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                                      75 AD
                                   CORIOLANUS
                          Legendary, 5th Century B.C.
                                  by Plutarch
                           translated by John Dryden
CORIOLANUS

  THE patrician house of the Marcii in Rome produced many men of
distinction, and among the rest, Ancus Marcius, grandson to Numa by
his daughter, and king after Tullus Hostilius; of the same family were
also Publius and Quintus Marcius, which two conveyed into the city the
best and most abundant supply of water they have at Rome. As
likewise Censorinus, who, having been twice chosen censor by the
people, afterwards himself induced them to make a law that nobody
should bear that office twice. But Caius Marcius, of whom I now write,
being left an orphan, and brought up under the widowhood of his
mother, has shown us by experience, that, although the early loss of a
father may be attended with other disadvantages, yet it can hinder
none from being either virtuous or eminent in the world, and that it
is no obstacle to true goodness and excellence; however bad men may be
pleased to lay the blame of their corruptions upon that misfortune and
the neglect of them in their minority. Nor is he less an evidence to
the truth of their opinion who conceive that a generous and worthy
nature without proper discipline, like a rich soil without culture, is
apt with its better fruits to produce also much that is bad and
faulty. While the force and vigour of his soul, and a persevering
constancy in all he undertook, led him successfully into many noble
achievements, yet, on the other side, also, by indulging the vehemence
of his passion, and through an obstinate reluctance to yield or
accommodate his humours and sentiments to those of a people about him,
he rendered himself incapable of acting and associating with others.
Those who saw with admiration how proof his nature was against all the
softnesses of pleasure, the hardships of service, and the
allurements of gain, while allowing to that universal firmness of
his the respective names of temperance, fortitude, and justice, yet in
the life of the citizen and the statesman, could not choose but be
disgusted at the severity and ruggedness of his deportment, and with
his overbearing, haughty, and imperious temper. Education and study,
and the favours of the muses, confer no greater benefit on those
that seek them than these humanizing and civilizing lessons, which
teach our natural qualities to submit to the limitations prescribed by
reason, and to avoid the wildness of extremes.
  Those were times at Rome in which that kind of worth was most
esteemed which displayed itself in military achievements; one evidence
of which we find in the Latin word for virtue, which is properly
equivalent to manly courage. As if valour and all virtue had been
the same thing, they used as the common term the name of the
particular excellence. But Marcius, having a more passionate
inclination than any of that age for feats of war, began at once, from
his very childhood, to handle arms; and feeling that adventitious
implements and artificial arms would effect little, and be of small
use to such as have not their native and natural weapons well fixed
and prepared for service, he so exercised and inured his body to all
sorts of activity and encounter, that besides the lightness of a
racer, he had a weight in close seizures and wrestlings with an enemy,
from which it was hard for any to disengage himself; so that his
competitors at home in displays of bravery, loth to own themselves
inferior in that respect, were wont to ascribe their deficiencies to
his strength of body, which they say no resistance and no fatigue
could exhaust.
  The first time he went out to the wars, being yet a stripling, was
when Tarquinius Superbus, who had been King of Rome and was afterwards
expelled, after many unsuccessful attempts, now entered upon his
last effort, and proceeded to hazard all as it were upon a single
throw. A great number of the Latins and other people of Italy joined
their forces, and were marching with him toward the city, to procure
his restoration; not, however, so much out of a desire to serve and
oblige Tarquin, as to gratify their own fear and envy at the
increase of the Roman greatness; which they were anxious to check
and reduce. The armies met and engaged in a decisive battle, in the
vicissitudes of which Marcius, while fighting bravely in the
dictator's presence, saw a Roman soldier struck down at a little
distance, and immediately stepped in and stood before him, and slew
his assailant. The general, after having gained the victory, crowned
him for this act, one of the first, with a garland of oaken
branches; it being the Roman custom thus to adorn those who had
saved the life of a citizen; whether that the law intended some
special honour to the oak, in memory of the Arcadians, a people the
oracle had made famous by the name of acorn-eaters; or whether the
reason of it was because they might easily, and in all places where
they fought, have plenty of oak for that purpose; or, finally, whether
the oaken wreath, being sacred to Jupiter, the guardian of the city,
might, therefore, be thought a proper ornament for one who preserved a
citizen. And the oak, in truth, is the tree which bears the most and
the prettiest fruit of any that grow wild, and is the strongest of all
that are under cultivation; its acorns were the principal diet of
the first mortals, and the honey found in it gave them drink. I may
say, too, it furnished fowl and other creatures as dainties, in
producing mistletoe for bird-lime to ensnare them. In this battle,
meantime, it is stated that Castor and Pollux appeared, and
immediately after the battle were seen at Rome just by the fountain
where their temple now stands, with their horses foaming with sweat,
and told the news of the victory to the people in the forum. The
fifteenth of July, being the day of this conquest, became consequently
a solemn holiday sacred to the Twin Brothers.
  It may be observed, in general, that when young men arrive early
at fame and repute, if they are of a nature but slightly touched
with emulation, this early attainment is apt to extinguish their
thirst and satiate their appetite; whereas the first distinctions of
more and solid and weighty characters do but stimulate and quicken
them and take them away like a wind in the pursuit of honour; they
look upon these marks and testimonies to their virtue not as a
recompense received for what they have already done, but as a pledge
given by themselves of what they will perform hereafter, ashamed now
to forsake or underlive the credit they have won, or, rather, not to
exceed and obscure all that is gone before by the lustre of their
following actions. Marcius, having a spirit of this noble make, was
ambitious always to surpass himself, and did nothing how extraordinary
soever, but he thought he was bound to outdo it at the next
occasion; and ever desiring to give continual fresh instances of
prowess, he added one exploit to another, and heaped up trophies
upon trophies, so as to make it matter of contest also among his
commanders, the latter still vying with the earlier, which should
pay him the greatest honour and speak highest in his commendation.
Of all the numerous wars and conflicts in those days there was not one
from which he returned without laurels and rewards. And, whereas
others made glory the end of their daring, the end of his glory was
his mother's gladness; the delight she took to hear him praised and to
see him crowned, and her weeping for joy in his embraces rendered
him in his own thoughts the most honoured and most happy person in the
world. Epaminondas is similarly said to have acknowledged his feeling,
that it was the greatest felicity of his whole life that his father
and mother survived to hear of his successful generalship and his
victory of Leuctra. And he had the advantage, indeed, to have both his
parents partake with him, and enjoy the pleasure of his good
fortune. But Marcius, believing himself bound to pay his mother
Volumnia all that gratitude and duty which would have belonged to
his father, had he also been alive, could never satiate himself in his
tenderness and respect to her. He took a wife, also, at her request
and wish, and continued, even after he had children, to live still
with his mother, without parting families.
  The repute of his integrity and courage had, by this time, gained
him a considerable influence and authority in Rome, when the senate,
favouring the wealthier citizens, began to be at variance with the
common people, who made sad complaints of the rigorous and inhuman
usage they received from the money-lenders. For as many as were behind
with them, and had any sort of property, they stripped of all they
had, by the way of pledges and sales; and such as through former
exactions were reduced already to extreme indigence, and had nothing
more to be deprived of, these they led away in person and put their
bodies under constraint, notwithstanding the scars and wounds that
they could show in attestation of their public services in numerous
campaigns; the last of which had been against the Sabines, which
they undertook upon a promise made by their rich creditors that they
would treat them with more gentleness for the future, Marcus Valerius,
the consul, having, by order from the senate, engaged also for the
performance of it. But when, after they had fought courageously and
beaten the enemy, there was, nevertheless, no moderation or
forbearance used, and the senate also professed to remember nothing of
that agreement, and sat without testifying the least concern to see
them dragged away like slaves and their goods seized upon as formerly,
there began now to be open disorders and dangerous meetings in the
city; and the enemy, also, aware of the popular confusion, invaded and
laid waste the country. And when the consuls now gave notice, that all
who were of an age to bear arms should make their personal appearance,
but found no one regard the summons, the members of the government,
then coming to consult what course should be taken, were themselves
again divided in opinion; some thought it most advisable to comply a
little in favour of the poor, by relaxing their overstrained rights,
and mitigating the extreme rigour of the law, while others withstood
this proposal; Marcius in particular, with more vehemence than the
rest, alleging that the business of money on either side was not the
main thing in question, urged that this disorderly proceeding was
but the first insolent step towards open revolt against the laws,
which it would become the wisdom of the government to check at the
earliest moment.
  There had been frequent assemblies of the whole senate, within a
small compass of time, about this difficulty, but without any
certain issue; the poor commonalty, therefore, perceiving there was
likely to be no redress of their grievances, on a sudden collected
in a body, and, encouraging each other in their resolution, forsook
the city, with one accord, and seizing the hill which is now called
the Holy Mount, sat down by the river Anio, without committing any
sort of violence or seditious outrage, but merely exclaiming, as
they went along, that they had this long time past been, in fact,
expelled and excluded from the city by the cruelty of the rich; that
Italy would everywhere afford them the benefit of air and water and
a place of burial, which was all they could expect in the city, unless
it were, perhaps, the privilege of being wounded and killed in time of
war for the defence of their creditors. The senate, apprehending the
consequences, sent the most moderate and popular men of their own
order to treat with them.
  Menenius Agrippa, their chief spokesman, after much entreaty to
the people, and much plain-speaking on behalf of the senate,
concluded, at length, with the celebrated fable. "It once happened,"
he said, "that all the other members of a man mutinied against the
stomach, which they accused as the only idle, uncontributing part
the whole body, while the rest were put to hardships and the expense
of much labour to supply and minister to its appetites. The stomach,
however, merely ridiculed the silliness of the members, who appeared
not to be aware that the stomach certainly does receive the general
nourishment, but only to return it again, and redistribute it
amongst the rest. Such is the case," he said, "ye citizens, between
you and the senate. The counsels and plans that are there duly
digested, convey and secure to all of you your proper benefit and
support."
  A reconciliation ensued, the senate acceding to the request of the
people for the annual election of five protectors for those in need of
succour, the same that are now called the tribunes of the people;
and the first two they pitched upon were Junius Brutus and Sicinnius
Vellutus, their leaders in the secession.
  The city being thus united, the commons stood presently to their
arms, and followed their commanders to the war with great alacrity. As
for Marcius, though he was not a little vexed himself to see the
populace prevail so far, and gain ground of the senators, and might
observe many other patricians have the same dislike of the late
concessions, he yet besought them not to yield at least to the
common people in the zeal and forwardness they now showed for their
country's service, but to prove that they were superior to them, not
so much in power and riches, as in merit and worth.
  The Romans were now at war with the Volscian nation, whose principal
city was Corioli; when, therefore, Cominius the consul had invested
this important place, the rest of the Volscians, fearing it would be
taken, mustered up whatever force they could from all parts, to
relieve it, designing to give the Romans battle before the city, and
so attack them on both sides. Cominius, to avoid this inconvenience,
divided his army, marching himself with one body to encounter the
Volscians on their approach from without and leaving Titus Lartius,
one of the bravest Romans of his time, to command the other and
continue the siege. Those within Corioli, despising now the
smallness of their number, made a sally upon them, and prevailed at
first, and pursued the Romans into their trenches. Here it was that
Marcius, flying out with a slender company, and cutting those in
pieces that first engaged him, obliged the other assailants to slacken
their speed; and then, with loud cries, called upon the Romans to
renew the battle. For he had, what Cato thought a great point in a
soldier, not only strength of hand and stroke, but also a voice and
look that of themselves were a terror to an enemy. Divers of his own
party now rallying and making up to him, the enemies soon retreated;
but Marcius, not content to see them draw off and retire, pressed hard
upon the rear, and drove them, as they fled away in haste, to the very
gates of their city; where, perceiving the Romans to fall back from
their pursuit, beaten off by the multitude of darts poured in upon
them from the walls, and that none of his followers had the
hardiness to think of falling in pell-mell among the fugitives and
so entering a city full of enemies in arms, he, nevertheless, stood
and urged them to the attempt, crying out, that fortune had now set
open Corioli, not so much to shelter the vanquished, as to receive the
conquerors. Seconded by a few that were willing to venture with him,
he bore along through the crowd, made good his passage, and thrust
himself into the gate through the midst of them, nobody at first
daring to resist him. But when the citizens on looking about saw
that a very small number had entered, they now took courage, and
came up and attacked them. A combat ensued of the most extraordinary
description, in which Marcius, by strength of hand, and swiftness of
foot, and daring of soul, overpowering every one that he assailed,
succeeded in driving the enemy to seek refuge, for the most part, in
the interior of the town, while those remaining submitted, and threw
down their arms; thus affording Lartius abundant opportunity to
bring in the rest of the Romans with ease and safety.
  Corioli being thus surprised and taken, the greater part of the
soldiers employed themselves in spoiling and pillaging it, while
Marcius indignantly reproached them, and exclaimed that it was a
dishonourable and unworthy thing, when the consul and their
Fellow-citizens had now perhaps encountered the other Volscians, and
were hazarding their lives in battle, basely to misspend the time in
running up and down for booty, and, under a pretence of enriching
themselves, keep out of danger. Few paid him any attention, but,
putting himself at the head of these, he took the road by which the
consul's army had marched before him, encouraging his companions,
and beseeching them, as they went along, not to give up, and praying
often to the gods, too, that he might be so happy as to arrive
before the fight was over, and come seasonably up to assist
Cominius, and partake in the peril of the action.
  It was customary with the Romans of that age, when they were
moving into battle array, and were on the point of taking up their
bucklers, and girding their coats about them, to make at the same time
an unwritten will, or verbal testament, and to name who should be
their heirs, in the hearing of three or four witnesses. In this
precise posture Marcius found them at his arrival, the enemy being
advanced within view.
  They were not a little disturbed by his first appearance, seeing him
covered with blood and sweat, and attended with a small train; but
when he hastily made up to the consul with gladness in his looks,
giving him his hand, and recounting to him how the city had been
taken, and when they saw Cominius also embrace and salute him, every
one took fresh heart; those that were near enough hearing, and those
that were at a distance guessing, what had happened; and all cried out
to be led to battle. First, however, Marcius desired to know of him
how the Volscians had arrayed their army and where they had placed
their best men and on his answering that he took the troops of the
Antiates in the centre to be their prime warriors that would yield
to none in bravery, "Let me demand and obtain of you," said Marcius,
"that we may be posted against them." The consul granted the
request, with much admiration for his gallantry. And when the conflict
began by the soldiers darting at each other, and Marcius sallied out
before the rest the Volscians opposed to him were not able to make
head against him; wherever he fell in, he broke their ranks, and
made a lane through them; but the parties turning again, and enclosing
him on each side with their weapons, the consul, who observed the
danger he was in despatched some of the choicest men he had for his
rescue. The conflict then growing warm and sharp about Marcius and
many falling dead in a little space, the Romans bore so hard upon
their enemies, and pressed them with such violence, that they forced
them at length to abandon their ground, and to quit the field. And
going now to prosecute the victory, they besought Marcius, tired out
with his toils, and faint and heavy through the loss of blood, that he
would retire to the camp. He replied, however, that weariness was
not for conquerors, and joined with them in the pursuit. The rest of
the Volscian army was in like manner defeated, great numbers killed,
and no less taken captive.
  The day after, when Marcius, with the rest of the army, presented
themselves at the consul's tent, Cominius rose, and having rendered
all due acknowledgment to the gods for the success of that enterprise,
turned next to Marcius, and first of all delivered the strongest
encomium upon his rare exploits, which he had partly been an
eye-witness of himself, in the late battle, and had partly learned
from the testimony of Lartius. And then he required him to choose a
tenth part of all the treasure and horses and captives that had fallen
into their hands, before any division should be made to others;
besides which, he made him the special present of a horse with
trappings and ornaments, in honour of his actions. The whole army
applauded; Marcius, however, stepped forth, and declaring his thankful
acceptance of the horse, and his gratification at the praises of his
general, said, that all other things, which he could only regard
rather as mercenary advantages than any significations of honour, he
must waive, and should be content with the ordinary proportion of such
rewards. "I have only," said he, "one special grace to beg, and this I
hope you will not deny me. There was a certain hospitable friend of
mine among the Volscians, a man of probity and virtue, who is become a
prisoner, and from former wealth and freedom is now reduced to
servitude. Among his many misfortunes let my intercession redeem him
from the one of being sold as a common slave." Such a refusal and such
a request on the part of Marcius were followed with yet louder
acclamations; and he had many more admirers of this generous
superiority to avarice, than of the bravery he had shown in battle.
The very persons who conceived some envy and despite to see him so
specially honoured, could not but acknowledge, that one who so nobly
could refuse reward, was beyond others worthy to receive it; and
were more charmed with that virtue which made him despise advantage,
than with any of those former actions that have gained him his title
to it. It is the higher accomplishment to use money well than to use
arms; but not to need it is more noble than to use it.
  When the noise of approbation and applause ceased, Cominius,
resuming, said: "It is idle, fellow-soldiers, to force and obtrude
those other gifts of ours on one who is unwilling to accept them;
let us, therefore, give him one of such a kind that he cannot well
reject it; let us pass a vote, I mean, that he shall hereafter be
called Coriolanus, unless you think that his performance at Corioli
has itself anticipated any such resolution." Hence, therefore, he
had this third name of Coriolanus, making it all the plainer that
Caius was a personal proper name, and the second, or surname, Marcius,
one common to his house and family; the third being a subsequent
addition which used to be imposed either from some particular act or
fortune, bodily characteristic, or good quality of the bearer. Just as
the Greeks, too, gave additional names in old time, in some cases from
some achievement, Soter, for example, and Callinicus; or personal
appearance, as Physcon and Grypus; good qualities, Euergetes and
Philadelphus; good fortune, Eudaemon, the title of the second
Battus. Several monarchs have also had names given them in mockery, as
Antigonus was called Doson, and Ptolemy, Lathyrus. This sort of
title was yet more common among the Romans. One of the Metelli was
surnamed Diadematus, because he walked about for a long time with a
bandage on his head to conceal a scar; and another, of the same
family, got the name of Celer, from the rapidity he displayed in
giving a funeral entertainment of gladiators within a few days after
his father's death, his speed and energy in doing which was thought
extraordinary. There are some, too, who even at this day take names
from certain casual incidents at their nativity: a child that is
born when his father is away from home is called Proculus; or
Postumus, if after his decease; and when twins come into the world,
and one dies at the birth, the survivor has the name of Vopiscus. From
bodily peculiarities they derive not only their Syllas and Nigers, but
their Caeci and Claudii; wisely endeavouring to accustom their
people not to reckon either the loss of sight, or any other bodily
misfortune, as a matter of disgrace to them, but to answer to such
names without shame, as if they were really their own. But this
discussion better befits another place.
  The war against the Volscians was no sooner at an end, than the
popular orators revived domestic troubles, and raised another
sedition, without any new cause or complaint or just grievance to
proceed upon, but merely turning the very mischiefs that unavoidably
ensued from their former contests into a pretext against the
patricians. The greatest part of their arable land had been left
unsown and without tillage, and the time of war allowing them no means
or leisure to import provision from other countries, there was an
extreme scarcity. The movers of the people then observing that there
was no corn to be bought, and that if there had been they had no money
to buy it, began to calumniate the wealthy with false stories and
whisper it about, as if they, out of their malice, had purposely
contrived the famine. Meanwhile, there came an embassy from the
Velitrani, proposing to deliver up their city to the Romans, and
desiring they would send some new inhabitants to people it, as a
late pestilential disease had swept away so many of the natives,
that there was hardly a tenth part remaining of their whole community.
This necessity of the Velitrani was considered by all more prudent
people as most opportune in the present state of affairs; since the
dearth made it needful to ease the city of its superfluous members,
and they were in hope also, at the same time, to dissipate the
gathering sedition by ridding themselves of the more violent and
heated partisans, and discharging, so to say, the elements of
disease and disorder in the state. The consuls, therefore, singled out
such citizens to supply the desolation at Velitrae, and gave notice to
others, that they should be ready to march against the Volscians, with
the politic design of preventing intestine broils by employment
abroad, and in the hope that when rich as well as poor, plebeians
and patricians, should be mingled again in the same army and the
same camp, and engage in one common service for the public, it would
mutually dispose them to reconciliation and friendship.
  But Sicinnius and Brutus, the popular orators, interposed, crying
out that the consuls disguised the most cruel and barbarous action
in the world under that mild and plausible name of a colony, and
were simply precipitating so many poor citizens into a mere pit of
destruction, bidding them settle down in a country where the air was
charged with disease, and the ground covered with dead bodies, and
expose themselves to the evil influence of a strange and angered
deity. And then, as if it would not satisfy their hatred to destroy
some by hunger, and offer others to the mercy of a plague, they must
proceed to involve them also in a needless war of their own making,
that no calamity might be wanting to complete the punishment of the
citizens for refusing to submit to that of slavery to the rich.
  By such addresses, the people were so possessed, that none of them
would appear upon the consular summons to be enlisted for the war; and
they showed entire aversion to the proposal for a new plantation; so
that the senate was at a loss what to say or do. But Marcius, who
began now to bear himself higher and to feel confidence in his past
actions, conscious, too, of the admiration of the best and greatest
men of Rome, openly took the lead in opposing the favourers of the
people. The colony was despatched to Velitrae, those that were
chosen by lot being compelled to depart upon high penalties; and
when they obstinately persisted in refusing to enrol themselves for
the Volscian service, he mustered up his own clients, and as many
others as could be wrought upon by persuasion, and with these made
inroad into the territories of the Antiates, where, finding a
considerable quantity of corn, and collecting much booty, both of
cattle and prisoners, he reserved nothing for himself in private,
but returned safe to Rome, while those that ventured out with him were
seen laden with pillage, and driving their prey before them. This
sight filled those that had stayed at home with regret for their
perverseness, with envy at their fortunate fellow-citizens, and with
feelings of dislike to Marcius, and hostility to his growing
reputation and power, which might probably be used against the popular
interest.
  Not long after he stood for the consulship: when, however, the
people began to relent and incline to favour him, being sensible
what a shame it would be to repulse and affront a man of his birth and
merit, after he had done them so many signal services. It was usual
for those who stood for offices among them to solicit and address
themselves personally to the citizens, presenting themselves in the
forum with the toga on alone, and no tunic under it; either to promote
their supplications by the humility of their dress, or that such as
had received wounds might more readily display those marks of their
fortitude. Certainly, it was not out of suspicion of bribery and
corruption that they required all such petitioners for their favour to
appear ungirt and open, without any close garment; as it was much
later, and many ages after this, that buying and selling crept in at
their elections, and money became an ingredient in the public
suffrages; proceeding thence to attempt their tribunals, and even
attack their camps, till, by hiring the valiant, and enslaving iron to
silver, it grew master of the state, and turned their commonwealth
into a monarchy. For it was well and truly said that the first
destroyer of the liberties of a people is he who first gave them
bounties and largesses. At Rome the mischief seems to have stolen
secretly in, and by little and little, not being at once discerned and
taken notice of. It is not certainly known who the man was that did
there first either bribe the citizens, or corrupt the courts; whereas,
in Athens, Anytus, the son of Anthemion, is said to have been the
first that gave money to the judges, when on his trial, toward the
latter end of the Peloponnesian war, for letting the fort of Pylos
fall into the hands of the enemy; in a period while the pure and
golden race of men were still in possession of the Roman forum.
  Marcius, therefore, as the fashion of candidates was, showing the
scars and gashes that were still visible on his body, from the many
conflicts in which he had signalized himself during a service of
seventeen years together, they were, so to say, put out of countenance
at this display of merit, and told one another that they ought in
common modesty to create him consul. But when the day of election
was now come, and Marcius appeared in the forum, with a pompous
train of senators attending him, and the patricians all manifested
greater concern, and seemed to be exerting greater efforts, than
they had ever done before on the like occasion, the commons then
fell off again from the kindness they had conceived for him, and in
the place of their late benevolence, began to feel something of
indignation and envy; passions assisted by the fear they
entertained, that if a man of such aristocratic temper and so
influential among the patricians should be invested with the power
which that office would give him, he might employ it to deprive the
people of all that liberty which was yet left them. In conclusion,
they rejected Marcius. Two other names were announced, to the great
mortification of the senators, who felt as if the indignity
reflected rather upon themselves than on Marcius. He, for his part,
could not bear the affront with any patience. He had always indulged
his temper, and had regarded the proud and contentious element of
human nature as a sort of nobleness and magnanimity; reason and
discipline had not imbued him with that solidity and equanimity
which enters so largely into the virtues of the statesman. He had
never learned how essential it is for any one who undertakes public
business, and desires to deal with mankind, to avoid above all
things that self-will, which, as Plato says, belongs to the family
of solitude; and to pursue, above all things, that capacity so
generally ridiculed, of submission to ill-treatment. Marcius,
straightforward and direct, and possessed with the idea that to
vanquish and overbear all opposition is the true part of bravery,
and never imagining that it was the weakness and womanishness of his
nature that broke out, so to say, in these ulcerations of anger,
retired, full of fury and bitterness against the people. The young
patricians, too, all that were proudest and most conscious of their
noble birth, had always been devoted to his interest, and, adhering to
him now, with a fidelity that did him no good, aggravated his
resentment with the expression of their indignation and condolence. He
had been their captain, and their willing instructor in the arts of
war, when out upon expeditions, and their model in that true emulation
and love of excellence which makes men extol, without envy or
jealousy, each other's brave achievements.
  In the midst of these distempers, a large quantity of corn reached
Rome, a great part bought up in Italy, but an equal amount sent as a
present from Syracuse, from Gelo, then reigning there. Many began
now to hope well of their affairs, supposing the city, by this
means, would be delivered at once, both of its want and discord. A
council, therefore, being presently held, the people came flocking
about the senate-house, eagerly awaiting the issue of that
deliberation, expecting that the market-prices would now be less
cruel, and that what had come as gift would be distributed as such.
There were some within who so advised the senate; but Marcius,
standing up, sharply inveighed against those who spoke in favour of
the multitude, calling them flatterers of the rabble, traitors to
the nobility, and alleging, that, by such gratifications, they did but
cherish those ill seeds of boldness and petulance that had been sown
among the people, to their own prejudice, which they should have
done well to observe and stifle at their first appearance, and not
have suffered the plebeians to grow so strong, by granting them
magistrates of such authority as the tribunes. They were, indeed, even
now formidable to the state since everything they desired was
granted them; no constraint was put on their will; they refused
obedience to the consuls and, overthrowing all law and magistracy,
gave the title of magistrate to their private factious leaders.
"When things are come to such a pass for us to sit here and decree
largesses and bounties for them, like those Greeks where the
populace is supreme and absolute, what would it be else," said he,
"but to take their disobedience into pay and maintain it for the
common ruin of us all? They certainly cannot look upon these
liberalities as a reward of public service, which they know they
have so often deserted; nor yet of those secessions, by which they
openly renounce their country; much less of the calumnies and slanders
they have been always so ready to entertain against the senate; but
will rather conclude that a bounty, which seems to have no other
visible cause or reason, must needs be the effect of our fear and
flattery; and will, therefore, set no limit to their disobedience, nor
ever cease from disturbances and sedition. Concession is mere madness;
if we have any wisdom and resolution at all, we shall, on the
contrary, never rest till we have recovered from them that tribunician
power they have extorted from us; as being a plain subversion of the
consulship, and a perpetual ground of separation in our city that is
no longer one, as heretofore, but has in this received such a wound
and rupture as is never likely to close and unite again, or suffer
us to be of one mind, and to give over inflaming our distempers, and
being a torment to each other."
  Marcius, with much more to this purpose, succeeded, to an
extraordinary degree, in inspiring the younger men with the same
furious sentiments, and had almost all the wealthy on his side, who
cried him up as the only person their city had, superior alike to
force and flattery; some of the older men, however, opposed him,
suspecting the consequences. As, indeed, there came no good of it; for
the tribunes, who were present, perceiving how the proposal of Marcius
took, ran out into the crowd with exclamations, calling on the
plebeians to stand together, and come in to their assistance. The
assembly met, and soon became tumultuous. The sum of what Marcius
had spoken, having been reported to the people, excited them to such
fury, that they were ready to break in upon the senate. The tribunes
prevented this, by laying all the blame on Coriolanus, whom,
therefore, they cited by their messengers to come before them and
defend himself. And when he contemptuously repulsed the officers who
brought him the summons, they came themselves, with the Aediles, or
overseers of the market, proposing to carry him away by force, and,
accordingly, began to lay hold on his person. The patricians, however,
coming to his rescue, not only thrust off the tribunes, but also
beat the Aediles, that were their seconds in the quarrel; night
approaching, put an end to the contest. But, as soon as it was day,
the consuls, observing the people to be highly exasperated, and that
they ran from all quarters and gathered in the forum, were afraid
for the whole city, so that, convening the senate afresh, they desired
them to advise how they might best compose and pacify the incensed
multitude by equitable language and indulgent decrees; since, if
they wisely considered the state of things, they would find that it
was no time to stand upon terms of honour and a mere point of glory;
such a critical conjuncture called for gentle methods, and for
temperate and humane counsels. The majority, therefore, of the
senators giving way, the consuls proceeded to pacify the people in the
best manner they were able, answering gently to such imputations and
charges as had been cast upon the senate, and using much tenderness
and moderation in the admonitions and reproofs they gave them. On
the point of the price of provisions, they said there should be no
difference at all between them. When a great part of the commonalty
was grown cool, and it appeared from their orderly and peaceful
behaviour that they had been very much appeased by what they had
heard, the tribunes, standing up, declared, in the name of the people,
that since the senate was pleased to act soberly and do them reason,
they, likewise, should be ready to yield in all that was fair and
equitable on their side; they must insist, however, that Marcius
should give in his answer to the several charges as follows: first,
could he deny that he instigated the senate to overthrow the
government and annul the privileges of the people? and, in the next
place, when called to account for it, did he not disobey the
summons? and, lastly, by the blows and other public affronts to the
Aediles, had he not done all he could to commence a civil war?
  These articles were brought in against him, with a design either
to humble Marcius, and show his submission, if, contrary to his
nature, he should now court and sue the people; or, if he should
follow his natural disposition, which they rather expected from
their judgment of his character, then that he might thus make the
breach final between himself and the people.
  He came, therefore, as it were, to make his apology, and clear
himself; in which belief the people kept silence, and gave him a quiet
hearing. But when, instead of the submissive and deprecatory
language expected from him, he began to use not only an offensive kind
of freedom, seeming rather to accuse than apologize, but, as well by
the tone of his voice as the air of his countenance, displayed a
security that was not far from disdain and contempt of them, the whole
multitude then became angry, and gave evident signs of impatience
and disgust; and Sicinnius, the most violent of the tribunes, after
a little private conference with his colleagues, proceeded solemnly to
pronounce before them all, that Marcius was condemned to die by the
tribunes of the people, and bid the Aediles take him to the Tarpeian
rock, and without delay throw him headlong from the precipice. When
they, however, in compliance with the order, came to seize upon his
body, many, even of the plebeian party, felt it to be a horrible and
extravagant act; the patricians, meantime, wholly beside themselves
with distress and horror, hurried up with cries to the rescue; and
while some made actual use of their hands to hinder the arrest, and
surrounding Marcius, got him in among them, others, as in so great a
tumult no good could be done by words, stretched out theirs,
beseeching the multitude that they would not proceed to such furious
extremities; and at length, the friends and acquaintance of the
tribunes, wisely perceiving how impossible it would be to carry off
Marcius to punishment without much bloodshed and slaughter of the
nobility, persuaded them to forbear everything unusual and odious; not
to despatch him by any sudden violence, or without regular process,
but refer the cause to the general suffrage of the people. Sicinnius
then, after a little pause, turning to the patricians, demanded what
their meaning was, thus forcibly to rescue Marcius out of the people's
hands, as they were going to punish him; when it was replied by
them, on the other side, and the question put, "Rather, how came it
into your minds, and what is it you design, thus to drag one of the
worthiest men of Rome, without trial, to a barbarous and illegal
execution?" "Very well," said Sicinnius, "you shall have no ground
in this respect for quarrel or complaint against the people. The
people grant your request, and your partisan shall be tried. We
appoint you, Marcius," directing his speech to him, "the third
market-day ensuing, to appear and defend yourself, and to try if you
can satisfy the Roman citizens of your innocence, who will then
judge your case by vote." The patricians were content with such a
truce and respite for that time, and gladly returned home, having
for the present brought off Marcius in safety.
  During the interval before the appointed time (for the Romans hold
their sessions every ninth day, which from that cause are called
mundinoe in Latin), a war fell out with the Antiates, likely to be
of some continuance, which gave them hope they might one way or
other elude the judgment. The people, they presumed, would become
tractable, and their indignation lessen and languish by degrees in
so long a space, if occupation and war did not wholly put it out of
their mind. But when, contrary to expectation, they made a speedy
agreement with the people of Antium. and the army came back to Rome,
the patricians were again in great perplexity, and had frequent
meetings to consider how things might be arranged, without either
abandoning Marcius, or yet giving occasion to the popular orators to
create new disorders. Appius Claudius, whom they counted among the
senators most averse to the popular interest, made a solemn
declaration, and told them beforehand, that the senate would utterly
destroy itself and betray the government, if they should once suffer
the people to assume the authority of pronouncing sentence upon any of
the patricians; but the oldest senators and most favourable to the
people maintained, on the other side, that the people would not be
so harsh and severe upon them, as some were pleased to imagine, but
rather become more gentle and humane upon the concession of that
power, since it was not contempt of the senate, but the impression
of being contemned by it, which made them pretend to such a
prerogative. Let that he once allowed them as a mark of respect and
kind feeling, and the mere possession of this power of voting would at
once dispossess them of their animosity.
  When, therefore, Marcius saw that the senate was in pain and
suspense upon his account, divided, as it were, betwixt their kindness
for him and their apprehensions from the people, he desired to know of
the tribunes what the crimes were they intended to charge him with,
and what the heads of the indictment they would oblige him to plead to
before the people; and being told by them that he was to be
impeached for attempting usurpation, and that they would prove him
guilty of designing to establish arbitrary government, stepping
forth upon this, "Let me go then," he said, "to clear myself from that
imputation before an assembly of them; I freely offer myself to any
sort of trial, nor do I refuse any kind of punishment whatsoever;
only," he continued, "let what you now mention be really made my
accusation, and do not you play false with the senate." On their
consenting to these terms, he came to his trial. But when the people
met together, the tribunes, contrary to all former practice,
extorted first, that votes should be taken, not by centuries, but
tribes; a change, by which the indigent and factious rabble, that
had no respect for honesty and justice, would be sure to carry it
against those who were rich and well known, and accustomed to serve
the state in war. In the next place, whereas they had engaged to
prosecute Marcius upon no other head but that of tyranny, which
could never be made out against him, they relinquished this plea,
and urged instead, his language in the senate against an abasement
of the price of corn, and for the overthrow of the tribunician
power; adding further, as a new impeachment, the distribution that was
made by him of the spoil and booty he had taken from the Antiates,
when he overran their country, which he had divided among those that
had followed him, whereas it ought rather to have been brought into
the public treasury; which last accusation did, they say, more
discompose Marcius than all the rest, as he had not anticipated he
should ever be questioned on that subject, and, therefore, was less
provided with any satisfactory answer to it on the sudden. And when,
by way of excuse, he began to magnify the merits of those who had been
partakers with him in the action, those that had stayed at home, being
more numerous than the other, interrupted him with outcries. In
conclusion, when they came to vote, a majority of three tribes
condemned him; the penalty being perpetual banishment. The sentence of
his condemnation being pronounced, the people went away with greater
triumph and exultation than they had ever shown for any victory over
enemies; while the senate was in grief and deep dejection, repenting
now and vexed to the soul that they had not done and suffered all
things rather than give way to the insolence of the people, and permit
them to assume and abuse so great an authority. There was no need then
to look at men's dresses, or other marks of distinction, to know one
from another: any one who was glad was, beyond all doubt, a
plebeian, any one who looked sorrowful, a patrician.
  Marcius alone, himself, was neither stunned nor humiliated. In mien,
carriage, and countenance he bore the appearance of entire
composure, and, while all his friends were full of distress, seemed
the only man that was not touched with his misfortune. Not that either
reflection taught him, or gentleness of temper made it natural for him
to submit: he was wholly possessed, on the contrary, with a profound
and deep-seated fury, which passes with many for no pain at all. And
pain, it is true, transmuted, so to say, by its own fiery heat into
anger, loses every appearance of depression and feebleness; the
angry man makes a show of energy, as the man in a high fever does of
natural heat, while, in fact, all this action of the soul is but
mere diseased palpitation, distension, and inflammation. That such was
his distempered state appeared presently plainly enough in his
actions. On his return home, after saluting his mother and his wife,
who were all in tears and full of loud lamentations, and exhorting
them to moderate the sense they had of his calamity, he proceeded at
once to the city gates, whither all the nobility came to attend him;
and so not so much as taking anything with him, or making any
request to the company, he departed from them, having only three or
four clients with him. He continued solitary for a few days in a place
in the country, distracted with a variety of counsels, such as rage
and indignation suggested to him; and proposing to himself no
honourable or useful end, but only how he might best satisfy his
revenge on the Romans, he resolved at length to raise up a heavy war
against them from their nearest neighbours. He determined, first to
make trial of the Volscians, whom he knew to be still vigorous and
flourishing, both in men and treasure, and he imagined their force and
power was not so much abated as their spite and anger increased by the
late overthrows they had received from the Romans.
  There was a man of Antium, called Tullus Aufidius, who, for his
wealth and bravery and the splendour of his family, had the respect
and privilege of a king among the Volscians, but whom Marcius knew
to have a particular hostility to himself, above all other Romans.
Frequent menaces and challenges had passed in battle between them, and
those exchanges of defiance to which their hot and eager emulation
is apt to prompt young soldiers had added private animosity to their
national feelings of opposition. Yet for all this, considering
Tullus to have a certain generosity of temper, and knowing that no
Volscian, so much as he, desired an occasion to requite upon the
Romans the evils they had done, he did what much confirms the
saying, that-

        "Hard and unequal is with wrath the strife,
         Which makes us buy its pleasure with our life."

Putting on such a dress as would make him appear to any whom he
might meet most unlike what he really was, like Ulysses-

        "The town be entered of his mortal foes."

  His arrival at Antium was about evening, and, though several met him
in the streets, yet he passed along without being known to any and
went directly to the house of Tullus, and, entering undiscovered,
and went up to the fire-hearth, and seated himself there without
speaking a word, covering up his head. Those of the family could not
but wonder, and yet they were afraid either to raise or question
him, for there was a certain air of majesty both in his posture and
silence, but they recounted to Tullus, being then at supper, the
strangeness of this accident. He immediately rose from table and
came in, and asked who he was and for what business be came thither;
and then Marcius, unmuffling himself, and pausing awhile, "If," said
he, "you cannot call me to mind, Tullus, or do not believe your eyes
concerning me, I must of necessity be my own accuser. I am Caius
Marcius, the author of so much mischief to the Volscians; of which,
were I seeking to deny it, the surname of Coriolanus I now bear
would be a sufficient evidence against me. The one recompense I have
received for all the hardships and perils I have gone through was
the title that proclaims my enmity to your nation, and this is the
only thing which is still left me. Of all other advantages, I have
been stripped and deprived by the envy and outrage of the Roman
people, and the cowardice and treachery of the magistrates and those
of my own order. I am driven out as an exile, and become an humble
suppliant at your hearth, not so much for safety and protection
(should I have come hither, had I been afraid to die?) as to seek
vengeance against those that expelled me; which, methinks, I have
already obtained, by putting myself into your hands. If, therefore,
you have really a mind to attack your enemies, come then, make use
of that affliction you see me in to assist the enterprise, and convert
my personal infelicity into a common blessing to the Volscians; as,
indeed, I am likely to be more serviceable in fighting for than
against you, with the advantage which I now possess, of knowing all
the secrets of the enemy that I am attacking. But if you decline to
make any further attempts I am neither desirous to live myself, nor
will it be well in you to preserve a person who has been your rival
and adversary of old, and now, when he offers you his service, appears
unprofitable and useless to you."
  Tullus, on hearing this, was extremely rejoiced, and giving him
his right hand, exclaimed, "Rise, Marcius, and be of good courage;
it is a great happiness you bring to Antium, in the present use you
make of yourself; expect everything that is good from the
Volscians." He then proceeded to feast and entertain him with every
display of kindness, and for several days after they were in close
deliberation together on the prospects of a war.
  While this design was forming, there were great troubles and
commotions at Rome, from the animosity of the senators against the
people, heightened just now by the late condemnation of Marcius.
Besides that their soothsayers and priests, and even private
persons, reported signs and prodigies not to be neglected; one of
which is stated to have occurred as follows: Titus Latinus, a man of
ordinary condition, but of a quiet and virtuous character, free from
all superstitious fancies, and yet more from vanity and
exaggeration, had an apparition in his sleep, as if Jupiter came and
bade him tell the senate, that it was with a bad and unacceptable
dancer that they had headed his procession. Having beheld the
vision, he said, he did not much attend to it at the first appearance;
but after he had seen and slighted it a second and third time, he
had lost a hopeful son, and was himself struck with a palsy. He was
brought into the senate on a litter to tell this, and the story goes
that he had no sooner delivered his message there, but he at once felt
his strength return and got upon his legs, and went home alone without
need of any support. The senators, in wonder and surprise, made a
diligent search into the matter. That which his dream alluded to was
this: some citizen had, for some heinous offence, given up a servant
of his to the rest of his fellows with charge to whip him first
through the market, and then to kill him; and while they were
executing this command, and scourging the wretch, who screwed and
turned himself into all manner of shapes and unseemly motions, through
the pain he was in, the solemn procession in honour of Jupiter chanced
to follow at their heels. Several of the attendants on which were,
indeed, scandalized at the sight, yet no one of them interfered, or
acted further in the matter than merely to utter some common
reproaches and execrations on a master who inflicted so cruel a
punishment. For the Romans treated their slaves with great humanity in
these times, when, working and labouring themselves, and living
together among them, they naturally were more gentle and familiar with
them. It was one of the severest punishments for a slave who had
committed a fault to have to take the piece of wood which supports the
pole of a wagon, and carry it about through the neighbourhood; a slave
who had once undergone the shame of this, and been thus seen by the
household and the neighbours, had no longer any trust or credit
among them, and had the name of furcifer; furca being the Latin word
for a prop, or support.
  When, therefore, Latinus had related his dream, and the senators
were considering who this disagreeable and ungainly dancer could be,
some of the company, having been struck with the strangeness of the
punishment, called to mind and mentioned the miserable slave who was
lashed through the streets and afterwards put to death. The priests,
when consulted, confirmed the conjecture; the master was punished; and
orders given for a new celebration of the procession and the
spectacles in honour of the god. Numa, in other respects also a wise
arranger of religious offices, would seem to have been especially
judicious in his direction, with a view to the attentiveness of the
people, that, when the magistrates or priests performed any divine
worship, a herald should go before, and proclaim with a loud voice,
Hoc age, Do this you are about, and so warn them to mind whatever
sacred action they were engaged in, and not suffer any business or
worldly avocation to disturb and interrupt it; most of the things
which men do of this kind being in manner forced from them, and
effected by constraint. It is usual with the Romans to recommence
their sacrifices and processions and spectacles, not only upon such
a cause as this, but for any slighter reason. If but one of the horses
which drew the chariots called Tensae, upon which the images of
their gods were placed, happened to fail and falter, or if the
driver took hold of the reins with his left hand, they would decree
that the whole operation should commence anew; and, in latter ages,
one and the same sacrifice was performed thirty times over, because of
the occurrence of some defect or mistake or accident in the service.
Such was the Roman reverence and caution in religious matters.
  Marcius and Tullus were now secretly discoursing of their project
with the chief men of Antium, advising them to invade the Romans while
they were at variance among themselves. And when shame appeared to
hinder them from embracing the motion, as they had sworn to a truce
and cessation of arms for the space of two years, the Romans
themselves soon furnished them with a pretence, by making
proclamation, out of some jealousy or slanderous report, in the
midst of the spectacles, that all the Volscians who had come to see
them should depart the city before sunset. Some affirm that this was a
contrivance of Marcius, who sent a man privately to the consuls,
falsely to accuse the Volscians of intending to fall upon the Romans
during the games, and to set the city on fire. This public affront
roused and inflamed their hostility to the Romans; and Tullus,
perceiving it, made his advantage of it, aggravating the fact, and
working on their indignation, till he persuaded them, at last, to
despatch ambassadors to Rome, requiring the Romans to restore that
part of their country and those towns which they had taken from the
Volscians in the late war. When the Romans heard the message, they
indignantly replied that the Volscians were the first that took up
arms, but the Romans would be the last to lay them down. This answer
being brought back, Tullus called a general assembly of the Volscians;
and the vote passing for a war, he then proposed that they should call
in Marcius, laying aside the remembrance of former grudges, and
assuring themselves that the services they should now receive from him
as a friend and associate would abundantly outweigh any harm or damage
he had done them when he was their enemy. Marcius was accordingly
summoned, and having made his entrance, and spoken to the people,
won their good opinion of his capacity, his skill, counsel, and
boldness, not less by his present words than by his past actions. They
joined him in commission with Tullus, to have full power as the
general of their forces in all that related to the war. And he,
fearing lest the time that would be requisite to bring all the
Volscians together in full preparation might be so long as to lose him
the opportunity of action, left order with the chief persons and
magistrates of the city to provide other things, while he himself,
prevailing upon the most forward to assemble and march out with him as
volunteers without staying to be enrolled, made a sudden inroad into
the Roman confines, when nobody expected him, and possessed himself of
so much booty, that the Volscians found they had more than they
could either carry away or use in the camp. The abundance of provision
which he gained, and the waste and havoc of the country which he made,
were, however, of themselves and in his account, the smallest
results of that invasion; the great mischief he intended, and his
special object in all, was to increase at Rome the suspicions
entertained of the patricians, and to make them upon worse terms
with the people. With this view, while spoiling all the fields and
destroying the property of other men, he took special care to preserve
their farms and lands untouched, and would not allow his soldiers to
ravage there, or seize upon anything which belonged to them. From
hence their invectives and quarrels against one another broke out
afresh, and rose to a greater height than ever; the senators
reproaching those of the commonalty with their late injustice to
Marcius; while the plebeians, on their side did not hesitate to accuse
them of having, out of spite and revenge, solicited him to this
enterprise, and thus, when others were involved in the miseries of a
war by their means, they sat like unconcerned spectators, as being
furnished with a guardian and protector abroad of their wealth and
fortunes, in the very person of the public enemy. After this incursion
and exploit, which was of great advantage to the Volscians, as they
learned by it to grow more hardy and to contemn their enemy, Marcius
drew them off, and returned in safety.
  But when the whole strength of the Volscians was brought together in
the field, with great expedition and alacrity, it appeared so
considerable a body, that they agreed to leave part in garrison, for
the security of their towns, and with the other part to march
against the Romans. Marcius now desired Tullus to choose which of
the two charges would be most agreeable to him. Tullus answered that
since he knew Marcius to be equally valiant with himself, and far more
fortunate, he would have him take the command of those that were going
out to the war, while he made it his care to defend their cities at
home and provide all conveniences for the army abroad. Marcius, thus
reinforced, and much stronger than before, moved first towards the
city called Circaeum, a Roman colony. He received its surrender and
did the inhabitants no injury; passing thence, he entered and laid
waste the country of the Latins, where he expected the Romans would
meet him, as the Latins were their confederates and allies, and had
often sent to demand succours from them. The people, however, on their
part, showing little inclination for the service, and the consuls
themselves being unwilling to run the hazard of a battle, when the
time of their office was almost ready to expire, they dismissed the
Latin ambassadors without any effect; so that Marcius, finding no army
to oppose him, marched up to their cities, and having taken by force
Toleria, Lavici, Peda, and Bola, all of which offered resistance,
not only plundered their houses, but made a prey likewise of their
persons. Meantime he showed particular regard for all such as came
over to his party, and, for fear they might sustain any damage against
his will, encamped at the greatest distance he could, and wholly
abstained from the lands of their property.
  After, however, that he had made himself master of Bola, a town
not above ten miles from Rome, where he found great treasure, and
put almost all the adults to the sword; and when on this, the other
Volscians that were ordered to stay behind and protect their cities,
hearing of his achievements and success, had not patience to remain
any longer at home, but came hastening in their arms to Marcius,
saying that he alone was their general and the sole commander they
would own; with all this, his name and renown spread throughout all
Italy, and universal wonder prevailed at the sudden and mighty
revolution in the fortunes of two nations which the loss and the
accession of a single man had effected.
  All at Rome was in great disorder; they were utterly averse from
fighting, and spent their whole time in cabals and disputes and
reproaches against each other; until news was brought that the enemy
had laid close siege to Lavinium, where were the images and sacred
things of their tutelar gods, and from whence they derived the
origin of their nation, that being the first city which Aeneas built
in Italy. These tidings produced a change as universal as it was
extraordinary in the thoughts and inclinations of the people, but
occasioned a yet stranger revulsion of feelings among the
patricians. The people now were for repealing the sentence against
Marcius, and calling him back into the city; whereas the senate, being
assembled to preconsider the decree, opposed and finally rejected
the proposal, either out of the mere humour of contradicting and
withstanding the people in whatever they should desire, or because
they were unwilling, perhaps, that he should owe his restoration to
their kindness; or having now conceived a displeasure against
Marcius himself, who was bringing distress upon all alike, though he
had not been ill-treated by all, and was become a declared enemy to
his whole country, though he knew well enough that the principal and
all the better men condoled with him and suffered in his injuries.
  This resolution of theirs being made public, the people could
proceed no further, having no authority to pass anything by
suffrage, and enact it for a law, without a previous decree from the
senate. When Marcius heard of this, he was more exasperated than ever,
and, quitting the siege of Lavinium, marched furiously towards Rome,
and encamped at a place called the Cluilian ditches, about five
miles from the city. The nearness of his approach did, indeed,
create much terror and disturbance, yet it also ended their
dissensions for the present; as nobody now, whether consul or senator,
durst any longer contradict the people in their design of recalling
Marcius; but, seeing their women running affrighted up and down the
streets, and the old men at prayer in every temple with tears and
supplications, and that, in short, there was a general absence among
them both of courage and wisdom to provide for their own safety,
they came at last to be all of one mind, that the people had been in
the right to propose as they did a reconciliation with Marcius, and
that the senate was guilty of a fatal error to begin a quarrel with
him when it was a time to forget offences, and they should have
studied rather to appease him. It was, therefore, unanimously agreed
by all parties, that ambassadors should be despatched, offering him
return to his country, and desiring he would free them from the
terrors and distresses of the war. The persons sent by the senate with
this message were chosen out of his kindred and acquaintance, who
naturally expected a very kind reception at their first interview,
upon the score of that relation and their old familiarity and
friendship with him; in which, however, they were much mistaken. Being
led through the enemy's camp, they found him sitting in state amidst
the chief men of the Volscians, looking insupportably proud and
arrogant. He bade them declare the cause of their coming, which they
did in the most gentle and tender terms, and with a behaviour suitable
to their language. When they had made an end of speaking, he
returned them a sharp answer, full of bitterness and angry resentment,
as to what concerned himself and the ill-usage he had received from
them; but as general of the Volscians, he demanded restitution of
the cities and the lands which had been seized upon during the late
war, and that the same rights and franchises should be granted them at
Rome, which had been before accorded to the Latins; since there
could be no assurance that a peace would be firm and lasting without
fair and just conditions on both sides. He allowed them thirty days to
consider and resolve.
  The ambassadors being departed, he withdrew his forces out of the
Roman territory. This, those of the Volscians who had long envied
his reputation, and could not endure to see the influence he had
with the people, laid hold of, as the first matter of complaint
against him. Among them was also Tullus himself, not for any wrong
done him personally by Marcius, but through the weakness incident to
human nature, He could not help feeling mortified to find his own
glory thus totally obscured, and himself overlooked and neglected
now by the Volscians, who had so great an opinion of their new leader,
that he alone was all to them, while other captains, they thought,
should be content with that share of power which he might think fit to
accord. From hence the first seeds of complaint and accusation were
scattered about in secret, and the malcontents met and heightened each
other's indignation, saying, that to retreat as he did was in effect
to betray and deliver up though not their cities and their arms, yet
what was as bad, the critical times and opportunities for action, on
which depend the preservation or the loss of everything else; since in
less than thirty days' space, for which he had given a respite for the
war, there might happen the greatest changes in the world. Yet Marcius
spent not any part of the time idly, but attacked the confederates
of the enemy, ravaged their land, and took from them seven great and
populous cities in that interval. The Romans, in the meanwhile,
durst not venture out to their relief; but were utterly fearful, and
showed no more disposition or capacity for action than if their bodies
had been struck with a palsy, and became destitute of sense and
motion. But when the thirty days were expired, and Marcius appeared
again with his whole army, they sent another embassy, to beseech him
that he would moderate his displeasure and would withdraw the Volscian
army, and then make any proposals he thought best for both parties;
the Romans would make no concessions to menaces, but if it were his
opinion that the Volscians ought to have any favour shown them, upon
laying down their arms they might obtain all they could in reason
desire.
  The reply of Marcius was, that he should make no answer to this as
general of the Volscians, but, in the quality still of a Roman
citizen, he would advise and exhort them, as the case stood, not to
carry it so high, but think rather of just compliance, and return to
him, before three days were at an end, with a ratification of his
previous demands; otherwise, they must understand that they could
not have any further freedom of passing through his camp upon idle
errands.
  When the ambassadors were come back, and had acquainted the senate
with the answer, seeing the whole state now threatened as it were by a
tempest, and the waves ready to overwhelm them, they were forced, as
we say in extreme perils, to let down the sacred anchor. A decree
was made, that the whole order of their priests, those who initiated
in the mysteries or had the custody of them, and those who,
according to the ancient practice of the country, divined from
birds, should all and every one of them go in full procession to
Marcius with their pontifical array, and the dress and habit which
they respectively used in their several functions, and should urge
him, as before, to withdraw his forces, and then treat with his
countrymen in favour of the Volscians. He consented so far, indeed, as
to give the deputation an admittance into his camp, but granted
nothing at all, nor so much as expressed himself more mildly; but
without capitulating or receding, bade them once for all choose
whether they would yield or fight, since the old terms were the only
terms of peace. When this solemn application proved ineffectual, the
priests, too, returning unsuccessful, they determined to sit still
within the city and keep watch about their walls, intending only to
repulse the enemy, should he offer to attack them, and placing their
hopes chiefly in time and in extraordinary accidents of fortune; as to
themselves, they felt incapable of doing anything for their own
deliverance; mere confusion and terror and ill-boding reports
possessed the whole city; till at last a thing happened not unlike
what we so often find represented, without, however, being accepted as
true by people in general, in Homer. On some great and unusual
occasion we find him say-

        "But him the blue-eyed goddess did inspire;

and elsewhere-

        "But some immortal turned my mind away,
         To think what others of the deed would say;"

and again-

        "Were't his own thought or were't a god's command?"

People are apt, in such passages, to censure and disregard the poet as
if, by the introduction of mere impossibilities and idle fictions,
he were denying the action of a man's own deliberate thought and
free choice; which is not, in the least, the case in Homer's
representation, where the ordinary, probable, and habitual conclusions
that common reason leads to are continually ascribed to our own direct
agency. He certainly says frequently enough-

        "But I consulted with my own great soul;"

or, as in another passage-

        "He spoke. Achilles, with quick pain possessed,
         Resolved two purposes in his strong breast;

and in a third

        "-Yet never to her wishes won
         The just mind of the brave Bellerophon."

  But where the act is something out of the way and extraordinary, and
seems in a manner to demand some impulse of divine possession and
sudden inspiration to account for it, here he does introduce divine
agency, not to destroy, but to prompt the human will; not to create in
us another agency, but offering images to stimulate our own; images
that in no sort or kind make our action involuntary, but give occasion
rather to spontaneous action, aided and sustained by feelings of
confidence and hope. For either we must totally dismiss and exclude
divine influences from every kind of causality and origination in what
we do, or else what other way can we conceive in which divine aid
and cooperation can act? Certainly we cannot suppose that the divine
beings actually and literally turn our bodies and direct our hands and
our feet this way or that, to do what is right: it is obvious that
they must actuate the practical and elective element of our nature, by
certain initial occasions, by images presented to the imagination, and
thoughts suggested to the mind, such either as to excite it to, or
avert and withhold it from, any particular course.
  In the perplexity which I have described, the Roman women went, some
to other temples, but the greater part, and the ladies of highest
rank, to the altar of Jupiter Capitolinus. Among these suppliants
was Valeria, sister to the great Poplicola, who did the Romans eminent
service both in peace and war. Poplicola himself was now deceased,
as is told in the history of his life; but Valeria lived still, and
enjoyed great respect and honour at Rome, her life and conduct no
way disparaging her birth. She, suddenly seized with the sort of
instinct or emotion of mind which I have described, and happily
lighting, not without divine guidance, on the right expedient, both
rose herself, and bade the others rise, and went directly with them to
the house of Volumnia, the mother of Marcius. And coming in and
finding her sitting with her daughter-in-law, and with her little
grandchildren on her lap, Valeria, then surrounded by her female
companions, spoke in the name of them all:-
  "We that now make our appearance, O Volumnia, and you, Vergilia, are
come as mere women to women, not by direction of the senate, or an
order from the consuls, or the appointment of any other magistrate;
but the divine being himself, as I conceive, moved to compassion by
our prayers, prompted us to visit you in a body, and request a thing
on which our own and the common safety depends, and which, if you
consent to it, will raise your glory above that of the daughters of
the Sabines, who won over their fathers and their husbands from mortal
enmity to peace and friendship. Arise and come with us to Marcius;
join in our supplication, and bear for your country this true and just
testimony on her behalf; that, notwithstanding the many mischiefs that
have been done her, yet she has never outraged you, nor so much as
thought of treating you ill, in all her resentment, but does now
restore you safe into his hands, though there be small likelihood
she should obtain from him any equitable terms."
  The words of Valeria were seconded by the acclamations of the
other women, to which Volumnia made answer:-
  "I and Vergilia, my country-women, have an equal share with you
all in the common miseries, and we have the additional sorrow, which
is wholly ours, that we have lost the merit and good fame of
Marcius, and see his person confined, rather than protected, by the
arms of the enemy. Yet I account this the greatest of all misfortunes,
if indeed the affairs of Rome be sunk to so feeble a state as to
have their last dependence upon us. For it is hardly imaginable he
should have any consideration left for us, when he has no regard for
the country which he was wont to prefer before his mother and wife and
children. Make use, however, of our service; and lead us, if you
please, to him; we are able, if nothing more, at least to spend our
last breath in making suit to him for our country."
  Having spoken thus, she took Vergilia by the hand, and the young
children, and so accompanied them to the Volscian camp. So
lamentable a sight much affected the enemies themselves, who viewed
them in respectful silence. Marcius was then sitting in his place,
with his chief officers about him, and, seeing the party of women
advance toward them, wondered what should be the matter; but
perceiving at length that his mother was at the head of them, he would
fain have hardened himself in his former inexorable temper, but,
overcome by his feelings, and confounded at what he saw, he did not
endure they should approach him sitting in state, but came down
hastily to meet them, saluting his mother first, and embracing her a
long time, and then his wife and children, sparing neither tears nor
caresses, but suffering himself to be borne away and carried headlong,
as it were, by the impetuous violence of his passion.
  When he had satisfied himself, and observed that his mother Volumnia
was desirous to say something, the Volscian council being first called
in, he heard her to the following effect: "Our dress and our very
persons, my son, might tell you, though we should say nothing
ourselves, in how forlorn a condition we have lived at home since your
banishment and absence from us; and now consider with yourself,
whether we may not pass for the most unfortunate of all women, to have
that sight, which should be the sweetest that we could see, converted,
through I know not what fatality, to one of all others the most
formidable and dreadful,- Volumnia to behold her son, and Vergilia her
husband, in arms against the walls of Rome. Even prayer itself, whence
others gain comfort and relief in all manner of misfortunes, is that
which most adds to our confusion and distress; since our best wishes
are inconsistent with themselves, nor can we at the same time petition
the gods for Rome's victory and your preservation, but what the
worst of our enemies would imprecate as a curse, is the very object of
our vows. Your wife and children are under the sad necessity, that
they must either be deprived of you or of their native soil. As for
myself, I am resolved not to wait till war shall determine this
alternative for me; but if I cannot prevail with you to prefer amity
and concord to quarrel and hostility, and to be the benefactor to both
parties rather than the destroyer of one of them, be assured of this
from me, and reckon steadfastly upon it, that you shall not be able to
reach your country, unless you trample first upon the corpse of her
that brought you into life. For it will be ill in me to wait and
loiter in the world till the day wherein I shall see a child of
mine, either led in triumph by his own countrymen, or triumphing
over them. Did I require you to save your country by ruining the
Volscians, then, I confess, my son, the case would be hard for you
to solve. It is base to bring destitution on our fellow-citizens; it
is unjust to betray those who have placed their confidence in us. But,
as it is, we do but desire a deliverance equally expedient for them
and us; only more glorious and honourable on the Volscian side, who,
as superior in arms, will be thought freely to bestow the two greatest
of blessings, peace and friendship, even when they themselves
receive the same. If we obtain these, the common thanks will be
chiefly due to you as the principal cause; but if they be not granted,
you alone must expect to bear the blame from both nations. The
chance of all war is uncertain, yet thus much is certain in the
present, that you, by conquering Rome, will only get the reputation of
having undone your country; but if the Volscians happen to be defeated
under your conduct, then the world will say, that, to satisfy a
revengeful humour, you brought misery on your friends and patrons."
  Marcius listened to his mother while she spoke without answering her
a word; and Volumnia, seeing him stand mute also for a long time after
she had ceased, resumed: "O my son," said she, "what is the meaning of
this silence? Is it a duty to postpone everything to a sense of
injuries, and wrong to gratify a mother in a request like this? Is
it the characteristic of a great man to remember wrongs that have been
done him, and not the part of a great and good man to remember
benefits such as those that children receive from parents, and to
requite them with honour and respect? You, methinks, who are so
relentless in the punishment of the ungrateful, should not be more
careless than others to be grateful yourself. You have punished your
country already; you have not yet paid your debt to me. Nature and
religion, surely unattended by any constraint, should have won your
consent to petitions so worthy and so just as these; but if it must be
so, I will even use my last resource." Having said this, she threw
herself down at his feet, as did also his wife and children; upon
which Marcius, crying out, "O mother! what is it you have done to me!"
raised her up from the ground, and pressing her right hand with more
than ordinary vehemence, "You have gained a victory," said he,
"fortunate enough for the Romans, but destructive to your son; whom
you, though none else, have defeated." After which, and a little
private conference with his mother and his wife, he sent them back
again to Rome, as they desired of him.
  The next morning, he broke up his camp, and led the Volscians
homeward, variously affected with what he had done; some of them
complaining of him and condemning his act, others, who were inclined
to a peaceful conclusion, unfavourable to neither. A third party,
while much disliking his proceedings, yet could not look upon
Marcius as a treacherous person, but thought it pardonable in him to
be thus shaken and driven to surrender at last, under such compulsion.
None, however, opposed his commands; they all obediently followed him,
though rather from admiration of his virtue, than any regard they
now had to his authority. The Roman people, meantime, more effectually
manifested how much fear and danger they had been in while the war
lasted, by their deportment after they were freed from it. Those
that guarded the walls had no sooner given notice that the Volscians
were dislodged and drawn off, but they set open all their temples in a
moment, and began to crown themselves with garlands and prepare for
sacrifice, as they were wont to do upon tidings brought of any
signal victory. But the joy and transport of the whole city was
chiefly remarkable in the honours and marks of affection paid to the
women, as well by the senate as the people in general; every one
declaring that they were, beyond all question, the instruments of
the public safety. And the senate having passed a decree that
whatsoever they would ask in the way of any favour or honour should be
allowed and done for them by the magistrates, they demanded simply
that a temple might be erected to Female Fortune, the expense of which
they offered to defray out of their own contributions, if the city
would be at the cost of sacrifices, and other matters pertaining to
the due honour of the gods, out of the common treasury. The senate,
much commending their public spirit, caused the temple to be built and
a statue set up in it at the public charge; they, however, made up a
sum among themselves for a second image of Fortune, which the Romans
say uttered, as it was putting up, words to this effect, "Blessed of
the gods, O women, is your gift."
  These words, they profess, were repeated a second time, expecting
our belief of what seems pretty nearly an impossibility. It may be
possible enough that statues may seem to sweat, and to run with tears,
and to stand with certain dewy drops of a sanguine colour; for
timber and stones are frequently known to contract a kind of scurf and
rottenness, productive of moisture; and various tints may form on
the surfaces, both from within and from the action of the air outside;
and by these signs it is not absurd to imagine that the deity may
forewarn us. It may happen, also, that images and statues may
sometimes make a noise not unlike that of a moan or groan, through a
rupture or violent internal separation of the parts; but that an
articulate voice, and such express words, and language so clear and
exact and elaborate, should proceed from inanimate things is, in my
judgment, a thing utterly out of possibility. For it was never known
that either the soul of man, or the deity himself, uttered vocal
sounds and language, alone, without an organized body and members
fitted for speech. But where history seems in a manner to force our
assent by the concurrence of numerous and credible witnesses, we are
to conclude that an impression distinct from sensation affects the
imaginative part of our nature, and then carries away the judgment, so
as to believe it to be a sensation; just as in sleep we fancy we see
and hear, without really doing either. Persons, however, whose
strong feelings of reverence to the deity, and tenderness for
religion, will not allow them to deny or invalidate anything of this
kind, have certainly a strong argument for their faith, in the
wonderful and transcendent character of the divine power; which admits
no manner of comparison with ours, either in its nature or its action,
the modes or the strength of its operations. It is no contradiction to
reason that it should do things that we cannot do, and effect what for
us is impracticable: differing from us in all respects, in its acts
yet more than in other points we may well believe it to be unlike us
and remote from us. Knowledge of divine things for the most part, as
Heraclitus says, is lost to us by incredulity.
  When Marcius came back to Antium, Tullus, who thoroughly hated and
greatly feared him, proceeded at once to contrive how he might
immediately despatch him, as, if he escaped now, he was never likely
to give him such another advantage. Having therefore got together
and suborned several partisans against him, he required Marcius to
resign his charge, and give the Volscians an account of his
administration. He, apprehending the danger of a private condition,
while Tullus held the office of general and exercised the greatest
power among his fellow-citizens, made answer, that he was ready to lay
down his commission, whenever those from whose common authority he had
received it should think fit to recall it, and that in the meantime he
was ready to give the Antiates satisfaction, as to all particulars
of his conduct, if they were desirous of it.
  An assembly was called and popular speakers, as had been
concerted, came forward to exasperate and incense the multitude; but
when Marcius stood up to answer, the more unruly and tumultuous part
of the people became quiet on a sudden, and out of reverence allowed
him to speak without the least disturbance; while all the better
people, and such as were satisfied with a peace, made it evident by
their whole behaviour, that they would give him a favourable
hearing, and judge and pronounce according to equity.
  Tullus, therefore, began to dread the issue of the defence he was
going to make for himself; for he was an admirable speaker, and the
former services he had done the Volscians had procured and still
preserved for him greater kindness than could be outweighed by any
blame for his late conduct. Indeed, the very accusation itself was a
proof and testimony of the greatness of his merits, since people could
never have complained or thought themselves wronged, because Rome
was not brought into their power, but that by his means they had
come so near to taking it. For these reasons, the conspirators
judged it prudent not to make any further delays, nor to test the
general feeling; but the boldest of their faction, crying out that
they ought not to listen to a traitor, nor allow him still to retain
office and play the tyrant among them, fell upon Marcius in a body,
and slew him there, none of those that were present offering to defend
him. But it quickly appeared that the action was in nowise approved by
the majority of the Volscians, who hurried out of their several cities
to show respect to his corpse; to which they gave honourable
interment, adorning his sepulchre with arms and trophies, as the
monument of a noble hero and a famous general. When the Romans heard
tidings of his death, they gave no other signification either of
honour or of anger towards him, but simply granted the request of
the women, that they might put themselves into mourning and bewail him
for ten months, as the usage was upon the loss of a father or a son or
a brother; that being the period fixed for the longest lamentation
by the laws of Numa Pompilius, as is more amply told in the account of
him.
  Marcius was no sooner deceased, but the Volscians felt the need of
his assistance. They quarrelled first with the Aequians, their
confederates and their friends, about the appointment of the general
of their joint forces, and carried their dispute to the length of
bloodshed and slaughter; and were then defeated by the Romans in a
pitched battle, where not only Tullus lost his life, but the principal
flower of their whole army was cut in pieces; so that they were forced
to submit and accept of peace upon very dishonourable terms,
becoming subjects of Rome, and pledging themselves to submission.


                               THE END