‘Coriolanus implored by his family’, as imagined by Heinrich Friedrich Füger (1751-1818). It was not only William Shakespeare who picked up on the story; Austrian playwright Heinrich Joseph von Collin (1771-1811) brought it to the stage in 1804, a production which inspired Ludwig van Beethoven’s Coriolan overture, premiered in 1807 along with his Symphony No. 4 in B flat.
Part 1 of 2
CORIOLANUS was a Roman patrician who had distinguished himself in an attack on the Volscii,* when he took Corioli,* one of their principal towns, from which he derived his name of Coriolanus.
Having disgusted the people by inciting the senate to severe measures against them,* he was condemned by the tribunes of the people to be thrown headlong from the Tarpeian rock,* the usual punishment for criminals; but upon a second trial this was reduced to perpetual exile. Coriolanus received his sentence with calm indifference, and, after bidding adieu to his family and friends, and committing them to the care of Heaven, sought amongst the enemies of his country that refuge which had been denied him at home. This was offered him by Tullus Attius, king of the Volscians, the very people whom he had formerly assisted to conquer.
Tullus, desirous of regaining those places which had been wrested from him by the Romans, raised an army, of which Coriolanus and Tullus became generals.
* The Volscii or (more commonly) Volsci were a tribe dwelling in the plains to the south of Rome: Antium (Anzio) was their chief town.
* Corioli has so far defied scholarly attempts to pinpoint it on a map. It lay somewhere south of Rome and north of Antium (Anzio).
* A cliff close to the southwestern corner of the Capitol in Rome. It was the traditional place of execution for murderers and traitors. The fall was of some 80 feet, roughly equivalent to a six-storey drop.
* That is, against the people of Rome. In 491 BC, so ancient tradition has it, there was a poor grain harvest, and grain had to be imported from Sicily. Coriolanus took the line that the general public (the plebs) should be refused any relief until political concessions made to them in 494 BC, after they abandoned Rome in a mass protest, had been reversed. This use of humanitarian relief as political leverage was thought to be beneath a Roman statesman, and Coriolanus was shown the road.
Précis
Gnaeus Marcius was a Roman general whose capture of the Volscian town of Corioli brought him the surname Coriolanus. Much emboldened, Coriolanus tried to use his standing (and a food shortage) to repeal concessions made to the Roman public, provoking outrage and almost getting himself executed. Banished from Rome, he found refuge with his former enemies, the Volscians. (58 / 60 words)
Part Two
Coriolanus’s house, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912).
Coriolanus’s house, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912). This scene was painted for a production of William Shakespeare’s play Coriolanus (?1607-8) produced by the leading actor-manager of the day, Sir Henry Irving. Alma-Tadema first presented his ideas for the scenery and costumes in 1879, but the play did not hit the stage until April 1901, at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in London. Irving (63) played Coriolanus, and fellow-celebrity Ellen Terry (54) his mother Volumnia (Shakespeare gave the name of Coriolanus’s wife to his mother, and renamed his wife Virgilia). The revival was not the success that Irving had hoped for, and closed after thirty-six performances.
THEY attacked and defeated several of the Roman allies, and at last encamped at the head of a numerous army within five miles of Rome. The Romans, thus pressed to their very walls, began to humble themselves to the man they had before treated so harshly; they sent to him, begging he would withdraw the army, and they would restore him to the station he formerly held: but Coriolanus was not to be won by their entreaties. They then sent a deputation composed of the priests and augurs, but without avail.
As a last resource, Veturia his mother, Volumnia his wife,* and children, went accompanied by the principal matrons of the city. Coriolanus perceiving their approach, determined still to remain inflexible, but came down from his tribunal to meet and embrace them. The meeting was affecting: for some time Coriolanus refused to grant their request; till at length, overcome by their presence, he exclaimed, “O, my mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son.”
He then took leave of them, and gave instructions for the army to be drawn off. Tullus, who had before been envious of his glory, easily incited the people to rebel, and slay the unfortunate Roman.
* Veturia (his mother) is named Volumnia in Shakespeare’s play, and Volumnia (his wife) is called Virgilia.
Précis
Coriolanus joined forces with the Volscians to attack Rome, and soon had the City at his mercy. Desperate to save themselves, the Senate sent out Coriolanus’s mother, wife and children, who implored him to draw off his troops; and Coriolanus relented. He foretold that they had signed his death-warrant, and indeed the Volscians subsequently murdered him. (56 / 60 words)
