Unshout the noise that banish'd Marcius;
Repeal him with the welcome of his mother:
Cry,-Welcome, ladies! welcome!

All. Welcome!

Welcome, ladies!

[A flourish with drums and trumpets. Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Corioli. A Public Place".

Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS, with Attendants.

Auf. Go tell the lords of the city, I am here.
Deliver them this paper: having read it,
Bid them repair to the market-place; where I,
Even in theirs' and in the commons' ears,
Will vouch the truth of it. Him I accuse,
The city ports by this hath enter'd, and
Intends t' appear before the people, hoping
To purge himself with words. Dispatch.

[Exeunt Attendants.

Enter three or four Conspirators of AUFIDIUS' faction. Most welcome!

1 Con. How is it with our general? Auf.

Even so,

As with a man by his own alms empoison'd,
And with his charity slain.

2 Con.

Most noble sir,

If you do hold the same intent, wherein

You wish'd us parties, we'll deliver you

Of your great danger.

Auf.

Sir, I cannot tell:

We must proceed, as we do find the people.

3 Con. The people will remain uncertain, whilst 'Twixt you there's difference; but the fall of either Makes the survivor heir of all.

I know it;

Auf.
And my pretext to strike at him admits

A good construction. I rais'd him, and I pawn'd

Mine honour for his truth: who being so heighten'd,

8 CORIOLI. A Public Place.] Mr. Singer is, we think, quite right in changing

the scene from Antium to Corioli: we adopt his emendation willingly.

He water'd his new plants with dews of flattery,
Seducing so my friends; and to this end,
He bow'd his nature, never known before
But to be rough, unswayable, and free'.
3 Con. Sir, his stoutness,

When he did stand for consul, which he lost
By lack of stooping,—

Auf.

That I would have spoke of.
Being banish'd for't, he came unto my hearth;
Presented to my knife his throat: I took him;
Made him joint servant with me; gave him way
In all his own desires; nay, let him choose
Out of my files, his projects to accomplish,
My best and freshest men; serv'd his designments
In mine own person; holp to reap the fame
Which he did ear all his "; and took some pride
To do myself this wrong: till, at the last,

10

I seem'd his follower, not partner; and
He waged me with his countenance', as if
I had been mercenary.

1 Con.

So he did, my lord;

The army marvell'd at it; and, in the last,
When he had carried Rome, and that we look'd

9 But to be rough, unswayable, and FREE.] We give this line as in the folio, 1623, but the corr. fo. 1632 has fierce for "free." The change has considerable apparent fitness, but still, as the older word is not objectionable, we do not feel entitled to make the substitution.

Which he did EAR all his ;] Aufidius complains that he had helped to reap the fame of Coriolanus, who had ploughed the ground for it with the express intention that it should all be his own. To "ear" is often used by Shakespeare thus metaphorically: literally it means to cultivate the soil by ploughing it; but the word in the folios is end instead of "ear," which last we obtain from the corr. fo. 1632. Mr. Singer also had it from the same source (without acknowledgment), but he makes "reap" and "ear" change places. We are not satisfied that Shakespeare's word was not in instead of end: to in a harvest is to get it in; and in "All's Well that Ends Well," A. i. sc. 3, Vol. ii. p. 543, our poet uses both "ear" and in technically:-" He that ears my land, spares my team, and gives me leave to in the crop." So, we might amend the passage before us thus:"holp to reap the fame,

Which he did in all his :"

that is to say, "I helped to reap the crop, which he harvested as entirely his own." Owing, perhaps, to not having understood this term, the Rev. Mr. Dyce, in his edition of "Wit at several Weapons," A. v. sc. 1 (Beaumont and Fletcher, iv. 74), seems to have left a passage altogether unexplained.

He WAGED me with his countenance,] i. e. He paid me, or remunerated me with his countenance. To "wage," in this sense, was not in unfrequent use.

For no less spoil, than glory,—

Auf.

There was it;

For which my sinews shall be stretch'd upon him.
At a few drops of women's rheum, which are
As cheap as lies, he sold the blood and labour
Of our great action: therefore shall he die,
And I'll renew me in his fall. But, hark!

[Drums and trumpets sound, with great shouts of
the People.

1 Con. Your native town you enter'd like a post, And had no welcomes home; but he returns, Splitting the air with noise.

2 Con.

And patient fools,

Whose children he hath slain, their base throats tear
With giving him glory.

3 Con.

Therefore, at your vantage,

Ere he express himself, or move the people

With what he would say, let him feel your sword,

Which we will second.

After your way his tale pronounc'd shall bury

His reasons with his body.

Auf.

Here come the lords.

When he lies along,

Say no more.

Enter the Lords of the City.

I have not deserv'd it.

Lords. You are most welcome home.

Auf.

But, worthy lords, have you with heed perus'd
What I have written to you?

Lords.

1 Lord.

We have.

And grieve to hear it.

What faults he made before the last, I think,
Might have found easy fines; but there to end,
Where he was to begin, and give away
The benefit of our levies, answering us
With our own charge, making a treaty where
There was a yielding; this admits no excuse.
Auf. He approaches: you shall hear him.

Enter CORIOLANUS, with drums and colours; a crowd of Citizens with him.

Cor. Hail, lords! I am return'd your soldier;

No more infected with my country's love,
Than when I parted hence, but still subsisting
Under your great command. You are to know,
That prosperously I have attempted, and

With bloody passage led your wars, even to

The gates of Rome. Our spoils we have brought home,
Do more than counterpoise, a full third part,

The charges of the action.

We have made peace,

With no less honour to the Antiates,

Than shame to the Romans; and we here deliver,
Subscribed by the consuls and patricians,

Together with the seal o' the senate, what

We have compounded on.

Auf.

Read it not, noble lords;

But tell the traitor in the highest degree

He hath abus'd your powers.

Cor. Traitor!-How now!

Auf.
Cor.

Ay, traitor, Marcius.

Marcius!

Auf. Ay, Marcius, Caius Marcius. Dost thou think
I'll grace thee with that robbery, thy stol'n name,
Coriolanus, in Corioli1?-

You lords and heads of the state, perfidiously
He has betray'd your business, and given up
For certain drops of salt your city, Rome,
I say your city, to his wife and mother;
Breaking his oath and resolution, like
A twist of rotten silk; never admitting
Counsel o' the war, but at his nurse's tears
He whin'd and roar'd away your victory,
That pages blush'd at him, and men of heart
Look'd wondering each at other.

Cor.

Hear'st thou, Mars?

Auf. Name not the god, thou boy of tears.
Cor.

Auf. No more 3.

Ha!

Cor. Measureless liar, thou hast made my heart Too great for what contains it. Boy! Oh slave!— Pardon me, lords, 'tis the first time that ever

2 Coriolanus, in Corioli?] This passage shows that the scene was not Antium.

3 No more.] According to Monck Mason, Aufidius does not mean by these words to put a stop to the altercation, but to say that Coriolanus was "no more" than "a boy of tears." There can be no doubt about it.

I was forc'd to scold. Your judgments, my grave lords,
Must give this cur the lie: and his own notion
(Who wears my stripes impress'd upon him, that
Must bear my beating to his grave) shall join
To thrust the lie unto him.

1 Lord.

Peace both, and hear me speak.

Cor. Cut me to pieces, Volsces; men and lads,
Stain all your edges on me.-Boy! False hound!
If you have writ your annals true, 'tis there
That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I

Flutter'd your Volsces in Corioli':
Alone I did it.-Boy!

Auf.

Why, noble lords,

Will you be put in mind of his blind fortune,
Which was your shame, by this unholy braggart,

'Fore your own eyes and ears?

All Con. Let him die for't.

All People. Tear him to pieces; do it presently. He killed my son;-my daughter:-he killed my cousin Marcus:-he killed my father.

2 Lord. Peace, ho!—no outrage :-peace!

The man is noble, and his fame folds in

This orb o' the earth. His last offences to us

Shall have judicious hearing.-Stand, Aufidius,
And trouble not the peace.

Cor.

Oh! that I had him,

With six Aufidiuses, or more, his tribe,

To use my lawful sword!

Auf.

Insolent villain!

All Con. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill him!

[AUFIDIUS and the Conspirators draw, and kill CORIOLANUS, who falls: AUFIDIUS stands on him.

4 FLUTTER'D your VOLSCES in Corioli:] In the two earliest folios "flutter'd is misprinted flatter'd, but amended to " 'flutter'd" in the corr. fo. 1632, as well as in the folio, 1664. "Volsces" is here also Volscians in the folios, but it is "Volsces" elsewhere, even in the first line of the speech before us. We have therefore no hesitation in printing "Flutter'd your Volsces." "Corioli " was made Corioles in the folio, 1623, and Coriolus in the folio, 1664.

5 All People.] This is the prefix in the old copies, and it is not only unnecessary, but less forcible, to change it to " Cit. speaking promiscuously," as it stands in modern editions. In the same way, All Con., in the preceding line, means all the conspirators, and not "several speaking at once," as Malone and others give it. The different fragments of the speech attributed to "All People" in the corr. fo. 1632 are assigned to four speakers, denoted by the figures 1, 2, 3, 4; but there might be many others on the stage who partook in the accusation.