feven years' health; in which time I will make a lip at the physician: the moft fovereign prefcription in Galen 5 is but empiricutick, and, to this prefervative, of no better report than a horse-drench. Is he not wounded? he was wont to come home wounded. VIR. O, no, no, no. VOL. O, he is wounded, I thank the gods for❜t. -- MEN. So do I too, if it be not too much :Brings 'a victory in his pocket?-The wounds become him. VOL. On's brows, Menenius : he comes the third time home with the oaken garland. MEN. Has he difciplined Aufidius foundly? VOL. Titus Lartius writes,-they fought toge-. ther, but Aufidius got off. 3 in Galen] An anachronism of near 650 years. Menenius flourished Anno U. C. 260, about 492 years before the birth of our Saviour.-Galen was born in the year of our Lord 130, flourished about the year 155 or 160, and lived to the year 200. GREY. 6 -empiricutick,] The old copies-empirickqutique. "The moft fovereign prescription in Galen (fays Menenius) is to this news but empiricutick: an adjective evidently formed by the author from empiric (empirique, Fr.) a quack." RITSON. 7 On's brows, Menenius:] Mr. M. Mafon proposes that there fhould be a comma placed after Menenius; On's brows, Menenius, he comes the third time home with the oaken garland, "for," fays the commentator," it was the oaken garland, not the wounds, that Volumnia fays he had on his brows." In Julius Cæfar we find a dialogue exactly fimilar: 66 Caf. No, it is Cafca; one incorporate "To our attempts.-Am I not ftaid for, Cinna? "Cin. I am glad on't." i. e. I am glad that Casca is incorporate, &c. But he appears to me to have misapprehended the paffage. Volumnia anfwers Menenius, without taking notice of his laft words, "The wounds become him." Menenius had afked-Brings MEN. And 'twas time for him too, I'll warrant him that an he had ftaid by him, I would not have been fo fidiufed for all the chefts in Corioli, and the gold that's in them. Is the fenate poffeffed of this ?8 VOL. Good ladies, let's go :-Yes, yes, yes: the fenate has letters from the general, wherein he gives my fon the whole name of the war: he hath in this action outdone his former deeds doubly. VAL. In troth, there's wondrous things spoke of him. MEN. Wondrous? ay, I warrant you, and not without his true purchafing. VIR. The gods grant them true! VOL. True? pow, wow. MEN. True? I'll be fworn they are true:-Where is he wounded?-God fave your good worships! [To the Tribunes, who come forward.] Marcius is coming home: he has more cause to be proud.Where is he wounded? he victory in his pocket? He brings it, fays Volumnia, on his brows, for he comes the third time home brow-bound with the oaken garland, the emblem of victory. So, afterwards: "He prov'd best man o' the field, and for his meed, If these words did not admit of fo clear an explanation, (in which the conceit is truly Shakspearian,) the arrangement propofed by Mr. M. Mafon might perhaps be admitted, though it is extremely harsh, and the inverfion of the natural order of the words not much in our author's manner in his profe writings. MALONE. 8- poffeffed of this ?] Poffeffed, in our author's language, is fully informed. JOHNSON. So, in The Merchant of Venice: "I have poffefs'd your grace of what I purpofe-." STEEVENS, VOL. I' the fhoulder, and i' the left arm: There will be large cicatrices to fhow the people, when he fhall stand for his place. He received in the repulse of Tarquin, feven hurts i' the body. MEN. One in the neck, and two in the thigh,there's nine that I know.9 VOL. He had, before this last expedition, twentyfive wounds upon him. MEN. Now it's twenty-feven: every gash was an enemy's grave: [A Shout, and Flourish.] Hark! the trumpets. VOL. These are the ushers of Marcius: before him He carries noife, and behind him he leaves tears; Death, that dark spirit, in's nervy arm doth lie; Which being advanc'd, declines; and then men die. 9 -Seven hurts &c.] Old copy-feven hurts i' the body. Men. One i' the neck, and two i' the thigh;—there's nine that I know. Seven,-one,-and two, and these make but nine? Surely, we may safely affift Menenius in his arithmetick. This is a ftupid blunder; but wherever we can account by a probable reason for the cause of it, that directs the emendation. Here it was eafy for a negligent transcriber to omit the second one, as a needless repetition of the first, and to make a numeral word of too. WARBURTON. The old man, agreeable to his character, is minutely particular: Seven wounds? let me fee; one in the neck, two in the thighNay, I am fure there are more; there are nine that I know of. UPTON. Which being advanc'd, declines ;] Volumnia, in her boasting ftrain, fays, that her fon to kill his enemy, has nothing to do but to lift his hand up and let it fall. JOHNSON. A Sennet. Trumpets found. Enter COMINIUS and TITUS LARTIUS; between them, CORIOLANUS, crowned with an oaken Garland; with Captains Soldiers, and a Herald. HER. Know, Rome, that all alone Marcius did fight Within Corioli' gates: where he hath won, Welcome to Rome, renowned Coriolanus! [Flourish. ALL. Welcome to Rome, renowned Coriolanus! COR. No more of this, it does offend my heart; Pray now, no more. COM. COR. Look, fir, your mother, You have, I know, petition'd all the gods For my profperity. O! [Kneels. Nay, my good foldier, up; VOL. COR. My gracious filence, hail !3 Coriolanus:] The old copy-Martius Caius Coriolanus. The compofitor, it is highly probable, caught the words Martius Caius from the preceding line, where also in the old copy the original names of Coriolanus are accidentally transposed. The correction in the former line was made by Mr. Rowe; in the lattter by Mr. Steevens. MALONE. 3 My gracious filence, hail!] The epithet to filence shows it not to proceed from referve or fullennefs, but to be the effect of Would'ft thou have laugh'd, had I come coffin'd home, That weep'ft to see me triumph? Ah, my dear, And mothers that lack fons. MEN. Now the gods crown thee! COR. And live you yet?-O my fweet lady, par don. [To VALERIA. VOL. I know not where to turn :-O welcome home; a virtuous mind poffeffing itself in peace. The expreffion is extremely fublime; and the sense of it conveys the finest praise that can be given to a good woman. WARBURTON. By my gracious filence, I believe, the poet meant, thou whofe filent tears are more eloquent and grateful to me, than the clamorous applaufe of the rest! So, Crafhaw: "Sententious fhow'rs! O! let them fall! "Their cadence is rhetorical." Again, in Love's Cure, or the Martial Maid of Beaumont and Fletcher : "A lady's tears are filent orators, "Or fhould be fo at least, to move beyond Again, in Daniel's Complaint of Rofamond, 1599: "Dumb eloquence, whofe power doth move the blood, "More than the words, or wisdom of the wife!" Again, in Every Man out of his Humour : "You fhall fee fweet filent rhetorick, and dumb eloquence speaking in her eye." STEEVENS. I believe," My gracious filence," only means" My beauteous filence," or 66 my filent Grace." Gracious feems to have had the fame meaning formerly that graceful has at this day. So, in The Merchant of Venice: "But being feafon'd with a gracious voice." Again, in King John: "There was not fuch a gracious creature born." Again, in Marfton's Malcontent, 1604 :-" he is the moft exquifite in forging of veines, fpright'ning of eyes, dying of haire, fleeking of fkinnes, blufhing of cheekes, &c. that ever made an old lady gracious by torchlight." MALONE. |