Enter Titus Lartius, with his Power, from the purfuit. Lart. O General, Here is the steed, we the caparifon. Hadft thou beheld- Cor. Pray now, no more. My Mother, Who has a charter to extol her blood, When fhe does praise me, grieves me. I have done as you have done; that's, what I can ; Induc'd, as you have been; that's for my Country, He, that has but effected his good will, Hath overta'en mine act. Com. You fhall not be The Grave of your deferving. Rome must know What you have done, before our army hear me. Ccm. * Should they not, Well might they fefter 'gainst ingratitude, And tent themfelves with death. Of all the horses, Your only choice. Cor. I thank you, General, But cannot make my heart confent to take 3 Here is the feed, we the caparifon.] This is an odd encomium. The meaning is, this man performed the action, and ave only filled up the shor. 4-a charter to extol-1 A privilege to praife her own fon. Should they not,] That is, not be remembered. A bribe, to pay my fword. I do refufe it, [A long flour fb. They all cry, Marcius, Marcius! Cor. May these fame inftruments, which you pro- Never found more! When drums and trumpets fhall As if I lov'd, my little fhould be dieted Com. Tco modeft are you; 5 In the old copy: COURTS AND cities Be made ALL of falfe-fac'd footbing. When feel grorus foft as the parefie's filk, Let him be made an overture for thavars: All here is miferably corrupt and disjointed. We should read the whole thus, -when drums and trumpets fball, I' th' field, prove flatterers, let CAMPS, AS cities, When jieel grows An overture for the wars! The thought is this, If one thing changes its usual nature to a thing mofl oppofite, there is no reafon but that all the reft which depend on it fhould do fo too. [If drums and trumpets prove flatterers, let the camp bear the falfe face of the city.] And if another changes its ufual nature, that its oppofite fhould do fo too. [When feel foftens to the condition of the parafite's filk, the peaceful hymns of devotion should be employed to excite to the charge.] Now, in the first inftance, the thought, in the common reading, was entirely loft by putting in courts for camps: and the latter miferably involved in nonfenfe, by blundering Hymns WARBURTON. into him. More More cruel to your good report, than grateful With all th' applaufe and clamour of the Hoft, Bear th' addition nobly ever. [Flourish. Trumpets found and drums. Omnes. Caius Marcius Coriolanus! Cor. I will go wash: And when my face is fair, you shall perceive 7 To th' fairnefs of my Power. Com. So. To our tent; Where, ere we do repofe us, we will write * The Beft, with whom we may articulate, Lart. I fhall, my lord. Cor. The Gods begin to mock me, I, that but now refus'd moft princely gifts, To undercreft your good Addition,] A phrafe from heraldry, fignifying, that he would endeavour to fupport his good opinion of him. WARBURTON. 7 To th' fairness of my Power.] Fairness, for utmoft, WARB. What is't? I know not how fairness can mean utmost. When two engage on equal terms, we fay it is fair; fairness may therefore be equality; in proportion equal to my power. The Beft,-] The chief men of Corioli. L13 Cor. Cor. I fometime lay here in Corioli, At a poor man's houfe; he us'd me kindly. Com. O well begg'd! Were he the butcher of my fon, he should Cer. By Jupiter, forgot. I am weary; yea, my memory is tir’d. Com. Go we to our tent. The blood upon your vifage dries; 'tis time It fhould be look'd to. Come. SCEN E XII. [Exeunt. Changes to the Camp of the Volfci. A Flourish. Cornet. Enter Tullus Aufidius bloody, with two or three foldiers. Auf. HE town is ta'en! THE Sol. 'Twill be deliver'd back on good condition. Auf. Condition! I would, I were a Roman; for 1 cannot, I' th' part that is at mercy? Five times, Marcius, Being aVolfcian, &c.] It may be juft obferved, that Shakespeare calls the Velfei, Volfces, which the modern editors have changed to the modern termination. I mention it here, because here the change has fpoiled the meafure. Bing a Volice, be that I am. Condition ? And And would't do fo, I think, fhould we encounter Sol. He's the Devil. Auf. Bolder, tho' not fo fubtle. 1 My valour poi With only fuffering ftain by him, for him My hate to Marcius. Where I find him, were it 9 for him Shall flie out of itflf:-] To mifchief him my valour thould deviate from its own native generonity. 1—not fleep, nor fan&tury, &c. EMBARKMENTS all of fury, &c.] The dramatick art of this fpeech is great. For after Aufidius had fo generously received Cariclanus in exile, nothing but the memory of this fpeech, which lets one fo well into Aufidius's nature, could make his after perfidy and bafenefs at all probable. Dat the fecond line of this impious rant is corrupt. For tho', indeed, he might call the affaulting Marcius at any of thofe facred feafons and places an embarkment of fury; yet he Could not call the feafons and places themselves, fo. We may believe therefore that Shakespear wrote, EMBARRMENTS all of fury, &c. i. e. obftacles. Tho' thofe feafons and places are all obftacles to my fury, yet, &c. The Oxford Editor has, in his ufual way, refined upon this emendation, in order to make it his own; and fo reads, Embankments, not confidering how ill this metaphor agrees with what is faid just after of their LIFTING up their ROTTEN privilege, which evidently refers to a wooden bar, not to an earthen bank. Thefe two Generals are drawn equally covetous of glory: But the Volfcian not fcrupulous about the means. And his immediate repentance, after the affaffinate, well agrees with fuch a character. WARB. |