The Tragedy of Coriolanus (role extract)

The Tragedy of Coriolanus

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Menenius complete text

Menenius. What work's, my countrymen, in hand? where go you	1.1.43
With bats and clubs? The matter? speak, I pray you.	1.1.44
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Menenius. Why, masters, my good friends, mine honest neighbours,	1.1.50
Will you undo yourselves?	1.1.51
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Menenius. I tell you, friends, most charitable care	1.1.53
Have the patricians of you. For your wants,	1.1.54
Your suffering in this dearth, you may as well	1.1.55
Strike at the heaven with your staves as lift them	1.1.56
Against the Roman state, whose course will on	1.1.57
The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs	1.1.58
Of more strong link asunder than can ever	1.1.59
Appear in your impediment. For the dearth,	1.1.60
The gods, not the patricians, make it, and	1.1.61
Your knees to them, not arms, must help. Alack,	1.1.62
You are transported by calamity	1.1.63
Thither where more attends you, and you slander	1.1.64
The helms o' the state, who care for you like fathers,	1.1.65
When you curse them as enemies.	1.1.66
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Menenius. Either you must	1.1.75
Confess yourselves wondrous malicious,	1.1.76
Or be accused of folly. I shall tell you	1.1.77
A pretty tale: it may be you have heard it;	1.1.78
But, since it serves my purpose, I will venture	1.1.79
To stale 't a little more.	1.1.80
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Menenius. There was a time when all the body's members	1.1.84
Rebell'd against the belly, thus accused it:	1.1.85
That only like a gulf it did remain	1.1.86
I' the midst o' the body, idle and unactive,	1.1.87
Still cupboarding the viand, never bearing	1.1.88
Like labour with the rest, where the other instruments	1.1.89
Did see and hear, devise, instruct, walk, feel,	1.1.90
And, mutually participate, did minister	1.1.91
Unto the appetite and affection common	1.1.92
Of the whole body. The belly answer'd--	1.1.93
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Menenius. Sir, I shall tell you. With a kind of smile,	1.1.95
Which ne'er came from the lungs, but even thus--	1.1.96
For, look you, I may make the belly smile	1.1.97
As well as speak--it tauntingly replied	1.1.98
To the discontented members, the mutinous parts	1.1.99
That envied his receipt; even so most fitly	1.1.100
As you malign our senators for that	1.1.101
They are not such as you.	1.1.102
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Menenius. What then?	1.1.109
'Fore me, this fellow speaks! What then? what then?	1.1.110
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Menenius. Well, what then?	1.1.113
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Menenius. I will tell you	1.1.116
If you'll bestow a small--of what you have little--	1.1.117
Patience awhile, you'll hear the belly's answer.	1.1.118
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Menenius. Note me this, good friend;	1.1.120
Your most grave belly was deliberate,	1.1.121
Not rash like his accusers, and thus answer'd:	1.1.122
'True is it, my incorporate friends,' quoth he,	1.1.123
'That I receive the general food at first,	1.1.124
Which you do live upon; and fit it is,	1.1.125
Because I am the store-house and the shop	1.1.126
Of the whole body: but, if you do remember,	1.1.127
I send it through the rivers of your blood,	1.1.128
Even to the court, the heart, to the seat o' the brain;	1.1.129
And, through the cranks and offices of man,	1.1.130
The strongest nerves and small inferior veins	1.1.131
From me receive that natural competency	1.1.132
Whereby they live: and though that all at once,	1.1.133
You, my good friends,'--this says the belly, mark me,--	1.1.134
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Menenius. 'Though all at once cannot	1.1.136
See what I do deliver out to each,	1.1.137
Yet I can make my audit up, that all	1.1.138
From me do back receive the flour of all,	1.1.139
And leave me but the bran.' What say you to't?	1.1.140
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Menenius. The senators of Rome are this good belly,	1.1.142
And you the mutinous members; for examine	1.1.143
Their counsels and their cares, digest things rightly	1.1.144
Touching the weal o' the common, you shall find	1.1.145
No public benefit which you receive	1.1.146
But it proceeds or comes from them to you	1.1.147
And no way from yourselves. What do you think,	1.1.148
You, the great toe of this assembly?	1.1.149
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Menenius. For that, being one o' the lowest, basest, poorest,	1.1.151
Of this most wise rebellion, thou go'st foremost:	1.1.152
Thou rascal, that art worst in blood to run,	1.1.153
Lead'st first to win some vantage.	1.1.154
But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs:	1.1.155
Rome and her rats are at the point of battle;	1.1.156
The one side must have bale.	1.1.157
Enter CAIUS MARCIUS
Hail, noble Marcius!	1.1.158
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Menenius. For corn at their own rates; whereof, they say,	1.1.186
The city is well stored.	1.1.187
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Menenius. Nay, these are almost thoroughly persuaded;	1.1.201
For though abundantly they lack discretion,	1.1.202
Yet are they passing cowardly. But, I beseech you,	1.1.203
What says the other troop?	1.1.204
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Menenius. What is granted them?	1.1.216
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Menenius. This is strange.	1.1.224
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Menenius. O, true-bred!	1.1.253
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Menenius. The augurer tells me we shall have news to-night.	2.1.1
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Menenius. Not according to the prayer of the people, for they	2.1.3
love not Marcius.	2.1.4
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Menenius. Pray you, who does the wolf love?	2.1.6
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Menenius. Ay, to devour him; as the hungry plebeians would the	2.1.8
noble Marcius.	2.1.9
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Menenius. He's a bear indeed, that lives like a lamb. You two	2.1.11
are old men: tell me one thing that I shall ask you.	2.1.12
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Menenius. In what enormity is Marcius poor in, that you two	2.1.14
have not in abundance?	2.1.15
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Menenius. This is strange now: do you two know how you are	2.1.19
censured here in the city, I mean of us o' the	2.1.20
right-hand file? do you?	2.1.21
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Menenius. Because you talk of pride now,--will you not be angry?	2.1.23
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Menenius. Why, 'tis no great matter; for a very little thief of	2.1.25
occasion will rob you of a great deal of patience:	2.1.26
give your dispositions the reins, and be angry at	2.1.27
your pleasures; at the least if you take it as a	2.1.28
pleasure to you in being so. You blame Marcius for	2.1.29
being proud?	2.1.30
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Menenius. I know you can do very little alone; for your helps	2.1.32
are many, or else your actions would grow wondrous	2.1.33
single: your abilities are too infant-like for	2.1.34
doing much alone. You talk of pride: O that you	2.1.35
could turn your eyes toward the napes of your necks,	2.1.36
and make but an interior survey of your good selves!	2.1.37
O that you could!	2.1.38
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Menenius. Why, then you should discover a brace of unmeriting,	2.1.40
proud, violent, testy magistrates, alias fools, as	2.1.41
any in Rome.	2.1.42
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Menenius. I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one that	2.1.44
loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying	2.1.45
Tiber in't; said to be something imperfect in	2.1.46
favouring the first complaint; hasty and tinder-like	2.1.47
upon too trivial motion; one that converses more	2.1.48
with the buttock of the night than with the forehead	2.1.49
of the morning: what I think I utter, and spend my	2.1.50
malice in my breath. Meeting two such wealsmen as	2.1.51
you are--I cannot call you Lycurguses--if the drink	2.1.52
you give me touch my palate adversely, I make a	2.1.53
crooked face at it. I can't say your worships have	2.1.54
delivered the matter well, when I find the ass in	2.1.55
compound with the major part of your syllables: and	2.1.56
though I must be content to bear with those that say	2.1.57
you are reverend grave men, yet they lie deadly that	2.1.58
tell you you have good faces. If you see this in	2.1.59
the map of my microcosm, follows it that I am known	2.1.60
well enough too? what barm can your bisson	2.1.61
conspectuities glean out of this character, if I be	2.1.62
known well enough too?	2.1.63
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Menenius. You know neither me, yourselves nor any thing. You	2.1.65
are ambitious for poor knaves' caps and legs: you	2.1.66
wear out a good wholesome forenoon in hearing a	2.1.67
cause between an orange wife and a fosset-seller;	2.1.68
and then rejourn the controversy of three pence to a	2.1.69
second day of audience. When you are hearing a	2.1.70
matter between party and party, if you chance to be	2.1.71
pinched with the colic, you make faces like	2.1.72
mummers; set up the bloody flag against all	2.1.73
patience; and, in roaring for a chamber-pot,	2.1.74
dismiss the controversy bleeding the more entangled	2.1.75
by your hearing: all the peace you make in their	2.1.76
cause is, calling both the parties knaves. You are	2.1.77
a pair of strange ones.	2.1.78
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Menenius. Our very priests must become mockers, if they shall	2.1.82
encounter such ridiculous subjects as you are. When	2.1.83
you speak best unto the purpose, it is not worth the	2.1.84
wagging of your beards; and your beards deserve not	2.1.85
so honourable a grave as to stuff a botcher's	2.1.86
cushion, or to be entombed in an ass's pack-	2.1.87
saddle. Yet you must be saying, Marcius is proud;	2.1.88
who in a cheap estimation, is worth predecessors	2.1.89
since Deucalion, though peradventure some of the	2.1.90
best of 'em were hereditary hangmen. God-den to	2.1.91
your worships: more of your conversation would	2.1.92
infect my brain, being the herdsmen of the beastly	2.1.93
plebeians: I will be bold to take my leave of you.	2.1.94
BRUTUS and SICINIUS go aside
Enter VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA, and VALERIA
How now, my as fair as noble ladies,--and the moon,	2.1.95
were she earthly, no nobler,--whither do you follow	2.1.96
your eyes so fast?	2.1.97
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Menenius. Ha! Marcius coming home!	2.1.100
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Menenius. Take my cap, Jupiter, and I thank thee. Hoo!	2.1.103
Marcius coming home!	2.1.104
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Menenius. I will make my very house reel tonight: a letter for	2.1.109
me!	2.1.110
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Menenius. A letter for me! it gives me an estate of seven	2.1.112
years' health; in which time I will make a lip at	2.1.113
the physician: the most sovereign prescription in	2.1.114
Galen is but empiricutic, and, to this preservative,	2.1.115
of no better report than a horse-drench. Is he	2.1.116
not wounded? he was wont to come home wounded.	2.1.117
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Menenius. So do I too, if it be not too much: brings a'	2.1.120
victory in his pocket? the wounds become him.	2.1.121
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Menenius. Has he disciplined Aufidius soundly?	2.1.124
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Menenius. And 'twas time for him too, I'll warrant him that:	2.1.127
an he had stayed by him, I would not have been so	2.1.128
fidiused for all the chests in Corioli, and the gold	2.1.129
that's in them. Is the senate possessed of this?	2.1.130
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Menenius. Wondrous! ay, I warrant you, and not without his	2.1.136
true purchasing.	2.1.137
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Menenius. True! I'll be sworn they are true.	2.1.140
Where is he wounded?	2.1.141
To the Tribunes
God save your good worships! Marcius is coming	2.1.142
home: he has more cause to be proud. Where is he wounded?	2.1.143
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Menenius. One i' the neck, and two i' the thigh,--there's	2.1.148
nine that I know.	2.1.149
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Menenius. Now it's twenty-seven: every gash was an enemy's grave.	2.1.152
A shout and flourish
Hark! the trumpets.	2.1.153
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Menenius Now, the gods crown thee!	2.1.180
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Menenius. A hundred thousand welcomes. I could weep	2.1.185
And I could laugh, I am light and heavy. Welcome.	2.1.186
A curse begin at very root on's heart,	2.1.187
That is not glad to see thee! You are three	2.1.188
That Rome should dote on: yet, by the faith of men,	2.1.189
We have some old crab-trees here	2.1.190
at home that will not	2.1.191
Be grafted to your relish. Yet welcome, warriors:	2.1.192
We call a nettle but a nettle and	2.1.193
The faults of fools but folly.	2.1.194
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Menenius. Having determined of the Volsces and	2.2.37
To send for Titus Lartius, it remains,	2.2.38
As the main point of this our after-meeting,	2.2.39
To gratify his noble service that	2.2.40
Hath thus stood for his country: therefore,	2.2.41
please you,	2.2.42
Most reverend and grave elders, to desire	2.2.43
The present consul, and last general	2.2.44
In our well-found successes, to report	2.2.45
A little of that worthy work perform'd	2.2.46
By Caius Marcius Coriolanus, whom	2.2.47
We met here both to thank and to remember	2.2.48
With honours like himself.	2.2.49
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Menenius. That's off, that's off;	2.2.66
I would you rather had been silent. Please you	2.2.67
To hear Cominius speak?	2.2.68
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Menenius. He loves your people	2.2.72
But tie him not to be their bedfellow.	2.2.73
Worthy Cominius, speak.	2.2.74
CORIOLANUS offers to go away
Nay, keep your place.	2.2.75
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Menenius. Pray now, sit down.	2.2.88
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Menenius. Masters of the people,	2.2.92
Your multiplying spawn how can he flatter--	2.2.93
That's thousand to one good one--when you now see	2.2.94
He had rather venture all his limbs for honour	2.2.95
Than one on's ears to hear it? Proceed, Cominius.	2.2.96
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Menenius. Worthy man!	2.2.138
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Menenius. He's right noble:	2.2.147
Let him be call'd for.	2.2.148
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Menenius. The senate, Coriolanus, are well pleased	2.2.151
To make thee consul.	2.2.152
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Menenius. It then remains	2.2.155
That you do speak to the people.	2.2.156
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Menenius. Put them not to't:	2.2.165
Pray you, go fit you to the custom and	2.2.166
Take to you, as your predecessors have,	2.2.167
Your honour with your form.	2.2.168
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Menenius. Do not stand upon't.	2.2.177
We recommend to you, tribunes of the people,	2.2.178
Our purpose to them: and to our noble consul	2.2.179
Wish we all joy and honour.	2.2.180
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Menenius. O sir, you are not right: have you not known	2.3.46
The worthiest men have done't?	2.3.47
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Menenius. O me, the gods!	2.3.54
You must not speak of that: you must desire them	2.3.55
To think upon you.	2.3.56
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Menenius. You'll mar all:	2.3.60
I'll leave you: pray you, speak to 'em, I pray you,	2.3.61
In wholesome manner.	2.3.62
Exit
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Menenius. You have stood your limitation; and the tribunes	2.3.138
Endue you with the people's voice: remains	2.3.139
That, in the official marks invested, you	2.3.140
Anon do meet the senate.	2.3.141
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Menenius. I'll keep you company. Will you along?	2.3.152
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Menenius. The matter?	3.1.34
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Menenius. Be calm, be calm.	3.1.48
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Menenius. Let's be calm.	3.1.74
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Menenius. Not now, not now.	3.1.81
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Menenius. Well, no more.	3.1.95
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Menenius. What, what? his choler?	3.1.108
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Menenius. Well, well, no more of that.	3.1.146
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Menenius. Come, enough.	3.1.173
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Menenius. On both sides more respect.	3.1.224
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Menenius. What is about to be? I am out of breath;	3.1.232
Confusion's near; I cannot speak. You, tribunes	3.1.233
To the people! Coriolanus, patience!	3.1.234
Speak, good Sicinius.	3.1.235
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Menenius. Fie, fie, fie!	3.1.241
This is the way to kindle, not to quench.	3.1.242
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Menenius. And so are like to do.	3.1.250
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Menenius. Hear me one word;	3.1.266
Beseech you, tribunes, hear me but a word.	3.1.267
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Menenius. [To BRUTUS] Be that you seem, truly your	3.1.269
country's friend,	3.1.270
And temperately proceed to what you would	3.1.271
Thus violently redress.	3.1.272
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Menenius. Down with that sword! Tribunes, withdraw awhile.	3.1.280
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Menenius. Go, get you to your house; be gone, away!	3.1.285
All will be naught else.	3.1.286
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Menenius. Sham it be put to that?	3.1.290
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Menenius. For 'tis a sore upon us,	3.1.294
You cannot tent yourself: be gone, beseech you.	3.1.295
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Menenius. Be gone;	3.1.300
Put not your worthy rage into your tongue;	3.1.301
One time will owe another.	3.1.302
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Menenius. Pray you, be gone:	3.1.314
I'll try whether my old wit be in request	3.1.315
With those that have but little: this must be patch'd	3.1.316
With cloth of any colour.	3.1.317
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Menenius. His nature is too noble for the world:	3.1.320
He would not flatter Neptune for his trident,	3.1.321
Or Jove for's power to thunder. His heart's his mouth:	3.1.322
What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent;	3.1.323
And, being angry, does forget that ever	3.1.324
He heard the name of death.	3.1.325
A noise within
Here's goodly work!	3.1.326
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Menenius. I would they were in Tiber! What the vengeance!	3.1.328
Could he not speak 'em fair?	3.1.329
Re-enter BRUTUS and SICINIUS, with the rabble
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Menenius. You worthy tribunes,--	3.1.333
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Menenius. Sir, sir,--	3.1.343
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Menenius. Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt	3.1.345
With modest warrant.	3.1.346
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Menenius. Hear me speak:	3.1.349
As I do know the consul's worthiness,	3.1.350
So can I name his faults,--	3.1.351
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Menenius. The consul Coriolanus.	3.1.353
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Menenius. If, by the tribunes' leave, and yours, good people,	3.1.356
I may be heard, I would crave a word or two;	3.1.357
The which shall turn you to no further harm	3.1.358
Than so much loss of time.	3.1.359
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Menenius. Now the good gods forbid	3.1.366
That our renowned Rome, whose gratitude	3.1.367
Towards her deserved children is enroll'd	3.1.368
In Jove's own book, like an unnatural dam	3.1.369
Should now eat up her own!	3.1.370
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Menenius. O, he's a limb that has but a disease;	3.1.372
Mortal, to cut it off; to cure it, easy.	3.1.373
What has he done to Rome that's worthy death?	3.1.374
Killing our enemies, the blood he hath lost--	3.1.375
Which, I dare vouch, is more than that he hath,	3.1.376
By many an ounce--he dropp'd it for his country;	3.1.377
And what is left, to lose it by his country,	3.1.378
Were to us all, that do't and suffer it,	3.1.379
A brand to the end o' the world.	3.1.380
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Menenius. The service of the foot	3.1.384
Being once gangrened, is not then respected	3.1.385
For what before it was.	3.1.386
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Menenius. One word more, one word.	3.1.391
This tiger-footed rage, when it shall find	3.1.392
The harm of unscann'd swiftness, will too late	3.1.393
Tie leaden pounds to's heels. Proceed by process;	3.1.394
Lest parties, as he is beloved, break out,	3.1.395
And sack great Rome with Romans.	3.1.396
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Menenius. Consider this: he has been bred i' the wars	3.1.401
Since he could draw a sword, and is ill school'd	3.1.402
In bolted language; meal and bran together	3.1.403
He throws without distinction. Give me leave,	3.1.404
I'll go to him, and undertake to bring him	3.1.405
Where he shall answer, by a lawful form,	3.1.406
In peace, to his utmost peril.	3.1.407
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Menenius. I'll bring him to you.	3.1.419
To the Senators
Let me desire your company: he must come,	3.1.420
Or what is worst will follow.	3.1.421
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Menenius. Come, come, you have been too rough, something	3.2.30
too rough;	3.2.31
You must return and mend it.	3.2.32
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Menenius. Well said, noble woman?	3.2.40
Before he should thus stoop to the herd, but that	3.2.41
The violent fit o' the time craves it as physic	3.2.42
For the whole state, I would put mine armour on,	3.2.43
Which I can scarcely bear.	3.2.44
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Menenius. Return to the tribunes.	3.2.46
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Menenius. Repent what you have spoke.	3.2.48
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Menenius. A good demand.	3.2.59
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Menenius. Noble lady!	3.2.85
Come, go with us; speak fair: you may salve so,	3.2.86
Not what is dangerous present, but the loss	3.2.87
Of what is past.	3.2.88
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Menenius. This but done,	3.2.104
Even as she speaks, why, their hearts were yours;	3.2.105
For they have pardons, being ask'd, as free	3.2.106
As words to little purpose.	3.2.107
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Menenius. Only fair speech.	3.2.115
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Menenius. Ay, but mildly.	3.2.171
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Menenius. Calmly, I do beseech you.	3.3.40
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Menenius. A noble wish.	3.3.48
Re-enter AEdile, with Citizens
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Menenius. Lo, citizens, he says he is content:	3.3.61
The warlike service he has done, consider; think	3.3.62
Upon the wounds his body bears, which show	3.3.63
Like graves i' the holy churchyard.	3.3.64
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Menenius. Consider further,	3.3.67
That when he speaks not like a citizen,	3.3.68
You find him like a soldier: do not take	3.3.69
His rougher accents for malicious sounds,	3.3.70
But, as I say, such as become a soldier,	3.3.71
Rather than envy you.	3.3.72
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Menenius. Nay, temperately; your promise.	3.3.85
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Menenius. Is this the promise that you made your mother?	3.3.108
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Menenius. That's worthily	4.1.59
As any ear can hear. Come, let's not weep.	4.1.60
If I could shake off but one seven years	4.1.61
From these old arms and legs, by the good gods,	4.1.62
I'ld with thee every foot.	4.1.63
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Menenius. Peace, peace; be not so loud.	4.2.18
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Menenius. Come, come, peace.	4.2.40
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Menenius. You have told them home;	4.2.64
And, by my troth, you have cause. You'll sup with me?	4.2.65
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Menenius. Fie, fie, fie!	4.2.70
Exeunt
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Menenius. Hail to you both!	4.6.14
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Menenius. All's well; and might have been much better, if	4.6.19
He could have temporized.	4.6.20
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Menenius. Nay, I hear nothing: his mother and his wife	4.6.22
Hear nothing from him.	4.6.23
Enter three or four Citizens
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Menenius. I think not so.	4.6.43
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Menenius. 'Tis Aufidius,	4.6.54
Who, hearing of our Marcius' banishment,	4.6.55
Thrusts forth his horns again into the world;	4.6.56
Which were inshell'd when Marcius stood for Rome,	4.6.57
And durst not once peep out.	4.6.58
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Menenius. Cannot be!	4.6.63
We have record that very well it can,	4.6.64
And three examples of the like have been	4.6.65
Within my age. But reason with the fellow,	4.6.66
Before you punish him, where he heard this,	4.6.67
Lest you shall chance to whip your information	4.6.68
And beat the messenger who bids beware	4.6.69
Of what is to be dreaded.	4.6.70
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Menenius. This is unlikely:	4.6.93
He and Aufidius can no more atone	4.6.94
Than violentest contrariety.	4.6.95
Enter a second Messenger
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Menenius. What news? what news?	4.6.103
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Menenius. What's the news? what's the news?	4.6.107
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Menenius. Pray now, your news?	4.6.111
You have made fair work, I fear me.--Pray, your news?--	4.6.112
If Marcius should be join'd with Volscians,--	4.6.113
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Menenius. You have made good work,	4.6.121
You and your apron-men; you that stood so up much	4.6.122
on the voice of occupation and	4.6.123
The breath of garlic-eaters!	4.6.124
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Menenius. As Hercules	4.6.127
Did shake down mellow fruit.	4.6.128
You have made fair work!	4.6.129
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Menenius. We are all undone, unless	4.6.137
The noble man have mercy.	4.6.138
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Menenius. 'Tis true:	4.6.146
If he were putting to my house the brand	4.6.147
That should consume it, I have not the face	4.6.148
To say 'Beseech you, cease.' You have made fair hands,	4.6.149
You and your crafts! you have crafted fair!	4.6.150
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Menenius. How! Was it we? we loved him but, like beasts	4.6.155
And cowardly nobles, gave way unto your clusters,	4.6.156
Who did hoot him out o' the city.	4.6.157
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Menenius. Here come the clusters.	4.6.164
And is Aufidius with him? You are they	4.6.165
That made the air unwholesome, when you cast	4.6.166
Your stinking greasy caps in hooting at	4.6.167
Coriolanus' exile. Now he's coming;	4.6.168
And not a hair upon a soldier's head	4.6.169
Which will not prove a whip: as many coxcombs	4.6.170
As you threw caps up will he tumble down,	4.6.171
And pay you for your voices. 'Tis no matter;	4.6.172
if he could burn us all into one coal,	4.6.173
We have deserved it.	4.6.174
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Menenius. You have made	4.6.184
Good work, you and your cry! Shall's to the Capitol?	4.6.185
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Menenius. No, I'll not go: you hear what he hath said	5.1.1
Which was sometime his general; who loved him	5.1.2
In a most dear particular. He call'd me father:	5.1.3
But what o' that? Go, you that banish'd him;	5.1.4
A mile before his tent fall down, and knee	5.1.5
The way into his mercy: nay, if he coy'd	5.1.6
To hear Cominius speak, I'll keep at home.	5.1.7
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Menenius. Do you hear?	5.1.9
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Menenius. Why, so: you have made good work!	5.1.17
A pair of tribunes that have rack'd for Rome,	5.1.18
To make coals cheap,--a noble memory!	5.1.19
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Menenius. Very well:	5.1.24
Could he say less?	5.1.25
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Menenius. For one poor grain or two!	5.1.32
I am one of those; his mother, wife, his child,	5.1.33
And this brave fellow too, we are the grains:	5.1.34
You are the musty chaff; and you are smelt	5.1.35
Above the moon: we must be burnt for you.	5.1.36
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Menenius. No, I'll not meddle.	5.1.43
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Menenius. What should I do?	5.1.45
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Menenius. Well, and say that Marcius	5.1.48
Return me, as Cominius is return'd,	5.1.49
Unheard; what then?	5.1.50
But as a discontented friend, grief-shot	5.1.51
With his unkindness? say't be so?	5.1.52
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Menenius. I'll undertake 't:	5.1.56
I think he'll hear me. Yet, to bite his lip	5.1.57
And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me.	5.1.58
He was not taken well; he had not dined:	5.1.59
The veins unfill'd, our blood is cold, and then	5.1.60
We pout upon the morning, are unapt	5.1.61
To give or to forgive; but when we have stuff'd	5.1.62
These and these conveyances of our blood	5.1.63
With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls	5.1.64
Than in our priest-like fasts: therefore I'll watch him	5.1.65
Till he be dieted to my request,	5.1.66
And then I'll set upon him.	5.1.67
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Menenius. Good faith, I'll prove him,	5.1.70
Speed how it will. I shall ere long have knowledge	5.1.71
Of my success.	5.1.72
Exit
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Menenius. You guard like men; 'tis well: but, by your leave,	5.2.3
I am an officer of state, and come	5.2.4
To speak with Coriolanus.	5.2.5
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Menenius. From Rome.	5.2.7
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Menenius. Good my friends,	5.2.12
If you have heard your general talk of Rome,	5.2.13
And of his friends there, it is lots to blanks,	5.2.14
My name hath touch'd your ears it is Menenius.	5.2.15
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Menenius. I tell thee, fellow,	5.2.18
The general is my lover: I have been	5.2.19
The book of his good acts, whence men have read	5.2.20
His name unparallel'd, haply amplified;	5.2.21
For I have ever verified my friends,	5.2.22
Of whom he's chief, with all the size that verity	5.2.23
Would without lapsing suffer: nay, sometimes,	5.2.24
Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground,	5.2.25
I have tumbled past the throw; and in his praise	5.2.26
Have almost stamp'd the leasing: therefore, fellow,	5.2.27
I must have leave to pass.	5.2.28
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Menenius. Prithee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius,	5.2.33
always factionary on the party of your general.	5.2.34
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Menenius. Has he dined, canst thou tell? for I would not	5.2.38
speak with him till after dinner.	5.2.39
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Menenius. I am, as thy general is.	5.2.41
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Menenius. Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here, he would	5.2.55
use me with estimation.	5.2.56
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Menenius. I mean, thy general.	5.2.58
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Menenius. Nay, but, fellow, fellow,--	5.2.62
Enter CORIOLANUS and AUFIDIUS
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Menenius. Now, you companion, I'll say an errand for you:	5.2.64
You shall know now that I am in estimation; you shall	5.2.65
perceive that a Jack guardant cannot office me from	5.2.66
my son Coriolanus: guess, but by my entertainment	5.2.67
with him, if thou standest not i' the state of	5.2.68
hanging, or of some death more long in	5.2.69
spectatorship, and crueller in suffering; behold now	5.2.70
presently, and swoon for what's to come upon thee.	5.2.71
To CORIOLANUS
The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy	5.2.72
particular prosperity, and love thee no worse than	5.2.73
thy old father Menenius does! O my son, my son!	5.2.74
thou art preparing fire for us; look thee, here's	5.2.75
water to quench it. I was hardly moved to come to	5.2.76
thee; but being assured none but myself could move	5.2.77
thee, I have been blown out of your gates with	5.2.78
sighs; and conjure thee to pardon Rome, and thy	5.2.79
petitionary countrymen. The good gods assuage thy	5.2.80
wrath, and turn the dregs of it upon this varlet	5.2.81
here,--this, who, like a block, hath denied my	5.2.82
access to thee.	5.2.83
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Menenius. How! away!	5.2.85
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Menenius. I neither care for the world nor your general: for	5.2.105
such things as you, I can scarce think there's any,	5.2.106
ye're so slight. He that hath a will to die by	5.2.107
himself fears it not from another: let your general	5.2.108
do his worst. For you, be that you are, long; and	5.2.109
your misery increase with your age! I say to you,	5.2.110
as I was said to, Away!	5.2.111
Exit
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Menenius. See you yond coign o' the Capitol, yond	5.4.1
corner-stone?	5.4.2
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Menenius. If it be possible for you to displace it with your	5.4.4
little finger, there is some hope the ladies of	5.4.5
Rome, especially his mother, may prevail with him.	5.4.6
But I say there is no hope in't: our throats are	5.4.7
sentenced and stay upon execution.	5.4.8
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Menenius. There is differency between a grub and a butterfly;	5.4.11
yet your butterfly was a grub. This Marcius is grown	5.4.12
from man to dragon: he has wings; he's more than a	5.4.13
creeping thing.	5.4.14
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Menenius. So did he me: and he no more remembers his mother	5.4.16
now than an eight-year-old horse. The tartness	5.4.17
of his face sours ripe grapes: when he walks, he	5.4.18
moves like an engine, and the ground shrinks before	5.4.19
his treading: he is able to pierce a corslet with	5.4.20
his eye; talks like a knell, and his hum is a	5.4.21
battery. He sits in his state, as a thing made for	5.4.22
Alexander. What he bids be done is finished with	5.4.23
his bidding. He wants nothing of a god but eternity	5.4.24
and a heaven to throne in.	5.4.25
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Menenius. I paint him in the character. Mark what mercy his	5.4.27
mother shall bring from him: there is no more mercy	5.4.28
in him than there is milk in a male tiger; that	5.4.29
shall our poor city find: and all this is long of	5.4.30
you.	5.4.31
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Menenius. No, in such a case the gods will not be good unto	5.4.33
us. When we banished him, we respected not them;	5.4.34
and, he returning to break our necks, they respect not us.	5.4.35
Enter a Messenger
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Menenius. This is good news:	5.4.55
I will go meet the ladies. This Volumnia	5.4.56
Is worth of consuls, senators, patricians,	5.4.57
A city full; of tribunes, such as you,	5.4.58
A sea and land full. You have pray'd well to-day:	5.4.59
This morning for ten thousand of your throats	5.4.60
I'd not have given a doit. Hark, how they joy!	5.4.61
Music still, with shouts
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