Coriolanus
Page 10
Of contradiction. Being once chafed35, he cannot
Be reined again to temperance: then he speaks
What's in his heart, and that is there which looks37
With us38 to break his neck.
Enter Coriolanus, Menenius and Cominius, with others [Senators and Patricians]
SICINIUS Well, here he comes.
MENENIUS Calmly, I do beseech you.
To Coriolanus
CORIOLANUS Ay, as an ostler, that for th'poorest piece40
Will bear the knave by th'volume. Th'honoured41 gods
Keep Rome in safety and the chairs of justice
Supplied with worthy men: plant love among's43,
Throng our large temples with the shows44 of peace,
And not our streets with war!
FIRST SENATOR Amen, amen.
MENENIUS A noble wish.
Enter the Aedile with the Plebians [Citizens]
SICINIUS Draw near, ye people.
AEDILE List to your tribunes. Audience49: peace, I say.
CORIOLANUS First, hear me speak.
SICINIUS and BRUTUS Well, say.-- Peace, ho!
CORIOLANUS Shall I be charged no further than this present52?
Must all determine53 here?
SICINIUS I do demand54
If you submit you to the people's voices,
Allow56 their officers, and are content
To suffer lawful censure57 for such faults
As shall be proved upon you.
CORIOLANUS I am content.
MENENIUS Lo, citizens, he says he is content.
The warlike service he has done, consider: think
Upon the wounds his body bears, which show
Like graves i'th'holy churchyard.
CORIOLANUS Scratches with briers, scars to move laughter only.
MENENIUS Consider further
That when he speaks not like a citizen,
You find him like a soldier: do not take
His rougher accents68 for malicious sounds,
But, as I say, such as become a soldier,
Rather than envy you70.
COMINIUS Well, well, no more.
CORIOLANUS What is the matter
That being passed for consul with full voice,
I am so dishonoured that the very74 hour
You take it off again?
SICINIUS Answer to us76.
CORIOLANUS Say, then: 'tis true, I ought so77.
SICINIUS We charge you that you have contrived78 to take
From Rome all seasoned79 office, and to wind
Yourself into a power tyrannical80,
For which you are a traitor to the people.
CORIOLANUS How?82 Traitor?
MENENIUS Nay, temperately: your promise.
CORIOLANUS The fires i'th'lowest hell fold in84 the people!
Call me their traitor, thou injurious85 tribune?
Within86 thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,
In thy hands clutched as many millions, in
Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say
'Thou liest' unto thee with a voice as free89
As I do pray the90 gods.
SICINIUS Mark you this, people?
ALL CITIZENS To th'rock, to th'rock with him!
SICINIUS Peace!
We need not put94 new matter to his charge:
What you have seen him do and heard him speak,
Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,
Opposing laws with strokes97, and here defying
Those whose great power must try him.
Even this, so criminal, and in such capital99 kind,
Deserves th'extremest death.
BRUTUS But since he hath served well for Rome--
CORIOLANUS What do you prate102 of service?
BRUTUS I talk of that, that know it.
CORIOLANUS You?
MENENIUS Is this the promise that you made your mother?
COMINIUS Know, I pray you--
CORIOLANUS I'll know no further:
Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to linger109
But with a grain a day, I would not buy
Their mercy at the price of one fair word,
Nor check112 my courage for what they can give,
To have't113 with saying 'Good morrow.'
SICINIUS For that114 he has,
As much as in him lies115, from time to time
Envied against116 the people, seeking means
To pluck away their power, as117 now at last
Given hostile strokes, and that not118 in the presence
Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers
That doth distribute it. In the name o'th'people,
And in the power of us the tribunes, we,
Even from this instant, banish him our city,
In peril of precipitation123
From off the rock Tarpeian, never more
To enter our Rome gates. I'th'people's name,
I say it shall be so.
ALL CITIZENS It shall be so, it shall be so: let him away:
He's banished, and it shall be so.
COMINIUS Hear me, my masters, and my common friends--
SICINIUS He's sentenced: no more hearing.
COMINIUS Let me speak:
I have been consul, and can show for Rome
Her enemies' marks upon me. I do love
My country's good with a respect more tender,
More holy and profound, than mine own life,
My dear wife's estimate, her womb's136 increase,
And treasure of my loins: then if I would
Speak that--
SICINIUS We know your drift. Speak what?
BRUTUS There's no more to be said, but he is banished,
As enemy to the people and his country.
It shall be so.
ALL CITIZENS It shall be so, it shall be so.
CORIOLANUS You common cry144 of curs, whose breath I hate
As reek145 o'th'rotten fens: whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air: I banish you,
And here remain148 with your uncertainty.
Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts:
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes150,
Fan you into despair: have the power still151
To banish your defenders, till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels153,
Making but reservation of yourselves154,
Still your own foes155, deliver you
As most abated156 captives to some nation
That won you without blows, despising,
For158 you, the city. Thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.
Exeunt Coriolanus, Cominius, [Menenius, Senators and Patricians. The Citizens] all shout, and throw up their caps
AEDILE The people's enemy is gone, is gone!
ALL CITIZENS Our enemy is banished, he is gone. Hoo-oo!
SICINIUS Go see him out at gates, and follow him
As he hath followed you, with all despite163:
Give him deserved vexation164. Let a guard
Attend us through the city.
ALL CITIZENS Come, come, let's see him out at gates: come.
The gods preserve our noble tribunes! Come.
Exeunt
Act 4 [Scene 1]
running scene 11
Enter Coriolanus, Volumnia, Virgilia, Menenius, Cominius, with the young nobility of Rome
CORIOLANUS Come, leave1 your tears: a brief farewell: the beast
With many heads butts me away. Nay, mother,
Where is your ancient courage? You were used3
To say extremities4 was the trier of spirits,
That common chances5 common men could bear:
That when the sea was calm, all boats alike
Showed mastership in floating.
Fortune's7 blows,
When most struck home, being gentle wounded, craves
A noble cunning. You were used to load me
With precepts that would make invincible
The heart that conned11 them.
VIRGILIA O heavens! O heavens!
CORIOLANUS Nay, I prithee, woman--
VOLUMNIA Now the red pestilence14 strike all trades in Rome,
And occupations15 perish!
CORIOLANUS What, what, what?
I shall be loved when I am lacked17. Nay, mother,
Resume that spirit, when you were wont18 to say,
If you had been the wife of Hercules19,
Six of his labours20 you'd have done, and saved
Your husband so much sweat. Cominius,
Droop not: adieu. Farewell, my wife, my mother:
I'll do well yet. Thou old and true Menenius,
Thy tears are salter than a younger man's,
And venomous to thine eyes. My sometime25 general,
I have seen thee stern, and thou hast oft beheld
Heart-hardening spectacles. Tell these sad women
'Tis fond to wail inevitable strokes28,
As 'tis to laugh at 'em. My mother, you wot29 well
My hazards still30 have been your solace, and
Believe't not lightly31: though I go alone,
Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen32
Makes feared and talked of more than seen: your son
Will or exceed the common34, or be caught
With cautelous baits and practice35.
VOLUMNIA My first son,
Whither will thou go? Take good Cominius
With thee awhile: determine on some course
More than a wild exposture39 to each chance
That starts40 i'th'way before thee.
VIRGILIA O the gods!
COMINIUS I'll follow42 thee a month, devise with thee
Where thou shalt rest, that thou mayst hear of us
And we of thee. So if the time thrust forth
A cause for thy repeal45, we shall not send
O'er the vast world to seek a single man,
And lose advantage47, which doth ever cool
I'th'absence of the needer.
CORIOLANUS Fare ye well:
Thou hast years upon thee, and thou art too full
Of the wars' surfeits51 to go rove with one
That's yet unbruised: bring52 me but out at gate.
Come, my sweet wife, my dearest mother, and
My friends of noble touch54: when I am forth,
Bid me farewell, and smile. I pray you, come:
While I remain above the ground, you shall
Hear from me still, and never of me aught
But what is like me formerly.
MENENIUS That's worthily
As any ear can hear. Come, let's not weep:
If I could shake off but one seven61 years
From these old arms and legs, by the good gods,
I'd with thee, every foot63.
CORIOLANUS Give me thy hand: come.
Exeunt
[Act 4 Scene 2]
running scene 12
Enter the two Tribunes, Sicinius and Brutus, with the Aedile
SICINIUS Bid them all home1: he's gone, and we'll no further.
The nobility are vexed, whom we see have sided
In his behalf.
BRUTUS Now we have shown our power,
Let us seem humbler after it is done
Than when it was a-doing.
SICINIUS Bid them home: say their great enemy is gone,
And they stand in their ancient8 strength.
BRUTUS Dismiss them home.
[Exit Aedile]
Enter Volumnia, Virgilia and Menenius
Here comes his mother.
SICINIUS Let's not meet her.
BRUTUS Why?
SICINIUS They say she's mad13.
BRUTUS They have ta'en note of us: keep on your way.
VOLUMNIA O, you're well met:
Th'hoarded plague o'th'gods requite16 your love!
MENENIUS Peace, peace: be not so loud.
VOLUMNIA If that I could for weeping, you should hear--
Nay, and you shall hear some. Will you be gone?
VIRGILIA You shall stay too: I would I had the power
To the Tribunes
To say so to my husband.
SICINIUS Are you mankind22?
To Volumnia
VOLUMNIA Ay, fool: is that a shame? Note but this, fool:
Was not a man my father? Hadst thou foxship24
To banish him that struck more blows for Rome
Than thou hast spoken words?
SICINIUS O blessed heavens!
VOLUMNIA More noble blows than ever thou wise words,
And for Rome's good. I'll tell thee what: yet go:
Nay, but thou shalt stay too: I would30 my son
Were in Arabia, and thy tribe before31 him,
His good sword in his hand.
SICINIUS What then?
VIRGILIA What then? He'd make an end of thy posterity34.
VOLUMNIA Bastards and all.
Good man, the wounds that he does bear for Rome!
MENENIUS Come, come, peace.
SICINIUS I would he had continued to his country
As he began, and not unknit39 himself
The noble knot40 he made.
BRUTUS I would he had.
VOLUMNIA 'I would he had'? 'Twas you incensed the rabble:
Cats43, that can judge as fitly of his worth
As I can of those mysteries which heaven
Will not have earth to know.
BRUTUS Pray, let's go.
VOLUMNIA Now pray, sir, get you gone.
You have done a brave48 deed: ere you go, hear this:
As far as doth the Capitol exceed
The meanest50 house in Rome, so far my son --
This lady's husband here, this, do you see? --
Whom you have banished, does exceed you all.
BRUTUS Well, well, we'll leave you.
SICINIUS Why stay we to be baited54
With one that wants her wits?
Exeunt Tribunes
VOLUMNIA Take my prayers with you.
I would the gods had nothing else to do
But to confirm my curses. Could I meet 'em58
But once a day, it would unclog my heart
Of what lies heavy to't60.
MENENIUS You have told them home61,
And, by my troth, you have cause. You'll sup62 with me?
VOLUMNIA Anger's my meat63: I sup upon myself,
And so shall starve with feeding64. Come, let's go:
Leave this faint puling65 and lament as I do,
In anger, Juno-like66. Come, come, come.
Exeunt [Volumnia and Virgilia]
MENENIUS Fie, fie, fie!
Exit
[Act 4 Scene 3]
running scene 13
Enter [Nicanor], a Roman, and [Adrian] a Volsce
NICANOR I know you well, sir, and you know me: your name, I
think, is Adrian.
ADRIAN It is so, sir: truly, I have forgot you.
NICANOR I am a Roman, and my services are, as you are,
against 'em5. Know you me yet?
ADRIAN Nicanor? No?
NICANOR The same, sir.
ADRIAN You had more beard when I last saw you, but your
favour9 is well appeared by your tongue. What's the news in
Rome? I have a note10 from the Volscian state to find you out
there. You have well saved me a day's journey.
NICANOR There hath been in Rome strange insurrections: the
people against the senators, patricians and nobles.
ADRIAN Hath been? Is it ended then? Our state thinks not so:
they are in a most warlike preparation, and hope to come
upon them in the heat of their division.
make it flame again. For the nobles receive so to heart the
banishment of that worthy Coriolanus, that they are in a
ripe20 aptness to take all power from the people and to pluck
from them their tribunes for ever. This lies glowing21, I can tell
you, and is almost mature22 for the violent breaking out.
ADRIAN Coriolanus banished?
NICANOR Banished, sir.
ADRIAN You will be welcome with this intelligence, Nicanor.
NICANOR The day serves well for them26 now. I have heard it
said, the fittest time to corrupt a man's wife is when she's
fallen out with her husband. Your noble Tullus Aufidius will
appear well in these wars, his great opposer Coriolanus being
now in no request of30 his country.
ADRIAN He cannot choose31. I am most fortunate, thus
accidentally to encounter you. You have ended my business,
and I will merrily accompany you home.
NICANOR I shall between this34 and supper tell you most
strange things from Rome, all tending to the good of their
adversaries. Have you an army ready, say you?
ADRIAN A most royal one: the centurions and their charges37,
distinctly billeted already in th'entertainment38, and to be on
foot at an hour's warning.
NICANOR I am joyful to hear of their readiness, and am the
man, I think, that shall set them in present41 action. So, sir,
heartily well met, and most glad of your company.
ADRIAN You take my part43 from me, sir: I have the most cause
to be glad of yours.
NICANOR Well, let us go together.
Exeunt
[Act 4 Scene 4]
running scene 14
Enter Coriolanus in mean apparel, disguised and muffled
CORIOLANUS A goodly city is this Antium. City,
'Tis I that made thy widows: many an heir
Of these fair edifices 'fore my wars3
Have I heard groan and drop: then know me not,
Lest that thy wives with spits and boys with stones
In puny6 battle slay me.
Enter a Citizen
Save7 you, sir.
CITIZEN And you.
CORIOLANUS Direct me, if it be your will,
Where great Aufidius lies10: is he in Antium?
CITIZEN He is, and feasts the nobles of the state
At his house this night.
CORIOLANUS Which is his house, beseech you?
CITIZEN This here before you.
CORIOLANUS Thank you, sir: farewell.
Exit Citizen
O world, thy slippery turns! Friends now fast16 sworn,
Whose double17 bosoms seem to wear one heart,
Whose hours, whose bed, whose meal and exercise
Are still19 together: who twin, as 'twere, in love,
Unseparable, shall within this hour,
On a dissension of a doit21, break out
To bitterest enmity: so fellest22 foes,
Whose passions and whose plots23 have broke their sleep
To take the one the other, by some chance,
Some trick25 not worth an egg, shall grow dear friends