There remains Menenius, with his much more strongly marked character, and with the fuller opportunities that a close intimacy could procure. Were Marcius and he of the same flesh and blood, their affection could hardly be greater. When debating with himself whether to try his mediation, this thought encourages the old man: “He call’d me father” (v. i. 3). He tells the Volscian sentinel:
You shall perceive that a Jack guardant cannot office me from my son Coriolanus.
(V. ii. 67.)
And when they meet, he hails him:
The glorious gods sit in hourly synod about thy particular prosperity, and love thee no worse than thy old father Menenius does! O, my son, my son!
(V. ii. 72.)
Nor are these statements idle brags; they are borne out by Coriolanus’ own words when he dismisses him:
For I loved thee,
Take this along; I writ it for thy sake, [Gives a letter
And would have sent it.