[herrington] a plea FOR CORIOLANUS 101 



He should not receive our censure but our sympathy and, I 

 might with justice add, our admiration because he could not cringe 

 before men he knew were not his equal. If left to themselves it is not 

 at all likely that the Roman people would have created any disturb- 

 ance over the choice of Coriolanus as Consul. It is true that they 

 were not very enthusiastic in yielding him their voices; but were 

 content when the ceremony was concluded to join in a general bene- 

 diction : — 



"Amen, amen, — God save the noble consul!" 

 and that too in the face of the schooling they had received from 

 Brutus and Sicinius. These two worthies lost no time in persuad- 

 ing them that they had been flouted and that they should demand the 

 privilege of revoking their election. They well understood the tem- 

 perament of Coriolanus and the effect that such a proceeding would 

 probably produce. They hoped to be able to provoke him to commit 

 some act of folly that would give to them the opportunity of exercis- 

 ing their authority and wreaking their vengeance upon him. Brutus 

 gloatingly looked forward to this culmination of their plot: — 



"If as his nature is, he fall in rage 



"With their refusal, both observe and answer 



"The vantage of his anger." 



Distasteful as it was to him, Coriolanus yielded to the solicitation 

 of his mother and consented to appear again before the people. His 

 friends misjudged his power of self-control ; not so his enemies. Brutus 

 rested his whole case, not so much upon what Coriolanus had done, 

 as upon what he hoped to provoke him to do, knowing full well that: — 



"Being once chaf'd he cannot 



"Be rein'd again in temperance." 



His friends should have foreseen the outcome of this meeting and 

 planned some means to avoid it. They made no attempt to reason 

 with the people and to undo the mischief of the tribunes. They saw 

 that he was unnerved and still wavering which way to turn. His 

 manhood rebelled against the deception he was urged to practise 

 and he warned them against pressing him too far: — 



"You have put me now to such a part which never 



"I shall discharge to the life." 



Up to this point he had been largely swayed by what he con- 

 ceived to be the well-being of the state but now the battle rages about 

 himself. His honour is challenged and his pride is assailed. Shall he 

 sacrifice the one and swallow the other ? An awful struggle is raging 

 within his breast. His patriotism once more asserts itself and stands 

 victor over self: — 



