To take the one the other, 7 by some chance,

Some trick not worth an egg, shall grow dear friends,
And interjoin their issues. So with me:

My birth-place hate I, 8 and my love's upon
This enemy town. I'll enter: if he slay me,'

He does fair justice; if he give me way,

I'll do his country service.

SCENE V.

[Exit.

1 Serv. Wine, wine, wine! What service is here! I think our fellows are asleep.

Enter a second Servant.

2 Serv. Where's Cotus? my master calls for him. Cotus!

Enter CORIOLANUS.

Cor. A goodly house. The feast smells well; but I

Appear not like a guest.

Re-enter the first Servant.

[Exit.

[Exit.

1 Serv. What would you have, friend? Whence are you? Here's no place for you: pray, go to the door.

Cor. I have deserv'd no better entertainment,

In being Coriolanus.

Re-enter second Servant.

2 Serv. Whence are you, Sir? Has the porter his eyes in his head, that he gives entrance to such companions? 1 Pray, get you out.

Cor. Away!

2 Serv. Away? Get you away.

Cor. Now thou art troublesome.

2 Serv. Are you so brave? I'll have you talked with anon.

Enter a third Servant. The first meets him.

3 Serv. What fellow 's this?

7) to take the one the other bezieht sich auf whose plots: ihre beiderseitigen Anschläge, wie Einer des Andern habhaft werden könnte, hatten sie nicht schlafen lassen. 8) So verbessert Steevens das have I der Fol. Die früheren Hgg. lasen mit den späteren Folioausgg.: My birth-place have 1 and my lover left; upon || This enemy town I'll enter, wobei sie verkannten, dass zu I'll enter das Haus des Aufidius zu ergänzen ist, der gleich erwähnt wird: if he slay me.

1) companion

Gesell, Cumpan, häufig in verächtlichem Sinne wie hier. So in All 's well that ends well (A. 5, Sc. 3.) what an equivocal companion is this.

1 Serv. A strange one as ever I looked on: I cannot get him out o' the house. Pr'ythee, call my master to him.

3 Serv. What have you to do here, fellow? Pray you, avoid the house. Cor. Let me but stand; I will not hurt your hearth. 2

3 Serv. What are you?

Cor. A gentleman.

3 Serv. A marvellous poor one.

Cor. True, so I am.

3 Serv. Pray you, poor gentleman, take up some other station: here 's no place for you. Pray you, avoid: come.

Cor. Follow your function; go,

And batten on cold bits. 3

[Pushes him away.

3 Serv. What, will you not? Pr'ythee, tell my master what a strange guest he has here.

3 Serv. Where 's that?

Cor. I' the city of kites and crows.

3 Serv. I' the city of kites and crows? What an ass it is!

thou dwellest with daws too? 4

Cor. No; I serve not thy master.

3 Serv. How, Sir! Do you meddle 5 with my master?

Cor. Ay; 't is an honester service than to meddle with thy mistress. Thou prat'st, and prat'st: serve with thy trencher. Hence! [Beats him away. Enter AUFIDIUS and the second Servant.

Auf. Where is this fellow?

2 Serv. Here, Sir. I'd have beaten him like a dog, but for disturbing the lords within.

2) Bei Plutarch setzt sich Coriolan ohne Weiteres an den Heerd: so he went directly to Tullus Aufidius' house, and when he came thither he got him straight to the chimney hearth, and sat him down etc.

3) So wird die untergeordnete Stellung eines Dieners, der von dem kalt gewordenen Abhub
der Tafel sich nährt, auch in Cymbeline (A. 2, Sc. 3.) charakterisirt: one, bred of
alms, and foster'd with cold dishes, with scraps o' the court.
Die folgenden Bühnen-
weisungen finden sich schon in der Fol., welche dgl. sonst höchst selten bezeichnet.
4) daw doppelsinnig Dohle, und närrischer Schwätzer. So in K. Henry VI

First Part (A. 2, Sc. 4.) I am no wiser than a daw.
die Diener des Aufidius als solche einfältige Schwätzer.

-

Coriolan's Antwort bezeichnet

Unter dem canopy versteht er den Himmel, und unter der city of kites and crows die freie Luft oder das

offene Feld.

5) to meddle with mit Jemandem anbinden, sich mit Jemandem zu schaffen machen. 6) So wird ein Diener auch in Timon of Athens (A. 1, Sc. 1.) bezeichnet: and my estate deserves an heir more rais'd than one which holds a trencher.

Auf. Whence com'st thou? what would'st thou? Thy name? Why speak'st not? Speak, man: What 's thy name? 7

Cor. If, Tullus, [Unmuffling.] not yet thou know'st me, and seeing me, dost not think me for the man I am, necessity commands me name myself. Auf. What is thy name?

Cor. A name unmusical to the Volscians' ears, And harsh in sound to thine.

Auf.

Say, what 's thy name?

Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face

Bears a command in 't: though thy tackle 's torn, 8

Thou show'st a noble vessel. What 's thy name?

Cor. Prepare thy brow to frown. Know'st thou me yet?
Auf. I know thee not.

Cor.

Thy name?

My name is Caius Marcius, who hath done
To thee particularly, and to all the Volsces,
Great hurt and mischief; thereto witness may
My surname, Coriolanus. The painful service,
The extreme dangers, and the drops of blood
Shed for my thankless country, are requited
But with that surname; a good memory, 9

And witness of the malice and displeasure

Which thou shouldst bear me. Only that name remains:
The cruelty and envy of the people,

Permitted by our dastard nobles, who

Have all forsook me, hath devour'd the rest;
And suffered me by the voice of slaves to be
Hoop'd out of Rome. Now, this extremity

Hath brought me to thy hearth: Not out of hope,
Mistake me not, to save my life; for if

I had fear'd death, of all the men i' the world
I would have 'voided thee; but in mere spite,

To be full quit of those my banishers,
Stand I before thee here. Then, if thou hast
A heart of wreak 10 in thee, that will revenge

[Servants retire.

7) Tullus' Frage und Coriolan's Antwort sind in der Fol. mit Recht als Prosa gedruckt. Die Hgg. machen scheinbare Verse daraus.

Plutarch zum Theil fast wörtlich benutzt.

Sh. hat hier und in dem Folgenden den

6) Coriolan's ärmliches Gewand wird mit dem zerrissenen Tauwerk eines stattlichen Schiffes

verglichen.

9 memory

Denkmal. In diesem Sinne fand Sh. das Wort an der entsprechenden Stelle bei Plutarch: a good memory and witness of the malice and displeasure thou shouldst bear me.

10) wreak Rache. Dasselbe veraltete Substantiv in Titus Andronicus (A. 4, Sc. 3 ) take wreak of Rome for this ingratitude. Bei Plutarch fand Sh. das Verbum: if thou hast any heart to be wreaked of the injuries.

Thine own particular wrongs, and stop those maims

Of shame seen through thy country, 11 speed thee straight,

And make my misery serve thy turn: so use it,

That my revengeful services may prove

As benefits to thee; for I will fight

Against my canker'd country with the spleen

Of all the under fiends. 12 But if so be

Thou dar'st not this, and that to prove more fortunes
Thou art tir'd, then, in a word, I also am
Longer to live most weary, and present

My throat to thee, and to thy ancient malice:
Which not to cut would show thee but a fool,
Since I have ever follow'd thee with hate,
Drawn tuns of blood out of thy country's breast,
And cannot live but to thy shame, unless

It be to do thee service.

Auf.

O Marcius, Marcius!

Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart
A root of ancient envy. If Jupiter

Should from yond cloud speak divine things, and say

"T is true," I 'd not believe them more than thee, All noble Marcius. Let me twine

Mine arms about that body, where against

My grained ash 13 an hundred times hath broke,
And scarr'd the moon with splinters! Here I clip
The anvil of my sword, 14 and do contest
As hotly and as nobly with thy love,
As ever in ambitious strength I did

Contend against thy valour. Know thou first, 15
I lov'd the maid I married: never man

Sigh'd truer breath; 16 but that I see thee here,

11) disgraceful diminutions of territory, erklärt Johnson. Es sind aber wohl eher die Verwüstungen gemeint, welche die Römer im Volskischen Gebiete angerichtet haben, und die, gleichsam wie offene Wunden, verstopft werden müssen. Coriolan bald nachher drawn tuns of blood out of thy country's breast.

So sagt

12) under fiends sind die Teufel da drunten, die Teufel in der Unterwelt. 13) grained ash ist der von Fibern durchzogene, also feste Lanzenschaft aus Eschenholz, Die Splitter dieser Lanze flogen so hoch, dass sie den Mond ritzten. Dieselbe Hyperbel kommt in Winter's Tale (A. 3, Sc. 3.) vor:

now the ship boring the moon with her main-mast. Viele Hgg. lesen scared für scarr'd.

14) Tullus umarmt in dem Coriolan, auf den er früher so oft mit seinem Schwerte losgeschlagen, gleichsam den Ambos seines Schwertes.

15) Vielleicht wäre zu interpungiren: Know thou, first I lov'd the maid I married, never

man etc.

16) d. h. nie waren die Liebesseufzer eines Mannes ernster gemeint.

Thou noble thing, more dances 17

my rapt heart,

Than when I first my wedded mistress saw

Bestride my threshold. Why, thou Mars, 18 I tell thee,
We have a power on foot; and I had purpose
Once more to hew thy target from thy brawn,

Or lose mine arm for 't. Thou hast beat me out 19
Twelve several times, and I have nightly since
Dreamt of encounters 'twixt thyself and me:
We have been down together in my sleep,
Unbuckling helms, fisting each other's throat,

And wak'd half dead with nothing. 20 Worthy Marcius,
Had we no other quarrel else to Rome, but that
Thou art thence banish'd, we would muster all
From twelve to seventy; and, pouring war
Into the bowels of ungrateful Rome,

Like a bold flood o'er-bear. 21 O! come; go in,
And take our friendly senators by the hands,
Who now are here, taking their leaves of me,
Who am prepar'd against your territories,
Though not for Rome itself.

Auf. Therefore, most absolute Sir, 22 if thou wilt have
The leading of thine own revenges, take

The one half of my commission; and set down, -
As best thou art experienc'd, since thou know'st
Thy country's strength and weakness,

thine own ways;

Whether to knock against the gates of Rome,
Or rudely visit them 23 in parts remote,
To fright them, ere destroy. But come in:
Let me commend thee first to those, that shall

Say, "yea," to thy desires. A thousand welcomes!

So in Titus An

17) to dance = tanzen lassen, in hüpfende Bewegung versetzen. dronicus (A. 5, Sc. 3) many a time he danc'd thee on his knee. 18) So in K. Richard II. (A. 2, Sc. 3.) the Black Prince, that young Mars of men; und in Timon of Athens (A. 4, Sc. 3.) wird das Gold angeredet: thou valiant Mars. 19) out gehört nicht zu beat, sondern zu twelve several times = volle zwölf Male. 20) Die Construction ist ungenau, da sich zu wak'd nicht wohl we have ergänzen lässt, sondern das weiter vorhergehende I have nightly since etc. damit zu verbinden ist. 21) Die gewöhnliche Lesart ist o'er-beat. Collier fand indess o'er-bear in einem Exemplar der Fol., wie auch schon Steevens vorgeschlagen hatte zu lesen, indem er erinnerte an Othello (A. 1, Sc. 3.) is of such flood-gate and o'er-bearing nature. So auch in Pericles (A. 5, Sc. 1.) lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me || O'er-bear the shores of my mortality.

22) absolute Sir vollkommner, ganzer Herr.

23) them bezieht sich auf Rome, als ob dafür the Romans stände.