Auf. All places yield to him ere he sits down ; The senators, and patricians, love him too : To expel him thence. I think, he'll be to Rome, The happy man; whether defect of judgment, As he controll'd the war; but, one of these, For I dare so far free him,) made him fear'd, Lie in the interpretation of the time: And power, unto itself most commendable, To extol what it hath done. 4 One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail; [1] We find in Drayton's Polyolbion, song xxv. a full account of the osprey, which shows the justness and beauty of the simile. "The osprey, oft here seen, tho' seldom here he breeds, But, betwixt him and them by an antipathy, Turning their bellies up, as though their death they saw, LANGTON. [2] Aufidius assigns three probable reasons for the miscarriage of Coriolanus; pride, which easily follows an uninterrupted train of success; unskil fulness to regulate the consequences of his own victories; a stubborn uniformity of nature, which could not make the proper transition from the casque or helmet to the cushion or chair of civil authority; but acted with the same despotism in peace as in war. JOHNS. [3] He has a merit, for no other purpose than to destroy it by boasting it. JOHNS. [4] i. e. The virtue which delights to commend itself, will find the surest tomb in that chair wherein it holds forth its own commendations. JOHNS. [5] Rights by rights fouler may well mean. "That one right or title, when produced, makes another less fair." All the short sentences in this speech are obscure, and some nonsensical. M. MASON. ACT V. SCENE I-Rome. A public Place. Enter MENENIUS, CoMINIUS, SICINIUS, BRUTUS, and others. : Menenius. NO, I'll not go you hear, what he hath said, Com. Yet one time he did call me by my name : Till he had forg'd himself a name i'the fire Men. Why, so; you have made good work : Com. I minded him, how royal 'twas to pardon To one whom they had punish'd. Men. Very well: Could he say less? Com. I offer'd to awaken his regard For his private friends: His answer to me was, Of noisome, musty chaff: He said, 'twas folly, Men. For one poor grain Or two? I am one of those; his mother, wife, His child, and this brave fellow too, we are the grains : You are the musty chaff; and you are smelt Above the moon: We must be burnt for you. STEEV. [6] Condescended unwillingly, with reserve, coldness. 17] You that have been such good stewards for the Roman people, as to get their houses burned over their heads, to save them the expense of coals. [8] Memorial. STEEV. Sic. Nay, pray, be patient: If you refuse your aid In this so never-needed help, yet do not Upbraid us with our distress. But, sure, if you Men. No; I'll not meddle. Bru. Only make trial what your love can do Men. Well, and say that Marcius But as a discontented friend, grief-shot Sic. Yet your good will Must have that thanks from Rome, after the measure As you intended well. Men. I'll undertake it: I think, he'll hear me. Yet to bite his lip, And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me. To give or to forgive; but when we have stuff'd Than in our priest-like fasts: Therefore I'll watch him And then I'll set upon him. Bru. You know the very road into his kindness, And cannot lose your way. Men. Good faith, I'll prove him, Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledge Of my success. Com. He'll never hear him. Sic. Not? [Exit. Com. I tell you, he does sit in gold,9 his eye Red as 'twould burn Rome; and his injury The gaoler to his pity. I kneel'd before him ; 'Twas very faintly he said, rise; dismiss'd me Thus, with his speechless hand: What he would de, He sent in writing after me; what he would not, [9] He is inthroned in all the pomp and pride of imperial splendour. JOH. 16 VOL. VI. Bound with an oath, to yield to his conditions: So, that all hope is vain, Unless his noble mother, and his wife; Who, as I hear, mean to solicit him For mercy to his country. Therefore, let's hence, SCENE II. An advanced post of the Volcian Camp before Rome. at their stations. Enter MENENIUS. 1 G. Stay: Whence are you? 2 G. Stand, and go back. The Guard Men. You guard like men ;'tis well : But,by your leave, I am an officer of state, and come To speak with Coriolanus. 1 G. From whence? Men. From Rome. 1 G. You may not pass, you must return: our general Will no more hear from thence. 2 G. You'll see your Rome embrac'd with fire, before You'll speak with Coriolanus. Men. Good my friends, If you have heard your general talk of Rome, My name hath touch'd your ears; it is Menenius. Men. I tell thee, fellow, Thy general is my lover: I have been The book of his good acts, whence men have read For I have ever verified my friends (Of whom he's chief,) with all the size that verity I have tumbled past the throw; and in his praise 1 G. 'Faith, sir, if you had told as many lies in his behalf as you have uttered words in your own, you [1] Here is, I think, a chasm. The speaker's purpose seems to be this: To yield to his conditions is ruin, and better cannot be obtained, so that all hope is vain.' JOHNS. [2] A lot is here a prize. JOHNS. [3] Subtle, means smooth, level ground. STEEV.--May it not have its more ordinary acceptation, deceitful? MALONE. should not pass here: no, though it were as virtuous to lie, as to live chastly. Therefore, go back. Men. Pr'ythee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius, always factionary on the party of your general. 2 G. Howsoever you have been his liar, (as you say, you have,) I am one that, telling true under him, must say, you cannot pass. Therefore, go back. Men. Has he dined, canst thou tell? for I would not speak with him till after dinner. 1 G. You are a Roman, are you? Men. I am as thy general is. 1 G. Then you should hate Rome, as he does. Can you, when you have pushed out your gates the very defender of them, and, in a violent popular ignorance, given your enemy your shield, think to front his revenges with the easy groans of old women, the virginal palms of your daughters, or with the palsied intercession of such a decayed dotant as you seem to be? Can you think to blow out the intended fire your city is ready to flame in, with such weak breath as this? No, you are deceived; therefore, back to Rome, and prepare for your execution: You are condemned, our general has sworn you out of reprieve and pardon. Men. Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here, he would use me with estimation. 2 G. Come, my captain knows you not. Men. I mean, thy general. 1 G. My general cares not for you. Back, I say, go, lest I let forth your half pint of blood;-back, that's the utmost of your having :-back. Men. Nay, but fellow, fellow, Enter CORIOLANUS and AUFIDIUS. Cor. What's the matter? Men. Now you companion, I'll say an errand for you; you shall know now, that I am in estimation; you shall perceive that a Jack guardent4 cannot office me from my son Coriolanus: guess, but by my entertainment with him, if thou stand'st not i'the state of hanging, or of some death more long in spectatorship, and crueller in suffering; behold now presently, and swoon for what's to come upon thee. The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy particular prosperity, and love thee no worse than thy old father Menenius does! O, my son! my son ! thou 43 This term is equivalent to one still is use-a jack in office. STEEV. |