Of present death.
Sic.

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

Ædiles, seize him.
Cit. Yield; Marcius, yield.
Men.

Hear me one word.
Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word.

Ædi. Peace, peace.

Men. Be that you seem, truly your country's friend, And temperately proceed to what you would Thus violently redress. Bru.

Şir, those cold ways, That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous4 Where the disease is violent:-Lay hands upon him, And bear him to the rock. Cor.

No; I 'll die here.

[Drawing his Sword. There 's some among you have beheld me fighting; Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me. Men. Down with that sword ;-Tribunes, withdraw a

while. Bru. Lay hands upon him. Men.

Help, help Marcius! help,
You that be noble ; help him, young, and old!
Cit. Down with him, down with him!
[In this Mutiny, the Tribunes, the Ædiles, and the

People, are all beat in,
Men. Go, get you to your house ;5 be gone, away,
All will be naught else.
2 Sen.

Get you gone.
Cor.

Stand fast;$ We have as many friends as enemies.

Men. Shall it be put to that? 1 Sen.

The gods forbid!

5

- very poisonous —] I read:

- are very poisons. Fohnson.

get you to your house;] Old copy-our house. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. So below:

I pr’ythee, noble friend, home to thy house." Malone. 6 Stand fast ; &c.] [Old copy-Com. Stand fast ; &c.] This speech certainly should be given to Coriolanus; for all his friends persuade him to retire. So, Cominius presently after:

“ Come, sir, along with us." Warburton. VOL. XIII.

K

I prythee, noble friend, home to thy house;
Leave us to cure this cause.
Men,

For 'tis a sore upon us, You cannot tent yourself: Begone, 'beseech you.

Com. Come, sir, along with us.

Cor. I would they were barbarians, (as they are, Though in Rome litter'd) not Romans, (as they are not, Though calv'd i' the porch o' the Capitoly) Men.

Be gone; Put not your worthy rage into your tongue; One time will owe another: Cor.

On fair ground, I could beat forty of them.

7 For 'tis a sore upon us,] The two last impertinent words, which destroy the measure, are an apparent interpolation.

Steevens. 8 Cor. I would they were barbarians (as they are,

Though in Rome litter'd,) rrot Romans, (as they are not,
Though calu'd i'the porch o’the Capitol,)

Be gone ; &c.] The beginning of this speech, [attributed in the old copy to Menénius] I am persuaded, should be given to Coriolanus. The latter part only belongs to Menenius:

66 Be gone ;

“ Put not your worthy rage" &c. Tyrwhitt. I have divided this speech according to Mr. Tyrwhitt's direction. S eevens.

The word, begone, certainly belongs to Menenius, who was very anxious to get Coriolanus away.- In the preceding page he says:

“Go, get you to your house; begone, away, -" And, in a few lines after, he repeats the same request:

“ Pray you, be gone ;
"Il

try
whether my

old wit be in request “ With those that have but little.” M. Mason. 9 One time will owe another.) I know not whether to owe in this place means to possess by right, or to be indebteil. Either sense may be admitted. One time, in which the people are seditious, will give us power in some other time : 07, this time of the people's predominance will run them in debt: that is, will lay them open to the law, and expose them hereafter to more servile subjection. Fohrison.

I believe Menenius means, “ This time will owe us one more fortunate.” It is a common expression to say, “This day is yours, the next may be mine.” M. Niason.

The meaning seems to be, One time will compensate for another. Our time of triumph will come hereafter: time will be in our debt, will owe us in good turn, for our present disgrace. Let us trust to futurity. Malone.

Men.

I could myself
Take up a brace of the best of them; yea, the two tri-

bunes.
Com. But now 'tis odds beyond arithmetick;
And manhood is call'd foolery, when it stands
Against a falling fabrick. Will you hence,
Before the tag return?1 whose rage doth rend
Like interrupted waters, and o'erbear
What they are us’d to bear.
Men,

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
With cloth of any colour.
Com,

Nay, come away.

[Exeunt Cor. Com. and Others. 1 Pat. This man has marr'd his fortune.

Men. His nature is too noble for the world:
He would not flatter Neptune for his trident,
Or Jove for his 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.

[A Noise within. Here's goodly work! 2 Pat.

I would they were a-bed! Men. I would they were in Tyber! What, the ven

geance, Could he not speak them fair?

Re-enter BRUTUS and SICINIUS, with the Rabble.
Sic.

Where is this viper,
That would depopulate the city, and
Be every man himself?
Men.

You worthy tribunes,
Sic. 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 publick power,
Which he so sets at nought.
1 Cit.

He shall well know,
The noble tribunes are the people's mouths,

1 Before the tag return?] The lowest and most despicable of the populace are still denominated by those a little above them, Tag, rag, and bobtail. Fohnson.

And we their hands.
Cit,

He shall, sure on 't.2

[Several speak together, Men.

Sir,3Sic.

Peace. Men. Do not cry, havock," where you should but hunt With modest warrant.

2 He skall, sure on't.] The meaning of these words is not very obvious. Perhaps they mean, He shall, that's sure. I am inclined to think that the same error has happened here and in a passage in Antony and Cleopatra, and that in both places sure is print. ed instead of sore. He shall suffer for it, he shall rue the ven. geance of the people.The editor of the second folio reads He shall, sure out; and u and n being often confounded, the emendation might be admitted, but that there is not here any question concerning the expulsion of Coriolanus. What is now proposed, is, to throw him down the Tarpeian rock. It is absurd, therefore, that the rabble should by way of confirmation of what their leader Sicinius had said, propose a punishment he has not so much as mentioned, and which, when he does afterwards mention it, he disapproved of:

to eject him hence, :“ Were but one danger." I have therefore left the old copy undisturbed. Malone.

Perhaps our author wrote with reference to the foregoing speech:

He shall, be sure on 't. i.e. be assured that he shall be taught the respect due to both the tribunes and the people. Steevens.

3 Sir,] Old copy, redundantly-Sir, sir. Steevens. * Do not cry, havock, where you should but hunt

With modest warrant.] i. é. Do not give the signal for unli. mited slaughter, &c. See Vol. VII, p. 320, n. 1. Steevens.

To cry havock, was, I believe, originally a sporting phrase, from hafoc, which in Saxon signifies a hawk. It was afterwards used in war. So, in King John :

Cry hawock, kings.” And in Julius Cæsar :

Cry havock, and let slip the dogs of war." It seems to have been the signal for general slaughter, and is expressly forbid in The Ordinances des Batta 9 R. ii, art. 10:

nul soit si hardy de crier havok sur peine d'avoir la test coupe."

The second article of the same Ordinances seems to have been fatal to Bardolph. It was death even to touch the pix of little price.

“ Item, que nul soit si hardy de toucher le corps de nostre Seigneur, ni le vessel en quel il est, sur peyne d'estre trainez et pendu, et le teste avoir coupe.” MS. Cotton. Nero D. VI.Tyrwhitt.

Again: “For them that crye haueke. Also that noo man be so

« Item, que

Sic.

Sir, how comes 't, that you
Have holp to make this rescue?
Men.

Hear me speak:-
As I do know the consul's worthiness,
So can I name his faults:
Sic.

Consul!-what consul?
Men. The consul Coriolanus.
Bru.

He a consul! Cit. No, no, no, no, no.

Men. If, by the tribunes' leave, and yours, good people, I

may be heard, I'd crave a word or two;
The which shall turn you tos no further harm,
Than so much loss of time.
Sic.

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

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

Sic. He's a disease, that must be cut away.

Men. O, he's a limb, that has but a disease;
Alortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy.
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,

5

hardy to crye hauoke, vpon payne of hym that so is founde begynner, to dye therefore, and the remenaunt to be emprysoned, and theyr bodyes to be punyshed at the kynges wyll." Certayne Statutes and Ordenaunces of Warre made &c. by Henry the VIII, bl. 1. 4to. emprynted by R. Pynson, 1513. Todd.

shall turn you to -] This singular expression has already occurred in The Tempest:

my heart bleeds “ To think o’the teen that I have turn'd you to.” Steevens. 6 Towards her deserved children -] Deserved, for deserving. So, delighted for delighting. So, in Othello: “ If virtue no delighted beauty lack » Malone.

66