He immediately rose from table
and came in, and asked him who he was, and for what business he
came there; and then Marcius, unmuffling himself, and pausing
awhile said, "If you cannot yet call me to mind, Tullus, or do not
believe your eyes concerning me, I must of necessity be my own
accuser. I am Gaius Marcius, the author of so much mischief to the
Volscians; of which, were I seeking to deny it, the surname of
Coriolanus I now bear would be a sufficient evidence against me.
The one recompense I received for all the hardships and perils I
have gone through, was the title that proclaims my enmity to your
nation, and this is the only thing which is still left me. Of all
other advantages, I have been stripped and deprived by the envy of
the Roman people, and the cowardice and treachery of the
magistrates and those of my own order. I am driven out as an
exile, and become an humble suppliant at your hearth, not so much
for safety and protection (should I have come hither, had I been
afraid to die?), as to seek vengeance against those that expelled
me; which, methinks, I have already obtained, by putting myself
into your hands. If, therefore, you have really a mind to attack
your enemies, make use of that affliction you see me in to assist
the enterprise, and convert my personal infelicity into a common
blessing to the Volscians; as I am likely to be more serviceable
in fighting for than against you, with the advantage, which I now
possess, of knowing all the secrets of the enemy that I am
attacking.
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