Coriolanus by William Shakespeare
Act 5 - Scene 4
Rome. A public place.
Menenius Agrippa : See you yond coign o' the Capitol, yond
[p]corner-stone?
Sicinius Velutus : Why, what of that?
Menenius Agrippa : If it be possible for you to displace it with your
[p]little finger,
there is some hope the ladies of
[p]Rome, especially his mother, may
prevail with him.
[p]But I say there is no hope in't: our throats
are
[p]sentenced and stay upon execution.
Sicinius Velutus : Is't possible that so short a time can alter the
[p]condition of a
man!
Menenius Agrippa : There is differency between a grub and a butterfly;
[p]yet your
butterfly was a grub. This CORIOLANUS is grown
[p]from man to dragon:
he has wings; he's more than a
[p]creeping thing.
Sicinius Velutus : He loved his mother dearly.
Menenius Agrippa : So did he me: and he no more remembers his mother
[p]now than an
eight-year-old horse. The tartness
[p]of his face sours ripe grapes:
when he walks, he
[p]moves like an engine, and the ground shrinks
before
[p]his treading: he is able to pierce a corslet with
[p]his
eye; talks like a knell, and his hum is a
[p]battery. He sits in his
state, as a thing made for
[p]Alexander. What he bids be done is
finished with
[p]his bidding. He wants nothing of a god but
eternity
[p]and a heaven to throne in.
Sicinius Velutus : Yes, mercy, if you report him truly.
Menenius Agrippa : I paint him in the character. Mark what mercy his
[p]mother shall
bring from him: there is no more mercy
[p]in him than there is milk in
a male tiger; that
[p]shall our poor city find: and all this is long
of
[p]you.
Sicinius Velutus : The gods be good unto us!
Menenius Agrippa : No, in such a case the gods will not be good unto
[p]us. When we
banished him, we respected not them;
[p]and, he returning to break our
necks, they respect not us.
Messenger : Sir, if you'ld save your life, fly to your house:
[p]The plebeians
have got your fellow-tribune
[p]And hale him up and down, all
swearing, if
[p]The Roman ladies bring not comfort home,
[p]They'll
give him death by inches.
Sicinius Velutus : What's the news?
Second Messenger : Good news, good news; the ladies have prevail'd,
[p]The Volscians are
dislodged, and CORIOLANUS gone:
[p]A merrier day did never yet greet
Rome,
[p]No, not the expulsion of the Tarquins.
Sicinius Velutus : Friend,
[p]Art thou certain this is true? is it most certain?
Second Messenger : As certain as I know the sun is fire:
[p]Where have you lurk'd, that
you make doubt of it?
[p]Ne'er through an arch so hurried the blown
tide,
[p]As the recomforted through the gates. Why, hark
you!
[p][Trumpets; hautboys; drums beat; all together]
[p]The
trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries and fifes,
[p]Tabours and cymbals and
the shouting Romans,
[p]Make the sun dance. Hark you!
Menenius Agrippa : This is good news:
[p]I will go meet the ladies. This Volumnia
[p]Is
worth of consuls, senators, patricians,
[p]A city full; of tribunes,
such as you,
[p]A sea and land full. You have pray'd well
to-day:
[p]This morning for ten thousand of your throats
[p]I'd not
have given a doit. Hark, how they joy!
Sicinius Velutus : First, the gods bless you for your tidings; next,
[p]Accept my
thankfulness.
Second Messenger : Sir, we have all
[p]Great cause to give great thanks.
Sicinius Velutus : They are near the city?
Second Messenger : Almost at point to enter.
Sicinius Velutus : We will meet them,
[p]And help the joy.
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Next: Act 5 - Scene 5
