Call me their traitor?-Thou injurious tribune,
Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,
In thy hands clutch'd as many millions, in
Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say,
Thou liest, unto thee, with a voice as free
As I do pray the gods.

Sic.

Mark you this, people?
Cit. To the rock! to the rock with him!
Sic.

Peace!

We need not put new matter to his charge:
What you have seen him do, and heard him speak,
Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,
Opposing laws with strokes, and here defying

Those whose great power must try him; even this,
So criminal, and in such capital kind,

Deserves th' extremest death.

Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to linger
But with a grain a day, I would not buy
Their mercy at the price of one fair word,
Nor check my carriage' for what they can give,
To have't with saying, good morrow.

Sic.
For that he has
(As much as in him lies) from time to time
Envied against the people, seeking means
To pluck away their power; as now at last
Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence
Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers

That do distribute it; in the name o' the people,
And in the power of us, the tribunes, we,
Even from this instant, banish him our city,
In peril of precipitation

From off the rock Tarpeian, never more

To enter our Rome gates. I' the people's name,

I

say, it shall be so.

Cit. It shall be so, it shall be so let him away. He's banish'd, and it shall be so.

Com. Hear me, my masters, and my common

friends;

Sic. He's sentenc'd: no more hearing.

Com.

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's increase, And treasure of my loins; then, if I would Speak that

Sic.

We know your drift. Speak what? Bru. There's no more to be said; but he is banish'd, As enemy to the people, and his country.

It shall be so.

Cit.

It shall be so: it shall be so.

Cor. You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty.
Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts !
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till, at length,
Your ignorance, (which finds not, till it feels)
Making not' reservation of yourselves,
(Still your own foes) deliver you as most
Abated captives, to some nation

That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back.
There is a world elsewhere.

[Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, Menenius,
Senators, and Patricians.

Ed. The people's enemy is gone, is gone! Cit. Our enemy is banish'd! he is gone! Hoo! hoo! [The People shout, and throw up their Caps. Sic. Go, see him out at gates; and follow him, As he hath follow'd you, with all despite :

1 but in folio. Capell made the change.

Give him deserv'd vexation. Let a guard
Attend us through the city.

Cit. Come, come; let us see him out at gates: come.The gods preserve our noble tribunes!-Come. [Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.-The Same. Before a Gate of the City. Enter CORIOLANUS, VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, MENENIUS, COMINIUS, and several young Patricians.

Cor. Come, leave your tears: a brief farewell.-The

beast

With many heads butts me away.-Nay, mother,
Where is your ancient courage? you were us'd
To say, extremity was the trier of spirits;
That common chances common men could bear;
That, when the sea was calm, all boats alike
Show'd mastership in floating fortune's blows,
When most struck home, being gentlę minded' craves
A noble cunning. You were us'd to load me

With precepts, that would make invincible

The heart that conn'd them.

Vir. O heavens! O heavens!

Cor.

Nay, I pr'ythee, woman.—

Vol. Now, the red pestilence strike all trades in Rome, And occupations perish!

Cor.

What, what, what!
I shall be lov'd when I am lack'd. Nay, mother,
Resume that spirit, when you were wont to say,
If you had been the wife of Hercules,

Six of his labours you'd have done, and sav'd
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 sometime general,
I have seen thee stern, and thou hast oft beheld
Heart-hardening spectacles; tell these sad women,
'T is fond to wail inevitable strokes,

As 't is to laugh at 'em.-My mother, you wot well,

1 wounded in f. e.

My hazards still have been your solace; and
Believe't not lightly, though I go alone,

Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen

Makes fear'd, and talk'd of more than seen, your son
Will or exceed the common, or be caught
With cautelous baits and practice.

Vol.

My first son,

Whither wilt thou go? Take good Cominius
With thee a while: determine on some course
More than a wild exposure1 to each chance,
That starts i' the way before thee.

Cor.

O the gods!

Com. I'll follow thee a month; devise with thee
Where thou shalt rest, that thou may'st hear of us,
And we of thee: so, if the time thrust forth
A cause for thy repeal, we shall not send
O'er the vast world to seek a single man,
And lose advantage, which doth ever cool
I' the absence of the needer.

Cor.
Fare ye well:
Thou hast years upon thee; and thou art too full
Of the wars' surfeits to go rove with one
That's yet unbruis'd: bring me but out at gate.-
Come, my sweet wife, my dearest mother, and
My friends of noble touch, 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.

That's worthily

Men.
As any ear can hear.-Come; let's not weep.-
If I could shake off but one seven years
From these old arms and legs, by the good gods,
I'd with thee every foot.

Cor.

Come.

Give me thy hand.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The Same. A Street near the Gate.

Enter SICINIUS, BRUTUS, and an Edile.

Sic. Bid them all home: he's gone, and we'll no
farther.-

The nobility are vex'd, who, we see, have sided
In his behalf.

Bru.

Now we have shown our power,

Let us seem humbler after it is done,
Than when it was a doing.

Bid them home

Sic.
Say, their great enemy is gone, and they
Stand in their ancient strength.

Bru.

Dismiss them home.

[Exit Edile.

Enter VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, and MENENIUS.

Here comes his mother.

Sic.

Let's not meet her.

Bru.

Why?

Sic. They say, she 's mad.

Bru. They have ta'en note of us: keep on your way. Vol. O! y'are well met. The hoarded plague o' the Requite your love! Men.

[gods

Peace, peace! be not so loud. Vol. If that I could for weeping, you should hear,— Nay, and you shall hear some.—Will you be gone? [TO BRUTUS. Vir. You shall stay too. [To SICIN.] I would, I had

the power To say so to my husband.

Sic.

Are you mankind?

Vol. Ay, fool; is that a shame ?—Note but this fool. Was not a man my father? Hadst thou foxship To banish him that struck more blows for Rome, Than thou hast spoken words?

Sic.

O, blessed heavens !

Vol. 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 would my son

Were in Arabia, and thy tribe before him,

His good sword in his hand.

Sic.

Vir.

What then?

What then!

He'd make an end of thy posterity.

Vol. Bastards, and all.—

Good man, the wounds that he does bear for Rome!

Men. Come, come: peace!

Sic. I would he had continued to his country,

As he began; and not unknit himself

The noble knot he made.

Bru.

I would he had.