The Tragedy Of Coriolanus

1 Enter Menenius to the Watch, or Guard.
2 FIRST WATCH.
3 Stay! Whence are you?
4 SECOND WATCH.
5 Stand, and go back.
6 MENENIUS.
7 You guard like men; ’tis well. But by your leave,
8 I am an officer of state and come
9 To speak with Coriolanus.
10 FIRST WATCH.
11 From whence?
12 MENENIUS.
13 From Rome.
14 FIRST WATCH.
15 You may not pass; you must return. Our general
16 Will no more hear from thence.
17 SECOND WATCH.
18 You’ll see your Rome embraced with fire before
19 You’ll speak with Coriolanus.
20 MENENIUS.
21 Good my friends,
22 If you have heard your general talk of Rome
23 And of his friends there, it is lots to blanks
24 My name hath touched your ears. It is Menenius.
25 FIRST WATCH.
26 Be it so; go back. The virtue of your name
27 Is not here passable.
28 MENENIUS.
29 I tell thee, fellow,
30 Thy general is my lover. I have been
31 The book of his good acts, whence men have read
32 His fame unparalleled happily amplified;
33 For I have ever verified my friends—
34 Of whom he’s chief—with all the size that verity
35 Would without lapsing suffer. Nay, sometimes,
36 Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground,
37 I have tumbled past the throw, and in his praise
38 Have almost stamped the leasing. Therefore, fellow,
39 I must have leave to pass.
40 FIRST WATCH.
41 Faith, sir, if you had told as many lies in his behalf as you have
42 uttered words in your own, you should not pass here, no, though it were
43 as virtuous to lie as to live chastely. Therefore, go back.
44 MENENIUS.
45 Prithee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius, always factionary on the
46 party of your general.
47 SECOND WATCH.
48 Howsoever you have been his liar, as you say you have, I am one that,
49 telling true under him, must say you cannot pass. Therefore go back.
50 MENENIUS.
51 Has he dined, can’st thou tell? For I would not speak with him till
52 after dinner.
53 FIRST WATCH.
54 You are a Roman, are you?
55 MENENIUS.
56 I am, as thy general is.
57 FIRST WATCH.
58 Then you should hate Rome as he does. Can you, when you have pushed out
59 your gates the very defender of them, and, in a violent popular
60 ignorance given your enemy your shield, think to front his revenges
61 with the easy groans of old women, the virginal palms of your
62 daughters, or with the palsied intercession of such a decayed dotant as
63 you seem to be? Can you think to blow out the intended fire your city
64 is ready to flame in with such weak breath as this? No, you are
65 deceived. Therefore back to Rome and prepare for your execution. You
66 are condemned. Our general has sworn you out of reprieve and pardon.
67 MENENIUS.
68 Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here, he would use me with
69 estimation.
70 SECOND WATCH.
71 Come, my captain knows you not.
72 MENENIUS.
73 I mean thy general.
74 FIRST WATCH.
75 My general cares not for you. Back, I say, go, lest I let forth your
76 half pint of blood. Back! That’s the utmost of your having. Back!
77 MENENIUS.
78 Nay, but fellow, fellow—
79 Enter Coriolanus with Aufidius.
80 CORIOLANUS.
81 What’s the matter?
82 MENENIUS.
83 Now, you companion, I’ll say an errand for you. You shall know now that
84 I am in estimation; you shall perceive that a Jack guardant cannot
85 office me from my son Coriolanus. Guess but by my entertainment with
86 him if thou stand’st not i’ th’ state of hanging or of some death more
87 long in spectatorship and crueller in suffering; behold now presently,
88 and swoon for what’s to come upon thee. [_to Coriolanus_.] The glorious
89 gods sit in hourly synod about thy particular prosperity and love thee
90 no worse than thy old father Menenius does! O my son, my son! Thou art
91 preparing fire for us; look thee, here’s water to quench it. I was
92 hardly moved to come to thee; but being assured none but myself could
93 move thee, I have been blown out of your gates with sighs, and conjure
94 thee to pardon Rome and thy petitionary countrymen. The good gods
95 assuage thy wrath and turn the dregs of it upon this varlet here, this,
96 who, like a block, hath denied my access to thee.
97 CORIOLANUS.
98 Away!
99 MENENIUS.
100 How? Away?
101 CORIOLANUS.
102 Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs
103 Are servanted to others. Though I owe
104 My revenge properly, my remission lies
105 In Volscian breasts. That we have been familiar,
106 Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison rather
107 Than pity note how much. Therefore begone.
108 Mine ears against your suits are stronger than
109 Your gates against my force. Yet, for I loved thee,
110 Take this along; I writ it for thy sake,
111 [_He gives Menenius a paper._]
112 And would have sent it. Another word, Menenius,
113 I will not hear thee speak.—This man, Aufidius,
114 Was my beloved in Rome; yet thou behold’st.
115 AUFIDIUS.
116 You keep a constant temper.
117 [_They exit._]
118 [_The Guard and Menenius remain._]
119 FIRST WATCH.
120 Now, sir, is your name Menenius?
121 SECOND WATCH.
122 ’Tis a spell, you see, of much power. You know the way home again.
123 FIRST WATCH.
124 Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your Greatness back?
125 SECOND WATCH.
126 What cause do you think I have to swoon?
127 MENENIUS.
128 I neither care for th’ world nor your general. For such things as you,
129 I can scarce think there’s any, you’re so slight. He that hath a will
130 to die by himself fears it not from another. Let your general do his
131 worst. For you, be that you are, long; and your misery increase with
132 your age! I say to you, as I was said to, away!
133 [_Exit._]
134 FIRST WATCH.
135 A noble fellow, I warrant him.
136 SECOND WATCH.
137 The worthy fellow is our general. He is the rock, the oak not to be
138 wind-shaken.
139 [_Exeunt._]