Page 2891 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3

What is thy name? [60]

CORIOLANUS
A name unmusical to the Volscians’ ears,
And harsh in sound to thine.

AUFIDIUS
Say, what’s thy name?
Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face

Bears a command in’t. Though thy tackle’s tom,
Thou show’st a noble vessel. What’s thy name? [65]

CORIOLANUS
Prepare thy brow to frown. Know’st thou me yet?

AUFIDIUS
I know thee not. Thy name?

CORIOLANUS
My name is Caius Martius, who hath done

To thee particularly and to all the Volsces
Great hurt and mischief; thereto witness may [70]
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
And witness of the malice and displeasure [75]
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 devoured the rest,
And suffered me by th’voice of slaves to be [80]
Whooped 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 feared death, of all men i’th’world

I would have ’voided thee; but in mere spite, [85]