Rome. A Street.
 Cornets.
 Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, all the GENTRY, COMINIUS,
 TITUS LARTIUS, and other SENATORS.

Coriolanus	Tullus Aufidius then had made new head?

Lartius	He had, my lord; and that it was which caused
	Our swifter composition.

Coriolanus	So then the Volsces stand but as at first,
	Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make road
	Upon's again.

Cominius				They are worn, lord Consul, so,
	That we shall hardly in our ages see
	Their banners wave again.

Coriolanus								Saw you Aufidius?

Lartius	On safeguard he came to me; and did curse
	Against the Volsces for they had so vilely
	Yielded the town: he is retired to Antium.

Coriolanus	Spoke he of me?

Lartius					He did, my lord.

Coriolanus										How? What?

Lartius	How often he had met you, sword to sword;
	That of all things upon the earth he hated
	Your person most; that he would pawn his fortunes
	To hopeless restitution, so he might
	Be called your vanquisher.

Coriolanus							At Antium lives he?

Lartius	At Antium.

Coriolanus	I wish I had a cause to seek him there,
	To oppose his hatred fully. Welcome home.

                        Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS.

	Behold, these are the Tribunes of the people,
	The tongues o'th' common mouth. I do despise them;
	For they do prank them in authority,
	Against all noble sufferance.

Sicinius								Pass no further.

Coriolanus	Ha, what is that?

Brutus	It will be dangerous to go on. No further.

Coriolanus	What makes this change?

Menenius	The matter?

Cominius	Hath he not passed the noble and the common?

Brutus	Cominius, no.

Coriolanus				Have I had children's voices?

1st Senator	Tribunes, give way: he shall to the market-place.

Brutus	The people are incensed against him.

Sicinius										Stop,
	Or all will fall in broil.

Coriolanus									Are these your herd?
	Must these have voices, that can yield them now,
	And straight disclaim their tongues? What are your offices?
	You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth?
	Have you not set them on?

Menenius								Be calm, be calm.

Coriolanus	It is a purposed thing, and grows by plot,
	To curb the will of the nobility:
	Suffer't, and live with such as cannot rule
	Nor ever will be ruled.

Brutus							Call't not a plot.
	The people cry you mocked them; and of late,
	When corn was given them gratis, you repined,
	Scandalled the suppliants for the people, called them
	Time-pleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness.

Coriolanus	Why, this was known before.

Brutus									Not to them all.

Coriolanus	Have you informed them sithence?

Brutus										How? I inform them?

Cominius	You are like to do such business.

Brutus								Not unlike
	Each way to better yours.

Coriolanus	Why then should I be Consul? By yond clouds,
	Let me deserve so ill as you, and make me
	Your fellow Tribune.

Sicinius							You show too much of that
	For which the people stir. If you will pass
	To where you are bound, you must inquire your way,
	Which you are out of, with a gentler spirit;
	Or never be so noble as a Consul,
	Nor yoke with him for Tribune.

Menenius										Let's be calm.

Cominius	The people are abused; set on. This palt'ring
	Becomes not Rome; nor has Coriolanus
	Deserved this so dishonoured rub, laid falsely
	I'th' plain way of his merit.

Coriolanus								Tell me of corn!
	This was my speech, and I will speak't again.

Menenius	Not now, not now.

1st Senator					Not in this heat, sir, now.

Coriolanus	Now as I live, I will. My nobler friends,
	I crave their pardons.
	For the mutable, rank-scented meinie, let them
	Regard me as I do not flatter, and
	Therein behold themselves. I say again,
	In soothing them we nourish 'gainst our Senate
	The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition,
	Which we ourselves have ploughed for, sowed and scattered,
	By mingling them with us, the honoured number
	Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that
	Which they have given to beggars.

Menenius										Well, no more.

1st Senator	No more words, we beseech you.

Coriolanus									How, no more?
	As for my country I have shed my blood,
	Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungs
	Coin words till their decay against those measles,
	Which we disdain should tetter us, yet sought
	The very way to catch them.

Brutus								You speak o'th' people
	As if you were a god to punish, not
	A man of their infirmity.

Sicinius									'Twere well
	We let the people know't.

Menenius							What, what? His choler?

Coriolanus	Choler?
	Were I as patient as the midnight sleep,
	By Jove, 'twould be my mind.

Sicinius										It is a mind
	That shall remain a poison where it is,
	Not poison any further.

Coriolanus								Shall remain?
	Hear you this Triton of the minnows? Mark you
	His absolute 'shall'?

Cominius						'Twas from the canon.

Coriolanus										Shall?
	O good but most unwise patricians, why,
	You grave but reckless Senators, have you thus
	Given Hydra here to choose an officer,
	That with his peremptory 'shall', being but
	The horn and noise o'th' monster's, wants not spirit
	To say he'll turn your current in a ditch
	And make your channel his? If he have power,
	Then vail your ignorance; if none, awake
	Your dangerous lenity. If you are learned,
	Be not as common fools; if you are not,
	Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians
	If they be Senators; and they are no less,
	When, both your voices blended, the great'st taste
	Most palates theirs. They choose their magistrate,
	And such a one as he, who puts his 'shall',
	His popular 'shall', against a graver bench
	Than ever frowned in Greece. By Jove himself,
	It makes the Consuls base; and my soul aches
	To know, when two authorities are up,
	Neither supreme, how soon confusion
	May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take
	The one by th' other.

Cominius							Well, on to th' market-place.

Coriolanus	Whoever gave that counsel, to give forth
	The corn o'th' storehouse gratis, as 'twas used
	Sometime in Greece-

Menenius						Well, well, no more of that.

Coriolanus	Though there the people had more absolute power-
	I say they nourished disobedience, fed
	The ruin of the state.

Brutus							Why shall the people give
	One that speaks thus their voice?

Coriolanus										I'll give my reasons
	More worthier than their voices. They know the corn
	Was not our recompense, resting well assured
	They ne'er did service for't; being pressed to the war,
	Even when the navel of the state was touched,
	They would not thread the gates: this kind of service
	Did not deserve corn gratis. Being i'th' war,
	Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they showed
	Most valour, spoke not for them. The accusation
	Which they have often made against the Senate,
	All cause unborn, could never be the motive
	Of our so frank donation. Well, what then?
	How shall this bisson multiplied digest
	The Senate's courtesy? Let deeds express
	What's like to be their words - "We did request it;
	We are the greater poll, and in true fear
	They gave us our demands." Thus we debase
	The nature of our seats, and make the rabble
	Call our cares fears; which will in time
	Break ope the locks o'th' Senate, and bring in
	The crows to peck the eagles.

Menenius									Come, enough.

Brutus	Enough, with overmeasure.

Coriolanus								No, take more.
	What may be sworn by, both divine and human,
	Seal what I end withal! This double worship,
	Where one part does disdain with cause, the other
	Insult without all reason; where gentry, title, wisdom,
	Cannot conclude but by the yea and no
	Of general ignorance, it must omit
	Real necessities, and give way the while
	To unstable slightness. Purpose so barred, it follows
	Nothing is done to purpose. Therefore beseech you-
	You that will be less fearful than discreet;
	That love the fundamental part of state
	More than you doubt the change on't; that prefer
	A noble life before a long, and wish
	To jump a body with a dangerous physic
	That's sure of death without it - at once pluck out
	The multitudinous tongue: let them not lick
	The sweet which is their poison. Your dishonour
	Mangles true judgement, and bereaves the state
	Of that integrity which should become't,
	Not having the power to do the good it would
	For the ill which doth control't.

Brutus										'Has said enough.

Sicinius	'Has spoken like a traitor, and shall answer
	As traitors do.

Coriolanus					Thou wretch, despite o'erwhelm thee!
	What should the people do with these bald Tribunes?
	On whom depending, their obedience fails
	To the greater bench. In a rebellion,
	When what's not meet, but what must be, was law,
	Then were they chosen. In a better hour,
	Let what is meet be said it must be meet,
	And throw their power i'th' dust.

Brutus	Manifest treason!

Sicinius						This a Consul? No.

Brutus	The aediles, ho!

                             Enter an AEDILE.

							Let him be apprehended.

Sicinius	Go call the people;
												[Exit AEDILE.
	in whose name myself
	Attach thee as a traitorous innovator,
	A foe to th' public weal. Obey I charge thee,
	And follow to thine answer.

Coriolanus									Hence, old goat!

Patricians	We'll surety him.

Cominius						Agd sir, hands off.

Coriolanus	Hence, rotten thing; or I shall shake thy bones
	Out of thy garments.

Sicinius							Help, ye citizens!

               Enter a rabble of CITIZENS with the AEDILES.

Menenius	On both sides more respect.

Sicinius	Here's he that would take from you all your power.

Brutus	Seize him, aediles.

Plebians	Down with him! Down with him!

2nd Senator	Weapons! Weapons! Weapons!
								  [They all bustle about CORIOLANUS.

All	Tribunes! Patricians! Citizens! What ho!
	Sicinius! Brutus! Coriolanus! Citizens!
	Peace, peace, peace! Stay, hold, peace!

Menenius	What is about to be? I am out of breath;
	Confusion's near; I cannot speak. You, Tribunes
	To the people. Coriolanus, patience.
	Speak, good Sicinius.

Sicinius							Hear me, people. Peace!

Plebians	Let's hear our Tribune. Peace! Speak, speak, speak.

Sicinius	You are at point to lose your liberties:
	Martius would have all from you; Martius,
	Whom late you have named for Consul.

Menenius										Fie, fie, fie!
	This is the way to kindle, not to quench.

1st Senator	To unbuild the city and to lay all flat.

Sicinius	What is the city but the people?

Plebians										True,
	The people are the city.

Brutus	By the consent of all, we were established
	The people's magistrates.

Plebians								You so remain.

Menenius	And so are like to do.

Cominius	That is the way to lay the city flat;
	To bring the roof to the foundation
	And bury all which yet distinctly ranges
	In heaps and piles of ruin.

Sicinius								This deserves death.

Brutus	Or let us stand to our authority;
	Or let us lose it: we do here pronounce,
	Upon the part o'th' people, in whose power
	We were elected theirs, Martius is worthy
	Of present death.

Sicinius						Therefore lay hold of him.
	Bear him to th' rock Tarpeian, and from thence
	Into destruction cast him.

Brutus								Aediles, seize him.

Plebians	Yield, Martius, yield.

Menenius							Hear me one word;
	Beseech you, Tribunes, hear me but a word.

Aediles	Peace, peace!

Menenius	Be that you seem, truly your country's friend,
	And temp'rately proceed to what you would
	Thus violently redress.

Brutus								Sir, those cold ways,
	That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous
	Where the disease is violent. Lay hands upon him,
	And bear him to the rock.
												[CORIOLANUS draws his sword.

Coriolanus									No, I'll die here.
	There's some among you have beheld me fighting:
	Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me.

Menenius	Down with that sword! Tribunes, withdraw awhile.

Brutus	Lay hands upon him.

Menenius							Help Martius, help!
	You that be noble, help him, young and old.

Plebians	Down with him! Down with him!
						  [In this mutiny the TRIBUNES, the AEDILES,
												and the PEOPLE are beat in.

Menenius	Go, get you to your house. Be gone, away!
	All will be naught else.

2nd Senator								Get you gone.

Coriolanus										Stand fast.
	We have as many friends as enemies.

Menenius	Shall it be put to that?

1st Senator								The gods forbid!
	I prithee, noble friend, home to thy house;
	Leave us to cure this cause.

Menenius									For 'tis a sore upon us
	You cannot tent yourself: be gone, beseech you.

Cominius	Come, sir, along with us.

Coriolanus	I would they were barbarians - as they are,
	Though in Rome littered; not Romans - as they are not,
	Though calved i'th' porch o'th' Capitol.

Menenius										Be gone.
	Put not your worthy rage into your tongue;
	One time will owe another.

Coriolanus								On fair ground
	I could beat forty of them.

Menenius										I could myself
	Take up a brace o'th' best of them; yea, the two Tribunes.

Cominius	But now 'tis odds beyond arithmetic;
	And manhood is called foolery when it stands
	Against a falling fabric. Will you hence
	Before the tag return? whose rage doth rend
	Like interrupted waters, and o'erbear
	What they are used to bear.

Menenius									Pray you be gone.
	I'll try whether my old wit be in request
	With those that have but little: this must be patched
	With cloth of any colour.

Cominius								Nay, come away.
												[Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS,
												and OTHERS.

A Patrician	This man has marred his fortune.

Menenius	His nature is too noble for the world:
	He would not flatter Neptune for his trident,
	Or Jove for's power to thunder. His heart's his mouth:
	What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent;
	And being angry, does forget that ever
	He heard the name of death.
												[A noise within.
	Here's goodly work!

A Patrician							I would they were abed.

Menenius	I would they were in Tiber. What the vengeance,
	Could he not speak 'em fair?

             Enter BRUTUS and SICINIUS with the RABBLE again.

Sicinius										Where is this viper
	That would depopulate the city and
	Be every man himself?

Menenius							You worthy Tribunes-

Sicinius	He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rock
	With rigorous hands: he hath resisted law,
	And therefore law shall scorn him further trial
	Than the severity of the public power,
	Which he so sets at naught.

1st Citizen									He shall well know
	The noble Tribunes are the people's mouths,
	And we their hands.

Plebians						He shall, sure on't.

Menenius										Sir, sir!

Sicinius	Peace!

Menenius	Do not cry havoc where you should but hunt
	With modest warrant.

Sicinius							Sir, how comes't that you
	Have holp to make this rescue?

Menenius										Hear me speak.
	As I do know the Consul's worthiness,
	So can I name his faults.

Sicinius							Consul? What Consul?

Menenius	The Consul Coriolanus.

Brutus								He Consul?

Plebians	No, no, no, no, no.

Menenius	If, by the Tribunes' leave, and yours, good people,
	I may be heard, I would crave a word or two,
	The which shall turn you to no further harm
	Than so much loss of time.

Sicinius									Speak briefly then;
	For we are peremptory to dispatch
	This viperous traitor. To eject him hence
	Were but our danger, and to keep him here
	Our certain death. Therefore it is decreed
	He dies tonight.

Menenius						Now the good gods forbid
	That our renownd Rome, whose gratitude
	Towards her deservd children is enrolled
	In Jove's own book, like an unnatural dam
	Should now eat up her own.

Sicinius	He's a disease that must be cut away.

Menenius	O, he's a limb that has but a disease:
	Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy.
	What has he done to Rome that's worthy death?
	Killing our enemies, the blood he hath lost,
	- Which I dare vouch is more than that he hath
	By many an ounce - he dropped it for his country;
	And what is left, to lose it by his country
	Were to us all that do't and suffer it
	A brand to th' end o'th' world.

Sicinius									This is clean kam.

Brutus	Merely awry. When he did love his country,
	It honoured him.

Sicinius						The service of the foot,
	Being once gangrened, is not then respected
	For what before it was.

Brutus							We'll hear no more.
	Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence,
	Lest his infection, being of catching nature,
	Spread further.

Menenius						One word more, one word!
	This tiger-footed rage, when it shall find
	The harm of unscanned swiftness will, too late,
	Tie leaden pounds to's heels. Proceed by process,
	Lest parties, as he is beloved, break out
	And sack great Rome with Romans.

Brutus									If it were so-

Sicinius	What do ye talk?
	Have we not had a taste of his obedience?
	Our aediles smote? Ourselves resisted? Come.

Menenius	Consider this: he has been bred i'th' wars
	Since he could draw a sword, and is ill schooled
	In bolted language. Meal and bran together
	He throws without distinction. Give me leave,
	I'll go to him and undertake to bring him
	Where he shall answer by a lawful form,
	In peace, to his utmost peril.

1st Senator										Noble Tribunes,
	It is the humane way. The other course
	Will prove too bloody, and the end of it
	Unknown to the beginning.

Sicinius								Noble Menenius,
	Be you then as the people's officer.
	Masters, lay down your weapons.

Brutus										Go not home.

Sicinius	Meet on the market-place: we'll attend you there,
	Where, if you bring not Martius, we'll proceed
	In our first way.

Menenius							I'll bring him to you.
	[To SENATORS.] Let me desire your company. He must come,
	Or what is worst will follow.

1st Senator										Pray you, let's to him.
												[Exeunt.
