SIC. Such a nature, Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow Which he treads on at noon: But I do wonder, His insolence can brook to be commanded Under Cominius. BRU. Fame, at the which he aims,In whom already he is well grac'd,—cannot Better be held, nor more attain'd, than by A place below the first: for what miscarries Shall be the general's fault, though he perform To the utmost of a man; and giddy censure Will then cry out of Marcius, O, if he Had borne the business! SIC. Besides, if things go well, Opinion, that so sticks on Marcius, shall Of his demerits rob Cominius 4. BRU. Come: Half all Cominius' honours are to Marcius, Though Marcius earn'd them not; and all his faults Let's hence, and hear SIC. How the despatch is made; and in what fashion, Perhaps the meaning of the latter member of the sentence is, "he is grown too proud of being so valiant, to be endured.” MALONE. 4 Of his DEMERITS rob Cominius.] Merits and Demerits had anciently the same meaning. So, in Othello: and my demerits "May speak," &c. 66 Again, in Stowe's Chronicle, Cardinal Wolsey says to his servants : I have not promoted, preferred, and advanced you all according to your demerits." Again, in P. Holland's translation of Pliny's Epistle to T. Vespasian, 1600: “ his demerit had been the greater to have continued his story." STEEvens. Again, in Hall's Chronicle, Henry VI. fol. 69: " this noble prince, for his demerits called the good duke of Gloucester-." MALONE. More than in singularity, he goes BRU. Let's along. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Corioli. The Senate-House. Enter TULLIUS AUFIDIUS, and certain Senators. 1 SEN. So, your opinion is, Aufidius, That they of Rome are enter'd in our counsels, 6 AUF. Is it not yours? What ever have been thought on in this state, That could be brought to bodily act ere Rome Had circumvention? 'Tis not four days gone 7, Since I heard thence; these are the words: I think, I have the letter here; yes, here it is: [Reads. They have press'd a power, but it is not known 5 More than in singularity, &c.] We will learn what he is to do, besides going himself; what are his powers, and what is his appointment. JOHNSON. Perhaps the word singularity implies a sarcasm on Coriolanus, and the speaker means to say-after what fashion, beside that in which his own singularity of disposition invests him, he goes into the field. So, in Twelfth-Night: "Put thyself into the trick of singularity." STEEVENS. -HATH been thought on -] Old copy-have. Corrected by the second folio. STEEVENS, Elliptically, whatever things. BOSWELL. 7-'Tis not four days GONE,] i. e. four days past. STEEVENS. 8 They have PRESS'D a power,] Thus the modern editors. The old copy reads-They have prest a power; which may signify, have a power ready; from pret. Fr. So, in The Merchant of Venice: "And I am prest unto it." STEEVENS. See note on this passage, vol. v. p. 17. Whether for east, or west: The dearth is great ; (Who is of Rome worse hated than of you,) 1 SEN. Our army's in the field: AUF. Nor did you think it folly, To keep your great pretences veil'd, till when They needs must show themselves; which in the hatching, It seem'd, appear'd to Rome. By the discovery, We shall be shorten'd in our aim; which was, To take in many towns, ere, almost, Rome Should know we were afoot. 2 SEN. Noble Aufidius, Take your commission; hie you to your bands: generally so spelt in Shakspeare's time: so distrest, blest, &c. I believe press'd in its usual sense is right. It appears to have been used in Shakspeare's time in the sense of impress'd. So, in Plutarch's Life of Coriolanus, translated by Sir T. North, 1579: the common people-would not appeare when the consuls called their names by a bill, to press them for the warres." Again, in King Henry VI. Part III.: 66 "From London by the kingdom was I press'd forth." MALONE. 9 TO TAKE in many towns,] To take in is here, as in many other places, to subdue. So, in The Execration of Vulcan, by Ben Jonson : 66 The Globe, the glory of the Bank, "I saw with two poor chambers taken in, Again, more appositely, in Antony and Cleopatra; 66 cut the Ionian sea, "And take in Toryne." STEEVENS. If they set down before us, for the remove 1 Bring up your army 1; but, I think, you'll find AUF. O, doubt not that; I speak from certainties. Nay, more 2. Some parcels of their powers are forth already, And only hitherward. I leave your honours. If we and Caius Marcius chance to meet, 'Tis sworn between us, we shall never strike Till one can do no more. Enter VOLUMNIA, and VIRGILIA: They sit down on two low Stools, and sew. VOL. I pray you, daughter, sing; or express yourself in a more comfortable sort: If my son were my husband, I should freelier rejoice in that absence I for the REMOVE Bring up your army;] Says the your troops, we will garrison Corioli. bring up your army to remove them. made, I would read: Senator to Aufidius, Go to 66 for their remove." JOHNSON. The remove and their remove are so near in sound, that the transcriber's ear might easily have deceived him. But it is always dangerous to let conjecture loose where there is no difficulty. MALONE. 2 I speak from certainties. Nay, more.] Sir Thomas Hanmer completes this line by reading: I speak from very certainties," &c. STEEVENS. 3 wherein he won honour, than in the embracements of his bed, where he would show most love. When yet he was but tender-bodied, and the only son of my womb; when youth with comeliness plucked all gaze his way; when, for a day of kings' entreaties, a mother should not sell him an hour from her beholding; I,-considering how honour would become such a person; that it was no better than picture-like to hang by the wall, if renown made it not stir, was pleased to let him seek danger where he was like to find fame. To a cruel war I sent him; from whence he returned, his brows bound with oak 4. I tell thee, daughter,—I sprang not more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child, than now in first seeing he had proved himself a man. VIR. But had he died in the business, madam ? how then? VOL. Then his good report should have been my son; I therein would have found issue. Hear me profess sincerely :-Had I a dozen sons,-each in my love alike, and none less dear than thine and my good Marcius,-I had rather had eleven die nobly for their country, than one voluptuously surfeit out of action. Enter a Gentlewoman. GENT. Madam, the lady Valeria is come to visit you. VIR. 'Beseech you, give me leave to retire myself's 3 - when youth with comeliness PLUCKED ALL GAZE HIS way;] i. e. attracted the attention of every one towards him. DOUCE. 4 brows bound with oak.] The crown given by the Romans to him that saved the life of a Citizen, which was accounted more honourable than any other. JOHNSON. to RETIRE myself.] This verb active (signifying to withdraw) occurs in The Tempest : |