Act IIIScene III
Rome. The Forum
Enter Sicinius and Brutus.
Brutus
In this point charge him home, that he affectsTyrannical power. If he evade us there,Enforce him with his envy to the people,And that the spoil got on the AntiatesWas ne’er distributed.
Enter an Aedile.
What, will he come?
Aedile
He’s coming.
Brutus
How accompanied?
Aedile
With old Menenius, and those senatorsThat always favoured him.
Sicinius
Have you a catalogueOf all the voices that we have procured,Set down by th’ poll?
Aedile
I have. ’Tis ready.
Sicinius
Have you collected them by tribes?
Aedile
I have.
Sicinius
Assemble presently the people hither;And when they hear me say “It shall be soI’ th’ right and strength o’ th’ commons,” be it eitherFor death, for fine, or banishment, then let themIf I say “Fine,” cry “Fine,” if “Death,” cry “Death,”Insisting on the old prerogativeAnd power i’ th’ truth o’ th’ cause.
Aedile
I shall inform them.
Brutus
And when such time they have begun to cry,Let them not cease, but with a din confusedEnforce the present executionOf what we chance to sentence.
Aedile
Very well.
Sicinius
Make them be strong and ready for this hintWhen we shall hap to give’t them.
Brutus
Go about it.
Exit Aedile.
Put him to choler straight. He hath been usedEver to conquer and to have his worthOf contradiction. Being once chafed, he cannotBe reined again to temperance; then he speaksWhat’s in his heart; and that is there which looksWith us to break his neck.
Enter Coriolanus, Menenius and Cominius with other Senators.
Sicinius
Well, here he comes.
Menenius
Calmly, I do beseech you.
Coriolanus
Ay, as an ostler, that for th’ poorest pieceWill bear the knave by th’ volume.—Th’ honoured godsKeep Rome in safety and the chairs of justiceSupplied with worthy men! Plant love among’s!Throng our large temples with the shows of peaceAnd not our streets with war!
First Senator
Amen, amen.
Menenius
A noble wish.
Enter the Aedile with the Plebeians.
Sicinius
Draw near, ye people.
Aedile
List to your tribunes. Audience! Peace, I say!
Coriolanus
First, hear me speak.
Both Tribunes
Well, say.—Peace, ho!
Coriolanus
Shall I be charged no further than this present?Must all determine here?
Sicinius
I do demandIf you submit you to the people’s voices,Allow their officers, and are contentTo suffer lawful censure for such faultsAs shall be proved upon you.
Coriolanus
I am content.
Menenius
Lo, citizens, he says he is content.The warlike service he has done, consider. ThinkUpon the wounds his body bears, which showLike graves i’ th’ holy churchyard.
Coriolanus
Scratches with briars,Scars to move laughter only.
Menenius
Consider further,That when he speaks not like a citizen,You find him like a soldier. Do not takeHis rougher accents for malicious sounds,But, as I say, such as become a soldierRather than envy you.
Cominius
Well, well, no more.
Coriolanus
What is the matter,That, being passed for consul with full voice,I am so dishonoured that the very hourYou take it off again?
Sicinius
Answer to us.
Coriolanus
Say then. ’Tis true, I ought so.
Sicinius
We charge you that you have contrived to takeFrom Rome all seasoned office and to windYourself into a power tyrannical,For which you are a traitor to the people.
Coriolanus
How? Traitor?
Menenius
Nay, temperately! Your promise.
Coriolanus
The fires i’ th’ lowest hell fold in the people!Call me their traitor? Thou injurious tribune!Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,In thy hands clutched as many millions, inThy lying tongue both numbers, I would say“Thou liest” unto thee with a voice as freeAs I do pray the gods.
Sicinius
Mark you this, people?
All Plebeians
To th’ rock, to th’ rock with him!
Sicinius
Peace!We need not put new matter to his charge.What you have seen him do and heard him speak,Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,Opposing laws with strokes, and here defyingThose whose great power must try him—even this,So criminal and in such capital kind,Deserves th’ extremest death.
Brutus
But since he hathServed well for Rome—
Coriolanus
What do you prate of service?
Brutus
I talk of that that know it.
Coriolanus
You?
Menenius
Is this the promise that you made your mother?
Cominius
Know, I pray you—
Coriolanus
I’ll know no further.Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to lingerBut with a grain a day, I would not buyTheir mercy at the price of one fair word,Nor check my courage for what they can give,To have’t with saying “Good morrow.”
Sicinius
For that he has,As much as in him lies, from time to timeEnvied against the people, seeking meansTo pluck away their power, as now at lastGiven hostile strokes, and that not in the presenceOf dreaded justice, but on the ministersThat do distribute it, in the name o’ th’ peopleAnd in the power of us the Tribunes, we,Even from this instant, banish him our cityIn peril of precipitationFrom off the rock Tarpeian, never moreTo enter our Rome gates. I’ th’ people’s name,I say it shall be so.
All Plebeians
It shall be so, it shall be so! Let him away!He’s banished, and it shall be so.
Cominius
Hear me, my masters and my common friends—
Sicinius
He’s sentenced. No more hearing.
Cominius
Let me speak.I have been consul and can show for RomeHer enemies’ marks upon me. I do loveMy country’s good with a respect more tender,More holy and profound, than mine own life,My dear wife’s estimate, her womb’s increase,And treasure of my loins. Then if I wouldSpeak that—
Sicinius
We know your drift. Speak what?
Brutus
There’s no more to be said, but he is banishedAs enemy to the people and his country.It shall be so.
All Plebeians
It shall be so, it shall be so!
Coriolanus
You common cry of curs, whose breath I hateAs reek o’ th’ rotten fens, whose loves I prizeAs the dead carcasses of unburied menThat do corrupt my air, I banish you!And here remain with your uncertainty;Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts;Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,Fan you into despair! Have the power stillTo banish your defenders, till at lengthYour ignorance—which finds not till it feels,Making but reservation of yourselves,Still your own foes—deliver you,As most abated captives to some nationThat won you without blows! DespisingFor you the city, thus I turn my back.There is a world elsewhere.
Exeunt Coriolanus, Cominius, with other Senators.
Aedile
The people’s enemy is gone, is gone.
All Plebeians
Our enemy is banished; he is gone. Hoo, hoo!
They all shout and throw up their caps.
Sicinius
Go see him out at gates, and follow him,As he hath followed you, with all despite.Give him deserved vexation. Let a guardAttend us through the city.
All Plebeians
Come, come, let’s see him out at gates! Come!The gods preserve our noble tribunes! Come.
Exeunt.