Coriolanus

SCENE II. The Volscian camp before Rome

Enter MENENIUS to the WATCH on guard

FIRST WATCH. Stay. Whence are you?
SECOND WATCH. Stand, and go back.
MENENIUS. You guard like men, 'tis well; but, by your leave,
I am an officer of state and come
To speak with Coriolanus.
FIRST WATCH. From whence?
MENENIUS. From Rome.
FIRST WATCH. You may not pass; you must return. Our general
Will no more hear from thence.
SECOND WATCH. You'll see your Rome embrac'd with fire before
You'll speak with Coriolanus.
MENENIUS. Good my friends,
If you have heard your general talk of Rome
And of his friends there, it is lots to blanks
My name hath touch'd your ears: it is Menenius.
FIRST WATCH. Be it so; go back. The virtue of your name
Is not here passable.
MENENIUS. I tell thee, fellow,
Thy general is my lover. I have been
The book of his good acts whence men have read
His fame unparallel'd haply amplified;
For I have ever verified my friends-
Of whom he's chief- with all the size that verity
Would without lapsing suffer. Nay, sometimes,
Like to a bowl upon a subtle ground,
I have tumbled past the throw, and in his praise
Have almost stamp'd the leasing; therefore, fellow,
I must have leave to pass.
FIRST WATCH. Faith, sir, if you had told as many lies in his
behalf
as you have uttered words in your own, you should not pass
here;
no, though it were as virtuous to lie as to live chastely.
Therefore go back.
MENENIUS. Prithee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius, always
factionary on the party of your general.
SECOND WATCH. Howsoever you have been his liar, as you say you
have, I am one that, telling true under him, must say you
cannot
pass. Therefore go back.
MENENIUS. Has he din'd, canst thou tell? For I would not speak
with
him till after dinner.
FIRST WATCH. You are a Roman, are you?
MENENIUS. I am as thy general is.
FIRST WATCH. Then you should hate Rome, as he does. Can you,
when
you have push'd out your gates the very defender of them, and
in
a violent popular ignorance given your enemy your shield,
think
to front his revenges with the easy groans of old women, the
virginal palms of your daughters, or with the palsied
intercession of such a decay'd dotant as you seem to be? Can
you
think to blow out the intended fire your city is ready to
flame
in with such weak breath as this? No, you are deceiv'd;
therefore
back to Rome and prepare for your execution. You are
condemn'd;
our general has sworn you out of reprieve and pardon.
MENENIUS. Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here, he would use
me
with estimation.
FIRST WATCH. Come, my captain knows you not.
MENENIUS. I mean thy general.
FIRST WATCH. My general cares not for you. Back, I say; go,
lest I
let forth your half pint of blood. Back- that's the utmost of

your having. Back.
MENENIUS. Nay, but fellow, fellow-

Enter CORIOLANUS with AUFIDIUS

CORIOLANUS. What's the matter?
MENENIUS. Now, you companion, I'll say an errand for you; you
shall
know now that I am in estimation; you shall perceive that a
Jack
guardant cannot office me from my son Coriolanus. Guess but
by my
entertainment with him if thou stand'st not i' th' state of
hanging, or of some death more long in spectatorship and
crueller
in suffering; behold now presently, and swoon for what's to
come
upon thee. The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy
particular prosperity, and love thee no worse than thy old
father
Menenius does! O my son! my son! thou art preparing fire for
us;
look thee, here's water to quench it. I was hardly moved to
come
to thee; but being assured none but myself could move thee, I