Enter Sicinius and Brutus.

Behold! thefe are the Tribunes of the people,
The tongues o'th' common mouth: I do despise them;
For they do prank them in authority

Againft 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 pass'd the Nobles and the Commons?

Bur. Cominius, no.

Cor. Have I had childrens' 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?

Must these have voices, that can yield them now, And straight 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. You are like to do fuch business.

Bru. Not unlike, each way, to better yours.

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

Your Fellow-Tribune.

Sic. You fhew too much of That,

For which the people stir; 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 Consul,

Nor yoke with him for Tribune.

Men. Let's be calm.

Com. The people are abus'd..

paltring

-Set on ;- this

Becomes not Rome: nor has Coriolanus

Deferv'd this fo dishonour'd Rub, laid falfely 1' 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 nourish 'gainft our Senate.
The cockle of rebellion, infolence, fedition,
Which we ourselves have plow'd for, fow'd and scat-

ter'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

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,
Which we difdain should tetter us, yet seek
The very way to catch them.

Bru. You speak o' th' people, as you were a God To punish, not 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 sleep, By Jove, 'twould be my mind.

Sic. It is a mind

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

Cor. Shall remain ?

Hear this Triton of the minnows? mark you

you

His abfolute fhall?

Com. 'Twas from the canon.

Cor. Shall!

O good, but most unwife Patricians, why,

*You grave, but reckless Senators, have you thus Given Hydra here to chufe an officer,

That with his peremptory fhall, being but

The horn and noise o' th' monfters, wants not spirit
To fay, he'll turn you current in a ditch,
And make your channel his? If he have power,
Then vail your ignorance; If none, awake
Your dangerous lenity: if you are learned,
Be not as common fools; if you are not,
Let them have cufhions by you. You're Plebeians,
If they be Senators; and they are no less,
When, both your vioces blended, the great'ft tafte
Moft palates theirs. They chufe their magiftrate!
And fuch a one as he, who puts his fhall,
His popular fhall, against a graver Bench
Than ever frown'd in Greece! By Jove himself,

* You grave, but Wreckless Senators,-] We should read,
Reckless Senators,

i. e. Careless.

It makes the Confuls bafe; and my foul akes
To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither fupreme, how foon Confufion
May enter 'twixt the gap of Both, and take
The one by th' other.

Com. Well-On to th' market-place.

Cor. Who ever gave that counsel, to give forth The corn o'th'ftore-house, gratis, as 'twas us'd

Sometime in Greece

Men. Well, well, no more of that.

[Power:

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

The ruin of the State.

Bru. Why fhall the 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 our recompence; refting assur'd,

They ne'er did service 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 fervice
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 shall this Bofom-multiplied digest
The Senate's courtesy? let deeds express,
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 Seats, and make the rabble
Call our cares, fears; which will in time break ope
The locks o' th' Senate, and bring in the crows
To peck the eagles.

Men. Come, enough.

Bru. Enough, with over measure.

Cor.

=

· 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 muft omit

Real neceffities, and give way the while

T'unstable flightness; purpose so barr'd, it follows,
Nothing is done to purpose. Therefore beseech you,
(You that will be lefs fearful than difcreet,
That love the fundamental part of State

More than you doubt the change of't; that prefer
A noble life before a long, and wish

To vamp a body with a dangerous phyfic,
That's fure of death without ;) at once pluck out
The multitudinous tongue, let them not lick
The fweet which is their poifon. Your difhonour
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 fhall anfwer As traitors do.

Cor. Thou wretch! Defpight o'erwhelm 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 chosen; in a better hour,

Let what is meet, be faid, it must be law,
And throw their Power i'th' duft.

Bru. Manifeft treafon

Sic. This a Conful? no.

Bru. The Ediles, ho! let him be apprehended.

C 6

[Ediles enter.

Sic.