https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5PjQy2qRuoKTFI5M21LYWxCcUE/view
Guiding Questions
- In what way does this extract from Coriolanus foreshadow subsequent events in the play?
- What does this extract reveal about the relationship between Aufidius and Coriolanus?
Act IV Scene 7
AUFIDIUS
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I understand thee well; and be
thou sure,
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when he shall come to his account,
he knows not
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20
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What I can urge against him.
Although it seems,
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And so he thinks, and is no less
apparent
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To the vulgar eye, that he bears
all things fairly.
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And shows good husbandry for the
Volscian state,
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Fights dragon-like, and does
achieve as soon
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25
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As draw his sword; yet he hath
left undone
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That which shall break his neck or
hazard mine,
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Whene'er we come to our account.
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Lieutenant
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Sir, I beseech you, think you
he'll carry Rome?
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AUFIDIUS
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All places yield to him ere he
sits down;
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30
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And the nobility of Rome are his:
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The senators and patricians love
him too:
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The tribunes are no soldiers; and
their people
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Will be as rash in the repeal, as
hasty
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To expel him thence. I think he'll
be to Rome
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35
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As is the osprey to the fish, who
takes it
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By sovereignty of nature. First he
was
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A noble servant to them; but he
could not
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Carry his honours even: whether
'twas pride,
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Which out of daily fortune ever
taints
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40
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The happy man; whether defect of
judgment,
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To fail in the disposing of those
chances
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Which he was lord of; or whether
nature,
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Not to be other than one thing,
not moving
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From the casque to the cushion,
but commanding peace
|
45
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Even with the same austerity and
garb
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As he controll'd the war; but one
of these--
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As he hath spices of them all, not
all,
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For I dare so far free him--made
him fear'd,
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So hated, and so banish'd: but he
has a merit,
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50
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To choke it in the utterance. So
our virtues
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Lie in the interpretation of the
time:
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And power, unto itself most
commendable,
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Hath not a tomb so evident as a
chair
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To extol what it hath done.
|
55
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One fire drives out one fire; one
nail, one nail;
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Rights by rights falter, strengths
by strengths do fail.
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Come, let's away. When, Caius,
Rome is thine,
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Thou art poor'st of all; then
shortly art thou mine.
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[Exeunt]
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