The Tragedy of Coriolanus

MENENIUSOn both sides more respect.SICINIUSHere's he that would take from you all your power.BRUTUSSeize him, aediles.PLEBEIANSDown with him! down with him!SECOND SENATORWeapons, weapons, weapons!

[They all bustle about CORIOLANUS.]

Tribunes! patricians! citizens! – What, ho! —Sicinius, Brutus, Coriolanus, Citizens!CITIZENSPeace, peace, peace; stay, hold, peace!MENENIUSWhat is about to be? – I am out of breath;Confusion's near: I cannot speak. – You tribunesTo the people, – Coriolanus, patience: —Speak, good Sicinius.SICINIUSHear me, people: peace!CITIZENSLet's hear our tribune: peace! —Speak, speak, speak.SICINIUSYou are at point to lose your liberties;Marcius would have all from you; Marcius,Whom late you have nam'd for consul.MENENIUSFie, fie, fie!This is the way to kindle, not to quench.FIRST SENATORTo unbuild the city, and to lay all flat.SICINIUSWhat is the city but the people?CITIZENSTrue,The people are the city.BRUTUSBy the consent of all, we were establish'dThe people's magistrates.CITIZENSYou so remain.MENENIUSAnd so are like to do.COMINIUSThat 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.SICINIUSThis deserves death.BRUTUSOr let us stand to our authority,Or let us lose it. – We do here pronounce,Upon the part o' the people, in whose powerWe were elected theirs, Marcius is worthyOf present death.SICINIUSTherefore lay hold of him;Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from thenceInto destruction cast him.BRUTUSAediles, seize him!CITIZENSYield, Marcius, yield!MENENIUSHear me one word;Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word.AEDILESPeace, peace!MENENIUSBe that you seem, truly your country's friends,And temperately proceed to what you wouldThus violently redress.BRUTUSSir, those cold ways,That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonousWhere the disease is violent. – Lay hands upon himAnd bear him to the rock.CORIOLANUSNo; I'll die here. [Draws his sword.]There's some among you have beheld me fighting;Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me.MENENIUSDown with that sword! – Tribunes, withdraw awhile.BRUTUSLay hands upon him.MENENIUSHelp Marcius, help,You that be noble; help him, young and old!CITIZENSDown with him, down with him!

[In this mutiny the TRIBUNES, the AEDILES, and the people are beat in.]

MENENIUSGo, get you to your house; be gone, away!All will be nought else.SECOND SENATORGet you gone.CORIOLANUSStand fast;We have as many friends as enemies.MENENIUSShall it be put to that?FIRST SENATORThe gods forbid:I pr'ythee, noble friend, home to thy house;Leave us to cure this cause.MENENIUSFor 'tis a sore upon usYou cannot tent yourself; be gone, beseech you.COMINIUSCome, sir, along with us.CORIOLANUSI 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.MENENIUSBe gone;Put not your worthy rage into your tongue;One time will owe another.CORIOLANUSOn fair groundI could beat forty of them.MENENIUSI could myselfTake up a brace o' the best of them; yea, the two tribunes.COMINIUSBut now 'tis odds beyond arithmetic;And manhood is call'd foolery when it standsAgainst a falling fabric. – Will you hence,Before the tag return? whose rage doth rendLike interrupted waters, and o'erbearWhat they are used to bear.MENENIUSPray you be gone:I'll try whether my old wit be in requestWith those that have but little: this must be patch'dWith cloth of any colour.COMINIUSNay, come away.

[Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, and others.]

FIRST PATRICIANThis man has marr'd his fortune.MENENIUSHis 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 everHe heard the name of death.

[A noise within.]

Here's goodly work!SECOND PATRICIANI would they were a-bed!MENENIUSI would they were in Tiber!What the vengeance, could he not speak 'em fair?

[Re-enter BRUTUS and SICINIUS, with the rabble.]

SICINIUSWhere is this viperThat would depopulate the city andBe every man himself?MENENIUSYou worthy tribunes, —SICINIUSHe shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rockWith rigorous hands: he hath resisted law,And therefore law shall scorn him further trialThan the severity of the public power,Which he so sets at nought.FIRST CITIZENHe shall well knowThe noble tribunes are the people's mouths,And we their hands.CITIZENSHe shall, sure on't.MENENIUSSir, sir, —SICINIUSPeace!MENENIUSDo not cry havoc, where you should but huntWith modest warrant.SICINIUSSir, how comes't that youHave holp to make this rescue?MENENIUSHear me speak: —As I do know the consul's worthiness,So can I name his faults, —SICINIUSConsul! – what consul?MENENIUSThe consul Coriolanus.BRUTUSHe consul!CITIZENSNo, no, no, no, no.MENENIUSIf, 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 further harmThan so much loss of time.SICINIUSSpeak briefly, then;For we are peremptory to dispatchThis viperous traitor: to eject him henceWere but one danger; and to keep him hereOur certain death: therefore it is decreedHe dies to-night.MENENIUSNow the good gods forbidThat our renowned Rome, whose gratitudeTowards her deserved children is enroll'dIn Jove's own book, like an unnatural damShould now eat up her own!SICINIUSHe's a disease that must be cut away.MENENIUSO, 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 hathBy many an ounce, – he dropt it for his country;And what is left, to lose it by his countryWere to us all, that do't and suffer itA brand to the end o' the world.SICINIUSThis is clean kam.BRUTUSMerely awry: when he did love his country,It honour'd him.MENENIUSThe service of the foot,Being once gangren'd, is not then respectedFor what before it was.BRUTUSWe'll hear no more. —Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence;Lest his infection, being of catching nature,Spread further.MENENIUSOne word more, one word.This tiger-footed rage, when it shall findThe 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.BRUTUSIf it were so, —SICINIUSWhat do ye talk?Have we not had a taste of his obedience?Our aediles smote? ourselves resisted? – come, —MENENIUSConsider this: – he has been bred i' the warsSince 'a could draw a sword, and is ill school'dIn bolted language; meal and bran togetherHe throws without distinction. Give me leave,I'll go to him and undertake to bring himWhere he shall answer, by a lawful form,In peace, to his utmost peril.FIRST SENATORNoble tribunes,It is the humane way: the other courseWill prove too bloody; and the end of itUnknown to the beginning.SICINIUSNoble Menenius,Be you then as the people's officer. —Masters, lay down your weapons.BRUTUSGo not home.SICINIUSMeet on the market-place. – We'll attend you there:Where, if you bring not Marcius, we'll proceedIn our first way.MENENIUSI'll bring him to you. —

[To the SENATORS.] Let me desire your company: he must come,

Or what is worst will follow.FIRST SENATORPray you let's to him.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II. Rome. A room in CORIOLANUS'S house

[Enter CORIOLANUS and Patricians.]

CORIOLANUSLet them pull all about mine ears; present meDeath on the wheel, or at wild horses' heels;Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian rock,That the precipitation might down stretchBelow the beam of sight; yet will I stillBe thus to them.FIRST PATRICIANYou do the nobler.CORIOLANUSI muse my motherDoes not approve me further, who was wontTo call them woollen vassals, things createdTo buy and sell with groats; to show bare headsIn congregations, to yawn, be still, and wonder,When one but of my ordinance stood upTo speak of peace or war.

[Enter VOLUMNIA.]

I talk of you: [To Volumnia.]Why did you wish me milder? Would you have meFalse to my nature? Rather say, I playThe man I am.VOLUMNIAO, sir, sir, sir,I would have had you put your power well onBefore you had worn it out.CORIOLANUSLet go.VOLUMNIAYou might have been enough the man you areWith striving less to be so: lesser had beenThe thwartings of your dispositions, ifYou had not show'd them how ye were dispos'd,Ere they lack'd power to cross you.CORIOLANUSLet them hang.VOLUMNIAAy, and burn too.

[Enter MENENIUS with the SENATORS.]

MENENIUSCome, come, you have been too rough, something too rough;You must return and mend it.FIRST SENATORThere's no remedy;Unless, by not so doing, our good cityCleave in the midst, and perish.VOLUMNIAPray be counsell'd;I have a heart as little apt as yours,But yet a brain that leads my use of angerTo better vantage.MENENIUSWell said, noble woman!Before he should thus stoop to the herd, but thatThe violent fit o' the time craves it as physicFor the whole state, I would put mine armour on,Which I can scarcely bear.CORIOLANUSWhat must I do?MENENIUSReturn to the tribunes.CORIOLANUSWell, what then? what then?MENENIUSRepent what you have spoke.CORIOLANUSFor them? – I cannot do it to the gods;Must I then do't to them?VOLUMNIAYou are too absolute;Though therein you can never be too nobleBut when extremities speak. I have heard you sayHonour and policy, like unsever'd friends,I' the war do grow together: grant that, and tell meIn peace what each of them by th' other loseThat they combine not there.CORIOLANUSTush, tush!MENENIUSA good demand.VOLUMNIAIf it be honour in your wars to seemThe same you are not, – which for your best endsYou adopt your policy, – how is it less or worseThat it shall hold companionship in peaceWith honour as in war; since that to bothIt stands in like request?CORIOLANUSWhy force you this?VOLUMNIABecause that now it lies you on to speakTo the people; not by your own instruction,Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you,But with such words that are but rooted inYour tongue, though but bastards and syllablesOf no allowance, to your bosom's truth.Now, this no more dishonours you at allThan to take in a town with gentle words,Which else would put you to your fortune andThe hazard of much blood.I would dissemble with my nature whereMy fortunes and my friends at stake requir'dI should do so in honour: I am in thisYour wife, your son, these senators, the nobles;And you will rather show our general loutsHow you can frown, than spend a fawn upon 'emFor the inheritance of their loves and safeguardOf what that want might ruin.MENENIUSNoble lady! —Come, go with us; speak fair: you may salve so,Not what is dangerous present, but the lossOf what is past.VOLUMNIAI pr'ythee now, my son,Go to them with this bonnet in thy hand;And thus far having stretch'd it, – here be with them, —Thy knee bussing the stones, – for in such businesAction is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorantMore learned than the ears, – waving thy head,Which often, thus correcting thy stout heart,Now humble as the ripest mulberryThat will not hold the handling: or say to themThou art their soldier, and, being bred in broils,Hast not the soft way which, thou dost confess,Were fit for thee to use, as they to claim,In asking their good loves; but thou wilt frameThyself, forsooth, hereafter theirs, so farAs thou hast power and person.MENENIUSThis but doneEven as she speaks, why, their hearts were yours:For they have pardons, being ask'd, as freeAs words to little purpose.VOLUMNIAPr'ythee now,Go, and be rul'd; although I know thou had'st ratherFollow thine enemy in a fiery gulfThan flatter him in a bower.

[Enter COMINIUS.]

Here is Cominius.COMINIUSI have been i' the market-place; and, sir, 'tis fitYou make strong party, or defend yourselfBy calmness or by absence: all's in anger.MENENIUSOnly fair speech.COMINIUSI think 'twill serve, if heCan thereto frame his spirit.VOLUMNIAHe must, and will. —Pr'ythee now, say you will, and go about it.CORIOLANUSMust I go show them my unbarb'd sconce? must IWith my base tongue, give to my noble heartA lie, that it must bear? Well, I will do't:Yet, were there but this single plot to lose,This mould of Marcius, they to dust should grind it,And throw't against the wind. – To the market-place: —You have put me now to such a part which neverI shall discharge to the life.COMINIUSCome, come, we'll prompt you.VOLUMNIAI pr'ythee now, sweet son, – as thou hast saidMy praises made thee first a soldier, so,To have my praise for this, perform a partThou hast not done before.CORIOLANUSWell, I must do't:Away, my disposition, and possess meSome harlot's spirit! My throat of war be turn'd,Which quired with my drum, into a pipeSmall as an eunuch, or the virgin voiceThat babies lulls asleep! the smiles of knavesTent in my cheeks; and school-boys' tears take upThe glasses of my sight! a beggar's tongueMake motion through my lips; and my arm'd knees,Who bow'd but in my stirrup, bend like hisThat hath receiv'd an alms! – I will not do't;Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth,And by my body's action teach my mindA most inherent baseness.VOLUMNIAAt thy choice, then:To beg of thee, it is my more dishonourThan thou of them. Come all to ruin: letThy mother rather feel thy pride than fearThy dangerous stoutness; for I mock at deathWith as big heart as thou. Do as thou list.Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck'dst it from me;But owe thy pride thyself.CORIOLANUSPray, be content:Mother, I am going to the market-place;Chide me no more. I'll mountebank their loves,Cog their hearts from them, and come home belov'dOf all the trades in Rome. Look, I am going.Commend me to my wife. I'll return consul;Or never trust to what my tongue can doI' the way of flattery further.VOLUMNIADo your will.

[Exit.]

COMINIUSAway! The tribunes do attend you: arm yourselfTo answer mildly; for they are prepar'dWith accusations, as I hear, more strongThan are upon you yet.CORIOLANUSThe word is, mildly. – Pray you let us go:Let them accuse me by invention, IWill answer in mine honour.MENENIUSAy, but mildly.CORIOLANUSWell, mildly be it then; mildly.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE III. Rome. The Forum

[Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS.]

BRUTUSIn this point charge him home, that he affectsTyrannical power: if he evade us there,Enforce him with his envy to the people;And that the spoil got on the AntiatesWas ne'er distributed.

[Enter an AEDILE.]

What, will he come?AEDILEHe's coming.BRUTUSHow accompanied?AEDILEWith old Menenius, and those senatorsThat always favour'd him.SICINIUSHave you a catalogueOf all the voices that we have procur'd,Set down by the poll?AEDILEI have; 'tis ready.SICINIUSHave you collected them by tribes?AEDILEI have.SICINIUSAssemble presently the people hither:And when they hear me say 'It shall be soI' the right and strength o' the commons,' be it eitherFor death, for fine, or banishment, then let them,If I say fine, cry 'Fine!'– if death, cry 'Death;'Insisting on the old prerogativeAnd power i' the truth o' the cause.AEDILEI shall inform them.BRUTUSAnd when such time they have begun to cry,Let them not cease, but with a din confus'dEnforce the present executionOf what we chance to sentence.AEDILEVery well.SICINIUSMake them be strong, and ready for this hint,When we shall hap to give't them.BRUTUSGo about it.

[Exit AEDILE.]

Put him to choler straight: he hath been us'dEver to conquer, and to have his worthOf contradiction; being once chaf'd, he cannotBe rein'd again to temperance; then he speaksWhat's in his heart; and that is there which looksWith us to break his neck.SICINIUSWell, here he comes.

[Enter CORIOLANUS, MENENIUS, COMINIUS, Senators, and Patricians.]

MENENIUSCalmly, I do beseech you.CORIOLANUSAy, as an ostler, that for the poorest pieceWill bear the knave by the volume. – The honoured godsKeep Rome in safety, and the chairs of justiceSupplied with worthy men! plant love among's!Throng our large temples with the shows of peace,And not our streets with war!FIRST SENATORAmen, amen!MENENIUSA noble wish.

[Re-enter the AEDILE, with Citizens.]

SICINIUSDraw near, ye people.AEDILEList to your tribunes; audience: peace, I say!CORIOLANUSFirst, hear me speak.BOTH TRIBUNESWell, say. – Peace, ho!CORIOLANUSShall I be charg'd no further than this present?Must all determine here?SICINIUSI do demand,If you submit you to the people's voices,Allow their officers, and are contentTo suffer lawful censure for such faultsAs shall be proved upon you.CORIOLANUSI am content.MENENIUSLo, citizens, he says he is content:The warlike service he has done, consider; thinkUpon the wounds his body bears, which showLike graves i' the holy churchyard.CORIOLANUSScratches with briers,Scars to move laughter only.MENENIUSConsider further,That when he speaks not like a citizen,You find him like a soldier: do not takeHis rougher accents for malicious sounds,But, as I say, such as become a soldier,Rather than envy you.COMINIUSWell, well, no more.CORIOLANUSWhat is the matter,That being pass'd for consul with full voice,I am so dishonour'd that the very hourYou take it off again?SICINIUSAnswer to us.CORIOLANUSSay then: 'tis true, I ought so.SICINIUSWe charge you that you have contriv'd to takeFrom Rome all season'd office, and to windYourself into a power tyrannical;For which you are a traitor to the people.CORIOLANUSHow! traitor!MENENIUSNay, temperately; your promise.CORIOLANUSThe fires i' the lowest hell fold in the people!Call me their traitor! – Thou injurious tribune!Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,In thy hands clutch'd as many millions, inThy lying tongue both numbers, I would say,Thou liest unto thee with a voice as freeAs I do pray the gods.SICINIUSMark you this, people?CITIZENSTo the rock, to the rock, with him!SICINIUSPeace!We need not put new matter to his charge:What you have seen him do and heard him speak,Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,Opposing laws with strokes, and here defyingThose whose great power must try him; even this,So criminal and in such capital kind,Deserves the extremest death.BRUTUSBut since he hathServ'd well for Rome, —CORIOLANUSWhat do you prate of service?BRUTUSI talk of that that know it.CORIOLANUSYou?MENENIUSIs this the promise that you made your mother?COMINIUSKnow, I pray you, —CORIOLANUSI'll know no further:Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death,Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to lingerBut with a grain a day, I would not buyTheir mercy at the price of one fair word,Nor check my courage for what they can give,To have't with saying Good-morrow.SICINIUSFor that he has, —As much as in him lies, – from time to timeEnvied against the people, seeking meansTo pluck away their power; as now at lastGiven hostile strokes, and that not in the presenceOf dreaded justice, but on the ministersThat do distribute it; – in the name o' the people,And in the power of us the tribunes, we,Even from this instant, banish him our city,In peril of precipitationFrom off the rock Tarpeian, never moreTo enter our Rome gates: I' the people's name,I say it shall be so.CITIZENSIt shall be so, it shall be so; let him away;He's banished, and it shall be so.COMINIUSHear me, my masters and my common friends, —SICINIUSHe's sentenc'd; no more hearing.COMINIUSLet me speak:I have been consul, and can show for RomeHer enemies' marks upon me. I do loveMy country's good with a respect more tender,More holy and profound, than mine own life,My dear wife's estimate, her womb's increase,And treasure of my loins; then if I wouldSpeak that, —SICINIUSWe know your drift. Speak what?BRUTUSThere's no more to be said, but he is banish'd,As enemy to the people and his country:It shall be so.CITIZENSIt shall be so, it shall be so.CORIOLANUSYou common cry of curs! whose breath I hateAs reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prizeAs the dead carcasses of unburied menThat do corrupt my air, – I banish you;And here remain with your uncertainty!Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts!Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,Fan you into despair! Have the power stillTo banish your defenders; till at lengthYour ignorance, – which finds not till it feels, —Making but reservation of yourselves, —Still your own foes, – deliver you, as mostAbated captives to some nationThat won you without blows! Despising,For you, the city, thus I turn my back:There is a world elsewhere.

[Exeunt CORIOLANUS, COMINIUS, MENENIUS, Senators, and

Patricians.]AEDILEThe people's enemy is gone, is gone!CITIZENSOur enemy is banish'd, he is gone! Hoo! hoo!

[Shouting, and throwing up their caps.]

SICINIUSGo, see him out at gates, and follow him,As he hath follow'd you, with all despite;Give him deserv'd vexation. Let a guardAttend us through the city.CITIZENSCome, come, let's see him out at gates; come.The gods preserve our noble tribunes! Come.

[Exeunt.]

ACT IV

SCENE I. Rome. Before a gate of the city

[Enter CORIOLANUS, VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, MENENIUS, COMINIUS,and several young Patricians.]

CORIOLANUSCome, leave your tears; a brief farewell: – he beastWith many heads butts me away. – Nay, mother,Where is your ancient courage? you were us'dTo say extremities was the trier of spirits;That common chances common men could bear;That when the sea was calm all boats alikeShow'd mastership in floating; fortune's blows,When most struck home, being gentle wounded, cravesA noble cunning; you were us'd to load meWith precepts that would make invincibleThe heart that conn'd them.VIRGILIAO heavens! O heavens!CORIOLANUSNay, I pr'ythee, woman, —VOLUMNIANow the red pestilence strike all trades in Rome,And occupations perish!CORIOLANUSWhat, what, what!I shall be lov'd when I am lack'd. Nay, mother,Resume that spirit when you were wont to say,If you had been the wife of Hercules,Six of his labours you'd have done, and sav'dYour husband so much sweat. – Cominius,Droop not; adieu. – Farewell, my wife, – my mother:I'll do well yet. – Thou old and true Menenius,Thy tears are salter than a younger man's,And venomous to thine eyes. – My sometime general,I have seen thee stern, and thou hast oft beheldHeart-hard'ning spectacles; tell these sad women'Tis fond to wail inevitable strokes,As 'tis to laugh at 'em. – My mother, you wot wellMy hazards still have been your solace: andBelieve't not lightly, – though I go alone,Like to a lonely dragon, that his fenMakes fear'd and talk'd of more than seen, – your sonWill or exceed the common or be caughtWith cautelous baits and practice.VOLUMNIAMy first son,Whither wilt thou go? Take good CominiusWith thee awhile: determine on some courseMore than a wild exposture to each chanceThat starts i' the way before thee.CORIOLANUSO the gods!COMINIUSI'll follow thee a month, devise with theeWhere thou shalt rest, that thou mayst hear of us,And we of thee: so, if the time thrust forthA cause for thy repeal, we shall not sendO'er the vast world to seek a single man;And lose advantage, which doth ever coolI' the absence of the needer.CORIOLANUSFare ye well:Thou hast years upon thee; and thou art too fullOf the wars' surfeits to go rove with oneThat's yet unbruis'd: bring me but out at gate. —Come, my sweet wife, my dearest mother, andMy friends of noble touch; when I am forth,Bid me farewell, and smile. I pray you, come.While I remain above the ground, you shallHear from me still; and never of me aughtBut what is like me formerly.MENENIUSThat's worthilyAs any ear can hear. – Come, let's not weep. —If I could shake off but one seven yearsFrom these old arms and legs, by the good gods,I'd with thee every foot.CORIOLANUSGive me thy hand: —Come.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II. Rome. A street near the gate

[Enter SICINIUS, BRUTUS, and an AEDILE.]

SICINIUSBid them all home; he's gone, and we'll no further. —The nobility are vex'd, whom we see have sidedIn his behalf.BRUTUSNow we have shown our power,Let us seem humbler after it is doneThan when it was a-doing.SICINIUSBid them home:Say their great enemy is gone, and theyStand in their ancient strength.BRUTUSDismiss them home.

[Exit AEDILE.]

Here comes his mother.SICINIUSLet's not meet her.BRUTUSWhy?SICINIUSThey say she's mad.BRUTUSThey have ta'en note of us: keep on your way.

[Enter VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, and MENENIUS.]

VOLUMNIAO, you're well met: the hoarded plague o' the godsRequite your love!MENENIUSPeace, peace, be not so loud.VOLUMNIAIf that I could for weeping, you should hear, —Nay, and you shall hear some. – [To BRUTUS.] Will you be gone?VIRGILIAYou shall stay too[To SICINIUS.]: I would I had the powerTo say so to my husband.SICINIUSAre you mankind?VOLUMNIAAy, fool; is that a shame? – Note but this, fool. —Was not a man my father? Hadst thou foxshipTo banish him that struck more blows for RomeThan thou hast spoken words? —SICINIUSO blessed heavens!VOLUMNIAMoe noble blows than ever thou wise words;And for Rome's good. – I'll tell thee what; – yet go; —Nay, but thou shalt stay too: – I would my sonWere in Arabia, and thy tribe before him,His good sword in his hand.SICINIUSWhat then?VIRGILIAWhat then!He'd make an end of thy posterity.VOLUMNIABastards and all. —Good man, the wounds that he does bear for Rome!MENENIUSCome, come, peace.SICINIUSI would he had continu'd to his countryAs he began, and not unknit himselfThe noble knot he made.BRUTUSI would he had.VOLUMNIAI would he had! 'Twas you incens'd the rabble; —Cats, that can judge as fitly of his worthAs I can of those mysteries which heavenWill not have earth to know.BRUTUSPray, let us go.VOLUMNIANow, pray, sir, get you gone:You have done a brave deed. Ere you go, hear this, —As far as doth the Capitol exceedThe meanest house in Rome, so far my son, —This lady's husband here; this, do you see? —Whom you have banish'd does exceed you all.BRUTUSWell, well, we'll leave you.SICINIUSWhy stay we to be baitedWith one that wants her wits?VOLUMNIATake my prayers with you. —

[Exeunt TRIBUNES.]