: ACT IV. SCENE II. • Line 100. Sic. Are you mankind? Vol. Ay, fool; Is that a shame?-Note but this, fool.Was not a man my father?] The word mankind is used maliciously by the first speaker, and taken perversely by the second. A mankind woman is a woman with the roughness of a man, and in an aggravated sense, a woman ferocious, violent, and eager to shed blood. In this sense Sicinius asks Volumnia, if she be mankind. She takes mankind for a human creature, and accordingly cries out, -Note but this, fool. Was not a man my father? JOHNSON. Line 103. Hadst thou foxship-) Hadst thou, fool as thou art, mean cunning enough to banish Coriolanus? JOHNSON. ACT IV..SCENE III. Line 199. already in the entertainment,] That is, though not actually encamped, yet already in pay. To entertain an army is to take them into pay. ACT IV. SCENE IV. JOHNSON. Line 222. O, world, thy slippery turns! &c.] This fine picture of common friendships, is an artful introduction to the sudden league, which the poet makes him enter into with Aufidius: and no less artful an apology for his commencing enemy to Rome. WARBURTON. ACT IV. SCENE V. Line 333. A heart of wreak in thee,] A heart of resentment. The anvil of my sword;] To clip means to embrace. Line 456.-san - sanctifies himself with's hand, Alluding, im properly, to the act of crossing upon any strange event. JOHNS. Line 462. He'll-sowle the porter of Rome gates by the ears :] That is, I suppose, drag him down by the ears into the dirt. Souiller, Fr. JOHNSON. Line 464. his passage poll'd.] That is bared, cleared. JOHNSON. - 487. full of vent.] Full of rumour, full of mate rials for discourse. JOHNSON. ACT IV. SCENE VI. Line 545. affecting one sole throne, Without assistance.] That is, without assessors ; without any other suffrage. Line 600. JOHNSON. -can no more atone,] To atone in the active sense, is to reconcile, and is so used by our author. To atone here, is, in the neutral sense, to come to reconciliation. To atone is to unite. JOHNSON. Line 632. The breath of garlick-eaters!] To smell of garlick was once such a brand of vulgarity, that garlick was a food forbidden to an ancient order of Spanish knights, mentioned by. Guevara. JOHNSON. Line 635. As Hercules &c.] An allusion to the apples of STEEVENS. the Hesperides. Line 652. they charg'd him &c.] Their charge or injunction would shew them insensible of his wrongs, and make them shew like enemies. JOHNSON. Line 671. They'll roar him in again.) As they hooted at his departure, they will roar at his return; as he went out with scoffs, he will come back with lamentations. ACT IV. SCENE VII. Line 751. As is the osprey fraga. JOHNSON. Osprey, a kind of eagle, ossi Line 754. whether 'twas pride, Which out of daily fortune ever taints POPE. The happy man; whether Aufidius assigns three probable reasons of the miscarriage of Coriolanus; pride, which, easily follows an uninterrupted train of success; unskilfulness to regulate the consequences of his own victories; a stubborn uniformity of nature, which could not make the proper transition from the casque or helmet to the cushion or chair of civil axthority; but acted with the same despotism in peace as in war. Line 766. he has a merit, JOHNSON. To choke it in the utterance.] He has a merit, for no other purpose than to destroy it by boasting it. Line 19. ACT V. SCENE I. JOHNS. that have rack'd for Rome,] To rack means to harass by exactions, and in this sense the poet uses it in other places. STEEVENS. Line 80. I tell you, he does sit in gold,] He is inthroned JOHNSON. in all the pomp and pride of imperial splendour. Χρυσοθρον. "Ηρη- Hom. ACT V. SCENE II. Line 109. lots to blanks,] A lot here is a prize. JOHNSON. -114. Thy general is my lover :) This was the language of Shakspeare's time. MALONE. Line 120. upon a subtle ground,] i. e. deceitful. MALONE. 122. Have, almost, stamp'd the leasing :) I have almost given the lie such a sanction as to render it current. MALONE. Line 187. Though I owe My revenge properly,] Though I have a peculiar right in revenge, in the power of forgiveness the Volcians are conjoined. JOHNSON. Line 202. how we are shent-] Shent is brought to destruc I have borne this business.] That is, how openly, how remotely from artifice or concealment. JOHNSON. Line 259. The sorrow, that delivers us thus chang'd, Makes you think so.] Virgilia makes a voluntary misinterpretation of her husband's words. He says, These eyes are not the same, meaning, that he saw things with other eyes, or other dispositions. She lays hold on the word eyes, to turn his attention on their present appearance. JOHNSON. Line 267. Now by the jealous qucen of heaven,] That is, by Juno, the guardian of marriage, and consequently the avenger of con nubial perfidy. JOHNSON. Line 288. The noble sister of Publicola,] Valeria, methinks, should not have been brought only to fill up the procession without speaking. Line 292. epitome of yours,] I read: -epitome of you. JOHNSON. An epitome of you, which, enlarged by the commentaries of time, may equal you in magnitude, JOHNSON, Line 296. With the consent of supreme Jove,] This is inserted with great decorum. Jupiter was the tutelary god of Rome. WARBURTON. Line 300. every flaw, That is, every gust, every storm. JOHNSON. -332. Constrains them weep, and shake-] That is, con strain the eye to weep, and the heart to shake. JOHNSON. Line 386. -the fine strains-] The niceties, the refinements. JOHNSON. Line 389. And yet to charge thy sulphur-] The meaning of the passage is, To threaten much, and yet be merciful. : WARBURTON. Line 398. Like one i' the stocks.] Keep me in a state of ig nominy talking to no purpose. JOHNSON. Line 414. Does reason our petition) Does argue for us JOHNSON. and our petition. Line 442. - I'll work Myself a former fortune.] I will take advantage of this concession to restore myself to my former credit and power. JOHNSON. ACT V. SCENE IV. Line 468. remembers his dam. than an eight year old horse.] Subintelligitur WARBURTON. Line 473. He sits in his state, &c.] In a foregoing note he was said to sit in gold. The phrase, as a thing made for Alexander, means, as one made to resemble Alexander. JOHNSON. ACT V. SCENE V. Line 579. He wag'd me with his countenance,] This is obscure. The meaning, I think, is, he prescribed to me with an air of authority, and gave me his countenance for my wages; thought me sufficiently rewarded with good looks. JOHNSON. Line 586. For which my sinews shall be stretch'd-] This is the point on which I will attack him with my utmost abilities. Line 614. answering us JOHNSON, With our own charge ;) That is, rewarding us with our own expences; making the cost of the war its recompence. JOHNSON. Line 645. For certain drops of salt,] For certain tears. So in King Lear, "Why this would make a man, a man of salt." MALONE. Line 684. his fame folds in This orb o' the earth.] His fame overspreads the world. END OF THE ANNOTATIONS ON CORIOLANUS. |