Men.

Sic. Pray you, go to him.

No; I'll not meddle.

Men. 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,

Unheard; what then?—

But as a discontented friend, grief-shot

With his unkindness?-Say 't be so?

Sic.

Yet your good will

Must have that thanks from Rome, after the mea

And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me.
He was not taken well; he had not dined:
The veins unfill'd, our blood is cold, and then
We pout upon the morning, are unapt

To give or to forgive; but when we have stuff'd
These pipes, and these conveyances of our blood
With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls
Than in our priest-like fasts: therefore I'll watch
him

Till he be dieted to my request,

And then I'll set upon him.

Bru. You know the very road into his kindness, And cannot lose your way.

Men.

Good faith, I'll prove him,

Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowlege

Com. I tell you, he does sit in gold, his eye Red as 'twould burn Rome; and his injury The jailer to his pity. I kneel'd before him: 'Twas very faintly he said, Rise;' dismiss'd me Thus, with his speechless hand. What he would

do,

He sent in writing after me; what he would not,
Bound with an oath, to yield to his conditions:
So that all hope is vain,

Unless his noble mother and his wife;

Who, as I hear, mean to solicit him

For mercy to his country: therefore, let's hence,
And with our fair entreaties haste them on.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

An advanced post of the Volscian camp before Rome. The GUARD at their stations. Enter to them,

MENENIUS.

1 Guard. Stay. Whence are you?

2 Guard.

Stand, and go back.

Men. You guard like men; 'tis well: but, by

your leave,

I am an officer of state, and come

To speak with Coriolanus.

1 Guard.

Men.

From whence?

From Rome.

1 Guard. You may not pass; you must return :

our general

Will no more hear from thence.

2 Guard. You'll see your Rome embraced with fire before

You'll speak with Coriolanus.

Men.

Good my friends, If you have heard your general talk of Rome, And of his friends there, it is lots 1 to blanks, My name hath touch'd your ears: it is Menenius. 1 Guard. Be it so; go back: the virtue of your

name

Is not here passable.

Men.

I tell thee, fellow,

Thy general is my lover: I have been

The book of his good acts, whence men have read His fame unparallel'd, haply, amplified :

For I have ever verified my friends,

(Of whom he's chief) with all the size that verity Would without lapsing suffer: nay, sometimes, Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground,

I have tumbled past the throw; and in his praise Have almost stamp'd the leasing:3 therefore, fellow,

I must have leave to pass.

1 Guard. Faith, sir, if you had told as many lies in his behalf as you have uttered words in your own, you should not pass here; no, though it were

1 Prizes.

2 Friend.

3 Lie.

as virtuous to lie as to live chastely: therefore go back.

Men. Pr'ythee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius, always factionary on the party of your general.

2 Guard. Howsoever you have been his liar, (as you say you have) I am one that, telling true under him, must say, you cannot pass: therefore go back. Men. Has he dined? canst thou tell? for I would not speak with him till after dinner.

1 Guard. You are a Roman, are you? Men. I am as thy general is.

1 Guard. Then you should hate Rome as he does. Can you, when you have pushed out your gates the very defender of them, and, in a violent popular ignorance, given your enemy your shield, think to front his revenges with the easy groans of old women, the virginal palms of your daughters, or with the palsied intercession of such a decayed dotant1 as you seem to be? Can you think to blow out the intended fire your city is ready to flame in with such weak breath as this? No, you are deceived: therefore, back to Rome, and prepare for your execution: you are condemned; our general has sworn you out of reprieve and pardon.

Men. Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here, he would use me with estimation.

2 Guard. Come, my captain knows you not.

1 For dotard.

Men. I mean, thy general.

1 Guard. My general cares not for you. Back, I say: go, lest I let forth your half-pint of blood : back; that's the utmost of your having :-back. Men. Nay, but, fellow, fellow,

Enter CORIOLANUS and Aufidius.

Cor. What's the matter?

Men. Now, you companion,1 I'll say an errand for you; you shall know now that I am in estimation; you shall perceive that a Jack guardanto cannot office me from my son Coriolanus: guess, but by my entertainment with him, if thou standest not i' the state of hanging, or of some death more long in spectatorship, and crueller in suffering: behold now presently, and swoon for what's to come upon thee. The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy particular prosperity, and love thee no worse than thy old father Menenius does! O, my son! my son! thou art preparing fire for us: look thee, here's water to quench it. I was hardly moved to come to thee: but being assured, none but myself could move thee, I have been blown out of your gates with sighs; and conjure thee to pardon Rome, and thy petitionary countrymen. The good gods assuage thy wrath, and turn the dregs of it upon this varlet here; this, who, like a block, hath denied my access to thee.

1 Fellow,

2 A Jack in office.