Speakers' Names are often inconsistent in Folio. We have regularized speech headings, but retained an element of deliberate inconsistency in entry directions, in order to give the flavor of Folio.
Verse is indicated by lines that do not run to the right margin and by capitalization of each line. The Folio printers sometimes set verse as prose, and vice versa (either out of misunderstanding or for reasons of space). We have silently corrected in such cases, although in some instances there is ambiguity, in which case we have leaned toward the preservation of Folio layout. Folio sometimes uses contraction ("turnd" rather than "turned") to indicate whether or not the final "-ed" of a past participle is sounded, an area where there is variation for the sake of the five-beat iambic pentameter rhythm. We use the convention of a grave accent to indicate sounding (thus "turned" would be two syllables), but would urge actors not to overstress. In cases where one speaker ends with a verse half line and the next begins with the other half of the pentameter, editors since the late eighteenth century have indented the second line. We have abandoned this convention, since the Folio does not use it, nor did actors' cues in the Shakespearean theater. An exception is made when the second speaker actively interrupts or completes the first speaker's sentence.
Spelling is modernized, but older forms are very occasionally maintained where necessary for rhythm or aural effect.
Punctuation in Shakespeare's time was as much rhetorical as grammatical. "Colon" was originally a term for a unit of thought in an argument. The semicolon was a new unit of punctuation (some of the Quartos lack them altogether). We have modernized punctuation throughout, but have given more weight to Folio punctuation than many editors, since, though not Shakespearean, it reflects the usage of his period. In particular, we have used the colon far more than many editors: it is exceptionally useful as a way of indicating how many Shakespearean speeches unfold clause by clause in a developing argument that gives the illusion of enacting the process of thinking in the moment. We have also kept in mind the origin of punctuation in classical times as a way of assisting the actor and orator: the comma suggests the briefest of pauses for breath, the colon a middling one, and a full stop or period a longer pause. Semicolons, by contrast, belong to an era of punctuation that was only just coming in during Shakespeare's time and that is coming to an end now: we have accordingly only used them where they occur in our copy texts (and not always then). Dashes are sometimes used for parenthetical interjections where the Folio has brackets. They are also used for interruptions and changes in train of thought. Where a change of addressee occurs within a speech, we have used a dash preceded by a period (or occasionally another form of punctuation). Often the identity of the respective addressees is obvious from the context. When it is not, this has been indicated in a marginal stage direction.
Entrances and Exits are fairly thorough in Folio, which has accordingly been followed as faithfully as possible. Where characters are omitted or corrections are necessary, this is indicated by square brackets (e.g. "[and Attendants]"). Exit is sometimes silently normalized to Exeunt and Manet anglicized to "remains." We trust Folio positioning of entrances and exits to a greater degree than most editors.
Editorial Stage Directions such as stage business, asides, indications of addressee and of characters' position on the gallery stage are only used sparingly in Folio. Other editions mingle directions of this kind with original Folio and Quarto directions, sometimes marking them by means of square brackets. We have sought to distinguish what could be described as directorial interventions of this kind from Folio-style directions (either original or supplied) by placing them in the right margin in a smaller typeface. There is a degree of subjectivity about which directions are of which kind, but the procedure is intended as a reminder to the reader and the actor that Shakespearean stage directions are often dependent upon editorial inference alone and are not set in stone. We also depart from editorial tradition in sometimes admitting uncertainty and thus printing permissive stage directions, such as an Aside? (often a line may be equally effective as an aside or as a direct address--it is for each production or reading to make its own decision) or a may exit or a piece of business placed between arrows to indicate that it may occur at various different moments within a scene.
Line Numbers are editorial, for reference and to key the explanatory and textual notes.
Explanatory Notes explain allusions and gloss obsolete and difficult words, confusing phraseology, occasional major textual cruces, and so on. Particular attention is given to non-standard usage, bawdy innuendo, and technical terms (e.g. legal and military language). Where more than one sense is given, commas indicate shades of related meaning, slashes alternative or double meanings.
Textual Notes at the end of the play indicate major departures from the Folio. They take the following form: the reading of our text is given in bold and its source given after an equals sign, "F2" indicates a correction that derives from the Second Folio of 1632, "F3" a correction introduced in the Third Folio of 1664, "F4" from the Fourth Folio of 1685, and "Ed" one that derives from the subsequent editorial tradition. The rejected Folio ("F") reading is then given. Thus, for example, "5.6.131 Fluttered = F3.F = Flatter'd" indicates that at Act 5 Scene 6 line 131, we have accepted the Third Folio's correction "Fluttered" which makes sense of Coriolanus' imagery in the lines, "That, like an eagle in a dovecote, I / Fluttered your Volscians in Corioles."
KEY FACTS
MAJOR PARTS: (with percentage of lines/number of speeches/scenes on stage) Caius Martius/Coriolanus (23%/189/18), Menenius Agrippa (15%/162/13), Volumnia (8%/57/6), Sicinius Velutus (8%/117/10), Cominius (8%/67/11), Tullus Aufidius (7%/45/8), Junius Brutus (7%/91/9), Titus Lartius (2%/23/6), First Citizen (2%/33/4), Third Servingman (1%/20/1), Third Citizen (1%/18/3), Valeria (1%/14/2).
LINGUISTIC MEDIUM: 80% verse, 20% prose.
DATE: 1608? Probably uses Camden's Remaines (1605); a phrase is parodied in Ben Jonson's Epicoene (late 1609). Allusion to "coal of fire upon the ice" in Act 1 Scene 1 sometimes taken to refer to the great frost of winter 1607/08, when the Thames was frozen and people with "pans of coals to warm your fingers" were stationed on the middle of the river; the issue of grain shortage and hoarding with which the action begins has been related to an insurrection in the English midlands in 1607-08. Theaters were closed because of the plague for the majority of the time in these years, so the play may belong to the open period of April-July 1608.
SOURCES: Closely based on "The Life of Caius Martius Coriolanus" in Sir Thomas North's English translation of Plutarch's Lives of the Most Noble Grecians and Romanes (Shakespeare probably used the 1595 edition). Menenius' fable of the belly in the first scene is the only occasion on which an additional source seems to have been used: the wording suggests the influence of both Livy's Romane Historie (trans. Philemon Holland, 1600) and William Camden's Remaines of a greater worke concerning Britaine (1605).
TEXT: 1623 Folio, apparently set from Shakespeare's manuscript or a scribal transcript of it, is the only early edition; irregular lineation is the main problem in the printing.
LIST OF PARTS
Caius MARTIUS, later CORIOLANUS
VOLUMNIA, Coriolanus' mother VIRGILIA, his wife YOUNG MARTIUS, his son VALERIA, friend of Virgilia GENTLEWOMAN, attending on Virgilia MENENIUS Agrippa, Coriolanus' elderly friend Roman generals
Titus LARTIUS
COMINIUS
Roman tribunes
SICINIUS Velutus JUNIUS BRUTUS
NICANOR, a Roman traitor Two MESSENGERS LIEUTENANT
Two SOLDIERS
Two OFFICERS
Five CITIZENS
Three ROMANS
A HERALD
An AEDILE
A PATRICIAN
Two SENATORS
Tullus AUFIDIUS, Volscian general LIEUTENANT to Aufidius ADRIAN, a Volscian Three SERVINGMEN
Three CONSPIRATORS
Two WATCHMEN
Three LORDS
Usher, Valeria's Gen
tlewoman, Captains, Soldiers, Drummer, Trumpeter, Scout, Nobles, Attendants
Act 1 Scene 1
running scene 1
Enter a company of mutinous Citizens, with staves, clubs and other weapons
FIRST CITIZEN Before we proceed any further, hear me speak.
ALL Speak, speak.
FIRST CITIZEN You are all resolved rather to die than to famish3?
ALL Resolved, resolved.
FIRST CITIZEN First, you know Caius Martius is chief enemy to
the people.
ALL We know't, we know't.
FIRST CITIZEN Let us kill him, and we'll have corn at our own
price. Is't a verdict9?
ALL No more talking on't10: let it be done: away, away.
SECOND CITIZEN One word, good citizens.
FIRST CITIZEN We are accounted poor citizens, the patricians12
good: what authority surfeits on13 would relieve us. If they
would yield us but the superfluity while it were wholesome14,
we might guess15 they relieved us humanely: but they think
we are too dear: the leanness that afflicts us, the object16 of our
misery, is as an inventory to particularize their abundance17:
our sufferance18 is a gain to them. Let us revenge this with our
pikes, ere we become rakes19. For the gods know, I speak this in
hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge.
SECOND CITIZEN Would you proceed especially against Caius
Martius?
ALL Against him first: he's a very dog to the commonalty23.
SECOND CITIZEN Consider you what services he has done for his
country?
FIRST CITIZEN Very well, and could be content to give him good
report for't, but that he pays himself with being proud.
ALL Nay, but speak not maliciously.
FIRST CITIZEN I say unto you, what he hath done famously30, he
did it to that end: though soft-conscienced31 men can be
content to say it was for his country, he did it to please his
mother and to be partly proud, which he is, even to the33
altitude of his virtue.
SECOND CITIZEN What he cannot help in his nature, you account
a vice in him. You must in no way say he is covetous.
FIRST CITIZEN If37 I must not, I need not be barren of accusations:
he hath faults, with surplus, to tire in repetition38.
Shouts within
What shouts are these? The other side o'th'city is risen39: why
stay we prating here? To th'Capitol40!
ALL Come, come.
FIRST CITIZEN Soft42, who comes here?
Enter Menenius Agrippa
SECOND CITIZEN Worthy Menenius Agrippa, one that hath always
loved the people.
FIRST CITIZEN He's one honest enough: would all the rest were so!
MENENIUS What work's, my countrymen, in hand?
Where go you With bats and clubs? The matter47, speak, I pray you.
SECOND CITIZEN Our business is not unknown to th'senate: they
have had inkling this fortnight what we intend to do, which
now we'll show 'em in deeds. They say poor suitors50 have
strong51 breaths: they shall know we have strong arms too.
MENENIUS Why, masters52, my good friends, mine honest neighbours,
Will you undo53 yourselves?
SECOND CITIZEN We cannot, sir, we are undone already.
MENENIUS I tell you, friends, most charitable care
Have the patricians of you. For56 your wants,
Your suffering in this dearth57, you may as well
Strike at the heaven with your staves58 as lift them
Against the Roman state, whose course will on59
The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs60
Of more strong link asunder than can ever
Appear in your impediment62. For the dearth,
The gods, not the patricians, make it, and
Your knees to them, not arms64, must help. Alack,
You are transported65 by calamity
Thither where more attends66 you, and you slander
The helms67 o'th'state, who care for you like fathers,
When you curse them as enemies.
SECOND CITIZEN Care for us? True, indeed69, they ne'er cared for us
yet. Suffer70 us to famish, and their storehouses crammed
with grain: make edicts for usury, to support usurers71: repeal
daily any wholesome act established against the rich, and
provide more piercing73 statutes daily, to chain up
and restrain the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will: and there's all
the love they bear us.
MENENIUS Either you must
Confess yourselves wondrous77 malicious,
Or be accused of folly. I shall tell you
A pretty79 tale: it may be you have heard it,
But since it serves my purpose, I will venture
To stale't81 a little more.
SECOND CITIZEN Well, I'll hear it, sir: yet you must not think to
fob off our disgrace with a tale: but, an't please you, deliver83.
MENENIUS There was a time when all the body's members
Rebelled against the belly, thus accused it:
That only like a gulf it did remain
I'th'midst o'th'body, idle and unactive,
Still cupboarding the viand88, never bearing
Like labour with the rest, where th'other instruments89
Did see and hear, devise90, instruct, walk, feel,
And, mutually participate91, did minister
Unto the appetite and affection92 common
Of the whole body. The belly answered--
SECOND CITIZEN Well, sir, what answer made the belly?
MENENIUS Sir, I shall tell you: with a kind of smile,
Which ne'er came from the lungs, but even thus96--
For look you, I may make the belly smile
As well as speak -- it tauntingly replied
To th'discontented members, the mutinous parts
That envied his receipt: even so most fitly100
As you malign our senators for that101
They are not such as you.
SECOND CITIZEN Your belly's answer: what?
The kingly crowned head, the vigilant eye,
The counsellor heart, the arm our soldier,
Our steed the leg, the tongue our trumpeter,
With other muniments107 and petty helps
In this our fabric108, if that they--
MENENIUS What then?
Fore me, this fellow speaks109! What then? What then?
SECOND CITIZEN Should by the cormorant110 belly be restrained,
Who is the sink111 o'th'body--
MENENIUS Well, what then?
SECOND CITIZEN The former113 agents, if they did complain,
What could the belly answer?
MENENIUS I will tell you,
If you'll bestow a small116 -- of what you have little --
Patience awhile, you'st117 hear the belly's answer.
SECOND CITIZEN You're long about it.
MENENIUS Note me this, good friend:
Your most grave120 belly was deliberate,
Not rash like his accusers, and thus answered:
'True is it, my incorporate122 friends,' quoth he,
'That I receive the general123 food at first
Which you do live upon: and fit it is,
Because I am the storehouse and the shop
Of the whole body. But, if you do remember,
I send it through the rivers of your blood
Even to the court128, the heart, to th'seat o'th'brain,
And through the cranks and offices129 of man,
The strongest nerves130 and small inferior veins
From me receive that natural compet
ency131
Whereby they live. And though that all at once' --
You, my good friends, this says the belly, mark133 me--
SECOND CITIZEN Ay, sir, well, well.
MENENIUS 'Though all at once cannot
See what I do deliver out to each,
Yet I can make my audit up137, that all
From me do back receive the flour138 of all,
And leave me but the bran139.' What say you to't?
SECOND CITIZEN It was an answer: how apply you this?
MENENIUS The senators of Rome are this good belly,
And you the mutinous members: for examine
Their counsels and their cares, digest143 things rightly
Touching the weal o'th'common144, you shall find
No public benefit which you receive
But it proceeds or comes from them to you
And no way from yourselves. What do you think,
You, the great toe of this assembly?
SECOND CITIZEN I the great toe? Why the great toe?
MENENIUS For that, being one o'th'lowest, basest, poorest
Of this most wise rebellion, thou goest foremost:
Thou rascal, that art worst in blood152 to run,
Lead'st first to win some vantage153.
But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs:
Rome and her rats are at the point of battle:
The one side must have bale156.
Enter Caius Martius
Hail, noble Martius.
MARTIUS Thanks. What's the matter, you dissentious157 rogues,
That, rubbing the poor itch of your opinion,
Make yourselves scabs159?
SECOND CITIZEN We have ever160 your good word.
MARTIUS He that will give good words to thee will flatter
Beneath abhorring. What would you have, you curs162,
That like nor peace nor war? The one163 affrights you,
The other makes you proud164. He that trusts to you,
Where he should find you lions, finds you hares165:
Where foxes, geese: you are no surer166, no,
Than is the coal of fire upon the ice,
Or hailstone in the sun. Your virtue168 is
To make him worthy whose offence subdues him
And curse that justice did it. Who170 deserves greatness
Deserves your hate, and your affections171 are
A sick man's appetite, who desires most that