Act III, Scene 1

Rome. A street.

[Cornets. Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, all the] [p]Gentry, COMINIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, and other Senators]

• Coriolanus. Tullus Aufidius then had made new head?

• Titus 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. 1730
  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? 1735

• Titus Lartius. On safe-guard 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?

• Titus Lartius. He did, my lord. 1740

• Coriolanus. How? what?

• Titus 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 1745
  Be call'd your vanquisher.

• Coriolanus. At Antium lives he?

• Titus Lartius. At Antium.

• Coriolanus. I wish I had a cause to seek him there,
  To oppose his hatred fully. Welcome home. 1750
  [Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS]
  Behold, these are the tribunes of the people,
  The tongues o' the common mouth: I do despise them;
  For they do prank them in authority,
  Against all noble sufferance. 1755

• Sicinius Velutus. Pass no further.

• Coriolanus. Ha! what is that?

• Junius Brutus. It will be dangerous to go on: no further.

• Coriolanus. What makes this change?

• Menenius Agrippa. The matter? 1760

• Cominius. Hath he not pass'd the noble and the common?

• Junius Brutus. Cominius, no.

• Coriolanus. Have I had children's voices?

• First Senator. Tribunes, give way; he shall to the market-place.

• Junius Brutus. The people are incensed against him. 1765

• Sicinius Velutus. 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 1770
  your offices?
  You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth?
  Have you not set them on?

• Menenius Agrippa. Be calm, be calm.

• Coriolanus. It is a purposed thing, and grows by plot, 1775
  To curb the will of the nobility:
  Suffer't, and live with such as cannot rule
  Nor ever will be ruled.

• Junius Brutus. Call't not a plot:
  The people cry you mock'd them, and of late, 1780
  When corn was given them gratis, you repined;
  Scandal'd the suppliants for the people, call'd them
  Time-pleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness.

• Coriolanus. Why, this was known before.

• Junius Brutus. Not to them all. 1785

• Coriolanus. Have you inform'd them sithence?

• Junius Brutus. How! I inform them!

• Coriolanus. You are like to do such business.

• Junius Brutus. Not unlike,
  Each way, to better yours. 1790

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

• Sicinius Velutus. You show too much of that
  For which the people stir: if you will pass 1795
  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 Agrippa. Let's be calm. 1800

• Cominius. The people are abused; set on. This paltering
  Becomes not Rome, nor has Coriolanus
  Deserved this so dishonour'd rub, laid falsely
  I' the plain way of his merit.

• Coriolanus. Tell me of corn! 1805
  This was my speech, and I will speak't again—

• Menenius Agrippa. Not now, not now.

• First Senator. Not in this heat, sir, now.

• Coriolanus. Now, as I live, I will. My nobler friends,
  I crave their pardons: 1810
  For the mutable, rank-scented many, 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, 1815
  Which we ourselves have plough'd for, sow'd,
  and scatter'd,
  By mingling them with us, the honour'd number,
  Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that
  Which they have given to beggars. 1820

• Menenius Agrippa. Well, no more.

• First 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 1825
  Coin words till their decay against those measles,
  Which we disdain should tatter us, yet sought
  The very way to catch them.

• Junius Brutus. You speak o' the people,
  As if you were a god to punish, not 1830
  A man of their infirmity.

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

• Menenius Agrippa. What, what? his choler?

• Coriolanus. Choler! 1835
  Were I as patient as the midnight sleep,
  By Jove, 'twould be my mind!

• Sicinius Velutus. It is a mind
  That shall remain a poison where it is,
  Not poison any further. 1840

• Coriolanus. Shall remain!
  Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you
  His absolute 'shall'?

• Cominius. 'Twas from the canon.

• Coriolanus. 'Shall'! 1845
  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' the monster's, wants not spirit 1850
  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 learn'd,
  Be not as common fools; if you are not, 1855
  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,' 1860
  His popular 'shall' against a graver bench
  Than ever frown 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 1865
  May enter 'twixt the gap of both and take
  The one by the other.

• Cominius. Well, on to the market-place.

• Coriolanus. Whoever gave that counsel, to give forth
  The corn o' the storehouse gratis, as 'twas used 1870
  Sometime in Greece,—

• Menenius Agrippa. Well, well, no more of that.

• Coriolanus. Though there the people had more absolute power,
  I say, they nourish'd disobedience, fed
  The ruin of the state. 1875

• Junius 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 1880
  That ne'er did service for't: being press'd to the war,
  Even when the navel of the state was touch'd,
  They would not thread the gates. This kind of service
  Did not deserve corn gratis. Being i' the war
  Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they show'd 1885
  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 multitude digest 1890
  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 1895
  Call our cares fears; which will in time
  Break ope the locks o' the senate and bring in
  The crows to peck the eagles.

• Menenius Agrippa. Come, enough.

• Junius Brutus. Enough, with over-measure. 1900

• 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, 1905
  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 barr'd,
  it follows, 1910
  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 1915
  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 judgment and bereaves the state 1920
  Of that integrity which should become't,
  Not having the power to do the good it would,
  For the in which doth control't.

• Junius Brutus. Has said enough.

• Sicinius Velutus. Has spoken like a traitor, and shall answer 1925
  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, 1930
  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' the dust.

• Junius Brutus. Manifest treason! 1935

• Sicinius Velutus. This a consul? no.

• Junius Brutus. The aediles, ho!
  [Enter an AEdile]
  Let him be apprehended.

• Sicinius Velutus. Go, call the people: 1940
  [Exit AEdile]
  in whose name myself
  Attach thee as a traitorous innovator,
  A foe to the public weal: obey, I charge thee,
  And follow to thine answer. 1945

• Coriolanus. Hence, old goat!

• Cominius. Aged sir, hands off.

• Coriolanus. Hence, rotten thing! or I shall shake thy bones
  Out of thy garments. 1950

• Sicinius Velutus. Help, ye citizens!
  [Enter a rabble of Citizens (Plebeians), with]
  the AEdiles]

• Menenius Agrippa. On both sides more respect.

• Sicinius Velutus. Here's he that would take from you all your power. 1955

• Junius Brutus. Seize him, AEdiles!

• Citizens. Down with him! down with him!
  [They all bustle about CORIOLANUS, crying]
  'Tribunes!' 'Patricians!' 'Citizens!' 'What, ho!'
  'Sicinius!' 'Brutus!' 'Coriolanus!' 'Citizens!' 1960
  'Peace, peace, peace!' 'Stay, hold, peace!'

• Menenius Agrippa. What is about to be? I am out of breath;
  Confusion's near; I cannot speak. You, tribunes
  To the people! Coriolanus, patience! 1965
  Speak, good Sicinius.

• Sicinius Velutus. Hear me, people; peace!

• Citizens. Let's hear our tribune: peace Speak, speak, speak.

• Sicinius Velutus. You are at point to lose your liberties:
  CORIOLANUS would have all from you; CORIOLANUS, 1970
  Whom late you have named for consul.

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

• First Senator. To unbuild the city and to lay all flat.

• Sicinius Velutus. What is the city but the people? 1975

• Citizens. True,
  The people are the city.

• Junius Brutus. By the consent of all, we were establish'd
  The people's magistrates.

• Citizens. You so remain. 1980

• Menenius Agrippa. 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. 1985

• Sicinius Velutus. This deserves death.

• Junius Brutus. Or let us stand to our authority,
  Or let us lose it. We do here pronounce,
  Upon the part o' the people, in whose power
  We were elected theirs, CORIOLANUS is worthy 1990
  Of present death.

• Sicinius Velutus. Therefore lay hold of him;
  Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from thence
  Into destruction cast him.

• Junius Brutus. AEdiles, seize him! 1995

• Citizens. Yield, CORIOLANUS, yield!

• Menenius Agrippa. Hear me one word;
  Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word.

• Aedile. Peace, peace!

• Menenius Agrippa. [To BRUTUS] Be that you seem, truly your 2000
  country's friend,
  And temperately proceed to what you would
  Thus violently redress.

• Junius Brutus. Sir, those cold ways,
  That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous 2005
  Where the disease is violent. Lay hands upon him,
  And bear him to the rock.

• Coriolanus. No, I'll die here.
  [Drawing his sword]
  There's some among you have beheld me fighting: 2010
  Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me.

• Menenius Agrippa. Down with that sword! Tribunes, withdraw awhile.

• Junius Brutus. Lay hands upon him.

• Cominius. Help CORIOLANUS, help,
  You that be noble; help him, young and old! 2015

• Citizens. Down with him, down with him!
  [In this mutiny, the Tribunes, the AEdiles, and the]
  People, are beat in]

• Menenius Agrippa. Go, get you to your house; be gone, away!
  All will be naught else. 2020

• Second Senator. Get you gone.

• Cominius. Stand fast;
  We have as many friends as enemies.

• Menenius Agrippa. Sham it be put to that?

• First Senator. The gods forbid! 2025
  I prithee, noble friend, home to thy house;
  Leave us to cure this cause.

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

• Cominius. Come, sir, along with us. 2030

• Coriolanus. I would they were barbarians—as they are,
  Though in Rome litter'd—not Romans—as they are not,
  Though calved i' the porch o' the Capitol—

• Menenius Agrippa. Be gone;
  Put not your worthy rage into your tongue; 2035
  One time will owe another.

• Coriolanus. On fair ground
  I could beat forty of them.

• Cominius. I could myself
  Take up a brace o' the best of them; yea, the 2040
  two tribunes:
  But now 'tis odds beyond arithmetic;
  And manhood is call'd foolery, when it stands
  Against a falling fabric. Will you hence,
  Before the tag return? whose rage doth rend 2045
  Like interrupted waters and o'erbear
  What they are used to bear.

• Menenius Agrippa. Pray you, be gone:
  I'll try whether my old wit be in request
  With those that have but little: this must be patch'd 2050
  With cloth of any colour.

• Cominius. Nay, come away.

[Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, and others]

• Patrician. This man has marr'd his fortune.

• Menenius Agrippa. His nature is too noble for the world: 2055
  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. 2060
  [A noise within]
  Here's goodly work!

• Second Patrician. I would they were abed!

• Menenius Agrippa. I would they were in Tiber! What the vengeance!
  Could he not speak 'em fair? 2065

[Re-enter BRUTUS and SICINIUS, with the rabble]

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

• Menenius Agrippa. You worthy tribunes,— 2070

• Sicinius Velutus. 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 nought. 2075

• First Citizen. He shall well know
  The noble tribunes are the people's mouths,
  And we their hands.

• Citizens. He shall, sure on't.

• Menenius Agrippa. Sir, sir,— 2080

• Sicinius Velutus. Peace!

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

• Sicinius Velutus. Sir, how comes't that you
  Have holp to make this rescue? 2085

• Menenius Agrippa. Hear me speak:
  As I do know the consul's worthiness,
  So can I name his faults,—

• Sicinius Velutus. Consul! what consul?

• Menenius Agrippa. The consul Coriolanus. 2090

• Junius Brutus. He consul!

• Citizens. No, no, no, no, no.

• Menenius Agrippa. 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 2095
  Than so much loss of time.

• Sicinius Velutus. Speak briefly then;
  For we are peremptory to dispatch
  This viperous traitor: to eject him hence
  Were but one danger, and to keep him here 2100
  Our certain death: therefore it is decreed
  He dies to-night.

• Menenius Agrippa. Now the good gods forbid
  That our renowned Rome, whose gratitude
  Towards her deserved children is enroll'd 2105
  In Jove's own book, like an unnatural dam
  Should now eat up her own!

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

• Menenius Agrippa. O, he's a limb that has but a disease;
  Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy. 2110
  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 dropp'd it for his country;
  And what is left, to lose it by his country, 2115
  Were to us all, that do't and suffer it,
  A brand to the end o' the world.

• Sicinius Velutus. This is clean kam.

• Junius Brutus. Merely awry: when he did love his country,
  It honour'd him. 2120

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

• Junius Brutus. We'll hear no more.
  Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence: 2125
  Lest his infection, being of catching nature,
  Spread further.

• Menenius Agrippa. One word more, one word.
  This tiger-footed rage, when it shall find
  The harm of unscann'd swiftness, will too late 2130
  Tie leaden pounds to's heels. Proceed by process;
  Lest parties, as he is beloved, break out,
  And sack great Rome with Romans.

• Junius Brutus. If it were so,—

• Sicinius Velutus. What do ye talk? 2135
  Have we not had a taste of his obedience?
  Our aediles smote? ourselves resisted? Come.

• Menenius Agrippa. Consider this: he has been bred i' the wars
  Since he could draw a sword, and is ill school'd
  In bolted language; meal and bran together 2140
  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.

• First Senator. Noble tribunes, 2145
  It is the humane way: the other course
  Will prove too bloody, and the end of it
  Unknown to the beginning.

• Sicinius Velutus. Noble Menenius,
  Be you then as the people's officer. 2150
  Masters, lay down your weapons.

• Junius Brutus. Go not home.

• Sicinius Velutus. Meet on the market-place. We'll attend you there:
  Where, if you bring not CORIOLANUS, we'll proceed
  In our first way. 2155

• Menenius Agrippa. I'll bring him to you.
  [To the Senators]
  Let me desire your company: he must come,
  Or what is worst will follow.

• First Senator. Pray you, let's to him. 2160

[Exeunt]

Act III, Scene 2

A room in CORIOLANUS’S house.

[Enter CORIOLANUS with Patricians]

• Coriolanus. Let them puff all about mine ears, present me
  Death on the wheel or at wild horses' heels,
  Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock, 2165
  That the precipitation might down stretch
  Below the beam of sight, yet will I still
  Be thus to them.

• Patrician. You do the nobler.

• Coriolanus. I muse my mother 2170
  Does not approve me further, who was wont
  To call them woollen vassals, things created
  To buy and sell with groats, to show bare heads
  In congregations, to yawn, be still and wonder,
  When one but of my ordinance stood up 2175
  To speak of peace or war.
  [Enter VOLUMNIA]
  I talk of you:
  Why did you wish me milder? would you have me
  False to my nature? Rather say I play 2180
  The man I am.

• Volumnia. O, sir, sir, sir,
  I would have had you put your power well on,
  Before you had worn it out.

• Coriolanus. Let go. 2185

• Volumnia. You might have been enough the man you are,
  With striving less to be so; lesser had been
  The thwartings of your dispositions, if
  You had not show'd them how ye were disposed
  Ere they lack'd power to cross you. 2190

• Coriolanus. Let them hang.

• Patrician. Ay, and burn too.

[Enter MENENIUS and Senators]

• Menenius Agrippa. Come, come, you have been too rough, something
  too rough; 2195
  You must return and mend it.

• First Senator. There's no remedy;
  Unless, by not so doing, our good city
  Cleave in the midst, and perish.

• Volumnia. Pray, be counsell'd: 2200
  I have a heart as little apt as yours,
  But yet a brain that leads my use of anger
  To better vantage.

• Menenius Agrippa. Well said, noble woman?
  Before he should thus stoop to the herd, but that 2205
  The violent fit o' the time craves it as physic
  For the whole state, I would put mine armour on,
  Which I can scarcely bear.

• Coriolanus. What must I do?

• Menenius Agrippa. Return to the tribunes. 2210

• Coriolanus. Well, what then? what then?

• Menenius Agrippa. Repent what you have spoke.

• Coriolanus. For them! I cannot do it to the gods;
  Must I then do't to them?

• Volumnia. You are too absolute; 2215
  Though therein you can never be too noble,
  But when extremities speak. I have heard you say,
  Honour and policy, like unsever'd friends,
  I' the war do grow together: grant that, and tell me,
  In peace what each of them by the other lose, 2220
  That they combine not there.

• Coriolanus. Tush, tush!

• Menenius Agrippa. A good demand.

• Volumnia. If it be honour in your wars to seem
  The same you are not, which, for your best ends, 2225
  You adopt your policy, how is it less or worse,
  That it shall hold companionship in peace
  With honour, as in war, since that to both
  It stands in like request?

• Coriolanus. Why force you this? 2230

• Volumnia. Because that now it lies you on to speak
  To the people; not by your own instruction,
  Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you,
  But with such words that are but rooted in
  Your tongue, though but bastards and syllables 2235
  Of no allowance to your bosom's truth.
  Now, this no more dishonours you at all
  Than to take in a town with gentle words,
  Which else would put you to your fortune and
  The hazard of much blood. 2240
  I would dissemble with my nature where
  My fortunes and my friends at stake required
  I should do so in honour: I am in this,
  Your wife, your son, these senators, the nobles;
  And you will rather show our general louts 2245
  How you can frown than spend a fawn upon 'em,
  For the inheritance of their loves and safeguard
  Of what that want might ruin.

• Menenius Agrippa. Noble lady!
  Come, go with us; speak fair: you may salve so, 2250
  Not what is dangerous present, but the loss
  Of what is past.

• Volumnia. I prithee now, my son,
  Go to them, with this bonnet in thy hand;
  And thus far having stretch'd it—here be with them— 2255
  Thy knee bussing the stones—for in such business
  Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant
  More learned than the ears—waving thy head,
  Which often, thus, correcting thy stout heart,
  Now humble as the ripest mulberry 2260
  That will not hold the handling: or say to them,
  Thou art their soldier, and being bred in broils
  Hast not the soft way which, thou dost confess,
  Were fit for thee to use as they to claim,
  In asking their good loves, but thou wilt frame 2265
  Thyself, forsooth, hereafter theirs, so far
  As thou hast power and person.

• Menenius Agrippa. This but done,
  Even as she speaks, why, their hearts were yours;
  For they have pardons, being ask'd, as free 2270
  As words to little purpose.

• Volumnia. Prithee now,
  Go, and be ruled: although I know thou hadst rather
  Follow thine enemy in a fiery gulf
  Than flatter him in a bower. Here is Cominius. 2275

[Enter COMINIUS]

• Cominius. I have been i' the market-place; and, sir,'tis fit
  You make strong party, or defend yourself
  By calmness or by absence: all's in anger.

• Menenius Agrippa. Only fair speech. 2280

• Cominius. I think 'twill serve, if he
  Can thereto frame his spirit.

• Volumnia. He must, and will
  Prithee now, say you will, and go about it.

• Coriolanus. Must I go show them my unbarbed sconce? 2285
  Must I with base tongue give my noble heart
  A lie that it must bear? Well, I will do't:
  Yet, were there but this single plot to lose,
  This mould of CORIOLANUS, they to dust should grind it
  And throw't against the wind. To the market-place! 2290
  You have put me now to such a part which never
  I shall discharge to the life.

• Cominius. Come, come, we'll prompt you.

• Volumnia. I prithee now, sweet son, as thou hast said
  My praises made thee first a soldier, so, 2295
  To have my praise for this, perform a part
  Thou hast not done before.

• Coriolanus. Well, I must do't:
  Away, my disposition, and possess me
  Some harlot's spirit! my throat of war be turn'd, 2300
  Which quired with my drum, into a pipe
  Small as an eunuch, or the virgin voice
  That babies lulls asleep! the smiles of knaves
  Tent in my cheeks, and schoolboys' tears take up
  The glasses of my sight! a beggar's tongue 2305
  Make motion through my lips, and my arm'd knees,
  Who bow'd but in my stirrup, bend like his
  That hath received an alms! I will not do't,
  Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth
  And by my body's action teach my mind 2310
  A most inherent baseness.

• Volumnia. At thy choice, then:
  To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour
  Than thou of them. Come all to ruin; let
  Thy mother rather feel thy pride than fear 2315
  Thy dangerous stoutness, for I mock at death
  With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list
  Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck'dst it from me,
  But owe thy pride thyself.

• Coriolanus. Pray, be content: 2320
  Mother, I am going to the market-place;
  Chide me no more. I'll mountebank their loves,
  Cog their hearts from them, and come home beloved
  Of all the trades in Rome. Look, I am going:
  Commend me to my wife. I'll return consul; 2325
  Or never trust to what my tongue can do
  I' the way of flattery further.

• Volumnia. Do your will.

[Exit]

• Cominius. Away! the tribunes do attend you: arm yourself 2330
  To answer mildly; for they are prepared
  With accusations, as I hear, more strong
  Than are upon you yet.

• Coriolanus. The word is 'mildly.' Pray you, let us go:
  Let them accuse me by invention, I 2335
  Will answer in mine honour.

• Menenius Agrippa. Ay, but mildly.

• Coriolanus. Well, mildly be it then. Mildly!

[Exeunt]

Act III, Scene 3

The same. The Forum.

[Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS]

• Junius 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. 2345
  [Enter an AEdile]
  What, will he come?

• Aedile. He's coming.

• Junius Brutus. How accompanied?

• Aedile. With old Menenius, and those senators 2350
  That always favour'd him.

• Sicinius Velutus. Have you a catalogue
  Of all the voices that we have procured
  Set down by the poll?

• Aedile. I have; 'tis ready. 2355

• Sicinius Velutus. Have you collected them by tribes?

• Aedile. I have.

• Sicinius Velutus. Assemble presently the people hither;
  And when they bear me say 'It shall be so
  I' the right and strength o' the commons,' be it either 2360
  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' the truth o' the cause.

• Aedile. I shall inform them. 2365

• Junius 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. 2370

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

• Junius Brutus. Go about it.
  [Exit AEdile]
  Put him to choler straight: he hath been used 2375
  Ever to conquer, and to have his worth
  Of contradiction: being once chafed, he cannot
  Be rein'd again to temperance; then he speaks
  What's in his heart; and that is there which looks
  With us to break his neck. 2380

• Sicinius Velutus. Well, here he comes.
  [Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, and COMINIUS,]
  with Senators and Patricians]

• Menenius Agrippa. Calmly, I do beseech you.

• Coriolanus. Ay, as an ostler, that for the poorest piece 2385
  Will bear the knave by the volume. The honour'd 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! 2390

• First Senator. Amen, amen.

• Menenius Agrippa. A noble wish.

[Re-enter AEdile, with Citizens]

• Sicinius Velutus. Draw near, ye people.

• Aedile. List to your tribunes. Audience: peace, I say! 2395

• Coriolanus. First, hear me speak.

• Both Tribunes. Well, say. Peace, ho!

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

• Sicinius Velutus. I do demand, 2400
  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. 2405

• Menenius Agrippa. 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' the holy churchyard.

• Coriolanus. Scratches with briers, 2410
  Scars to move laughter only.

• Menenius Agrippa. 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, 2415
  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 pass'd for consul with full voice, 2420
  I am so dishonour'd that the very hour
  You take it off again?

• Sicinius Velutus. Answer to us.

• Coriolanus. Say, then: 'tis true, I ought so.

• Sicinius Velutus. We charge you, that you have contrived to take 2425
  From Rome all season'd office and to wind
  Yourself into a power tyrannical;
  For which you are a traitor to the people.

• Coriolanus. How! traitor!

• Menenius Agrippa. Nay, temperately; your promise. 2430

• Coriolanus. The fires i' the lowest hell fold-in the people!
  Call me their traitor! Thou injurious tribune!
  Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,
  In thy hand clutch'd as many millions, in
  Thy lying tongue both numbers, I would say 2435
  'Thou liest' unto thee with a voice as free
  As I do pray the gods.

• Sicinius Velutus. Mark you this, people?

• Citizens. To the rock, to the rock with him!

• Sicinius Velutus. Peace! 2440
  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, 2445
  So criminal and in such capital kind,
  Deserves the extremest death.

• Junius Brutus. But since he hath
  Served well for Rome,—

• Coriolanus. What do you prate of service? 2450

• Junius Brutus. I talk of that, that know it.

• Coriolanus. You?

• Menenius Agrippa. Is this the promise that you made your mother?

• Cominius. Know, I pray you,—

• Coriolanus. I know no further: 2455
  Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,
  Vagabond exile, raying, pent to linger
  But with a grain a day, I would not buy
  Their mercy at the price of one fair word;
  Nor cheque my courage for what they can give, 2460
  To have't with saying 'Good morrow.'

• Sicinius Velutus. 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 2465
  Given hostile strokes, and that not in the presence
  Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers
  That do distribute it; in the name o' the people
  And in the power of us the tribunes, we,
  Even from this instant, banish him our city, 2470
  In peril of precipitation
  From off the rock Tarpeian never more
  To enter our Rome gates: i' the people's name,
  I say it shall be so.

• Citizens. It shall be so, it shall be so; let him away: 2475
  He's banish'd, and it shall be so.

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

• Sicinius Velutus. He's sentenced; no more hearing.

• Cominius. Let me speak:
  I have been consul, and can show for Rome 2480
  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 2485
  Speak that,—

• Sicinius Velutus. We know your drift: speak what?

• Junius Brutus. There's no more to be said, but he is banish'd,
  As enemy to the people and his country:
  It shall be so. 2490

• Citizens. It shall be so, it shall be so.

• Coriolanus. You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
  As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
  As the dead carcasses of unburied men
  That do corrupt my air, I banish you; 2495
  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 2500
  Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
  Making not reservation of yourselves,
  Still your own foes, deliver you as most
  Abated captives to some nation
  That won you without blows! Despising, 2505
  For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
  There is a world elsewhere.
  [Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, MENENIUS, Senators,]
  and Patricians]

• Aedile. The people's enemy is gone, is gone! 2510

• Citizens. Our enemy is banish'd! he is gone! Hoo! hoo!

[Shouting, and throwing up their caps]

• Sicinius Velutus. Go, see him out at gates, and follow him,
  As he hath followed you, with all despite;
  Give him deserved vexation. Let a guard 2515
  Attend us through the city.

• Citizens. Come, come; let's see him out at gates; come.
  The gods preserve our noble tribunes! Come.

[Exeunt]