William Shakespeare - William Shakespeare - Complete Works

We have deserv'd it.

PLEBEIANS. Faith, we 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 against our

will.

COMINIUS. Y'are goodly things, you voices!

MENENIUS. You have made

Good work, you and your cry! Shall's to the Capitol?

COMINIUS. O, ay, what else?

Exeunt COMINIUS and MENENIUS

SICINIUS. Go, masters, get you be not dismay'd;

These are a side that would be glad to have

This true which they so seem to fear. Go home,

And show no sign of fear.

FIRST CITIZEN. The gods be good to us! Come, masters, let's home. I

ever said we were i' th' wrong when we banish'd him.

SECOND CITIZEN. So did we all. But come, let's home.

Exeunt citizens

BRUTUS. I do not like this news.

SICINIUS. Nor I.

BRUTUS. Let's to the Capitol. Would half my wealth

Would buy this for a lie!

SICINIUS. Pray let's go. Exeunt

Enter AUFIDIUS with his LIEUTENANT

AUFIDIUS. Do they still fly to th' Roman?

LIEUTENANT. I do not know what witchcraft's in him, but

Your soldiers use him as the grace fore meat,

Their talk at table, and their thanks at end;

And you are dark'ned 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 that's no changeling, and I must excuse

What cannot be amended.

LIEUTENANT. Yet I wish, sir-

I mean, for your particular- you had not

Join'd 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 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 dragon-like, and does achieve as soon

As draw his sword; yet he hath left undone

That which shall break his neck or hazard mine

Whene'er we come to our account.

LIEUTENANT. Sir, I beseech you, think you he'll 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 expel him thence. I think he'll 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 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 controll'd the war; but one of these-

As he hath spices of them all- not all,

For I dare so far free him- made him fear'd,

So hated, and so banish'd. But he has a merit

To choke it in the utt'rance. 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;

Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail.

Come, let's away. When, Caius, Rome is thine,

Thou art poor'st of all; then shortly art thou mine.

Exeunt

Enter MENENIUS, COMINIUS, SICINIUS and BRUTUS, the two Tribunes, with others

MENENIUS. No, I'll not go. You hear what he hath said

Which was sometime his general, who lov'd him

In a most dear particular. He call'd me father;

But what o' that? Go, you that banish'd him:

A mile before his tent fall down, and knee

The way into his mercy. Nay, if he coy'd

To hear Cominius speak, I'll keep at home.

COMINIUS. He would not seem to know me.

MENENIUS. Do you hear?

COMINIUS. Yet one time he did call me by my name.

I urg'd our old acquaintance, and the drops

That we have bled together. 'Coriolanus'

He would not answer to; forbid all names;

He was a kind of nothing, titleless,

Till he had forg'd himself a name i' th' fire

Of burning Rome.

MENENIUS. Why, so! You have made good work.

A pair of tribunes that have wrack'd for 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 punish'd.

MENENIUS. Very well.

Could he say less?

COMINIUS. I offer'd to awaken his regard

For's 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 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

Upbraid's with our distress. But sure, if you

Would be your country's pleader, your good tongue,

More than the instant army we can make,

Might stop our countryman.

MENENIUS. No; I'll 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 Marcius.

MENENIUS. Well, and say that Marcius

Return me, as Cominius is return'd,

Unheard- what then?

But as a discontented friend, grief-shot

With his unkindness? Say't be so?

SICINIUS. Yet your good will

Must have that thanks from Rome after the measure

As you intended well.

MENENIUS. I'll undertake't;

I think he'll hear me. Yet to bite his lip

And hum at good Cominius much unhearts me.

He was not taken well: he had not din'd;

The veins unfill'd, our blood is cold, and then

We pout upon the morning, are unapt

To give or to forgive; but when we have stuff'd

These pipes and these conveyances of our blood

With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls

Than in our priest-like fasts. Therefore I'll watch him

Till he be dieted to my request,

And then I'll set upon him.

BRUTUS. You know the very road into his kindness

And cannot lose your way.

MENENIUS. Good faith, I'll prove him,

Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledge

Of my success. Exit

COMINIUS. He'll 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 gaoler to his pity. I kneel'd before him;

'Twas very faintly he said 'Rise'; dismiss'd 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;