Lart. Hence, and shut your gates upon us.— Our guider, come; to the Roman camp conduct us. [Ereunt. SCENE VII. A Field of Battle between the Roman and the Voician Camps. Alarum. Enter MARCIUS and AUFIDIUS.

Mar. I'll fight with none but thee; for I do hate thee Worse than a promise-breaker. Auf.

We hate alike; Not Afric owns a serpent, I abhor More than thy fame and envy : Fix thy foot.

Mar. Let the first budger die the other's slave, And the gods doom him after !2 Auf.

Halloo me like a hare.

Mar.

If I fly, Marcius, Within these three hours, Tullus, Alone I fought in your Corioli walls, And made what work I pleas'd; "Tis not my blood, Wherein thou seest me mask'd; for thy revenge, Wrench up thy power to the highest.

Auf. Wert thou the Hector, That was the whip' of your bragg'd progeny, Thou should'st not scape me here.

[They fight, and certain Volces come to the aid of AUFIDIUS. Officious, and not valiant-you have sham'd me In your condemned seconds.4

[Exeunt fighting, driven in by MARCIUS. SCENE IX. The Roman Camp. Alarum. A Retreat is sounded. Flourish. Enter at one side, COMINIUS, and Romans; at the other side, MARCIUS, with his arm in a scarf, and other Romans. Com. If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work, Thou'lt not believe thy deeds, but I'll report it, Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles; Where great patricians shall attend, and shrug, I' the end, admire; where ladies shall be frighted, And, gladly quak'd,' hear more; where the dull tribunes,

That, with the fusty plebeians, hate thine honours,
Shall say, against their hearts-We thank the gods,
Our Rome hath such a soldier!—

Yet cam'st thou to a morsel of this feast,
Having fully dined before.

Enter TITUS LARTIUS, with his Power, from the pursuit.

Lart.

O general, Here is the steed, we the caparison :* Hadst thou beheld—

Mar. Pray now, no more: my mother, Who has a charter to extol her blood, When she does praise me, grieves me. I have done, As have done; that's what I can; induc'd you As you have been; that's for my country:" He, that has but effected his good will,

Hath overta'en mine act.

Com.

You shall not be The grave of your deserving; Rome must know

1 The construction here appears to be, Not Afric owns a serpent I more abhor and envy than thy fame.' The verb to envy, in ancient language, signified to hate. 2 Thus in Macbeth :

And damn'd be he that first cries, Hold, enough! 3 i. e. the whip that your bragg'd progenitors were possessed of. Steevens suggests that whip might be used as crack has been since, to denote any thing pecu liarly boasted of; as the crack house in the country, the crack boy of the school, &c.

4You have to my shame sent me help, which I must condemn as intrusive, instead of applauding it as necessary.'

5 i. e. thrown into grateful trepidation. To quake is used as a verb active by T. Heywood in his Silver Age, 1613:

We'll quake them at the bar,

Where all souls wait for sentence.'

6 This is an odd encomium. The meaning is, 'This man performed the action, and we only filled up the show.'

7 Country is used here and in other place as a trisyllable.

Well might they fester 'gainst ingratitude,
And tent themselves with death. Of all the horses
(Whereof we have ta'en good, and good store,) of all
The treasure, in this field achiev'd, and city,
Before the common distribution, at
We render you the tenth; to be ta'en forth,
Your only choice.

Mar.

I thank you, general; But cannot make my heart consent to take A bribe to pay my sword: I do refuse it ; And stand upon my common part with those That have beheld the doing.

[A long Flourish. They all cry, Marcius! Marcius' cast up their caps and lances; COMINIUS and LARTIUS stand bare. May these same instruments, which you profane, Never sound more! When drums and trumpets shall Made all of false-fac'd soothing: When steel grows I' the field prove flatterers, let courts and cities be Soft as the parasite's silk, let him be made An overture for the wars! No more, I say; For that I have not wash'd my nose that bled, Or foil'd some debile wretch,-which, without

note, Here's many else have done,-you shout me forth In acclamations hyperbolical; As if I lov'd my little should be dieted In praises sauc'd with lies.

Com.

Too modest are you; More cruel to your good report, than grateful To us that give you truly by your patience, If 'gainst yourself you be incens'd, we'll put you (Like one that means his proper harm) in manacles, Then reason safely with you.-Therefore, be it

known,

As to us, to all the world, that Caius Marcius
Wears this war's garland: in token of the which
My noble steed, kuown to the camp, I give him,
With all his trim belonging; and, from this time,
For what he did before Corioli, call him,
With all the applause and clamour of the host,
CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS.-
Bear the addition nobly ever!

[Flourish. Trumpets sound, and Drums. All. Caius Marcius Coriolanus Cor. I will go wash;

And when my face is fair, you shall perceive Whether I blush, or no: Howbeit, I thank you :➡

8 That is, has done as much as I have done, inas much as my ardour to serve the state is such that I have never been able to effect all that I wished.' So in Macbeth

The flighty purpose never is o'ertook,
Unless the deed goes with it,'

9 That is, not be remember'd, 10 The old copy reads:

When steel grows
Soft as silk, let him be made
An overture for the wars!"

I think with Mr. Tyrwhitt that we should read a cover-
ture. The personal pronoun him is not unfrequently
The
used by old writers instead of it, the neuter.
sense of the passage will then be complete and apt :--
When steel grows soft as silk, let armour be made of
silk instead of steel. Notwithstanding Malone's in-
genious argument, it is impossible to extract sense
from the word overture, which anciently, as now,
meant a motion, or offer made, an opening, or on-

trance.'

11 Weak, feeble.

I mean to stride your steed; and, at all times,
To undercrest your good addition'

To the fairness of my power.
Com.
So, to our tent:
Where, ere we do repose us, we will write
To Rome of our success.-You, Titus Lartius,
Must to Corioli back: send us to Rome
The best with whom we may articulate2
For their own good, and ours.
Lart.
Cor. The gods begin to mock me. I that now
Refus'd most princely gifts, am bound to beg
Of my lord general.
Com.

I shall, my lord.

Take it 'tis yours.-What is't?
Cor. I sometime lay, here in Corioli,
At a poor man's house; he us'd me kindly:
He cried to me; I saw him prisoner;
But then Aufidius was within my view,

And wrath o'erwhelm'd my pity: I request you
To give my poor host freedom.
Com.

O, well begg'd!
Were he the butcher of my son, he should
Be free, as is the wind. Deliver him, Titus.
Lart. Marcius, his name?
Cor.

By Jupiter, forgot:

I am weary; yea, my memory is tir'd.-
Have we no wine here?

Com. Go we to our tent:

The blood upon your visage dries: 'tis time It should be look'd to: come.

[Exeunt.

SCENE X. The Camp of the Volces. A Flourish. Cornets. Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS, bloody, with two or three Soldiers.

Auf. The town is ta'en!

1 Sol. "Twill be deliver'd back on good condition. Auf. Condition?—

I would, I were a Roman; for I cannot,
Being a Volce,' be that I am.-Condition!-
What good condition can a treaty find

I' the part that is at mercy? Five times, Marcius,
I have fought with thee; so often hast thou beat me:
And would'st do so, I think, should we encounter
As often as we eat.-By the elements,
I e'er again I meet him beard to beard,
He is mine, or I am his: Mine emulation
Hath not that honour in't, it had; for where
I thought to crush him in an equal force
(True sword to sword,) I'll potch' at him some way;
Or wrath, or craft, may get him.
1 Sol.
Auf. Bolder, though not so subtle: My valour's
poison'd,

He's the devil.

With only suffering stain by him; for him
Shall fly out of itself: nor sleep, nor sanctuary,
Being naked, sick; nor fane, nor Capitol,
The prayers of priests, nor times of sacrifice,
Enbarquements" all of fury, shall lift up
Their rotten privilege and custom 'gainst
My hate to Marcius; where I find him, were it
At home, upon my brother's guard, even there,

To undercrest your good addition, To the fairness of my power'appears to mean, he will endeavour to support the honourable distinction conferred upon him to the fair extent of his power.'

2 i. e. the chief men of Corioli, with whom we may enter into articles. Bullokar has the word 'articulaté, to set down articles, or conditions of agreement.' We still retain the word capitulate, which anciently had nearly the same meaning, viz. To article or agree upon articles.'

3 The Volsci are called Volsces throughout the old translation of Plutarch, which Shakspeare followed. 4 Where for whereas, as in other places before noticed. 5 To patch is to thrust at with a sharp pointed instrument. Thus in Carew's Survey of Cornewall, p. 31 :-They use to potche them [i. e. fish] with an instrument somewhat like a salmon speare. It is from the Fr. pocher,

5 Mr. Tyrwhitt proposed to read :My valour poison'd, &c.

To

And the context seems to require this emendation. mischief him my valour should deviate from its native generosity.'

Men. Not according to the prayer of the people, for they love not Marcius.

Sic. Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.
Men. Pray you, who does the wolf love?
Sic. The lamb.

Men. Ay, to devour him; as the hungry ple beians would the noble Marcius.

Bru. He's a lamb indeed, that baes like a bear. Men. He's a bear indeed, that lives like a lamb. You two are old men; tell me one thing that I shall ask you.

Both Trib. Well, sir.

Men. In what enormity is Marcius poor in, 12 that you two have not in abundance?

Bru. He's poor in no one fault but stored with all. Sic. Especially, in pride.

Bru. And topping all others in boasting.

Men. This is strange, now: Do you two know how you are censured here in the city, I mean of us o' the right hand file? Do you?

Both Trib. Why, how are we censured? Men. Because you talk of pride now,-Will you not be angry?

Both Trib. Well, well, sir, well.

Men. Why, 'tis no great matter; for a very little thief of occasion will rob you of a great deal of patience: give your disposition the reins, and be angry at your pleasures; at the least, if you take it as a pleasure to you, in being so. You blame Marcius for being proud!

Bru. We do it not alone, sir.

Men. I know you can do very little alone: or your helps are many; or else your actions would grow wondrous single: your abilities are too in fant-like, for doing much alone. You talk of pride O, that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks,13 and make but an interior survey of your good selves! O, that you could!

Bru. What then, sir?

7 Embarquements, as appears from Cotgrave and Sherwood, meant not only an embarkation, but an embargoing; which is evidently the sense of the word in this passage.

8 i. e. in my own house, with my brother posted to protect him.

9 Attended is waited for. So in Twelfth Night :-4 Thy intercepter attends thee at the orchard end,' 10 Malone observes that Shakspeare often introduces these minute local descriptions, probably to give an air of truth to his pieces. The poet attended not to the anachronism of mills near Antium. Lydgate has placed corn-mills near to Troy.

11 When the tribune, in reply to Menenius's remark on the people's hate to Coriolanus, had observed that even beasts know their friends, Menenius asks, whom does the wolf love? implying that there are beasts which love nobody, and that among those beasts are the people.

12 It has been already observed that pleonasms of this kind were by no means unfrequent in Shakspeare's

Men. One in the neck, and two in the thigh,there's nine that I know.'

Vol. He had before this last expedition, twentyfive wounds upon him.

Men. Now it's twenty-seven: every gash was an enemy's grave: [A Shout, and Flourish.] Hark! the trumpets.

Vol. These are the ushers of Marcius: before him

He carries noise, and behind him he leaves tears; Death, that dark spirit, in's nervy arm doth lie; Which being advanc'd, declines; and then men die.2

A Sennet. Trumpets sound. Enter COMINIUS and TITUS LARTIUS; between them, CORIOLANUS, crowned with an oaken Garland; with Captains, Soldiers, and a Herald.

Her. Know, Rome, that all alone Marcius did fight

Within Corioli's gates: where he hath won,
With fame, a name to Caius Marcius; these
In honour follows, Coriolanus:

Welcome to Kome, renowned Coriolanus!

[Flourish.

All. Welcome to Rome, renowned Coriolanus! Cor. No more of this, it does offend heart: Pray now, no more.

Com.

Cor.

my

Look, sir, your mother,

You have, I know, petition'd all the gods
For my prosperity.
Vol.

O!

[Kneels. Nay, my good soldier up My gentle Marcius, worthy Caius, and By deed-achieving honour newly nam'd, What is it? C s, must I call thee?

My gra^:nv” sil ne hail!

A Com

sights

That weep'st to see me triumph? Ah, my dear.
Such eyes the widows in Corioli wear,
And mothers that lack sons.
Men.
Now the gods crown thee!
Cor. And live you yet?-O my sweet lady, par-
don.
[To VALERIA.
Vol. I know not where to turn:-0, welcome

home;

And welcome, general;-And you are welcome all. Men. A hundred thousand welcomes: I could weep,

And I could laugh; I am light, and heavy; Wel

and let it fall.

3 By gracious silence' it is probable the poet meant, 'thou whose silent tears are more eloquent and grateful to me than the clamorous applause of the rest. Thus in Love's Cure, or The Martial Maid, by Beaumont and Fletcher:

'A lady's tears are silent orators,

Or should be so at least, to move beyond
The honey-tongued rhetorician.'

4 By these words it should seem that Coriolanus means to say, 'Menenius is still the same affectionate friend as formerly.' So in Julius Cæsar :- For always

I am Cæsar.'

5 Change of honours' is variety of honours, as change of raiment is variety of raiment. Theobald would read charge.

6 A rupture anciently was synonymous with a fit or trance. Thus Torriano: Ratto, s. a rapture or trance of the mind, or a distraction of the spirits. This is confirmed by Steevens's quotation from the Hospital for London Follies, 1602, where gossip Luce says, Your darling will weep itself into a rapture, if you do not take heed.'

7 A malkin or maulkin was a kind of mop made of rags, used for sweeping ovens, &c.; a figure made of clouts to scare birds was also so called: hence it came to signify a dirty wench. The scullion very naturally takes her name from this utensil, her French title escouillon being only another name for a mulkin.

Lockrum was a kind of coarse linen.

8 Reechy is fumant with sweat or grease. 9 Seld is seldom, often so used by old writers. 10 A vulgar station' is a common standing-place among the vulgar.

11 So in Tarquin and Lucrece :

The silent war of lilies and of roses, Which Tarquin view'd in her fair face's field.' 12 That is, as if that god who leads him, whatsoever god he be. So in Shakspeare's 26th Sonnet :

Till whatsoever star that guides my moving,
Points on me graciously with fair aspect.'

13 The meaning, though obscurely expressed, is, "He should begin, to where he should end. We have the cannot carry his honours temperately from where he same phraseology in Cymbeline :—