2 SERV. 'Tis so: and as wars, in some sort, may be said to be a ravisher; so it cannot be denied, but peace is a great maker of cuckolds.

1 SERV. Ay, and it makes men hate one another. 3 SERV. Reason; because they then less need one another. The wars, for my money. I hope to see Romans as cheap as Volcians. They are rising, they are rising.

ALL. In, in, in, in.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Rome. A publick Place.

Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS.

SIC. We hear not of him, neither need we fear him;

His remedies are tame i' the present peace

"O, 'tis brave wars!" as we have here" wars may be said to be a ravisher."

Perhaps, however, in all these instances, the old blundering transcribers or printers, may have given us wars instead of war. STEEVENS.

9 His remedies are tame i' the present peace-] The old reading is:

" His remedies are tame, the present peace."

I do not understand either line, but fancy it should be read thus:

neither need we fear him;

His remedies are ta'en, the present peace
And quietness o' the people,

The meaning, somewhat harshly expressed, according to our author's custom, is this: We need not fear him, the proper remedies against him are taken, by restoring peace and quietness.

JOHNSON

And quietness o' the people, which before
Were in wild hurry. Here do we make his friends
Blush, that the world goes well; who rather had,
Though they themselves did suffer by't, behold
Dissentious numbers pestering streets, than see
Our tradesmen singing in their shops, and going
About their functions friendly.

Enter MENENIUS.

BRU. We stood to't in good time. Is this Menenius?

SIC. 'Tis he, 'tis he: O, he is grown most kind Of late.-Hail, sir!

MEN.

Hail to you both!'

I rather suppose the meaning of Sicinius to be this:

His remedies are tame,

i. e. ineffectual in times of peace like these. When the people were in commotion, his friends might have strove to remedy his disgrace by tampering with them; but now, neither wanting to employ his bravery, nor remembering his former actions, they are unfit subjects for the factious to work upon.

Mr. M. Mason would read, lame; but the epithets tame and wild were, I believe, designedly opposed to each other.

STEEVENS.

In, [i' the present peace] which was omitted in the old copy, was inserted by Mr. Theobald. MALONE.

。

Hail to you both!] From this reply of Menenius, it should seem that both the tribunes had saluted him; a circumstance also to be inferred from the present deficiency in the metre, which would be restored by reading (according to the proposal of a modern editor:)

Of late. Hail, sir!

Bru.

Hail, sir!

Men.

SIC. Your Coriolanus, sir, is not much miss'd, But with his friends; the common-wealth doth

stand;

And so would do, were he more angry at it.

MEN. All's well; and might have been much

better, if

He could have temporiz'd.

SIC.

Where is he, hear you?

MEN. Nay, I hear nothing; his mother and his

wife

Hear nothing from him.

Enter Three or Four Citizens.

CIT. The gods preserve you both!

SIC.

Good-e'en, our neighbours.

BRU. Good-e'en to you all, good-e'en to you all. 1 CIT. Ourselves, our wives, and children, on

our knees, Are bound to pray for you both.

SIC. This is a happier and more comely time, Than when these fellows ran about the streets, Crying, Confusion.

* Your Coriolanus, sir, is not much miss'd,] I have admitted the word-sir, for the sake of measure.

STEEVENS.

BRU.

Caius Marcius was

A worthy officer i' the war; but insolent, O'ercome with pride, ambitious past all thinking,

Self-loving,

SIC.

Without assistance.3

MEN.

And affecting one sole throne,

I think not so.

SIC. We should by this, to all our lamentation, If he had gone forth consul, found it so.

BRU. The gods have well prevented it, and Rome Sits safe and still without him.

ÆD.

Enter Ædile.

Worthy tribunes,

.

There is a slave, whom we have put in prison,
Reports, the Volces with two several powers
Are enter'd in the Roman territories;
And with the deepest malice of the war

Destroy what lies before them.

MEN.

'Tis Aufidius,

Who, hearing of our Marcius' banishment,
Thrusts forth his horns again into the world;

3

affecting one sole throne,

Without assistance.] That is, without assessors; without any other suffrage. Johnson.

Without assistance.] For the sake of measure I should wish to read:

Without assistance in't.

1

This hemistich, joined to the following one, would then form a regular verse.

It is also not improbable that Shakspeare instead of assistance wrote assistants. Thus in the old copies of our author, we have ingredience for ingredients, occurrence for occurrents, &c.

STEEVENS.

BRU. Go see this rumourer whipp'd. It cannot

be,

The Volces dare break with us.

MEN.

Cannot be!

We have record, that very well it can;
And three examples of the like have been
Within my age. But reason with the fellow,5
Before you punish him, where he heard this:
Lest you shall chance to whip your information,
And beat the messenger who bids beware

Of what is to be dreaded.

MESS. The nobles, in great earnestness, are going All to the senate house: some news is come,

4

- stood for Rome,] i. e. stood up in its defence. Had the expression in the text been met with in a learned author, it might have passed for a Latinism:

5

- summis stantem pro turribus Idam."
Æneid IX. 575.

STEEVENS.

- reason with the fellow,] That is, have some talk with him. In this sense Shakspeare often uses the word. Vol. IV. p. 210, n. 8. Johnson.

6

some news is come,] Old copy-redundantly, some news is come in. The second folio-coming; but I think, erroneously. STEEVENS.