102 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



"Well I will do it; 

 "Yet were there but this single plot to lose 

 "This mould of Marcius, they to dust should grind it 

 "And throw't against the wind." 



It is here that we see him at his best, yet, so skillfully is this 

 picture drawn, that no matter which way he turned, we would have 

 been disposed to give him full credit for having chosen well, although 

 we would have been better pleased if he had not been forced to choose 

 at all. 



The last words spoken by him before he met his accusers were a 

 fervent invocation to the Gods to keep Rome in safety; yet the step 

 he was taking was at the cost of his own self-respect: — 

 "Away, my disposition and possess me 

 "Some harlot's spirit." 



Was a man ever placed in a more trying situation ? To us the 

 difficulties in his way may appear slight, but we are not dealing with 

 abstract principles but with a human being, a man, whom we cannot 

 mould and fashion as we would; a man, moved by conflicting foibles 

 and passions. Above all he was proud and well he might be. Proud, 

 but not vain. Would we have him less so ? When we make all due 

 allowance for his environment can we up to this stage in his history 

 point to a single act of his and say that it was unnatural and not just 

 what we might have expected ? Has he in any particular so trans- 

 gressed that we would care to condemn him ? I think not. Then 

 bearing in mind what he has already endured in one short day; 

 bearing in mind that he has, at what seemed an awful price to him, 

 kept the good of Rome foremost in his thoughts and remembering 

 the manner of man who stands before him as his accuser and judge, 

 what would we expect from Coriolanus in answer to the charge of 

 treason from such a source ? He intended to be mild and hold himself 

 in check; but this was more than human nature could endure. It was 

 the most natural thing in the world that he should forget his promise 

 and hurl back defiance at the head of the tribune. Then followed 

 the inevitable as had been planned and rehearsed by his enemies. 

 Rome for which he had lived and suffered, that Rome, for which he had 

 stifled his honour and self-respect suffered him to be banished from 

 her gates. Blinded with anger, humbled, crushed, defeated and 

 disgraced, he turned his back upon the city that had cast him off. 

 For the first time he realized that Rome owed a debt to him and that 

 he was entitled to the protection of the city. It was his home, for 

 which he had fought and bled, and it owed him an asylum. How 

 had his services been requited? Banished! Banished, it is true, 

 by those whom he despised ; yet they were the recognized represent- 



