Page 2825 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3

COMINIUS

I shall lack voice. The deeds of Coriolanus [80]
Should not be uttered feebly. It is held
That valour is the chiefest virtue and

Most dignifies the haver. If it be,
The man I speak of cannot in the world
Be singly counterpoised. At sixteen years, [85]
When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought
Beyond the mark of others. Our then dictator,

Whom with all praise I point at, saw him fight
When with his Amazonian chin he drove
The bristled lips before him. He bestrid [90]

An o’erpressed Roman and i’th’Consul’s view
Slew three opposers. Tarquin’s self he met,
And struck him on his knee. In that day’s feats,
When he might act the woman in the scene,
He proved best man i’th’field, and for his meed [95]

Was brow-bound with the oak. His pupil age
Man-entered thus, he waxèd like a sea,
And in the brunt of seventeen battles since

He lurched all swords of the garland. For this last,
Before and in Corioles, let me say [100]
I cannot speak him home. He stopped the fliers,
And by his rare example made the coward
Turn terror into sport. As weeds before

A vessel under sail, so men obeyed
And fell below his stem. His sword, death’s stamp, [105]
Where it did mark, it took from face to foot.

He was a thing of blood, whose every motion
Was timed with dying cries. Alone he entered
The mortal gate of th’city, which he painted
With shunless destiny; aidless came off, [110]
And with a sudden reinforcement struck

Corioles like a planet. Now all’s his,
When by and by the din of war ’gan pierce
His ready sense, then straight his doubled spirit

Requickened what in flesh was fatigate, [115]
And to the battle came he, where he did