Shall teach the people, (which time shall not want,
If he be put upon 't; and that's as easy,

As to set dogs on sheep) will be his fire

To kindle their dry stubble; and their blaze
Shall darken him for ever.

Bru.

Enter a Messenger.

What's the matter?

Mess. You are sent for to the Capitol. 'T is thought,
That Marcius shall be consul. I have seen
The dumb men throng to see him, and the blind
To hear him speak: matrons flung gloves,
Ladies and maids their scarfs and handkerchiefs,
Upon him as he pass'd; the nobles bended,
As to Jove's statue, and the commons made

A shower, and thunder, with their caps, and shouts.
I never saw the like.

And carry with us ears and eyes for the time,
But hearts for the event.

Sic.

Have with you.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The Same. The Capitol.

Enter Two Officers, to lay Cushions.

1 Off. Come, come; they are almost here. How many stand for consulships?

2 Off. Three, they say; but 't is thought of every one Coriolanus will carry it.

1 Off. That's a brave fellow; but he 's vengeance proud, and loves not the common people.

2 Off. 'Faith, there have been many great men that have flattered the people, who ne'er loved them; and there be many that they have loved, they know not wherefore: so that, if they love they know not why, they hate upon no better a ground. Therefore, for Coriolanus neither to care whether they love or hate

him manifests the true knowledge he has in their disposition; and, out of his noble carelessness, lets them plainly see 't.

1 Off. If he did not care whether he had their love or no, he waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good, nor harm; but he seeks their hate with greater devotion than they can render it him, and leaves nothing undone that may fully discover him their opposite. Now, to seem to affect the malice and displeasure of the people is as bad as that which he dislikes, to flatter them for their love.

2 Off. He hath deserved worthily of his country; and his ascent is not by such easy degrees as those, who, having been supple and courteous to the people, bonneted, without any farther deed to have them at all into their estimation and report; but he hath so planted his honours in their eyes, and his actions in their hearts, that for their tongues to be silent, and not confess so much, were a kind of ingrateful injury; to report otherwise were a malice, that, giving itself the lie, would pluck reproof and rebuke from every ear that heard it.

1 Off. No more of him: he is a worthy man. they are coming.

Make way,

A Sennet. Enter, with Lictors before them, COMINIUS the Consul, MENENIUS, CORIOLANUS, many other Senators, SICINIUS and BRUTUS. The Senators take their places; the Tribunes take theirs also by themselves.

Men. Having determin'd of the Volsces,

To send for Titus Lartius, it remains,
As the main point of this our after-meeting,
To gratify his noble service, that

and

Hath thus stood for his country. Therefore, please you,
Most reverend and grave elders, to desire

The present consul, and last general
In our well-found successes, to report
A little of that worthy work perform'd

By Caius Marcius Coriolanus; whom

We meet here, both to thank, and to remember
With honours like himself.

1 Sen.
Speak, good Cominius:
Leave nothing out for length, and make us think,
Rather our state's defective for requital,

Than we to stretch it out. Masters o' the people,
We do request your kindest ears; and, after,
Your loving motion toward the common body,
To yield what passes here.

Sic.

We are convented

Upon a pleasing treaty; and have hearts

Inclinable to honour and advance

The theme of our assembly.

Bru.

Which the rather

We shall be blessed to do, if he remember

A kinder value of the people, than

He hath hereto priz'd them at.

Men.

That's off, that's off:

I would you rather had been silent. Please you
To hear Cominius speak?

He loves your people;

But tie him not to be their bedfellow.

Worthy Cominius, speak. Nay, keep your place.

[CORIOLANUS rises, and offers to go away.

1 Sen. Sit, Coriolanus: never shame to hear

What you have nobly done.

Cor.

I had rather have my wounds to heal again,

Than hear say how I got them.

Bru.

My words dis-bench'd you not.

Cor.

Your honours' pardon:

Sir, I hope,

No, Sir: yet oft,

I fled from words.

When blows have made me stay,

You sooth'd not, therefore hurt not. But, your people,

I love them as they weigh.

Men.

Pray now, sit down.

Cor. I had rather have one scratch my head i' the sun,
When the alarum were struck, than idly sit
To hear my nothings monster'd.

Men.

Masters of the people,

Your multiplying spawn how can he flatter,
(That's thousand to one good one) when you now see,
He had rather venture all his limbs for honour,
Than one on's ears to hear it? — Proceed, Cominius.
Com. I shall lack voice: the deeds of Coriolanus
Should not be utter'd feebly. It is held,
That valour is the chiefest virtue, and

Most dignifies the haver: if it be,
The man I speak of cannot in the world

Be singly counterpois'd. At sixteen years,
When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought
Beyond the mark of others: our then dictator,
Whom with all praise I point at, saw him fight,
When with his Amazonian chin he drove
The bristled lips before him. He bestrid
An o'er-pressed Roman, and i' the consul's view
Slew three opposers: Tarquin's self he met,
And struck him on his knee: in that day's feats,
When he might act the woman in the scene,
and for his meed
Was brow-bound with the oak. His pupil age
Man-enter'd thus, he waxed like a sea;

He prov'd best man i' the field;

And in the brunt of seventeen battles since,

He lurch'd all swords of the garland. For this last,
Before and in Corioli, let me say,

I cannot speak him home: he stopp'd the fliers,
And by his rare example made the coward
Turn terror into sport. As weeds before

A vessel under sail, so men obey'd,

And fell below his stem: his sword, death's stamp,
Where it did mark, it took: from face to foot
He was a thing of blood, whose every motion
Was timed with dying cries. Alone he enter'd

[Exit.

The mortal gate of the city, which he painted
With shunless destiny, aidless came off,
And with a sudden re-enforcement struck
Corioli like a planet. Now all's his;

When by and by the din of war 'gan pierce
His ready sense: then, straight his doubled spirit
Re-quicken'd what in flesh was fatigate,
And to the battle came he; where he did
Run reeking o'er the lives of men, as if
'T were a perpetual spoil; and till we call'd
Both field and city ours, he never stood
To ease his breast with panting.

Men.

Worthy man!

1 Sen. He cannot but with measure fit the honours Which we devise him.

Com.

Our spoils he kick'd at;
And look'd upon things precious, as they were
The common muck o' the world: he covets less
Than misery itself would give, rewards

His deeds with doing them, and is content
To spend the time to end it.

Men. The senate, Coriolanus, are well pleas'd

I do beseech you,

That you do speak to the people.

Cor.

Let me o'erleap that custom; for I cannot

Put on the gown, stand naked, and entreat them,

For my wounds' sake, to give their suffrage: please you,