| William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The Oxford Shakespeare. 1914. | | | |
| Coriolanus | | | | Act I. Scene VIII. |
| | A Field of Battle between the Roman and the Volscian Camps. | |
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Alarum. Enter from opposite sides MARCIUS and AUFIDIUS. | |
| Mar. I’ll fight with none but thee; for I do hate thee | |
| Worse than a promise-breaker. | |
| Auf. We hate alike: | 5 |
| Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor | |
| More than thy fame and envy. Fix thy foot. | |
| Mar. Let the first budger die the other’s slave, | |
| And the gods doom him after! | |
| Auf. If I fly, Marcius, | 10 |
| Halloo me like a hare. | |
| Mar. Within these three hours, Tullus, | |
| Alone I fought in your Corioli walls, | |
| And made what work I pleas’d; ’tis not my blood | |
| Wherein thou seest me mask’d; for thy revenge | 15 |
| Wrench up thy power to the highest. | |
| Auf. Wert thou the Hector | |
| That was the whip of your bragg’d progeny, | |
| Thou shouldst not ’scape me here.— [They fight, and certain Volsces come to the aid of AUFIDIUS. | |
| Officious, and not valiant, you have sham’d me | 20 |
| In your condemned seconds. [Exeunt fighting, all driven in by MARCIUS. | | | |
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