plundering it, which greatly vexed Marcius. He loudly exclaimed that it
was a disgraceful thing, when the consul was on the point of engaging
with the enemy, that they should be plundering, or, on the pretext of
plunder, keeping themselves safe out of harm's way. Few paid any
attention to him, but with those few he marched on the track of the main
body, frequently encouraging his followers to greater speed, and not to
give way to fatigue, and frequently praying to Heaven that he might not
come too late for the battle, but arrive in time to share the labours
and perils of his countrymen. There was at that time a custom among the
Romans, when they were drawn up in order of battle, ready to take their
shields in their hands, and to gird themselves with the trabea, to make
their will verbally, naming their heir in the presence of three or four
witnesses. The Roman army was found by Marcius in the act of performing
this ceremony. At first some were alarmed at seeing him appear with only
a few followers, covered with blood and sweat; but when he ran joyously
up to the consul and told him that Corioli was taken, Cominius embraced
him, and all the ranks took fresh courage, some because they heard, and
others because they guessed the glorious news. They eagerly demanded to
be led to battle. Marcius now enquired of Cominius how the enemy's line
of battle was arranged, and where it was strongest. When the consul
answered that he believed that the men of Antium, the proudest and
bravest troops of the Volscians, were posted in the centre, he answered,
"I beg of you, place us opposite to those men." The consul, filled with
admiration for his spirit, placed him there. As soon as the armies met,
Marcius charged before the rest, and the Volscians gave way before his
onset. The centre, where he attacked, was quite broken, but the ranks on
either side wheeled round and surrounded him, so that the consul feared
for his safety, and despatched the choicest of his own troops to his
aid. They found a hot battle raging round Marcius, and many slain, but
by the shock of their charge they drove off the enemy in confusion. As
they began to pursue them, they begged Marcius, now weary with toil and
wounds, to retire to the camp, but he, saying that "it was not for
victors to be weary," joined in the pursuit. The rest of the Volscian
army was defeated, many were slain, and many taken.
X. On the next day Lartius and the rest joined the consul. He ascended a
rostrum, and after returning suitable thanks to Heaven for such
unexampled successes, turned to Marcius. First he praised his conduct in
the highest terms, having himself witnessed some part of it, and having
learned the rest from Lartius. Next, as there were many prisoners,
horses, and other spoil, he bade him, before it was divided, choose a
tenth part for himself. He also presented him with a horse and
trappings, as a reward for his bravery. As all the Romans murmured their
approval, Marcius coming forward said that he gladly accepted the horse,
and was thankful for the praise which he had received from the consul.
As for the rest, he considered that to be mere pay, not a prize, and
refused it, preferring to take his share with the rest. "One especial
favour," said he, "I do beg of you. I had a friend among the Volscians,
who now is a captive, and from having been a rich and free man has
fallen to the condition of a slave. I wish to relieve him from one of
his many misfortunes--that of losing his liberty and being sold for a
slave." After these words, Marcius was cheered more than he had been
before, and men admired his disinterestedness more than they had admired
his bravery. Even those who grudged him his extraordinary honours now
thought that by his unselfishness he had shown himself worthy of them,
and admired his courage in refusing such presents more than the courage
by which he had won the right to them. Indeed, the right use of riches
is more glorious than that of arms, but not to desire them at all is
better even than using them well.
XI. When the cheering caused by Marcius's speech had subsided, Cominius
said: "Fellow soldiers, we cannot force a man against his will to
receive these presents; but, unless his achievements have already won it
for him, let us give him the title of Coriolanus, which he cannot
refuse, seeing for what it is bestowed, and let us confirm it by a
general vote."
Hence he obtained the third name of Coriolanus. From this we may clearly
see that his own personal name was Caius, and that Marcius was the
common name of his family, while the third name was added afterwards to
mark some particular exploit, peculiarity, or virtue in the bearer. So
also did the Greeks in former ages give men names derived from their
actions, such as Kallinikus (the Victor), or Soter (the Preserver); or
from their appearance, as Fusco (the Fat), or Gripus (the Hook-nosed);
or from their virtues, as Euergetes (the Benefactor), or Philadelphus
(the Lover of his Brethren), which were names of the Ptolemies: or from
their success, as Eudaemon (the Fortunate), a name given to the second
king of the race of Battus. Some princes have even had names given them
in jest, as Antigonus was called Doson (the Promiser), and Ptolemy
Lathyrus (the Vetch).
The Romans used this sort of name much more commonly, as for instance
they named one of the Metelli Diadematus, or wearer of the diadem,
because he walked about for a long time with his head bound up because
of a wound in the forehead.
Another of the same family was named Celer (the Swift), because of the
wonderful quickness with which he provided a show of gladiators on the
occasion of his father's funeral. Some even to the present day derive
their names from the circumstances of their birth, as for instance a
child is named Proculus if his father be abroad when he is born, and
Postumus if he be dead. If one of twins survive, he is named Vopiscus.
Of names taken from bodily peculiarities they use not only Sulla (the
Pimply), Niger (the Swarthy), Rufus (the Red-haired), but even such as
Caecus (the Blind), and Claudus (the Lame), wisely endeavouring to
accustom men to consider neither blindness nor any other bodily defect
to be any disgrace or matter of reproach, but to answer to these names
as if they were their own. However, this belongs to a different branch
of study.
XII. When the war was over, the popular orators renewed the
party-quarrels, not that they had any new cause of complaint or any just
grievance to proceed upon; but the evil result which had necessarily
been produced by their former riotous contests were now made the ground
of attacks on the patricians. A great part of the country was left
unsown and untilled, while the war gave no opportunities for importation
from other countries. The demagogues, therefore, seeing that there was
no corn in the market, and that even if there had been any, the people
were not able to buy it, spread malicious accusations against the rich,
saying that they had purposely produced this famine in order to pay off
an old grudge against the people. At this juncture ambassadors arrived
from the town of Velitrae, who delivered up their city to the Romans,
desiring that they would send some new inhabitants to people it, as a
pestilence had made such havoc among the citizens that there was
scarcely a tenth part of them remaining alive.
The wiser Romans thought that this demand of the people of Velitrae
would confer a most seasonable relief on themselves, and would put an
end to their domestic troubles, if they could only transfer the more
violent partizans of the popular party thither, and so purge the State
of its more disorderly elements. The consuls accordingly chose out all
these men and sent them to colonize Velitrae, and enrolled the rest for
a campaign against the Volsci, that they might not have leisure for
revolutionary plottings, but that when they were all gathered together,
rich and poor, patrician and plebeian alike, to share in the common
dangers of a camp, they might learn to regard one another with less
hatred and illwill.
XIII. But Sicinnius and Brutus, the tribunes of the people, now
interposed, crying aloud that the consuls were veiling a most barbarous
action under the specious name of sending out colonists. They were
despatching many poor men to certain destruction by transporting them to
a city whose air was full of pestilence and the stench from unburied
corpses, where they were to dwell under the auspices of a god who was
not only not their own, but angry with them. And after that, as if it
was not sufficient for them that some of the citizens should be starved,
and others be exposed to the plague, they must needs plunge wantonly
into war, in order that the city might suffer every conceivable misery
at once, because it had refused any longer to remain in slavery to the
rich. Excited by these speeches, the people would not enrol themselves
as soldiers for the war, and looked with suspicion on the proposal for
the new colony. The Senate was greatly perplexed, but Marcius, now a
person of great importance and very highly thought of in the State,
began to place himself in direct opposition to the popular leaders, and
to support the patrician cause. In spite of the efforts of the
demagogues, a colony was sent out to Velitrae, those whose names were
drawn by lot being compelled by heavy penalties to go thither; but as
the people utterly refused to serve in the campaign against the
Volscians, Marcius made up a troop of his own clients, with which and
what others he could persuade to join him he made an inroad into the
territory of Antium. Here he found much corn, and captured many
prisoners and much cattle. He kept none of it for himself, but returned
to Rome with his troops loaded with plunder. This caused the others to
repent of their determination, when they saw the wealth which these men
had obtained, but it embittered their hatred of Marcius, whom they
regarded as gaining glory for himself at the expense of the people.
XIV. Shortly after this, however, Marcius stood for the consulship, and
then the people relented and felt ashamed to affront such a man, first
in arms as in place, and the author of so many benefits to the State. It
was the custom at Rome for those who were candidates for any office to
address and ingratiate themselves with the people, going about the Forum
in a toga without any tunic underneath it, either in order to show their
humility by such a dress, or else in order to display the wounds which
they had received, in token of their valour. At that early period there
could be no suspicion of bribery, and it was not for that reason that
the citizens wished their candidates to come down among them ungirt and
without a tunic. It was not till long afterwards that votes were bought
and sold, and that a candidature became an affair of money. This habit
of receiving bribes, when once introduced, spread to the courts of
justice and to the armies of the commonwealth, and finally brought the
city under the despotic rule of the emperors, as the power of arms was
not equal to that of money. For it was well said that he who first
introduced the habit of feasting and bribing voters ruined the
constitution. This plague crept secretly and silently into Rome, and was
for a long time undiscovered. We cannot tell who was the first to bribe
the people or the courts of law at Rome. At Athens it is said that the
first man who gave money to the judges for his acquittal was Anytus the
son of Anthemion, when he was tried for treachery at Pylos towards the
end of the Peloponnesian War, a period when men of uncorrupted
simplicity and virtue were still to be found in the Forum at Rome.
XV. Marcius displayed many scars, gained in the numerous battles in
which for seventeen years in succession he had always taken a prominent
part. The people were abashed at these evidences of his valour, and
agreed among themselves that they would return him as consul. But when,
on the day of election, he appeared in the Forum, escorted by a splendid
procession of the entire Senate, and all the patricians were seen
collected round him evidently intent upon obtaining his election, many
of the people lost their feeling of goodwill towards him, and regarded
him with indignation and envy; which passions were assisted by their
fear lest, if a man of such aristocratic tendencies and such influence
with the patricians should obtain power, he might altogether destroy the
liberties of the people. For these reasons they did not elect Marcius.
When two persons had been elected consuls, the Senate was much
irritated, considering that it, rather than its candidate Marcius, had
been insulted, while he was much enraged, and could not bear his
disgrace with any temper or patience, being accustomed always to yield
to the more violent and ferocious emotions as being the more spirited
course, without any mixture of gravity and self-restraint, virtues so
necessary for political life. He had never learned how essential it is
for one who undertakes to deal with men, and engage in public business,
to avoid above all things that self-will which, as Plato says, is of the
family of solitude, and to become longsuffering and patient, qualities
which some foolish people hold very cheap. Marcius, plain and
straightforward, thinking it to be the duty of a brave man to bear down
all opposition, and not reflecting that it is rather a sign of weakness
and feebleness of mind to be unable to restrain one's passion, flung
away in a rage, bitterly irritated against the people. The young
aristocracy of Rome, who had ever been his fast friends, now did him an
ill service by encouraging and exasperating his anger by their
expressions of sympathy; for he was their favourite leader and a most
kind instructor in the art of war when on a campaign, as he taught them
to delight in deeds of prowess without envying and grudging one another
their proper meed of praise.
XVI. While this was the state of affairs at Rome, a large amount of corn
arrived there, some of which had been bought in Italy, but most of it
sent as a present from Sicily by Gelon the despot; which gave most men
hopes that the famine would come to an end, and that the quarrel between
the patricians and plebeians would, under these improved circumstances,
be made up. The Senate at once assembled, and the people eagerly waited
outside the doors of the senate house, expecting and hoping that prices
would be lowered, and that the present of corn would be distributed
gratis among them; and indeed some of the senators advised the adoption
of that course. Marcius, however, rose and bitterly inveighed against
those who favoured the people, calling them demagogues and betrayers of
their own order, alleging that by such gratification they did but
cherish that spirit of boldness and arrogance which had been spread
among the people against the patricians, which they would have done well
to crush upon its first appearance, and not suffer the plebeians to grow
so strong by giving so much power to the tribunes of the people. Now, he
urged, they had become formidable because every demand they made had
been agreed to, and nothing done against their wishes; they contemned
the authority of the consuls, and lived in defiance of the constitution,
governed only by their own seditious ringleaders, to whom they gave the
title of tribunes. For the Senate to sit and decree largesses of corn to
the populace, as is done in the most democratic States in Greece, would
merely be to pay them for their disobedience, to the common ruin of all
classes. "They cannot," he went on to say, "consider this largess of
corn to be a reward for the campaign in which they have refused to
serve, or for the secession by which they betrayed their country, or the
scandals which they have been so willing to believe against the Senate.
As they cannot be said to deserve this bounty, they will imagine that it
has been bestowed upon them by you because you fear them, and wish to
pay your court to them. In this case there will be no bounds to their
insubordination, and they never will cease from riots and disorders. To
give it them is clearly an insane proceeding; nay, we ought rather, if
we are wise, to take away from them this privilege of the tribuneship,
which is a distinct subversion of the consulate, and a cause of
dissension in the city, which now is no longer one, as before, but is
rent asunder in such a manner that there is no prospect of our ever
being reunited, and ceasing to be divided into two hostile factions."
XVII. With much talk to this effect Marcius excited the young men, with
whom he was influential, and nearly all the richer classes, who loudly
declared that he was the only man in the State who was insensible both
to force and to flattery. Some of the elders, however, opposed him,
foreseeing what would be the result of his policy. Indeed, no good
resulted from it. The tribunes of the people, as soon as they heard that
Marcius had carried his point, rushed down into the forum and called
loudly upon the people to assemble and stand by them. A disorderly
assembly took place, and on a report being made of Marcius's speech, the
fury of the people was so great that it was proposed to break into the
senate house; but the tribunes turned all the blame upon Marcius alone,
and sent for him to come and speak in his own defence. As this demand
was insolently refused, the tribunes themselves, together with the
aediles, went to bring him by force, and actually laid hands upon him.
However, the patricians rallied round him, thrust away the tribunes of
the people, and even beat the aediles, their assistants in this quarrel.
Night put an end to the conflict, but at daybreak the consuls, seeing
the people terribly excited, and gathering in the forum from all
quarters, began to fear the consequences of their fury. They assembled
the senators and bade them endeavour, by mild language and healing
measures, to pacify the multitude, as it was no season for pride or for
standing upon their dignity, but if they were wise they would perceive
that so dangerous and critical a posture of affairs required a temperate
and popular policy. The majority of the senators yielded, and the
consuls proceeded to soothe the people in the best way they could,
answering gently such charges as had been brought against them, even
speaking with the utmost caution when blaming the people for their late
outrageous conduct, and declaring that there should be no difference of
opinion between them about the way in which corn should be supplied, and
about the price of provisions.
XVIII. As the people now for the most part had cooled down, and from
their attentive and orderly demeanour were evidently much wrought upon
by the words of the consuls, the tribunes came forward and addressed
them. They said that now that the Senate had come to a better frame of
mind, the people would willingly make concessions in their turn; but
they insisted that Marcius should apologise for his conduct, or deny if
he could that he had excited the Senate to destroy the constitution,
that when summoned to appear he had disobeyed, and that finally he had,
by beating and insulting the aediles in the market-place, done all that
lay in his power to raise a civil war and make the citizens shed one
another's blood. Their object in saying this was either to humble
Marcius, by making him entreat the clemency of the people, which was
much against his haughty temper, or else expecting that he would yield
to his fiery nature and make the breach between himself and the people
incurable. The latter was what they hoped for from their knowledge of
his character.
Marcius came forward to speak in his defence, and the people stood
listening in dead silence. But when, instead of the apologetic speech
which they expected, he began to speak with a freedom which seemed more
like accusing them than defending himself, while the tones of his voice
and the expression of his countenance showed a fearless contempt for his
audience, the people became angry, and plainly showed their
disapprobation of what he said. Upon this, Sicinnius, the boldest of the
tribunes, after a short consultation with his colleagues, came forward
and said that the tribunes had condemned Marcius to suffer the penalty
of death, and ordered the aediles to lead him at once to the Capitol,
and cast him down the Tarpeian rock. When the aediles laid hold of him,
many of the people themselves seemed struck with horror and remorse, and
the patricians in the wildest excitement, called upon one another to
rescue him, and by main force tore him from his assailants and placed
him in the midst of themselves. Some of them held out their hands and
besought the populace by signs, as no voice could be heard in such an
uproar. At last the friends and relations of the tribunes, seeing that
it was impossible to carry out their sentence on Marcius without much
bloodshed, persuaded them to alter the cruel and unprecedented part of
the sentence, and not to put him to death by violence, or without a
trial, but to refer the matter to the people, to be voted upon by them.
Upon this Sicinnius, turning to the patricians, demanded what they meant
by rescuing Marcius from the people when they intended to punish him.
They at once retorted, "Nay, what do you mean by dragging one of the
bravest and best men in Rome to a cruel and illegal death?" "You shall
not," answered Sicinnius, "make that a ground of quarrel with the
people, for we allow you what you demand, that this man be put on his
trial. You, Marcius, we summon to appear in the forum on the third
market-day ensuing, and prove your innocence if you can, as the votes of
your countrymen will be then taken about your conduct."
XIX. The patricians were glad enough to terminate the affair in this
way, and retired rejoicing, bearing Marcius with them. During the time
which was to elapse before the third market-day (which the Romans hold
on every ninth day, and therefore call them nundinae), they had some
hope that a campaign against the people of Antium would enable them to
put off the trial until the people's anger had abated through length of
time and warlike occupations; afterwards, as they came to terms at once
with the Antiates, the patricians held frequent meetings, in which they
expressed their fear of the people, and considered by what means they
could avoid delivering Marcius up to them, and prevent their mob orators
from exciting them. Appius Claudius, who had the reputation of being the
bitterest enemy of the people in Rome, gave it as his opinion that the
Senate would destroy itself and ruin the State utterly if it permitted
the people to assume the power of trying patricians and voting on their
trials; while the older men, and those who were more inclined to the
popular side, thought that this power would render the people gentle and
temperate, and not savage and cruel. The people, they said, did not
despise the Senate, but imagined that they were despised by it, so that
this privilege of holding the trial would agreeably salve their wounded
vanity, and, as they exercised their franchise, they would lay aside
their anger.
XX. Marcius, perceiving that the Senate, divided between their regard
for himself and their fear of the people, knew not what to do, himself
asked the tribunes of the people what it was that he was charged with,
and what indictment they intended to bring against him at his trial.
When they answered that the charge against him was one of treason,
because he had attempted to make himself absolute despot in Rome, and
that they would prove it, he at once rose, saying that he would at once
defend himself before the people on that score, and that if he were
convicted, he would not refuse to undergo any punishment whatever;
"Only," said he, "do not bring forward some other charge against me, and
deceive the Senate." When they had agreed upon these conditions, the
trial took place.
The tribunes, however, when the people assembled, made them vote by
tribes, and not by centuries;[A] by which device the votes of rich
respectable men who had served the State in the wars would be swamped by
those of the needy rabble who cared nothing for truth or honour. In the
next place, they passed by the charge of treason, as being impossible to
prove, and repeated what Marcius had originally said before the Senate,
when he dissuaded them from lowering the price of corn, and advised the
abolition of the office of tribune. A new count in the indictment was
that he had not paid over the money raised by the sale of the plunder
after his expedition against Antium, but had divided it among his own
followers. This last accusation is said to have disturbed Marcius more
than all the rest, as he had never expected it, and was not prepared
with any answer that would satisfy the people, so that the praises which
he bestowed on those who had made that campaign with him only angered
the far greater number who had not done so. At last the people voted.
Marcius was condemned by a majority of the tribes, and was sentenced to
perpetual banishment. After sentence was passed, the people displayed
greater joy than if they had won a pitched battle, while the Senate was
downcast and filled with regret at not having run any risks rather than
allow the people to obtain so much power, and use it so insolently. Nor
was there any need for distinctions of dress or anything else to
distinguish the two parties, because a plebeian might be told at once by
his delight, a patrician by his sorrow.
[Footnote A: See the article "Comitia" in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of
Antiquities.]