Rome. The Forum.
 Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS.

Brutus	In this point charge him home, that he affects
	Tyrannical power. If he evade us there,
	Enforce him with his envy to the people,
	And that the spoil got on the Antiates
	Was ne'er distributed.

                             Enter an AEDILE.

								What, will he come?

Aedile	He's coming.

Brutus				How accompanied?

Aedile	With old Menenius, and those Senators
	That always favoured him.

Sicinius								Have you a catalogue
	Of all the voices that we have procured,
	Set down by th' poll?

Aedile							I have; 'tis ready.

Sicinius	Have you collected them by tribes?

Aedile										I have.

Sicinius	Assemble presently the people hither;
	And when they hear me say "It shall be so
	I'th' right and strength o'th' commons", be it either
	For death, for fine, or banishment, then let them,
	If I say fine, cry "Fine", if death, cry "Death",
	Insisting on the old prerogative
	And power i'th' truth o'th' cause.

Aedile										I shall inform them.

Brutus	And when such time they have begun to cry,
	Let them not cease, but with a din confused
	Enforce the present execution
	Of what we chance to sentence.

Aedile									Very well.

Sicinius	Make them be strong, and ready for this hint
	When we shall hap to give't them.

Brutus										Go about it.
												[Exit AEDILE.
	Put him to choler straight. He hath been used
	Ever to conquer, and to have his worth
	Of contradiction. Being once chafed, he cannot
	Be reined again to temperance; then he speaks
	What's in his heart, and that is there which looks
	With us to break his neck.

Sicinius								Well, here he comes.

          Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, and COMINIUS, with OTHERS.

Menenius	Calmly, I do beseech you.

Coriolanus	Ay, as an hostler that for th' poorest piece
	Will bear the knave by the volume. Th' honoured gods
	Keep Rome in safety, and the chairs of justice
	Supplied with worthy men! Plant love among's!
	Throng our large temples with the shows of peace
	And not our streets with war.

1st Senator									Amen, amen.

Menenius	A noble wish.

                  Re-enter the AEDILE with the PLEBIANS.

Sicinius	Draw near, ye people.

Aedile	List to your Tribunes. Audience! Peace, I say!

Coriolanus	First, hear me speak.

Sicinius &
Brutus									Well, say. Peace, ho!

Coriolanus	Shall I be charged no further than this present?
	Must all determine here?

Sicinius								I do demand,
	If you submit you to the people's voices,
	Allow their officers, and are content
	To suffer lawful censure for such faults
	As shall be proved upon you.

Coriolanus									I am content.

Menenius	Lo, citizens, he says he is content.
	The warlike service he has done, consider: think
	Upon the wounds his body bears, which show
	Like graves i'th' holy churchyard.

Coriolanus										Scratches with briers,
	Scars to move laughter only.

Menenius								Consider further,
	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.

Cominius							Well, well, no more.

Coriolanus	What is the matter,
	That being passed for Consul with full voice,
	I am so dishonoured that the very hour
	You take it off again?

Sicinius								Answer to us.

Coriolanus	Say then. 'Tis true, I ought so.

Sicinius	We charge you, that you have contrived to take
	From Rome all seasoned office, and to wind
	Yourself into a power tyrannical;
	For which you are a traitor to the people.

Coriolanus	How, traitor?

Menenius					Nay, temperately - your promise.

Coriolanus	The fires i'th' lowest hell fold in the people!
	Call me their traitor? Thou injurious Tribune,
	Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,
	In thy hands clutched 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.

Sicinius							Mark you this, people?

Plebians	To th' rock, to th' rock with him!

Sicinius										Peace!
	We need not put new matter to his charge.
	What you have seen him do, and heard him speak,
	Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,
	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.

Brutus									But since he hath
	Served well for Rome-

Coriolanus							What do you prate of service?

Brutus	I talk of that that know it.

Coriolanus										You?

Menenius	Is this the promise that you made your mother?

Cominius	Know, I pray you-

Coriolanus							I'll know no further.
	Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
	Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to linger
	But with a grain a day, I would not buy
	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".

Sicinius										For that he has,
	As much as in him lies, from time to time
	Envied 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 doth distribute it - in the name o'th' 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
	To enter our Rome gates. I'th' people's name,
	I say it shall be so.

Plebians	It shall be so, it shall be so: let him away.
	He's banished, and it shall be so.

Cominius	Hear me, my masters, and my common friends.

Sicinius	He's sentenced; no more hearing.

Cominius										Let me speak.
	I have been Consul, and can show for Rome
	Her enemies' marks upon me. I do love
	My country's good with a respect more tender,
	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-

Sicinius				We know your drift. Speak what?

Brutus	There's no more to be said but he is banished,
	As enemy to the people and his country.
	It shall be so.

Plebians						It shall be so, it shall be so.

Coriolanus	You common cry of curs - whose breath I hate
	As reek o'th' 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,
	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,
												MENENIUS, with the others.

                 They all shout, and throw up their caps.

Aedile	The people's enemy is gone, is gone!

Plebians	Our enemy is banished, he is gone! Hoo-oo!

Sicinius	Go see him out at gates, and follow him
	As he hath followed you, with all despite;
	Give him deserved vexation. Let a guard
	Attend us through the city.

Plebians	Come, come; let's see him out at gates. Come.
	The gods preserve our noble Tribunes! Come.
												[Exeunt.
