Enter Sicinius and Brutus. Behold! these are the Tribunes of the people, The tongues o' th' common mouth! I do defpife them; Against all noble fufferance. Sic. Pafs no further. Cor. Hah! what is that! Bru. It will be dangerous to go on. No further. Men. The matter? Com. Hath he not pafs'd the Nobles and the Commons? Bru. Cominius, no. Cor. Have I had childrens' voices? Sen. Tribunes, give way. He fhall to th' market place. Bru. The people are incens'd against him. Or all will fall in broil. Cor. Are thefe your herd? Must these have voices, that can yield them now, And straight disclaim their tongues? What are your offices? 8 You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth? Have you not fet them on? Men. Be calm, be calm. Cor. It is a purpos'd thing, and grows by plot, To curb the will of the Nobility; Suffer't, and live with fuch as cannot rule, Nor ever will be rul'd. Bru. Call't not a plot. The people cry, you mock'd them; and, of late, -prank them in authority] Plume, difplay themselves. -why rule you not their teeth ] The metaphor is from men's letting a Bull-dog er Mastiff upon any one. WARE. When When corn was given them gratis, you repin'd; Scandal'd the fuppliants for the people; call'd them Time-pleafers, flatterers, foes to Nobleness. Cor. Why, this was known before. Bru. Not to them all. Cor. Have you inform'd them fince? Cor. You are like to do fuch business. Bru. Not unlike, Each way, to better yours. Cor. Why then should I be Conful? By yond clouds, Let me deferve fo ill as you, and make me Your Fellow-Tribune. Sic. You fhew too much of That, For which the people ftir. If you will pass. Nor yoke with him for Tribune. Men. Let's be calm. Com. The people are abus'd, set on. tring Becomes not Rome; nor has Coriolanus This pal Deferv'd this fo difhonour'd Rub, laid * falfly l' th' plain way of his merit. Cor. Tell me of corn! This was my fpeech, and I will speak't again Men. Not now, not now. Sen. Not in this heat, Sir, now. Cor. Now as I live, I will. As for my nobler friends, I crave their pardons; * Let them regard me, as I do not flatter, Which we ourselves have plow'd for, fow'd, and scatter'd By mingling them with us, the honour'd number, Men. Well, no more Sen. No more words, we beseech you Sen. As for my Country I have fhed my blood, Bru. You speak o' th' people, as you were a God To punish, not a man of their infirmity. Sic. 'Twere well, we let the people know't. Cor. Choler! Were I as patient as the midnight sleep, Sic. It is a mind That shall remain a poifon where it is, ..Cor. Shall remain ? 2 Let them regard me, as I do not flatter, And there behold themselves ;] Let them look in the mirror which I hold up to them, a mirror which does not flatter, and fee themselves. Hear Hear you this Triton of the 3 minnows? mark you His abfolute ball? Com. 'Twas from the canon. Cor. Shall! O good, but most unwife Patricians, why, That with his peremptory hall, being but 5 The horn and noife o'th' monfters, wants not fpirit 3-minnorus?—] i. e. Small fry. WARBURTON. A Minnow is one of the fmalleft river fifh, called in fome counties a pink. 4 'Twas from the canon.] Was contrary to the established rule; it was a form of fpeech to which he has no right. 5 The born and noife] Alluding to his having called him Triton before. WARB. 6 Then vail your ignorance;-] Ignorance, for impotence; becaufe it makes impotent. The Oxford Editor not understanding this, tranfpofes the whole fentence according to what in his fancy is accuracy. WARBURTON. Hanmer's tranfpofition deferves notice. -If they have power, Let them have cushions by you; if none, awake. Your dang'rous lenity; if you are learned, Be not as common fools; if you are not, 7 You're Plebeians, If they be Senators; and they are no less, May enter 'twixt the gap of Both, and take Com. Well-On to th' market-place. Cor. Who ever gave that counfel, to give forth The corn o'th' ftore-house, gratis, as 'twas us'd Sometime in Greece- Men. Well, well, no more of that. Cor. Though there the People had more abfolute I fay, they nourish'd disobedience, fed The ruin of the State. Bru. Why fhall the people give One, that speaks thus, their voice? Cor. I'll give my reafons, More worthy than their voice. They know, the corn Was not our recompence; refting affur'd, They ne'er did fervice for't; being preft to th' war, Even when the navel of the State was touch'd, They would not thread the gates; this kind of fer vice Did not deferve corn gratis; being i' th' war, and my foul akes] The mifchief and abfurdity of what is called Imperium in imperio, is here finely expreffed. WARB. 9 They would not thread the gates;] That is, pass them. We yet fay, to thread an alley. All |