Bru. Good-e'en to you all, good-e'en to you all.

1 Cit. Ourselves, our wives, and children, on our knees, Are bound to pray for you both.

Sic. Live, and thrive!

Bru. Farewell, kind neighbours: We wish'd Coriolanus Had lov'd you as we did.

Cit. Now the gods keep you!

Both Tri. Farewell, farewell.

[Exeunt Citizens.

Sic. This is a happier and more comely time,

Than when these fellows ran about the streets,
Crying, Confusion.

Bru. Caius Marcius was

A worthy officer i'the war; but insolent,
O'ercome with pride, ambitious past all thinking,
Self-loving,

Sic. And affecting one sole throne,

Without assistance.

Men. I think not so.

Sic. We should by this, to all our lamentation,

If he had gone forth consul, found it so.

Bru. The gods have well prevented it, and Rome Sits safe and still without him.

Enter Edile.

Ed. Worthy tribunes,

There is a slave, whom we have put in prison,
Reports, the Volces with two several powers

Are enter'd in the Roman territories:

;

And with the deepest malice of the war

Destroy what lies before them.

Men. 'Tis Aufidius

Who, hearing of our Marcius' banishment,

Thrusts forth his horns again into the world;

Which were inshell'd, when Marcius stood for Rome,

And durst not once peep out.

Sic. Come, what talk you

Of Marcius?

Bru. Go, see this rumourer whipp'd.-It cannot be, The Volces dare break with us.

Men. Cannot be !

We have record, that very well it can;

And three examples of the like have been

Within my age.

But reason with the fellow,

Before you punish him, where he heard this :
Lest you shall chance to whip your information,

And beat the messenger who bids beware

Of what is to be dreaded.

Sic. Tell not me :

I know, this cannot be.

Bru. Not possible.

Enter a Messenger.

Mes. The nobles, in great earnestness, are going
All to the senate-house some news is come,
That turns their countenances.

Sic. 'Tis this slave ;—

Go whip him 'fore the people's eyes :—his raising!
Nothing but his report! |

Mes. Yes, worthy sir,

The slave's report is seconded; and more,
More fearful, is deliver’d.

Sic. What more fearful?

Mes. It is spoke freely out of many mouths,
(How probable, I do not know,) that Marcius,
Join'd with Aufidius, leads a power 'gainst Rome;
And vows revenge as spacious, as between
The young'st and oldest thing.

Sic. This is most likely !

Bru. Rais'd only, that the weaker sort may wish

Good Marcius home again.

Sic. The very trick on't.
Men. This is unlikely :

He and Aufidius can no more atone,"

Than violentest contrariety.

Enter another Messenger:

Mes. You are sent for to the senate:

A fearful army, led by Caius Marcius,

Associated with Aufidius, rages

Upon our territories; and have already,

O'erborne their way, consum'd with fire, and took
What lay before them.

Enter COMINIUS.

Com. O, you have made good work!

Men. What news? What news?

Com. You have holp to ravish your own daughters, and

To melt the city leads upon your pates;

To see your wives dishonour'd to your noses;

Men. What's the news? what's the news?

[5] To atone, in the active sense, is to reconcile, and is so used by our author. To atone here is, in the neutral sense, to come to reconciliation. To atone is to unite, JOHNSON.

Com. Your temples burned in their cement; and
Your franchises, whereon you stood, confin'd
Into an augre's bore.

Men. Pray now, your news ?

You have made fair work, I fear me :-Pray, your news?

If Marcius should be join'd with Volcians,

Com, If!

He is their god; he leads them like a thing

Made by some other deity than nature,

That shapes man better: and they follow him,
Against us brats, with no less confidence,

Than boys pursuing summer butterflies,

Or butchers killing flies.

Men. You have made good work,

You, and your apron men; you that stood so much
Upon the voice of occupation, and

The breath of garlic-eaters !?

Com. He will shake

Your Rome about your ears,

Men. As Hercules

6

Did shake down mellow fruit: You have made fair work!

Bru. But is this true, sir?

Com. Ay; and you'll look pale

Before you find it other. All the regions

Do smilingly revolt; and, who resist,

Are only mock'd for valiant ignorance,

And perish constant fools. Who is't can blame him?

Your enemies, and his, find something in him.

Men. We are all undone, unless

The noble man have mercy.

Com. Who shall ask it?

The tribunes cannot do't for shame; the people

Deserve such pity of him, as the wolf

Does of the shepherds: for his best friends, if they
Should say, Be good to Rome, they charg'd him even
As those should do that had deserv'd his hate,
And therein show'd like enemies.

Men. 'Tis true :

[6] Occupation is here used for mechanicks, men occupied in daily business. MAL. [7] To smell of garlick was once such a brand of vulgarity, that garlick was a food forbidden to an ancient order of Spanish knights, mentioned by Guevara. JOHNSON.To smell of leeks was no less a mark of vulgarity among the Roman people in the time of Juvenal. Sat. iii.

.........quis tecum sectile porum Sutor, et elixi vervecis labra comedit? [8] An allusion to the apples of the Hesperides.

STEEVENS.
STEEVENS.

If he were putting to my house the brand
That should consume it, I have not the face
Το say, 'Beseech
-You have made fair hands,
you, cease.
You, and your crafts! you have crafted fair!

Com. You have brought

A trembling upon Rome, such as was never
So incapable of help.

Tri. Say not, we brought it.

Men. How! Was it we? We lov'd him ; but, like beasts, And cowardly nobles, gave way to your clusters, Who did hoot him out o'the city.

Com. But, I fear

They'll roar him in again." Tullus Aufidius,
The second name of men, obeys his points
As if he were his officer :-Desperation
Is all the policy, strength, and defence,
That Rome can make against them.

Enter a troop of Citizens.

Men. Here come the clusters.-

And is Aufidius with him?You are they
That made the air unwholesome, when you cast
Your stinking, greasy caps, in hooting at
Coriolanus' exile. Now he's coming;

And not a hair upon a soldier's head,

Which will not prove a whip; as many coxcombs, threw caps up, will he tumble down,

As you

And pay you for your voices.

'Tis no matter;

If he could burn us all into one coal,

We have deserv'd it.

Cit. 'Faith, we hear fearful news.

1 Cit. For mine own part,

When I said, banish him, I said, 'twas pity.

2 Cit. And so did I.

:

3 Cit. And so did I; and, to say the truth, so did very many of us That we did, we did for the best and though we willingly consented to his banishment, yet it was against our will.

Com. You are goodly things, you voices!

Men. You have made

Good work, you and your cry!-Shall us to the capitol ? Com. O, ay; what else? [Exe. Coм. and MENEN. Sic. Go, masters, get you home, be not dismay'd;

[9] As they hooted at his departure, they will roar at his return; as he went out with scoffs, he will come back with lamentations. JOHNSON.

'These are a side, that would be glad to have
This true, which they so seem to fear. Go home,
And show no sign of fear.

1 Cit. The gods be good to us! Come, masters, let's home. I ever said, we were i'the wrong, when we banished him.

2 Cit. So did we all. But come, let's home. [Ex.Citizens. Bru. I do not like this news.

Sic. Nor I.

Bru. Let's to the Capitol.-'Would, half my wealth Would buy this for a lie!

Sic. Pray, let us go.

SCENE VII.

[Exeunt.

A Camp, at a small distance from Rome. Enter AUFIDIUS

and his Lieutenant.

Auf Do they still fly to the Roman ?

Lieu. I do not know what witchcraft's in him; but Your soldiers use him as the grace 'fore meat,

Their talk at table, and their thanks at end;

And you are darken'd in this action, sir,

Even by your own.

Auf. I cannot help it now;

Unless, by using means, I lame the foot

Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier
Even to my person, than I thought he would,
When first I did embrace him: Yet his nature
In that's not changeling; and I must excuse
What cannot be amended.

Lieu. Yet I wish, sir,

(I mean for your particular,) you had not
Join'd in commission with him: but either
Had borne the action of yourself, or else
To him had left it solely.

Auf. I understand thee well; and be thou sure,
When he shall come to his account, he knows not
What I can urge against him. Although it seems,
And so he thinks, and is no less apparent

To the vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly,
And shows good husbandry for the Volcian state ;
Fights dragon-like, and does achieve as soon
As draw his sword: yet he hath left undone
That, which shall break his neck, or hazard mine,
Whene'er we come to our account.

Lieu. Sir, I beseech you, think you he'll carry Rome?