Insisting on the old prerogative

And power, i' the truth o' the cause.1

Ed.

I shall inform them.

Bru. And when such time they have begun to cry, Let them not cease, but with a din confused

Enforce the present execution

Of what we chance to sentence.

Ed.

Very well.

Sic. Make them be strong, and ready for this hint, When we shall hap to give't them.

Bru.

Go about it.

[Exit Edile. Put him to choler straight. He hath been used Ever to conquer, and to have his worth 2

Of contradiction. Being once chafed, he cannot
Be reined again to temperance; then he speaks
What's in his heart; and that is there, which looks
With us to break his neck.3

Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, COMINIUS, Senators, and Patricians.

Sic. Well, here he comes.

Men.

Calmly, I do beseech you. Cor. Ay, as an ostler, that for the poorest piece Will bear the knave by the volume.-The honored

gods

Keep Rome in safety, and the chairs of justice Supplied with worthy men! Plant love among us! Throng our large temples with the shows of peace, And not our streets with war!

1 Sen.

Men. A noble wish.

Amen, amen!

1 Mason gives these words "in the truth of the cause and omits the period.

to the ædile,

2 i. e. his full part or share, as we should now say his pennyworth of contradiction.

3 “The sentiments of Coriolanus's heart are our coadjutors, and look to have their share in promoting his destruction."

4 "Will bear being called a knave as often as would fill out a volume."

Re-enter Edile, with Citizens.

Sic. Draw near, ye people.

Cor. First, hear me speak.

Ed. List to your tribunes; audience. Peace, I say. Both Tri. Well, say.-Peace, ho. Cor. Shall I be charged no further than this present? Must all determine here?

Sic.

I do demand

If you submit you to the people's voices,
Allow their officers, and are content
To suffer lawful censure for such faults

As shall be proved upon you?

Cor.

I am content.
Men. Lo, citizens, he says, he is content.
The warlike service he has done, consider;
Think on the wounds his body bears, which show
Like graves i' the holy churchyard.

Cor.

Scars to move laughter only.

Men.

Scratches with briers,

Consider further,

That when he speaks not like a citizen,
You find him like a soldier. Do not take
His rougher accents for malicious sounds,
But, as I say, such as become a soldier,
Rather than envy1 you.

Com.

Well, well, no more.

Cor. What is the matter,

That being passed for consul with full voice,
I am so dishonored, that the very hour

You take it off again?

Sic.

Answer to us.

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

2

1 "Do not take his rougher accents for malicious sounds, but rather for such as become a soldier, than spite or malign you." See the first note on this scene, and Act i. Sc. 8.

2 i. e. wisely-tempered office, established by time.

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.

Sic.

Mark you this, people?

Cit. To the rock; to the rock with him!
Sic.

Peace.

We need not put new matter to his charge.
What you have seen him do, and heard him speak,
Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,

Opposing laws with strokes, and here defying
Those whose great power must try him; even this,
So criminal, and in such capital kind,

Deserves the extremest death.

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 't with saying, Good morrow.

Sic. For that he has (As much as in him lies) from time to time

Envied against the people, seeking means

2

To pluck away their power; as now at last
Given hostile strokes, and that not3 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.

Čit. 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.

4

Com. Let me speak. I have been consul, and can show from 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,5 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.

Cit. It shall be so, it shall be so.

6

Cor. You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate

As reek o'the rotten fens, whose loves I prize

As the dead carcasses of unburied men

That do corrupt my air, I banish you;

1 Showed hatred.

2 As may here be a misprint for has or and; or it may signify as well as; such elliptical modes of expression are not uncommon.

3 Not is here again used for not only.

4 i. e. received in her service, or on her account.

5 "I love my country beyond the rate at which I value my dear wife," &c.

6 Cry here signifies a pack.

And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumor 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,1
(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's 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 us see him out at gates;

come.

The gods preserve our noble tribunes!-Come.

[Exeunt.

1 Thus in the old copy. Malone, following Capell, changed this line

to

"Making not reservation of yourselves," &c.

Dr. Johnson's explanation of the text is as correct as his subsequent remark upon it is judicious. Coriolanus imprecates upon the base plebeians that they may still retain the power of banishing their defenders, till their undiscerning folly, which can foresee no consequences, leave none in the city but themselves.

2 Abated is overthrown, depressed.