Act 2, Scene 3

Rome. The Forum.

[Enter several citizens.]
First Citizen
1259 Once, if he do require our voices, we ought not to deny him.
Second Citizen
1260 We may, sir, if we will.
Third Citizen
1261 We have power in ourselves to do it, but it is a power that we
1262 have no power to do: for if he show us his wounds and tell us his
1263 deeds, we are to put our tongues into those wounds and speak for
1264 them; so, if he tell us his noble deeds, we must also tell him
1265 our noble acceptance of them. Ingratitude is monstrous: and for
1266 the multitude to be ingrateful were to make a monster of the
1267 multitude; of the which we being members, should bring ourselves
1268 to be monstrous members.
First Citizen
1269 And to make us no better thought of, a little help will serve;
1270 for once we stood up about the corn, he himself stuck not to call
1271 us the many-headed multitude.
Third Citizen
1272 We have been called so of many; not that our heads are some
1273 brown, some black, some auburn, some bald, but that our wits are
1274 so diversely coloured; and truly I think if all our wits were to
1275 issue out of one skull, they would fly east, west, north, south;
1276 and their consent of one direct way should be at once to all the
1277 points o' the compass.
Second Citizen
1278 Think you so? Which way do you judge my wit would fly?
Third Citizen
1279 Nay, your wit will not so soon out as another man's will,—'tis
1280 strongly wedged up in a block-head; but if it were at liberty
1281 'twould, sure, southward.
Second Citizen
1282 Why that way?
Third Citizen
1283 To lose itself in a fog; where being three parts melted away with
1284 rotten dews, the fourth would return for conscience' sake, to
1285 help to get thee a wife.
Second Citizen
1286 You are never without your tricks:—you may, you may.
Third Citizen
1287 Are you all resolved to give your voices? But that's no matter,
1288 the greater part carries it. I say, if he would incline to the
1289 people, there was never a worthier man. Here he comes, and in the
1290 gown of humility. Mark his behaviour. We are not to stay all
1291 together, but to come by him where he stands, by ones, by twos,
1292 and by threes. He's to make his requests by particulars, wherein
1293 every one of us has a single honour, in giving him our own voices
1294 with our own tongues; therefore follow me, and I'll direct you
1295 how you shall go by him.
All
1296 Content, content.
[Exeunt.]
[Enter CORIOLANUS and MENENIUS.]
Menenius Agrippa
1297 O sir, you are not right; have you not known
1298 The worthiest men have done't!
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1299 What must I say?—
1300 'I pray, sir'—Plague upon't! I cannot bring
1301 My tongue to such a pace.—'Look, sir,—my wounds;—
1302 I got them in my country's service, when
1303 Some certain of your brethren roar'd, and ran
1304 From the noise of our own drums.'
Menenius Agrippa
1305 O me, the gods!
1306 You must not speak of that: you must desire them
1307 To think upon you.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1308 Think upon me! Hang 'em!
1309 I would they would forget me, like the virtues
1310 Which our divines lose by 'em.
Menenius Agrippa
1311 You'll mar all:
1312 I'll leave you. Pray you speak to 'em, I pray you,
1313 In wholesome manner.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1314 Bid them wash their faces
1315 And keep their teeth clean.
[Exit MENENIUS.]
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1316 So, here comes a brace:
[Re-enter two citizens.]
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1317 You know the cause, sirs, of my standing here.
First Citizen
1318 We do, sir; tell us what hath brought you to't.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1319 Mine own desert.
Second Citizen
1320 Your own desert?
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1321 Ay, not mine own desire.
First Citizen
1322 How! not your own desire!
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1323 No, sir, 'twas never my desire yet to trouble the poor with
1324 begging.
First Citizen
1325 You must think, if we give you anything, we hope to gain by you.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1326 Well then, I pray, your price o' the consulship?
First Citizen
1327 The price is to ask it kindly.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1328 Kindly! sir, I pray, let me ha't: I have wounds to show you,
1329 which shall be yours in private.—Your good voice, sir; what
1330 say you?
Second Citizen
1331 You shall ha' it, worthy sir.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1332 A match, sir.—There's in all two worthy voices begg'd.—I have
1333 your alms: adieu.
First Citizen
1334 But this is something odd.
Second Citizen
1335 An 'twere to give again,— but 'tis no matter.
[Exeunt two citizens.]
[Re-enter other two citizens.]
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1336 Pray you now, if it may stand with the tune of your voices that I
1337 may be consul, I have here the customary gown.
Third Citizen
1338 You have deserved nobly of your country, and you have not
1339 deserved nobly.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1340 Your enigma?
Third Citizen
1341 You have been a scourge to her enemies; you have been a rod to
1342 her friends: you have not indeed loved the common people.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1343 You should account me the more virtuous, that I have not been
1344 common in my love. I will, sir, flatter my sworn brother, the
1345 people, to earn a dearer estimation of them; 'tis a condition
1346 they account gentle: and since the wisdom of their choice is
1347 rather to have my hat than my heart, I will practise the
1348 insinuating nod and be off to them most counterfeitly: that is,
1349 sir, I will counterfeit the bewitchment of some popular man
1350 and give it bountifully to the desirers. Therefore, beseech you,
1351 I may be consul.
Fourth Citizen
1352 We hope to find you our friend; and therefore give you our voices
1353 heartily.
Third Citizen
1354 You have received many wounds for your country.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1355 I will not seal your knowledge with showing them. I will make
1356 much of your voices, and so trouble you no further.
Citizens
1357 The gods give you joy, sir, heartily!
[Exeunt citizens.]
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1358 Most sweet voices!—
1359 Better it is to die, better to starve,
1360 Than crave the hire which first we do deserve.
1361 Why in this wolvish toge should I stand here,
1362 To beg of Hob and Dick that do appear,
1363 Their needless vouches? custom calls me to't:—
1364 What custom wills, in all things should we do't,
1365 The dust on antique time would lie unswept,
1366 And mountainous error be too highly heap'd
1367 For truth to o'erpeer. Rather than fool it so,
1368 Let the high office and the honour go
1369 To one that would do thus.—I am half through;
1370 The one part suffer'd, the other will I do.
1371 Here come more voices.
[Re-enter other three citizens.]
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1372 Your voices: for your voices I have fought;
1373 Watch'd for your voices; for your voices bear
1374 Of wounds two dozen odd; battles thrice six
1375 I have seen and heard of; for your voices have
1376 Done many things, some less, some more: your voices:
1377 Indeed, I would be consul.
Fifth Citizen
1378 He has done nobly, and cannot go without any honest man's voice.
Sixth Citizen
1379 Therefore let him be consul: the gods give him joy, and make him
1380 good friend to the people!
Citizens
1381 Amen, amen.—God save thee, noble consul!
[Exeunt.]
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1382 Worthy voices!
[Re-enter MENENIUS, with BRUTUS and SICINIUS.]
Menenius Agrippa
1383 You have stood your limitation; and the tribunes
1384 Endue you with the people's voice:—remains
1385 That, in the official marks invested, you
1386 Anon do meet the senate.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1387 Is this done?
Sicinius Velutus
1388 The custom of request you have discharg'd:
1389 The people do admit you; and are summon'd
1390 To meet anon, upon your approbation.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1391 Where? at the senate-house?
Sicinius Velutus
1392 There, Coriolanus.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1393 May I change these garments?
Sicinius Velutus
1394 You may, sir.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus
1395 That I'll straight do; and, knowing myself again,
1396 Repair to the senate-house.
Menenius Agrippa
1397 I'll keep you company.—Will you along?
Junius Brutus
1398 We stay here for the people.
Sicinius Velutus
1399 Fare you well.
[Exeunt CORIOLANUS and MENENIUS.]
Sicinius Velutus
1400 He has it now; and by his looks methinks
1401 'Tis warm at his heart.
Junius Brutus
1402 With a proud heart he wore his humble weeds.
1403 Will you dismiss the people?
[Re-enter citizens.]
Sicinius Velutus
1404 How now, my masters! have you chose this man?
First Citizen
1405 He has our voices, sir.
Junius Brutus
1406 We pray the gods he may deserve your loves.
Second Citizen
1407 Amen, sir:—to my poor unworthy notice,
1408 He mocked us when he begg'd our voices.
Third Citizen
1409 Certainly;
1410 He flouted us downright.
First Citizen
1411 No, 'tis his kind of speech,—he did not mock us.
Second Citizen
1412 Not one amongst us, save yourself, but says
1413 He us'd us scornfully: he should have show'd us
1414 His marks of merit, wounds received for's country.
Sicinius Velutus
1415 Why, so he did, I am sure.
Citizens
1416 No, no; no man saw 'em.
Third Citizen
1417 He said he had wounds, which he could show in private;
1418 And with his hat, thus waving it in scorn,
1419 'I would be consul,' says he; 'aged custom
1420 But by your voices, will not so permit me;
1421 Your voices therefore:' when we granted that,
1422 Here was, 'I thank you for your voices,—thank you,—
1423 Your most sweet voices:—now you have left your voices
1424 I have no further with you:'—was not this mockery?
Sicinius Velutus
1425 Why either were you ignorant to see't?
1426 Or, seeing it, of such childish friendliness
1427 To yield your voices?
Junius Brutus
1428 Could you not have told him,
1429 As you were lesson'd,—when he had no power,
1430 But was a petty servant to the state,
1431 He was your enemy; ever spake against
1432 Your liberties, and the charters that you bear
1433 I' the body of the weal: and now, arriving
1434 A place of potency and sway o' the state,
1435 If he should still malignantly remain
1436 Fast foe to the plebeii, your voices might
1437 Be curses to yourselves? You should have said,
1438 That as his worthy deeds did claim no less
1439 Than what he stood for, so his gracious nature
1440 Would think upon you for your voices, and
1441 Translate his malice towards you into love,
1442 Standing your friendly lord.
Sicinius Velutus
1443 Thus to have said,
1444 As you were fore-advis'd, had touch'd his spirit
1445 And tried his inclination; from him pluck'd
1446 Either his gracious promise, which you might,
1447 As cause had call'd you up, have held him to;
1448 Or else it would have gall'd his surly nature,
1449 Which easily endures not article
1450 Tying him to aught; so, putting him to rage,
1451 You should have ta'en the advantage of his choler
1452 And pass'd him unelected.
Junius Brutus
1453 Did you perceive
1454 He did solicit you in free contempt
1455 When he did need your loves; and do you think
1456 That his contempt shall not be bruising to you
1457 When he hath power to crush? Why, had your bodies
1458 No heart among you? Or had you tongues to cry
1459 Against the rectorship of judgment?
Sicinius Velutus
1460 Have you
1461 Ere now denied the asker, and now again,
1462 Of him that did not ask but mock, bestow
1463 Your su'd-for tongues?
Third Citizen
1464 He's not confirm'd: we may deny him yet.
Second Citizen
1465 And will deny him:
1466 I'll have five hundred voices of that sound.
First Citizen
1467 I twice five hundred, and their friends to piece 'em.
Junius Brutus
1468 Get you hence instantly; and tell those friends
1469 They have chose a consul that will from them take
1470 Their liberties, make them of no more voice
1471 Than dogs, that are as often beat for barking
1472 As therefore kept to do so.
Sicinius Velutus
1473 Let them assemble;
1474 And, on a safer judgment, all revoke
1475 Your ignorant election: enforce his pride
1476 And his old hate unto you: besides, forget not
1477 With what contempt he wore the humble weed;
1478 How in his suit he scorn'd you: but your loves,
1479 Thinking upon his services, took from you
1480 Th' apprehension of his present portance,
1481 Which, most gibingly, ungravely, he did fashion
1482 After the inveterate hate he bears you.
Junius Brutus
1483 Lay
1484 A fault on us, your tribunes; that we labour'd,—
1485 No impediment between,—but that you must
1486 Cast your election on him.
Sicinius Velutus
1487 Say you chose him
1488 More after our commandment than as guided
1489 By your own true affections; and that your minds,
1490 Pre-occupied with what you rather must do
1491 Than what you should, made you against the grain
1492 To voice him consul. Lay the fault on us.
Junius Brutus
1493 Ay, spare us not. Say we read lectures to you,
1494 How youngly he began to serve his country,
1495 How long continued: and what stock he springs of—
1496 The noble house o' the Marcians; from whence came
1497 That Ancus Marcius, Numa's daughter's son,
1498 Who, after great Hostilius, here was king;
1499 Of the same house Publius and Quintus were,
1500 That our best water brought by conduits hither;
1501 And Censorinus, darling of the people,
1502 And nobly nam'd so, twice being censor,
1503 Was his great ancestor.
Sicinius Velutus
1504 One thus descended,
1505 That hath beside well in his person wrought
1506 To be set high in place, we did commend
1507 To your remembrances: but you have found,
1508 Scaling his present bearing with his past,
1509 That he's your fixed enemy, and revoke
1510 Your sudden approbation.
Junius Brutus
1511 Say you ne'er had done't,—
1512 Harp on that still,—but by our putting on:
1513 And presently when you have drawn your number,
1514 Repair to the Capitol.
Citizens
1515 We will so; almost all
1516 Repent in their election.
[Exeunt.]
Junius Brutus
1517 Let them go on;
1518 This mutiny were better put in hazard
1519 Than stay, past doubt, for greater:
1520 If, as his nature is, he fall in rage
1521 With their refusal, both observe and answer
1522 The vantage of his anger.
Sicinius Velutus
1523 To the Capitol,
1524 Come: we will be there before the stream o' the people;
1525 And this shall seem, as partly 'tis, their own,
1526 Which we have goaded onward.
[Exeunt.]

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Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 1261rhetorical device
“we have no power to do: for if he show us his wounds”
The Third Citizen's speech is built on a paradox: the citizens have the legal power to withhold their votes, yet feel morally obliged to grant them. He then extends the paradox with a second one — if Coriolanus shows his wounds and names his deeds, the citizens must speak on his behalf with their own tongues, making themselves his mouthpiece.
historical The Consulship and the Gown of Humility
TLN 1270historical topical
“once we stood up about the corn”
The First Citizen refers to the corn riots that open the play (Act 1, Scene 1): the plebeians had risen against the grain shortage and the Senate's refusal to distribute its stores. Coriolanus spoke against giving the people cheaper grain, calling them the 'many-headed multitude.' This historical grievance is still fresh in the citizens' minds as they deliberate on his consulship.
classical Plutarch's Lives (North's Translation)
TLN 1271cultural context
“the many-headed multitude”
The phrase 'many-headed multitude' was a standard Elizabethan term of contempt for the common people, comparing them to a hydra — the mythological many-headed monster — because the crowd was thought to lack a single directing reason. Coriolanus uses it as a slur throughout the play. The citizens remember being called this and cite it against him even now.
TLN 1280wordplay
“strongly wedged up in a block-head”
'Block-head' plays on two meanings at once: a blockhead is a stupid person, but a 'block' is also a shaped piece of wood used by hatters to mold a hat. The Third Citizen says the Second's wit is 'wedged' (packed tight, immovable) into a wooden block of a skull — a joke that treats his head as literally wooden and his intelligence as irretrievably stuck inside it.
TLN 1288historical topical
“the greater part carries it”
'Voices' means votes, and 'the greater part carries it' is the rule of simple majority: whoever receives more than half the votes wins. This is the procedure the citizens must now perform — each citizen grants or withholds a single 'voice' to the consul-candidate, who stands in the Forum wearing the gown of humility and asking for them individually.
historical The Consulship and the Gown of Humility
TLN 1290historical topical
“gown of humility”
The 'gown of humility' is the plain toga (Latin toga candida, 'white toga') that a Roman candidate for office traditionally wore while canvassing — stripped of the dye and decoration that marked his rank, to show the voters he approached them as a humble petitioner. The pure-white wool was also said to display his body (and wounds) clearly. Coriolanus is wearing this costume, which everything in his nature rebels against.
historical The Consulship and the Gown of Humility
TLN 1309archaic vocab
“I would they would forget me, like the virtues Which our divines lose by 'em”
'Divines' here means clergymen or preachers. Coriolanus says he wishes the citizens would forget him the way they forget the moral lessons preached to them by their priests — meaning they pay no lasting attention to moral instruction either. The line dismisses both the citizens and religious observance with aristocratic contempt.
TLN 1316archaic vocab
“here comes a brace”
A 'brace' is a pair — the word was used in hunting for a pair of animals taken at once (a brace of pheasants, a brace of hares). Coriolanus applies a hunting term to the two citizens approaching him, reducing them to game birds rather than voters he must solicit. The contempt is in the register: the man who ought to be humble uses the vocabulary of the huntsman.
TLN 1326rhetorical device
“your price o' the consulship”
Coriolanus sarcastically frames the transaction as a marketplace deal: he asks the citizen to name his 'price' for the consulship, as if the citizen were a merchant and the office a commodity. This demeans both the citizen (whose vote should express civic judgment, not a sale) and the office itself. The commercial metaphor reflects Coriolanus's contempt for a process he regards as demeaning.
historical The Consulship and the Gown of Humility
TLN 1332archaic vocab
“I have your alms: adieu”
'Alms' are charitable gifts to the poor. Coriolanus mockingly calls the citizens' votes 'alms' — charity thrown at a beggar. The word stings in two directions: it degrades the citizen (he gives out of pity, not informed judgment) and it degrades Coriolanus himself (he receives it like a pauper). 'Adieu' is an abrupt French-derived farewell, dismissing the citizens as soon as he has extracted what he came for.
TLN 1340archaic vocab
“Your enigma”
Coriolanus asks the Third Citizen to explain his riddle: the citizen has just said Coriolanus has 'deserved nobly' and 'not deserved nobly' in the same breath. An 'enigma' is a puzzle or riddle — a paradoxical or deliberately obscure statement. Coriolanus, for once, has to ask for clarification.
TLN 1344rhetorical device
“flatter my sworn brother, the people”
Coriolanus tells the citizens he will 'flatter' them — a loaded word meaning to praise falsely or excessively — while calling them his 'sworn brother,' a phrase meaning a close companion bound by an oath of fellowship. Both terms are cutting: a nobleman's 'sworn brother' was an equal; calling the common people that is sarcastic, and the promise to 'flatter' them is a public announcement that everything he says to them is insincere.
TLN 1361archaic vocab
“wolvish toge”
A 'toge' (also 'toga') is the draped robe worn by Roman citizens in civilian life, as opposed to military dress. Coriolanus calls it 'wolvish' — wolf-like — because he wears false humility on top of an unchanged predatory nature: a wolf in the sheep's clothing of the candidate's white toga. The image admits that the costume is a lie.
historical The Consulship and the Gown of Humility
TLN 1362cultural context
“Hob and Dick”
'Hob' and 'Dick' are common rural English nicknames — shortened forms of Robert and Richard — used as generic names for any ordinary working man, like 'Tom, Dick, and Harry.' Coriolanus uses them to convey that he is being forced to beg votes from random, nameless commoners, men of no distinction whose approval he finds humiliating to seek.
TLN 1365rhetorical device
“The dust on antique time would lie unswept, And mountainous error be too highly heap'd For truth to o'erpeer”
Coriolanus argues that if every custom must be obeyed just because it is custom, then the mistakes of the past pile up like unswept dust until they form a mountain too high for truth to see over ('o'erpeer'). The image is a compressed critique of mindless tradition: accumulated error buries truth. This is an unusually philosophical moment — Coriolanus can think when he wants to; he just cannot translate thought into political behavior.
TLN 1372rhetorical device
“Your voices: for your voices I have fought; Watch'd for your voices; for your voices bear Of wounds two dozen odd”
Coriolanus uses anaphora — repetition of the same word or phrase at the start of successive clauses — hammering 'your voices' five times in six lines. The effect is sarcastic: each repetition of 'voices' reminds the listeners (and the audience) how absurd Coriolanus finds this entire ritual. He has fought battles and taken wounds, and now he must beg votes. The repetition makes the word sound increasingly hollow and contemptible.
TLN 1383archaic vocab
“You have stood your limitation”
'Limitation' here means the prescribed time or period that the custom required — Coriolanus has served out ('stood') the legally required period of standing in the Forum to canvass votes. Menenius confirms that he has fulfilled his formal obligation and may now proceed to the Senate for investiture with the 'official marks' of the consulship.
TLN 1402archaic vocab
“he wore his humble weeds”
'Weeds' in Elizabethan English means garments or clothing — it has nothing to do with plants. 'Humble weeds' is the gown of humility, the plain toga Coriolanus has just been wearing. Brutus's observation — 'With a proud heart he wore his humble weeds' — is the tribunes' diagnosis: the costume was humility, the heart was contempt, and the gap between them is their weapon.
TLN 1432historical topical
“the charters that you bear I' the body of the weal”
Brutus reminds the citizens that they hold 'charters' — formal legal rights — within the 'body of the weal' (the body politic, the commonwealth). The tribunes' office was created precisely to protect these rights: the plebeians' right to vote, to appeal, and to be protected from arbitrary patrician power. Brutus is telling the citizens they have just voted away the very rights the tribunate was created to defend.
historical The Tribunes of the People
TLN 1449archaic vocab
“easily endures not article Tying him to aught”
An 'article' here means a condition, clause, or binding term of an agreement. Sicinius says Coriolanus's nature 'easily endures not' — cannot tolerate — any article that ties him to anything. The point is that Coriolanus is constitutionally unable to accept obligation or terms: he cannot be bound to gratitude, promises, or political constraint. This is presented as his fatal flaw in a constitutional republic.
TLN 1454archaic vocab
“he did solicit you in free contempt When he did need your loves”
'Free' here means open, unconcealed, unreserved — 'free contempt' is contempt displayed openly, without disguise or restraint. Brutus is pointing out the paradox: even when Coriolanus needed the citizens' votes, he showed his scorn of them openly ('freely') rather than hiding it. This gives the tribunes their argument: if he despises them when he needs them, what will he do when he has power over them?
TLN 1474rhetorical device
“on a safer judgment, all revoke Your ignorant election”
Sicinius tells the citizens to 'revoke' (withdraw, take back) their election 'on a safer judgment' — meaning, now that they have had time to think more carefully. The phrase 'ignorant election' is pointed: he calls their vote ignorant (uninformed, foolish) to their faces, even while manipulating them. The tribunes frame the citizens' rethinking as their own good judgment while it is actually the tribunes' political calculation.
historical The Tribunes of the People
TLN 1497historical topical
“That Ancus Marcius, Numa's daughter's son, Who, after great Hostilius, here was king”
Brutus traces Coriolanus's noble lineage back to the early kings of Rome. Ancus Marcius was the fourth king of Rome (traditionally 642-617 BCE), grandson of the second king Numa Pompilius; Tullus Hostilius was the third king between them. The Publii and Quintii ('Publius and Quintus') were family members who built Rome's first aqueducts. The long Roman genealogy is offered as the tribunes' excuse to the citizens: we promoted him because of his ancient bloodline.
classical Plutarch's Lives (North's Translation)
TLN 1518archaic vocab
“This mutiny were better put in hazard Than stay, past doubt, for greater”
Brutus argues in a closing aside that it is better to risk ('put in hazard') this smaller mutiny — the citizens' revocation of their vote — now, than to wait and face a greater one later. 'Put in hazard' means to risk or gamble on; 'mutiny' means civil unrest or rebellion, not specifically a military term. The tribunes are coldly calculating political risks: a controlled small crisis now prevents an uncontrolled larger one.
historical The Tribunes of the People