From rascals worse than they.

Com.

But how prevail'd you?

Mar. Will the time serve to tell? I do not think.

Where is the enemy? are you lords o' the field?
If not, why cease you till you are so?

Com.

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

Marcius,

Mar. How lies their battle? know you on which side

They have placed their men of trust?

Com.

As I guess, Marcius,

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

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 advanced 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.

That most are willing.

As it were sin to doubt

Those are they

If any such be here

that love this painting

Wherein you see me smear'd; if any fear

Lesser his person than an ill report ;

If any think brave death outweighs bad life,

53. Antiates. So Pope from Plutarch. Ff have Ancients.'

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60

70

And that his country's dearer than himself;
Let him alone, or so many so minded,
Wave thus, 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 Volsces? 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 from all 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 inclined.

Com.

March on, my fellows: Make good this ostentation, and you shall

80

Divide in all with us.

SCENE VII.

[Exeunt.

The gates of Corioli.

TITUS LARTIUS, having set a guard upon Corioli, going with drum and trumpet toward COMINIUS and CAIUS MARCIUS, enters with a Lieutenant, other Soldiers, and a Scout.

Lart. So, let the ports be guarded: keep your duties,

76. O, me alone! make you, etc. The soldiers, called upon to 'wave' their swords, have proceeded to 'wave' him. He plays on the fact. Yes, make me your weapon indeed! Follow me up as strenuously as the hand the sword!'-This is more in

keeping with the situation than to put a (?) at 'me' (with Capell), as if he jocularly asked whether they took him for a sword.

84. four shall quickly, etc., i.e. four officers are to pick out the best men.

As I have set them down.

If I do send, dispatch Those centuries to our aid; the rest will serve For a short holding: if we lose the field,

We cannot keep the town.

Lieu.

Fear not our care, sir.

Lart. Hence, and shut your gates upon's.

Our guider, come; to the Roman camp conduct us.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VIII. A field of battle between the
Roman and the Volscian camps.

Alarum as in battle. Enter, from opposite sides,
MARCIUS and AUFIDIUS.

Mar. I'll fight with none but thee; for I do hate thee

Worse than a promise-breaker.

Auf.

We hate alike :

Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor

More than thy fame and envy. Fix thy foot.

Mar. Let the first budger die the other's slave, And the gods doom him after !

Auf.

If I fly, Marcius,

Within these three hours, Tullus,

Holloa me like a hare.

Mar.

Alone I fought in your Corioli walls,

And made what work I pleased: 'tis not my blood
Wherein thou seest me mask'd; for thy revenge
Wrench up thy power to the highest.

Auf.

Wert thou the Hector

That was the whip of your bragg'd progeny,

ΙΟ

Thou shouldst not scape me here.

[They fight, and certain Volsces come in the aid of Aufidius. Marcius fights till they

be driven in breathless.

Officious, and not valiant, you have shamed me
In your condemned seconds.

[Exeunt.

Flourish.

Alarum. A retreat is sounded. Flourish. Enter, from one side, COMINIUS with the Romans; from the other side, MARCIUS, with his arm in a scarf.

Com. If I should tell thee o'er this thy day's work,

Thou 'ldst not believe thy deeds: but I'll report it
Where senators shall mingle tears with smiles;
Where great patricians shall attend and shrug,
I' the end admire; where ladies shall be frighted,
And, gladly quaked, hear more; where the dull
tribunes,

6

That, with the fusty plebeians, hate thine honours,
Shall say against their hearts We thank the gods
Our Rome hath such a soldier.'

Yet camest thou to a morsel of this feast,

Having fully dined before.

Enter TITUS LARTIUS, with his power, from

the pursuit.

Lart.

O general,

Here is the steed, we the caparison:

Hadst thou beheld

Mar.

15. condemned seconds, damnable seconding.

Pray now, no more: my mother,

10

Who has a charter to extol her blood,

When she does praise me grieves me. I have done
As you have done; that's what I can; induced
As you have been; that's for my country:

He that has but effected his good will
Hath overta'en mine act.

Com.

You shall not be

The grave of your deserving; Rome must know
The value of her own: 'twere a concealment
Worse than a theft, no less than a traducement,
To hide your doings; and to silence that,
Which, to the spire and top of praises vouch'd,
Would seem but modest : therefore, I beseech you-
In sign of what you are, not to reward

What you have done-before our army hear me.
Mar. I have some wounds upon me, and they

smart

To hear themselves remember'd.

Com.

Should they not,

Well might they fester 'gainst ingratitude,
And tent themselves with death. Of all the horses,
Whereof we have ta'en good and good store, of all
The treasure in this field achieved and city,
We render you the tenth; to be ta'en forth,
Before the common distribution, at

Your only choice.

Mar.

I thank you, general;
But cannot make my heart consent to take
A bribe to pay my sword: I do refuse it;
And stand upon my common part with those
That have beheld the doing.

[A long flourish. They all cry 'Marcius!
Marcius!' cast up their caps and lances :
Cominius and Lartius stand bare.

14. charter, special privi

lege.

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30

40

31. tent, to probe a wound, hence to cure.