SCENE II. An advanced Post of the Volcian Camp before Rome. The Guard at their Stations. Enter to them, MENENIUS. 1 G. Stay: Whence are you? 2 G. Stand, and go back.4 Men. You guard like men; 'tis well: But, by your leave, I am an officer of state, and come To speak with Coriolanus. 1 G. Men. From whence?5 From Rome. 1 G. You may not pass, you must return: our general Will no more hear from thence. 2 G. You'll see your Rome embrac'd with fire, before You'll speak with Coriolanus. Men. surely is one of them. Had he written-his noble mother and his wife are our only hope,-his meaning could not have been doubted; and is not this precisely what Cominius says?-So that we have now no other hope, nothing to rely upon but his mother and his wife, who, as I am told, mean, &c. Unless is here used for ex cept. Malone. Stand, and go back.] This defective measure might be com pleted by reading-Stand, and go back again. Steevens. 5 From whence?] As the word-from is not only needless, but injures the measure, it might be fairly omitted, being probably caught by the compositor's eye from the speech immediately following. Steevens. 6 lots to blanks,] A lot is here a prize. Johnson. Lot, in French, signifies prize. Le gros lot. The capital prize. S. W. I believe Dr. Johnson here mistakes. Menenius, I imagine, only means to say, that it is more than an equal chance that his name has touched their ears. Lots were the term in our author's time for the total number of tickets in a lottery, which took its name from thence. So, in the Continuation of Stowe's Chronicle, 1615, p. 1002: "Out of which lottery, for want of filling, by the number of lots, there were then taken out and thrown away threescore thousand blanks, without abating of any one prize." The lots were of course more numerous than the blanks. If lot signified prize, as Dr. Johnson supposed, there being in every lottery many more blanks than prizes, Menenius must be sup My name hath touch'd your ears: it is Menenius. Men. I tell thee, fellow, The book of his good acts, whence men have reads For I have ever verified my friends, (Of whom he 's chief) with all the size that verity9 Would without lapsing suffer: nay, sometimes, posed to say, that the chance of his name having reached their ears was very small; which certainly is not his meaning. Malone. Lots to blanks is a phrase equivalent to another in King Richard III: "All the world to nothing." Steevens. 7 Thy general is my lover:] This also was the language of Shakspeare's time. See Vol. IV, p. 384, n. 5. Malone. 8 The book of his good acts, whence men have read &c.] So, in Pericles: "Her face the book of praises, where is read" &c. Again, in Macbeth: "Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men 9 For I have ever verified my friends, with all the size that verity &c.] To verify, is to establish by testimony. One may say with propriety, he brought false witnesses to verify his title. Shakspeare considered the word with his usual laxity, as importing rather testimony than truth, and only meant to say, I bore witness to my friends with all the size that verity would suffer. I must remark, that to magnify, signifies to exalt or enlarge, but not necessarily to enlarge beyond the truth. Johnson. Mr. Edwards would read varnished; but Dr. Johnson's explanation of the old word renders all change unnecessary. To verify may, however, signify to display. Thus in an ancient metrical pedigree in possession of the late Dutchess of Northumberland, and quoted by Dr. Percy in The Reliques of ancient English Poetry, Vol. I, p. 279, 3d edit: "In hys scheld did schyne a mone veryfying her light." Steevens. The meaning (to give a somewhat more expanded comment) is: "I have ever spoken the truth of my friends, and in speaking of them have gone as far as I could go consistently with truth: I have not only told the truth, but the whole truth, and with the most favourable colouring that I could give to their actions, without transgressing the bounds of truth." Malone. Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground,1 I have tumbled past the throw; and in his praise 1 G. '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 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 G. 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, can'st thou tell? for I would not speak with him till after dinner. 1 G. You are a Roman, are you? Men. I am as thy general is. 1 G. 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 1 upon a subtle ground,] Subtle, means smooth, level. So, Ben Jonson, in one of his Masques: "Tityus's breast is counted the subtlest bowling ground in all Tartarus." Subtle, however, may mean artificially unlevel, as many bowling-greens are. Steevens. May it not have its more ordinary acceptation, deceitful? 2 and in his praise Malone. Have, almost, stamp'd the leasing: i. e. given the sanction of truth to my very exaggerations. This appears to be the sense of the passage, from what is afterwards said by the 2 Guard: "Howsoever you have been his liar, as you say you have-." Leasing occurs in our translation of the Bible. See Psalm iv, 2. Henley. Have, almost, stamp'd the leasing:] I have almost given the lie such a sanction as to render it current. Malone. 3 easy groans-] i. e. slight, inconsiderable. So, in King Henry VI, P. II: 4 66 these faults are easy, quickly answer'd." Steevens. -the virginal palms of your daughters,] The adjective virginal is used in Woman is a Weathercock, 1612: "Lav'd in a bath of contrite virginal tears." a decayed dotants 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 G. Come, my captain knows you not. Men. I mean, thy general. 1 G. 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, I'll say an errand for you; you shall know now that I am in estimation; you shall perceive that a Jack guardant cannot office me from my son Coriolanus: guess, but by my entertainment with him, if thou stand'st 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 synod9 about Again, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. II, c. ix: "She to them made with mildness virginal." Steevens. Again, in King Henry VI, P. II. 5 66 tears virginal "Shall be to me even as the dew to fire." Malone. a decayed dotant-] Thus the old copy. Modern editors have read-dotard. Steevens. 6 7 companion,] See p. 132, n. 9. Steevens. a Jack guardant-] This term is equivalent to one still in use-a Fack in office; i. e. one who is as proud of his petty consequence, as an excise-man. Steevens. See Vol. VIII, p. 284, n. 1. Malone. 8 -guess but by my entertainment with him,] [Old copybut.] I read: Guess by my entertainment with him, if thou standest not i' the state of hanging. Johnson. Mr. Edwards had proposed the same emendation in his MS. notes already mentioned. Steevens. The same correction had also been made by Sir T. Hanmer. These editors, however, changed but to by. It is much more probable that by should have been omitted at the press, than confounded with bat. Malone. 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. Cor. Away! Men. How! away? Cor. Wife, mother, child, I know not. My affairs Are servanted to others: Though I owe My revenge properly, my remission lies In Volcian breasts. That we have been familiar, Than pity note how much.-Therefore, be gone. [Exeunt COR. and AỤF. 1 G. Now, sir, is your name Menenius. 2 G. 'Tis a spell, you see, of much power: You know the way home again. 1 G. Do you hear how we are shent3 for keeping your greatness back? 9 The glorious gods sit in hourly synod &c.] So, in Pericles: "The senate house of planets all did sit" &c. Steevens. 1 Though I owe My revenge properly,] Though I have a peculiar right in revenge, in the power of forgiveness the Volcians are conjoined. 2 for I lov'd thee,] i. e. because. So, in Othello: Haply, for I am black-." Steevens. 3 Johnson. how we are shent -] Shent is brought to destruction. Johnson. Shent does not mean brought to destruction, but shamed, disgraced, made ashamed of himself. See the old ballad of The Heir of Linne, in the second volume of Reliques of ancient English Poetry : |