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COMINIUS. If? He is their god; he leads them like a thing Made by some other deity than Nature, That shapes man better; and they follow him Against us brats with no less confidence Than boys pursuing summer butterflies Or butchers killing flies. MENENIUS. You have made good work, You and your apron-men, you that stood so much Upon the
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voice of occupation and The breath of garlic eaters! COMINIUS. Hell shake your Rome about your ears. MENENIUS. As Hercules did shake down mellow fruit. You have made fair work. BRUTUS. But is this true, sir? COMINIUS. Ay, and youll look pale Before you find it other. All the regions Do smilingly revolt, and who resists Are mocked for valiant
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ignorance And perish constant fools. Who ist can blame him? Your enemies and his find something in him. MENENIUS. We are all undone unless The noble man have mercy. COMINIUS. Who shall ask it? The Tribunes cannot dot for shame; the people Deserve such pity of him as the wolf Does of the shepherds. For his best friends, if they
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Should say Be good to Rome, they charged him even As those should do that had deserved his hate And therein showed like enemies. MENENIUS. Tis true. If he were putting to my house the brand That should consume it, I have not the face To say Beseech you, cease.You have made fair hands, You and your crafts! You have
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crafted fair! COMINIUS. You have brought A trembling upon Rome such as was never S incapable of help. TRIBUNES. Say not we brought it. MENENIUS. How? Was it we? We loved him, but like beasts And cowardly nobles, gave way unto your clusters, Who did hoot him out o th city. COMINIUS. But I fear Theyll roar him in again.
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Tullus Aufidius, The second name of men, obeys his points As if he were his officer. Desperation Is all the policy, strength, and defence That Rome can make against them. Enter a troop of Citizens. MENENIUS. Here comes the clusters. And is Aufidius with him? You are they That made the air unwholesome when you cast Your stinking, greasy caps
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in hooting at Coriolanus exile. Now hes coming, And not a hair upon a soldiers head Which will not prove a whip. As many coxcombs As you threw caps up will he tumble down And pay you for your voices. Tis no matter. If he could burn us all into one coal We have deserved it. ALL CITIZENS. Faith, we
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hear fearful news. FIRST CITIZEN. For mine own part, When I said banish him, I said twas pity. SECOND CITIZEN. And so did I. THIRD CITIZEN. And so did I. And, to say the truth, so did very many of us. That we did we did for the best; and though we willingly consented to his banishment, yet it was
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against our will. COMINIUS. You are goodly things, you voices! MENENIUS. You have made good work, you and your cry! Shalls to the Capitol? COMINIUS. O, ay, what else? [_Exeunt Cominius and Menenius._] SICINIUS. Go, masters, get you home. Be not dismayed. These are a side that would be glad to have This true which they so seem to fear.
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Go home, And show no sign of fear. FIRST CITIZEN. The gods be good to us! Come, masters, lets home. I ever said we were i th wrong when we banished him. SECOND CITIZEN. So did we all. But, come, lets home. [_Exeunt Citizens._] BRUTUS. I do not like this news. SICINIUS. Nor I. BRUTUS. Lets to the Capitol. Would
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half my wealth Would buy this for a lie! SICINIUS. Pray lets go. [_Exeunt._] SCENE VII. A camp at a short distance from Rome Enter Aufidius with his Lieutenant. AUFIDIUS. Do they still fly to th Roman? LIEUTENANT. I do not know what witchcrafts in him, but Your soldiers use him as the grace fore meat, Their talk at table,
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and their thanks at end; And you are darkned in this action, sir, Even by your own. AUFIDIUS. I cannot help it now, Unless by using means I lame the foot Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier, Even to my person, than I thought he would When first I did embrace him. Yet his nature In thats no
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changeling, and I must excuse What cannot be amended. LIEUTENANT. Yet I wish, sir I mean for your particularyou had not Joined in commission with him, but either Had borne the action of yourself or else To him had left it solely. AUFIDIUS. I understand thee well, and be thou sure, When he shall come to his account, he knows
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not What I can urge against him, although it seems, And so he thinks and is no less apparent To th vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly, And shows good husbandry for the Volscian state, Fights dragonlike, and does achieve as soon As draw his sword; yet he hath left undone That which shall break his neck or
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hazard mine Wheneer we come to our account. LIEUTENANT. Sir, I beseech you, think you hell carry Rome? AUFIDIUS. All places yield to him ere he sits down, And the nobility of Rome are his; The Senators and Patricians love him too. The Tribunes are no soldiers, and their people Will be as rash in the repeal as hasty To
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expel him thence. I think hell be to Rome As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it By sovereignty of nature. First, he was A noble servant to them, but he could not Carry his honours even. Whether twas pride, Which out of daily fortune ever taints The happy man; whether defect of judgment, To fail in the
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disposing of those chances Which he was lord of; or whether nature, Not to be other than one thing, not moving From th casque to th cushion, but commanding peace Even with the same austerity and garb As he controlled the war; but one of these As he hath spices of them allnot all, For I dare so far free
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himmade him feared, So hated, and so banished. But he has a merit To choke it in the uttrance. So our virtues Lie in th interpretation of the time, And power, unto itself most commendable, Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair T extol what it hath done. One fire drives out one fire, one nail one nail;
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Rights by rights falter; strengths by strengths do fail. Come, lets away. When, Caius, Rome is thine, Thou art poorst of all; then shortly art thou mine. [_Exeunt._] ACT V SCENE I. Rome. A public place Enter Menenius, Cominius, Sicinius, Brutus (the two Tribunes), with others. MENENIUS. No, Ill not go. You hear what he hath said Which was sometime
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his general, who loved him In a most dear particular. He called me father, But what o that? Go you that banished him; A mile before his tent, fall down, and knee The way into his mercy. Nay, if he coyed To hear Cominius speak, Ill keep at home. COMINIUS. He would not seem to know me. MENENIUS. Do you
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hear? COMINIUS. Yet one time he did call me by my name. I urged our old acquaintance, and the drops That we have bled together. Coriolanus He would not answer to, forbade all names. He was a kind of nothing, titleless, Till he had forged himself a name i th fire Of burning Rome. MENENIUS. Why, so; you have made
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good work! A pair of tribunes that have wracked Rome To make coals cheap! A noble memory! COMINIUS. I minded him how royal twas to pardon When it was less expected. He replied It was a bare petition of a state To one whom they had punished. MENENIUS. Very well. Could he say less? COMINIUS. I offered to awaken his
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regard Fors private friends. His answer to me was He could not stay to pick them in a pile Of noisome musty chaff. He said twas folly For one poor grain or two to leave unburnt And still to nose th offence. MENENIUS. For one poor grain or two! I am one of those! His mother, wife, his child, And
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this brave fellow too, we are the grains; You are the musty chaff, and you are smelt Above the moon. We must be burnt for you. SICINIUS. Nay, pray, be patient. If you refuse your aid In this so-never-needed help, yet do not Upbraids with our distress. But sure, if you Would be your countrys pleader, your good tongue, More
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than the instant army we can make, Might stop our countryman. MENENIUS. No, Ill not meddle. SICINIUS. Pray you, go to him. MENENIUS. What should I do? BRUTUS. Only make trial what your love can do For Rome, towards Martius. MENENIUS. Well, and say that Martius Return me, as Cominius is returned, unheard, What then? But as a discontented friend,
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Grief-shot with his unkindness? Sayt be so? SICINIUS. Yet your good will Must have that thanks from Rome after the measure As you intended well. MENENIUS. Ill undertaket. I think hell hear me. Yet to bite his lip And hum at good Cominius much unhearts me. He was not taken well; he had not dined. The veins unfilled, our blood
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is cold, and then We pout upon the morning, are unapt To give or to forgive; but when we have stuffed These pipes and these conveyances of our blood With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls Than in our priestlike fasts. Therefore Ill watch him Till he be dieted to my request, And then Ill set upon him. BRUTUS.
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You know the very road into his kindness And cannot lose your way. MENENIUS. Good faith, Ill prove him, Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledge Of my success. [_Exit._] COMINIUS. Hell never hear him. SICINIUS. Not? COMINIUS. I tell you, he does sit in gold, his eye Red as twould burn Rome; and his injury The
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jailer to his pity. I kneeled before him; Twas very faintly he said Rise; dismissed me Thus with his speechless hand. What he would do He sent in writing after me; what he Would not, bound with an oath to yield to his Conditions. So that all hope is vain Unless his noble mother and his wife, Who, as I
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hear, mean to solicit him For mercy to his country. Therefore lets hence And with our fair entreaties haste them on. [_Exeunt._] SCENE II. An Advanced post of the Volscian camp before Rome. Enter Menenius to the Watch, or Guard. FIRST WATCH. Stay! Whence are you? SECOND WATCH. Stand, and go back. MENENIUS. You guard like men; tis well. But
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by your leave, I am an officer of state and come To speak with Coriolanus. FIRST WATCH. From whence? MENENIUS. From Rome. FIRST WATCH. You may not pass; you must return. Our general Will no more hear from thence. SECOND WATCH. Youll see your Rome embraced with fire before Youll speak with Coriolanus. MENENIUS. Good my friends, If you have
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heard your general talk of Rome And of his friends there, it is lots to blanks My name hath touched your ears. It is Menenius. FIRST WATCH. Be it so; go back. The virtue of your name Is not here passable. MENENIUS. I tell thee, fellow, Thy general is my lover. I have been The book of his good acts,
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whence men have read His fame unparalleled happily amplified; For I have ever verified my friends Of whom hes chiefwith all the size that verity Would without lapsing suffer. Nay, sometimes, Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground, I have tumbled past the throw, and in his praise Have almost stamped the leasing. Therefore, fellow, I must have leave
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to pass. FIRST WATCH. Faith, sir, if you had told as many lies in his behalf as you have uttered words in your own, you should not pass here, no, though it were as virtuous to lie as to live chastely. Therefore, go back. MENENIUS. Prithee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius, always factionary on the party of your general.
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SECOND WATCH. Howsoever you have been his liar, as you say you have, I am one that, telling true under him, must say you cannot pass. Therefore go back. MENENIUS. Has he dined, canst thou tell? For I would not speak with him till after dinner. FIRST WATCH. You are a Roman, are you? MENENIUS. I am, as thy general
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is. FIRST WATCH. Then you should hate Rome as he does. Can you, when you have pushed out your gates the very defender of them, and, in a violent popular ignorance given your enemy your shield, think to front his revenges with the easy groans of old women, the virginal palms of your daughters, or with the palsied intercession of
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such a decayed dotant as you seem to be? Can you think to blow out the intended fire your city is ready to flame in with such weak breath as this? No, you are deceived. Therefore back to Rome and prepare for your execution. You are condemned. Our general has sworn you out of reprieve and pardon. MENENIUS. Sirrah, if
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thy captain knew I were here, he would use me with estimation. SECOND WATCH. Come, my captain knows you not. MENENIUS. I mean thy general. FIRST WATCH. My general cares not for you. Back, I say, go, lest I let forth your half pint of blood. Back! Thats the utmost of your having. Back! MENENIUS. Nay, but fellow, fellow Enter
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Coriolanus with Aufidius. CORIOLANUS. Whats the matter? MENENIUS. Now, you companion, Ill say an errand for you. You shall know now that I am in estimation; you shall perceive that a Jack guardant cannot office me from my son Coriolanus. Guess but by my entertainment with him if thou standst not i th state of hanging or of some death
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more long in spectatorship and crueller in suffering; behold now presently, and swoon for whats to come upon thee. [_to Coriolanus_.] The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy particular prosperity and love thee no worse than thy old father Menenius does! O my son, my son! Thou art preparing fire for us; look thee, heres water to quench
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it. I was hardly moved to come to thee; but being assured none but myself could move thee, I have been blown out of your gates with sighs, and conjure thee to pardon Rome and thy petitionary countrymen. The good gods assuage thy wrath and turn the dregs of it upon this varlet here, this, who, like a block, hath
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denied my access to thee. CORIOLANUS. Away! MENENIUS. How? Away? CORIOLANUS. Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs Are servanted to others. Though I owe My revenge properly, my remission lies In Volscian breasts. That we have been familiar, Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison rather Than pity note how much. Therefore begone. Mine ears against your suits are stronger than
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Your gates against my force. Yet, for I loved thee, Take this along; I writ it for thy sake, [_He gives Menenius a paper._] And would have sent it. Another word, Menenius, I will not hear thee speak.This man, Aufidius, Was my beloved in Rome; yet thou beholdst. AUFIDIUS. You keep a constant temper. [_They exit._] [_The Guard and Menenius
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remain._] FIRST WATCH. Now, sir, is your name Menenius? SECOND WATCH. Tis a spell, you see, of much power. You know the way home again. FIRST WATCH. Do you hear how we are shent for keeping your Greatness back? SECOND WATCH. What cause do you think I have to swoon? MENENIUS. I neither care for th world nor your general.
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For such things as you, I can scarce think theres any, youre so slight. He that hath a will to die by himself fears it not from another. Let your general do his worst. For you, be that you are, long; and your misery increase with your age! I say to you, as I was said to, away! [_Exit._] FIRST
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WATCH. A noble fellow, I warrant him. SECOND WATCH. The worthy fellow is our general. He is the rock, the oak not to be wind-shaken. [_Exeunt._] SCENE III. The tent of Coriolanus Enter Coriolanus and Aufidius. CORIOLANUS. We will before the walls of Rome tomorrow Set down our host. My partner in this action, You must report to th Volscian
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lords how plainly I have borne this business. AUFIDIUS. Only their ends You have respected, stopped your ears against The general suit of Rome; never admitted A private whisper, no, not with such friends That thought them sure of you. CORIOLANUS. This last old man, Whom with cracked heart I have sent to Rome, Loved me above the measure of
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a father, Nay, godded me indeed. Their latest refuge Was to send him, for whose old love I have Though I showed sourly to himonce more offered The first conditions, which they did refuse And cannot now accept, to grace him only That thought he could do more. A very little I have yielded to. Fresh embassies and suits, Nor
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from the state nor private friends, hereafter Will I lend ear to. [_Shout within._] Ha? What shout is this? Shall I be tempted to infringe my vow In the same time tis made? I will not. Enter Virgilia, Volumnia, Valeria, young Martius with attendants. My wife comes foremost, then the honoured mold Wherein this trunk was framed, and in her
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hand The grandchild to her blood. But out, affection! All bond and privilege of nature, break! Let it be virtuous to be obstinate. What is that curtsy worth? Or those doves eyes, Which can make gods forsworn? I melt and am not Of stronger earth than others. My mother bows, As if Olympus to a molehill should In supplication nod;
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and my young boy Hath an aspect of intercession which Great Nature cries Deny not! Let the Volsces Plough Rome and harrow Italy, Ill never Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand As if a man were author of himself, And knew no other kin. VIRGILIA. My lord and husband. CORIOLANUS. These eyes are not the same I
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wore in Rome. VIRGILIA. The sorrow that delivers us thus changed Makes you think so. CORIOLANUS. Like a dull actor now, I have forgot my part, and I am out, Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh, Forgive my tyranny, but do not say For that, Forgive our Romans. [_They kiss._] O, a kiss Long as my exile,
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sweet as my revenge! Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss I carried from thee, dear, and my true lip Hath virgined it eer since. You gods! I prate And the most noble mother of the world Leave unsaluted. Sink, my knee, i th earth; [_Kneels._] Of thy deep duty more impression show Than that of common sons.
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VOLUMNIA. O, stand up blest, [_He rises_.] Whilst with no softer cushion than the flint I kneel before thee and unproperly Show duty, as mistaken all this while Between the child and parent. [_She kneels._] CORIOLANUS. What is this? Your knees to me? To your corrected son? [_He raises her up._] Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach Fillip
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the stars! Then let the mutinous winds Strike the proud cedars gainst the fiery sun, Murdering impossibility to make What cannot be slight work. VOLUMNIA. Thou art my warrior; I holp to frame thee. Do you know this lady? CORIOLANUS. The noble sister of Publicola, The moon of Rome, chaste as the icicle Thats curdied by the frost from purest
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snow And hangs on Dians temple!Dear Valeria. VOLUMNIA. This is a poor epitome of yours, Which by th interpretation of full time May show like all yourself. CORIOLANUS. The god of soldiers, With the consent of supreme Jove, inform Thy thoughts with nobleness, that thou mayst prove To shame unvulnerable, and stick i th wars Like a great seamark standing
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every flaw And saving those that eye thee. VOLUMNIA. [_To young Martius_.] Your knee, sirrah. [_He kneels._] CORIOLANUS. Thats my brave boy! VOLUMNIA. Even he, your wife, this lady, and myself Are suitors to you. [_Young Martius rises._] CORIOLANUS. I beseech you, peace; Or, if youd ask, remember this before: The thing I have forsworn to grant may never Be
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held by you denials. Do not bid me Dismiss my soldiers or capitulate Again with Romes mechanics. Tell me not Wherein I seem unnatural; desire not T allay my rages and revenges with Your colder reasons. VOLUMNIA. O, no more, no more! You have said you will not grant us anything; For we have nothing else to ask but that
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Which you deny already. Yet we will ask, That if you fail in our request, the blame May hang upon your hardness. Therefore hear us. CORIOLANUS. Aufidius, and you Volsces, mark, for well Hear naught from Rome in private. Your request? VOLUMNIA. Should we be silent and not speak, our raiment And state of bodies would bewray what life We
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have led since thy exile. Think with thyself How more unfortunate than all living women Are we come hither; since that thy sight, which should Make our eyes flow with joy, hearts dance with comforts, Constrains them weep and shake with fear and sorrow, Making the mother, wife, and child to see The son, the husband, and the father tearing
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His countrys bowels out. And to poor we Thine enmitys most capital. Thou barrst us Our prayers to the gods, which is a comfort That all but we enjoy. For how can we Alas, how can wefor our country pray, Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory, Whereto we are bound? Alack, or we must lose The country, our
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dear nurse, or else thy person, Our comfort in the country. We must find An evident calamity, though we had Our wish, which side should win, for either thou Must as a foreign recreant be led With manacles through our streets, or else Triumphantly tread on thy countrys ruin And bear the palm for having bravely shed Thy wife and
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childrens blood. For myself, son, I purpose not to wait on fortune till These wars determine. If I cannot persuade thee Rather to show a noble grace to both parts Than seek the end of one, thou shalt no sooner March to assault thy country than to tread Trust tot, thou shalt noton thy mothers womb That brought thee to
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this world. VIRGILIA. Ay, and mine, That brought you forth this boy to keep your name Living to time. YOUNG MARTIUS. He shall not tread on me. Ill run away till I am bigger, but then Ill fight. CORIOLANUS. Not of a womans tenderness to be Requires nor child nor womans face to see. I have sat too long. [_He
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rises._] VOLUMNIA. Nay, go not from us thus. If it were so, that our request did tend To save the Romans, thereby to destroy The Volsces whom you serve, you might condemn us As poisonous of your honour. No, our suit Is that you reconcile them, while the Volsces May say This mercy we have showed, the Romans This we
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received, and each in either side Give the all-hail to thee and cry, Be blessed For making up this peace! Thou knowst, great son, The end of wars uncertain, but this certain, That, if thou conquer Rome, the benefit Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name Whose repetition will be dogged with curses, Whose chronicle thus writ: The
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man was noble, But with his last attempt he wiped it out; Destroyed his country, and his name remains To th ensuing age abhorred. Speak to me, son. Thou hast affected the fine strains of honour To imitate the graces of the gods, To tear with thunder the wide cheeks o th air And yet to charge thy sulphur with
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a bolt That should but rive an oak. Why dost not speak? Thinkst thou it honourable for a noble man Still to remember wrongs?Daughter, speak you. He cares not for your weeping.Speak thou, boy. Perhaps thy childishness will move him more Than can our reasons.Theres no man in the world More bound tos mother, yet here he lets me prate
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Like one i th stocks. Thou hast never in thy life Showed thy dear mother any courtesy When she, poor hen, fond of no second brood, Has clucked thee to the wars and safely home, Loaden with honour. Say my requests unjust And spurn me back; but if it be not so, Thou art not honest, and the gods will
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plague thee That thou restrainst from me the duty which To a mothers part belongs.He turns away. Down, ladies! Let us shame him with our knees. To his surname Coriolanus longs more pride Than pity to our prayers. Down! An end. [_They kneel._] This is the last. So we will home to Rome And die among our neighbours.Nay, beholds. This
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boy that cannot tell what he would have, But kneels and holds up hands for fellowship, Does reason our petition with more strength Than thou hast to denyt.Come, let us go. [_They rise._] This fellow had a Volscian to his mother, His wife is in Corioles, and his child Like him by chance.Yet give us our dispatch. I am hushed
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until our city be afire, And then Ill speak a little. [_He holds her by the hand, silent._] CORIOLANUS. O mother, mother! What have you done? Behold, the heavens do ope, The gods look down, and this unnatural scene They laugh at. O my mother, mother, O! You have won a happy victory to Rome, But, for your sonbelieve it,
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O, believe it! Most dangerously you have with him prevailed, If not most mortal to him. But let it come. Aufidius, though I cannot make true wars, Ill frame convenient peace. Now, good Aufidius, Were you in my stead, would you have heard A mother less? Or granted less, Aufidius? AUFIDIUS. I was moved withal. CORIOLANUS. I dare be sworn
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you were. And, sir, it is no little thing to make Mine eyes to sweat compassion. But, good sir, What peace youll make, advise me. For my part, Ill not to Rome, Ill back with you; and pray you, Stand to me in this cause.O mother!Wife! [_He speaks with them aside._] AUFIDIUS. [_Aside_.] I am glad thou hast set thy
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mercy and thy honour At difference in thee. Out of that Ill work Myself a former fortune. CORIOLANUS. [_To the Women_.] Ay, by and by; But well drink together, and you shall bear A better witness back than words, which we, On like conditions, will have countersealed. Come, enter with us. Ladies, you deserve To have a temple built you.
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All the swords In Italy, and her confederate arms, Could not have made this peace. [_Exeunt._] SCENE IV. Rome. A public place Enter Menenius and Sicinius. MENENIUS. See you yond coign o the Capitol, yond cornerstone? SICINIUS. Why, what of that? MENENIUS. If it be possible for you to displace it with your little finger, there is some hope the
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ladies of Rome, especially his mother, may prevail with him. But I say there is no hope int. Our throats are sentenced and stay upon execution. SICINIUS. Ist possible that so short a time can alter the condition of a man? MENENIUS. There is differency between a grub and a butterfly, yet your butterfly was a grub. This Martius is
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grown from man to dragon. He has wings; hes more than a creeping thing. SICINIUS. He loved his mother dearly. MENENIUS. So did he me; and he no more remembers his mother now than an eight-year-old horse. The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes. When he walks, he moves like an engine, and the ground shrinks before his treading.
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He is able to pierce a corslet with his eye, talks like a knell, and his hum is a battery. He sits in his state as a thing made for Alexander. What he bids be done is finished with his bidding. He wants nothing of a god but eternity and a heaven to throne in. SICINIUS. Yes, mercy, if you
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report him truly. MENENIUS. I paint him in the character. Mark what mercy his mother shall bring from him. There is no more mercy in him than there is milk in a male tiger. That shall our poor city find, and all this is long of you. SICINIUS. The gods be good unto us. MENENIUS. No, in such a case
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the gods will not be good unto us. When we banished him, we respected not them; and he returning to break our necks, they respect not us. Enter a Messenger. MESSENGER. Sir, if youd save your life, fly to your house. The plebeians have got your fellow tribune And hale him up and down, all swearing if The Roman ladies
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bring not comfort home, Theyll give him death by inches. Enter another Messenger. SICINIUS. Whats the news? SECOND MESSENGER. Good news, good news! The ladies have prevailed. The Volscians are dislodged and Martius gone. A merrier day did never yet greet Rome, No, not th expulsion of the Tarquins. SICINIUS. Friend, Art thou certain this is true? Ist most certain?
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SECOND MESSENGER. As certain as I know the sun is fire. Where have you lurked that you make doubt of it? Neer through an arch so hurried the blown tide As the recomforted through th gates. Why, hark you! [_Trumpets, hautboys, drums beat, all together._] The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries, and fifes, Tabors and cymbals, and the shouting Romans Make the
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sun dance. Hark you! [_A shout within._] MENENIUS. This is good news. I will go meet the ladies. This Volumnia Is worth of consuls, senators, patricians A city full; of tribunes such as you A sea and land full. You have prayed well today. This morning for ten thousand of your throats Id not have given a doit. Hark, how
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they joy! [_Sound still with the shouts._] SICINIUS. First, the gods bless you for your tidings; next, accept my thankfulness. SECOND MESSENGER. Sir, we have all great cause to give great thanks. SICINIUS. They are near the city? MESSENGER. Almost at point to enter. SICINIUS. Well meet them, and help the joy. [_Exeunt._] SCENE V. Rome. A street near the
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gate Enter two Senators, with Ladies (Volumnia, Virgilia, Valeria) passing over the stage, with other Lords. SENATOR. Behold our patroness, the life of Rome! Call all your tribes together, praise the gods, And make triumphant fires. Strew flowers before them, Unshout the noise that banished Martius, Repeal him with the welcome of his mother. Cry Welcome, ladies, welcome! ALL. Welcome,
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ladies, welcome! [_A flourish with drums and trumpets._] [_Exeunt._] SCENE VI. Antium. A public place Enter Tullus Aufidius with Attendants. AUFIDIUS. Go tell the lords o th city I am here. Deliver them this paper. [_He gives them a paper_.] Having read it, Bid them repair to th marketplace, where I, Even in theirs and in the commons ears, Will
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vouch the truth of it. Him I accuse The city ports by this hath entered and Intends t appear before the people, hoping To purge himself with words. Dispatch. [_Exeunt Attendants._] Enter three or four Conspirators of Aufidiuss faction. Most welcome! FIRST CONSPIRATOR. How is it with our general? AUFIDIUS. Even so As with a man by his own alms
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empoisoned And with his charity slain. SECOND CONSPIRATOR. Most noble sir, If you do hold the same intent wherein You wished us parties, well deliver you Of your great danger. AUFIDIUS. Sir, I cannot tell. We must proceed as we do find the people. THIRD CONSPIRATOR. The people will remain uncertain whilst Twixt you theres difference, but the fall of
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either Makes the survivor heir of all. AUFIDIUS. I know it, And my pretext to strike at him admits A good construction. I raised him, and I pawned Mine honour for his truth, who being so heightened, He watered his new plants with dews of flattery, Seducing so my friends; and to this end, He bowed his nature, never known
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before But to be rough, unswayable, and free. THIRD CONSPIRATOR. Sir, his stoutness When he did stand for consul, which he lost By lack of stooping AUFIDIUS. That I would have spoke of. Being banished fort, he came unto my hearth, Presented to my knife his throat. I took him, Made him joint servant with me, gave him way In
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all his own desires; nay, let him choose Out of my files, his projects to accomplish, My best and freshest men; served his designments In mine own person; holp to reap the fame Which he did end all his; and took some pride To do myself this wrong; till at the last I seemed his follower, not partner; and He
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waged me with his countenance as if I had been mercenary. FIRST CONSPIRATOR. So he did, my lord. The army marvelled at it, and, in the last, When he had carried Rome and that we looked For no less spoil than glory AUFIDIUS. There was it For which my sinews shall be stretched upon him. At a few drops of
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womens rheum, which are As cheap as lies, he sold the blood and labour Of our great action. Therefore shall he die, And Ill renew me in his fall. But, hark! [_Drums and trumpets sound, with great shouts of the people._] FIRST CONSPIRATOR. Your native town you entered like a post And had no welcomes home, but he returns Splitting
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the air with noise. SECOND CONSPIRATOR. And patient fools, Whose children he hath slain, their base throats tear With giving him glory. THIRD CONSPIRATOR. Therefore at your vantage, Ere he express himself or move the people With what he would say, let him feel your sword, Which we will second. When he lies along, After your way his tale pronounced
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shall bury His reasons with his body. AUFIDIUS. Say no more. Here come the lords. Enter the Lords of the city. ALL LORDS. You are most welcome home. AUFIDIUS. I have not deserved it. But, worthy lords, have you with heed perused What I have written to you? ALL LORDS. We have. FIRST LORD. And grieve to heart. What faults
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he made before the last, I think Might have found easy fines, but there to end Where he was to begin and give away The benefit of our levies, answering us With our own charge, making a treaty where There was a yieldingthis admits no excuse. Enter Coriolanus marching with Drum and Colours, the Commoners being with him. AUFIDIUS. He
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approaches. You shall hear him. CORIOLANUS. Hail, lords! I am returned your soldier, No more infected with my countrys love Than when I parted hence, but still subsisting Under your great command. You are to know That prosperously I have attempted, and With bloody passage led your wars even to The gates of Rome. Our spoils we have brought home
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Doth more than counterpoise a full third part The charges of the action. We have made peace With no less honour to the Antiates Than shame to th Romans, and we here deliver, Subscribed by th Consuls and patricians, Together with the seal o th Senate, what We have compounded on. [_He offers the lords a paper._] AUFIDIUS. Read it
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not, noble lords, But tell the traitor in the highest degree He hath abused your powers. CORIOLANUS. Traitor? How now? AUFIDIUS. Ay, traitor, Martius. CORIOLANUS. Martius? AUFIDIUS. Ay, Martius, Caius Martius. Dost thou think Ill grace thee with that robbery, thy stoln name Coriolanus, in Corioles? You lords and heads o th state, perfidiously He has betrayed your business and
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