They are worn, lord consul, so, Cor. That we shall hardly in our ages see Their banners wave again. Lart. On safe-guard he came to me; and did curse Against the Volces, for they had so vilely Saw you Aufidius? Cor. Spoke he of me? Lart. He did, my lord. Cor. How? what? Lart. How often he had met you, sword to sword: That, of all things upon the earth, he hated Your person most: that he would pawn his fortunes To hopeless restitution, so he might Be call'd your vanquisher. Cor. Lart. At Antium. At Antium lives he? Cor. I wish, I had a cause to seek him there, To oppose his hatred fully. - Welcome home. [TO LARTIUS. Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS. Behold! these are the tribunes of the people, them; For they do prank them in authority, Against all noble sufferance. Sic. Pass no further. selves. prank them in authority, It will be dangerous to i. e. with a convoy, a guard Plume, deck, dignify them Cor. Men. The matter? What makes this change? Com. Hath he not pass'd the nobles, and the commons? Bru. Cominius, no. Have I had children's voices? 1 Sen. Tribunes, give way; he shall to the mar ket-place. Bru. The people are incens'd against him. Or all will fall in broil. Stop, Are these your herd?Must these have voices, that can yield them now, And straight disclaim their tongues? - What are your offices? You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth? Have you not set them on? Men. Be calm, be calm. Cor. It is a purpos'd thing, and grows by plot, To curb the will of the nobility: Suffer it, and live with such as cannot rule, Nor ever will be rul'd. Bru. Call't not a plot: Cor. Why, this was known before. Not to them all. Cor. Have you inform'd them since? How! I inform them! Cor. You are like to do such business. Each way, to better yours. Not unlike, Cor. Why then should I be consul? By yon clouds, Let me deserve so ill as you, and make me Your fellow tribune. Sic. You show too much of that, For which the people stir: If you will pass To where you are bound, you must inquire your way, Which you are out of, with a gentler spirit; Or never be so noble as a consul, Nor yoke with him for tribune. Men. Let's be calm. Com. The people are abus'd:-Set on. This palt'ring Becomes not Rome; nor has Coriolanus I' the plain way of his merit. Cor. 9 Tell me of corn! This was my speech, and I will speak't again; Men. Not now, not now. 1 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-scented many, let them Which we ourselves have plough'd for, sow'd and scatter'd, By mingling them with us, the honour'd number; This palt'ring Becomes not Rome;] That is, this trick of dissimulation; this shuffling. 9 1 -rub, laid falsely, &c.] Falsely for treacherously. Regard me as I do not flatter, and Therein behold themselves:] Let them look in the mirror which I hold up to them, a mirror which does not flatter, and see themselves. JOHNSON. 2 The cockle of rebellion, Cockle is a weed which grows up with the corn. Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that Men. Well, no more. 1 Sen. No more words, we beseech you. How! no more? As for my country I have shed my blood, Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungs Coin words till their decay, against those meazels, Which we disdain should tetter us, yet sought The very way to catch them. As if you were a god to punish, not Bru. You speak o'the people, A man of their infirmity. Sic. 'Twere well, What, what? his choler? We let the people know't. Cor. Choler! Were I as patient as the midnight sleep, By Jove, 'twould be my mind. Sic. It is a mind, That shall remain a poison where it is, Not poison any further. Cor. Shall remain! Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you His absolute shall? Com. Cor. 'Twas from the canon.5 Shall! O good, but most unwise patricians, why, That with his peremptory shall, being but 3-meazels,] Mesell is used in Pierce Plowman's Vision, for a leper. 4 - minnows?] A minnow is one of the smallest river fish, called in some counties a pink. ''Twas from the canon, Was contrary to the established rule; it was a form of speech to which he has no right; but Mr. Mason thinks these words imply the very reverse. The horn and noise o'the monsters, wants not spirit Com. Well-on to the market-place. Cor. Whoever gave that counsel, to give forth The corn o'the store-house gratis, as 'twas us'd Sometime in Greece,- Men. Well, well, no more of that. Cor. (Though there the people had more absolute power,) I say, they nourish'd disobedience, fed The ruin of the state. Bru. Why, shall the people give One, that speaks thus, their voice? 6 Then vail your ignorance:] If this man has power, let the ig norance that gave it him vail or bow down before him. 7 - You are plebeians, If they be senators: and they are no less, When, both your voices blended, the greatest taste Most palates theirs.] Perhaps the meaning is, the plebeians are no less than senators, when, the voices of the senate and the people being blended together, the predominant taste of the compound smacks more of the populace than the senate. |