Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

Act 3 - Scene 1

Rome. A street.

Coriolanus : Tullus Aufidius then had made new head?

Titus Lartius : He had, my lord; and that it was which caused [p]Our swifter
composition.

Coriolanus : So then the Volsces stand but as at first, [p]Ready, when time shall
prompt them, to make road. [p]Upon's again.

Cominius : They are worn, lord consul, so, [p]That we shall hardly in our ages
see [p]Their banners wave again.

Coriolanus : Saw you Aufidius?

Titus Lartius : On safe-guard he came to me; and did curse [p]Against the Volsces, for
they had so vilely [p]Yielded the town: he is retired to Antium.

Coriolanus : Spoke he of me?

Titus Lartius : He did, my lord.

Coriolanus : How? what?

Titus Lartius : How often he had met you, sword to sword; [p]That of all things upon
the earth he hated [p]Your person most, that he would pawn his
fortunes [p]To hopeless restitution, so he might [p]Be call'd your
vanquisher.

Coriolanus : At Antium lives he?

Titus Lartius : At Antium.

Coriolanus : I wish I had a cause to seek him there, [p]To oppose his hatred fully.
Welcome home. [p][Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS] [p]Behold, these are the
tribunes of the people, [p]The tongues o' the common mouth: I do
despise them; [p]For they do prank them in authority, [p]Against all
noble sufferance.

Sicinius Velutus : Pass no further.

Coriolanus : Ha! what is that?

Junius Brutus : It will be dangerous to go on: no further.

Coriolanus : What makes this change?

Menenius Agrippa : The matter?

Cominius : Hath he not pass'd the noble and the common?

Junius Brutus : Cominius, no.

Coriolanus : Have I had children's voices?

First Senator : Tribunes, give way; he shall to the market-place.

Junius Brutus : The people are incensed against him.

Sicinius Velutus : Stop, [p]Or all will fall in broil.

Coriolanus : Are these your herd? [p]Must these have voices, that can yield them
now [p]And straight disclaim their tongues? What are [p]your
offices? [p]You being their mouths, why rule you not their
teeth? [p]Have you not set them on?

Menenius Agrippa : Be calm, be calm.

Coriolanus : It is a purposed thing, and grows by plot, [p]To curb the will of the
nobility: [p]Suffer't, and live with such as cannot rule [p]Nor ever
will be ruled.

Junius Brutus : Call't not a plot: [p]The people cry you mock'd them, and of
late, [p]When corn was given them gratis, you repined; [p]Scandal'd
the suppliants for the people, call'd them [p]Time-pleasers,
flatterers, foes to nobleness.

Coriolanus : Why, this was known before.

Junius Brutus : Not to them all.

Coriolanus : Have you inform'd them sithence?

Junius Brutus : How! I inform them!

Coriolanus : You are like to do such business.

Junius Brutus : Not unlike, [p]Each way, to better yours.

Coriolanus : Why then should I be consul? By yond clouds, [p]Let me deserve so ill
as you, and make me [p]Your fellow tribune.

Sicinius Velutus : You show too much of that [p]For which the people stir: if you will
pass [p]To where you are bound, you must inquire your way, [p]Which
you are out of, with a gentler spirit, [p]Or never be so noble as a
consul, [p]Nor yoke with him for tribune.

Menenius Agrippa : Let's be calm.

Cominius : The people are abused; set on. This paltering [p]Becomes not Rome, nor
has Coriolanus [p]Deserved this so dishonour'd rub, laid falsely [p]I'
the plain way of his merit.

Coriolanus : Tell me of corn! [p]This was my speech, and I will speak't again--

Menenius Agrippa : Not now, not now.

First Senator : Not in this heat, sir, now.

Coriolanus : Now, as I live, I will. My nobler friends, [p]I crave their
pardons: [p]For the mutable, rank-scented many, let them [p]Regard me
as I do not flatter, and [p]Therein behold themselves: I say
again, [p]In soothing them, we nourish 'gainst our senate [p]The
cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition, [p]Which we ourselves have
plough'd for, sow'd, [p]and scatter'd, [p]By mingling them with us,
the honour'd number, [p]Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but
that [p]Which they have given to beggars.

Menenius Agrippa : Well, no more.

First Senator : No more words, we beseech you.

Coriolanus : How! no more! [p]As for my country I have shed my blood, [p]Not
fearing outward force, so shall my lungs [p]Coin words till their
decay against those measles, [p]Which we disdain should tatter us, yet
sought [p]The very way to catch them.

Junius Brutus : You speak o' the people, [p]As if you were a god to punish, not [p]A
man of their infirmity.

Sicinius Velutus : 'Twere well [p]We let the people know't.

Menenius Agrippa : What, what? his choler?

Coriolanus : Choler! [p]Were I as patient as the midnight sleep, [p]By Jove,
'twould be my mind!

Sicinius Velutus : It is a mind [p]That shall remain a poison where it is, [p]Not poison
any further.

Coriolanus : Shall remain! [p]Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you [p]His
absolute 'shall'?

Cominius : 'Twas from the canon.

Coriolanus : 'Shall'! [p]O good but most unwise patricians! why, [p]You grave but
reckless senators, have you thus [p]Given Hydra here to choose an
officer, [p]That with his peremptory 'shall,' being but [p]The horn
and noise o' the monster's, wants not spirit [p]To say he'll turn your
current in a ditch, [p]And make your channel his? If he have
power [p]Then vail your ignorance; if none, awake [p]Your dangerous
lenity. If you are learn'd, [p]Be not as common fools; if you are
not, [p]Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians, [p]If they
be senators: and they are no less, [p]When, both your voices blended,
the great'st taste [p]Most palates theirs. They choose their
magistrate, [p]And such a one as he, who puts his 'shall,' [p]His
popular 'shall' against a graver bench [p]Than ever frown in Greece.
By Jove himself! [p]It makes the consuls base: and my soul aches [p]To
know, when two authorities are up, [p]Neither supreme, how soon
confusion [p]May enter 'twixt the gap of both and take [p]The one by
the other.

Cominius : Well, on to the market-place.

Coriolanus : Whoever gave that counsel, to give forth [p]The corn o' the storehouse
gratis, as 'twas used [p]Sometime in Greece,--

Menenius Agrippa : Well, well, no more of that.

Coriolanus : Though there the people had more absolute power, [p]I say, they
nourish'd disobedience, fed [p]The ruin of the state.

Junius Brutus : Why, shall the people give [p]One that speaks thus their voice?

Coriolanus : I'll give my reasons, [p]More worthier than their voices. They know
the corn [p]Was not our recompense, resting well assured [p]That ne'er
did service for't: being press'd to the war, [p]Even when the navel of
the state was touch'd, [p]They would not thread the gates. This kind
of service [p]Did not deserve corn gratis. Being i' the war [p]Their
mutinies and revolts, wherein they show'd [p]Most valour, spoke not
for them: the accusation [p]Which they have often made against the
senate, [p]All cause unborn, could never be the motive [p]Of our so
frank donation. Well, what then? [p]How shall this bisson multitude
digest [p]The senate's courtesy? Let deeds express [p]What's like to
be their words: 'we did request it; [p]We are the greater poll, and in
true fear [p]They gave us our demands.' Thus we debase [p]The nature
of our seats and make the rabble [p]Call our cares fears; which will
in time [p]Break ope the locks o' the senate and bring in [p]The crows
to peck the eagles.

Menenius Agrippa : Come, enough.

Junius Brutus : Enough, with over-measure.

Coriolanus : No, take more: [p]What may be sworn by, both divine and human, [p]Seal
what I end withal! This double worship, [p]Where one part does disdain
with cause, the other [p]Insult without all reason, where gentry,
title, wisdom, [p]Cannot conclude but by the yea and no [p]Of general
ignorance,--it must omit [p]Real necessities, and give way the
while [p]To unstable slightness: purpose so barr'd, [p]it
follows, [p]Nothing is done to purpose. Therefore, beseech
you,-- [p]You that will be less fearful than discreet, [p]That love
the fundamental part of state [p]More than you doubt the change on't,
that prefer [p]A noble life before a long, and wish [p]To jump a body
with a dangerous physic [p]That's sure of death without it, at once
pluck out [p]The multitudinous tongue; let them not lick [p]The sweet
which is their poison: your dishonour [p]Mangles true judgment and
bereaves the state [p]Of that integrity which should become't, [p]Not
having the power to do the good it would, [p]For the in which doth
control't.

Junius Brutus : Has said enough.

Sicinius Velutus : Has spoken like a traitor, and shall answer [p]As traitors do.

Coriolanus : Thou wretch, despite o'erwhelm thee! [p]What should the people do with
these bald tribunes? [p]On whom depending, their obedience fails [p]To
the greater bench: in a rebellion, [p]When what's not meet, but what
must be, was law, [p]Then were they chosen: in a better hour, [p]Let
what is meet be said it must be meet, [p]And throw their power i' the
dust.

Junius Brutus : Manifest treason!

Sicinius Velutus : This a consul? no.

Junius Brutus : The aediles, ho! [p][Enter an AEdile] [p]Let him be apprehended.

Sicinius Velutus : Go, call the people: [p][Exit AEdile] [p]in whose name
myself [p]Attach thee as a traitorous innovator, [p]A foe to the
public weal: obey, I charge thee, [p]And follow to thine answer.

Coriolanus : Hence, old goat!

Cominius : Aged sir, hands off.

Coriolanus : Hence, rotten thing! or I shall shake thy bones [p]Out of thy
garments.

Sicinius Velutus : Help, ye citizens! [p][Enter a rabble of Citizens (Plebeians),
with] [p]the AEdiles]

Menenius Agrippa : On both sides more respect.

Sicinius Velutus : Here's he that would take from you all your power.

Junius Brutus : Seize him, AEdiles!

Citizens : Down with him! down with him! [p][They all bustle about CORIOLANUS,
crying] [p]'Tribunes!' 'Patricians!' 'Citizens!' 'What,
ho!' [p]'Sicinius!' 'Brutus!' 'Coriolanus!' 'Citizens!' [p]'Peace,
peace, peace!' 'Stay, hold, peace!'

Menenius Agrippa : What is about to be? I am out of breath; [p]Confusion's near; I cannot
speak. You, tribunes [p]To the people! Coriolanus, patience! [p]Speak,
good Sicinius.

Sicinius Velutus : Hear me, people; peace!

Citizens : Let's hear our tribune: peace Speak, speak, speak.

Sicinius Velutus : You are at point to lose your liberties: [p]CORIOLANUS would have all
from you; CORIOLANUS, [p]Whom late you have named for consul.

Menenius Agrippa : Fie, fie, fie! [p]This is the way to kindle, not to quench.

First Senator : To unbuild the city and to lay all flat.

Sicinius Velutus : What is the city but the people?

Citizens : True, [p]The people are the city.

Junius Brutus : By the consent of all, we were establish'd [p]The people's
magistrates.

Citizens : You so remain.

Menenius Agrippa : And so are like to do.

Cominius : That is the way to lay the city flat; [p]To bring the roof to the
foundation, [p]And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges, [p]In heaps
and piles of ruin.

Sicinius Velutus : This deserves death.

Junius Brutus : Or let us stand to our authority, [p]Or let us lose it. We do here
pronounce, [p]Upon the part o' the people, in whose power [p]We were
elected theirs, CORIOLANUS is worthy [p]Of present death.

Sicinius Velutus : Therefore lay hold of him; [p]Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from
thence [p]Into destruction cast him.

Junius Brutus : AEdiles, seize him!

Citizens : Yield, CORIOLANUS, yield!

Menenius Agrippa : Hear me one word; [p]Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word.

Aedile : Peace, peace!

Menenius Agrippa : [To BRUTUS] Be that you seem, truly your [p]country's friend, [p]And
temperately proceed to what you would [p]Thus violently redress.

Junius Brutus : Sir, those cold ways, [p]That seem like prudent helps, are very
poisonous [p]Where the disease is violent. Lay hands upon him, [p]And
bear him to the rock.

Coriolanus : No, I'll die here. [p][Drawing his sword] [p]There's some among you
have beheld me fighting: [p]Come, try upon yourselves what you have
seen me.

Menenius Agrippa : Down with that sword! Tribunes, withdraw awhile.

Junius Brutus : Lay hands upon him.

Cominius : Help CORIOLANUS, help, [p]You that be noble; help him, young and old!

Citizens : Down with him, down with him! [p][In this mutiny, the Tribunes, the
AEdiles, and the] [p]People, are beat in]

Menenius Agrippa : Go, get you to your house; be gone, away! [p]All will be naught else.

Second Senator : Get you gone.

Cominius : Stand fast; [p]We have as many friends as enemies.

Menenius Agrippa : Sham it be put to that?

First Senator : The gods forbid! [p]I prithee, noble friend, home to thy
house; [p]Leave us to cure this cause.

Menenius Agrippa : For 'tis a sore upon us, [p]You cannot tent yourself: be gone, beseech
you.

Cominius : Come, sir, along with us.

Coriolanus : I would they were barbarians--as they are, [p]Though in Rome
litter'd--not Romans--as they are not, [p]Though calved i' the porch
o' the Capitol--

Menenius Agrippa : Be gone; [p]Put not your worthy rage into your tongue; [p]One time
will owe another.

Coriolanus : On fair ground [p]I could beat forty of them.

Cominius : I could myself [p]Take up a brace o' the best of them; yea, the [p]two
tribunes: [p]But now 'tis odds beyond arithmetic; [p]And manhood is
call'd foolery, when it stands [p]Against a falling fabric. Will you
hence, [p]Before the tag return? whose rage doth rend [p]Like
interrupted waters and o'erbear [p]What they are used to bear.

Menenius Agrippa : Pray you, be gone: [p]I'll try whether my old wit be in
request [p]With those that have but little: this must be
patch'd [p]With cloth of any colour.

Cominius : Nay, come away.

Patrician : This man has marr'd his fortune.

Menenius Agrippa : His nature is too noble for the world: [p]He would not flatter Neptune
for his trident, [p]Or Jove for's power to thunder. His heart's his
mouth: [p]What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent; [p]And,
being angry, does forget that ever [p]He heard the name of
death. [p][A noise within] [p]Here's goodly work!

Second Patrician : I would they were abed!

Menenius Agrippa : I would they were in Tiber! What the vengeance! [p]Could he not speak
'em fair?

Sicinius Velutus : Where is this viper [p]That would depopulate the city and [p]Be every
man himself?

Menenius Agrippa : You worthy tribunes,--

Sicinius Velutus : He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rock [p]With rigorous hands: he
hath resisted law, [p]And therefore law shall scorn him further
trial [p]Than the severity of the public power [p]Which he so sets at
nought.

First Citizen : He shall well know [p]The noble tribunes are the people's
mouths, [p]And we their hands.

Citizens : He shall, sure on't.

Menenius Agrippa : Sir, sir,--

Sicinius Velutus : Peace!

Menenius Agrippa : Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt [p]With modest warrant.

Sicinius Velutus : Sir, how comes't that you [p]Have holp to make this rescue?

Menenius Agrippa : Hear me speak: [p]As I do know the consul's worthiness, [p]So can I
name his faults,--

Sicinius Velutus : Consul! what consul?

Menenius Agrippa : The consul Coriolanus.

Junius Brutus : He consul!

Citizens : No, no, no, no, no.

Menenius Agrippa : If, by the tribunes' leave, and yours, good people, [p]I may be heard,
I would crave a word or two; [p]The which shall turn you to no further
harm [p]Than so much loss of time.

Sicinius Velutus : Speak briefly then; [p]For we are peremptory to dispatch [p]This
viperous traitor: to eject him hence [p]Were but one danger, and to
keep him here [p]Our certain death: therefore it is decreed [p]He dies
to-night.

Menenius Agrippa : Now the good gods forbid [p]That our renowned Rome, whose
gratitude [p]Towards her deserved children is enroll'd [p]In Jove's
own book, like an unnatural dam [p]Should now eat up her own!

Sicinius Velutus : He's a disease that must be cut away.

Menenius Agrippa : O, he's a limb that has but a disease; [p]Mortal, to cut it off; to
cure it, easy. [p]What has he done to Rome that's worthy
death? [p]Killing our enemies, the blood he hath lost-- [p]Which, I
dare vouch, is more than that he hath, [p]By many an ounce--he dropp'd
it for his country; [p]And what is left, to lose it by his
country, [p]Were to us all, that do't and suffer it, [p]A brand to the
end o' the world.

Sicinius Velutus : This is clean kam.

Junius Brutus : Merely awry: when he did love his country, [p]It honour'd him.

Menenius Agrippa : The service of the foot [p]Being once gangrened, is not then
respected [p]For what before it was.

Junius Brutus : We'll hear no more. [p]Pursue him to his house, and pluck him
thence: [p]Lest his infection, being of catching nature, [p]Spread
further.

Menenius Agrippa : One word more, one word. [p]This tiger-footed rage, when it shall
find [p]The harm of unscann'd swiftness, will too late [p]Tie leaden
pounds to's heels. Proceed by process; [p]Lest parties, as he is
beloved, break out, [p]And sack great Rome with Romans.

Junius Brutus : If it were so,--

Sicinius Velutus : What do ye talk? [p]Have we not had a taste of his obedience? [p]Our
aediles smote? ourselves resisted? Come.

Menenius Agrippa : Consider this: he has been bred i' the wars [p]Since he could draw a
sword, and is ill school'd [p]In bolted language; meal and bran
together [p]He throws without distinction. Give me leave, [p]I'll go
to him, and undertake to bring him [p]Where he shall answer, by a
lawful form, [p]In peace, to his utmost peril.

First Senator : Noble tribunes, [p]It is the humane way: the other course [p]Will
prove too bloody, and the end of it [p]Unknown to the beginning.

Sicinius Velutus : Noble Menenius, [p]Be you then as the people's officer. [p]Masters,
lay down your weapons.

Junius Brutus : Go not home.

Sicinius Velutus : Meet on the market-place. We'll attend you there: [p]Where, if you
bring not CORIOLANUS, we'll proceed [p]In our first way.

Menenius Agrippa : I'll bring him to you. [p][To the Senators] [p]Let me desire your
company: he must come, [p]Or what is worst will follow.

First Senator : Pray you, let's to him.

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Next: Act 3 - Scene 2

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