Tim. Look you, I love you well; I'll give you | Than their offence can weigh down by the dram; gold,
Rid me these villains from your companies:
Hang them, or stab them, drown them in a draught,
Confound them by some course, and come to me,
I'll give you gold enough.
Both. Name them, my lord, let's know them.
Tim. You that way, and you this, but two in
company:-
Each man apart, all single and alone,
Yet an arch-villain keeps him company.
If, where thou art, two villains shall not be,
[To the Painter.
Come not near him.-If thou wouldst not reside
[To the Poet.
But where one villain is, then him abandon.-
Hence! pack! there's gold, ye came for gold, ye
slaves:
You have done work for me, there's payment:
Hence!
You are an alchemist, make gold of that:
Out, rascal dogs!
Ay, even such heaps and sums of love and wealth,
As shall to thee blot out what wrongs were theirs,
And write in thee the figures of their love,
Ever to read them thine.
Tim.
You witch me in it;
Surprise me to the very brink of tears:
Lend me a fool's heart, and a woman's eyes,
And I'll beweep these comforts, worthy senators.
1 Sen. Therefore, so please thee to return with us,
And of our Athens, (thine, and ours,) to take
The captainship, thou shalt be met with thanks,
Allow'd' with absolute power, and thy good name
Live with authority:
:-so soon we shall drive back
Of Alcibiades the approaches wild;
Who, like a boar too savage, doth root up
His country's peace.
And shakes his threat'ning sword Against the walls of Athens. 1 Sen.
Therefore, Timon,Tim. Well, sir, I will; therefore, I will, sir; Thus,
[Exit, beating and driving them out. If Alcibiades kill my countrymen,
SCENE II.-The same.
Enter FLAVIUs, and two Senators.
Let Alcibiades know this of Timon,
That-Timon cares not. But if he sack fair Athens,
And take our goodly aged men by the beards,
Flav. It is in vain that you would speak with Giving our holy virgins to the stain
Worthy TimonTim. Of none but such as you, and you of Timon. 2 Sen. The senators of Athens greet thee, Timon. Tim. I thank them; and would send them back the plague,
Could I but catch it for them.
1 Sen.
What we are sorry for ourselves in thee.
The senators, with one consent of love,
Entreat thee back to Athens; who have thought
On special dignities, which vacant lie
For thy best use and wearing.
2 Sen.
They confess,
Toward thee, forgetfulness too general, gross:
Which now the public body,-which doth seldom
Play the recanter,-feeling in itself
A lack of Timon's aid, hath sense withal
Of its own fall, restraining aid to Timon:
And send forth us, to make their sorrow'd render,'
Together with a recompense more fruitful
Of contumelious, beastly, mad-brain'd war;
Then, let him know,-and tell him, Timon speaks it,
In pity of our aged, and our youth,
I cannot choose but tell him, that-I care not,
And let him take't at worst; for their knives care
While you have throats to answer: for myself,
There's not a whittle' in the unruly camp,
The reverend'st throat in Athens. So I leave you
But I do prize it at my love, before
To the protection of the prosperous gods,
As thieves to keepers.
Flav.
Stay not, all's in vain.
Tim. Why, I was writing of my epitaph,
Of health, and living, now begins to mend,
It will be seen to-morrow; my long sickness
And nothing brings me all things. Go, live still;
Be Alcibiades your plague, you his,
And last so long enough!
1 Sen.
We speak in vain.
Tim. But yet I love my country; and am not
One that rejoices in the common wreck,
As common bruit' doth put it.
1 Sen.
That's well spoke.
Tim. Commend me to my loving countrymen,—
1 Sen. These words become your lips as they pass
2 Sen. And enter in our ears like great triumphers In their applauding gates.
Tim.
Commend me to them;
And tell them, that to ease them of their griefs,
Their fears of hostile strokes, their aches, losses,
Their pangs of love, with other incident throes
That nature's fragile vessel doth sustain
In life's uncertain voyage, I will some kindness do
them:
I'll teach them to prevent wild Alcibiades' wrath.
2 Sen. I like this well, he will return again.
Tim. I have a tree, which grows here in my close,
That mine own use invites me to cut down,
And shortly must I fell it: Tell my friends,
Tell Athens in the sequence of degree,
From high to low throughout, that whoso please
To stop affliction, let him take his haste,
Come hither, ere my tree hath felt the axe,
And hang himself:-I pray you, do my greeting.
Flav. Trouble him no further, thus you still shall
find him.
Tim. Come not to me again: but say to Athens,
Timon hath made his everlasting mansion
Upon the beached verge of the salt flood;
Which once a day with his embossed froth
The turbulent surge shall cover; thither come,
And let my grave-stone be your oracle.-
Lips, let sour words go by, and language end:
What is amiss, plague and infection mend!
Graves only be men's works; and death, their gain!
Sun, hide thy beams! Timon hath done his reign.
[Exit TIMON.
1 Sen. His discontents are unremoveably Coupled to nature.
2 Sen. Our hope in him is dead: let us return, And strain what other means is left unto us In our dear peril. 1 Sen.
It requires swift foot. [Exeunt. SCENE III.-The Walls of Athens. Enter two Senators, and a Messenger. 1 Sen. Thou hast painfully discovered; are his files As full as thy report?
I have spoke the least: Besides, his expedition promises
Enter Senators from TIMON.
Here come our brothers.
2 Sen. No talk of Timon, nothing of him expect.
The enemies' drum is heard, and fearful scouring Doth choke the air with dust: in and prepare; Ours is the fall, I fear; our foes, the snare.
[Exeunt. SCENE IV. The Woods. Timon's Cave, and a Tomb-stone seen.
Enter a Soldier, seeking TIMON.
Sol. By all description this should be the place. Who's here? speak, ho!-No answer?- What is this?
Timon is dead, who hath outstretch'd his span: Some beast rear'd this; there does not live a man. Dead, sure; and this his grave.
What's on this tomb I cannot read; the character
I'll take with wax.
Our captain hath in every figure skill;
An aged interpreter, though young in days:
Before proud Athens he's set down by this,
Whose fall the mark of his ambition is.
Enter Senators on the Walls.
Till now you have gone on, and fill'd the time
With all licentious measure, making your wills
The scope of justice; till now, myself, and such
As slept within the shadow of your power,
Have wandered with our travers'd arms, and
breath'd
Our sufferance vainly; Now the time is flush,'
When crouching marrow, in the bearer strong,
Cries, of itself, No more: now breathless wrong,
Shall sit and pant in your great chairs of ease;
And pursy insolence shall break his wind,
With fear and horrid flight.
Noble and young,
When thy first griefs were but a mere conceit,
Ere thou hadst power, or we had cause of fear,
We sent to thee; to give thy rages balm,
To wipe out our ingratitude with loves
Above their quantity.
So did we woo
Transformed Timon to our city's love,
By humble message, and by promis'd means;
We were not all unkind, nor all deserve
The common stroke of war.
Were not erected by their hands, from whom You have receiv'd your griefs: nor are they such, That these great towers, trophies, and schools should fall
For private faults in them.
2 Sen.
Nor are they living
Who were the motives that you first went out;
Shame, that they wanted cunning, in excess
Hath broke their hearts. March, noble lord,
Into our city with thy banners spread:
By decimation, and a tithed death,
(If thy revenges hunger for that food,
Which nature loathes,) take thou the destin'd tenth;
And by the hazard of the spotted die,
Let die the spotted.
All have not offended;
For those that were, it is not square' to take,
On those that are, revenges: crimes, like lands,
Are not inherited. Then, dear countryman,
Bring in thy ranks, but leave without thy rage:
Spare thy Athenian cradle, and those kin,
Which, in the bluster of thy wrath, must fall
With those that have offended: like a shepherd,
Approach the fold, and cull the infected forth,
But kill not all together.
2 Sen.
What thou wilt,
Thou rather shalt enforce it with thy smile,
Than hew to't with thy sword.
1 Sen.
Set but thy foot
Against our rampir'd gates, and they shall ope;
So thou wilt send thy gentle heart before,
To say, thou'lt enter friendly.
2 Sen.
Throw thy glove;
Or any token of thine honor else,
That thou wilt use the wars as thy redress,
And not as our confusion, all thy powers
Shall make their harbor in our town, till we
Have seal'd thy full desire.
Alcib. Then there's my glove; Descend, and open your uncharged ports;' Those enemies of Timon's, and mine own, Whom you yourselves shall set out for reproof, Fall, and no more: and,-to atone your fears With my more noble meaning,-not a man Shall pass his quarter, or offend the stream Of regular justice in your city's bounds, • Arms across. 1 Mature. 2 Not regular, not equitable. Unattacked gates.
But shall be remedied, to your public laws
At heaviest answer.
Both.
"Tis most nobly spoken.
Alcib. Descend, and keep your words.
The Senators descend, and open the Gates.
Enter a Soldier.
Sol. My noble general, Timon is dead;
Entomb'd upon the very hem o'the sea;
And on his gravestone, this insculpture; which
With wax I brought away, whose soft impression
Interprets for my poor ignorance.
Alcib. [Reads.] Here lies a wretched corse, of
wretched soul bereft:
Seek not my name: A plague consume you wicked
Pass by, and curse thy fill; but pass, and stay not
here thy gait.
These well express in thee thy latter spirits:
Though thou abhorr'dst in us our human griefs,
Scorn'dst our brain's flow, and those our droplets
which
From niggard nature fall, yet rich conceit
Taught thee to make vast Neptune weep for aye
On thy low grave, on faults forgiven. Dead
Is noble Timon; of whose memory
Hereafter more.-Bring me into your city,
And I will use the olive with my sword:
Make war breed peace; make peace stint war;
make each
Prescribe to other, as each other's leech."
Here lie I, Timon; who, alive, all living men did Let our drums strike.
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS, a noble Roman.
TITUS LARTIUS, Generals against the Vol-
COMINIUS,
MENENIUS AGRIPPA, Friend to Coriolanus.
SICINIUS VELUTUS,Tribunes of the People.
JUNIUS BRUTUS,
Young MARCIUS, Son to Coriolanus.
TULLUS AUFIDIUS, General of the Volscians.
Lieutenant to Aufidius.
Conspirators with Aufidius.
A Citizen of Antium.
Two Volscian Guards.
VOLUMNIA, Mother to Coriolanus.
VIRGILIA, Wife to Coriolanus.
VALERIA, Friend to Virgilia.
Gentlewoman attending Virgilia.
Roman and Volscian Senators, Patricians, Ædi-
les, Lictors, Soldiers, Citizens, Messengers, Ser-
vants to Aufidius, and other Attendants.
SCENE, partly in Rome, and partly in the Territories of the Volscians and Antiates.
SCENE I-Rome. A Street.
Enter a Company of mutinous Citizens, with
Staves, Clubs, and other Weapons.
1 Cit. Before we proceed any further, hear me
speak.
Cit. Speak, speak. [Several speaking at once. 1 Cit. You are resolved rather to die, than to famish?
him good report for't, but that he pays himself with being proud.
2 Cit. Nay, but speak not maliciously.
1 Cit. I say unto you, what he hath done famously, he did it to that end: though soft conscienced men can be content to say it was for his country, he did it to please his mother, and to be partly proud; which he is, even to the altitude of his virtue.
2 Cit. What he cannot help in his nature, you account a vice in him: You must in no way say,
1 Cit. First, you know, Caius Marcius is chief he is covetous. enemy to the people.
Cit. We know't, we know't.
1 Cit. Let us kill him, and we'll have corn at our own price. Is't a verdict?
Cit. No more talking on't; let it be done: away, away.
2 Cit. One word, good citizens.
1 Cit. We are accounted poor citizens; the patricians, good: What authority surfeits on, would relieve us: If they would yield us but the superfluity, while it were wholesome, we might guess, they relieved us humanely! but they think, we are too dear: the leanness that afflicts us, the object of our misery, is an inventory to particularize their abundance; our sufferance is a gain to them.Let us revenge this with our pikes, ere we become rakes: for the gods know, I speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge.
2 Cit. Would you proceed especially against Caius Marcius?
Cit. Against him first; he's a very dog to the commonalty.
2 Cit. Consider you what services he has done for his country?
1 Cit. Very well; and could be content to give
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1 Cit. If I must not, I need not be barren of accusations; he hath faults with surplus, to tire in repetition. [Shouts within.] What shouts are these? The other side o' the city is risen: Why stay we prating here? To the Capitol.
Cit. Come, come.
1 Cit. Soft; who comes here?
Enter MENENIUS AGRIPPA.
2 Cit. Worthy Menenius Agrippa: one that hath always loved the people.
1 Cit. He's one honest enough; 'Would, all the rest were so!
Men. What work's, my countrymen, in hand?
With bats and clubs! The matter speak, I pray you.
1 Cit. Our business is not unknown to the senate; they have had inkling, this fortnight, what we intend to do, which now we'll show 'em in deeds. They say, poor suitors have strong breaths; they shall know, we have strong arms too.
Men. Why, masters, my good friends, mine honest neighbors,
Will you undo yourselves?
1 Cit. We cannot, sir, we are undone already. Men. I tell you, friends, most charitable care
Have the patricians of you. For your wants,
Your suffering in this dearth, you may as well,
Strike at the heaven with your staves, as lift them
Against the Roman state; whose course will on
The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs
Of more strong link asunder, than can ever
Appear in your impediment: For the dearth,
The gods, not the patricians, make it; and
Your knees to them, not arms, must help. Alack,
You are transported by calamity
Thither where more attends you: and you slander
The helms o' the state, who care for you like fathers,
When you curse them as enemies.
1 Cit. Care for us!-True, indeed!-They ne'er cared for us yet. Suffer us to famish, and their storehouses crammed with grain; make edicts for usury to support usurers: repeal daily any wholesome act established against the rich; and provide more piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and there's all the love they bear us. Men. Either you must
Confess yourselves wondrous malicious,
Or be accus'd of folly. I shall tell you
A pretty tale; it may be you have heard it;
But, since it serves my purpose, I will venture
To scale't' a little more.
1 Cit. Well, I'll hear it, sir: yet you must not think to fob off our disgrace with a tale: but, an't please you, deliver.
Men. There was a time when all the body's
members
Rebell'd against the belly; thus accus'd it:-
That only like a gulf it did remain
I' the midst o' the body, idle and inactive,
Still cupboarding the viand, never bearing
Like labor with the rest; where' the other instruments
Did see, and hear, devise, instruct, walk, feel,
And, mutually participate, did minister
Unto the appetite and affection common
Of the whole body. The belly answered,—
1 Cit. Well, sir, what answer made the belly!
Men. Sir, I shall tell you.-With a kind of smile,
Which ne'er came from the lungs, but even thus,
(For, look you, I may make the belly smile,
As well as speak.) it tauntingly replied
To the discontented members, the mutinous parts
That envied his receipt; even so most fitly'
As you malign our senators, for that
They are not such as you.
1 Cit. Your belly's answer: What! The kingly-crowned head, the vigilant eye, The counsellor heart, the arm our soldier, Our steed the leg, the tongue our trumpeter, With other muniments and petty helps
In this our fabric, if that they
Men. 'Fore me, this fellow speaks!-What then?-what then?
1 Cit. Should by the cormorant body be restrain'd,
Who is the sink o' the body,
Men. Well, what then?
1 Cit. The former agents, if they did complain, What could the belly answer?
I will tell you; If you'll bestow a small (of what you have little) Patience, a while, you'll hear the belly's answer.
1 Cit. You are long about it.
Men. Note me this, good friend;
Your most grave belly was deliberate,
Not rash like his accusers, and thus answered:
True is it, my incorporate friends, quoth he,
That I receive the general food at first,
Which you do live upon: and fit it is;
Because I am the storehouse, and the shop
Of the whole body: But if you do remember,
I send it through the rivers of your blood,
Even to the court, the heart,-to the seat o' the brain;
And, through the cranks and offices of man,
The strongest nerves, and small inferior veins,
From me receive that natural competency
Whereby they live: and though that all at once,
You, my good friends, (this says the belly,) mark
1 Cit. Ay, sir, well, well. Men.
Though all at once cannot
See what I do deliver out to each;
Yet I can make my audit up, that all
From me do back receive the flour of all,
And leave me but the bran. What say you to't?
1 Cit. It was an answer. How apply you this?
Men. The senators of Rome are this good belly,
And you the mutinous members: For examine
Their counsels, and their cares; digest things rightly,
Touching the weal o' the common; you shall find,
No public benefit which you receive,
But it proceeds, or comes, from them to you,
And no way from yourselves.-What do you think?
You, the great toe of this assembly?—
1 Cit. I the great toe! Why the great toe? Men. For that being one o' the lowest, basest,
Of this most wise rebellion, thou go'st foremost:
Thou rascal, that art worst in blood to run,
Lead'st first to win some vantage.-
But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs;
Rome and her rats are at the point of battle,
The one side must have bale.' Hail, noble Marcius!
Enter CAIUS MARCIUS.
Mar. Thanks.-What's the matter, you dissentious rogues,
That, rubbing the poor itch of your opinion,
Make yourselves scabs?
We have ever your good word. Mar. He that will give good words to thee, will flatter
Beneath abhorring. What would you have, you curs,
That like nor peace, nor war? the one affrights you,
The other makes you proud. He that trusts you,
Where he should find you lions, finds you hares;
Where foxes, geese: You are no surer, no,
Than is the coal of fire upon the ice,
Or hailstone in the sun. Your virtue is,
To make him worthy, whose offence subdues him,
And curse that justice did it. Who deserves great-
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