“Not with one stroke at first the great tree goes to grownd,
But it by manie strokes is made to fall at last,
The drop doth pierce the stone by falling long and fast,
So by enduring long long sought-for loue is found.”
“To clip the anvil of my sword,” is an expression in the Coriolanus (act iv. sc. 5, lines 100–112, vol. vi. p. 380) very difficult to be explained, unless we regard it as a proverb, denoting the breaking of the weapon and the laying aside of enmity. Aufidius makes use of it in his welcome to the banished Coriolanus,—
“O Marcius, Marcius!
Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart
A root of ancient envy. If Jupiter
Should from yond cloud speak divine things,
And say ‘’Tis true,’ I’d not believe them more