Ere yet the fight be done, pack up :-Down with

them.

And hark, what noise the general makes !-To him:

There is the man of my soul's hate, Aufidius, Piercing our Romans: Then, valiant Titus, take Convenient numbers to make good the city;

Whilst I, with those that have the spirit, will haste To help Cominius.

LART.

Worthy sir, thou bleed'st;

Thy exercise hath been too violent for
A second course of fight.

MAR.

Sir, praise me not:

My work hath yet not warm'd me: Fare
The blood I drop is rather physical

Than dangerous to me: To Aufidius thus

I will appear, and fight.

you well.

LART.
Now the fair goddess, Fortune
Fall deep in love with thee; and her great charms
Misguide thy opposers' swords! Bold gentleman,
Prosperity be thy page!

MAR.
Thy friend no less
Than those she placeth highest! So, farewell.
LART. Thou worthiest Marcius!-

[Exit MARCIUS.
Go, sound thy trumpet in the market-place;
Call thither all the officers of the town,
Where they shall know our mind: Away.

[Exeunt.

6 Than dangerous TO ME: To Aufidius thus I will appear, and fight.

Lart. Now the fair goddess, Fortune,] The metre being here violated, I think we might safely read with Sir T. Hanmer (omitting the words-to me) :

"Than dangerous: To Aufidius thus will I

"Appear, and fight.

"Now the fair goddess, Fortune,-" STEEVENS.

SCENE VI.

Near the Camp of COMINIUS.

Enter COMINIUS and Forces, retreating. COM. Breathe you, my friends; well fought: we are come off

Like Romans, neither foolish in our stands,
Nor cowardly in retire: believe me, sirs,

We shall be charg'd again. Whiles we have struck,
By interims, and conveying gusts, we have heard
The charges of our friends:-The Roman gods,
Lead their successes as we wish our own 7;

That both our powers, with smiling fronts encountering,

Enter a Messenger.

May give you thankful sacrifice!-Thy news?
MESS. The citizens of Corioli have issued,
And given to Lartius and to Marcius battle:
I saw our party to their trenches driven,
And then I came away.

Сом.

Though thou speak'st truth,
How long is't

Methinks, thou speak'st not well.

since ?

MESS. Above an hour, my lord.

Coм. 'Tis not a mile; briefly we heard their

drums:

How could'st thou in a mile confound an hour",
And bring thy news so late?

7 The Roman gods,

Lead their successes as we wish our own ;] i. e. May the Roman gods, &c. MALONE.

8

CONFOUND an hour,] Confound is here used not in its common acceptation, but in the sense of-to expend. Conterere tempus. MALONE.

MESS.

Spies of the Volces

Held me in chase, that I was forc'd to wheel
Three or four miles about; else had I, sir,
Half an hour since brought my report.

Сом.

Enter MARCIUS.

Who's yonder,

That does appear as he were flay'd? O gods!
He has the stamp of Marcius; and I have
Before-time seen him thus.

MAR.

Come I too late?

COм. The shepherd knows not thunder from a

tabor,

More than I know the sound of Marcius' tongue

From every meaner man 9.

MAR.

Come I too late?

Coм. Ay, if you come not in the blood of others, But mantled in your own.

So, in King Henry IV. Part I. Act I. Sc. III. :

"He did confound the best part of an hour," &c.

STEEVENS.

9 From every meaner MAN's.] [Old copy-meaner man.] That is, from that of every meaner man.

This kind of phraseology

is found in many places in these plays; and as the peculiarities of our author, or rather the language of his age ought to be scrupulously attended to, Hanmer and the subsequent editors who read here every meaner man's, ought not in my apprehension to be followed, though we should now write so.

So, in Cymbeline :

"Thersites body is as good as Ajax,

"When neither are alive."

Again, in Timon:

"Friend or brother,

MALONE.

"He forfeits his own life that spills another." When I am certified that this, and many corresponding offences against grammar, were common to the writers of our author's age, I shall not persevere in correcting them. But while I suspect (as in the present instance) that such irregularities were the gibberish of a theatre, or the blunders of a transcriber, I shall forbear to set nonsense before my readers; especially when it can be avoided by the insertion of a single letter, which indeed might have dropped out at the press. STEEVENS.

MAR.

O! let me clip you

In arms as sound, as when I woo'd; in heart
As merry, as when our nuptial day was done,
And tapers burn'd to bedward1.

Сом.

How is't with Titus Lartius?

Flower of warriors,

MAR. As with a man busied about decrees: Condemning some to death, and some to exile; Ransoming him, or pitying2, threat'ning the other; Holding Corioli in the name of Rome,

Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash,
To let him slip at will.

Сом.

Where is that slave,

Which told me they had beat you to your trenches? Where is he? Call him hither.

Let him alone,

MAR. He did inform the truth: But for our gentlemen, The common file, (A plague !--Tribunes for them!) The mouse ne'er shunn'd the cat, as they did budge From rascals worse than they.

COM.

But how prevail'd you?

MAR. Will the time serve to tell? I do not

think

Where is the enemy? Are you lords o' the field? If not, why cease you till you are so ?

Сом. Marcius, We have at disadvantage fought, and did Retire, to win our purpose.

1 to BEDWARD.] So, in Albumazar, 1615: 'Sweats hourly for a dry brown crust to bedward." STEEVENS. Again, in Peacham's Complete Gentleman, 1627: "Leaping, upon a full stomach, or to bedward, is very dangerous." MALONE. Again, in The Legend of Cardinal Lorraine, 1577, sign. G. 1: "They donsed also, lest so soon as their backs were turned to the courtward, and that they had given over the dealings in the affairs, there would come in infinite complaints." REED.

2

Ransoming him, or PITYING,] i. e. remitting his ransom.

JOHNSON.

MAR. How lies their battle? Know you on which

side 3

They have plac'd their men of trust?

Сом. As I guess, Marcius, Their bands in the vaward are the Antiates *, Of their best trust: o'er them Aufidius, Their very heart of hope 3.

MAR.

I do beseech you,

By all the battles wherein we have fought,

By the blood we have shed together, by the vows
We have made to endure friends, that you directly
Set me against Aufidius, and his Antiates:
And that you not delay the present; but,

Filling the air with swords advanc'd', and darts,
We prove this very hour.

on which side, &c.] So, in the old translation of Plu

"Martius asked him howe the order of the enemies battell was, and on which side they had placed their best fighting men. The consul made him aunswer that he thought the bandes which were in the vaward of their battell, were those of the Antiates, whom they esteemed to be the warlikest men, and which for valiant corage would geve no place to any of the hoste of their enemies. Then prayed Martius to be set directly against them. The consul graunted him, greatly praysing his corage." STEEVENS.

4

Antiates,] The old copy reads-Antients, which might mean veterans; but a following line, as well as the previous quotation, seems to prove-Antiates to be the proper reading : "Set me against Aufidius and his Antiates."

Our author employs-Antiates as a trisyllable, as if it had been written-Antiats. STEEVENS.

5 Their very HEART OF HOPE.] The same expression is found in Marlow's Lust's Dominion :

66

thy desperate arm

"Hath almost thrust quite through the heart of hope."

In King Henry IV. Part I. we have:

"The very bottom and the soul of hope."

MALONE.

STEEVENS.

" And that you not DELAY the present;] Delay, for let slip.

WARBURTON.

- swords advanc'd,] That is, swords lifted high. JOHNSON.