Act V.]
CORIOLANUS.
299
2 G. You’ll see your Rome embrac’d withfire, before
You’ll speak with Coriolanus .
Men. Good my friends,
If you have heard your general talk of Rome ,And of his friends there, it is lots to blanks,
My name hath touch’d your ears: it is Menenius.
1 G. Be it so ; go back: the virtue of your nameIs not here passable.
Men. I tell thee, fellow,
Thy general is my lover: I have been
The book of his good acts, whence men have read
His fame unparal'lel’d, haply, amplified ;
For I have ever verified my friends,
(Of whom he’s chief,) with all the size that verityWould without lapsing suffer : nay, sometimes,Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground,
I have tumbled past the throw ; and in his praiseHave, almost, stamp’d the leasing: Therefore,fellow,
1 must have leave to pass.
1 G. ’Faith, sir, if you had told as many liesin his behalf, as you have uttered words in yourown, you should not pass here: no, though itwere as virtuous to lie, as to live chastely.Therefore, go back.
Men. Pr’ythee, fellow, remember my name isMenenius , always factionary on the party of yourgeneral.
2 G. Howsoever you have been his liar, (asyou say, you have,) I am one that, telling trueunder him, must say, you cannot pass. There-fore, go back.
Men. Has he dined, can’st thou tell? for Iwould not speak with him till after dinner.
1 G. You are a Roman, are you ?
Men. I am as thy general is.
1 G. Then you should hate Rome , as he does.Can you, when you have pushed out your gatesthe very defender of them, and, in a violent po-pular ignorance, given your enemy your shield,think to front his revenges with the easy groansof old women, the virginal palms of your daugh-ters, or with the palsied intercession of such adecayed dotant as you seem to be? Can youthink to blow out the intended fire your city isready to flame in, with such weak breath asthis ? No, you are deceived ; therefore, back toRome , and prepare for your execution : you arecondemned, our general has sworn you out ofreprieve and pardon.
Men. Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here,he would use me with estimation.
2 G. Come, my captain knows you not.
Men. I mean, thy general.
1 G. My general cares not for you. Back, Isay, go, lest I let forth your half pint of blood;—back,—that’s the utmost of your having:—hack.
Men. Nay, but fellow, fellow’,—
Enter Coriolanus and Aufidius.
Cor. What’s the matter ?
Men. Now, you companion, I’ll say an errandfor you; you shall know now, that 1 am in esti-mation ; you shall perceive, that a Jack guardantcannot office me from my son Coriolanus : guess,but by my entertainment with him, if thoustand’st not i’the state of hanging, or of somedeath more long in spectatorship, and cruellerin suffering; behold now presently, and swoonfor what’s to come upon thee.—The gloriousgods sit in hourly synod about thy particularprosperity, and love thee no worse than thy oldfather Menenius does! O, my son! my son!thou art preparing fire for us; look thee, here’swater to quench it. I was hardly moved to cometo thee ; but being assured, none but myselfcould move thee, I have been blown out of yourgates with sighs ; and conjure thee to pardonRome , and thy petitionary countrymen. Thegood gods assuage thy wrath, and turn the dregsof it upon this varlet here; this, who, like ablock, hath denied my access to thee.
Cor. Away !
Men. How ! away ?
Cor. Wife, mother, child, I know not. Myaffairs
Are servanted to others: Though I oweMy revenge properly, my remission liesIn Volcian breasts. That we have been familiar,Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison, ratherThan pity note how much.—Therefore, be gone.Mine ears against your suits are stronger, thanYour gatesagainst myforce. Yet,for I lov’dthee,Take this along ; I writ it for thy sake,
|JGives a letter.
And would have sent it. Another word, Menenius ,I will not hear thee speak.—This man, Aufidius,Was my belov’d in Rome : yet thou behold’st—
Auf. You keep a constant temper.
\fExeunt Coriolanus and Aufidius.
1 G. Now, sir, is your name Menenius ?
2 G. ’Tis a spell, you see, of much power:You know the way home again.
1 G. Do you hear how we are shent for keep-ing your greatness back ?
2 G. What cause, do you think, I have to swoon?
Men. I neither care for the world, nor your
general: for such things as you, I can scarcethink there’s any, you are so slight. He, thathath a will to die by himself, fears it not fromanother. Let your general do his worst. Foryou, be that you are, long ; and your miseryincrease with your age! I say to you, as I wassaid to, Away ! \f_Exit.
1 G. A noble fellow, I warrant him.
2 G. The worthy fellow is our general: he isthe rock, the oak not to be wind-shaken.
\f_Exeunt.
SCENE III.— The tent of Coriolanus .