...Aufidius, the sometime enemy of Coriolanus, welcomes his heroic rival to his camp with the declaration, Know thou first, I lov'd the maid I married; never...first my wedded mistress saw Bestride my threshold. [IV,v,106-l 111 On the other hand, a man's desire for a woman, unless carefully restrained, makes him...

...spoke hath weeded from my heart A root of ancient envy . . . Let me twine My arms about that body . . . Know thou first, I lov'd the maid I married; never...first my wedded mistress saw Bestride my threshold. (4.5.106-23) The greeting mirrors that of his aristocratic alter ego (cf. Coriolanus's welcome of Cominius...

...domestic code of heterosexual marriage. Know thou first, I loved the maid I married; never man Sighed truer breath. But that I see thee here, Thou noble...first my wedded mistress saw Bestride my threshold. Thou hast beat me out Twelve several times, and I have nightly since Dreamt of encounters 'twixt thyself...

...and sensuality. Aufidius, after the speech made by Coriolanus, states, in the Shakespeare version: 'Know thou first, / I lov'd the maid I married; never...first my wedded mistress saw / Bestride my threshold' (4.5.113-118; all Shakespeare quotations are from Evans's The Riverside Shakespeare). The fifth scene...

...I did Contend against thy valour. Know thou first, 11o I loved the maid I married; never man Sighed truer breath. But that I see thee here, Thou noble...Bestride my threshold. Why, thou Mars, I tell thee, 115 We have a power on foot, and I had purpose Once more to hew thy target from thy brawn Or lose mine...

...sometime arch-enemy, deserts to the Volsces. Lest the force of Aufidius's comparison go unremarked ('that I see thee here, Thou noble thing, more dances...my wedded mistress saw | Bestride my threshold'), Aufidius's serving men comment on the spectacle: 'Our general himself makes a mistress of him' (4.5.116-19,...

...have motivated this inquiry from the start, Aufidius welcoming Coriolanus to the enemy camp: . . . that I see thee here, Thou noble thing, more dances...first my wedded mistress saw Bestride my threshold. . . . Thou hast beat me out Twelve several times, and I have nightly since Dreamt of encounters 'twixt...

...clip The anvil of my sword, and do contest As hotly and as nobly with thy love As ever in ambitious strength I did Contend against thy valour. Know thou...first my wedded mistress saw Bestride my threshold . . . . . . Thou hast beat me out Twelve several times, and I have nightly since Dreamt of encounters...

...especially in Aufidius' words when he becomes reconciled to Coriolanus: Know thou first, I lov'd the maid l married: never man Sigh'd truer breath: but that I...first my wedded mistress saw Bestride my threshold. (4.5.ll4,l9) If Smith finds surprising in Shakespeare something that was to be expected in Plutarch,...

...Aufidius embraces him with these words: Know thou first, I loved the maid 1 married; never man Sighed truer breath. But that I see thee here, Thou noble...first my wedded mistress saw Bestride my threshold. (4.5.1 12-17) Male homoerotic bonds are not always supported, however. In Twelfth Night and The Merchant...