Cor. I am content. Men. Lo, citizens, he says, he is content : Think on the wounds his body bears, which show Cor. Scratches with briars, scars to move laughter only. That when he speaks not like a citizen, Com. Well, well, no more. Cor. What is the matter, That being past for consul with full voice, Sic. Answer to us. Cor. Say then: 'tis true, I ought so. Sic. We charge you, that you have contriv'd to take From Rome all season'd office, and to wind 6 Yourself unto a power tyrannical; For which, you are a traitor to the people. Men. Nay, temperately: Your promise. Cor. The fires i'the lowest hell fold in the people! Sic. Mark you this, people? Cit. To the rock with him; to the rock with him! We need not put new matter to his charge : What you have seen him do, and heard him speak, Opposing laws with strokes, and here defying Deserves the extremest death. [5] Envy---is here taken at large for malignity or ill intention. JOHNSON. [6] All office established and settled by time, and made familiar to the people by long use. JOHNSON. [7] i. e. grasped. STEEVENS. Bru. But since he hath Serv'd well for Rome, Cor. What do you prate of service? Cor. You? Men. Is this the promise that you made your mother? Com. Know, I pray you, Cor. I'll know no further: Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death, Sic. For that he has (As much as in him lies) from time to time That do distribute it; in the name o'the people, 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 so it shall be. 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 from Rome, 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 : [8] Not---stands again for not only. JOHNSON.--So in Thessa. iv. 8. "He therefore, that despiseth, despiseth not man but God." STEEVENS. [9] I love my country beyond the rate at which I value my dear wife. JOHNSON. 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 carcases of unburied men That do corrupt my air, I banish you; That won you without blows! Despising, [Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, MENENIUS, Ed. The people's enemy is gone, is gone! Cit. Our enemy's banish'd! he is gone! Hoo! hoo! Sic. Go, see him out at gates, and follow him, 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. 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 [1] Cry here signifies a troop or pack. MALONE. [2] Still retain the power of banishing your defenders, till your undiscerning folly, which can foresee no consequences, leave none in the city but yourselves, who are always labouring your own destruction.It is remarkable, that, among the political maxims of the speculative Harrington, there is one which he might have borrowed from this speech. "The people (says he) cannot see, but they can feel" It is not much to the honour of the people, that they have the same character of stupidity from their enemy and their friend. Such was the power of our author's mind, that he looked through life in all its relations private and civil. JOHNSON. To say, extremity was the trier of spirits; 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, you had been the wife of Hercules, If mother! Six of his labours you'd have done, and sav'd As 'tis to laugh at them.--My mother, you wot well, 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, 6 Whither wilt thou go? Take good Cominius With thee a while Determine on some course, More than a wild exposure to each chance Cor. O the gods! [3] The sense is, When Fortune strikes her hardest blows, to be wounded, and yet continue calm, requires a generous policy. He calls this calmness cunning, because it is the effect of reflection and philosophy. Perhaps the first emotions of nature are nearly uniform, and one man differs from another in the powers of indurance, as he is better regulated by precept and instruction.-----" They bore as beroes, but they felt as men." JOHNSON. [4] i. e. 'tis foolish. [5] By artful and false tricks, and treason. [6] First-i. e. noblest, most eminent of men. WARBURTON. JOHNSON: Com. I'll follow thee a month, devise with thee Cor. Fare ye well : Thou hast years upon thee; and thou art too full Men. That's worthily As any ear can hear.-Come, let's not weep.- From these old arms and legs, by the good gods, I'd with thee every foot. Cor. Give me thy hand :-Come. SCENE II. [Exeunt 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 further. -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. Sic. Bid them home. 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? [i. e. Of true metal unallay'd. Metaphor taken from the trying gold on the touchstone. WARBURTON. |