Lart.

Worthy sir, thou bleed'st;

Thy exercise hath been too violent for
A second course of fight.

Mar.

Sir, praise me not:

My work hath yet not warm'd me: Fare you well.
The blood I drop is rather physical

Than dangerous to me: To Aufidius thus

I will appear, and fight.

Lart.
Now the fair goddess, Fortune,7
Fall deep in love with thee; and her great charms
Misguide thy opposers' swords! Bold gentleman,
Prosperity be thy page!

Mar.
Thy friend no less
Than those she placeth highest! So, farewel.
Lart. Thou worthiest Marcius!-
Go, sound thy trumpet in the market-place;
Call thither all the officers of the town,
Where they shall know our mind: Away.

SCENE VI.

Near the Camp of Cominius.

[Exit MAR.

Enter COMINIUS and Forces, retreating.

[Exeunt.

Com. Breathe you, my friends; well fought: we are

come off

Like Romans, neither foolish in our stands,
Nor cowardly in retire: believe me, sirs,

We shall be charg'd again. Whiles we have struck,
By interims, and conveying gusts, we have heard
The charges of our friends:-The Roman gods,
Lead their successes as we wish our own;8

That both our powers, with smiling fronts encountering,

7 Than dangerous to me: To Aufidius thus

I will appear, and fight.

Lart. Now the fair goddess, Fortune,] The metre being here violated, I think we might safely read with Sir T. Hanmer (omitting the words-to me:)

Than dangerous: To Aufidius thus will I
Appear, and fight.

Now the fair goddess, Fortune

The Roman gods,

-.

Steevens.

Lead their successes as we wish our own;]i. e. May the Roman

gods, &c. Malone.

Enter a Messenger.

May give you thankful sacrifice!-Thy news?
Mess. The citizens of Corioli have issued,
And given to Lartius and to Marcius battle:
I saw our party to their trenches driven,
And then I came away.

Com, Though thou speak'st truth, Methinks, thou speak'st not well. How long is 't since? Mess. Above an hour, my lord.

Com. 'Tis not a mile; briefly we heard their drums: How could'st thou in a mile confound an hour,9

And bring thy news so late?

Spies of the Volces

Mess.
Held me in chase, that I was forc'd to wheel
Three or four miles about; else had I, sir,
Half an hour since brought my report.

Com.

Enter MARCIUS.

Who's yonder,

That does appear as he were flay'd? O gods!
He has the stamp of Marcius; and I have
Before-time seen him thus.

Mar.

Come I too late?

Com. The shepherd knows not thunder from a tabor, More than I know the sound of Marcius' tongue From every meaner man's.1

9 confound an hour,] Confound is here used not in its common acceptation, but in the sense of to expend. Conterere tempus. Malone.

So, in King Henry IV, P. I, Act I, sc. iii:

"He did confound the best part of an hour," &c. Steevens. 1 From every meaner man's.] [Old copy-meaner man.] That is, from that of every meaner man. This kind of phraseology is found in many places in these plays; and as the peculiarities of our author, or rather the language of his age, ought to be scrupulously attended to, Hanmer and the subsequent editors who read here every meaner man's, ought not in my apprehension to be followed, though we should now write so. Malone.

When I am certified that this, and many corresponding offences against grammar, were common to the writers of our author's age, I shall not persevere in correcting them. But while I suspect (as in the present instance) that such irregularities were the gibberish of a theatre, or the blunders of a transcriber, I shall forbear to set nonsense before my readers; especially when it can be avoided by the insertion of a single letter, which indeed might have dropped out at the press. Steevens.

Come I too late?

Mar.

Com. Ay, if you come not in the blood of others,
But mantled in your own.

Mar.
O! let me clip you
In arms as sound, as when I woo'd; in heart
As merry, as when our nuptial day was done,
And tapers burn'd to bedward.2

Con.

How is 't with Titus Lartius?

Flower of warriors,

Mar. As with a man busied about decrees: Condemning some to death, and some to exile; Ransoming him, or pitying,3 threat'ning the other; Holding Corioli in the name of Rome,

Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash,

To let him slip at will.

Com.

Where is that slave,

Which told me they had beat you to your trenches?
Where is he? Call him hither.

Let him alone,

Mar.
He did inform the truth: But for our gentlemen,
The common file, (A plague!-Tribunes for them!)
The mouse ne'er shunn'd the cat, as they did budge
From rascals worse than they.

Com.

But how prevail'd you?

Mar. Will the time serve to tell? I do not thinkWhere is the enemy? Are you lords o' the field?

If not, why cease you till you are so?

Com.

Marcius,

We have at disadvantage fought, and did
Retire, to win our purpose.

Mar. How lies their battle? Know you on which side* They have plac'd their men of trust?

2 to bedward.] So, in Albumazar, 1615:

"Sweats hourly for a dry brown crust to bedward.” Steevens.

3 Ransoming him, or pitying,] i. e. remitting his ransom.

Johnson

4 on which side &c.] So, in the old translation of Plutarch: "Martius asked him howe the order of the enemies battell was, and on which side they had placed their best fighting men. The consul made him auns wer that he thought the bandes which were in the vaward of their battell, were those of the Antiates, whom they esteemed to be the warlikest men, and which for valiant corage would geve no place to any of the hoste of their enemies. Then prayed Martius to be set directly against them. The consul graunted him, greatly praysing his corage" Steevens.

As I guess, Marcius,

Com.
Their bands i' the vaward are the Antiates,5
Of their best trust: o'er them Aufidius,
Their very heart of hope.6

Mar.

I do beseech you,

By all the battles wherein we have fought,

By the blood we have shed together, by the vows
We have made to endure friends, that you directly
Set me against Aufidius, and his Antiates:
And that you not delay the present; but,

Filling the air with swords advanc'd, and darts,
We prove this very hour.

Com.

Though I could wish
You were conducted to a gentle bath,

And balms applied to you, yet dare I never
Deny your asking; take your choice of those..

That best can aid your action.

Mar.

Those are they
That most are willing:-If any such be here,
(As it were sin to doubt) that love this painting
Wherein you see me smear'd; if any fear
Lesser his person than an ill report;9

5 ▪ Antiates,] The old copy reads-Antients, which might mean veterans; but a following line, as well as the previous quotation, seems to prove-Antiates to be the proper reading: "Set me against Aufidius and his Antiates."

Our author employs-Antiates as a trisyllable, as if it had been written-Antiats. Steevens.

Mr. Pope made the correction. Malone.

Their very heart of hope.] The same expression is found in Marlowe's Lust's Dominion:

"Hath almost thrust quite through the heart of hope."

In King Henry IV, P. I, we have:

"The very bottom and the soul of hope." Steevens.

7 And that you not delay the present;] Delay, for let slip.

Malone.

Warburton.

8 -swords advanc'd.] That is, swords lifted high. Johnson.

9

if any fear

Lesser his person than an ill report;] The old copy has lessen. If the present reading, which was introduced by Mr. Steevens, be right, his person must mean his personal danger.—If any one less fears personal danger, than an ill name, &c. If the fears of any man are less for his person, than they are from an apprehension of being esteemed a coward, &c. We have nearly the same sentiment in Troilus and Cressida:

If any think, brave death outweighs bad life,
And that his country's dearer than himself;
Let him, alone, or so many, so minded,

Wave thus, [waving his hand] to express his disposition, And follow Marcius. [They all shout, and wave their swords; take him up in their arms, and cast up their Caps.

O me, alone! Make you a sword of me?
If these shows be not outward, which of you
But is four Volces? None of you, but is
Able to bear against the great Aufidius
A shield as hard as his. A certain number,
Though thanks to all, must I select: the rest
Shall bear the business in some other fight,
As cause will be obey'd. Please you to march;
And four shall quickly draw out my command,
Which men are best inclin'd.2

Com.

March on, my fellows:

"If there be one among the fair'st of Greece,
"That holds his honour higher than his ease,

Again, in King Henry VI, P. III:

-.

"But thou prefer'st thy life before thine honour." In this play we have already had lesser used for less. Malone. 1 Though thanks to all, I must select: the rest

Shall bear &c.] The old copy-I must select from all. I have followed Sir Thomas Hanmer in the omission of words apparently needless and redundant. Steevens.

2

·Please you to march;

And four shall quickly draw out my command,

Which men are best inclin'd.] I cannot but suspect this passage of corruption. Why should they march, that four might select those that were best inclin'd? How would their inclinations be known? Who were the four that should select them? Perhaps we may read:

Please you to march:

And fear shall quickly draw out my command,

Which men are least inclin'd.

It is easy to conceive that, by a little negligence, fear might be changed to four, and least to best. Let us march, and that fear which incites desertion will free my army from cowards.

Mr. Heath thinks the poet wrote:

Johnson.

"And so I shall quickly draw out," &c. Some sense, however, may be extorted from the ancient read. ing. Coriolanus may mean, that as all the soldiers have offered to attend him on this expedition, and he wants only a part of them, he will submit the selection to four indifferent persons,