QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Coriolanus ACT/SCENE: 3.1 SPEAKER: Coriolanus CONTEXT: CORIOLANUS
‘Shall’!
O good but most unwise patricians! why,
You grave but reckless senators, have you thus
Given Hydra here to choose an officer,
That with his peremptory ‘shall,’ being but
The horn and noise o’ the monster’s, wants not spirit
To say he’ll turn your current in a ditch,
And make your channel his? If he have power
Then vail your ignorance; if none, awake
Your dangerous lenity. If you are learn’d,
Be not as common fools; if you are not,
Let them have cushions by you. You are plebeians,
If they be senators: and they are no less,
When, both your voices blended, the great’st taste
Most palates theirs. They choose their magistrate,
And such a one as he, who puts his ‘shall,’
His popular ‘shall’ against a graver bench
Than ever frown in Greece. By Jove himself!
It makes the consuls base: and my soul aches
To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither supreme, how soon confusion
May enter ‘twixt the gap of both and take
The one by the other. DUTCH: O goede, doch kortzichtige adel! achtb’re,
Doch achtelooze senatoren, ziet!
Waarom schonkt ge aan de Hydra hier de keus
Eens ambt’naars, MORE: Proverb: As many heads as Hydra
Proverb: Experience is the mistress of fools

The horn and noise=Reference to Triton earlier
Vail your ignorance=”If this man has power, let the ignorance that gave it him vail or bow down before him” (Johnson)
Awake your dangerous lenity=Shake your out of your tolerant attitude
Ignorance=Want of experience and skill, the state of not knowing what to do or how to behave; fault ignorantly committed
Vail=To lower, let fall (From M.English ‘avalen’, French ‘avaler’). (See Taming of the Shrew 5.2, ‘vail your stomacks’, i.e. pride; )
Palate=Taste (Most please the plebeians – popular opinion)
Peremptory=Absolute, positive, so as to cut off all further debate
Hydra=Fig. the multitude
Given=Allowed
Up=On foot, in action
Compleat:
To vail his bonnet to one=Den hoed voor iemand afligten
That won’t fit his palate=Dat zal zyn smaak niet weezen; dt zal met zyn smaak niet overeenkomen
It doth not please my palate=Het smaakt my niet; ik heb er geen smaak in’; ‘t mondt my niet.
Peremptory=Volstrekt, uitvoerig, volkomen, uiteindig Topics: authority, proverbs and idioms, leadership