Enter Sicinius and Brutus.

Behold, these are the Tribunes of the people,
The tongues o' th' common mouth: I do defpife them,
For they do prank them in authority

Against all noble fufferance.

Sic. Pafs no further.

Cor. Hah!- what is that!

Bru. It will be dangerous to go on no further.
Cor. What makes this change?

Men. The matter?

Com. Hath he not pafs'd the Nobles and the Commons? Bru. Cominius, no.

Cor. Have I had children's voices?

Sen. Tribunes, give way, he fhall to th' market-place. Bru. The people are incens'd against him.

Sic. Stop.

Or all will fall in broil.

Cor. Are thefe your herd?

Muft these have voices, that can yield them now,
And ftraight difclaim their tongues? what are your offices?
You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth?
Have you not fet them on?

Men. Be calm, be calm.

Cor. It is a purpos'd thing, and grows by plot,
To curb the will of the Nobility:

Suffer't, and live with fuch as cannot rule,
Nor ever will be rul❜d.

Bru. Call't not a plot,

The people cry you mock'd them; and of late,
When corn was given them gratis, you repin'd,
Scandal'd the fuppliants for the people, call'd them
Time-pleafers, flatterers, foes to nobleness.

Cor. Why, this was known before.

Bru. Not to them all.

Cor. Have you inform'd them fince?
Bru. How! I inform them!

Cor. 'Yes, you are like enough to` do fuch business.
Bru. Not unlike, 'either way, to better you.`

Cor. Why then fhould I be Conful? by yond clouds, Let me deserve fo ill as you, and make me

Your Fellow-Tribune.

Sic. You fhew too much of that,

For which the people ftir; if you will pafs

To where you're bound, you must enquire your way,
Which you are out of, with a gentler fpirit,

Or never be so noble as a Conful,

Nor yoke with him for Tribune.

Men. Let's be calm.

Com. The people are abus'd, fet on; this paltring
Becomes not Rome: nor has Coriolanus

Deferv'd this fo difhonour'd rub, laid falfly
I' th' plain way of his merit.

Cor. Tell me of corn!

This was my fpeech, and I will speak't again

Men. Not now, not now.

Sen. Not in this heat, Sir, now.

:

Cor. Now as I live, I will

As for my nobler friends, I crave their pardons:
But for the mutable rank-fcented Many,
Let them regard me, as I do not flatter,
And there behold themselves: I fay again,

In foothing them, we nourifh 'gainst our Senate
The cockle of rebellion, infolence, fedition,

Which we our felves have plow'd for, fow'd and fcatter'd,
By mingling them with us, the honour'd number;

Who lack not virtue, no, nor power, but that

Which we have given to beggars,

Men. Well, no more

Sen. No more words, we beseech you

Cor. How! -no more!

As for my country I have fhed my blood,
Not fearing outward force; fo fhall my lungs
Coin words 'till their decay, against those measles

You are like to 6 each way, to better yours.

Which

Which we difdain fhould tetter us, yet feek
The very way to catch them.

Bru. You speak o' th' people, "'Sir, as if
A God to punish, not as being a man`
Of their infirmity.

Sic. 'Twere well we let

The people know't.

Men. What, what! his choler?
Cor. Choler!

Were I as patient as the midnight fleep,
By Jove, 'twould be my mind.

Sic. It is a mind.

That shall remain a poifon where it is,
Not poifon any further.

Cor. Shall remain ?

you

Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you
His abfolute fall?

Com. 'Twas from the canon.

Cor. Shall?

thus

were

O good but most unwife Patricians, why,
You grave but reckless Senators, have you
Given Hydra here to chufe an officer,
That with his peremptory hall, being but
The horn and noife o' th' monsters, wants not fpirit
To fay, he'll turn your current in a ditch,
And make your channel his? 9'if they have power,
Let them have cufhions by you:

if none,

awake

Your dangerous lenity: if you are learned,
Be not as common fools: if you are not,
Then vail your ignorance. You are plebeians
If they be Senators; and they are no less,
When both your voices blended, the greatest tafte
I 4

Moft

Moft palates theirs. They chufe their magistrate,
And fuch a one as he, who puts his ball,
His popular ball, against a graver bench
Than ever frown'd in Greece. By Jove himself,
It makes the Confuls bafe; and my foul akes
To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither fupreme, how foon confusion

May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take
The one by th' other.

Cor. Whoever gave that counfel, to give forth The corn o' th' ftorehouse gratis, as 'twas us'd

Sometime in Greece

Men. Well, well, no more of that.

Cor. Though there the people had more abfolute powers I fay, they nourish'd difobedience, fed

The ruin of the ftate.

Bru. 'Shall th' people give,

One that speaks thus, their voice?
Cor. I'll give my reasons,

More worthy than their voice. They know the corn
Was not their recompence, refting well affur'd
They ne'er did fervice for't; being preft to th' war,
Even when the navel of the state was touch'd
They would not thread the gates: this kind of service
Did not deferve corn gratis. Being i'th' war,
Their mutinies and revolts wherein they fhew'd
Moft valour, fpoke not for them. Th' accufation
Which they have often made against the Senate,
All cause unborn, could never be the native
Of our fo frank donation. Well, what then?
How fhall this bofom multiplied digeft
The Senate's courtefie? let deeds exprefs
What's like to be their words - we did request it
We are the greater poll, and in true fear
They gave us our demands. Thus we debafe
The nature of our feats, and make the rabble

! Why fhall

2 Our

Call

Call our cares, fears; which will in time break ope
The locks o' th' Senate, and bring in the crows
To peck the eagles

3

Men. 'Come, enough, enough.

Bru. Enough, with over measure.
Cor. No, take more.

What may be fworn by, both divine and human,
Seal what I end withal! This double worship,
Where one part does difdain with caufe, the other
Infult without all reafon; where gentry, title, wisdom,
Cannot conclude but by the yea and no

Of gen'ral ignorance, it must omit

Real neceffities, and give way the while
T'unstable flightnefs; purpose fo barr'd, it follows
Nothing is done to purpofe. Therefore, 'befeech you,
(You that will be lefs fearful than difcreet,
That love the fundamental part of state
More than you+ 'do the change of 't; that prefer
A noble life before a long, and wifh

Το vamp a body with a dangerous phyfick,
That's fure of death without,) at once pluck out
The multitudinous tongue, let them not lick
The fweet which is their poison. Your dishonour
Mangles true judgment, and bereaves the state
Of that integrity which fhould become it:
Not having power to do the good it would
For th' ill which doth controul it.

Bru. H'as faid enough.

Sic. H'as fpoken like a traitor, and shall answer As traitors do.

Cor. Thou wretch! defpight o'er-whelm thee! What should the people do with these bald Tribunes? On whom depending, their obedience fails

To th' greater bench. In a rebellion,

When what's not meet, but what must be, was law,
Then were they chofen; in a better hour,

Let what is meet, be faid,

'That must be law,`

And

3 Come, enough.

4 doubt

5 it must be meet,