The painful69 service,
The extreme dangers, and the drops of blood
Shed for my thankless country, are requited
But with that surname: a good memory72
And witness of the malice and displeasure
Which thou shouldst bear me: only that name remains.
The cruelty and envy of the people,
Permitted by our dastard76 nobles, who
Have all forsook77 me, hath devoured the rest,
And suffered me by th’voice of slaves to be
Whooped79 out of Rome. Now this extremity
Hath brought me to thy hearth, not out of hope —
Mistake me not — to save my life: for if
I had feared death, of all the men i’th’world
I would have ’voided thee. But in mere83 spite
To be full quit of84 those my banishers,
Stand I before thee here. Then if thou hast
A heart of wreak86 in thee, that wilt revenge
Thine own particular wrongs and stop those maims87
Of shame seen through88 thy country, speed thee straight,
And make my misery serve thy turn: so use it
That my revengeful services may prove
As benefits to thee, for I will fight
Against my cankered92 country with the spleen
Of all the under-fiends93. But if so be
Thou dar’st not this, and that to prove more fortunes94
Thou’rt tired, then, in a word, I also am
Longer to live most weary, and present
My throat to thee and to thy ancient97 malice,
Which not to cut would show thee but a fool,
Since I have ever followed thee with hate,
Drawn tuns100 of blood out of thy country’s breast,
And cannot live but to thy shame, unless
It be to do thee service.
AUFIDIUS O Martius, Martius!
Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart
A root of ancient envy. If Jupiter
Should from yond cloud speak divine things,
And say ‘’Tis true’, I’d not believe them more
Than thee, all noble Martius. Let me twine
Mine arms about that body, where against109
My grainèd ash110 an hundred times hath broke,
He embraces Coriolanus
And scarred the moon with splinters: here I clip111
The anvil of my sword112, and do contest
As hotly and as nobly with thy love
As ever in ambitious strength I did
Contend against thy valour. Know thou first,
I loved the maid I married: never man
Sighed truer breath. But that I see thee here,
Thou noble thing, more dances my rapt118 heart
Than when I first my wedded mistress saw
Bestride my threshold. Why, thou Mars120, I tell thee,
We have a power on foot121, and I had purpose
Once more to hew thy target from thy brawn122,
Or lose mine arm for’t: thou hast beat me out123
Twelve several124 times, and I have nightly since
Dreamt of encounters ’twixt thyself and me:
We have been down together126 in my sleep,
Unbuckling helms, fisting127 each other’s throat,
And waked128 half dead with nothing. Worthy Martius,
Had we no other quarrel else to Rome, but that
Thou art thence banished, we would muster all130
From twelve to seventy, and pouring war
Into the bowels of ungrateful Rome,
Like a bold flood o’erbear’t133. O, come, go in,
And take our friendly senators by th’hands
Who now are here, taking their leaves of me,
Who am prepared136 against your territories,
Though not for Rome itself.
CORIOLANUS You bless me, gods.
AUFIDIUS Therefore, most absolute139 sir, if thou wilt have
The leading of thine own revenges, take
Th’one half of my commission, and set down141 —
As best thou art experienced, since thou know’st
Thy country’s strength and weakness — thine own ways:
Whether to knock against the gates of Rome,
Or rudely145 visit them in parts remote,
To fright them, ere destroy146. But come in:
Let me commend147 thee first to those that shall
Say yea to thy desires. A thousand welcomes!
And more a friend than ere an enemy:
Yet, Martius, that was much. Your hand: most welcome!
Exeunt [Coriolanus and Aufidius]
The two Servingmen come forward
FIRST SERVINGMAN Here’s a strange alteration!
SECOND SERVINGMAN By my hand, I had thought to have
strucken him with a cudgel, and yet my mind gave153 me his
clothes made a false report of him.
FIRST SERVINGMAN What an arm he has! He turned me about
with his finger and his thumb, as one would set up156 a top.
SECOND SERVINGMAN Nay, I knew by his face that there was
something in him. He had, sir, a kind of face, methought …
I cannot tell how to term it.
FIRST SERVINGMAN He had so, looking, as it were — would I were
hanged, but I thought there was more in him than I could
think.
SECOND SERVINGMAN So did I, I’ll be sworn: he is simply the rarest163
man i’th’world.
FIRST SERVINGMAN I think he is: but a greater soldier than he you165
wot on.
SECOND SERVINGMAN Who, my master?
FIRST SERVINGMAN Nay, it’s no matter for168 that.
SECOND SERVINGMAN Worth six on him169.
FIRST SERVINGMAN Nay, not so neither: but I take him to be the
greater soldier.
SECOND SERVINGMAN Faith, look you, one cannot tell how to say
that: for the defence of a town, our general is excellent.
FIRST SERVINGMAN Ay, and for an assault too.
Enter the Third Servingman
THIRD SERVINGMAN O slaves175, I can tell you news: news, you
rascals!
FIRST and SECOND SERVINGMAN What, what, what? Let’s partake.
THIRD SERVINGMAN I would not be a Roman of all nations: I had
as lief179 be a condemned man.
FIRST and SECOND SERVINGMAN Wherefore?180 Wherefore?
THIRD SERVINGMAN Why, here’s he that was wont181 to thwack our
general, Caius Martius.
FIRST SERVINGMAN Why do you say ‘thwack our general’?
THIRD SERVINGMAN I do not say ‘thwack our general’, but he was
always good enough for him.
SECOND SERVINGMAN Come, we are fellows and friends: he was
ever too hard for him: I have heard him say so himself.
FIRST SERVINGMAN He was too hard for him directly, to say the
truth on’t: before Corioles he scotched189 him and notched him
like a carbonado190.
SECOND SERVINGMAN an he had been cannibally given191, he might
have boiled and eaten him too.
FIRST SERVINGMAN But more of thy news!
THIRD SERVINGMAN Why, he is so made on194 here within, as if he
were son and heir to Mars: set at upper end o’th’table195: no
question asked him by any of the senators, but196 they stand
bald before him. Our general himself makes a mistress of
him: sanctifies himself with’s hand198 and turns up the white
o’th’eye to his discourse. But the bottom199 of the news is, our
general is cut i’th’middle and but one half of what he was
yesterday: for the other has half, by the entreaty and grant of
the whole table. He’ll go, he says, and sowl202 the porter of
Rome gates by th’ears. He will mow all down before him, and
leave his passage polled204.
SECOND SERVINGMAN And he’s as like to do’t as any man I can
imagine.
THIRD SERVINGMAN Do’t? He will do’t: for look you, sir, he has as
many friends as enemies: which friends, sir, as it were, durst
not, look you, sir, show themselves, as we term it, his friends
whilst he’s in directitude210.
FIRST SERVINGMAN Directitude? What’s that?
THIRD SERVINGMAN But when they shall see, sir, his crest212 up
again, and the man in blood, they will213 out of their burrows,
like conies214 after rain, and revel all with him.
FIRST SERVINGMAN But when goes this forward?
THIRD SERVINGMAN Tomorrow, today, presently216: you shall have
the drum struck up this afternoon: ’tis as it were a parcel217 of
their feast, and to be executed ere they wipe their lips.
SECOND SERVINGMAN Why, then we shall have a stirring219 world
again. This peace is nothing but to rust iron, increase tailors,
and breed ballad-makers.
FIRST SERVINGMAN Let me have war, say I: it exceeds peace as far
as day does night: it’s sprightly walking, audible, and full of223
vent. Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy, mulled224, deaf, sleepy,
insensible: a getter225 of more bastard children than war’s a
destroyer of men.
SECOND SERVINGMAN ’Tis so: and as wars in some sort may be said
to be a ravisher228, so it cannot be denied but peace is a great
maker of cuckolds229.
FIRST SERVINGMAN Ay, and it makes men hate one another.
THIRD SERVINGMAN Reason: because they then less need one
another. The wars for my money: I hope to see Romans as
cheap as Volscians. They are rising233, they are rising.
FIRST and
SECOND SERVINGMAN In, in, in, in.
Exeunt
running scene 16
Enter the two Tribunes, Sicinius and Brutus
SICINIUS We hear not of him, neither need we fear him:
His remedies are tame2: the present peace
And quietness of the people, which before
Were in wild hurry4. Here do we make his friends
Blush that the world goes well, who rather had,
Though they themselves did suffer by’t, behold
Dissentious numbers pest’ring7 streets than see
Our tradesmen singing in their shops and going
About their functions9 friendly.
Enter Menenius
BRUTUS We stood to’t10 in good time. Is this Menenius?
SICINIUS ’Tis he, ’tis he: O, he is grown most kind of late.—
Hail, sir.
MENENIUS Hail to you both.
SICINIUS Your Coriolanus is not much missed
But15 with his friends: the commonwealth doth stand,
And so would do, were16 he more angry at it.
MENENIUS All’s well, and might have been much better if
He could have temporized18.
SICINIUS Where is he, hear you?
MENENIUS Nay, I hear nothing:
His mother and his wife hear nothing from him.
Enter three or four Citizens
ALL CITIZENS The gods preserve you both.
To the Tribunes
SICINIUS Good e’en23, our neighbours.
BRUTUS Good e’en to you all, good e’en to you all.
FIRST CITIZEN Ourselves, our wives and children, on our knees,
Are bound to pray for you both.
SICINIUS Live and thrive.
BRUTUS Farewell, kind neighbours.
We wished Coriolanus had loved you as we did.
ALL CITIZENS Now the gods keep you!
SICINIUS and BRUTUS Farewell, farewell.
Exeunt Citizens
SICINIUS This is a happier and more comely32 time
Than when these fellows ran about the streets,
Crying confusion.
BRUTUS Caius Martius was
A worthy officer i’th’war, but insolent,
O’ercome with pride, ambitious past all thinking,
Self-loving—
SICINIUS And affecting one sole throne, without assistance39.
MENENIUS I think not so.
SICINIUS We should by this41, to all our lamentation,
If he had gone forth consul, found it so.
BRUTUS The gods have well prevented it, and Rome
Sits safe and still without him.
Enter an Aedile
AEDILE Worthy tribunes,
There is a slave, whom we have put in prison,
Reports the Volsces with two several powers47
Are entered in the Roman territories,
And with the deepest malice of the war
Destroy what lies before ’em.
MENENIUS ’Tis Aufidius,
Who, hearing of our Martius’ banishment,
Thrusts forth his horns53 again into the world
Which were inshelled when Martius stood54 for Rome,
And durst not once peep out.
SICINIUS Come, what56 talk you of Martius?
BRUTUS Go see this rumourer whipped.— It cannot be
To the Aedile
The Volsces dare break with us58.
MENENIUS Cannot be?
We have record that very well it can,
And three examples of the like hath been
Within my age. But reason with62 the fellow,
Before you punish him, where he heard this,
Lest you shall chance to whip your information64
And beat the messenger who bids beware
Of what is to be dreaded.
SICINIUS Tell not me: I know this cannot be.
BRUTUS Not possible.
Enter a Messenger
MESSENGER The nobles in great earnestness are going
All to the senate house: some news is come
That turns71 their countenances.
SICINIUS ’Tis this slave:—
Go whip him, fore the people’s eyes.— His raising73,
To the Aedile
Nothing but his report.
MESSENGER Yes, worthy sir,
The slave’s report is seconded76 and more,
More fearful, is delivered.
SICINIUS What more fearful?
MESSENGER It is spoke freely out of many mouths —
How probable I do not know — that Martius,
Joined with Aufidius, leads a power gainst Rome,
And vows revenge as spacious as between82
The young’st and oldest thing.
SICINIUS This is most likely!
BRUTUS Raised85 only, that the weaker sort may wish
Good Martius home again.
SICINIUS The very trick on’t87.
MENENIUS This is unlikely:
He and Aufidius can no more atone89
Than violent’st contrariety90.
Enter [another] Messenger
SECOND MESSENGER You are sent for to the senate:
A fearful army, led by Caius Martius,
Associated with Aufidius, rages
Upon our territories, and have already
O’erborne their way, consumed with fire, and took95
What lay before them.
Enter Cominius
COMINIUS O, you have made good work!
MENENIUS What news? What news?
COMINIUS You have holp to ravish99 your own daughters and
To melt the city leads upon your pates100,
To see your wives dishonoured to your noses101.
MENENIUS What’s the news? What’s the news?
COMINIUS Your temples burned in their cement103, and
Your franchises104, whereon you stood, confined
Into an auger’s bore105.
MENENIUS Pray now, your news?
You have made fair work, I fear me.—
To the Tribunes
Pray, your news.—
To Cominius
If Martius should be joined with Volscians.
COMINIUS 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 brats112, with no less confidence
Than boys pursuing summer butterflies,
Or butchers killing flies.
MENENIUS You have made good work,
To the Tribunes
You and your apron-men116: you that stood so much
Upon the voice of occupation117 and
The breath of garlic-eaters118!
COMINIUS He’ll shake your Rome about your ears.
To the Tribunes
MENENIUS As Hercules did shake down mellow fruit120.
You have made fair work.
BRUTUS But is this true, sir?
COMINIUS Ay, and you’ll look pale
Before you find it other124. All the regions
Do smilingly revolt, and who125 resists
Are mocked for valiant ignorance,
And perish constant127 fools. Who is’t can blame him?
Your enemies and his find something128 in him.
MENENIUS We are all undone129, unless
The noble man have mercy.
COMINIUS 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: for134 his best friends, if they
Should say ‘Be good to Rome’, they charged135 him even
As those should do that had deserved his hate,
And therein showed137 like enemies.
MENENIUS ’Tis true: if he were putting to my house the brand138
That should consume it, I have not the face
To say ‘Beseech you, cease.’— You have made fair
hands141,
To the Tribunes
You and your crafts: you have crafted142 fair!
COMINIUS You have brought
A trembling upon Rome, such as was never
S’incapable of help145.
SICINIUS and BRUTUS Say not we brought it.
MENENIUS How? Was’t we? We loved him,
But, like beasts and cowardly nobles,
Gave way unto your clusters149, who did hoot
Him out o’th’city.
COMINIUS But I fear
They’ll roar152 him in again. Tullus Aufidius,
The second name of men, obeys his points153
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
MENENIUS 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.
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