§70
CORIOLANUS.
[Act I.
Mar. Go, get you home, you fragments !
Enter a Messenger.
Mar. Here: What’s the matter ?
Mess. The news is, sir, the Voices are in arms.Mar. I am glad on’t; then we shall havemeans to vent
Our musty superfluity :—See, our best elders.
Enter Cominius, Titus Lartius, and otherSenators; Junius Brutus , and Sicinius Vi-ce 1 tus.
1 Sen. Marcius , ’tis true, that you have latelytold us ;
The Voices are in arms.
Mar. They have a leader,
Tullus Aufidius, that will put you to’t.
I sin in envying his nobility :
And were I any thing but what I am,
I would wish me only he. '
Com. You have fought together.
Mar. Were half to half the world by the ears,and he
Upon my party, I’d revolt, to makeOnly my wars with him: he is a lionThat I am proud to hunt.
Attend upon Cominius to these wars.
Com. It is your former promise.
Mar. Sir, it is ;
And I am constant.—Titus Lartius, thouShalt see me once more strike at Tullus’ face:What, art thou stiff'? stand’st out ?
I’ll lean upon one crutch, and fight with the other,Ere stay behind this business.
Men. O, true bred !
1 Sen. Your company to the Capitol ; where,I know,
Our greatest friends attend us.
Tit. Lead you on:
Follow, Cominius ; we must follow you ;
Bight worthy you priority.
Com.. Noble Lartius!
1 Sen. Hence ! to your homes, be gone.
[[To the Citizens.
Mar. Nay, let them follow:
The Voices have much corn ; take these ratsthither,
To gnaw their garners:—Worshipful mutineers,Y our valour puts well forth: pray, follow.
|~_Exeunt Senators, Com. Mar. Tit. andMenen. Citizens steal away.
Sic. Was ever man so proud as is this Marcius ?Bru. He has no equal.
Sic. When we were chosen tribunes for thepeople,—
Bru. Mark’d you his lip, and eyes ?
Sic. Nay, but his taunts.
Bru. Being mov’d, he will not spare to girdthe gods.
Sic. Be-mock the modest moon.
Bru. The present w r ars devour him: he isgrown
Too proud to be so valiant.
Sic. Such a nature,
Tickled with good success, disdains the shadowWhich he treads on at noon: But I do wonder,His insolence can brook to be commandedUnder Cominius.
Bru. Fame, at the which he aims,—
In whom already he is well grac’d,—cannotBetter be held, nor more attain’d, than byA place below the first: for what miscarriesShall be the general’s fault, though he performTo the utmost of a man ; and giddy censureWill then cry out of Marcius , O, if heHad borne the business !
Sic. Besides, if things go w r ell,
Opinion, that so sticks on Marcius , shallOf his demerits rob Cominius.
Bru. Come:
Half all Cominius’ honours are to Marcius, !Though Marcius earn’d them not; and all hisfaults
To Marcius shall be honours, though, indeed,In aught he merit not.
Sic. Let’s hence, and hearHow the despatch is made ; and in what fashion,More than in singularity, he goesUpon his present action.
Bru. Let’s along, \fExev.nt.
SCENE II.— Corioli. The Senate-House.Enter Titus Aufidius, and certain Senators.
1 Sen. So, your opinion is, Aufidius,
That they of Home are enter’d in our counsels,And know how we proceed.
Auf. Is it not yours ?
What ever hath been thought on in this state,That could be brought to bodily act ere Rome Had circumvention ? ’Tis not four days gone,Since I heard thence ; these are the words: Ithink,
I have the letter here; yes, here it is: ^Reads'.They have press’d a. power, but it is not knownWhether for east, or west: The dearth is great;The people mutinous : and it is rumour’d,Cominius, Marcius your old enemy,
( Who is of Rome worse hated than of you,)
And Titus Lartius, a most valiant Roman,
These three lead on this ’preparation,
Whither ’tis bent: most likely, ’tis for you :Consider of it.
1 Sen. Our army’s in the field :
We never yet made doubt but Rome was readyTo answer us.
Auf. Nor did you think it folly,
To keep your great pretences veil’d, till whenThey needs must show themselves; which inthe hatching,