Coriolanus by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 6
Near the camp of Cominius.
Cominius : Breathe you, my friends: well fought;
[p]we are come off
[p]Like
Romans, neither foolish in our stands,
[p]Nor cowardly in retire:
believe me, sirs,
[p]We shall be charged again. Whiles we have
struck,
[p]By interims and conveying gusts we have heard
[p]The
charges of our friends. Ye Roman gods!
[p]Lead their successes as we
wish our own,
[p]That both our powers, with smiling
[p]fronts
encountering,
[p]May give you thankful sacrifice.
[p][Enter a
Messenger]
[p]Thy news?
Messenger : The citizens of Corioli have issued,
[p]And given to TITUS and to
CORIOLANUS battle:
[p]I saw our party to their trenches driven,
[p]And
then I came away.
Cominius : Though thou speak'st truth,
[p]Methinks thou speak'st not well.
[p]How
long is't since?
Messenger : Above an hour, my lord.
Cominius : 'Tis not a mile; briefly we heard their drums:
[p]How couldst thou in
a mile confound an hour,
[p]And bring thy news so late?
Messenger : Spies of the Volsces
[p]Held me in chase, that I was forced to
wheel
[p]Three or four miles about, else had I, sir,
[p]Half an hour
since brought my report.
Cominius : Who's yonder,
[p]That does appear as he were flay'd? O gods
[p]He has
the stamp of CORIOLANUS; and I have
[p]Before-time seen him thus.
Coriolanus : [Within] Come I too late?
Cominius : The shepherd knows not thunder from a tabour
[p]More than I know the
sound of CORIOLANUS' tongue
[p]From every meaner man.
Coriolanus : Come I too late?
Cominius : Ay, if you come not in the blood of others,
[p]But mantled in your
own.
Coriolanus : O, let me clip ye
[p]In arms as sound as when I woo'd, in heart
[p]As
merry as when our nuptial day was done,
[p]And tapers burn'd to
bedward!
Cominius : Flower of warriors,
[p]How is it with Titus TITUS?
Coriolanus : As with a man busied about decrees:
[p]Condemning some to death, and
some to exile;
[p]Ransoming him, or pitying, threatening the
other;
[p]Holding Corioli in the name of Rome,
[p]Even like a fawning
greyhound in the leash,
[p]To let him slip at will.
Cominius : Where is that slave
[p]Which told me they had beat you to your
trenches?
[p]Where is he? call him hither.
Coriolanus : Let him alone;
[p]He did inform the truth: but for our
gentlemen,
[p]The common file--a plague! tribunes for them!--
[p]The
mouse ne'er shunn'd the cat as they did budge
[p]From rascals worse
than they.
Cominius : But how prevail'd you?
Coriolanus : Will the time serve to tell? I do not think.
[p]Where is the enemy?
are you lords o' the field?
[p]If not, why cease you till you are so?
Cominius : CORIOLANUS,
[p]We have at disadvantage fought and did
[p]Retire to win
our purpose.
Coriolanus : How lies their battle? know you on which side
[p]They have placed
their men of trust?
Cominius : As I guess, CORIOLANUS,
[p]Their bands i' the vaward are the
Antiates,
[p]Of their best trust; o'er them Aufidius,
[p]Their very
heart of hope.
Coriolanus : I do beseech you,
[p]By all the battles wherein we have fought,
[p]By
the blood we have shed together, by the vows
[p]We have made to endure
friends, that you directly
[p]Set me against Aufidius and his
Antiates;
[p]And that you not delay the present, but,
[p]Filling the
air with swords advanced and darts,
[p]We prove this very hour.
Cominius : Though I could wish
[p]You were conducted to a gentle bath
[p]And
balms applied to, you, yet dare I never
[p]Deny your asking: take your
choice of those
[p]That best can aid your action.
Coriolanus : Those are they
[p]That most are willing. If any such be here--
[p]As
it were sin to doubt--that love this painting
[p]Wherein you see me
smear'd; if any fear
[p]Lesser his person than an ill report;
[p]If
any think brave death outweighs bad life
[p]And that his country's
dearer than himself;
[p]Let him alone, or so many so minded,
[p]Wave
thus, to express his disposition,
[p]And follow CORIOLANUS.
[p][They
all shout and wave their swords, take him up in]
[p]their arms, and
cast up their caps]
[p]O, me alone! make you a sword of me?
[p]If
these shows be not outward, which of you
[p]But is four Volsces? none
of you but is
[p]Able to bear against the great Aufidius
[p]A shield
as hard as his. A certain number,
[p]Though thanks to all, must I
select
[p]from all: the rest
[p]Shall bear the business in some other
fight,
[p]As cause will be obey'd. Please you to march;
[p]And four
shall quickly draw out my command,
[p]Which men are best inclined.
Cominius : March on, my fellows:
[p]Make good this ostentation, and you
shall
[p]Divide in all with us.
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Next: Act 1 - Scene 7
