Coriolanus

ACT V

SCENE I. Rome. A public place.

Enter MENENIUS, COMINIUS, SICINIUS, BRUTUS, and others

MENENIUS

No, I'll not go: you hear what he hath said

Which was sometime his general, who loved him

In a most dear particular. He call'd me father:

But what o' that? Go, you that banish'd him,

A mile before his tent fall down, and knee

The way into his mercy: nay, if he coy'd

To hear Cominius speak, I'll keep at home.

COMINIUS

He would not seem to know me.

MENENIUS

Do you hear?

COMINIUS

Yet one time he did call me by my name:

I urged our old acquaintance, and the drops

That we have bled together. Coriolanus

He would not answer to: forbad all names,

He was a kind of nothing, titleless,

Till he had forged himself a name o' the fire

Of burning Rome.

MENENIUS

Why, so: you have made good work!

A pair of tribunes that have rack'd for Rome,

To make coals cheap,--a noble memory!

COMINIUS

I minded him how royal 'twas to pardon

When it was less expected: he replied,

It was a bare petition of a state

To one whom they had punish'd.

MENENIUS

Very well:

Could he say less?

COMINIUS

I offer'd to awaken his regard

For's private friends: his answer to me was,

He could not stay to pick them in a pile

Of noisome musty chaff: he said 'twas folly,

For one poor grain or two, to leave unburnt,

And still to nose the offence.

MENENIUS

For one poor grain or two!

I am one of those, his mother, wife, his child,

And this brave fellow too, we are the grains:

You are the musty chaff, and you are smelt

Above the moon: we must be burnt for you.

SICINIUS

Nay, pray, be patient: if you refuse your aid

In this so never-needed help, yet do not

Upbraid's with our distress. But, sure, if you

Would be your country's pleader, your good tongue,

More than the instant army we can make,

Might stop our countryman.

MENENIUS

No, I'll not meddle.

SICINIUS

Pray you, go to him.

MENENIUS

What should I do?

BRUTUS

Only make trial what your love can do

For Rome, towards Marcius.

MENENIUS

Well, and say that Marcius

Return me, as Cominius is return'd,

Unheard, what then?

But as a discontented friend, grief-shot

With his unkindness? say't be so?

SICINIUS

Yet your good will

must have that thanks from Rome, after the measure

As you intended well.

MENENIUS

I'll undertake 't:

I think he'll hear me. Yet, to bite his lip

And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me.

He was not taken well, he had not dined:

The veins unfill'd, our blood is cold, and then

We pout upon the morning, are unapt

To give or to forgive, but when we have stuff'd

These and these conveyances of our blood

With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls

Than in our priest-like fasts: therefore I'll watch him

Till he be dieted to my request,

And then I'll set upon him.

BRUTUS

You know the very road into his kindness,

And cannot lose your way.

MENENIUS

Good faith, I'll prove him,

Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledge

Of my success.

Exit

COMINIUS

He'll never hear him.

SICINIUS

Not?

COMINIUS

I tell you, he does sit in gold, his eye

Red as 'twould burn Rome, and his injury

The gaoler to his pity. I kneel'd before him,

'Twas very faintly he said 'Rise,' dismiss'd me

Thus, with his speechless hand: what he would do,

He sent in writing after me, what he would not,

Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions:

So that all hope is vain.

Unless his noble mother, and his wife,

Who, as I hear, mean to solicit him

For mercy to his country. Therefore, let's hence,

And with our fair entreaties haste them on.

Exeunt

SCENE II. Entrance of the Volscian camp before Rome.

Two Sentinels on guard.

Enter to them, MENENIUS

First Senator

Stay: whence are you?

Second Senator

Stand, and go back.

MENENIUS

You guard like men, 'tis well: but, by your leave,

I am an officer of state, and come

To speak with Coriolanus.

First Senator

From whence?

MENENIUS

From Rome.

First Senator

You may not pass, you must return: our general

Will no more hear from thence.

Second Senator

You'll see your Rome embraced with fire before

You'll speak with Coriolanus.

MENENIUS

Good my friends,

If you have heard your general talk of Rome,

And of his friends there, it is lots to blanks,

My name hath touch'd your ears it is Menenius.

First Senator

Be it so, go back: the virtue of your name

Is not here passable.

MENENIUS

I tell thee, fellow,

The general is my lover: I have been

The book of his good acts, whence men have read

His name unparallel'd, haply amplified,

For I have ever verified my friends,

Of whom he's chief, with all the size that verity

Would without lapsing suffer: nay, sometimes,

Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground,

I have tumbled past the throw, and in his praise

Have almost stamp'd the leasing: therefore, fellow,

I must have leave to pass.

First Senator

Faith, sir, if you had told as many lies in his

behalf as you have uttered words in your own, you

should not pass here, no, though it were as virtuous

to lie as to live chastely. Therefore, go back.

MENENIUS

Prithee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius,

always factionary on the party of your general.

Second Senator

Howsoever you have been his liar, as you say you

have, I am one that, telling true under him, must

say, you cannot pass. Therefore, go back.

MENENIUS

Has he dined, canst thou tell? for I would not

speak with him till after dinner.

First Senator

You are a Roman, are you?

MENENIUS

I am, as thy general is.

First Senator

Then you should hate Rome, as he does. Can you,

when you have pushed out your gates the very

defender of them, and, in a violent popular

ignorance, given your enemy your shield, think to

front his revenges with the easy groans of old

women, the virginal palms of your daughters, or with

the palsied intercession of such a decayed dotant as

you seem to be? Can you think to blow out the

intended fire your city is ready to flame in, with

such weak breath as this? No, you are deceived,

therefore, back to Rome, and prepare for your

execution: you are condemned, our general has sworn

you out of reprieve and pardon.

MENENIUS

Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here, he would

use me with estimation.

Second Senator

Come, my captain knows you not.

MENENIUS

I mean, thy general.

First Senator

My general cares not for you. Back, I say, go, lest

I let forth your half-pint of blood, back,--that's

the utmost of your having: back.

MENENIUS

Nay, but, fellow, fellow,--

Enter CORIOLANUS and AUFIDIUS

CORIOLANUS

What's the matter?

MENENIUS

Now, you companion, I'll say an errand for you:

You shall know now that I am in estimation, you shall

perceive that a Jack guardant cannot office me from

my son Coriolanus: guess, but by my entertainment

with him, if thou standest not i' the state of

hanging, or of some death more long in

spectatorship, and crueller in suffering, behold now

presently, and swoon for what's to come upon thee.

To CORIOLANUS

The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy

particular prosperity, and love thee no worse than

thy old father Menenius does! O my son, my son!

thou art preparing fire for us, look thee, here's

water to quench it. I was hardly moved to come to

thee, but being assured none but myself could move

thee, I have been blown out of your gates with

sighs, and conjure thee to pardon Rome, and thy

petitionary countrymen. The good gods assuage thy

wrath, and turn the dregs of it upon this varlet

here,--this, who, like a block, hath denied my

access to thee.

CORIOLANUS

Away!

MENENIUS

How! away!

CORIOLANUS

Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs

Are servanted to others: though I owe

My revenge properly, my remission lies

In Volscian breasts. That we have been familiar,

Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison, rather

Than pity note how much. Therefore, be gone.

Mine ears against your suits are stronger than

Your gates against my force. Yet, for I loved thee,

Take this along, I writ it for thy sake

Gives a letter

And would have rent it. Another word, Menenius,

I will not hear thee speak. This man, Aufidius,

Was my beloved in Rome: yet thou behold'st!

AUFIDIUS

You keep a constant temper.

Exeunt CORIOLANUS and AUFIDIUS

First Senator

Now, sir, is your name Menenius?

Second Senator

'Tis a spell, you see, of much power: you know the

way home again.

First Senator

Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your

greatness back?

Second Senator

What cause, do you think, I have to swoon?

MENENIUS

I neither care for the world nor your general: for

such things as you, I can scarce think there's any,

ye're so slight. He that hath a will to die by

himself fears it not from another: let your general

do his worst. For you, be that you are, long, and

your misery increase with your age! I say to you,

as I was said to, Away!

Exit

First Senator

A noble fellow, I warrant him.

Second Senator

The worthy fellow is our general: he's the rock, the

oak not to be wind-shaken.

Exeunt

SCENE III. The tent of Coriolanus.

Enter CORIOLANUS, AUFIDIUS, and others

CORIOLANUS

We will before the walls of Rome tomorrow

Set down our host. My partner in this action,

You must report to the Volscian lords, how plainly

I have borne this business.

AUFIDIUS

Only their ends

You have respected, stopp'd your ears against

The general suit of Rome, never admitted

A private whisper, no, not with such friends

That thought them sure of you.

CORIOLANUS

This last old man,

Whom with a crack'd heart I have sent to Rome,

Loved me above the measure of a father,

Nay, godded me, indeed. Their latest refuge

Was to send him, for whose old love I have,

Though I show'd sourly to him, once more offer'd

The first conditions, which they did refuse

And cannot now accept, to grace him only

That thought he could do more, a very little

I have yielded to: fresh embassies and suits,

Nor from the state nor private friends, hereafter

Will I lend ear to. Ha! what shout is this?

Shout within

Shall I be tempted to infringe my vow

In the same time 'tis made? I will not.

Enter in mourning habits, VIRGILIA, VOLUMNIA, leading young MARCIUS, VALERIA, and Attendants

My wife comes foremost, then the honour'd mould

Wherein this trunk was framed, and in her hand

The grandchild to her blood. But, out, affection!

All bond and privilege of nature, break!

Let it be virtuous to be obstinate.

What is that curt'sy worth? or those doves' eyes,

Which can make gods forsworn? I melt, and am not

Of stronger earth than others. My mother bows,

As if Olympus to a molehill should

In supplication nod: and my young boy

Hath an aspect of intercession, which

Great nature cries 'Deny not.' let the Volsces

Plough Rome and harrow Italy: I'll never

Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand,

As if a man were author of himself

And knew no other kin.

VIRGILIA

My lord and husband!

CORIOLANUS

These eyes are not the same I wore in Rome.

VIRGILIA

The sorrow that delivers us thus changed

Makes you think so.

CORIOLANUS

Like a dull actor now,

I have forgot my part, and I am out,

Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh,

Forgive my tyranny, but do not say

For that 'Forgive our Romans.' O, a kiss

Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!

Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss

I carried from thee, dear, and my true lip

Hath virgin'd it e'er since. You gods! I prate,

And the most noble mother of the world

Leave unsaluted: sink, my knee, i' the earth,

Kneels

Of thy deep duty more impression show

Than that of common sons.

VOLUMNIA

O, stand up blest!

Whilst, with no softer cushion than the flint,

I kneel before thee, and unproperly

Show duty, as mistaken all this while

Between the child and parent.

Kneels

CORIOLANUS

What is this?

Your knees to me? to your corrected son?

Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach

Fillip the stars, then let the mutinous winds

Strike the proud cedars 'gainst the fiery sun,

Murdering impossibility, to make

What cannot be, slight work.

VOLUMNIA

Thou art my warrior,

I holp to frame thee. Do you know this lady?

CORIOLANUS

The noble sister of Publicola,

The moon of Rome, chaste as the icicle

That's curdied by the frost from purest snow

And hangs on Dian's temple: dear Valeria!

VOLUMNIA

This is a poor epitome of yours,

Which by the interpretation of full time

May show like all yourself.

CORIOLANUS

The god of soldiers,

With the consent of supreme Jove, inform

Thy thoughts with nobleness, that thou mayst prove

To shame unvulnerable, and stick i' the wars

Like a great sea-mark, standing every flaw,

And saving those that eye thee!

VOLUMNIA

Your knee, sirrah.

CORIOLANUS

That's my brave boy!

VOLUMNIA

Even he, your wife, this lady, and myself,

Are suitors to you.

CORIOLANUS

I beseech you, peace:

Or, if you'ld ask, remember this before:

The thing I have forsworn to grant may never

Be held by you denials. Do not bid me

Dismiss my soldiers, or capitulate

Again with Rome's mechanics: tell me not

Wherein I seem unnatural: desire not

To ally my rages and revenges with

Your colder reasons.

VOLUMNIA

O, no more, no more!

You have said you will not grant us any thing,

For we have nothing else to ask, but that

Which you deny already: yet we will ask,

That, if you fail in our request, the blame

May hang upon your hardness: therefore hear us.

CORIOLANUS

Aufidius, and you Volsces, mark, for we'll

Hear nought from Rome in private. Your request?

VOLUMNIA

Should we be silent and not speak, our raiment

And state of bodies would bewray what life

We have led since thy exile. Think with thyself

How more unfortunate than all living women

Are we come hither: since that thy sight,

which should

Make our eyes flow with joy, hearts dance

with comforts,

Constrains them weep and shake with fear and sorrow,

Making the mother, wife and child to see

The son, the husband and the father tearing

His country's bowels out. And to poor we

Thine enmity's most capital: thou barr'st us

Our prayers to the gods, which is a comfort

That all but we enjoy, for how can we,

Alas, how can we for our country pray.

Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory,

Whereto we are bound? alack, or we must lose

The country, our dear nurse, or else thy person,

Our comfort in the country. We must find

An evident calamity, though we had

Our wish, which side should win: for either thou

Must, as a foreign recreant, be led

With manacles thorough our streets, or else

triumphantly tread on thy country's ruin,

And bear the palm for having bravely shed

Thy wife and children's blood. For myself, son,

I purpose not to wait on fortune till

These wars determine: if I cannot persuade thee

Rather to show a noble grace to both parts

Than seek the end of one, thou shalt no sooner

March to assault thy country than to tread--

Trust to't, thou shalt not--on thy mother's womb,

That brought thee to this world.

VIRGILIA

Ay, and mine,

That brought you forth this boy, to keep your name

Living to time.

Young MARCIUS

A' shall not tread on me,

I'll run away till I am bigger, but then I'll fight.

CORIOLANUS

Not of a woman's tenderness to be,

Requires nor child nor woman's face to see.

I have sat too long.

Rising

VOLUMNIA

Nay, go not from us thus.

If it were so that our request did tend

To save the Romans, thereby to destroy

The Volsces whom you serve, you might condemn us,

As poisonous of your honour: no, our suit

Is that you reconcile them: while the Volsces

May say 'This mercy we have show'd,' the Romans,

'This we received,' and each in either side

Give the all-hail to thee and cry 'Be blest

For making up this peace!' Thou know'st, great son,

The end of war's uncertain, but this certain,

That, if thou conquer Rome, the benefit

Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name,

Whose repetition will be dogg'd with curses,

Whose chronicle thus writ: 'The man was noble,

But with his last attempt he wiped it out,

Destroy'd his country, and his name remains

To the ensuing age abhorr'd.' Speak to me, son:

Thou hast affected the fine strains of honour,

To imitate the graces of the gods,

To tear with thunder the wide cheeks o' the air,

And yet to charge thy sulphur with a bolt

That should but rive an oak. Why dost not speak?

Think'st thou it honourable for a noble man

Still to remember wrongs? Daughter, speak you:

He cares not for your weeping. Speak thou, boy:

Perhaps thy childishness will move him more

Than can our reasons. There's no man in the world

More bound to 's mother, yet here he lets me prate

Like one i' the stocks. Thou hast never in thy life

Show'd thy dear mother any courtesy,

When she, poor hen, fond of no second brood,

Has cluck'd thee to the wars and safely home,

Loaden with honour. Say my request's unjust,

And spurn me back: but if it be not so,

Thou art not honest, and the gods will plague thee,

That thou restrain'st from me the duty which

To a mother's part belongs. He turns away:

Down, ladies, let us shame him with our knees.

To his surname Coriolanus 'longs more pride

Than pity to our prayers. Down: an end,

This is the last: so we will home to Rome,

And die among our neighbours. Nay, behold 's:

This boy, that cannot tell what he would have

But kneels and holds up bands for fellowship,

Does reason our petition with more strength

Than thou hast to deny 't. Come, let us go:

This fellow had a Volscian to his mother,

His wife is in Corioli and his child

Like him by chance. Yet give us our dispatch:

I am hush'd until our city be a-fire,

And then I'll speak a little.

He holds her by the hand, silent

CORIOLANUS

O mother, mother!

What have you done? Behold, the heavens do ope,

The gods look down, and this unnatural scene

They laugh at. O my mother, mother! O!

You have won a happy victory to Rome,

But, for your son,--believe it, O, believe it,

Most dangerously you have with him prevail'd,

If not most mortal to him. But, let it come.

Aufidius, though I cannot make true wars,

I'll frame convenient peace. Now, good Aufidius,

Were you in my stead, would you have heard

A mother less? or granted less, Aufidius?

AUFIDIUS

I was moved withal.

CORIOLANUS

I dare be sworn you were:

And, sir, it is no little thing to make

Mine eyes to sweat compassion. But, good sir,

What peace you'll make, advise me: for my part,

I'll not to Rome, I'll back with you, and pray you,

Stand to me in this cause. O mother! wife!

AUFIDIUS

[Aside] I am glad thou hast set thy mercy and

thy honour

At difference in thee: out of that I'll work

Myself a former fortune.

The Ladies make signs to CORIOLANUS

CORIOLANUS

Ay, by and by,

To VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, and c

But we will drink together, and you shall bear

A better witness back than words, which we,

On like conditions, will have counter-seal'd.

Come, enter with us. Ladies, you deserve

To have a temple built you: all the swords

In Italy, and her confederate arms,

Could not have made this peace.

Exeunt

SCENE IV. Rome. A public place.

Enter MENENIUS and SICINIUS

MENENIUS

See you yond coign o' the Capitol, yond

corner-stone?

SICINIUS

Why, what of that?

MENENIUS

If it be possible for you to displace it with your

little finger, there is some hope the ladies of

Rome, especially his mother, may prevail with him.

But I say there is no hope in't: our throats are

sentenced and stay upon execution.

SICINIUS

Is't possible that so short a time can alter the

condition of a man!

MENENIUS

There is differency between a grub and a butterfly,

yet your butterfly was a grub. This Marcius is grown

from man to dragon: he has wings, he's more than a

creeping thing.

SICINIUS

He loved his mother dearly.

MENENIUS

So did he me: and he no more remembers his mother

now than an eight-year-old horse. The tartness

of his face sours ripe grapes: when he walks, he

moves like an engine, and the ground shrinks before

his treading: he is able to pierce a corslet with

his eye, talks like a knell, and his hum is a

battery. He sits in his state, as a thing made for

Alexander. What he bids be done is finished with

his bidding. He wants nothing of a god but eternity

and a heaven to throne in.

SICINIUS

Yes, mercy, if you report him truly.

MENENIUS

I paint him in the character. Mark what mercy his

mother shall bring from him: there is no more mercy

in him than there is milk in a male tiger, that

shall our poor city find: and all this is long of

you.

SICINIUS

The gods be good unto us!

MENENIUS

No, in such a case the gods will not be good unto

us. When we banished him, we respected not them,

and, he returning to break our necks, they respect not us.

Enter a Messenger

Messenger

Sir, if you'ld save your life, fly to your house:

The plebeians have got your fellow-tribune

And hale him up and down, all swearing, if

The Roman ladies bring not comfort home,

They'll give him death by inches.

Enter a second Messenger

SICINIUS

What's the news?

Second Messenger

Good news, good news, the ladies have prevail'd,

The Volscians are dislodged, and Marcius gone:

A merrier day did never yet greet Rome,

No, not the expulsion of the Tarquins.

SICINIUS

Friend,

Art thou certain this is true? is it most certain?

Second Messenger

As certain as I know the sun is fire:

Where have you lurk'd, that you make doubt of it?

Ne'er through an arch so hurried the blown tide,

As the recomforted through the gates. Why, hark you!

Trumpets, hautboys, drums beat, all together

The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries and fifes,

Tabours and cymbals and the shouting Romans,

Make the sun dance. Hark you!

A shout within

MENENIUS

This is good news:

I will go meet the ladies. This Volumnia

Is worth of consuls, senators, patricians,

A city full, of tribunes, such as you,

A sea and land full. You have pray'd well to-day:

This morning for ten thousand of your throats

I'd not have given a doit. Hark, how they joy!

Music still, with shouts

SICINIUS

First, the gods bless you for your tidings, next,

Accept my thankfulness.

Second Messenger

Sir, we have all

Great cause to give great thanks.

SICINIUS

They are near the city?

Second Messenger

Almost at point to enter.

SICINIUS

We will meet them,

And help the joy.

Exeunt

SCENE V. The same. A street near the gate.

Enter two Senators with VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, VALERIA, and c. passing over the stage, followed by Patricians and others

First Senator

Behold our patroness, the life of Rome!

Call all your tribes together, praise the gods,

And make triumphant fires, strew flowers before them:

Unshout the noise that banish'd Marcius,

Repeal him with the welcome of his mother,

Cry 'Welcome, ladies, welcome!'

All

Welcome, ladies, Welcome!

A flourish with drums and trumpets. Exeunt

SCENE VI. Antium. A public place.

Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS, with Attendants

AUFIDIUS

Go tell the lords o' 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 to appear before the people, hoping

To purge herself with words: dispatch.

Exeunt Attendants

Enter three or four Conspirators of AUFIDIUS' faction

Most welcome!

First Conspirator

How is it with our general?

AUFIDIUS

Even so

As with a man by his own alms empoison'd,

And with his charity slain.

Second Conspirator

Most noble sir,

If you do hold the same intent wherein

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

Of your great danger.

AUFIDIUS

Sir, I cannot tell:

We must proceed as we do find the people.

Third Conspirator

The people will remain uncertain whilst

'Twixt you there's difference, but the fall of either

Makes the survivor heir of all.

AUFIDIUS

I know it,

And my pretext to strike at him admits

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

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

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.

Third Conspirator

Sir, his stoutness

When he did stand for consul, which he lost

By lack of stooping,--

AUFIDIUS

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, served his designments

In mine own person, holp to reap the fame

Which he did end all his, and took some pride

To do myself this wrong: till, at the last,

I seem'd his follower, not partner, and

He waged me with his countenance, as if

I had been mercenary.

First Conspirator

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

For no less spoil than glory,--

AUFIDIUS

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

First Conspirator

Your native town you enter'd like a post,

And had no welcomes home: but he returns,

Splitting the air with noise.

Second Conspirator

And patient fools,

Whose children he hath slain, their base throats tear

With giving him glory.

Third Conspirator

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. When he lies along,

After your way his tale pronounced shall bury

His reasons with his body.

AUFIDIUS

Say no more:

Here come the lords.

Enter the Lords of the city

All The Lords

You are most welcome home.

AUFIDIUS

I have not deserved it.

But, worthy lords, have you with heed perused

What I have written to you?

Lords

We have.

First Lord

And grieve to hear't.

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.

AUFIDIUS

He approaches: you shall hear him.

Enter CORIOLANUS, marching with drum and colours, commoners being with him

CORIOLANUS

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.

AUFIDIUS

Read it not, noble lords,

But tell the traitor, in the high'st degree

He hath abused your powers.

CORIOLANUS

Traitor! how now!

AUFIDIUS

Ay, traitor, Marcius!

CORIOLANUS

Marcius!

AUFIDIUS

Ay, Marcius, Caius Marcius: dost thou think

I'll grace thee with that robbery, thy stol'n name

Coriolanus in Corioli?

You lords and heads o' 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 whined and roar'd away your victory,

That pages blush'd at him and men of heart

Look'd wondering each at other.

CORIOLANUS

Hear'st thou, Mars?

AUFIDIUS

Name not the god, thou boy of tears!

CORIOLANUS

Ha!

AUFIDIUS

No more.

CORIOLANUS

Measureless liar, thou hast made my heart

Too great for what contains it. Boy! O slave!

Pardon me, lords, 'tis the first time that ever

I was forced 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.

First Lord

Peace, both, and hear me speak.

CORIOLANUS

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 Volscians in Corioli:

Alone I did it. Boy!

AUFIDIUS

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 Conspirators

Let him die for't.

All The People

'Tear him to pieces.' 'Do it presently.' 'He kill'd

my son.' 'My daughter.' 'He killed my cousin

Marcus.' 'He killed my father.'

Second 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.

CORIOLANUS

O that I had him,

With six Aufidiuses, or more, his tribe,

To use my lawful sword!

AUFIDIUS

Insolent villain!

All Conspirators

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill him!

The Conspirators draw, and kill CORIOLANUS: AUFIDIUS stands on his body

Lords

Hold, hold, hold, hold!

AUFIDIUS

My noble masters, hear me speak.

First Lord

O Tullus,--

Second Lord

Thou hast done a deed whereat valour will weep.

Third Lord

Tread not upon him. Masters all, be quiet,

Put up your swords.

AUFIDIUS

My lords, when you shall know--as in this rage,

Provoked by him, you cannot--the great danger

Which this man's life did owe you, you'll rejoice

That he is thus cut off. Please it your honours

To call me to your senate, I'll deliver

Myself your loyal servant, or endure

Your heaviest censure.

First Lord

Bear from hence his body,

And mourn you for him: let him be regarded

As the most noble corse that ever herald

Did follow to his urn.

Second Lord

His own impatience

Takes from Aufidius a great part of blame.

Let's make the best of it.

AUFIDIUS

My rage is gone,

And I am struck with sorrow. Take him up.

Help, three o' the chiefest soldiers, I'll be one.

Beat thou the drum, that it speak mournfully:

Trail your steel pikes. Though in this city he

Hath widow'd and unchilded many a one,

Which to this hour bewail the injury,

Yet he shall have a noble memory. Assist.

Exeunt, bearing the body of CORIOLANUS. A dead march sounded