Coriolanus
| ACT I SCENE X. The camp of the Volsces. | ||
| [ A flourish. Cornets. Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS, bloody, with two or three Soldiers ] | ||
| AUFIDIUS | The town is ta’en! | |
| First Soldier | ‘Twill be deliver’d back on good condition. | |
| AUFIDIUS | Condition! | |
| I would I were a Roman; for I cannot, | ||
| Being a Volsce, be that I am. Condition! | 5 | |
| What good condition can a treaty find | ||
| I’ the part that is at mercy? Five times, Marcius, | ||
| I have fought with thee: so often hast thou beat me, | ||
| And wouldst do so, I think, should we encounter | ||
| As often as we eat. By the elements, | 10 | |
| If e’er again I meet him beard to beard, | ||
| He’s mine, or I am his: mine emulation | ||
| Hath not that honour in’t it had; for where | ||
| I thought to crush him in an equal force, | ||
| True sword to sword, I’ll potch at him some way | 15 | |
| Or wrath or craft may get him. | ||
| First Soldier | He’s the devil. | |
| AUFIDIUS | Bolder, though not so subtle. My valour’s poison’d | |
| With only suffering stain by him; for him | ||
| Shall fly out of itself: nor sleep nor sanctuary, | 20 | |
| Being naked, sick, nor fane nor Capitol, | ||
| The prayers of priests nor times of sacrifice, | ||
| Embarquements all of fury, shall lift up | ||
| Their rotten privilege and custom ‘gainst | ||
| My hate to Marcius: where I find him, were it | 25 | |
| At home, upon my brother’s guard, even there, | ||
| Against the hospitable canon, would I | ||
| Wash my fierce hand in’s heart. Go you to the city; | ||
| Learn how ’tis held; and what they are that must | ||
| Be hostages for Rome. | 30 | |
| First Soldier | Will not you go? | |
| AUFIDIUS | I am attended at the cypress grove: I pray you– | |
| ‘Tis south the city mills–bring me word thither | ||
| How the world goes, that to the pace of it | ||
| I may spur on my journey. | 35 | |
| First Soldier | I shall, sir. | |
| [Exeunt] | ||
Next: Coriolanus, Act 2, Scene 1