And nobly nam'd so, being censor twice," Life of Coriolanus, from whence this passage is directly translated. POPE. The passage in North's translation, 1579, runs thus: "The house of the Martians at Rome was of the number of the patricians, out of which hath sprong many noble personages: whereof Ancus Martius was one, king Numaes daughter's sonne, who was king of Rome after Tullus Hostilius. Of the same house were Publius and Quintus, who brought to Rome their best water they had by conduits. Censorinus also came of that familie, that was so surnamed because the people had chosen him censor twice." Publius and Quintus and Censorinus were not the ancestors of Coriolanus, but his descendants. Caius Martius Rutilius did not obtain the name of Censorinus till the year of Rome 487; and the Marcian waters were not brought to that city by aqueducts till the year 613, near 350 years after the death of Coriolanus. Can it be supposed, that he who would disregard such anachronisms, or rather he to whom they were not known, should have changed Cato, which he found in his Plutarch, to Calves, from a regard to chronology? See a former note, p. 39. MALONE. * And nobly nam'd so, being censor twice,] The old copy reads :-being twice censor; but for the sake of harmony, I have arranged these words as they stand in our author's original,Sir T. North's translation of Plutarch: "the people had chosen him censor twice." STEEVENS. • And Censorinus Was his great ancestor.] Now the first censor was created U. C. 314, and Coriolanus was banished U. C. 262. The truth is this: the passage, as Mr. Pope observes above, was taken from Plutarch's Life of Coriolanus; who, speaking of the house of Coriolanus, takes notice both of his ancestors and of his posterity, which our author's haste not giving him leave to observe, has here confounded one with the other. Another instance of his inadvertency, from the same cause, we have in The First Part of King Henry IV. where an account is given of the prisoners taken on the plains of Holmedon: " Mordake the earl of Fife, and eldest son But the Earl of Fife was not son to Douglas, but to Robert Duke of Albany, Governor of Scotland. He took his account from Holinshed, whose words are, And of prisoners amongst SIC. One thus descended, BRU. Say, you ne'er had done't, (Harp on that still,) but by our putting on:1 And presently, when you have drawn your number, Repair to the Capitol, CIT. We will so: almost all [Several speak. Repent in their election. BRU. [Exeunt Citizens. Let them go on; This mutiny were better put in hazard, Than stay, past doubt, for greater : If, as his nature is, he fall in rage With their refusal, both observe and answer The vantage of his anger.2 SIC. To the Capitol : others were these, Mordack earl of Fife, son to the governor Arkimbald, earl Douglas, &c. And he imagined that the Governor and Earl Douglas were one and the same person. 9 Scaling his present bearing with his past,] his past and present behaviour. JOHNSON. : WARBURTON. That is, weighing So, in K. Lear: STEEVENS. The vantage of his anger.] Mark, catch, and improve the opportunity, which his hasty anger will afford us. JOHNSON. 12 Come; we'll be there before the stream o'the peo ple; 3 And this shall seem, as partly 'tis, their own, Which we have goaded onward. [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. The same. A Street. Cornets. Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, CoMINIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, Senators, and Patricians. COR. Tullus Aufidius then had made new head? LART. He had, my lord; and that it was, which caus'd Our swifter composition. Cor. So then the Volces stand but as at first; Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make road Upon us again. Сом. They are worn, lord consul, so, 3-the stream o' the people;] So, in King Henry VIII: 4 - The rich stream " Of lords and ladies having brought the queen " To a prepar'd place in the choir," &c. MALONE. -lord consul,] Shakspeare has here, as in other places, attributed the usage of England to Rome. In his time the title of lord was given to many officers of state who were not peers ; thus, lords of the council, lord ambassador, lord general, &c. MALONE. That we shall hardly in our ages see COR. Saw you Aufidius? LART. On safe-guard he came to me; and did curse Against the Volces, for they had so vilely COR. Spoke he of me? LART. He did, my lord. COR. How? what? LART. 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 Be call'd your vanquisher. COR. LART. At Antium. At Antium lives he? COR. I wish, I had a cause to seek him there, To oppose his hatred fully.-Welcome home. [TO LARTIUS. Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS, Behold! these are the tribunes of the people, them; For they do prank them in authority, * On safe-guard he came to me;] i. e. with a convoy, a guard appointed to protect him. STEEVENS. 6 - prank them in authority,] Plume, deck, dignify themselves. JOHNSON. So, in Measure for Measure, Act II. sc. ii: " Drest in a little brief authority." STEEVENS. Com. Hath he not pass'd the nobles, and the commons?7 BRU. Cominius, no. COR. Have I had children's voices? 1 SEN. Tribunes, give way; he shall to the market-place. BRU. The people are incens'd against him. Or all will fall in broil, Stop, Are these your herd ?Must these have voices, that can yield them now, And straight disclaim their tongues? - What are your offices? You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth ?8 Have you not set them on? * Hath he not pass'd the nobles, and the commons?] The first folio reads: " -noble," and "common." The second hascommons. I have not hesitated to reform this passage on the authority of others in the play before us. Thus: 8 66 - the nobles bended "As to Jove's statue :" 66 the commons made " A shower and thunder," &c. STEEVENS. - why rule you not their teeth ?] The metaphor is from men's setting a bull-dog or mastiff upon any one. WARBURTON. |