Coriolanus

“ Thou art not honest, and the gods will plague thee,
That thou restrain'st from me the duty which
To a mother's part belongs. He turns away: 168
Down, ladies; let us shame him with our knees.
To his surname Coriolanus longs more pride
Than pity to our prayers. Down: an end;
This is the last; so we will home to Rome, 172
And die among our neighbours. ”

“ You may, sir.
CORIOLANUS.
That I’ll straight do and, knowing myself again,
Repair to th’ Senate House.
MENENIUS.
I’ll keep you company.—Will you along?
BRUTUS.
We stay here for the people.
SICINIUS.
Fare you well.
[Exeunt Coriolanus and Menenius.]
He has it now; and by his looks, methinks,
’Tis warm at his heart.
BRUTUS.
With a proud heart he wore
His humble weeds. Will you dismiss the people?
Enter the Pebleians.
SICINIUS.
How now, my masters, have you chose this man?
FIRST CITIZEN.
He has our voices, sir.
BRUTUS.
We pray the gods he may deserve your loves. ”

“ On the last day, the great army which Coriolanus had led from Antium was drawn up in battle array. It was ready to march upon the city and destroy it.
All Rome was in terror. There seemed to be no way to escape the anger of this furious man.
Then the rulers, in their despair, said, "Let us go up to the house where Coriolanus used to live when he was one of us. His mother and his wife are still there. They are noble women, and they love Rome. Let us ask them to go out and beg our enemy to have mercy upon us. His heart will be hard indeed if he can refuse his mother and his wife." ”

“ SCENE III. The tent of CORIOLANUS. [Enter CORIOLANUS, AUFIDIUS, and others.]
CORIOLANUS. We will before the walls of Rome to-morrow Set down our host.—My partner in this action, You must report to the Volscian lords how plainly I have borne this business.
AUFIDIUS. Only their ends You have respected; stopped your ears against The general suit of Rome; never admitted A private whisper, no, not with such friends That thought them sure of you.
CORIOLANUS. This last old man, Whom with crack'd heart I have sent to Rome, Lov'd me above the measure of a father; Nay, godded me indeed. ”

“ You shall know now that I am in estimation; you shall perceive that a Jack guardant cannot office me from my son Coriolanus. Guess but by my entertainment with him if thou stand’st not i’ th’ state of hanging or of some death more long in spectatorship and crueller in suffering; behold now presently, and swoon for what’s to come upon thee. [to Coriolanus.] The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy particular prosperity and love thee no worse than thy old father Menenius does! O my son, my son! Thou art preparing fire for us ”

“ In Coriolanus the feeling is not only of assent but of exultation. True, the tragedy ends with the hero’s death, but that is no unmitigated evil. He has won back something of his lost nobility and risen to the greatest height his nature could attain, in renouncing his revenge: after that what was there that he could live for either in Corioli or Rome?
Antony and Cleopatra has points of contact with both these plays, and shows like them that the night is on the wane. Of course in one way the view of life is still disconsolate enough. ”

“ To th’ fairness of my power.
COMINIUS.
So, to our tent,
Where, ere we do repose us, we will write
To Rome of our success.—You, Titus Lartius,
Must to Corioles back. Send us to Rome
The best, with whom we may articulate
For their own good and ours.
LARTIUS.
I shall, my lord.
CORIOLANUS.
The gods begin to mock me. I, that now
Refused most princely gifts, am bound to beg
Of my lord general.
COMINIUS.
Take’t, ’tis yours. What is’t?
CORIOLANUS.
I sometime lay here in Corioles
At a poor man’s house; he used me kindly. ”

“ On these two, unseen to all else, Coriolanus, perplexed in the extreme, in an attitude of despair, his sword half drawn, as if to slay himself, fixes his scared eyes: who discovers not that he is in a trance, and in the female warrior recognises the tutelary genius of Rome, and her attendant Fortune, to terrify him into compliance? Shall we disgrace with the frigid conceit of an allegory the powerful invention which disclosed to the painter's eye the agitation in the Roman's breast and the proper moment for fiction? ”

“ Such eyes the widows in Corioli wear,
And mothers that lack sons.
MENENIUS. Now the gods crown thee!
CORIOLANUS. And live you yet? [To VALERIA] O my sweet lady,
pardon.
VOLUMNIA. I know not where to turn.
O, welcome home! And welcome, General.
And y'are welcome all.
MENENIUS. A hundred thousand welcomes. I could weep
And I could laugh; I am light and heavy. Welcome!
A curse begin at very root on's heart
That is not glad to see thee! You are three
That Rome should dote on; yet, by the faith of men,
We have some old crab trees here at home that will not
Be grafted to your relish. ”

“ 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.
Enter Coriolanus, Menenius and Cominius with other Senators.
SICINIUS.
Well, here he comes.
MENENIUS.
Calmly, I do beseech you.
CORIOLANUS.
Ay, as an ostler, that for th’ poorest piece
Will bear the knave by th’ 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! ”

“ At all events some such feeling as his regrets in this variant tradition suggest, makes us prefer the version that Plutarch followed and that Shakespeare adapted. Coriolanus deserves to be spared the woes that the future has in store. As it is, he falls in the fulness of his power, inspired by great memories to greater audacity, and, no doubt, elated at the thought of challenging and outbraving death, when death is sure to win. ”

“ Exeunt citizens
MENENIUS. O sir, you are not right; have you not known
The worthiest men have done't?
CORIOLANUS. What must I say?
'I pray, sir'- Plague upon't! I cannot bring
My tongue to such a pace. 'Look, sir, my wounds
I got them in my country's service, when
Some certain of your brethren roar'd and ran
From th' noise of our own drums.'
MENENIUS. O me, the gods!
You must not speak of that. You must desire them
To think upon you.
CORIOLANUS. Think upon me? Hang 'em!
I would they would forget me, like the virtues
Which our divines lose by 'em.
MENENIUS. You'll mar all. ”

“ Thy thoughts with nobleness, that thou mayst prove
To shame unvulnerable, and stick i' th' wars
Like a great sea-mark, standing every flaw,
And saving those that eye thee!
VOLUMNIA. Your knee, sirrah.
CORIOLANUS. That's my brave boy.
VOLUMNIA. Even he, your wife, this lady, and myself,
Are suitors to you.
CORIOLANUS. I beseech you, peace!
Or, if you'd ask, remember this before:
The thing I have forsworn to grant may never
Be held by you denials. Do not bid me
Dismiss my soldiers, or capitulate
Again with Rome's mechanics. Tell me not
Wherein I seem unnatural ”

“ MENENIUS. You guard like men; 'tis well: but, by your leave, I am an officer of state, and come To speak with Coriolanus.
FIRST GUARD. From whence?
MENENIUS. From Rome.
FIRST GUARD. You may not pass; you must return: our general Will no more hear from thence.
SECOND GUARD. You'll see your Rome embrac'd with fire before You'll speak with Coriolanus.
MENENIUS. 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.
FIRST GUARD. Be it so; go back: the virtue of your name Is not here passable. ”

“ I was hardly moved to come to thee; but being assured none but myself could move thee, I have been blown out of your gates with sighs; and conjure thee to pardon Rome and thy petitionary countrymen. The good gods assuage thy wrath, and turn the dregs of it upon this varlet here; this, who, like a block, hath denied my access to thee.
CORIOLANUS. Away!
MENENIUS. How! away!
CORIOLANUS. Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs Are servanted to others: though I owe My revenge properly, my remission lies In Volscian breasts. ”

“ And they call that business; but it’s only another name for d—n robbery. But where is that confounded Coriolanus? [Calls.] Coriolanus! Coriolanus! Just like the rascal. Whenever you want him, nowhere to be found. When he is about, what good is he with his stuck up manners and airs? Thinks himself born to fill a higher sphere in life. But the only thing he’s good for is to stand him in the entry and use him for a hat rack. Confound him anyhow! [Calls.] Coriolanus! [Listens.] Where the deuce can he be? ”

“ MENENIUS. Masters o' the people, Your multiplying spawn how can he flatter,— That's thousand to one good one,—when you now see He had rather venture all his limbs for honour Than one on's ears to hear it?—Proceed, Cominius.
COMINIUS. I shall lack voice: the deeds of Coriolanus Should not be utter'd feebly.—It is held That valour is the chiefest virtue, and Most dignifies the haver: if it be, The man I speak of cannot in the world Be singly counterpois'd. At sixteen years, When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought Beyond the mark of others ”

“ His mother, Veturia, following up the advantage that had been gained, tried the power of the female tongue, to which time seems to go on adding all the force of which it deprives the rest of the body. The old lady raved and shouted with a degree of anile energy that struck Coriolanus with dismay; and when she threw herself on the ground, declaring he should walk over her body if he attempted to march upon Rome, he felt that he could not take another step without trampling on the tenderest relations of humanity. ”

“ The courageous self-reliance of Coriolanus’s mother, Volumnia, is severely contrasted with the submissive gentleness of Virgilia, Coriolanus’s wife. The hero falls a victim to no sensual flaw, but to unchecked pride of caste, and there is a searching irony in the emphasis laid on the ignoble temper of the rabble, who procure his overthrow. ”

“ Timon of Athens is betrayed by an excessive generosity. Coriolanus is betrayed by an excessive contempt for the multitude. He is one born into a high tradition of life. He has the courage, the skill in arms, and the talent for affairs that come with high birth in the manly races. He has also the faith in tradition that makes an unlettered upper class narrow and obstructionist. Like the rich in France before the Revolution, he despises the poor. ”

“ Menen. He loues your People, but tye him not to be
their Bed-fellow: Worthie Cominius speake.
Coriolanus rises, and offers to goe away.
Nay, keepe your place
Senat. Sit Coriolanus: neuer shame to heare
What you haue Nobly done
Coriol. Your Honors pardon:
I had rather haue my Wounds to heale againe,
Then heare say how I got them
Brutus. Sir, I hope my words dis-bench'd you not?
Coriol. No Sir: yet oft,
When blowes haue made me stay, I fled from words.
You sooth'd not, therefore hurt not: but your People,
I loue them as they weigh-
Menen. Pray now sit downe
Corio. ”

“ The priests next tried their powers of persuasion, but though they did all they could to convert Coriolanus to the cause of Rome, it was not until female influence was brought into requisition, that the attempt proved successful. His mother Veturia, accompanied by his considerably better half, Volumnia, and a party of Roman ladies made up for the occasion, visited him at his camp, when the clamour of the strong-minded, the sighs and sobs of the weaker, the sneers of some, the tears of others, and the importunity of all, proved irresistible. ”

“ His fame overspreads the world.
(447) General Observation. The tragedy of Coriolanus is one of the most amusing of our author's performances. The old man's merriment in Menenius; the lofty lady's dignity in Volumnia; the bridal modesty in Virgilia; the patrician and military haughtiness in Coriolanus; the plebeian malignity and tribunitian insolence in Brutus and Sicinius, make a very pleasing and interesting variety: and the various revolutions of the hero's fortune fill the mind with anxious curiosity. There is, perhaps, too much bustle in the first act, and too little in the last. ”

“ For matters being well digested, and their counsels thoroughly examined, touching the benefit of the commonwealth, the Senators are cause of the common commodity that cometh unto every one of you." These persuasions pacified the people.'
The most famous declamatory passages in Coriolanus are precisely those in which Shakespeare has most closely reproduced the prose of North. They are Coriolanus' indictment of the mob (III. i. 63–188) , his speech to Aufidius in the latter's house at Antium (IV. v. 71–107) , and Volumnia's successful appeal for Rome (V. iii. 94 ff.) . ”

“ The one, in spite of the harm he occasioned, could not make himself hated, nor the other, with all the admiration he attracted, succeed in being beloved by his countrymen. Coriolanus, moreover, it should be said, did not as a general obtain any successes for his country, but only for his enemies against his country. Alcibiades was often of service to Athens, both as a soldier and as a commander. So long as he was personally present, he had the perfect mastery of his political adversaries; calumny only succeeded in his absence. Coriolanus was condemned in person at Rome ”

“ Although Coriolanus is the hero of the play, yet much of the interest of the action and the final catastrophe turn upon the character of his mother, Volumnia, and the power she exercised over his mind, by which, according to the story, "she saved Rome [Pg 346] and lost her son." Her lofty patriotism, her patrician haughtiness, her maternal pride, her eloquence, and her towering spirit, are exhibited with the utmost power of effect; yet the truth of female nature is beautifully preserved, and the portrait, with all its vigor, is without harshness. ”