TPTT The Tragedy of Coriolanus: ACT I
Introduction
ACT I
SCENE I. Rome. A street.
SCENE II. Corioli. The Senate-house.
SCENE III. Rome. A room in Marcius' house.
SCENE IV. Before Corioli.
SCENE V. Corioli. A street.
SCENE VI. Near the camp of Cominius.
SCENE VII. The gates of Corioli.
SCENE VIII. A field of battle.
SCENE IX. The Roman camp.
SCENE X. The camp of the Volsces.
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
About the Play
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SCENE IX. The Roman camp.
Flourish. Alarum. A retreat is sounded. Flourish. Enter, from one side, COMINIUS with the Romans; from the other side, MARCIUS, with his arm in a scarf
COMINIUS
      If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work,
      Thou'ldst not believe thy deeds: but I'll report it
      Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles,
      Where great patricians shall attend and shrug,
5     I' the end admire, where ladies shall be frighted,
      And, gladly quaked, hear more; where the
      dull tribunes,
      That, with the fusty plebeians, hate thine honours,
      Shall say against their hearts 'We thank the gods
10    Our Rome hath such a soldier.'
      Yet camest 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:
15    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
20    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
25    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
30    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,
35    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 achieved and city,
      We render you the tenth, to be ta'en forth,
40    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;
45    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
MARCIUS
      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
50    Made all of false-faced 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.--
55    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 sauced with lies.
COMINIUS
60    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 incensed, we'll put you,
      Like one that means his proper harm, in manacles,
65    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,
70    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
75    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
80    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
85    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
      Refused most princely gifts, am bound to beg
90    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;
95    But then Aufidius was within my view,
      And wrath o'erwhelm'd 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
100   Be free as is the wind. Deliver him, Titus.
LARTIUS
      Marcius, his name?
CORIOLANUS
      By Jupiter! forgot.
      I am weary; yea, my memory is tired.
      Have we no wine here?
COMINIUS
105   Go we to our tent:
      The blood upon your visage dries; 'tis time
      It should be look'd to: come.
Exeunt
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