A mile before his tent fall down, and kneel ΜΕΝ. Till he had forg'd himself a name i' the fire ΜΕΝ. Why, fo; you have made good work: 7—coy'd] i. e. condefcended unwillingly, with reserve, coldness. STEEVENS. 8 that have rack'd for Rome,] To rack means to harrafs by exactions, and in this fenfe the poet ufes it in other places: "The commons haft thou rack'd; the clergy's bags "Are lank and lean with thy extortions." I believe it here means in general, You that have been fuch good ftewards for the Roman people, as to get their houses burned over their heads, to fave them the expence of coals. STEEVENS. 9 memory!] for memorial. See p. 174, n. 7. STEEVENS. It was a bare petition-] A bare petition, I believe, means only a mere petition. Coriolanus weighs the confequence of verbal fupplication against that of actual punishment. See Vol. III. p. 238, n. 6. STEEVENS. I have no doubt but we should read,— It was a base petition &c. meaning that it was unworthy the dignity of a ftate, to petition a man whom they had banished. M. MASON. In King Henry IV. P. I. and in Timon of Athens, the word bare is ufed in the fenfe of thin, eafily feen through; having only a flight To one whom they had punish'd. MEN. Could he fay lefs? Very well: Coм. I offer'd to awaken his regard For his private friends: His answer to me was, Of noisome, mufty chaff: He said, 'twas folly, For one poor grain MEN. Or two? I am one of those; his mother, wife, His child, and this brave fellow too, we are the grains : You are the mufty chaff; and you are smelt aid In this fo never-heeded help, yet do not Upbraid us with our diftrefs. But, fure, if you Would be your country's pleader, your good tongue, More than the inftant army we can make, Might stop our countryman. MEN. SIC. I pray you, go to him. MEN. No; I'll not meddle. What should I do? BRU. Only make trial what your love can do For Rome, towards Marcius. MEN. Well, and say that Marcius Return me, as Cominius is return'd, fuperficial covering. Yet, I confefs, this interpretation will hardly apply here. In the former of the paffages alluded to, the editor of the first folio fubftituted bafe for bare, improperly. In the paffage before us perhaps bafe was the authour's word. MALONE. 3 I pray you, &c.] The pronoun perfonal-1, is wanting in the old copy. STEEVENS. Unheard; what then?i But as a discontented friend, grief-fhot SIC. Yet your good will Must have that thanks from Rome, after the mea I think, he'll hear me. I'll undertake it: Yet to bite his lip, And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me. To give or to forgive; but when we have stuff'd Till he be dieted to my request, And then I'll fet upon him. BRU. You know the very road into his kindness, And cannot lofe your way. MEN. Good faith, I'll prove him, 9 He was not taken well; he had not din'd: &c.] This obfervation is not only from nature, and finely expreffed, but admirably befits the mouth of one, who in the beginning of the play had told us, that he loved convivial doings. WARBURTON. Mr. Pope feems to have borrowed this idea. See Epift. I. ver. 127: Perhaps was fick, in love, or bad not din'd.". STEEVENS. 2 our prieft-like fafts:] I am afraid, that when Shakspeare introduced this comparison, the religious abftinence of modern, not ancient Rome, was in his thoughts. STEEVENS. Priefts are forbid, by the difcipline of the church of Rome, to break their faft before the celebration of mass, which must take place after fun-rife, and before mid-day. C. Speed how it will. I fhall ere long have knowledge Of my fuccefs.* Сом. SIC. He'll never hear him. [Exit. Not? COм. I tell you, he does fit in gold, his eye Red as 'twould burn Rome; and his injury The gaoler to his pity. I kneel'd before him: 'Twas very faintly he faid, Rife; dismiss'd me Thus, with his fpeechlefs hand: What he would do, He fent in writing after me; what he would not, Bound with an oath, to yield to his conditions: 5 3 Speed how it will. I fall ere long have knowledge Of my fuccefs.] There could be no doubt but Menenius himself would foon have knowledge of his own fuccefs. The sense therefore requires that we should read, Speed how it will, you fhall ere long have knowledge Of my fuccefs. M. MASON. That Menenius at fome time would have knowledge of his fuccefs, is certain; but what he afferts, is, that he would ere long gain that knowledge. MALONE. All Menenius defigns to fay, may be-I shall not be kept long in fufpence as to the refult of my embaffy. STEEVENS. I tell you, he does fit in gold,] He is enthroned in all the pomp and pride of imperial fplendour. xpuσolpor Hen. Hom. JOHNSON. So, in the old tranflation of Plutarch, " he was fet in his chaire of ftate, with a marvellous and unfpeakable majestie.' Shakspeare has a fomewhat fimilar idea in King Henry VIII. A&t I. fc. i: "All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods." STEEVENS. 5 Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions:] This is apparently wrong. Sir T. Hanmer, and Dr. Warburton after him, read: Bound with an oath not yield to new conditions. They might have read more smoothly: to yield no new conditions. But the whole fpeech is in confufion, and I fufpect fomething left out. I fhould read: So, that all hope is vain, Unless his noble mother, and his wife; What he would do, He fent in writing after; what he would not, Here is, I think, a chafm. The speaker's purpose seems to be this: To yield to his conditions is ruin, and better cannot be obtained, fo that all hope is vain. JOHNSON. I fuppofe, Coriolanus means, that he had fworn to give way to the conditions, into which the ingratitude of his country had forced him. FARMER. The amendment which I have to propofe, is a very flight deviation from the text-the reading "in his conditions," instead of "to his conditions."-To yield, in this place, means to relax, and is used in the fame fenfe, in the next scene but one, by Coriolanus himself, where, speaking of Menenius, he says, to grace him only, "That thought he could do more, a very little What Cominius means to fay, is, "That Coriolanus fent in writing after him the conditions on which he would agree to make a peace, and bound himself by an oath not to depart from them." The additional negative which Hanmer and Warburton wish to introduce, is not only unneceffary, but would deftroy the sense; for the thing which Coriolanus had fworn not to do, was to yield in his conditions. M. MASON. What he would do, i. e. the conditions on which he offered to return, he fent in writing after Cominius, intending that he should have carried them to Menenius. What he would not, i. e. his refolution of neither difmiffing his foldiers, nor capitulating with Rome's mechanicks, in cafe the terms he prefcribed fhould be refufed, he bound himself by an oath to maintain. If these conditions were admitted, the oath of course, being grounded on that provifo, muft yield to them, and be cancelled. That this is the proper fenfe of the paffage, is obvious from what follows: Cor, " if you'd afk, remember this before; ་་ Difmifs my foldiers, or capitulate Again with Rome's mechanicks."- HENLEY. I believe, two half lines have been loft; that Bound with an oath was the beginning of one line, and to yield to his conditions the conclufion of the next. See Vol. VII. p. 411, n. 3. Perhaps, how, |