Enter Sicinius and Brutus.

Behold! these are the Tribunes of the people,

The tongues o' th' common mouth! I do defpife them;
For they do prank them in authority
*

Against all noble fufferance.

Sic. Pafs no further.

Cor. Hah! what is that!

Bru. It will be dangerous to go on. No further.
Cor. What makes this change?

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.
Sic. Stop,

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?
Bru. How! I inform them!

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.
To where you're bound, you must enquire your way
Which you are out of, with a gentler ipirit;
Or never be fo noble as a Conful,

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;
But for the mutable rank-fcented Many,

* Let them regard me, as I do not flatter,
And there behold themfelves; I fay again,
In foothing them, we nourish 'gainst our Senate
The cockle of rebellion, infolence, fedition,

Which we ourselves have plow'd for, fow'd, and scatter'd

By mingling them with us, the honour'd number,
Who lack not Virtue, no, nor Power, but that
Which we have given to beggars.

Men. Well, no more

Sen. No more words, we beseech
Cor. How!-no more!

you

Sen. As for my Country I have fhed my blood,
Not fearing outward force; fo fhall my lungs
Coin words 'till their decay, against those measles,
Which we difdain fhould tetter us, yet feek
The very way to catch them.

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.
Men. What, what, his choler?

Cor. Choler!

Were I as patient as the midnight sleep,
By Jove, 'twould be my mind.

Sic. It is a mind

That shall remain a poifon where it is,
Not poifon any further.

..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,
You grave, but reckless Senators, have you thus
Given Hydra here to chufe an officer,

That with his peremptory hall, being but

5 The horn and noife o'th' monfters, wants not fpirit
To fay, he'll turn your current in a ditch,
And make your channel his? If he have power,
Then vail your ignorance; if none, awake
Your dangerous lenity: if you are learned,
Be not as common fools; if you are not,
Let them have cushions by you.__

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,
When, both your voices blended, the great'ft tafte
Moft palates theirs. They chufe their magiftrate!
And fuch a one as he, who puts his fall,
His popular ball, against a graver Bench
Than ever frown'd in Greece! By Jove himself,
It makes the Confuls bafe; and my foul akes
To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither fupreme, how foon Confufion

May enter 'twixt the gap of Both, and take
The one by th' other.

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
Power:

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,
Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they fhew'd
Most valour, spoke not for them. Th' accufation,
Which they have often made against the Senate,

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