Coriolanus by William Shakespeare
Act 5 - Scene 3
The tent of Coriolanus.
Coriolanus : We will before the walls of Rome tomorrow
[p]Set down our host. My
partner in this action,
[p]You must report to the Volscian lords, how
plainly
[p]I have borne this business.
Tullus Aufidius : Only their ends
[p]You have respected; stopp'd your ears
against
[p]The general suit of Rome; never admitted
[p]A private
whisper, no, not with such friends
[p]That thought them sure of you.
Coriolanus : This last old man,
[p]Whom with a crack'd heart I have sent to
Rome,
[p]Loved me above the measure of a father;
[p]Nay, godded me,
indeed. Their latest refuge
[p]Was to send him; for whose old love I
have,
[p]Though I show'd sourly to him, once more offer'd
[p]The first
conditions, which they did refuse
[p]And cannot now accept; to grace
him only
[p]That thought he could do more, a very little
[p]I have
yielded to: fresh embassies and suits,
[p]Nor from the state nor
private friends, hereafter
[p]Will I lend ear to. Ha! what shout is
this?
[p][Shout within]
[p]Shall I be tempted to infringe my vow
[p]In
the same time 'tis made? I will not.
[p][Enter in mourning habits,
VIRGILIA, VOLUMNIA,]
[p]leading young CORIOLANUS, VALERIA, and
Attendants]
[p]My wife comes foremost; then the honour'd
mould
[p]Wherein this trunk was framed, and in her hand
[p]The
grandchild to her blood. But, out, affection!
[p]All bond and
privilege of nature, break!
[p]Let it be virtuous to be
obstinate.
[p]What is that curt'sy worth? or those doves'
eyes,
[p]Which can make gods forsworn? I melt, and am not
[p]Of
stronger earth than others. My mother bows;
[p]As if Olympus to a
molehill should
[p]In supplication nod: and my young boy
[p]Hath an
aspect of intercession, which
[p]Great nature cries 'Deny not.' let
the Volsces
[p]Plough Rome and harrow Italy: I'll never
[p]Be such a
gosling to obey instinct, but stand,
[p]As if a man were author of
himself
[p]And knew no other kin.
Virgilia : My lord and husband!
Coriolanus : These eyes are not the same I wore in Rome.
Virgilia : The sorrow that delivers us thus changed
[p]Makes you think so.
Coriolanus : Like a dull actor now,
[p]I have forgot my part, and I am out,
[p]Even
to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh,
[p]Forgive my tyranny; but do
not say
[p]For that 'Forgive our Romans.' O, a kiss
[p]Long as my
exile, sweet as my revenge!
[p]Now, by the jealous queen of heaven,
that kiss
[p]I carried from thee, dear; and my true lip
[p]Hath
virgin'd it e'er since. You gods! I prate,
[p]And the most noble
mother of the world
[p]Leave unsaluted: sink, my knee, i' the
earth;
[p][Kneels]
[p]Of thy deep duty more impression show
[p]Than
that of common sons.
Volumnia : O, stand up blest!
[p]Whilst, with no softer cushion than the
flint,
[p]I kneel before thee; and unproperly
[p]Show duty, as
mistaken all this while
[p]Between the child and parent.
Coriolanus : What is this?
[p]Your knees to me? to your corrected son?
[p]Then let
the pebbles on the hungry beach
[p]Fillip the stars; then let the
mutinous winds
[p]Strike the proud cedars 'gainst the fiery
sun;
[p]Murdering impossibility, to make
[p]What cannot be, slight
work.
Volumnia : Thou art my warrior;
[p]I holp to frame thee. Do you know this lady?
Coriolanus : The noble sister of Publicola,
[p]The moon of Rome, chaste as the
icicle
[p]That's curdied by the frost from purest snow
[p]And hangs on
Dian's temple: dear Valeria!
Volumnia : This is a poor epitome of yours,
[p]Which by the interpretation of
full time
[p]May show like all yourself.
Coriolanus : The god of soldiers,
[p]With the consent of supreme Jove,
inform
[p]Thy thoughts with nobleness; that thou mayst prove
[p]To
shame unvulnerable, and stick i' the wars
[p]Like a great sea-mark,
standing every flaw,
[p]And saving those that eye thee!
Volumnia : Your knee, sirrah.
Coriolanus : That's my brave boy!
Volumnia : Even he, your wife, this lady, and myself,
[p]Are suitors to you.
Coriolanus : I beseech you, peace:
[p]Or, if you'ld ask, remember this
before:
[p]The thing I have forsworn to grant may never
[p]Be held by
you denials. Do not bid me
[p]Dismiss my soldiers, or
capitulate
[p]Again with Rome's mechanics: tell me not
[p]Wherein I
seem unnatural: desire not
[p]To ally my rages and revenges
with
[p]Your colder reasons.
Volumnia : O, no more, no more!
[p]You have said you will not grant us any
thing;
[p]For we have nothing else to ask, but that
[p]Which you deny
already: yet we will ask;
[p]That, if you fail in our request, the
blame
[p]May hang upon your hardness: therefore hear us.
Coriolanus : Aufidius, and you Volsces, mark; for we'll
[p]Hear nought from Rome in
private. Your request?
Volumnia : Should we be silent and not speak, our raiment
[p]And state of bodies
would bewray what life
[p]We have led since thy exile. Think with
thyself
[p]How more unfortunate than all living women
[p]Are we come
hither: since that thy sight,
[p]which should
[p]Make our eyes flow
with joy, hearts dance
[p]with comforts,
[p]Constrains them weep and
shake with fear and sorrow;
[p]Making the mother, wife and child to
see
[p]The son, the husband and the father tearing
[p]His country's
bowels out. And to poor we
[p]Thine enmity's most capital: thou
barr'st us
[p]Our prayers to the gods, which is a comfort
[p]That all
but we enjoy; for how can we,
[p]Alas, how can we for our country
pray.
[p]Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory,
[p]Whereto
we are bound? alack, or we must lose
[p]The country, our dear nurse,
or else thy person,
[p]Our comfort in the country. We must find
[p]An
evident calamity, though we had
[p]Our wish, which side should win:
for either thou
[p]Must, as a foreign recreant, be led
[p]With
manacles thorough our streets, or else
[p]triumphantly tread on thy
country's ruin,
[p]And bear the palm for having bravely shed
[p]Thy
wife and children's blood. For myself, son,
[p]I purpose not to wait
on fortune till
[p]These wars determine: if I cannot persuade
thee
[p]Rather to show a noble grace to both parts
[p]Than seek the
end of one, thou shalt no sooner
[p]March to assault thy country than
to tread--
[p]Trust to't, thou shalt not--on thy mother's
womb,
[p]That brought thee to this world.
Virgilia : Ay, and mine,
[p]That brought you forth this boy, to keep your
name
[p]Living to time.
Young Coriolanus : A' shall not tread on me;
[p]I'll run away till I am bigger, but then
I'll fight.
Coriolanus : Not of a woman's tenderness to be,
[p]Requires nor child nor woman's
face to see.
[p]I have sat too long.
Volumnia : Nay, go not from us thus.
[p]If it were so that our request did
tend
[p]To save the Romans, thereby to destroy
[p]The Volsces whom you
serve, you might condemn us,
[p]As poisonous of your honour: no; our
suit
[p]Is that you reconcile them: while the Volsces
[p]May say 'This
mercy we have show'd;' the Romans,
[p]'This we received;' and each in
either side
[p]Give the all-hail to thee and cry 'Be blest
[p]For
making up this peace!' Thou know'st, great son,
[p]The end of war's
uncertain, but this certain,
[p]That, if thou conquer Rome, the
benefit
[p]Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name,
[p]Whose
repetition will be dogg'd with curses;
[p]Whose chronicle thus writ:
'The man was noble,
[p]But with his last attempt he wiped it
out;
[p]Destroy'd his country, and his name remains
[p]To the ensuing
age abhorr'd.' Speak to me, son:
[p]Thou hast affected the fine
strains of honour,
[p]To imitate the graces of the gods;
[p]To tear
with thunder the wide cheeks o' the air,
[p]And yet to charge thy
sulphur with a bolt
[p]That should but rive an oak. Why dost not
speak?
[p]Think'st thou it honourable for a noble man
[p]Still to
remember wrongs? Daughter, speak you:
[p]He cares not for your
weeping. Speak thou, boy:
[p]Perhaps thy childishness will move him
more
[p]Than can our reasons. There's no man in the world
[p]More
bound to 's mother; yet here he lets me prate
[p]Like one i' the
stocks. Thou hast never in thy life
[p]Show'd thy dear mother any
courtesy,
[p]When she, poor hen, fond of no second brood,
[p]Has
cluck'd thee to the wars and safely home,
[p]Loaden with honour. Say
my request's unjust,
[p]And spurn me back: but if it be not
so,
[p]Thou art not honest; and the gods will plague thee,
[p]That
thou restrain'st from me the duty which
[p]To a mother's part belongs.
He turns away:
[p]Down, ladies; let us shame him with our knees.
[p]To
his surname Coriolanus 'longs more pride
[p]Than pity to our prayers.
Down: an end;
[p]This is the last: so we will home to Rome,
[p]And die
among our neighbours. Nay, behold 's:
[p]This boy, that cannot tell
what he would have
[p]But kneels and holds up bands for
fellowship,
[p]Does reason our petition with more strength
[p]Than
thou hast to deny 't. Come, let us go:
[p]This fellow had a Volscian
to his mother;
[p]His wife is in Corioli and his child
[p]Like him by
chance. Yet give us our dispatch:
[p]I am hush'd until our city be
a-fire,
[p]And then I'll speak a little.
Coriolanus : O mother, mother!
[p]What have you done? Behold, the heavens do
ope,
[p]The gods look down, and this unnatural scene
[p]They laugh at.
O my mother, mother! O!
[p]You have won a happy victory to
Rome;
[p]But, for your son,--believe it, O, believe it,
[p]Most
dangerously you have with him prevail'd,
[p]If not most mortal to him.
But, let it come.
[p]Aufidius, though I cannot make true wars,
[p]I'll
frame convenient peace. Now, good Aufidius,
[p]Were you in my stead,
would you have heard
[p]A mother less? or granted less, Aufidius?
Tullus Aufidius : I was moved withal.
Coriolanus : I dare be sworn you were:
[p]And, sir, it is no little thing to
make
[p]Mine eyes to sweat compassion. But, good sir,
[p]What peace
you'll make, advise me: for my part,
[p]I'll not to Rome, I'll back
with you; and pray you,
[p]Stand to me in this cause. O mother! wife!
Tullus Aufidius : [Aside] I am glad thou hast set thy mercy and
[p]thy honour
[p]At
difference in thee: out of that I'll work
[p]Myself a former fortune.
Coriolanus : Ay, by and by;
[p][To VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, &c]
[p]But we will drink
together; and you shall bear
[p]A better witness back than words,
which we,
[p]On like conditions, will have counter-seal'd.
[p]Come,
enter with us. Ladies, you deserve
[p]To have a temple built you: all
the swords
[p]In Italy, and her confederate arms,
[p]Could not have
made this peace.
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