Corioli

“ Flutter’d your Volscians in Corioli;
Alone I did it. Boy! The patient fools, whose children he had slain, are not patient now, and no longer tear their throats in acclaiming his glory. Their cries, “Tear him to pieces,” “He killed my son,” and the like, give the conspirators the cue, and Aufidius is presently standing on his body.
It is not, then, as a martyr to retrieved patriotism that Coriolanus perishes, but as the victim of his own passion. In truth, the victory he won over himself under the influence of his mother, though real, is very incomplete. ”

“ MARCIUS. As with a man busied about decrees: Condemning some to death and some to exile; Ransoming him or pitying, threat'ning the other; Holding Corioli in the name of Rome, Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash, To let him slip at will.
COMINIUS. Where is that slave Which told me they had beat you to your trenches? Where's he? call him hither.
MARCIUS. Let him alone; He did inform the truth: but for our gentlemen, The common file,—a plague!—tribunes for them!— The mouse ne'er shunned the cat as they did budge From rascals worse than they. ”

“ Though the great houses love us not, we own, to do them right, That the great houses, all save one, have borne them well in fight. Still Caius of Corioli, his triumphs and his wrongs, His vengeance and his mercy, live in our camp-fire songs. Beneath the yoke of Furius oft have Gaul and Tuscan bowed: And Rome may bear the pride of him of whom herself is proud. But evermore a Claudius shrinks from a stricken field, And changes color like a maid at sight of sword and shield. The Claudian triumphs all were won within the city towers; The Claudian yoke was never pressed on any necks but ours. ”

“ MARCIUS. I'll fight with none but thee, for I do hate thee Worse than a promise-breaker.
AUFIDIUS. We hate alike: Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor More than thy fame and envy. Fix thy foot.
MARCIUS. Let the first budger die the other's slave, And the gods doom him after!
AUFIDIUS. If I fly, Marcius, Halloo me like a hare.
MARCIUS. Within these three hours, Tullus, Alone I fought in your Corioli walls, And made what work I pleas'd: 'tis not my blood Wherein thou seest me mask'd: for thy revenge Wrench up thy power to the highest. ”

“ Make the sun dance. An old popular belief was that the sun danced for joy on Easter morning. It is alluded to by many writers of Shakespeare's time.
V. iv. 66 S. d. Some editors make a new scene of the next six lines.
V. v. S. d. Corioli. The text of this scene is inconsistent in locating it, first at Antium, the Volscian capital, and later at Corioli. Professor Gordon's explanation is highly satisfactory: 'Editors are divided whether to place this scene in Antium or Corioli. We should expect it to be Antium. Plutarch makes it Antium. But in line 90 it is explicitly said to be Corioli. ”

“ At last, persuaded by his mother Veturia and his wife Volumnia, he led back the Volscian army, and restored the conquered towns. He died at an advanced age in exile amongst the Volscians; according to others, he was put to death by them as a traitor; a third tradition (mentioned, but ridiculed, by Cicero) represents him as having taken his own life.
The whole legend is open to serious criticism. At the traditional date (493 B.C.) Corioli was not a Volscian possession, but one of the Latin cities which had concluded a treaty of alliance with Rome ”

“ And in the brunt of seventeen battles since He lurch'd all swords of the garland. For this last, Before and in Corioli, let me say, I cannot speak him home: he stopp'd the fliers; And by his rare example made the coward Turn terror into sport: as weeds before A vessel under sail, so men obey'd, And fell below his stem: his sword,—death's stamp,— Where it did mark, it took; from face to foot He was a thing of blood, whose every motion Was timed with dying cries: alone he enter'd The mortal gate of the city, which he painted With shunless destiny ”

“ Vol. Let her alone, lady: as she is now she ⁠116
will but disease our better mirth.
Val. In troth, I think she would. Fare you
well then. Come, good sweet lady. Prithee,
Virgilia, turn thy solemness out o' door, and go ⁠120
along with us.
Vir. No, at a word, madam; indeed I must
not. I wish you much mirth.
Val. Well then, farewell. Exeunt Ladies.
Scene Four
[Before Corioli]
Enter Martius, Titus Lartius, with Drum and Colours, with Captains and Soldiers, as before the City Corioli: to them a Messenger.
Mar. Yonder comes news: a wager they have met.
Lart. My horse to yours, no. ”

“ Many of the neighboring tribes had found in the revolution a hostile incentive, and the Romans with a unified purpose after their reconciliation conducted vigorously the wars which the latter waged, and conquered in all of them. It was at this time that in the siege of Corioli they came within an ace of being driven from their camp, but a patrician, Gnæus Marcius, showed his prowess and repelled the assailants. For this he received various tokens of renown and was given the title of Coriolanus from the people which he had routed. Frag. ”

“ The man excessively afflicted with most just wrath leaves his wife, his mother, and his country, and goes to the Corioli, and they receive the man. Then after that they arrayed themselves against the Romans. And had not his spouse and mother at the breaking out of that war run and torn apart their tunics and stood about him naked,—Veturia and Volumnia were their names,—and checked him with difficulty from the battle against the Romans, Rome would have made a resolve to honor benefactors. ”

“ The solution seems to me to be this. Shakespeare meant the scene to be Antium, and wrote with Antium in his mind until he came to Aufidius's speech in l. 88. There he was carried away by the magnificent opportunity of placing "Coriolanus in Corioli" (l. 90) , and for the rest of the scene thought rather of Corioli than of Antium.'
V. v. 67, 68. answering us With our own charge. Paying us back only the amount of our expenditure, bringing in no profit. ”

“ I. i. 266, 267. disdains the shadow Which he treads on at noon. 'The sun being vertical at noon, a man treads on his own shadow then.' (Arden ed.)
I. ii. 27. Corioli. The name had been gallicized by Amyot into 'Corioles.' It is retained in this form by North and usually in the Shakespeare Folio. (In the stage direction at the opening of this scene the Folio spells it 'Coriolus.')
I. iii. 16. his brows bound with oak. Crowned with a wreath of oak leaves. Plutarch (North) records that in an early battle the young Martius saved the life of a Roman soldier. ”

“ Ergo ego nisi peperissem, Roma non oppugnaretur; nisi filium haberem, libera in libera patria mortua essem.’ . . . Uxor deinde ac liberi amplexi, fletusque ab 15 omni turba mulierum ortus et conploratio sui patriaeque fregere tandem virum. Complexus inde suos dimittit; ipse retro ab urbe castra movit. Abductis deinde legionibus ex agro Romano invidia rei oppressum perisse tradunt alii alio leto. 20
Livy, ii. 40.
1 Coriolanus. Gaius Marcius received the cognomen of Coriolanus for his bravery at the capture of the Volscian town of Corioli (S.E. of Rome) . ”

“ 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. ”

“ In no work produced by her busy pen has Miss Corelli given such range to her imagination, to her love of the beautiful and fantastic, as in “Ardath.” This, her fourth book, abounds in wonderful accounts of a strange people in a strange place. When she sets a scene of barbaric splendor in the city of Al-Kyris, she reaches great descriptive heights; she tells, indeed, a tale of beauty, of horror, and of extraordinary amours, whose like can nowhere be found, look where you will. “Ardath” stands alone—a prose poem and a startlingly vivid narrative in one. ”

“ It is enough for me to know that you are a child and alone in the world,—such sorrow makes me your servant."
Gently the boy loosened his clasp of the Cardinal's hands.
"Then I have found a friend!" he said,—"That is very strange!" He paused, and the smile that had once before brightened his countenance shone again like a veritable flash of sunlight—"You have the right to know my name, and if you choose, to call me by it,—it is Manuel." ”

“ For Coriolanus, with all his blind sides and rough corners, might still be the faithful and honoured champion of Rome if he were left to follow his own predestined and congenial path as military leader. In the field he can rouse the courage of the citizens and fire their enthusiasm, while on his part, when he wins their recognition and devotion, he lays aside some of his asperity to them, and is even gracious in his awkward, convincing way. They forget their hatred, he forgets his scorn. ”

“ Then Aubrey Leigh spoke.
"My dear Grandit! You are a marvellous man! How came you to know
Gherardi's secrets?"
"Through a section of the Christian-Democratic party here"—replied Cyrillon—"You must not forget that I, like you, have my disciples! They keep me informed of all that goes on in Rome, and they have watched Domenico Gherardi for years. We all know much—but we have little chance to speak! If England knew of Rome what France knows, what Spain knows,—what Italy knows, she would pray to be given a second Cromwell! For the time is coming when she will need him!" ”

“ There is no new creed, no new passion, no new deed under the sun to-day. There is only the same recapitulation in a fresh garb. Our Saints still live to-day. It sounds drastic enough, but Miss Corelli feels this and knows that midst the fair field of fairness there is also the thorn and the poisonous flower any one may cull, or the simple field lily that lifts its face to Heaven, and sees only Heaven in its purity. ”

“ But why, in the name of the saints or the devil, have you taken such a fancy to me?”
“Why have I taken such a fancy to you?” I repeated, slowly. “My dear Ferrari, I am surely not alone in my admiration for your high qualities! Does not every one like you? Are you not a universal favorite? Do you not tell me that your late friend the Count Romani held you as the dearest to him in the world after his wife? Ebbene! Why underrate yourself?”
He let his hands fall slowly from my shoulders and a look of pain contracted his features. ”

“ Ferrari looked amused.
“Madame is not aware of your dislike to the society of ladies, conte,” he said, and there was a touch of mockery in his tone. I glanced at him coldly, and addressed my answer to my wife.
“Signor Ferrari is perfectly right,” I said, bending over her, and speaking in a low tone; “I am often ungallant enough to avoid the society of mere women, but, alas! I have no armor of defense against the smile of an angel.”
And I bowed with a deep and courtly reverence. Her face brightened—she adored her own loveliness, and the desire of conquest awoke in her immediately. ”

“ As the party passed through the massive gateway, Korihor turned to look back at the guard, and raising his voice, said to the crowd which had gathered there rather than to the one whom he addressed, "Guard, tell your good people as they pass in and out of the city, that Korihor, their friend, who would see them free, is in bonds for liberty's sake, and is soon to be tried before an imperious High Priest and a tyrant judge, for honest disbelief in the foolish traditions of their fathers—tell them this, and ask them if the time has came when all men must be slaves to superstition!" ”

“ Mankind is at last more just to people of talents than is universally allowed, I think. Corilla, without pretensions either to immaculate character (in the English sense) , deep erudition, or high birth, which an Italian esteems above all earthly things, has so made her way in the world, that all the nobility of both sexes crowd to her house; that no Prince passes through Florence without waiting on Corilla ”

“ The Standard says:—“Miss Corelli gives a brisk, indeed, a passionate tale of loneliness in search of love, of misery seeking solace, of the quest of a multi-millionaire for friendship that is disinterested and affection that has no purchase price. It is distinctly good to find a preacher with so great a congregation lifting up her voice against the selfishness of the time, and urging upon us all the divinity of faith, charity, and loving-kindness.” ”

“ Arcangelo Corelli, a name justly celebrated in the annals of music, will descend to ages unborn without losing a particle of its glory, whatever revolutions may be effected in the domains of art. The great artist who bore that name, no less celebrated for his compositions than for his marvellous execution at that period, was born in 1653, at Fusignano, a small town in the States of the Church, and died at Rome, on the 18th of January, 1713. His contemporaries were not jealous of his glory, for the whole of Europe welcomed his talent with unanimous acclamations ”

“ Thanks,” and he took the case from me as I returned it to him with a frank smile.
“Is the Countess Romani young?” I forced myself to inquire.
“Young and beautiful as a midsummer morning!” replied Ferrari, with enthusiasm. “I doubt if sunlight ever fell on a more enchanting woman! If you were a young man, conte, I should be silent regarding her charms—but your white hairs inspire one with confidence. I assure you solemnly, though Fabio was my friend, and an excellent fellow in his ways, he was never worthy of the woman he married!” ”