Volumnia
Because your duty now is to address
The people, to speak to them with words
That bubble from the surface of your tongue
Bastards, mere sounds and syllables
That bear no kinship to your heart.
It will dishonor you no more
Than with soft words to take a city
Against which you would otherwise be forced
To tempt your luck and risk great loss of blood.
Be reasonable. Your friends and family are
In danger. That’s the honorable course.
But you would rather show this stinking rabble
How splendidly you frown than smiling cheat
Them of their votes, and save what otherwise
Will go to ruin.
Menenius
Come, go with us.
Just a few friendly words. That’s all.
Volumnia
Son,
I beg you, go to them. Just stand bare-headed
Holding your hands out so (see, here you are)
Your knees nearly touching the pavement (for in such cases
Posture counts more than words) and wag your head.
Just tell them you’re a soldier, reared in the noise
Of battle, unaccustomed to the gentle
Manners which they, as you must now admit
Have every reason to expect. Then tell them
From this day on they will not find you wanting.
Menenius
If you’d do that, speak as your mother has spoken
By the gods, you’d win all hearts.
Volumnia
I beg you, go. I know you’d sooner follow
Your enemy into a fiery pit than gently
Into a tavern.
Menenius
Cominius!
(Enter Cominius)
Cominius
I’ve come from the Forum, Marcius, and advise you
To place a strong guard round your house. Or else
Take flight.
Menenius
A gentle word would do it.
Menenius
Of course it would, if he could squeeze one out.
Volumnia
Son,
I beg you, just say yes, and go.
Coriolanus
Shouldn’t
I have my face shaved first? All right, I’ll do it.
Why fret about this bag of dust named Marcius?
Scatter it to the wind! Come, to the Forum!
Good-bye, my spirit, let some harlot’s spirit
Possess me, let my warlike voice
Pipe like a eunuch’s, let my eyes be filled
With schoolboy tears, and let my armored knees
That never bent except in stirrups, bow
Like a beggar’s stooped for coins. I will not do it.
I will not cut the truth within me down
Or let base gestures vitiate my mind.
Volumnia
You will decide. I’d call it more dishonor
For me to beg of you, than you of them.
Let ruin fall upon us. Do as you please.
You sucked your courage from my breast, but not
Your pride.
Coriolanus
Calm down. I’m going to the marketplace. Stop scolding.
I’ll cheat them of their hearts. When I come back
I’ll be the idol of every shopkeeper in Rome
And consul too. Commend me to my wife.
Volumnia
Do as you like. (Goes out)
Cominius
Come, now the tribunes are waiting.
And arm yourself with mildness. They have heaped up
Still stronger accusations than before.
Coriolanus
“Mild” is the word. Come, let’s be going.
Inventive as may be their accusations
My repentance will be more so.
Menenius
Yes, but put it mildly.
Coriolanus
Right. Mildly does it. Mildly, mildly.
2
Rome. The Forum.
Sicinius, Brutus, Citizens, an Aedile.
Brutus Are these the chairmen of the electoral districts?
Aedile Yes.
Brutus Have you a list of all the voters they represent?
Aedile Yes, here it is.
Sicinius And here he comes.
(Enter Coriolanus, Menenius, Cominius, and Senators)
Menenius
Speak calmly now, I beg you.
Coriolanus
Yes, like a stable boy, who for a tip
Puts up with any insult. May the gods
Keep Rome in safety and its seats of justice
Supplied with worthy men. Let love be our
Rallying cry. Peace to the city!
First Senator
Hear, hear!
Menenius
A noble greeting.
Sicinius
Chairmen, be seated.
Aedile
Hear
Your tribunes!
Coriolanus
Hear me speak first!
Citizens
Him first! The same old story! Him first!
Sicinius
Very well, speak.
Citizens
First me and then the law!—
The forms be damned.
Aedile
Silence, please.
Coriolanus
Shall I be further prosecuted elsewhere?
Will everything be settled here?
Sicinius
I must
First ask you this: Do you submit
To the people’s voice? Do you recognize
Their representatives? Do you consent
To suffer punishment for such offense
As may be proved against you?
Coriolanus
I do.
Menenius
Hear that? He does. Consider his services
In war. He speaks here not as a citizen
But as a soldier.
Cominius
That’s enough now, friend.
Coriolanus
How comes it that no sooner voted consul
I am dishonored and expelled from office?
Sicinius
You are on trial, not we.
Coriolanus
Well, try me then.
Sicinius
You are accused of trying to overthrow
The tribunes of the people and to seize
A tyrant’s power. Hence of treason
Against the people.
Coriolanus
Treason!
Menenius
Easy, now!
Cominius
You promised!
Coriolanus
Let the fires of bottommost hell
Swallow up the people.
Sicinius
Did you hear that?
Coriolanus
Call me a traitor! Why, you dog
Of a tribune, you tribune of dogs. You lump
Of filth! You scoundrel hungry for my death!
You throat clogged fast with lies!
Citizens
Enough!
Sicinius
No need of adding further evidence
To our complaint. What you’ve just seen …
To the Rock!
Sicinius
And heard …
Citizens
Come. Take him to the Rock!
Sicinius
Beating the tribunes, cursing you, the people
Opposing law with violence, and now
Arrogantly defying those empowered
To judge him. Such offences warrant the
Death penalty.
Citizens
Right! Right! Put him to death.
Brutus
But since he has served Rome well …
Coriolanus
What is this talk
Of serving well?
Brutus
I’m saying what I know.
Coriolanus
What you know!
Menenius
Is this the promise
You made your mother?
Cominius
Calm yourself. You know …
Coriolanus
Don’t tell me what I know. Let them hurl
Me down from the steep Tarpeian Rock, or send
Me off to exile, or whatever else they
Can think of. I’ll not buy their mercy with
So much as one soft word, not even a
“Good morning.”
Sicinius
That condemns you. In the people’s
Name, we the tribunes banish you from Rome
And warn you on pain of being hurled
From the Tarpeian Rock, never again
To enter the city gates.
Citizens
Well done!
(All stand up, to go)
Cominius
Hear me!
Sicinius
He’s sentenced. The session’s closed.
Cominius
No, let me speak. I have been consul. Rome
Can see the marks of her enemies on me. When
I say …
Sicinius
We know what you will say.
Brutus
He’s banished. That’s the end of it.
Cominius
The end?
Coriolanus
You pack of common curs, I hate your breath
More than the reek of putrid swamps, and value
Your love no more than the carcasses of unburied
Enemies. I banish you!
Stay here in Rome, shaking with fear, shitting
In your pants whenever a plume of unfamiliar
Color appears outside the gates. Maintain,
The power to banish your defenders till
Your ignorance (which sees no farther than
Its nose) sends everyone away but you
Who have always been your cruelest enemies
And in the end delivers you to some
Nation that takes the city without striking
A blow. Despising Rome on your account
I turn my back on it. There’s a world
Elsewhere.
(Coriolanus goes out with Menenius, Cominius, and Senators)
Citizens
The enemy of the people’s gone! He’s gone!
(They fling their hats into the air)
3
Rome. Outside the gates.
Coriolanus, Volumnia, Virgilia, Menenius, Cominius, and Senators.
Coriolanus
Come, come. Don’t cry. Good-bye. The many-headed
Beast has butted me out. No, mother
Where’s the old pluck? Who was it taught me
That common fortune and misfortune were
For common people? That when the sea was calm
All ships show equal mastery in sailing
But that to bear the hardest strokes of fate
And not get hurt requires noble skill?
Virgilia
O heavens! O heavens!
Coriolanus
Stop, woman, please …
Volumnia
A plague on all the guilds of Rome!
Coriolanus
What! What! What!
They’ll love me when they need me. No, mother
Remember how you used to say
That if you’d been the wife of Hercules
You’d have done six of his labors and so saved
Your husband all that sweat. Cominius
Chin up. Good-bye. Good-bye, wife. It’s nothing, mother.
I’ll get along. Take care, Menenius.
At your age tears are saltier than when
You’re young; they’re not good for the eyes.
You, general, I’ve known you to be staunch.
Heartrending scenes are nothing new to you.
Tell these sad women that it’s just as foolish
To cry at blows that cannot be avoided
As it is to laugh. The dangers I have faced
Have kept you youthful, mother, you know that.
Believe me if you can: although he now
Goes forth like a lone dragon which his cave
Makes feared and talked of more than seen, your son
Will either do uncommon deeds or fall
A victim to the petty treachery of
The common herd.
Volumnia
Dear son, where will you go?
Take Cominius with you for a while. Discuss
With him your future course, for fear blind chance
Should be your guide.
Coriolanus
O heavenly gods!
Cominius
I’ll stay with you a month. We’ll talk things over
Decide where you’re to go, so you may hear
From us and we from you.
Coriolanus
Thank you, old man. But
You’re not as young as you have been. Too old
To roam the country with a man—forgive me—
Who still has ample plans. Just bring me to
The gate. Come, come! And once outside
We’ll smile and say good-bye. As long as I
Remain above the ground you’ll hear from me
But only news recalling the old Marcius.
(All go out through the gate)
4
Rome. A street near the gate.
Sicinius, Brutus, and an Aedile.
Sicinius
Send them all home. He’s gone. The thing is done.
The nobles who, as we see, have sided with him
Are thrown into confusion.
Brutus
Now we’ve shown
Our power, we can take a humbler attitude.
Sicinius
Make them go home. Their great enemy
Is gone.
Brutus
Yes, send them home. Here comes his mother.
(Enter Volumnia, Virgilia, and Menenius)
Sicinius
Quick. Let’s be going.
Brutus
Why?
Sicinius
They say she’s mad.
Brutus
They’ve seen us. Quick.
Volumnia
Well met. God damn your souls!
Menenius
Sh! Gently, gently. Not so loud!
Volumnia
If only
My tears would let me speak, you’d hear
A thing or two. No, stay. You shall hear. Stay there!
Virgilia
And you stay too. I wish I had the power
To say that to my husband.