and those most marvellous words, written at one golden time, in a gush of the spirit, when the man must have been trembling—
"O eastern star!
Peace, peace!
Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
That sucks the nurse asleep?"
are among the most beautiful things ever written by man.
Coriolanus.
Written. 1608 (?)
Published. 1623.
Source of the Plot. The life of Coriolanus in Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives.
The Fable. Marcius, a noble Roman, of an excessive pride, bitterly opposes the rabble.
In the war against the Volscians he bears himself so nobly that he wins the title of Coriolanus. On his return from the wars he seeks the Consulship, woos the voices of the multitude, is accepted, and then cast by them. For his angry comment on their behaviour the tribunes contrive his banishment from the city.
Being banished, he makes league with the Volscians. He takes command in the Volscian army and invades Roman territory.