I have been conful, and can fhow from Rome, I do love SIC. 2 We know your drift: Speak what? BRU. There's no more to be faid, but he is ba nish'd, As enemy to the people, and his country: It fhall be fo. Сіт. It fhall be fo, it shall be fo. COR. You common cry of curs!3 whose breath As reek o' the rotten fens, whofe loves I prize -bow from Rome,] Read-" fhow for Rome." M. MASON. He either means, that his wounds were got out of Rome, in the cause of his country, or that they mediately were derived from Rome, by his acting in conformity to the orders of the state. Mr. Theobald reads for Rome; and fupports his emendation by these paffages: "To banish him that ftruck more blows for Rome," &c. Again: "Good man! the wounds that he does bear for Rome,"MALONE. My dear wife's eftimate,] I love my country beyond the rate at which I value my dear wife. JOHNSON. 3 You common cry of curs!] Cry here fignifies a troop or pack. So, in a fubfequent fcene in this play: "You have made good work, Again, in The Two Noble Kinfmen, by Shakspeare and Fletcher, 1634: "I could have kept a hawk, and well have holla'd "To a deep cry of dogs." MALONE. That do corrupt my air, I banish you; I banish you;] So, in Lyly's Anatomy of Wit, 1580: "When it was caft in Diogenes' teeth that the Sinopenetes had banished him Pontus, yea, faid he, I them." Our poet has again the fame thought in King Richard II: "Think not, the king did banish thee, "But thou the king.' S Have the power ftill MALONE. To banish your defenders; till, at length, Your ignorance, (which finds not, till it feels, &c.] Still retain the power of banishing your defenders, till your undifcerning folly, which can forefee no confequences, leave none in the city but yourselves, who are always labouring your own deftruction. It is remarkable, that, among the political maxims of the fpeculative Harrington, there is one which he might have borrowed from this fpeech. The people, fays he, cannot fee, but they can feel. It is not much to the honour of the people, that they have the fame character of ftupidity from their enemy and their friend. Such was the power of our author's mind, that he looked through life in all its relations private and civil. JOHNSON. "The people, (to ufe the comment of my friend Dr. Kearney, in his ingenious LECTURES ON HISTORY, quarto, 1776,) cannot nicely fcrutinife errors in government, but they are roufed by galling oppreffion."-Coriolanus, however, means to speak ftill more contemptuously of their judgment. Your ignorance is fuch, that you cannot fee the mifchiefs likely to refult from your actions, till you actually experience the ill effects of them.-Inftead, however, of "Making but refervation of yourselves," which is the reading of the old copy, and which Dr. Johnfon very rightly explains, leaving none in the city but yourselves, I have no doubt that we should read, as I have printed, "Making not refervation of yourselves," which agrees with the fubfequent words" ftill your own foes," and with the general purport of the fpeech; which is, to fhow that the folly of the people was fuch as was likely to deftroy the whole of the republick without any refervation, not only others, but even Abated captives," to fome nation That won you without blows! Defpifing," [Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, MENENIUS, Senators, and Patricians. ED. The people's enemy is gone, is gone! CIT. Our enemy 's banish'd! he is gone! Hoo! hoo! [The people fhout, and throw up their caps. Sic. Go, fee him out at gates, and follow him, As he hath follow'd you, with all despite; Give him deferv'd vexation. Attend us through the city. Let a guard CIT. Come, come, let us fee him out at gates; come: The gods preferve our noble tribunes!-Come. [Exeunt. themselves, and to fubjugate them as abated captives to fome hoftile nation. If, according to the old copy, the people have the prudence to make refervation of themfelves, while they are destroying their country, they cannot with any propriety be faid to be in that refpect" fill their own foes." Thefe words therefore decifively fupport the emendation now made. How often but and not have been confounded in thefe plays, has already been frequently obferved. In this very play but has been printed, in a former fcene, inftead of not, and the latter word fubftituted in all the modern editions. See p. 97, n. 8. MALONE. Mr. Capell reads: "Making not refervation of your felves." STEEVENS. 6 Abated captives,] Abated is dejected, fubdued, depreffed in fpirit. So, in Crafus, 1604, by Lord Sterline: "To advance the humble, and abate the proud." i. e. Parcere fubje&tis, et debellare fuperbos. Abated has the fame power as the French abattu. See Vol. VI. p. 232, n.9. STEEVENS. 7 Defpifing,] As this line is imperfect, perhaps our author ori ginally gave it Defpifing therefore, For you, the city, &c. STEEVENS, The fame. Before a Gate of the City. Enter CORIOLANUS, VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, MENENIUS, COMINIUS, and feveral young Patricians. COR. Come, leave your tears; a brief farewell:the beaft With many heads butts me away.-Nay, mother, Where is your ancient courage? you were us'd To fay, extremity was the trier of spirits ; That common chances common men could bear That, when the fea was calm, all boats alike Show'd mastership in floating: fortune's blows, When most struck home, being gentle wounded, craves 6 A noble cunning: you were us❜d to load me -you were us'd To fay, extremity was the trier of fpirits; That common chances common men could bear; ; Show'd maftership in floating:] Thus the fecond folio. The firft reads: "To fay, extreamities was the trier of fpirits." Extremity, in the fingular number, is ufed by our author in The Merry Wives of Windfor, The Comedy of Errors, Troilus and Cref fida, &c. The general thought of this paffage has already occurred in Troilus and Creffida. See Vol. XI. p. 245: In the reproof of chance "Lies the true proof of men: The fea being smooth, Upon her patient breast, making their way "With thofe of nobler bulk?" STEEVENS. With precepts, that would make invincible The heart that conn'd them. VIR. O heavens! O heavens! COR. Nay, I pr'ythee, woman,→ VOL. Now the red peftilence ftrike all trades in Rome, And occupations perish! COR. What, what, what! I shall be lov'd, when I am lack'd. Nay, mother, Six of his labours you'd have done, and fav'd Droop not; adieu :-Farewell, my wife! my mo ther! I'll do well yet.-Thou old and true Menenius, neral I have feen thee ftern, and thou haft oft beheld Heart-hard'ning fpectacles; tell these fad women, 'Tis fond to wail inevitable strokes, fortune's blows, When moft ftruck home, being gentle wounded, craves A noble cunning:] This is the ancient and authentick reading. The modern editors have, for gentle wounded, filently substituted gently warded, and Dr. Warburton has explained gently by nobly. It is good to be fure of our author's words before we go to explain their meaning. The fenfe is, When Fortune ftrikes her hardeft blows, to be wounded, and yet continue calm, requires a generous policy. He calls this calmnefs cunning, because it is the effect of reflection and philofophy. Perhaps the firft emotions of nature are nearly uniform, and one man differs from another in the power of endurance, as he is better regulated by precept and instruction. They bore as heroes, but they felt as men. • 'Tis fond-] i. e. 'tis foolish. See our author, paffim. JOHNSON. STERVENS. |