Cor. Scars to move laughter only. Scratches with briars, Men. Com. Well, well, no more. Cor. What is the matter, That being pass'd for consul with full voice, I am so dishonour'd, that the very hour You take it off again? Sic. Answer to us. Cor. Say then: 't is true, I ought so. Sic. We charge you, that you have contriv'd 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. Men. Nay; temperately: Your promise. Cor. 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 hands clutch'd as many millions, in Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say, Thou liest, unto thee, with a voice as free As I do pray the gods. Sic. Mark you this, people? Cit. To the rock; to the rock with him! Sic. Peace! We need not put new matter to his charge: What you have seen him do, and heard him speak, Opposing laws with strokes, and here defying So criminal, and in such capital kind, Deserves the extremest death. Bru. But since he hath serv'd well for Rome,- Bru. I talk of that, that know it. Cor. You? Men. Is this the promise that you made your mother? Com. Know, I pray you,— Cor. I'll know no further: Sic. That do distribute it: In the name o' the people, From off the rock Tarpeian, never more To enter our Rome gates; I' the people's name, Cit. It shall be so: It shall be so; let him away: He's banish'd, and it shall be so. Com. Hear me, my masters, and my common friends ; Sic. He's sentenc'd; no more hearing. Com. Let me speak: I have been consul, and can show, from 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, Sic. We know your drift: Speak what? Bru. There's no more to be said, but he is banish'd, As enemy to the people and his country: It shall be so. Cit. It shall be so, it shall be so. Cor. You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize As the dead carcases of unburied men 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 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 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. Ed. The people's enemy is gone, is gone! Sic. Go, see him out at gates, and follow him, Attend us through the city. Cit. Come, come, let's see him out at gates; come:The gods preserve our noble tribunes!-Come. [Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE I.-The same. Before a Gate of the City. Enter CORIOLANUS, VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, MENENIUS, COMINIUS, and several young Patricians. Cor. Come, leave your tears; a brief farewell:-the beast With many heads butts me away.-Nay, mother, That common chances common men could bear; When most struck home, being gentle wounded, craves The heart that conn'd them. Vir. O heavens! O heavens ! Cor. Nay, I prithee, woman,→→ Vol. Now the red pestilence strike all trades in Rome, And occupations perish! Cor. What, what, what! I shall be lov'd when I am lack'd. Nay, mother, Resume that spirit, when you were wont to say, If you had been the wife of Hercules, Six of his labours you'd have done, and sav'd Droop not; adieu !-Farewell, my wife! my mother! 84 Heart-hard'ning spectacles; tell these sad women, As 't is to laugh at them.-My mother, you wot well Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen a Makes fear'd and talk'd of more than seen,) your son Will, or exceed the common, or be caught With cautelous baits and practice. My first son, Vol. That starts i' the way before thee. O the gods! Cor. Cor. Men. That's worthily As any ear can hear.-Come, let's not weep. a The fen is the pestilential abode of the "lonely dragon," which he makes "feared and talked of more than seen.' b First-in the sense of noblest. |