Sic. I do demand,
If you submit you to the people's voices,

640
Allow their officers, and are content
To suffer lawful censure for such faults
As shall be prov'd upon you.

Cor. I am content.

Men. Lo, citizens, he says, he is content :
The warlike service he has done, consider ; think
Upon the wounds his body bears, which shew
Like graves i' the holy church-yard.
Cor. Scratches with briars, scars to move laughter

only.
Men. Consider further,

650
That when he speaks not like a citizen,
You find him like a soldier: Do not take
His rougher accents for malicious sounds;
But, as I say, such as become a soldier,
Rather than envy you.

Com. Well, well, no more.

Cor. What is the matter,
That being past for consul with full voice,
I am so dishonour'd, that the very hour
You take it off again ?

660
Sic. Answer to us.
Cor. Say then : 'tis true, I ought so.

Sic. We charge you, that you have contriv'd to take
From Rome all season'd office, and to wind
Yourself into a power tyrannical;
For which, you are a traitor to the people.
Cor. How ! Traitor ?

Men,

Men. Nay; temperately : Your promise.

Cor. The fires i' the lowest hell fold in the people!
Call me their traitor - Thou injurious tribune ! 670
Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,
In thy hands clutch'd as many millions, in
Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say,
Thou liest, unto thee, with a voice as free
As I do pray the gods.

Sic. Mark you this, people ?
All. To the rock with him! to the rock with him!

Sic. Peace.
We need not lay new matter to his charge:
What you have seen him do, and heard him speak,
Beating your officers, cursing yourselves, 681
Opposing laws with strokes, and here defying
Those whose great power must try him ; even this,
So criminal, and in such capital kind,
Deserves the extremest death,

Bru. But since he hath
Sery'd well for Rome-

Cor. What do you prate of service ?
Bru. I talk of that, that know it.
Cor. You!

690 Men. Is this the promise that you made your mo

ther?
Com. Know, I pray you

Cor. I'll know no further :
Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
Vagabond exile, fleaing : Pent to linger
But with a grain a day, I would not buy

a

Their mercy at the price of one fair word;
Nor check my courage for what they can give,
To have't with saying, Good morrow!
Sic. For that he has

700
(As much as in him lies) from time to time
Envy'd against the people, seeking means
To pluck away their power; as now at last
Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence
Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers
That do distribute it; In the name o’the people,
And in the power of us the tribunes, we,
Even from this instant, banish him our city ;
In peril of precipitation
From off the rock Tarpeian, never more 710
To enter our Rome gates : l’the people's name,
I say, it shall be so.

All. It shall be so, it shall be so; let him away: He's banish'd, and it shall be so. Com. Hear me, my masters, and my common

friends
Sic. He's sentenc'd: no more hearing.

Com. Let me speak :
I have been consul, and can shew from Rome,
Her enemies' marks lipon me.

I do love
My country's good, with a respect more tender, 720
More holy, and profound, than mine own life,
My dear wife's estimate, her womb's increase,
And treasure of my loins : then if I would

Speak that

Sic. We know your drift: Speak what?

:

Bru. There's no more to be said, but he is banish'd, As enemy to the people, and his country: It shall be so. All. It shall be so, it shall be so.

729 Cor. You common cry of curs ! whose breath I hate As reek o'the rotten fens, whose loves I prize As the dead carcasses of unburied men That do corrupt my air, I banish you; And here remain with your uncertainty ! Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts ! Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes, Fan you

into despair! Have the power still To banish your defenders : 'till, at length, Your ignorance (which finds not, 'till it feels; Making but reservation of yourselves,

740 Still your own foes) deliver you, as most Abated captives, to some nation That won you without blows ! Despising, For you, the city, thus I turn my back: There is a world elsewhere.

[Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, and others.

The People shout, and throw up their Caps. £d. The people's enemy is gone, is gone ! All. Our enemy is banish'd! he is gone! Hoo!

hoo! Sic. Go, see him out at gates, and follow him, As he hath follow'd you, with all despight; Give him deserv'd vexation. Let a guard 750 Attend us through the city.

All. Come, come, let us see him out at gates;

come:

The gods preserve our noble tribunes ! -Come.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV. SCENE I.

Before the Gates of Rome. Enter CORIOLANUS, Vo.

LUMNIA, VIRGILIA, MENENIUS, COMINIUS,
with the Young Nobility of Rome.

Coriolanus.
Come, leave your tears; a brief farewel :--the beast
With
many

heads butts me away.-Nay, mother,
Where is your ancient courage? You were us'd
To say, extremity was the trier of spirits ;
That common chances common men could bear;
That, when the sea was calm, all boats alike
Shew'd mastership in floating : fortune's blows,
When most struck home, being gentle wounded,

craves

10

A noble cunning: you were us'd to load me
With precepts, that would make invincible
The heart that conn'd them.
: Vir. O heavens! O heavens!

Cor. Nay, I pr’ythee, woman-
Vol. Now the red pestilence strike all trades in

Rome,
And occupations perish!

Ciri
I