The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded

Men. Well, no more.

First Sen. No more words, we beseech you.

Cor. How, no more: As for my country, I have shed my blood, Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungs Coin words till their decay against those meazels Which we disdain, should tetter us, yet sought The very way to catch them.

Bru. You speak o' the people, As if you were a god to punish, not A man of their infirmity.

Sic. 'T were well We let the people know't.

Men. What, what? his choler.

Cor. Choler!Were I as patient as the midnight sleep, By Jove, 't would be my mind. Sic. It is a mind,That shall remain a poison where it is,Not poison any further. Cor. Shall remain!Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark youHis absolute SHALL? Com. 'Twas from the canon,  O good, but most unwise patricians, why  You grave, but reckless senators, have you thus  Given Hydra here to choose AN OFFICER,That with his peremptory shall – being but The horn and noise o' the monster– wants not spiritTo say, he'll turn your current in a ditch,And make your channel his? If he have power, Then veil your IGNORANCE: – [that let him have it.]  – if none, awake Your dangerous LENITY.

[Mark it well, for it is not, as one may see who looks at it but a little, it is not the lost Roman weal and its danger that fires the passion of this speech. 'Look at this player whether he has not turned his colour, and has tears in his eyes.' 'What's Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba, that he should weep for her? What would he do, had he the motive and the cue for passion that I have.']

– if none, awakeYour dangerous lenity. If you are learned, Be not as common fools; if you are not—

What do you draw this foolish line for, that separates you from the commons? If you are not, there's no nobility. If you are not, what business have you in these chairs of state?

– if you are not,Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians,  If they be senators; and they are no less,  When both your voices blended, the GREATEST TASTE  Most palates theirs. They choose their magistrate;  And such a one as he, who puts his shall, —

[Mark it, his popular shall].

His popular shall, against a graver bench  Than ever frown'd in Greece! By Jove himself,  It makes the consuls base: and my soul aches,  To know, when two authorities are up,

[Neither able to rule].

Neither supreme, how soon confusion May enter twixt the GAP of BOTH, and take The one by the other.

Com. Well, – on to the market place.

Cor. Whoever gave that counsel, to give forth The corn o' the store-house gratis, as 'twas used Sometime in Greece.

[It is not corn, but the property of the state, and its appropriation, we talk of here. Whether the absolute power be in the hands of the people or 'their officer.' There had been a speech made on that subject, which had not met with the approbation of the absolute power then conducting the affairs of this realm; and in its main principle, it is repeated here. 'That was my speech, and I will make it again.' 'Not now, not now. Not in this heat, sir, now.' 'Now, as I live, I will.']

Men. Well, well, no more of that,

Cor. Though there THE PEOPLE had more absolute power, I say they nourished disobedience, fed The ruin of the state.

Bru. Why shall the people give One that speaks thus their voice?

Cor. I'll give my reasons, More worthier than their voices. They know the corn Was not our RECOMPENSE; resting well assured They ne'er did service for it?.. Well, what then? How shall this bosom multiplied, digest; The senate's courtesy? Let deeds express What's like to be their words. We did request it, WE are THE GREATER POLL, and in true fear They gave us our demands. Thus we debase The nature of our seats, and make the rabble Call our cares, fears: which will in time break ope The locks o' the senate, and bring in the crows To peck the eagles.

Mem. Come, enough.

Bru. Enough, with over measure.

Cor. No, take more;What may be sworn by, both divine and human,Seal what I end withal! This double worship, —Where one part does disdain with cause, the other Insult without all reason; where gentry, title, wisdom,Cannot conclude, but by the yea and noOf General Ignorance– it must omitReal necessities, and give way the while To unstable slightness.PURPOSE so barred it follows Nothing is done to purpose: Therefore beseech you, —

[Therefore beseech you].

You that will be less fearful than discreet;That love the fundamental part of state,More than you doubt the change of't —

There was but one man in England then, able to balance this revolutionary proposition so nicely – so curiously; 'that love the fundamental part of state more than you doubt the change of it'; 'You that are less fearful than discreet' – not so fearful as discreet.

that preferA noble life before a long, and wishTo jump a body with a dangerous physicThat's sure of death without it, – at once pluck out The multitudinous tongue; let them not lick  The sweet which is their poison; your dishonour  MANGLES true JUDGMENT, and bereaves THE STATE  Of that INTEGRITY which should become it:  Not having the power to do the good it would,  For the ill which doth control it.

Bru. He has said enough.

[One would think so].

Sic. He has spoken like a traitor, and shall answer As traitors do.

Cor. Thou wretch! despite o'erwhelm thee!What should the people do with these bald tribunes?On whom depending, their obedience fails To the greater bench? In a rebellion,  When what's not meet, but what must be was law  Then were they chosen: in a better hour,  Let what is meet, be said it must be meet,  And throw their power i' the dust.

Bru. MANIFEST TREASON.

Sic. This a Consul? No.

Bru. The Aediles! ho! let him be apprehended.

Sic. Go call the people; [Exit Brutus] in whose name, myself  Attach thee [thee] as a traitorous INNOVATOR,  A FOE to the PUBLIC WEAL. Obey, I charge thee,  And follow to thine answer. Cor. Hence, old goat!Senators and Patricians. We'll surety him. Cor. Hence, rotten thing, or I shall shake thy bonesOut of thy garments.

Sic. Help, ye citizens.

[Re-enter Brutus, with the Aediles, and a rabble of citizens.]

Men. On both sides, more respect.

Sic. There's HE that would Take from you all your power.

Bru. Seize him, Aediles.

Cit. Down with him. Down with him.

[Several speak.]

Second Sen. Weapons! Weapons! Weapons!

[They all bustle about CORIOLANUS.]

Tribunes, patricians: – citizens: – what ho: —Sicinius, Brutus: – Coriolanus: – citizens: —

Cit. Peace! – Peace! – Peace! – stay! – hold! – peace!

Men. What is about to be? I am out of breath: Confusion's near! I cannot speak: you tribunes  To the people. —Coriolanus, patience: —  Speak, good Sicinius.

Sic. Hear me, people; —Peace.

Cit. Let's hear our tribune: – Peace, —Speak, speak, speak.

Sic. You are at point to lose your liberties, Marcius would have all from you; Marcius Whom late you have named for consul.

Men. Fye, fye, fye. That is the way to kindle, not to quench.

Sen. To unbuild the city and to lay all flat.

Sic. What is the city, but the people.

Cit. TRUE,The people are the city. Bru. By the consent of ALL, we were establishedThe people's magistrates.

Cit. You so remain.

Men. And so are like to do.

Cor. That is the way to lay the city flat,To bring the roof to the foundation;And bury all which yet distinctly ranges, In heaps and piles of ruin.

Sic. This deserves death.

Bru. Or let us stand to our authority, Or let us lose it: —

Truly, one hears the Revolutionary voices here. Observing the history which is in all men's lives, 'Figuring the nature of the times deceased, a man may prophesy,' as it would seem, 'with a near aim,' – quite near – 'of the main chance of things, as yet, not come to life, which in their weak beginnings lie intreasured. Such things become the hatch and brood of time,' this Poet says; but art, it seems, anticipates that process. There appears to be more of the future here, than of the times deceased.

Bru. We do here pronounceUpon the part of the people, in whose power We were elected theirs, Marcius is worthyOf present death. Sic. Therefore, lay hold of him;Bear him to the rook Tarpeian, and from thenceInto destruction cast him.

Bru. Ædiles, seize him.

Cit. Yield, Marcius, yield.

Men. Hear me, one word.Beseech you, tribunes, hear me, but a word.

Ædiles. Peace, peace.

Men. Be that you seem, truly your country's friend,

  And temperately proceed to what you would  Thus violently redress.

Bru. Sir, those cold ways

  That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous.  Where the disease is violent. – Lay hands upon him,  And bear him to the rock.

Cor. No: I'll die here. [Drawing his sword.]

  There's some among you have beheld me fighting;  Come try upon yourselves, what you have seen me.

Men. DOWN with THAT SWORD; tribunes, withdraw awhile.

Bru. Lay hands upon him.

Men. Help, help, MARCIUS, help! You that be NOBLE, help him, young and old.

Cit. DOWN WITH HIM! DOWN WITH HIM!

'In this mutiny, the Tribunes, the Ædiles, and the People, are all BEAT IN,' so the stage direction informs us, which appears a little singular, considering there is but one sword drawn, and the victorious faction does not appear to have the advantage in numbers. It is, however, only a temporary success, as the victors seem to be aware.

Men. Go, get you to your houses, be gone away, All will be nought else.

Second Sen. Get you gone.

Cor. Stand fast, We have as many friends as enemies.

Men. Shall it be put to that?

Sen. The gods forbid! I pry'thee noble friend, home to thy house; Leave us to CURE THIS CAUSE.

Men. For 'tis a sore upon us, You cannot tent yourself. Begone, beseech you.

Com. Come, Sir, along with us.

Cor. I would they were barbarians (as they are,  Though in Rome littered) not Romans, (as they are not,  Though calved i' the porch o' the Capitol).

Men. Begone; Put not your worthy rage into your tongue; One time will owe another. [Hear.]

Cor. On fair ground, I could beat forty of them.

Men. I could myself Take up a brace of the best of them; yea, the two tribunes.

Com. But now 'tis odds beyond arithmetic:And MANHOOD is called FOOLERY, when it stands Against a falling fabric. – Will you hence,Before the tag return? whose rage doth rendLike interrupted waters, and o'erbear What they are used to bear. [Change of 'predominance.'] Men. Pray you, begone:  I'll try whether my old wit be in request  With those that have but little; this must be patched  With cloth of any colour.

Com. Nay, come away.

The features of that living impersonation of the heroic faults and virtues which 'the mirror,' that professed to give to 'the very body of the time, its form and pressure,' could not fail to show, are glimmering here constantly in 'this ancient piece,' and often shine out in the more critical passages, with such unmistakeable clearness, as to furnish an effectual diversion for any eye, that should undertake to fathom prematurely the player's intention. For 'the gentleman who wrote the late Shepherd's Calendar' was not the only poet of this time, as it would seem, who found the scope of a double intention, in his poetic representation, not adequate to the comprehension of his design – who laid on another and another still, and found the complexity convenient. 'The sense is the best judge,' this Poet says, in his doctrine of criticism, declining peremptorily to accept of the ancient rules in matters of taste; – a rule in art which requires, of course, a corresponding rule of interpretation. In fact, it is no bad exercise for an ordinary mind, to undertake to track the contriver of these plays, through all the latitudes which his art, as he understands it, gives him. It is as good for that purpose, as a problem in mathematics. But, 'to whom you will not give an hour, you give nothing,' he says, and 'he had as lief not be read at all, as be read by a careless reader.' So he thrusts in his meanings as thick as ever he likes, and those who don't choose to stay and pick them out, are free to lose them. They are not the ones he laid them in for, – that is all. He is not afraid, but that he will have readers enough, ere all is done; and he can afford to wait. There's time enough.

First Pat. This man has marr'd his fortune.

Men. His nature is too noble for the world: He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, Or Jove for his power to thunder. His heart's his mouth; What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent; And being angry, does forget that ever He heard the name of death.

[A noise within.]

Here's goodly work!

Second Pat. I would they were a-bed!

Men. I would they were in Tyber! —What, the vengeance, Could he not speak them fair?

[Re-enter Brutus and Sicinius with the Rabble.]

Sic. WHERE IS THIS VIPER, That would depopulate the city, and BE EVERY MAN HIMSELF?

Men. You worthy tribunes —

Sic. He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rock With rigorous hands; he hath resisted LAW, And therefore law shall scorn him further trial.

['When could they say till now that talked of Rome that her wide walls encompassed but one man?' 'What trash is Rome, what rubbish, and what offal, when it serves for the base matter to illuminate so vile a thing as Caesar.']

Than the severity of the PUBLIC POWER, Which he so sets at nought.

First Cit. He shall well know The noble tribunes are the people's mouths, And we their hands.

[Historical _principles throughout, with much of that kind of illustration in which his works are so prolific, an illustration which is not rhetorical, but scientific, based on the COMMON PRINCIPLES IN NATURE, which it is his 'primary' business to ascend to, and which it is his 'second' business to apply to each particular branch of art. 'Neither,' as he tells us plainly, in his Book of Advancement, 'neither are these only similitudes as men of narrow observation may conceive them to be, but the same footsteps of nature, treading or printing upon several subjects or matters,' and the tracking of these historical principles to their ultimate forms, is that which he recommends for the disclosing of nature and the abridging of Art.]

Sic. He's a disease, that must be cut away.

Men. O he's a limb, that has but a disease;  Mortal to cut it off; to cure it, easy.  What has he done to Rome, that's worthy death?  Killing our enemies? The blood he hath lost,  (Which, I dare vouch, is more than that he hath,  By many an ounce), he dropped it for his country.And what is left, to lose it by his country, Were to us all, that do't and suffer it, A brand to the end o' the world.

There's a piece thrust in here. This is the one of whom he says in another scene, 'I cannot speak him home.'

Bru. Merely awry: when he did love his country,It honour'd him.

Men. The service of the foot, Being once gangren'd, is not then respected For what before it was?

Bru. We'll hear no more: – Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence; Lest his infection, being of catching nature, Spread further.

Men. One word more, one word.  This tiger-footed rage, when it shall find  The harm of unscann'd swiftness, will, too late,  Tie leaden pounds to his HEELS. [Mark it, for it is a                                     prophecy]  Lest PARTIES (as he is beloved) break out,   And sack great Rome with Romans.

Bru. If it were so, —

Sic. What do ye talk? Have we not had a taste of his obedience? Our Ædiles smote? Ourselves resisted? – Come: —

Men. Consider this; he has been bred i' the wars, Since he could draw a sword, —

That has been the breeding of states, and nobility, and their rule, hitherto, as this play will show you. Consider what schooling these statesmen have had, before you begin the enterprise of reforming them, and take your measures accordingly. They are not learned men, you see. How should they be? There has been no demand for learning. The law of the sword has prevailed hitherto. When what's not meet but what must be was law, then were they chosen. Proceed by process.

Consider this; he has been bred i' the WARS Since he could draw a sword, and is ill school'd In boulted language—

[That's the trouble; but there's been a little bolting going on in this play.]

– Meal and bran, together  He throws without distinction. Give me leave  I'll go to him, and undertake to bring him  Where he shall answer by a lawful form,  (In peace) to his utmost peril. First Sen. Noble tribunes.  It is the humane way: the other course  Will prove too bloody; and —

[What is very much to be deprecated in such movements].

– the END of it, Unknown to the beginning.

Sic. Noble Menenius; Be you then as the People's Officer: Masters, – [and they seem to be that, truly,] – lay down your weapons.

Bru. Go not home,

Sic. MEET on the MARKET-PLACE, —

[ – that is where the 'idols of the market' are – ]

We'll attend you there: Where, if you bring not Marcius, we'll proceedIn our first way. Men. I'll bring him to you.Let me desire your company [To the Senators] He must come,Or what is worse will follow.

Sen. Pray you, let's to him.

SCENE – THE FORUM. Enter Sicinius and Brutus Bru. In this point charge him home, that he affects  TYRANNICAL POWER: if he evade us there,  Enforce him with his envy to the people;  And that the spoil, got on the Antiates,  Was ne'er distributed. — Enter an Ædile. What, will he come?

Æd. He's coming.

Bru. How accompanied?

Æd. With old Menenius, and those senators That always favour'd him.

Sic. Have you a catalogue Of all the voices that we have procured, Set down by THE POLL?

Æd. I have; 'tis ready.

Sic. Have you collected them BY TRIBES?

Æd. I have.

Sic. Assemble presently the people hither: And when they hear me say, it shall be so I the RIGHT and STRENGTH o' the COMMONS, be it either For death, for fine, or banishment, then let them, If I say fine, cry fine; if death, cry death; Insisting on the OLD _prerogative, And power i' THE TRUTH, o' THE CAUSE.

[There is a great difference in the delivery of the mathematics, which are the most abstracted of knowledges, and policy, which is the most immersed. —Advancement of LEARNING.]

Æd. I shall inform them.

Bru. And when such time they have begun to cry,  Let them not cease, but with a din confused  Enforce the present execution  Of what we chance to sentence.

Æd. Very well.

Sic. Make them be strong, and ready for this hint. When we shall hap to give't them.

Bru. Go about it.

[Exit Ædile.]

Put him to choler straight. He hath been usedEver to conquer, and to have his worthOf contradiction. Being once chafed, he cannotBe rein'd again to temperance; then he speaksWhat's in his heart; and that is there, which looksWith me to break his neck. [Prophecy – inductive.]Well, here he comes.

Enter CORIOLANUS, and his party.

Men. Calmly, I do beseech you.

Cor. Ay, as an ostler, that for the poorest piece  Will bear the knave by the volume. The honour'd gods  Keep Rome in safety, and the CHAIRS of JUSTICE  Supplied with WORTHY MEN! plant LOVE among us.  Throng OUR LARGE TEMPLES with the shows of PEACE,  And not our STREETS with WAR.

First Sen. Amen, Amen! [Hear, Hear!]

Men. A NOBLE wish.

Re-enter Ædile with Citizens.

Sic. Draw near, ye people.

Cor. First hear me speak.

Ædile. List to your tribunes. Audience: Peace, I say.

Both Tri. Well, say, – Peace, ho.

Cor. Shall I be charged no further than this present?Must all determine here? Sic. I do demand,  If you submit you to the people's voices,  Allow their officers, and are contentTo suffer lawful censure for such faults As shall be proved upon you?

Cor. I am content.

Men. Lo, citizens, he says he is content —

Cor. What is the matter,  That being pass'd for consul, with full voice,  I am so dishonour'd, that the very hour  You take it off again?

Sic. Answer to us.

Cor. Say then,'tis true. I ought so.

Sic. WE CHARGE YOU, that you have contrived to takeFrom Rome, all seasoned office, and to windYourself into a_ POWER TYRANNICAL;For which, you are A TRAITOR to the PEOPLE.

Cor. How! Traitor?

Men. Nay, temperately: Your promise.

Cor. The fires in the lowest hell fold in the people! Call me their traitor!

Cit. To the rock, to the rock with him.

Sic. Peace.  We need not put new matter to his charge:  What you have seen him do, and heard him speak,  Beating your officers, cursing yourselves,  Opposing laws with strokes, and here defying  Those whose great power must try him; even THIS,  So criminal, and in such CAPITAL kind,  Deserves the extremest death…                               For that he has,  As much as in him lies, from time to time,  Envied against the people; seeking means  To pluck away their power: as now, at last,  Given hostile strokes, and that, not in the presence  Of dreaded justice, but on the ministers  That do distribute it; in the name o' the people,  And in the power of us, the tribunes, we,  Even from this instant, banish him our city,  In peril of precipitation  From off the rock Tarpeian, never more  To enter our Rome's gates. I' THE PEOPLE'S NAME  I say it shall be so. Cit. It shall be so, it shall be so: let him away,He's banish'd, and it shall be so.

Com. Hear me, MY MASTERS, and my COMMON FRIENDS.