Page:Coriolanus (1924) Yale.djvu/169

The Tragedy of Coriolanus in locating it, first at Antium, the Volscian capital, and later at Corioli. Professor Gordon's explanation is highly satisfactory: 'Editors are divided whether to place this scene in Antium or Corioli. We should expect it to be Antium. Plutarch makes it Antium. But in line 90 it is explicitly said to be Corioli. On the other hand, ll. 50, 73, 80, all point to Antium. We hear in l. 50 that it was Aufidius's native town, which seems to have been Antium (I. vi. 59); in l. 73 that Coriolanus has come back to the place he started from, which was Antium; in l. 80 that peace had been made with honour to "the Antiates." The solution seems to me to be this. Shakespeare meant the scene to be Antium, and wrote with Antium in his mind until he came to Aufidius's speech in l. 88. There he was carried away by the magnificent opportunity of placing "Coriolanus in Corioli" (l. 90), and for the rest of the scene thought rather of Corioli than of Antium.'

answering us With our own charge. Paying us back only the amount of our expenditure, bringing in no profit. Compare lines 77–79, where Coriolanus estimates that the gains from the expedition amount to one-third more than the costs. The point is that no large indemnity had been secured from the Romans.