• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

She shall be buried by her Antony;

No grave upon the earth shall clip in it

A pair so famous. High events as these

Strike those that make them; and their story is

No less in pity than his glory which

Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall

In solemn show attend this funeral,

And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, see

High order in this great solemnity. Exeunt

CORIOLANUS

This tragedy was written from 1605 to 1608 and is based on the life of the legendary Roman leader, Gaius Marcius Coriolanus. The play opens in Rome shortly after the expulsion of the Tarquin kings. There are riots in progress, after stores of grain were withheld from ordinary citizens. The rioters are particularly angry at Caius Martius, a brilliant Roman general whom they blame for the grains being taken away. The rioters encounter a patrician named Menenius Agrippa, as well as Caius Martius himself. Menenius tries to calm the rioters, while Martius is openly contemptuous, and says that the plebeians were not worthy of the grain because of their lack of military service. Two of the tribunes of Rome, Brutus and Sicinius, privately denounce Martius. He leaves Rome after news arrives that a Volscian army is in the field.

Coriolanus is mostly based on the Life of Coriolanus in Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and is available via this link.

The first page of the First Folio, 1623

CONTENTS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

ACT I. SCENE I. Rome. A street

SCENE II. Corioli. The Senate House.

SCENE III. Rome. MARCIUS' house

SCENE IV. Before Corioli

SCENE V. Within Corioli. A street

SCENE VI. Near the camp of COMINIUS

SCENE VII. The gates of Corioli

SCENE VIII. A field of battle between the Roman and the Volscian camps

SCENE IX. The Roman camp

SCENE X. The camp of the Volsces

ACT II. SCENE I. Rome. A public place

SCENE II. Rome. The Capitol

SCENE III. Rome. The Forum

ACT III. SCENE I. Rome. A street

SCENE II. Rome. The house of CORIOLANUS

SCENE III. Rome. The Forum

ACT IV. SCENE I. Rome. Before a gate of the city

SCENE II. Rome. A street near the gate

SCENE III. A highway between Rome and Antium

SCENE IV. Antium. Before AUFIDIUS' house

SCENE V. Antium. AUFIDIUS' house

SCENE VI. Rome. A public place

SCENE VII. A camp at a short distance from Rome

ACT V. SCENE I. Rome. A public place

SCENE II. The Volscian camp before Rome

SCENE III. The tent of CORIOLANUS

SCENE IV. Rome. A public place

SCENE V. Rome. A street near the gate

SCENE VI. Corioli. A public place

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

CAIUS MARCIUS, afterwards CAIUS MARCIUS CORIOLANUS

Generals against the Volscians

TITUS LARTIUS

COMINIUS

MENENIUS AGRIPPA, friend to Coriolanus

Tribunes of the People

SICINIUS VELUTUS

JUNIUS BRUTUS

YOUNG MARCIUS, son to Coriolanus

A ROMAN HERALD

NICANOR, a Roman

TULLUS AUFIDIUS, General of the Volscians

LIEUTENANT, to Aufidius

CONSPIRATORS, With Aufidius

ADRIAN, a Volscian

A CITIZEN of Antium

TWO VOLSCIAN GUARDS

VOLUMNIA, mother to Coriolanus

VIRGILIA, wife to Coriolanus

VALERIA, friend to Virgilia

GENTLEWOMAN attending on Virgilia

Roman and Volscian Senators, Patricians, Aediles, Lictors,

Soldiers, Citizens, Messengers, Servants to Aufidius, and other Attendants

SCENE: Rome and the neighbourhood; Corioli and the neighbourhood; Antium

ACT I. SCENE I. Rome. A street

Enter a company of mutinous citizens, with staves, clubs, and other weapons

FIRST CITIZEN.

Before we proceed any further, hear me speak.

ALL.

Speak, speak.

FIRST CITIZEN.

YOU are all resolv'd rather to die than to famish?

ALL.

Resolv'd, resolv'd.

FIRST CITIZEN.

First, you know Caius Marcius is chief enemy to the people.

ALL.

We know't, we know't.

FIRST CITIZEN.

Let us kill him, and we'll have corn at our own

price. Is't a verdict?

ALL.

No more talking on't; let it be done. Away, away!

SECOND CITIZEN.

One word, good citizens.

FIRST CITIZEN.

We are accounted poor citizens, the patricians good.

What authority surfeits on would relieve us; if they would yield

us but the superfluity