to the wars, and safely home,
Laden with honor._ Say my request's unjust,
And spurn me back: but, if it be not so,
Thou art not honest, and the gods will plague thee
That thou restrain'st from me the duty which
To a mother's part belongs. He turns away:
Down, ladies: let us shame him with our knees.
To his surname Coriolanus 'longs more pride,
Than pity to our prayers; down, and end;
This is the last; so will we home to Rome,
And die among our neighbors. Nay, behold us;
This boy, that cannot tell what he would have,
But kneels, and holds up hands, for fellowship,
Does reason our petition with more strength
Than thou hast to deny't.[81]

It is an instance of Shakspeare's fine judgment, that after this
magnificent and touching piece of eloquence, which saved Rome, Volumnia
should speak no more, for she could say nothing that would not
deteriorate from the effect thus left on the imagination. She is at last
dismissed from our admiring gaze amid the thunder of grateful
acclamations--

Behold, our patroness,--the life of Rome.

CONSTANCE.

We have seen that in the mother of Coriolanus, the principal qualities
are exceeding pride, self-will, strong maternal affection, great power
of imagination, and energy of temper. Precisely the same qualities enter
into the mind of Constance of Bretagne: but in her these qualities are
so differently modified by circumstances and education, that not even in
fancy do we think of instituting a comparison between the Gothic
grandeur of Constance, and the more severe and classical dignity of the
Roman matron.

The scenes and circumstances with which Shakspeare has surrounded
Constance, are strictly faithful to the old chronicles, and are as
vividly as they are accurately represented. On the other hand, the hints
on which the character has been constructed, are few and vague; but the
portrait harmonizes so wonderfully with its historic background, and
with all that later researches have discovered relative to the personal
adventures of Constance, that I have not the slightest doubt of its
individual truth. The result of a life of strange vicissitude; the
picture of a tameless will, and high passions, forever struggling in
vain against a superior power: and the real situation of women in those
chivalrous times, are placed before us in a few noble scenes. The manner
in which Shakspeare has applied the scattered hints of histor