Sic.

Here's he, that would

Take from you all your power.

Bru.

Seize him, Ædiles.

Cit. Down with him! down with him! 2 Sen.

[Several speak.

Weapons! weapons! weapons [They all bustle about CORIOLANUS

Tribunes, patricians, citizens! - what ho!
Sicinius, Brutus, Coriolanus, citizens!

You, tribunes

Cit. Peace, peace, peace! stay, hold, peace!
Men. What is about to be? I am out of breath;
Confusion's near: I cannot speak.
To the people, Coriolanus, patience:
Speak, good Sicinius.

Sic.

Hear me! people, peace!

Cit. Let's hear our tribune: - Peace! Speak, speak, speak.

Sic. You are at point to lose your liberties:

Marcius would have all from you; Marcius,

Whom late you have nam'd for consul.

Men.

Fie, fie, fie!

This is the way to kindle, not to quench.
Sen. To unbuild the city, and to lay all flat.
Sic. What is the city, but the people?

Cit.

The people are the city.

True,

Bru. By the consent of all, we were establish'd

The people's magistrates.

Men. And so are like to do.

Com. That is the way to lay the city flat;

To bring the roof to the foundation,

And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges,

In heaps and piles of ruin.

Sic.

This deserves death.

Bru. Or let us stand to our authority, Or let us lose it. We do here pronounce, Upon the part o' the people, in whose power

We were elected theirs, Marcius is worthy

Of present death.

Sic.

Therefore, lay hold of him.

Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from thence

Into destruction cast him.

Bru.

Ediles, seize him.

Hear me one word.

Cit. Yield, Marcius, yield.

Men.

Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word.

Edi. Peace, peace!

Men. Be that you seem, truly your country's friend, And temperately proceed to what you would

Tribunes, withdraw a while.

Help Marcius, help,

There's some among you have beheld me fighting:
Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me.
Men. Down with that sword!
Bru. Lay hands upon him.

Men.

You that be noble; help him, young, and old!

Cit.

Men.

Down with him! down with him!

[In this mutiny, the Tribunes, the Ediles, and the People, are beat in.

Go, get you to your house: be gone, away!

All will be naught else.

I pr'ythee, noble friend, home to thy house;
Leave us to cure this cause.

Men.

For 't is a sore upon us,

You cannot tent yourself. Begone, 'beseech you.

Com. Come, Sir, along with us.

Men. I would they were barbarians, as they are, Though in Rome litter'd, not Romans, as they are not, Though calv'd i' the porch o' the Capitol! - Be gone; Put not your worthy rage into your tongue :

One time will owe another.

Cor.

I could beat forty of them.

Men.

On fair ground,

I could myself

Take up a brace of the best of them; yea, the two tribunes.

Com. But now 't is odds beyond arithmetic;

And manhood is call'd foolery, when it stands
Against a falling fabric. — Will you hence,
Before the tag return? whose rage doth rend
Like interrupted waters, and o'erbear
What they are used to bear.

Men.

Pray you, be gone.

I'll try whether my old wit be in request

With those that have but little: this must be patch'd
With cloth of any colour.

Com.

1 Pat.

Nay, come away.

[Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, and Others.

This man has marr'd his fortune.

Men. His nature is too noble for the world:

He would not flatter Neptune for his trident,

Or Jove for 's power to thunder. His heart's his mouth
What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent;

And, being angry, does forget that ever

He heard the name of death.

Here's goodly work!

2 Part.

[A noise within.

I would they were a-bed!

Men. I would they were in Tyber! - What, the vengeance, Could he not speak them fair?

Sic.

Re-enter BRUTUS and SICINIUS, with the Rabble.

That would depopulate the city, and

Be every man himself?

Men.

Where is this viper,

You worthy tribunes,

Sic. He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rock With rigorous hands: he hath resisted law,

And therefore law shall scorn him farther trial

Than the severity of the public power,

Which he so sets at nought.

1 Cit.

He shall well know.

The noble tribunes are the people's mouths,

And we their hands.

Cit. He shall, sure on 't.

Men. Sir, Sir,

Sic. Peace!

Men. Do not cry havock, where you should but hunt

Men. The consul Coriolanus.
Bru.

Cit. No, no, no, no, no.

He a consul!

Men. If, by the tribunes' leave, and yours, good people,

I may be heard, I would crave a word or two;

The which shall turn you to no farther harm,
Than so much loss of time.

Sic.

Speak briefly then;

For we are peremptory to despatch

This viperous traitor. To eject him hence,

Were but one danger, and to keep him here,
Our certain death: therefore, it is decreed
He dies to-night.

Men.

Now the good gods forbid,
That our renowned Rome, whose gratitude
Towards her deserved children is enroll'd
In Jove's own book, like an unnatural dam
Should now eat up her own!

Sic. He's a disease, that must be cut away.
Men. O! he's a limb, that has but a disease;
Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy.

What has he done to Rome that 's worthy death?
Killing our enemies? The blood he hath lost,
(Which, I dare vouch, is more than that he hath,
By many an ounce) he dropp'd it for his country:
And what is left, to lose it by his country,

Were to us all, that do 't and suffer it,

A brand to th' end o' the world.

Sic.
Bru.

This is clean kam.

Merely awry. When he did love his country,

Being once gangren'd, is not then respected

For what before it was.

Bru.

We'll hear no more. —

Parsue him to his house, and pluck him thence,
Lest his infection, being of catching nature,

Spread farther.

Men.

One word more, one word.

This tiger-footed rage, when it shall find

The harm of unscann'd swiftness, will, too late,
Tie leaden pounds to 's heels. Proceed by process;
Lest parties (as he is belov'd) break out,

And sack great Rome with Romans.

Bru.

Sic. What do ye talk?

If it were so,

Have we not had a taste of his obedience?

Our Ediles smote? ourselves resisted? - come!

Men. Consider this: - he has been bred i' the wars

Since he could draw a sword, and is ill school'd