The Tragedy of Coriolanus: ACT III , SCENE III. The same. The Forum.

The Tragedy of Coriolanus: ACT III


	Introduction

	ACT I

	ACT II

	ACT III

		SCENE I. Rome. A street.

		SCENE II. A room in CORIOLANUS'S house.

		SCENE III. The same. The Forum.

	ACT IV

	ACT V

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SCENE III. The same. The Forum.

Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS

BRUTUS

      In this point charge him home, that he affects
      Tyrannical power: if he evade us there,
      Enforce him with his envy to the people,
      And that the spoil got on the Antiates
5     Was ne'er distributed.

Enter an AEdile

What, will he come?

AEdile

He's coming.

BRUTUS

How accompanied?

AEdile

With old Menenius, and those senators
10 That always favour'd him.

SICINIUS

      Have you a catalogue
      Of all the voices that we have procured
      Set down by the poll?

AEdile

I have; 'tis ready.

SICINIUS

15 Have you collected them by tribes?

AEdile

I have.

SICINIUS

      Assemble presently the people hither;
      And when they bear me say 'It shall be so
      I' the right and strength o' the commons,' be it either
20    For death, for fine, or banishment, then let them
      If I say fine, cry 'Fine;' if death, cry 'Death.'
      Insisting on the old prerogative
      And power i' the truth o' the cause.

AEdile

I shall inform them.

BRUTUS

25    And when such time they have begun to cry,
      Let them not cease, but with a din confused
      Enforce the present execution
      Of what we chance to sentence.

AEdile

Very well.

SICINIUS

30 Make them be strong and ready for this hint,
When we shall hap to give 't them.

BRUTUS

Go about it.

Exit AEdile

      Put him to choler straight: he hath been used
      Ever to conquer, and to have his worth
35    Of contradiction: being once chafed, he cannot
      Be rein'd again to temperance; then he speaks
      What's in his heart; and that is there which looks
      With us to break his neck.

SICINIUS

Well, here he comes.

Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, and COMINIUS, with Senators and Patricians

MENENIUS

40 Calmly, I do beseech you.

CORIOLANUS

      Ay, as an ostler, that for the poorest piece
      Will bear the knave by the volume. The honour'd gods
      Keep Rome in safety, and the chairs of justice
      Supplied with worthy men! plant love among 's!
45    Throng our large temples with the shows of peace,
      And not our streets with war!

First Senator

Amen, amen.

MENENIUS

A noble wish.

Re-enter AEdile, with Citizens

SICINIUS

Draw near, ye people.

AEdile

50 List to your tribunes. Audience: peace, I say!

CORIOLANUS

First, hear me speak.

Both Tribunes

Well, say. Peace, ho!

CORIOLANUS

Shall I be charged no further than this present?
Must all determine here?

SICINIUS

55    I do demand,
      If you submit you to the people's voices,
      Allow their officers and are content
      To suffer lawful censure for such faults
      As shall be proved upon you?

CORIOLANUS

60 I am content.

MENENIUS

      Lo, citizens, he says he is content:
      The warlike service he has done, consider; think
      Upon the wounds his body bears, which show
      Like graves i' the holy churchyard.

CORIOLANUS

65 Scratches with briers,
Scars to move laughter only.

MENENIUS

      Consider further,
      That when he speaks not like a citizen,
      You find him like a soldier: do not take
70    His rougher accents for malicious sounds,
      But, as I say, such as become a soldier,
      Rather than envy you.

COMINIUS

Well, well, no more.

CORIOLANUS

      What is the matter
75    That being pass'd for consul with full voice,
      I am so dishonour'd that the very hour
      You take it off again?

SICINIUS

Answer to us.

CORIOLANUS

Say, then: 'tis true, I ought so.

SICINIUS

80    We charge you, that you have contrived to take
      From Rome all season'd office and to wind
      Yourself into a power tyrannical;
      For which you are a traitor to the people.

CORIOLANUS

How! traitor!

MENENIUS

85 Nay, temperately; your promise.

CORIOLANUS

      The fires i' the lowest hell fold-in the people!
      Call me their traitor! Thou injurious tribune!
      Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,
      In thy hand clutch'd as many millions, in
90    Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say
      'Thou liest' unto thee with a voice as free
      As I do pray the gods.

SICINIUS

Mark you this, people?

Citizens

To the rock, to the rock with him!

SICINIUS

95    Peace!
      We need not put new matter to his charge:
      What you have seen him do and heard him speak,
      Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,
      Opposing laws with strokes and here defying
100   Those whose great power must try him; even this,
      So criminal and in such capital kind,
      Deserves the extremest death.

BRUTUS

But since he hath
Served well for Rome,--

CORIOLANUS

105 What do you prate of service?

BRUTUS

I talk of that, that know it.

CORIOLANUS

You?

MENENIUS

Is this the promise that you made your mother?

COMINIUS

Know, I pray you,--

CORIOLANUS

110   I know no further:
      Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
      Vagabond exile, raying, pent to linger
      But with a grain a day, I would not buy
      Their mercy at the price of one fair word;
115   Nor cheque my courage for what they can give,
      To have't with saying 'Good morrow.'

SICINIUS

      For that he has,
      As much as in him lies, from time to time
      Envied against the people, seeking means
120   To pluck away their power, as now at last
      Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence
      Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers
      That do distribute it; in the name o' the people
      And in the power of us the tribunes, we,
125   Even from this instant, banish him our city,
      In peril of precipitation
      From off the rock Tarpeian never more
      To enter our Rome gates: i' the people's name,
      I say it shall be so.

Citizens

130 It shall be so, it shall be so; let him away:
He's banish'd, and it shall be so.

COMINIUS

Hear me, my masters, and my common friends,--

SICINIUS

He's sentenced; no more hearing.

COMINIUS

      Let me speak:
135   I have been consul, and can show for Rome
      Her enemies' marks upon me. I do love
      My country's good with a respect more tender,
      More holy and profound, than mine own life,
      My dear wife's estimate, her womb's increase,
140   And treasure of my loins; then if I would
      Speak that,--

SICINIUS

We know your drift: speak what?

BRUTUS

      There's no more to be said, but he is banish'd,
      As enemy to the people and his country:
145   It shall be so.

Citizens

It shall be so, it shall be so.

CORIOLANUS

      You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
      As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
      As the dead carcasses of unburied men
150   That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
      And here remain with your uncertainty!
      Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts!
      Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
      Fan you into despair! Have the power still
155   To banish your defenders; till at length
      Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
      Making not reservation of yourselves,
      Still your own foes, deliver you as most
      Abated captives to some nation
160   That won you without blows! Despising,
      For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
      There is a world elsewhere.

Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, MENENIUS, Senators, and Patricians

AEdile

The people's enemy is gone, is gone!

Citizens

Our enemy is banish'd! he is gone! Hoo! hoo!

Shouting, and throwing up their caps

SICINIUS

165   Go, see him out at gates, and follow him,
      As he hath followed you, with all despite;
      Give him deserved vexation. Let a guard
      Attend us through the city.

Citizens

Come, come; let's see him out at gates; come.
170 The gods preserve our noble tribunes! Come.

Exeunt

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