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 About the Play Feedback			Search: All the plays Hamlet Coriolanus Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Richard II Richard III Titus Andronicus Antony and Cleopatra Timon of Athens Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry the Fifth Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry VIII King John Pericles Troilus and Cressida All's Well... As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Cymbeline A Midsummer... Love's Labour's Lost Measure for Measure The Merry Wives... Much Ado about Nothing The Merchant of Venice Twelfth Night The Taming of... The Tempest The Two Gentlemen... The Winter's Tale    for: SCENE VII. A camp, at a small distance from Rome. Enter AUFIDIUS and his Lieutenant AUFIDIUS       Do they still fly to the Roman? Lieutenant       I do not know what witchcraft's in him, but       Your soldiers use him as the grace 'fore meat,       Their talk at table, and their thanks at end; 5     And you are darken'd in this action, sir,       Even by your own. AUFIDIUS       I cannot help it now,       Unless, by using means, I lame the foot       Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier, 10    Even to my person, than I thought he would       When first I did embrace him: yet his nature       In that's no changeling; and I must excuse       What cannot be amended. Lieutenant       Yet I wish, sir,-- 15    I mean for your particular,--you had not       Join'd in commission with him; but either       Had borne the action of yourself, or else       To him had left it solely. AUFIDIUS       I understand thee well; and be thou sure, 20    when he shall come to his account, he knows not       What I can urge against him. Although it seems,       And so he thinks, and is no less apparent       To the vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly.       And shows good husbandry for the Volscian state, 25    Fights dragon-like, and does achieve as soon       As draw his sword; yet he hath left undone       That which shall break his neck or hazard mine,       Whene'er we come to our account. Lieutenant       Sir, I beseech you, think you he'll carry Rome? AUFIDIUS 30    All places yield to him ere he sits down;       And the nobility of Rome are his:       The senators and patricians love him too:       The tribunes are no soldiers; and their people       Will be as rash in the repeal, as hasty 35    To expel him thence. I think he'll be to Rome       As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it       By sovereignty of nature. First he was       A noble servant to them; but he could not       Carry his honours even: whether 'twas pride, 40    Which out of daily fortune ever taints       The happy man; whether defect of judgment,       To fail in the disposing of those chances       Which he was lord of; or whether nature,       Not to be other than one thing, not moving 45    From the casque to the cushion, but commanding peace       Even with the same austerity and garb       As he controll'd the war; but one of these--       As he hath spices of them all, not all,       For I dare so far free him--made him fear'd, 50    So hated, and so banish'd: but he has a merit,       To choke it in the utterance. So our virtues       Lie in the interpretation of the time:       And power, unto itself most commendable,       Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair 55    To extol what it hath done.       One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail;       Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail.       Come, let's away. When, Caius, Rome is thine,       Thou art poor'st of all; then shortly art thou mine. Exeunt Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene