Let me deferve fo ill as you, and make me
Your fellow Tribune.

Sic. You fhew too much of that,

For which the People ftir; if you will pafs
To where you are bound, you must enquire your way,
Which you are out of, with a gentler Spirit,
Or never be fo Noble as a Conful,

Nor yoak with him for Tribune.

Men. Let's be calm.

Com. The People are abus'd, fet on; this paltring
Becomes not Rome: Nor has Coriolanus

Deferv'd this fo difhonour'd Rub, laid falfly
I'th' plain way of his Merit.

1

Cor. Tell me of Corn! this was my Speech, And I will speak't again—

Men. Not now, not now.

Sen. Not in this Heat, Sir, now.

Cor. Now, as I live, I will

My Nobler Friends, I crave their Pardons;
For the mutable rank-fcented Many,

Let them regard me, as I do not flatter,

And therein behold themselves: I say again,
In foothing them, we nourish 'gainst our Senate

The Cockle of Rebellion, Infolence, Sedition,

Which we our felves have plow'd for, fow'd and scatter'd, By mingling them with us, the honour'd Number,

Who lack not Virtue, no, nor Power, but that

Which they have given to Beggars.

Men. Well, no more

Sen. No more Words, we beseech you

Cor. How!no more!

As for my Country I have fhed my Blood,
Not fearing outward force; fo fhall my Lungs
Coin Words 'till their decay, against those Meafles
Which we disdain fhould Tetter us, yet feek
The very way to catch them.

Bru. You fpeak o'th' People, as if you were a God
To punish, not a Man of their Infirmity.
Sic. 'Twere well, we let the People know't.
Men. What, what! his Choler?

Cor.

Cor. Choler! were I as patient as the midnight Sleep, By Jove, 'twould be my Mind.

Sic. It is a Mind that fhall remain a Poifon

Where it is, not poifon any further.

Cor. Shall remain?

Hear you this Triton of the Minnoues? Mark you

His abfolute Shall?

Com. 'Twas from the Canon.

Cor. Shall !----O God!--but moft unwife Patricians; why
You Grave, but wreaklefs Senators, have you thus
Given Hydra here to chufe an Officer,

That with his peremptory Shall, being but
The Horn and Noife o'th' Monsters, wants not Spirit
To fay, he'll turn your Current in a Ditch,
And make your Channel his? If he have Power,
Then vail your Ignorance: If none, awake
Your dangerous Lenity: If you are Learned,
Be not as common Fools; if you are not,
Let them have Cushions by you. You are Plebeians,
If they be Senators; and they are no lefs,
When both your Voices blended; the greatest Tafte
Moft palates theirs. They chufe their Magiftrate,
And fuch a one as he, who puts in his Shall,
His popular Shall, against a graver Bench
Than ever frown'd in Greece. By Jove himself,
It makes the Confuls bafe; and my Soul akes
To know when two Authorities are up,
Neither Supream, how foon Confufion
May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take
The one by th' other.

Com. Well-on to th' Market-place.

Cor. Who ever gave that Counfel, to give forth The Corn o'th' Storehouse, gratis, as 'twas us'd Sometime in Greece

Men. Well, well, no more of that.

Cor. Though there the People had more abfolute Power; I fay, they nourish'd Difobedience, fed the ruin of the State.

Bru. Why fhall the People give,

One that fpeaks thus, their Voice?

Cor.

Cor. I'll give my Reafons,

More worthy than their Voices. They know the Corn
Was not our recompence, refting well affur'd
They ne'er did Service fort, being preft to th' War,
Even when the Navel of the State was touch'd,
They would not thred the Gates: This kind of Service
Did not deferve Corn gratis. Being i'th' War,
Their Mutinies and Revolts, wherein they fhew'd
Most Valour, spoke not for them. Th' Accufation
Which they have often made against the Senate,
All caufe unborn, could never be the Native
Of our fo frank Donation. Well, what then?
How fhall this Bofom-multiplied, digeft
The Senate's courtefie? Let Deeds exprefs"
What's like to be their Words--We did requeft it--
We are the greater Poll, and in true fear
They gave us our Demands.

Thus we debafe
The Nature of our Seats, and, make the Rabble

Call our Cares, Fears; which will in time

Break open the Locks o'th' Senate, and bring in
The Crows to peck the Eagles-

Men. Come, enough.

Bru. Enough, with over-measure.'

Cor. No, take more.

What may be fworn by, both Divine and Human,
Seal what I end withal. This double worship,
Where one part does difdain with caufe, the other
Infult without all feafon; where Gentry, Title, Wisdom,
Cannot conclude, but by the Yea and No

Of general Ignorance, it must omit

Real Neceffities, and give way the while

To unftable Slightnefs: Purpofe fo barr'd, it follows,

you,

Nothing is done to purpofe. Therefore, befeech
You that will be lefs fearful than discreet,
That love the Fundamental part of State
More than you doubt the change of't; that prefer
A noble Life before a long, and with
To jump a Body with a dangerous Physick,
That's fure of Death without it; at once pluck out
The Multitudinous Tongue, let them not lick
The fweet which is their Poifon. Your difhonour

Mangles

Mangles true Judgment, and bereaves the State
Of that Integrity which should become it:
Not having the Power to do the good it would
For th' ill which doth controul it.

Sic. H'as fpoken like a Traitor, and shall answer
As Traitors do.

Cor. Thou Wretch! defpight o'er-whelm thee !---
What should the People do with these bald Tribunes?
On whom depending, their Obedience fails
To th' greater Bench, in a Rebellion:

When what's not meet, but what muft be, was Law,
Then were they chofen; in a better Hour,
Let what is meet, be faid, it must be meet,
And throw their Power i'th' Duft.

Bru. Manifeft Treafon

Sic. This a Conful? No.

Enter an Ædile.

Bru. The Ædiles, ho; let him be apprehended.
Sic. Go call the People, in whofe Name my felf
Attach thee as a Tráiterous Innovator:

A Foe to th' Publick Weal.
And follow to thine anfwer.
Cor. Hence, old Goat.

All. We'll furety him.
Com. Aged Sir, Hands off.

Obey, I charge thee,

[Laying hold on Coriolanus.

Cor. Hence, rotten thing, or I fhall shake thy Bones

Out of thy Garments.

Sic. Help me, Citizens.

Enter a Rabble of Plebeians with the Ediles.

Men. On both fides more respect.

Sic. Here's he, that would take from you all your

Power.

Bru. Seize him, Ædiles.

All. Down with him, down with him.

2 Sen. Weapons, Weapons, Weapons;

[They all bustle about Coriolanus. Tribunes, Patricians, Citizens- what hoe Sicinius, Brutus, Coriolanus, Citizens. All. Peace, peace, peace, ftay, hold, peace.

VOL. IV.

Ee

Mei.

1954

Men. What is about to be ?—I am out of BreathConfufion's near-I cannot speak.-You-Tribunes To th' People----Coriolanus---- patience---speak, good Sicinius. Sic. Hear me, People-peace

All. Let's hear our Tribune

speak.

Peace; fpeak, fpeak,

Sic. You are at point to lofe your Liberties: Martius would have all from you; Martius,

Whom late you have nam'd for Conful.

Men. Fie, fie, fie, this is the way to kindle, not to

quench.

Sen. To unbuild the City, and to lay all flat.

Sic. What is the City, but the People?

All. True, the People are the City.

Bru. By the confent of all, we were established the Peo

ples Magiftrates.

All. You fo remain.

Men. And fo are like to.do.

Com. That is the way to lay the City flat,
To bring the Roof to the Foundation,
And bury all, which yet diftinctly ranges,
In heaps and piles of Ruin.

SIC. This deferves Death.

Bru. Or let us ftand to our Authority, Or let us lofe it; we do here pronounce, Upon the part o'th' People, in whofe Power We were elected theirs, Martins is worthy Of prefent Death,

Sic. Therefore lay hold on him;

Bear him to th' Rock Tarpeian, and from thence

Into Deftruction caft him.

Bru. Ediles, feize him.

All Ple. Yield, Martius, yield.

Men. Hear me a word, 'befeech you Tribunes, hear me but a word.

Ediles. Peace, peace.

Men. Be that you feem, truly your Country's Friends, And temp'rately proceed to what you would

Thus violently redrefs.

Bru. Sir, thofe cold ways,

That feem like prudent helps, are very poysonous,

Where