Act V, Scene 4 Rome. A public place.

Enter MENENIUS and SICINIUS

 

MENENIUS See you yond coign o' the Capitol, yond
corner-stone?
SICINIUS Why, what of that?
MENENIUS If it be possible for you to displace it with your
little finger, there is some hope the ladies of
Rome, especially his mother, may prevail with him.
But I say there is no hope in't: our throats are
sentenced and stay upon execution.
SICINIUS Is't possible that so short a time can alter the
condition of a man!
MENENIUS There is differency between a grub and a butterfly;
yet your butterfly was a grub. This Marcius is grown
from man to dragon: he has wings; he's more than a
creeping thing.
SICINIUS He loved his mother dearly.
MENENIUS So did he me: and he no more remembers his mother
now than an eight-year-old horse. The tartness
of his face sours ripe grapes: when he walks, he
moves like an engine, and the ground shrinks before
his treading: he is able to pierce a corslet with
his eye; talks like a knell, and his hum is a
battery. He sits in his state, as a thing made for
Alexander. What he bids be done is finished with
his bidding. He wants nothing of a god but eternity
and a heaven to throne in.
SICINIUS Yes, mercy, if you report him truly.
MENENIUS I paint him in the character. Mark what mercy his
mother shall bring from him: there is no more mercy
in him than there is milk in a male tiger; that
shall our poor city find: and all this is long of
you.
SICINIUS The gods be good unto us!
MENENIUS No, in such a case the gods will not be good unto
us. When we banished him, we respected not them;
and, he returning to break our necks, they respect not us.
  [Enter a Messenger]
Messenger Sir, if you'ld save your life, fly to your house:
The plebeians have got your fellow-tribune
And hale him up and down, all swearing, if
The Roman ladies bring not comfort home,
They'll give him death by inches.
  [Enter a second Messenger]
SICINIUS What's the news?
Second Messenger Good news, good news; the ladies have prevail'd,
The Volscians are dislodged, and Marcius gone:
A merrier day did never yet greet Rome,
No, not the expulsion of the Tarquins.
SICINIUS Friend,
Art thou certain this is true? is it most certain?
Second Messenger As certain as I know the sun is fire:
Where have you lurk'd, that you make doubt of it?
Ne'er through an arch so hurried the blown tide,
As the recomforted through the gates. Why, hark you!
  [Trumpets; hautboys; drums beat; all together]
  The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries and fifes,
Tabours and cymbals and the shouting Romans,
Make the sun dance. Hark you!
  [A shout within]
MENENIUS This is good news:
I will go meet the ladies. This Volumnia
Is worth of consuls, senators, patricians,
A city full; of tribunes, such as you,
A sea and land full. You have pray'd well to-day:
This morning for ten thousand of your throats
I'd not have given a doit. Hark, how they joy!
  [Music still, with shouts]
SICINIUS First, the gods bless you for your tidings; next,
Accept my thankfulness.
Second Messenger Sir, we have all
Great cause to give great thanks.
SICINIUS They are near the city?
Second Messenger Almost at point to enter.
SICINIUS We will meet them,
And help the joy.
  [Exeunt]

 

Act V, Scene 5 The same. A street near the gate.

Enter two Senators with VOLUMNIA, VIRGILIA,
VALERIA, &c. passing over the stage,
followed by Patricians and others

 

First Senator Behold our patroness, the life of Rome!
Call all your tribes together, praise the gods,
And make triumphant fires; strew flowers before them:
Unshout the noise that banish'd Marcius,
Repeal him with the welcome of his mother;
Cry 'Welcome, ladies, welcome!'
All Welcome, ladies, Welcome!
  [A flourish with drums and trumpets. Exeunt]

 

To see other scenes from the show:

Full Text Act III, Scene 3 The same. The Forum
Act I, Scene 1 Rome. A street. Act IV, Scene 1 Rome. Before a gate of the city.
Act I, Scene 2 Corioli.  The Senate house. Act IV, Scene 2 The same. A street near the gate.
Act I, Scene 3 A room in Marcius' house. Act IV, Scene 3 A highway between Rome and Antium/Act IV, Scene 4 Antium. Before Aufidius' house.
Act I, Scene 4 Before Corioli. Act IV, Scene 5 The same. A hall in Aufidius's house.
Act I, Scene 5 Corioli. A street./Act I, Scene 6 Near the camp of Cominius. Act IV, Scene 6 Rome. A public place.
Act I, Scene 7The gates of Corioli/Act I, Scene 8 A field of battle. Act IV, Scene 7 A camp, at a small distance from Rome.
Act I, Scene 9 The Roman camp. /Act I, Scene 10 The camp of the Volsces. Act V, Scene 1 Rome. A public place.
Act II, Scene 1 Rome. A public place. Act V, Scene 2 Entrance of the Volscian camp before Rome.  Two Sentinels on guard.
Act II, Scene 2 The same. The Capitol. Act V, Scene 3 The tent of Coriolanus.
Act II, Scene 3 The same. The Forum. Act V, Scene 4 Rome. A public place, /Act V, Scene 5 The Same. A street near the gate.
Act III, Scene 1 Rome. A street. Act V, Scene 6 A public place.
Act III, Scene 2 A room in Coriolanus' house.  

 

To view other Coriolanus sections:

Main Play Page      Play Text     Scene by Scene Synopsis     Character Directory     Commentary  

 

To view the other Plays click below:

By  Comedies    Histories    Romances    Tragedies

All's Well the Ends Well Antony & Cleopatra As You Like It Cardenio Comedy of Errors Coriolanus
Cymbeline Edward III Hamlet Henry IV, Part 1 Henry IV, Part 2 Henry V
Henry VI, Part 1 Henry VI, Part 2 Henry VI, Part 3 Henry VIII Julius Caesar King John
King Lear Love's Labours Lost Love's Labours Wonne Macbeth Measure for Measure Merchant of Venice
The Merry Wives of Windsor A Mid Summer Night's Dream  Much Ado About Nothing Othello Pericles Richard II
Richard III Romeo & Juliet Sir Thomas More Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus Troilus & Cressida Twelfth Night Two Gentlemen of Verona The Two Noble Kinsman The Winter's Tale

 

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