William Shakespeare
-
Tragedies
- Antony and Cleopatra
- Coriolanus
- Hamlet
- Julius Caesar
- King Lear
- Macbeth
- Othello
- Romeo and Juliet
- Timon of Athens
- Titus Andronicus
-
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- King Henry IV Part 1
- King Henry IV Part 2
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-
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- All's Well That Ends Well
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- Measure for Measure
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- The Comedy of Errors
- The Merchant of Venice
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- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Tempest
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- The Winter's Tale
- Troilus and Cressida
- Twelfth Night
-
Poetry
- A Lover's Complaint
- Sonnets 1 to 50
- Sonnets 50 to 100
- Sonnets 100 to 154
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The Tragedy of Coriolanus (c. 1608)
Gaspare Landi, Veturia at the Feet of Coriolanus" style="width: 229px; height: 200px; float: right;" class="PopBoxImageSmall" title="Click to magnify/shrink" onclick="Pop(this,50,'/');"/>ACT ONE
SCENE 1. Rome. A street.
[Enter a company of mutinous citizens, with staves, clubs, and other weapons.]
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Before we proceed any further, hear me speak.
ALL.
- Speak, speak.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?
ALL.
- Resolved, resolved.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- First, you know Caius Marcius is chief enemy to the people.
ALL.
- We know't, we know't.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Let us kill him, and we'll have corn at our own price. Is't a
- verdict?
ALL.
- No more talking on't; let it be done: away, away!
SECOND CITIZEN.
- One word, good citizens.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- We are accounted poor citizens; the patricians good.
- What authority surfeits on would relieve us; if they would yield
- us but the superfluity, while it were wholesome, we might guess
- they relieved us humanely; but they think we are too dear: the
- leanness that afflicts us, the object of our misery, is as an
- inventory to particularize their abundance; our sufferance is a
- gain to them.—Let us revenge this with our pikes ere we become
- rakes: for the gods know I speak this in hunger for bread, not in
- thirst for revenge.
SECOND CITIZEN.
- Would you proceed especially against Caius Marcius?
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Against him first: he's a very dog to the commonalty.
SECOND CITIZEN.
- Consider you what services he has done for his country?
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Very well; and could be content to give him good report for't,
- but that he pays himself with being proud.
SECOND CITIZEN.
- Nay, but speak not maliciously.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- I say unto you, what he hath done famously he did it to that end:
- though soft-conscienced men can be content to say it was for his
- country, he did it to please his mother, and to be partly proud;
- which he is, even to the altitude of his virtue.
SECOND CITIZEN.
- What he cannot help in his nature you account a vice in him. You
- must in no way say he is covetous.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- If I must not, I need not be barren of accusations; he hath
- faults, with surplus, to tire in repetition. [Shouts within.]
- What shouts are these? The other side o' the city is risen: why
- stay we prating here? to the Capitol!
ALL.
- Come, come.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Soft! who comes here?
SECOND CITIZEN.
- Worthy Menenius Agrippa; one that hath always loved the people.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- He's one honest enough; would all the rest were so!
[Enter MENENIUS AGRIPPA.]
MENENIUS.
- What work's, my countrymen, in hand? where go you
- With bats and clubs? the matter? speak, I pray you.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Our business is not unknown to the senate; they have had inkling
- this fortnight what we intend to do, which now we'll show 'em in
- deeds. They say poor suitors have strong breaths; they shall know
- we have strong arms too.
MENENIUS.
- Why, masters, my good friends, mine honest neighbours,
- Will you undo yourselves?
FIRST CITIZEN.
- We cannot, sir; we are undone already.
MENENIUS.
- I tell you, friends, most charitable care
- Have the patricians of you. For your wants,
- Your suffering in this dearth, you may as well
- Strike at the heaven with your staves as lift them
- Against the Roman state; whose course will on
- The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs
- Of more strong link asunder than can ever
- Appear in your impediment: for the dearth,
- The gods, not the patricians, make it; and
- Your knees to them, not arms, must help. Alack,
- You are transported by calamity
- Thither where more attends you; and you slander
- The helms o' th' state, who care for you like fathers,
- When you curse them as enemies.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Care for us! True, indeed! They ne'er cared for us yet. Suffer us
- to famish, and their storehouses crammed with grain; make edicts
- for usury, to support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
- established against the rich, and provide more piercing statutes
- daily to chain up and restrain the poor. If the wars eat us not
- up, they will; and there's all the love they bear us.
MENENIUS.
- Either you must
- Confess yourselves wondrous malicious,
- Or be accus'd of folly. I shall tell you
- A pretty tale: it may be you have heard it;
- But, since it serves my purpose, I will venture
- To stale't a little more.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Well, I'll hear it, sir; yet you must not think to fob off our
- disgrace with a tale: but, an't please you, deliver.
MENENIUS.
- There was a time when all the body's members
- Rebell'd against the belly; thus accus'd it:—
- That only like a gulf it did remain
- I' the midst o' the body, idle and unactive,
- Still cupboarding the viand, never bearing
- Like labour with the rest; where th' other instruments
- Did see and hear, devise, instruct, walk, feel,
- And, mutually participate, did minister
- Unto the appetite and affection common
- Of the whole body. The belly answered,—
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Well, sir, what answer made the belly?
MENENIUS.
- Sir, I shall tell you.—With a kind of smile,
- Which ne'er came from the lungs, but even thus,—
- For, look you, I may make the belly smile
- As well as speak,—it tauntingly replied
- To the discontented members, the mutinous parts
- That envied his receipt; even so most fitly
- As you malign our senators for that
- They are not such as you.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Your belly's answer? What!
- The kingly crowned head, the vigilant eye,
- The counsellor heart, the arm our soldier,
- Our steed the leg, the tongue our trumpeter,
- With other muniments and petty helps
- Is this our fabric, if that they,—
MENENIUS.
- What then?—
- 'Fore me, this fellow speaks!—what then? what then?
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Should by the cormorant belly be restrain'd,
- Who is the sink o' the body,—
MENENIUS.
- Well, what then?
FIRST CITIZEN.
- The former agents, if they did complain,
- What could the belly answer?
MENENIUS.
- I will tell you;
- If you'll bestow a small,—of what you have little,—
- Patience awhile, you'll hear the belly's answer.
FIRST CITIZEN.
- You are long about it.
MENENIUS.
- Note me this, good friend;
- Your most grave belly was deliberate,
- Not rash like his accusers, and thus answer'd:
- 'True is it, my incorporate friends,' quoth he,
- 'That I receive the general food at first
- Which you do live upon; and fit it is,
- Because I am the storehouse and the shop
- Of the whole body: but, if you do remember,
- I send it through the rivers of your blood,
- Even to the court, the heart,—to the seat o' the brain;
- And, through the cranks and offices of man,
- The strongest nerves and small inferior veins
- From me receive that natural competency
- Whereby they live: and though that all at once
- You, my good friends,'—this says the belly,—mark me,—
FIRST CITIZEN.
- Ay, sir; well, well.
MENENIUS.
- 'Though all at once cannot
- See what I do deliver out to each,
- Yet I can make my audit up, that all
- From me do back receive the flour of all,
- And leave me but the bran.' What say you to't?
FIRST CITIZEN.
- It was an answer: how apply you this?
MENENIUS.
- The senators of Rome are this good belly,
- And you the mutinous members; for, examine
- Their counsels and their cares; digest things rightly
- Touching the weal o' the common; you shall find
- No public benefit which you receive
- But it proceeds or comes from them to you,
- And no way from yourselves.—What do you think,
- You, the great toe of this assembly?
FIRST CITIZEN.
- I the great toe? why the great toe?
MENENIUS.
- For that, being one o' the lowest, basest, poorest,
- Of this most wise rebellion, thou go'st foremost:
- Thou rascal, that art worst in blood to run,
- Lead'st first to win some vantage.—
- But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs:
- Rome and her rats are at the point of battle;
- The one side must have bale.—
[Enter CAIUS MARCIUS.]
Hail, noble Marcius!
MARCIUS.
- Thanks.—What's the matter, you dissentious rogues
- That, rubbing the poor itch of your opinion,
- Make yourselves scabs?
FIRST CITIZEN.
- We have ever your good word.
MARCIUS.
- He that will give good words to thee will flatter
- Beneath abhorring.—What would you have, you curs,
- That like nor peace nor war? The one affrights you,
- The other makes you proud. He that trusts to you,
- Where he should find you lions, finds you hares;
- Where foxes, geese: you are no surer, no,
- Than is the coal of fire upon the ic,
- Or hailstone in the sun. Your virtue is
- To make him worthy whose offence subdues him,
- And curse that justice did it. Who deserves greatness
- Deserves your hate; and your affections are
- A sick man's appetite, who desires most that
- Which would increase his evil. He that depends
- Upon your favours swims with fins of lead,
- And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye! Trust ye!
- With every minute you do change a mind;
- And call him noble that was now your hate,
- Him vile that was your garland. What's the matter,
- That in these several places of the city
- You cry against the noble senate, who,
- Under the gods, keep you in awe, which else
- Would feed on one another?—What's their seeking?
MENENIUS.
- For corn at their own rates; whereof they say
- The city is well stor'd.
MARCIUS.
- Hang 'em! They say!
- They'll sit by th' fire and presume to know
- What's done i' the Capitol; who's like to rise,
- Who thrives and who declines; side factions, and give out
- Conjectural marriages; making parties strong,
- And feebling such as stand not in their liking
- Below their cobbled shoes. They say there's grain enough!
- Would the nobility lay aside their ruth
- And let me use my sword, I'd make a quarry
- With thousands of these quarter'd slaves, as high
- As I could pick my lance.
MENENIUS.
- Nay, these are almost thoroughly persuaded;
- For though abundantly they lack discretion,
- Yet are they passing cowardly. But, I beseech you,
- What says the other troop?
MARCIUS.
- They are dissolved: hang 'em!
- They said they were an-hungry; sigh'd forth proverbs,—
- That hunger broke stone walls, that dogs must eat,
- That meat was made for mouths, that the gods sent not
- Corn for the rich men only:—with these shreds
- They vented their complainings; which being answer'd,
- And a petition granted them,—a strange one,
- To break the heart of generosity,
- And make bold power look pale,—they threw their caps
- As they would hang them on the horns o' the moon,
- Shouting their emulation.
MENENIUS.
- What is granted them?
MARCIUS.
- Five tribunes, to defend their vulgar wisdoms,
- Of their own choice: one's Junius Brutus,
- Sicinius Velutus, and I know not.—'Sdeath!
- The rabble should have first unroof'd the city
- Ere so prevail'd with me: it will in time
- Win upon power, and throw forth greater themes
- For insurrection's arguing.
MENENIUS.
- This is strange.
MARCIUS.
- Go get you home, you fragments!
[Enter a MESSENGER, hastily.]
MESSENGER.
- Where's Caius Marcius?
MARCIUS.
- Here: what's the matter?
MESSENGER.
- The news is, sir, the Volsces are in arms.
MARCIUS.
- I am glad on't: then we shall ha' means to vent
- Our musty superfluity.—See, our best elders.
[Enter COMINIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, and other SENATORS; JUNIUS BRUTUS
- and SICINIUS VELUTUS.]
FIRST SENATOR.
- Marcius, 'tis true that you have lately told us:—
- The Volsces are in arms.
MARCIUS.
- They have a leader,
- Tullus Aufidius, that will put you to't.
- I sin in envying his nobility;
- And were I anything but what I am,
- I would wish me only he.
COMINIUS.
- You have fought together.
MARCIUS.
- Were half to half the world by the ears, and he
- Upon my party, I'd revolt, to make
- Only my wars with him: he is a lion
- That I am proud to hunt.
FIRST SENATOR.
- Then, worthy Marcius,
- Attend upon Cominius to these wars.
COMINIUS.
- It is your former promise.
MARCIUS.
- Sir, it is;
- And I am constant.—Titus Lartius, thou
- Shalt see me once more strike at Tullus' face.
- What, art thou stiff? stand'st out?
TITUS LARTIUS.
- No, Caius Marcius;
- I'll lean upon one crutch and fight with the other
- Ere stay behind this business.
MENENIUS.
- O, true bred!
FIRST SENATOR.
- Your company to the Capitol; where, I know,
- Our greatest friends attend us.
TITUS LARTIUS.
- Lead you on.
- Follow, Cominius; we must follow you;
- Right worthy your priority.
COMINIUS.
- Noble Marcius!
FIRST SENATOR.
- Hence to your homes; be gone!
[To the Citizens.]
MARCIUS.
- Nay, let them follow:
- The Volsces have much corn; take these rats thither
- To gnaw their garners.—Worshipful mutineers,
- Your valour puts well forth: pray follow.
[Exeunt Senators, COM., MAR, TIT., and MENEN. Citizens steal
- away.]
SICINIUS.
- Was ever man so proud as is this Marcius?
BRUTUS.
- He has no equal.
SICINIUS.
- When we were chosen tribunes for the people,—
BRUTUS.
- Mark'd you his lip and eyes?
SICINIUS.
- Nay, but his taunts!
BRUTUS.
- Being mov'd, he will not spare to gird the gods.
SICINIUS.
- Bemock the modest moon.
BRUTUS.
- The present wars devour him: he is grown
- Too proud to be so valiant.
SICINIUS.
- Such a nature,
- Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow
- Which he treads on at noon: but I do wonder
- His insolence can brook to be commanded
- Under Cominius.
BRUTUS.
- Fame, at the which he aims,—
- In whom already he is well grac'd,—cannot
- Better be held, nor more attain'd, than by
- A place below the first: for what miscarries
- Shall be the general's fault, though he perform
- To th' utmost of a man; and giddy censure
- Will then cry out of Marcius 'O, if he
- Had borne the business!'
SICINIUS.
- Besides, if things go well,
- Opinion, that so sticks on Marcius, shall
- Of his demerits rob Cominius.
BRUTUS.
- Come:
- Half all Cominius' honours are to Marcius,
- Though Marcius earn'd them not; and all his faults
- To Marcius shall be honours, though, indeed,
- In aught he merit not.
SICINIUS.
- Let's hence and hear
- How the dispatch is made; and in what fashion,
- More than in singularity, he goes
- Upon this present action.
BRUTUS.
- Let's along.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 2. Corioli. The senate house.
[Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS and certain SENATORS.]
FIRST SENATOR.
- So, your opinion is, Aufidius,
- That they of Rome are enter'd in our counsels
- And know how we proceed.
AUFIDIUS.
- Is it not yours?
- What ever have been thought on in this state,
- That could be brought to bodily act ere Rome
- Had circumvention! 'Tis not four days gone
- Since I heard thence; these are the words: I think
- I have the letter here;yes, here it is:
[Reads.]
- 'They have pressed a power, but it is not known
- Whether for east or west: the dearth is great;
- The people mutinous: and it is rumour'd,
- Cominius, Marcius your old enemy,—
- Who is of Rome worse hated than of you,—
- And Titus Lartius, a most valiant Roman,
- These three lead on this preparation
- Whither 'tis bent: most likely 'tis for you:
- Consider of it.'
FIRST SENATOR.
- Our army's in the field:
- We never yet made doubt but Rome was ready
- To answer us.
AUFIDIUS.
- Nor did you think it folly
- To keep your great pretences veil'd till when
- They needs must show themselves; which in the hatching,
- It seem'd, appear'd to Rome. By the discovery
- We shall be shorten'd in our aim; which was,
- To take in many towns ere, almost, Rome
- Should know we were afoot.
SECOND SENATOR.
- Noble Aufidius,
- Take your commission; hie you to your bands;
- Let us alone to guard Corioli:
- If they set down before's, for the remove
- Bring up your army; but I think you'll find
- They've not prepared for us.
AUFIDIUS.
- O, doubt not that;
- I speak from certainties. Nay, more,
- Some parcels of their power are forth already,
- And only hitherward. I leave your honours.
- If we and Caius Marcius chance to meet,
- 'Tis sworn between us we shall ever strike
- Till one can do no more.
ALL.
- The gods assist you!
AUFIDIUS.
- And keep your honours safe!
FIRST SENATOR.
- Farewell.
SECOND SENATOR.
- Farewell.
ALL. Farewell.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 3. Rome. An apartment in MARCIUS's house.
[Enter VOLUMNIA and VIRGILIA; they sit down on two low stools and sew.]
VOLUMNIA.
- I pray you, daughter, sing, or express yourself in a more
- comfortable sort; if my son were my husband, I should freelier
- rejoice in that absence wherein he won honour than in the
- embracements of his bed where he would show most love. When yet
- he was but tender-bodied, and the only son of my womb; when youth
- with comeliness pluck'd all gaze his way; when, for a day of
- kings' entreaties, a mother should not sell him an hour from her
- beholding; I,—considering how honour would become such a person;
- that it was no better than picture-like to hang by th' wall if
- renown made it not stir;—was pleased to let him seek danger
- where he was to find fame. To a cruel war I sent him; from whence
- he returned his brows bound with oak. I tell thee, daughter, I
- sprang not more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child than
- now in first seeing he had proved himself a man.
VIRGILIA.
- But had he died in the business, madam? how then?
VOLUMNIA.
- Then his good report should have been my son; I therein
- would have found issue. Hear me profess sincerely,—had I a dozen
- sons, each in my love alike, and none less dear than thine and my
- good Marcius, I had rather had eleven die nobly for their country
- than one voluptuously surfeit out of action.
[Enter a GENTLEWOMAN.]
GENTLEWOMAN.
- Madam, the Lady Valeria is come to visit you.
VIRGILIA.
- Beseech you, give me leave to retire myself.
VOLUMNIA.
- Indeed you shall not.
- Methinks I hear hither your husband's drum;
- See him pluck Aufidius down by the hair;
- As children from a bear, the Volsces shunning him:
- Methinks I see him stamp thus, and call thus:—
- 'Come on, you cowards! you were got in fear
- Though you were born in Rome:' his bloody brow
- With his mail'd hand then wiping, forth he goes,
- Like to a harvest-man that's tasked to mow
- Or all, or lose his hire.
VIRGILIA.
- His bloody brow! O Jupiter, no blood!
VOLUMNIA.
- Away, you fool! It more becomes a man
- Than gilt his trophy: the breasts of Hecuba,
- When she did suckle Hector, looked not lovelier
- Than Hector's forehead when it spit forth blood
- At Grecian swords contending.—Tell Valeria
- We are fit to bid her welcome.
[Exit GENTLEWOMAN.]
VIRGILIA.
- Heavens bless my lord from fell Aufidius!
VOLUMNIA.
- He'll beat Aufidius' head below his knee,
- And tread upon his neck.
[Re-enter GENTLEWOMAN, with VALERIA and her Usher.]
VALERIA.
- My ladies both, good-day to you.
VOLUMNIA.
- Sweet madam.
VIRGILIA.
- I am glad to see your ladyship.
VALERIA.
- How do you both? you are manifest housekeepers. What are
- you sewing here? A fine spot, in good faith.—How does your
- little son?
VIRGILIA.
- I thank your ladyship; well, good madam.
VOLUMNIA.
- He had rather see the swords and hear a drum than look upon his
- schoolmaster.
VALERIA.
- O' my word, the father's son: I'll swear 'tis a very pretty boy.
- O' my troth, I looked upon him o' Wednesday, half an hour
- together: has such a confirmed countenance. I saw him run after a
- gilded butterfly; and when he caught it he let it go again; and
- after it again; and over and over he comes, and up again; catched
- it again; or whether his fall enraged him, or how 'twas, he did
- so set his teeth and tear it; O, I warrant, how he mammocked it!
VOLUMNIA.
- One on's father's moods.
VALERIA.
- Indeed, la, 'tis a noble child.
VIRGILIA.
- A crack, madam.
VALERIA.
- Come, lay aside your stitchery; I must have you play the idle
- huswife with me this afternoon.
VIRGILIA.
- No, good madam; I will not out of doors.
VALERIA.
- Not out of doors!
VOLUMNIA.
- She shall, she shall.
VIRGILIA.
- Indeed, no, by your patience; I'll not over the threshold till my
- lord return from the wars.
VALERIA.
- Fie, you confine yourself most unreasonably; come, you must go
- visit the good lady that lies in.
VIRGILIA.
- I will wish her speedy strength, and visit her with my prayers;
- but I cannot go thither.
VOLUMNIA.
- Why, I pray you?
VIRGILIA.
- 'Tis not to save labour, nor that I want love.
VALERIA.
- You would be another Penelope; yet they say all the yarn she spun
- in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths. Come; I
- would your cambric were sensible as your finger, that you might
- leave pricking it for pity.—Come, you shall go with us.
VIRGILIA.
- No, good madam, pardon me; indeed I will not forth.
VALERIA.
- In truth, la, go with me; and I'll tell you excellent news
- of your husband.
VIRGILIA.
- O, good madam, there can be none yet.
VALERIA.
- Verily, I do not jest with you; there came news from him last
- night.
VIRGILIA.
- Indeed, madam?
VALERIA.
- In earnest, it's true; I heard a senator speak it. Thus it
- is:—the Volsces have an army forth; against whom Cominius the
- general is gone, with one part of our Roman power: your lord and
- Titus Lartius are set down before their city Corioli; they
- nothing doubt prevailing, and to make it brief wars. This is
- true, on mine honour; and so, I pray, go with us.
VIRGILIA.
- Give me excuse, good madam; I will obey you in everything
- hereafter.
VOLUMNIA.
- Let her alone, lady; as she is now, she will but disease our
- better mirth.
VALERIA.
- In troth, I think she would.—Fare you well, then.—Come,
- good sweet lady.—Pr'ythee, Virgilia, turn thy solemness out o'
- door and go along with us.
VIRGILIA.
- No, at a word, madam; indeed I must not. I wish you much mirth.
VALERIA.
- Well then, farewell.
[Exeunt.]
[Enter, with drum and colours, MARCIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, Officers, and soldiers.]
MARCIUS.
- Yonder comes news:—a wager they have met.
LARTIUS.
- My horse to yours, no.
MARCIUS.
- 'Tis done.
LARTIUS.
- Agreed.
[Enter a Messenger.]
MARCIUS.
- Say, has our general met the enemy?
MESSENGER.
- They lie in view; but have not spoke as yet.
LARTIUS.
- So, the good horse is mine.
MARCIUS.
- I'll buy him of you.
LARTIUS.
- No, I'll nor sell nor give him: lend you him I will
- For half a hundred years.—Summon the town.
MARCIUS.
- How far off lie these armies?
MESSENGER.
- Within this mile and half.
MARCIUS.
- Then shall we hear their 'larum, and they ours.—
- Now, Mars, I pr'ythee, make us quick in work,
- That we with smoking swords may march from hence
- To help our fielded friends!—Come, blow thy blast.
[They sound a parley. Enter, on the Walls, some Senators and
- others.]
Tullus Aufidius, is he within your walls?
FIRST SENATOR.
- No, nor a man that fears you less than he,
- That's lesser than a little.
[Drum afar off]
- Hark, our drums
- Are bringing forth our youth! we'll break our walls
- Rather than they shall pound us up: our gates,
- Which yet seem shut, we have but pinn'd with rushes;
- They'll open of themselves.
[Alarum far off.]
- Hark you far off!
- There is Aufidius; list what work he makes
- Amongst your cloven army.
MARCIUS.
- O, they are at it!
LARTIUS.
- Their noise be our instruction.—Ladders, ho!
[The Volsces enter and pass over.]
MARCIUS.
- They fear us not, but issue forth their city.
- Now put your shields before your hearts, and fight
- With hearts more proof than shields.—Advance, brave Titus:
- They do disdain us much beyond our thoughts,
- Which makes me sweat with wrath.—Come on, my fellows:
- He that retires, I'll take him for a Volsce,
- And he shall feel mine edge.
[Alarums, and exeunt Romeans and Volsces fighting. Romans are
- beaten back to their trenches. Re-enter MARCIUS.]
MARCIUS.
- All the contagion of the south light on you,
- You shames of Rome!—you herd of—Boils and plagues
- Plaster you o'er, that you may be abhorr'd
- Farther than seen, and one infect another
- Against the wind a mile! You souls of geese
- That bear the shapes of men, how have you run
- From slaves that apes would beat! Pluto and hell!
- All hurt behind; backs red, and faces pale
- With flight and agued fear! Mend, and charge home,
- Or, by the fires of heaven, I'll leave the foe
- And make my wars on you: look to't: come on;
- If you'll stand fast we'll beat them to their wives,
- As they us to our trenches.
[Another alarum. The Volsces and Romans re-enter, and the fight
- is renewed. The Volsces retire into Corioli, and MARCIUS follows
- them to the gates.]
So, now the gates are ope:—now prove good seconds:
- 'Tis for the followers fortune widens them,
- Not for the fliers: mark me, and do the like.
[He enters the gates]
FIRST SOLDIER.
- Fool-hardiness: not I.
SECOND SOLDIER.
- Nor I.
[MARCIUS is shut in.]
FIRST SOLDIER.
- See, they have shut him in.
ALL.
- To th' pot, I warrant him.
[Alarum continues]
[Re-enter TITUS LARTIUS.]
LARTIUS.
- What is become of Marcius?
ALL.
- Slain, sir, doubtless.
FIRST SOLDIER.
- Following the fliers at the very heels,
- With them he enters; who, upon the sudden,
- Clapp'd-to their gates: he is himself alone,
- To answer all the city.
LARTIUS.
- O noble fellow!
- Who sensible, outdares his senseless sword,
- And when it bows stands up! Thou art left, Marcius:
- A carbuncle entire, as big as thou art,
- Were not so rich a jewel. Thou wast a soldier
- Even to Cato's wish, not fierce and terrible
- Only in strokes; but with thy grim looks and
- The thunder-like percussion of thy sounds
- Thou mad'st thine enemies shake, as if the world
- Were feverous and did tremble.
[Re-enter MARCIUS, bleeding, assaulted by the enemy.]
FIRST SOLDIER.
- Look, sir.
LARTIUS.
- O, 'tis Marcius!
- Let's fetch him off, or make remain alike.
[They fight, and all enter the city.]
SCENE 5. Within Corioli. A street.
[Enter certain Romans, with spoils.]
FIRST ROMAN.
- This will I carry to Rome.
SECOND ROMAN.
- And I this.
THIRD ROMAN.
- A murrain on't! I took this for silver.
[Alarum continues still afar off.]
[Enter MARCIUS and TITUS LARTIUS with a trumpet.]
MARCIUS.
- See here these movers that do prize their hours
- At a crack'd drachma! Cushions, leaden spoons,
- Irons of a doit, doublets that hangmen would
- Bury with those that wore them, these base slaves,
- Ere yet the fight be done, pack up:—down with them!—
- And hark, what noise the general makes!—To him!—
- There is the man of my soul's hate, Aufidius,
- Piercing our Romans; then, valiant Titus, take
- Convenient numbers to make good the city;
- Whilst I, with those that have the spirit, will haste
- To help Cominius.
LARTIUS.
- Worthy sir, thou bleed'st;
- Thy exercise hath been too violent
- For a second course of fight.
MARCIUS.
- Sir, praise me not;
- My work hath yet not warm'd me: fare you well;
- The blood I drop is rather physical
- Than dangerous to me: to Aufidius thus
- I will appear, and fight.
LARTIUS.
- Now the fair goddess, Fortune,
- Fall deep in love with thee; and her great charms
- Misguide thy opposers' swords! Bold gentleman,
- Prosperity be thy page!
MARCIUS.
- Thy friend no less
- Than those she placeth highest!—So farewell.
LARTIUS.
- Thou worthiest Marcius!—
[Exit MARCIUS.]
Go, sound thy trumpet in the market-place;
- Call thither all the officers o' the town,
- Where they shall know our mind: away!
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 6. Near the camp of COMINIUS.
[Enter COMINIUS and Foreces, retreating.]
COMINIUS.
- Breathe you, my friends: well fought; we are come off
- Like Romans, neither foolish in our stands
- Nor cowardly in retire: believe me, sirs,
- We shall be charg'd again. Whiles we have struck,
- By interims and conveying gusts we have heard
- The charges of our friends. The Roman gods,
- Lead their successes as we wish our own,
- That both our powers, with smiling fronts encountering,
- May give you thankful sacrifice!—
[Enter A MESSENGER.]
Thy news?
MESSENGER.
- The citizens of Corioli have issued,
- And given to Lartius and to Marcius battle:
- I saw our party to their trenches driven,
- And then I came away.
COMINIUS.
- Though thou speak'st truth,
- Methinks thou speak'st not well. How long is't since?
MESSENGER.
- Above an hour, my lord.
COMINIUS.
- 'Tis not a mile; briefly we heard their drums:
- How couldst thou in a mile confound an hour,
- And bring thy news so late?
MESSENGER.
- Spies of the Volsces
- Held me in chase, that I was forc'd to wheel
- Three or four miles about; else had I, sir,
- Half an hour since brought my report.
COMINIUS.
- Who's yonder,
- That does appear as he were flay'd? O gods!
- He has the stamp of Marcius; and I have
- Before-time seen him thus.
MARCIUS.
- [Within.] Come I too late?
COMINIUS.
- The shepherd knows not thunder from a tabor
- More than I know the sound of Marcius' tongue
- From every meaner man.
[Enter MARCIUS.]
MARCIUS.
- Come I too late?
COMINIUS.
- Ay, if you come not in the blood of others,
- But mantled in your own.
MARCIUS.
- O! let me clip ye
- In arms as sound as when I woo'd; in heart
- As merry as when our nuptial day was done,
- And tapers burn'd to bedward.
COMINIUS.
- Flower of warriors,
- How is't with Titus Lartius?
MARCIUS.
- As with a man busied about decrees:
- Condemning some to death and some to exile;
- Ransoming him or pitying, threat'ning the other;
- Holding Corioli in the name of Rome,
- Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash,
- To let him slip at will.
COMINIUS.
- Where is that slave
- Which told me they had beat you to your trenches?
- Where's he? call him hither.
MARCIUS.
- Let him alone;
- He did inform the truth: but for our gentlemen,
- The common file,—a plague!—tribunes for them!—
- The mouse ne'er shunned the cat as they did budge
- From rascals worse than they.
COMINIUS.
- But how prevail'd you?
MARCIUS.
- Will the time serve to tell? I do not think.
- Where is the enemy? are you lords o' the field?
- If not, why cease you till you are so?
COMINIUS.
- Marcius,
- We have at disadvantage fought, and did
- Retire, to win our purpose.
MARCIUS.
- How lies their battle? know you on which side
- They have placed their men of trust?
COMINIUS.
- As I guess, Marcius,
- Their bands in the vaward are the Antiates,
- Of their best trust; o'er them Aufidius,
- Their very heart of hope.
MARCIUS.
- I do beseech you,
- By all the battles wherein we have fought,
- By the blood we have shed together, by the vows
- We have made to endure friends, that you directly
- Set me against Aufidius and his Antiates;
- And that you not delay the present, but,
- Filling the air with swords advanc'd and darts,
- We prove this very hour.
COMINIUS.
- Though I could wish
- You were conducted to a gentle bath,
- And balms applied to you, yet dare I never
- Deny your asking: take your choice of those
- That best can aid your action.
MARCIUS.
- Those are they
- That most are willing.—If any such be here,—
- As it were sin to doubt,—that love this painting
- Wherein you see me smear'd; if any fear
- Lesser his person than an ill report;
- If any think brave death outweighs bad life,
- And that his country's dearer than himself;
- Let him alone, or so many so minded,
- Wave thus [waving his hand], to express his disposition,
- And follow Marcius.
[They all shout and wave their swords; take him up in their arms
- and cast up their caps.]
O, me alone! Make you a sword of me?
- If these shows be not outward, which of you
- But is four Volsces? none of you but is
- Able to bear against the great Aufidius
- A shield as hard as his. A certain number,
- Though thanks to all, must I select from all: the rest
- Shall bear the business in some other fight,
- As cause will be obey'd. Please you to march;
- And four shall quickly draw out my command,
- Which men are best inclin'd.
COMINIUS.
- March on, my fellows;
- Make good this ostentation, and you shall
- Divide in all with us.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 7. The gates of Corioli.
[TITUS LARTIUS, having set a guard upon Corioli, going with drum and trumpet toward COMINIUS and CAIUS MARCIUS, enters with a LIEUTENANT, a party of Soldiers, and a Scout.]
LARTIUS.
- So, let the ports be guarded: keep your duties
- As I have set them down. If I do send, despatch
- Those centuries to our aid; the rest will serve
- For a short holding: if we lose the field
- We cannot keep the town.
LIEUTENANT.
- Fear not our care, sir.
LARTIUS.
- Hence, and shut your gates upon's.—
- Our guider, come; to the Roman camp conduct us.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 8. A field of battle between the Roman and the Volscian camps.
[Alarum. Enter, from opposite sides, MARCIUS and AUFIDIUS.]
MARCIUS.
- I'll fight with none but thee, for I do hate thee
- Worse than a promise-breaker.
AUFIDIUS.
- We hate alike:
- Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor
- More than thy fame and envy. Fix thy foot.
MARCIUS.
- Let the first budger die the other's slave,
- And the gods doom him after!
AUFIDIUS.
- If I fly, Marcius,
- Halloo me like a hare.
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.
AUFIDIUS.
- Wert thou the Hector
- That was the whip of your bragg'd progeny,
- Thou shouldst not scape me here.—
[They fight, and certain Volsces come to the aid of AUFIDIUS.]
Officious, and not valiant,—you have sham'd me
- In your condemned seconds.
[Exeunt fighting, driven in by MAR.]
[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.]
COMINIUS.
- If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work,
- Thou't 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.]
LARTIUS.
- O general,
- Here is the steed, we the caparison:
- Hadst thou beheld,—
MARCIUS.
- 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 you have done,—that's what I can; induced
- As you have been,—that's for my country:
- He that has but effected his good will
- Hath overta'en mine act.
COMINIUS.
- You shall not be
- The grave of your deserving; Rome must know
- The value of her own: 'twere a concealment
- Worse than a theft, no less than a traducement,
- To hide your doings; and to silence that
- Which, to the spire and top of praises vouch'd,
- Would seem but modest: therefore, I beseech you,—
- In sign of what you are, not to reward
- What you have done,—before our army hear me.
MARCIUS.
- I have some wounds upon me, and they smart
- To hear themselves remember'd.
COMINIUS.
- Should they not,
- 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,
- We render you the tenth; to be ta'en forth
- Before the common distribution at
- Your only choice.
MARCIUS.
- 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
- I' the field prove flatterers, let courts and cities be
- Made all of false-fac'd soothing.
- When steel grows soft as the parasite's silk,
- Let him be made a coverture 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 loved my little should be dieted
- In praises sauc'd with lies.
COMINIUS.
- 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, known 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!
CORIOLANUS.
- I will go wash;
- And when my face is fair you shall perceive
- Whether I blush or no: howbeit, I thank you;—
- I mean to stride your steed; and at all times
- To undercrest your good addition
- To the fairness of my power.
COMINIUS.
- 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 articulate
- For their own good and ours.
LARTIUS.
- I shall, my lord.
CORIOLANUS.
- The gods begin to mock me. I, that now
- Refus'd most princely gifts, am bound to beg
- Of my lord general.
COMINIUS.
- Take't: 'tis yours.—What is't?
CORIOLANUS.
- I sometime lay here in Corioli
- At a poor man's house; he used me kindly:
- He cried to me; I saw him prisoner;
- But then Aufidius was within my view,
- And wrath o'erwhelmed my pity: I request you
- To give my poor host freedom.
COMINIUS.
- O, well begg'd!
- Were he the butcher of my son, he should
- Be free as is the wind. Deliver him, Titus.
LARTIUS.
- Marcius, his name?
CORIOLANUS.
- By Jupiter, forgot:—
- I am weary; yea, my memory is tir'd.—
- Have we no wine here?
COMINIUS.
- Go we to our tent:
- The blood upon your visage dries; 'tis time
- It should be look'd to: come.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 10. The camp of the Volsces.
[A flourish. Cornets. Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS, bloody, with two or three soldiers.]
AUFIDIUS.
- The town is ta'en.
FIRST SOLDIER.
- 'Twill be delivered back on good condition.
AUFIDIUS.
- Condition!
- I would I were a Roman; for I cannot,
- Being a Volsce, 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 wouldst do so, I think, should we encounter
- As often as we eat.—By the elements,
- If e'er again I meet him beard to beard,
- He's 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.
FIRST SOLDIER.
- He's the devil.
AUFIDIUS.
- Bolder, though not so subtle. My valour's poisoned
- 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,
- Embarquements 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,
- Against the hospitable canon, would I
- Wash my fierce hand in's heart. Go you to the city;
- Learn how 'tis held; and what they are that must
- Be hostages for Rome.
FIRST SOLDIER.
- Will not you go?
AUFIDIUS.
- I am attended at the cypress grove: I pray you,—
- 'Tis south the city mills,—bring me word thither
- How the world goes, that to the pace of it
- I may spur on my journey.
FIRST SOLDIER.
- I shall, sir.
[Exeunt.]