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CORIOLANUS.
[Act V.
ACT V.
SCENE I .—Rome . A public place.
Enter Menenius , Cominius, Sicinius,Brutus, and Others.
Men. No, I’ll not go: you hear, what hehath said,
Which was sometime his general; who lov’d himIn a most dear particular. He call’d me, father :But what o’that ? Go, you that banish’d him,
A mile beiore his tent fall down, and kneelThe way into his mercy : Nay, if he coy’dTo hear Cominius speak, I’ll keep at home.Com. He would not seem to know me.
Men. Do you hear ?
Com. Yet one time he did call me by myname:I urg’d our old acquaintance, and the dropsThat we have bled together. CoriolanusHe would not answer to : forbade all names;He was a kind of nothing, titleless,
Till he had forg’d himself a name i’the fireOf burning Home.
Men. Why, so ; you have made good work:A pair of tribunes that have rack’d tor Rome ,To make coals cheap : A noble memory !
Com. I minded him, how royal ’twas to pardon,When it was less expected: He replied,
It was a bare petition of a stateTo one whom they had punish’d.
Men. Very well:
Could he say less ?
Com. I offer’d to awaken his regardFor his private friends: His answer to me was,He could not stay to pick them in a pileOf noisome, musty chaff: He said, ’twas folly,For one poor grain or two, to leave unburnt,And still to nose the offence.
Men. For one poor grainOr two ? I am one of those ; his mother, wife,His child, and this brave fellow too, we are thegrains:
You are the musty chaff; and you are smeltAbove the moon : We must be burnt for you.
Sic. Nay, pray, be patient: Ifyou refuse your aidIn this so never-heeded help, yet do notUpbraid us with our distress. But, sure, if youWould be your country’s pleader, your goodtongue,
More than the instant army we can make,Might stop our countryman.
Men. No; I’ll not meddle.
Sic. I pray you, go to him.
Men. What should I do ?
Bru. Only make trial what your love can doFor Rome , towards Marcius.
Men. Well, and say that MarciusReturn me, as Cominius is return’d,
Unheard; what then ?—
But as a discontented friend, grief-shotWith his unkindness ? Say’t be so ?
Sic. Yet your good willMust have that thanks from Rome , after themeasure
As you intended well.
Men. I’ll undertake it:
I think, he’ll hear me. Yet to bite his lip,
And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me.He was not taken well; he had not din’d:
The veins unfill’d, our blood is cold, and thenWe pout upon the morning, are unaptTo give or to forgive ; but, when w r e have stuff’dThese pipes and these conveyances of our bloodWith wine and feeding, we have suppler soulsThan in our priest-like fasts: therefore I’llwatch him
Till he be dieted to my request,
And then I’ll set upon him.
Bru. Youknowthe veryroad into his kindness,And cannot lose your way.
Men. Good faith, I’ll prove him.
Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledgeOf my success. \fExit.
Com. He’ll never hear him.
Sic. Not ?
Com. I tell you, he does sit in gold, his eyeRed as ’twould burn Rome ; and his injuryThe gaoler to his pity. I kneel’d before him :’Twas very faintly he said, liise ; dismiss’d meThus, with his speechless hand: What he woulddo,
He sent in writing after me ; what he would not.Bound with an oath, to yield to his conditions:So, that all hope is vain,
Unless his noble mother, and his wife ;
Who, as I hear, mean to solicit him
For mercy to his country. Therefore, let’s hence,
And with our fair entreaties haste them on.
SfExcunt.
SCENE II.— An advanced post of the Volciancamp before Rome . The Guard at their sta-tions.
Enter to them, Menenius.
1 G. Stay: Whence are you ?
2 G. Stand, and go back.
Men. You guard like men ; ’tis well: But,by your leave,
I am an officer of state, and comeTo speak with Coriolanus.
1 G. From whence ?
1 G. You may not pass, you must return:our general
Will no more hear from thence.