sents him to us as a hero, and, so far as he can,
enlists our sympathy for him from beginning to end. When Menenius says
of him:

"His nature is too noble for the world,"
(Act 3, Sc. 1.)

he is evidently but registering the verdict of the author. Plutarch's
treatment of Coriolanus is far different. He exhibits his fine
qualities, but he does not hesitate to speak of his "imperious temper
and that savage manner which was too haughty for a republic." "Indeed,"
he adds, "there is no other advantage to be had from a liberal education
equal to that of polishing and softening our nature by reason and
discipline." He also tells us that Coriolanus indulged his "irascible
passions on a supposition that they have something great and exalted in
them," and that he wanted "a due mixture of gravity and mildness, which
are the chief political virtues and the fruits of reason and education."
"He never dreamed that such obstinacy is rather the effect of the
weakness and effeminacy of a distempered mind, which breaks out in
violent passions like so many tumors." Nor apparently did Shakespeare
ever dream of it either, altho he had Plutarch's sage observations
before him. It is a pity that the great dramatist did not select from
Plutarch's works some hero who took the side of the people, some Agis or
Cleomenes, or, better yet, one of the Gracchi. What a tragedy he might
have based on the life of Tiberius, the friend of the people and the
martyr in their cause! But the spirit which guided Schiller in the
choice of William Tell for a hero was a stranger to Shakespeare's heart,
and its promptings would have met with no response there.

Even more striking is the treatment which the author of "Coriolanus"
metes out to English history. All but two of his English historical
dramas are devoted to the War of the Roses and the incidental struggle
over the French crown. The motive of this prolonged strife--so
attractive to Shakespeare--had much the same dignity which distinguishes
the family intrigues of the Sublime Porte, and Shakespeare presents the
history of his country as a mere pageant of warring royalties and their
trains. When the people are permitted to appear, as they do in Cade's
rebellion, to which Shakespeare has assigned the character of the rising
under Wat Tyler, they are made the subject of burlesque. Two of the
popular party speak as follows:

"John Holland. Well, I say, it was never merry world in