Honour, of course, is not the highest possible principle. It implies a certain quest for recognition, and in so far has a personal and even selfish aspect. But in the right kind of honour the recognition is sought, in the first place, for real excellences that, in the second place, are determined only by competent judges, in some cases only by the individual’s own conscience. In both respects Coriolanus bears examination.
Of course, when there is any pursuit of honour at all, it is almost impossible to exclude some admixture of rivalry and emulation: for the desire of recognition, if only by oneself, carries with it the desire of being recognised as having achieved the very best: and rivalry and emulation must to that extent have an egoistic direction. Coriolanus has these feelings to the full, and often gives them extreme expression in regard to his one possible competitor Aufidius. He calls him “the man of my soul’s hate” (i. v. 11); and tells him: “I have ever followed thee with hate” (iv. v. 104). Aufidius has equal animosity against Coriolanus. His correspondent, to give an idea of his rival’s unpopularity with his townsmen, writes of
Marcius your old enemy,
Who is of Rome worse hated than of you.
(i. ii. 12.)
Lartius reports how the Volscian has said,
That of all things upon the earth, he hated
Your person most.
(iII. i. 14.)
Marcius, hearing he is at Antium, sums up for both: