Say, what's thy name?

Auf.
Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face
Bears a command in 't; though thy tackle 's torn,
Thou show'st a noble vessel :3 What 's thy name?

Cor. Prepare thy brow to frown: Know'st thou me yet?
Auf. I know thee not :-Thy name?

Cor. My name is Caius Marcius, who hath done
To thee particularly, and to all the Volces,
Great hurt and mischief; thereto witness may
My surname Coriolanus: The painful service,
The extreme dangers, and the drops of blood
Shed for my thankless country, are requited
But with that surname; a good memory,4
And witness of the malice and displeasure

Which thou should'st bear me: only that name remains;
The cruelty and envy of the people,
Permitted by our dastard nobles, who

Have all forsook me, hath devour'd the rest;
And suffered me by the voice of slaves to be
Whoop'd out of Rome. Now, this extremity
Hath brought me to thy hearth; Not out of hope,
Mistake me not, to save my life; for if

I had fear'd death, of all the men i' the world
I would have 'voided thee:5 but in mere spite,
To be full quit of those my banishers,

Stand I before thee here. Then if thou hast
A heart of wreak in thee, that will revenge

3 though thy tackle's torn,

Thou show'st a noble vessel:] A corresponding idea occurs in

Cymbeline:

"The ruin speaks, that sometime

"It was a worthy building." Steevens.

a good memory,] The Oxford editor, not knowing that

memory was used at that time for memorial, alters it to memorial. Johnson.

See the preceding note. Malone.

And Vol. V, p. 38, n. 9. Reed.

5

of all the men the world

I would have 'voided thee:] So, in Macbeth:

"Of all men else I have avoided thee." Steevens.

6 A heart of wreak in thee,] A heart of resentment. Johnson. Wreak is an ancient term for revenge. So, in Titus Andronicus: "Take wreak on Rome for this ingratitude."

Again, in Gower, De Confessione Amantis, Lib. V, fol. 83: "She saith that hir selfe she sholde

"Do wreche with hir own honde."

Thine own particular wrongs, and stop those maims
Of shame seen through thy country,* speed thee straight,
And make my misery serve thy turn; so use it,
That my revengeful services may prove

As benefits to thee; for I will fight

Against my canker'd country with the spleen
Of all the under fiends. But if so be

Thou dar'st not this, and that to prove more fortunes
Thou art tir'd, then, in a word, I also am
Longer to live most weary, and present
My throat to thee, and to thy ancient malice:
Which not to cut, would show thee but a fool;
Since I have ever follow'd thee with hate,
Drawn tuns of blood out of thy country's breast,
And cannot live but to thy shame, unless

It be to do thee service.

Auf.

O Marcius, Marcius,

Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart A root of ancient envy. If Jupiter

Again, in Chapman's version of the 5th Iliad:

7

*

- if he should pursue Sarpedon's life,

"Or take his friends wreake on his men." Steevens.

maims

Of shame-] That is, disgraceful diminutions of territory.

those maims

Johnson.

Of shame seen through thy country,] Wounds inflicted by the invader; marks which remain a memorial of the ravages of the enemy. Am. Ed.

8 with the spleen

Of all the under fiends.] Shakspeare, by imputing a stronger degree of inveteracy to subordinate fiends, seems to intimate, and very justly, that malice of revenge is more predominant in the lower than the upper classes of society. This circumstance is repeatedly exemplified in the conduct of Jack Cade and other heroes of the mob. Steevens.

This appears to me to be refining too much. Under fiends in this passage does not mean, as I conceive, fiends subordinate, or in an inferior station, but infernal fiends. So, in K. Henry VI, P. I: "Now, ye familiar spirits, that are call'd

"Out of the powerful regions under earth," &c.

In Shakspeare's time some fiends were supposed to inhabit the air, others to dwell under ground, &c. Malone.

As Shakspeare uses the word under-skinker, to express the lowest rank of waiter, I do not find myself disposed to give up my explanation of under fiends. Instances, however, of "too much refinement" are not peculiar to me. Steevens.

Should from yon cloud speak divine things, and say,
'Tis true; I'd not believe them more than thee,
All noble Marcius.-O, let me twine

Mine arms about that body, where against
My grained ash an hundred times hath broke,
And scar'd the moon with splinters! Here I clip
The anvil of my sword; and do contest
As hotly and as nobly with thy love,
As ever in ambitious strength I did
Contend against thy valour. Know thou first,
I loved the maid I married; never man
Sigh'd truer breath; but that I see thee here,
Thou noble thing! more dances my rapt heart,
Than when I first my wedded mistress saw
Bestride my threshold. Why, thou Mars! I tell thee,
We have a power on foot; and I had purpose

And scar'd the moon-] [Old copy-scarr'd,] I believe, rightly. The modern editors read scar'd, that is, frightened; a reading to which the following line in King Richard III, certainly adds some support:

"Amaze the welkin with your broken staves." Malone.

I read with the modern editors, rejecting the Chrononhotonthological idea of scarifying the moon. The verb to scare is again written scarr, in the old copy of The Winter's Tale: " They have scarr'd away two of my best sheep." Steevens.

1 Here I clip

The anvil of my sword;] To clip is to embrace. So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

"Enter the city, clip your wives-"

Aufidius styles Coriolanus the anvil of his sword, because he had formerly laid as heavy blows on him, as a smith strikes on his anvil. So, in Hamlet:

2

"And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall

"On Mars's armour

"With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword
"Now falls on Priam." Steevens.

-never man

Sigh'd truer breath;] The same expression is found in our author's Venus and Adonis:

"I'll sigh celestial breath, whose gentle wind
"Shall cool the heat of this descending sun."

Again, in The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Shakspeare and Fletcher, 1634:

"Lover never yet made sigh

"Truer than I." Malone.

3 Bestride my threshold.] Shakspeare was unaware that a Roman bride, on her entry into her husband's house, was prohibited

Once more to hew thy target from thy brawn,
Or lose mine arm for 't: Thou hast beat me out
Twelve several times, and I have nightly since
Dreamt of encounters 'twixt thyself and me;
We have been down together in my sleep,
Unbuckling helms, fisting each other's throat,
And wak'd half deads with nothing. Worthy Marcius,
Had we no quarrel else to Rome, but that
Thou art thence banish'd, we would muster all
From twelve to seventy;* and, pouring war
Into the bowels of ungrateful Rome,

Like a bold flood o'er-beat. O, come, go in,
And take our friendly senators by the hands;
Who now are here, taking their leaves of me,
Who am prepar'd against your territories,
Though not for Rome itself.

Cor.

You bless me, Gods!

Auf. Therefore, most absolute sir, if thou wilt have The leading of thine own revenges, take

from bestriding his threshold; and that, lest she should even touch it, she was always lifted over it. Thus, Lucan, L. II, 359: Tralata vetuit contingere limina planta. Steevens.

Thou hast beat me out

Twelve several times,] Out here means, I believe, full, com, plete. Malone.

So, in The Tempest:

66

for then thou wast not

"Out three years old." Steevens.

And wak'd half dead --] Unless the two preceding lines be considered as parenthetical, here is another instance of our author's concluding a sentence, as if the former part had been constructed differently. "We have been down," must be considered as if he had written-I have been down with you, in my sleep, and wak'd, &c. See Vol. XI, p. 279, n. 4; and Vol. V, p. 159, n. 8; and p. 298, n. 8. Malone.

6 Had we no quarrel else to Rome, but that-] The old copy, redundantly, and unnecessarily:

"Had we no other quarrel else" &c. Steevens.

we would muster all

From twelve to seventy;] i. e. all the males from the age of twelve to seventy years would be mustered, to form the invading force. Am. Ed.

7 Like a bold flood o'er-beat.] Though this is intelligible, and the reading of the old copy, perhaps our author wrote-o'er-bear. So, in Othello:

"Is of such flood-gate and o'er-bearing nature-." Steevens.

The one half of my commission; and set down,-
As best thou art experienc'd, since thou know'st
Thy country's strength and weakness, thine own ways:
Whether to knock against the gates of Rome,

Or rudely visit them in parts remote,

To fright them, ere destroy. But come in:
Let me commend thee first to those, that shall
Say, yea, to thy desires. A thousand welcomes!
And more a friend than e'er an enemy;

Yet, Marcius, that was much. Your hand! Most welcome! [Exeunt COR. and AUF.

1 Serv. [advancing] Here's a strange alteration! 2 Serv. By my hand, I had thought to have strucken him with a cudgel; and yet my mind gave me, his clothes made a false report of him.

1 Serv. What an arm he has! He turned me about with his finger and his thumb, as one would set up a top.

2 Serv. Nay, I knew by his face that there was something in him: He had, sir, a kind of face, methought,― I cannot tell how to term it.

-'Would I

1 Serv. He had so; looking, as it were,were hanged, but I thought there was more in him than I could think.

2 Serv. So did I, I'll be sworn: He is simply the rarest man i' the world.

1 Serv. I think, he is: but a greater soldier than he, you wot one.

2 Serv. Who? my master?

1 Serv. Nay, it's no matter for that.

2 Serv. Worth six of him.

1 Serv. Nay, not so neither; but I take him to be the greater soldier.

2 Serv. 'Faith, look you, one cannot tell how to say that: for the defence of a town, our general is excellent. 1 Serv. Ay, and for an assault too.

Re-enter third Servant.

3 Serv. O, slaves, I can tell you news; news, you rascals.

1. 2. Serv. What, what, what? let's partake.

3 Serv. I would not be a Roman, of all nations; I had as lieve be a condemned man.

1.2. Serv. Wherefore? wherefore?

3 Serv. Why, here 's he that was wont to thwack our general, Caius Marcius.