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 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,

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.

Cit. It shall be so, it shall be so: let him away.
He's banish'd, and it shall be so.

Com. Hear me, my masters, and my common friends;— Sic. He's sentenc'd: no more hearing.

Com.

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-

Sic.

We know your drift. Speak what? Bru. There's no more to be said; but he is banish'd, As enemy to the people, and his country.

It shall be so.

Cit.

It shall be so: it shall be so.

Cor. 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;
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 not reservation of yourselves,

3 and can show FOR Rome,] In our first edition we preserved the preposition from before "Rome," as it stands in all the old copies; but we amend it to "for Rome" on the strength of a similar change in the corr. fo. 1632. We are convinced that we were formerly in error.

Making NOT] "Making but" in old copies, another proof of the facility

(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, Senators, and Patricians.

Ed. The people's enemy is gone; is gone!

Cit. Our enemy is banish'd! he is gone! Hoo! hoo! [The People shout, and throw up their caps.

Sic. Go, see him out at gates; and follow him,

As he hath follow'd you, with all despite :

Give him deserv'd vexation.-Let a guard

Attend us through the city.

Cit. Come, come; let us see him out at gates: come. The gods preserve our noble tribunes!-Come.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV. SCENE I.

The Same. Before a Gate of the City.

Enter CORIOLANUS, VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, MENENIUS,
COMINIUS, and several young Patricians.

Cor. Come, leave your tears: a brief farewell.-The beast
With many heads butts me away.-Nay, mother,
Where is your ancient courage? you were us'd
To say, extremity was the trier of spirits';
That common chances common men could bear;
That, when the sea was calm, all boats alike
Show'd mastership in floating; fortune's blows,
When most struck home, being gentle-minded craves

with which "not" and but were formerly confounded. Capell altered but of the folios to "not ;" and that he was right we have the evidence of the old corrector of the fo. 1632.

5 To say, EXTREMITY was the trier of spirits;] So the second folio: the first has extremities. Malone, nevertheless, persevered in reading, "extremities was the trier of spirits."

A noble cunning. You were us❜d to load me
With precepts, that would make invincible
The heart that conn'd them.

Vir. Oh heavens! Oh heavens!

Cor.

Nay, I pr'ythee, woman,―

Vol. Now, the red pestilence strike all trades in Rome, And occupations perish!

Cor.

What, what, what!

I shall be lov'd when I am lack'd. Nay, mother,
Resume that spirit, when you were wont to say,
If you had been the wife of Hercules,

Six of his labours you'd have done, and sav'd
Your husband so much sweat.-Cominius,

Droop not: adieu.-Farewell, my wife! my mother!
I'll do well yet.-Thou old and true Menenius,
Thy tears are salter than a younger man's,

And venomous to thine eyes.-My sometime general,
I have seen thee stern, and thou hast oft beheld
Heart-hardening spectacles; tell these sad women,
"Tis fond to wail inevitable strokes,

As 'tis to laugh at 'em.-My mother, you wot well,
My hazards still have been your solace; and
Believe't not lightly, though I go alone,

Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen

Makes fear'd, and talk'd of more than seen, your son
Will or exceed the common, or be caught

With cautelous baits and practice.

Vol.

My first son',

Whither wilt thou go? Take good Cominius
With thee a while: determine on some course,
More than a wild exposure to each chance,

8

"fortune's blows,

When most struck home, being gentle-MINDED craves

A noble cunning.] This is a passage that, not having been correctly printed, has always presented an obstacle: for "gentle wounded" of the folio, 1623, read "gentle-minded" of the corr. fo. 1632, and nothing more is wanted. The sense is, that it requires a noble cunning to be gentle-minded, when the blows of fortune are most struck home. The mistake of the old compositor was printing wounded for "minded," again (see page 671), probably, from misreading the first letter. 7 My FIRST son,] "First " seems here to be taken in the sense of noblest.

8 More than a wild EXFOSURE] The old copies all read exposture, and it is unaltered in the corr. fo. 1632: nevertheless we have ventured, like Mr. Knight, to leave out the letter t, being on the whole satisfied that it was a mere accidental insertion. Exposture has been found in no other author, that we are aware of, nor elsewhere in Shakespeare.

That starts i' the way before thee.

Cor.

Oh the gods!

Com. I'll follow thee a month; devise with thee
Where thou shalt rest, that thou may'st hear of us,
And we of thee: so, if the time thrust forth
A cause for thy repeal, we shall not send
O'er the vast world to seek a single man,
And lose advantage, which doth ever cool
I' the absence of the needer.

Fare ye well:

Cor.
Thou hast years upon thee; and thou art too full
Of the wars' surfeits, to go rove with one
That's yet unbruis'd: bring me but out at gate.-
Come, my sweet wife, my dearest mother, and
My friends of noble touch, when I am forth
Bid me farewell, and smile. I pray you, come.
While I remain above the ground, you shall
Hear from me still; and never of me aught
But what is like me formerly.

Men.
That's worthily
As any ear can hear.-Come; let's not weep.-
If I could shake off but one seven years

From these old arms and legs, by the good gods,
I'd with thee every foot.

Cor.

Come.

Give me thy hand.—

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The Same. A Street near the Gate.

Enter SICINIUS, BRUTUS, and an Edile.

Sic. Bid them all home: he's gone, and we'll no farther.

The nobility are vex'd, who, we see, have sided

Say, their great enemy is gone, and they
Stand in their ancient strength.

Sic. They say, she's mad.

Bru. They have ta'en note of us: keep on your way. Vol. Oh! y'are well met. The hoarded plague o' the gods Requite your love!

Men.

Peace, peace! be not so loud.

Vol. If that I could for weeping, you should hear,Nay, and you shall hear some.-Will you be gone?

[To BRUTUS.

Vir. You shall stay too. [To SICIN.] I would I had the

power

To say so to my husband.

Sic.

Are you mankind'?

Vol. Ay, fool; is that a shame ?-Note but this fool.Was not a man my father? Hadst thou foxship

To banish him that struck more blows for Rome,

Than thou hast spoken words?

Sic.

Oh, blessed heavens!

Vol. More noble blows, than ever thou wise words; And for Rome's good.-I'll tell thee what-yet go:Nay, but thou shalt stay too.-I would my son

Were in Arabia, and thy tribe before him,

His good sword in his hand.

Sic.

Vir.

What then?

What then!

He'd make an end of thy posterity.

Vol. Bastards, and all.

Good man, the wounds that he does bear for Rome!

Men. Come, come: peace!

Sic. I would he had continued to his country,

As he began; and not unknit himself

The noble knot he made.

Bru.

I would he had.

9 Are you MANKIND?] i. e. Are you of the male sex? are you masculine? See Vol. iii. p. 44. Volumnia in her reply to Sicinius takes "mankind" merely in the sense of human. In the note to which we have referred in Vol. iii., "mankind" is accidentally printed as two words.