Page:Coriolanus (1924) Yale.djvu/163

The Tragedy of Coriolanus case (whatsoever became of it) that the people would proceed to give their voices by Tribes, and not by hundreds: for by this means the multitude of the poor needy people (and all such rabble as had nothing to lose, and had less regard of honesty before their eyes) came to be of greater force (because their voices were numbered by the poll) than the noble honest citizens, whose persons and purse did dutifully serve the commonwealth in their wars.' The division of Roman citizens into tribes (originally three, finally thirty-five) was democratic, while the division into 193 hundreds (centuriæ) was based upon property qualifications.

accents. Theobald's universally accepted emendation for the Folio's 'Actions.'

doth. An old (southern) plural. The second Folio normalized it to 'doe.'

with others. The Folio gives this in the remarkably corrupted form, 'with Cumalijs' (i.e. cum aliis). The 'others' are the rest of the patricians. The next word, 'They,' refers to the plebeians.

fortune's blows, When most struck home,—being gentle, wounded, craves A noble cunning. 'When Fortune strikes her hardest blows, to be wounded, and yet continue calm, requires a generous policy.' (Johnson.) The construction of the sentence is suddenly changed in the middle (anacoluthon): 'fortune's blows,' originally intended as subject, is left hanging as an 'absolute nominative,' and a new subject, 'being gentle,' is introduced.

mankind. Sicinius uses the word in the invidious sense in which it was applied to women: virago-like. Volumnia in the next line takes it as meaning 'human' in contrast with the 'foxship' of Sicinius.