Page:Coriolanus (1924) Yale.djvu/141

The Tragedy of Coriolanus, V. iii

Alas! how can we for our country pray,

Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory,

Whereto we are bound? Alack! or we must lose

The country, our dear nurse, or else thy person,

Our comfort in the country. We must find

An evident calamity, though we had

Our wish, which side should win; for either thou

Must, as a foreign recreant, be led

With manacles through our streets, or else

Triumphantly tread on thy country's ruin,

And bear the palm for having bravely shed

Thy wife and children's blood. For myself, son,

I purpose not to wait on Fortune till

These wars determine: if I cannot persuade thee

Rather to show a noble grace to both parts

Than seek the end of one, thou shalt no sooner

March to assault thy country than to tread—

Trust to 't, thou shalt not—on thy mother's womb,

That brought thee to this world.

Vir. Ay, and mine,

That brought you forth this boy, to keep your name

Living to time.

Boy. A' shall not tread on me:

I'll run away till I am bigger, but then I'll fight.

Cor. Not of a woman's tenderness to be,

Requires nor child nor woman's face to see,

I have sat too long.

Vol. Nay, go not from us thus,

If it were so, that our request did tend

To save the Romans, thereby to destroy

The Volsces whom you serve, you might condemn us,

 109 or: either

113 which: in determining which

114 foreign recreant: one whose treachery has made him a foreigner

120 determine: end

122 end: destruction

129 Not be: not to yield to womanly weakness

