How! Traitor?

Men. Nay; temperately:-your promise.
Cor. The fires i' the lowest hell fold in the people!
Call me their traitor!-Thou injurious tribune!
Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,
In thy hands clutched as many millions, in
Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say
"Thou liest!" unto thee, with a voice as free
As I do pray the gods.

Com.

Know, I pray you,—

Cor. I'll know no further!

Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
Vagabond exile, flaying: pent to linger

But with a grain a day, I would not buy
Their mercy at the price of one fair word;
Nor check my courage for what they can give,
To have it with saying, "Good merrow."
Sic.
For that he has
(As much as in him lies) from time to time
Envied against the people, seeking means
To pluck away their power; as now at last
Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence
Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers
That do distribute it ;—in the name o' the people,
And in the power of us the tribunes, we,
Even from this instant, banish him our city:
In peril of precipitation

From off the rock Tarpeian, never more

To enter our Rome gates.—I' the people's name, I say it shall be so.

Cit. It shall be so; it shall be so! let him away. He's banished, and it shall be so!

Com. Hear me, my masters, and my common friends :

Sic. He's sentenced: no more hearing.
Com. Let me speak:

I have been consul, and can shew, for Rome,
Her enemies' marks upon me. I do love
My country's good with a respect more tender,
More holy and profound, than mine own life,
My dear wife's estimate, her womb's increase,
And treasure of my loins. Then if I would
Speak that-

Sic.

We know your drift:-speak what? Bru. There's no more to be said, but he is banished,

As enemy to the people and his country.
It shall be so.

Let every feeble rumour shake
your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders: till at length
Your ignorance (which finds not till it feels),
Making but reservation of yourselves
(Still your own foes), deliver you,
As most abated captives, to some nation
That won you without blows!-Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.

[Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, MENENIUS,
Senators, and Patricians.
Ed. The people's enemy is gone, is gone!
Cit. Our enemy is banished! he is gone!-Hoo!

hoo!

[The people shout, and throw up their caps. Sic. Go, see him out at gates, and follow him, As he hath followed you, with all despite : Give him deserved vexation.-Let a guard Attend us through the city.

Cit. Come, come, let's see him out at gates:

come.

The gods preserve our noble tribunes !—Come. [Exeunt.

SCENE I.-Rome. Before the Gate of the City.
Enter CORIOLANUS, VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, MENE-
NIUS, COMINIUS, and several young Patricians.
Cor. Come, leave your tears: a brief farewell.
The beast

With many heads butts me away.-Nay, mother,
Where is your ancient courage? you were used
To say, extremity was the trier of spirits;
That common chances common men could bear;
That, when the sea was calm, all boats alike
Shewed mastership in floating: fortune's blows
When most struck home, being gentle, wounded,

And venomous to thine eyes.-My sometime ge

neral,

I have seen thee stern, and thou hast oft beheld Heart-hardening spectacles: tell these sad women "T is fond to wail inevitable strokes,

As 't is to laugh at them.-My mother, you wot well

My hazards still have been your solace and
Believe 't not lightly (though I go alone,
Like to a lonely dragon that his fen
Makes feared and talked of more than seen), your

son