TPTT The Tragedy of Coriolanus: ACT IV
Introduction
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
SCENE I. Rome. Before a gate of the city.
SCENE II. The same. A street near the gate.
SCENE III. A highway between Rome and Antium.
SCENE IV. Antium. Before Aufidius's house.
SCENE V. The same. A hall in Aufidius's house.
SCENE VI. Rome. A public place.
SCENE VII. A camp, at a small distance from Rome.
ACT V
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SCENE I. Rome. Before a gate of the city.
Enter CORIOLANUS, VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, MENENIUS, COMINIUS, with the young Nobility of Rome
CORIOLANUS
      Come, leave your tears: a brief farewell: the beast
      With many heads butts me away. Nay, mother,
      Where is your ancient courage? you were used
      To say extremity was the trier of spirits;
5     That common chances common men could bear;
      That when the sea was calm all boats alike
      Show'd mastership in floating; fortune's blows,
      When most struck home, being gentle wounded, craves
      A noble cunning: you were used to load me
10    With precepts that would make invincible
      The heart that conn'd them.
VIRGILIA
      O heavens! O heavens!
CORIOLANUS
      Nay! prithee, woman,--
VOLUMNIA
      Now the red pestilence strike all trades in Rome,
15    And occupations perish!
CORIOLANUS
      What, what, what!
      I shall be loved when I am lack'd. Nay, mother.
      Resume that spirit, when you were wont to say,
      If you had been the wife of Hercules,
20    Six of his labours you'ld have done, and saved
      Your husband so much sweat. Cominius,
      Droop not; adieu. Farewell, my wife, my mother:
      I'll do well yet. Thou old and true Menenius,
      Thy tears are salter than a younger man's,
25    And venomous to thine eyes. My sometime general,
      I have seen thee stem, and thou hast oft beheld
      Heart-hardening spectacles; tell these sad women
      'Tis fond to wail inevitable strokes,
      As 'tis to laugh at 'em. My mother, you wot well
30    My hazards still have been your solace: and
      Believe't not lightly--though I go alone,
      Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen
      Makes fear'd and talk'd of more than seen--your son
      Will or exceed the common or be caught
35    With cautelous baits and practise.
VOLUMNIA
      My first son.
      Whither wilt thou go? Take good Cominius
      With thee awhile: determine on some course,
      More than a wild exposture to each chance
40    That starts i' the way before thee.
CORIOLANUS
      O the gods!
COMINIUS
      I'll follow thee a month, devise with thee
      Where thou shalt rest, that thou mayst hear of us
      And we of thee: so if the time thrust forth
45    A cause for thy repeal, we shall not send
      O'er the vast world to seek a single man,
      And lose advantage, which doth ever cool
      I' the absence of the needer.
CORIOLANUS
      Fare ye well:
50    Thou hast years upon thee; and thou art too full
      Of the wars' surfeits, to go rove with one
      That's yet unbruised: bring me but out at gate.
      Come, my sweet wife, my dearest mother, and
      My friends of noble touch, when I am forth,
55    Bid me farewell, and smile. I pray you, come.
      While I remain above the ground, you shall
      Hear from me still, and never of me aught
      But what is like me formerly.
MENENIUS
      That's worthily
60    As any ear can hear. Come, let's not weep.
      If I could shake off but one seven years
      From these old arms and legs, by the good gods,
      I'ld with thee every foot.
CORIOLANUS
      Give me thy hand: Come.
Exeunt
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