1 Shall be the general's fault, though he perform Had borne the business! SIC. Befides, if things go well, Opinion, that fo sticks on Marcius, fhall Of his demerits rob Cominius.4 BRU. Come: Half all Cominius' honours are to Marcius, Though Marcius earn'd them not; and all his faults To Marcius fhall be honours, though, indeed, In aught he merit not. SIC. Let's hence, and hear How the despatch is made; and in what fashion, More than in fingularity,5 he goes Upon his present action. BRU. Let's along. [Exeunt. 4 Of his demerits rob Cominius.] Merits and Demerits had anciently the fame meaning. So, in Othello: 66 and my demerits "May fpeak," &c. Again, in Stowe's Chronicle, Cardinal Wolfey fays to his fervants: "I have not promoted, preferred, and advanced you all according to your demerits." Again, in P. Holland's tranflation of Pliny's Epiftle to T. Vefpafian, 1600: "—his demerit had been the greater to have continued his ftory." STEEVENS. Again, in Hall's Chronicle, Henry VI. fol. 69: "this noble prince, for his demerits called the good duke of Gloucester,—. MALONE. 5 More than in fingularity, &c.] We will learn what he is to do, befides going himself; what are his powers, and what is his appointment. JOHNSON, Perhaps the word fingularity implies a farcafm on Coriolanus, and the fpeaker means to fay-after what fashion, befide that in which his own fingularity of difpofition invests him, he goes. into the field. So, in Twelfth-Night: "Put thyself into the trick of fingularity." STEEVENS. SCENE II. Corioli. The Senate-Houfe. Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS, and certain Senators. 1 SEN. So, your opinion is, Aufidius, That they of Rome are enter'd in our counfels, Is it not yours? AUF. What ever hath been thought on in this ftate, That could be brought to bodily act ere Rome Had circumvention? 'Tis not four days gone,7 Since I heard thence; thefe are the words: I think, I have the letter here; yes, here it is: [Reads. They have prefs'd a power, but it is not known hath been thought on-] Old copy-have. Corrected by the second folio. STEEVENS. 7 'Tis not four days gone,] i. e. four days paft. STEEVENS. 8 They have prefs'd a power,] Thus the modern editors. The old copy reads-They have preft a power; which may fignify, have a power ready; from pret. Fr. So, in The Merchant of Venice: "And I am preft unto it." See note on this paffage, A&t I. fc. i. STEEVENS. The fpelling of the old copy proves nothing, for participles were generally fo fpelt in Shakspeare's time: fo diftreft, bleft, &c. I believe prefs'd in its ufual fenfe is right. It appears to have been used in Shakspeare's time in the sense of imprefs'd. So, in Plutarch's Life of Coriolanus, tranflated by Sir T. North, 1579: the common people-would not appeare when the confuls called their names by a bill, to press them for the warres." Again, in King Henry VI. P. III: 66 "From London by the kingdom was I prefs'd forth." MALONE. Whether for eaft, or weft: The dearth is great ; (Who is of Rome worfe hated than of you,) 1 SEN. Our army's in the field: AUF. Nor did you think it folly, To keep your great pretences veil'd, till when They needs muft fhow themselves; which in the hatching, It feem'd, appear'd to Rome. By the discovery, We fhall be fhorten'd in our aim; which was, To take in many towns, ere, almoft, Rome Should know we were afoot. 2 SEN. Noble Aufidius, If they fet down before us, for the remove To take in many towns,] To take in is here, as in many other places, to fubdue. So, in The Execration of Vulcan, by Ben Jonfon: The Globe, the glory of the Bank, "I saw with two poor chambers taken in, Again, more appofitely, in Antony and Cleopatra: -for the remove Bring up your army ;] Says the Senator to Aufidius, Go to your troops, we will garrifon Corioli. If the Romans befiege They have not prepar'd for us. AUF. O, doubt not that; I fpeak from certainties. Nay, more.2 Some parcels of their powers are forth already, us, bring up your army to remove them. If any change should be made, I would read: The remove and their remove are fo near in found, that the transcriber's ear might eafily have deceived him. But it is always dangerous to let conjecture loose where there is no difficulty. MALONE. 2 Ifpeak from certainties. Nay, more,] Sir Thomas Hanmer completes this line by reading: Ifpeak from very certainties. &c. STEEVENS. SCENE III. Rome. An Apartment in Marcius' House. Enter VOLUMNIA, and VIRGILIA: They fit down on two low Stools, and few. VOL. I pray you, daughter, fing; or exprefs yourfelf in a more comfortable fort: If my fon were my husband, I fhould freelier rejoice in that abfence wherein he won honour, than in the embracements of his bed, where he would fhow moft love. When yet he was but tender-bodied, and the only fon of my womb; when youth with comelinefs plucked all gaze his way ;3 when, for a day of kings' entreaties, a mother should not fell him an hour from her beholding; I,-confidering how honour would become fuch a perfon; that it was no better than picture-like to hang by the wall, if renown made it not ftir,-was pleafed to let him feek danger where he was like to find fame. To a cruel war I fent him; from whence he returned, his brows bound with oak." I tell thee, daughter,—I sprang not more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child, than now in first seeing he had proved himself a man. VIR. But had he died in the business, madam ? how then? 3 when youth with comelinefs plucked all gaze his way i. e. attracted the attention of every one towards him. DOUCE. 4 brows bound with oak.] The crown given by the Romans to him that faved the life of a Citizen, which was accounted more honourable than any other. JOHNSON. |