And ftruck him on his knee; in that day's feats,
When he might act the Woman in the Scene,
He prov'd th' best Man i' th' field, and for his meed
Was brow-bound with the oak. His pupil-age
Man-entered thus, he waxed like a Sea;

And in the brunt of feventeen battles fince,
He lurcht all fwords o' th' garland.

Before and in Corioli, let me fay,

For this laft,

I cannot speak him home; he ftopt the fliers,,
And by his rare example made the coward
Turn terror into fport. As waves before

A veffel under fail, fo Men obey'd,

And fell below his ftern. His fword, death's ftamp,
Where it did mark, it took from face to foot.
He was a thing of blood, whofe every motion
Was tim'd with dying cries. Alone he enter'd
The mortal Gate o' th' City, which he painted
With shunless destiny; aidlefs came off,
And with a fudden re-enforcement ftruck
Corioli, like a planet. Nor all's this;
For by and by the din of war 'gain pierce
His ready fenfe, when ftraight his doubled fpirir
Requicken'd what in flesh was fatigate,
And to the battle came he; where he did
Run reeking o'er the lives of men, as if
'Twere a perpetual spoil; and 'till we call'd
Both Field and City our's, he never stood
To eafe his breaft with panting,

7

Men. Worthy Man! :

1 Sen. 9 He cannot but with measure fit the Ho

nours,

-every motion

Was tim'd with dying cries.-] The cries of the flaughtered regularly followed his motions, as mufick and a dancer accompany cach other.

Gate that was made the fcene of death.

9 He cannot but with measure fit the Honcurs,] That is, no honour will be too great for him; he will fhew a mind equal to any elevation. M m 4

The mortal Gate-] The

Which

Which we devife him..

Com. Our fpoils he kick'd at,

And look'd upon things precious, as they were
The common muck o' th' world; he covets lefs
1 Than Mifery itself would give, rewards
His deeds with doing them, and is content
To spend his time to end it,

Men. He's right Noble."

Let him be called for,

Sen. Call Coriolanus.

Off. He doth appear.

Enter Coriolanus..

Men. The Senate, Coriolanus, are well pleas'd'

To make thee Conful.

Cor. I do owe them ftill

My life, and fervices.
Mem. It then remains,

1 Than Mifery itself would give, Mifery, for ava rice; because a Mifer fignifies an Avaricious. WARBURTON.

2 Com. -and is content To Spend his time to end it. Men. He's right noble.] The laft words of Cominius's fpeech are altogether unintelligible. Shakespear, I fuppofe, wrote the paffage thus,

and is content To fpend his time

Men. To end it, He's right noble. Cominius, in his laft words, was entering upon a new topic in praife of Coriolanus; when his warm friend Menenius, impatient to come to the fubject of the honours defigned him, interrupts Cominius, and takes him

That you do speak to th' People.

Cor. 1 befeech you,

I

Let me o'erleap that Cuftom; for I cannot

Put on the Gown, ftand naked, and entreat them,
For my wounds' fake to give their fuffrages.
Please you that I may pals this doing.

Sic. Sir, the people must have their voices,
Nor will they bate one jot of ceremony.

Men. Put them not to't. Pray, fit you to the
Custom,

And take t'ye, as your Predeceffors have,
Your Honour with your Form.

Cor. It is a Part

That I fhall blush in acting, and might well
Be taken from the People.

Bru. Mark you That?

Cor. To brag unto them, thus I did, and thus,Shew them th' unaking fcars, which I would hide, As if I had received them for the hire

Of their breath only.

Men. Do not ftand upon't.

-We recommend t'ye, Tribunes of the People,
Our Purpose. To them, and to our noble Conful
With we all joy and honour.

Sen. To Coriolanus come all joy and honour!
[Flourish Cornet. Then Exeunt.

393, the Senate chofe both the
Confuls: And then the people,
affifted by the feditious temper of
the Tribunes, got the choice of
one. But if he makes Rome a
Democracy, which at this time
was a perfect Aristocracy; he
fets the balance even in his Ti-
mon, and turns Athens, which
was a perfect Democracy, into
an Aritocracy. But it would be
unjuft to attribute this entirely to
his ignorance; it fometimes pro-

made all

ceeded from the too powerful
blaze of his imagination, which
when once lighted up,
acquired knowledge fade and
disappear before it. For fome-
times again we find him, when
occafion ferves, not only writing
up to the truth of history, but
fitting his fentiments to the nicest
manners of his peculiar fubject,
as well to the dignity of his cha-
rafters, or the dictates of nature
in general,

WARBURTON

Manent

Manent Sicinius and Brutus.

Bru. You see how he intends to use the People. Sic. May they perceive's intent! He will require them,

As if he did contemn what he requested
Should be in them to give."

Bru. Come, we'll inform them

Of our proceedings here. On th' market place,
I know, they do attend us.

I Cit. 4

$ CENE VII.

Changes to the Forum.

Enter feven or eight Citizens.

[Exeunt.

ONCE; if he do require our voices, we

ought not to deny him. 2 Cit. We may Sir, if we will

3 Cit. We have Power in ourselves to do it, bụt it is a Power that we have no Power to do; for if he fhew us his wounds, and tell us his deeds, we are fo put ourtongues into thofe wounds, and fpeak for them; fo, if he tells us his noble deeds, we muft alfo tell him our noble acceptance of them. Ingratitude is monftrous; and for the multitude to be ingrateful, were to make a monster of the multitude; of the which, we

4 Once ;] Once here means the fame as when we fay, once for all. WARBURTON.

We have Power in ourselves to do it, but it is a Power that we have no Power to do;] I am perfuaded this was intended as a ridicule on the Auguftine manner of defining free-will at that time in the fchools. WARB.

A ridicule may be intended, but the fenfe is clear enough. Power first fignifies natural power or force, and then meral posuer or right. Davies has used the fame word with great variety of meaning.

Ufe all thy powers that heaven-
ly power to praife,
thee power to do.-

That

gave

being Members, fhould bring our felves to be monftrous Members.

1 Cit. And to make us no better thought of, a little help will ferve; for once, when We ftood up about the Corn, he himself ftuck not to call us the manyheaded multitude.

6

3 Cit. We have been call'd fo of many; not that our heads are fome brown, fome black, fome auburn, fome bald; but that our wits are fo diverfly colour'd; and truly, I think, if all our wits were to iffue out of one fcull, they would fly Eaft, Weft, North, and South; and their consent of one direct way would be at once to all Points o'th' Compass.

2 Cit. Think you fo? Which way, do you judge, my wit would fly ?

3 Cit. Nay, your wit will not fo foon out as another man's will, 'tis ftrongly wedg'd up in a blockhead; but if it were at liberty, 'twould, fure, fouthward.

2 Cit. Why that way?

3 Cit. To lofe itself in a fog; where being three parts melted away with rotten dews, the fourth would return for confcience fake, to help to get thee a Wife.

2 Cit. You are never without your tricks-You may, you may

6many-beaded multitude.] Han thus,
mer reads, many-beaded moniter,
but without neceffity. To be
many-headed includes monftrouf-·
nefs.

7 if all our wits were to iffue
out of one fcull, &c.] Meaning,
though our having but one inte-
reft was moft apparent, yet our
wifhes and projects would be in-
finitely difcordant. This mean-
ing the Oxford Editor has totally
difcharged, by changing the text

-iffus out of cur fcalls.

WARBURTON. 8 the fourth would return for confcience fake, to help to get thee a Wife.] A fly fatirical infinuation how fmall a capacity of wit is neceffary for that purpose: But every day's experience of the Sex's prudent difpofal of themfelves, may be fufficient to inform us how unjust it is...

A

WARBURTON.