Page:Coriolanus (1924) Yale.djvu/61

The Tragedy of Coriolanus, II. ii

Should not be utter'd feebly. It is held

That valour is the chiefest virtue, and

Most dignifies the haver: if it be,

The man I speak of cannot in the world

Be singly counterpois'd. At sixteen years,

When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought

Beyond the mark of others; our then dictator,

Whom with all praise I point at, saw him fight,

When with his Amazonian chin he drove

The bristled lips before him. He bestrid

An o'er-press'd Roman, and i' the consul's view

Slew three opposers: Tarquin's self he met,

And struck him on his knee: in that day's feats,

When he might act the woman in the scene,

He prov'd best man i' the field, and for his meed

Was brow-bound with the oak. His pupil age

Man-enter'd thus, he waxed like a sea,

And in the brunt of seventeen battles since

He lurch'd all swords of the garland. For this last,

Before and in Corioli, let me say,

I cannot speak him home: he stopp'd the fliers,

And by his rare example made the coward

Turn terror into sport: as weeds before

A vessel under sail, so men obey'd,

And fell below his stem: his sword, death's stamp,

Where it did mark, it took; from face to foot

He was a thing of blood, whose every motion

 90 haver: possessor

92 Be counterpois'd: find any single equal

93 made for: raised an army against

94 mark; cf. n.

96 Amazonian: i.e. beardless

100 on his knee: with such force as to bring him to his knee

101 in the scene: on the stage

104 Man-enter'd: entered upon manhood

106 lurch'd: robbed; cf. n.

108 speak him home: do him full justice

112 fell stem: yielded to his course

113 took: took possession, slew

