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In the early years of the Roman Requblic,
the city was ruled by a council called the Senate. Its members
were called senators, and each year two of them were chosen to
be consuls. These were the highest officers of the State. The
senators and the consuls were aristocrats. They all came from
the oldest, riches, most respectable families in the city-the
patricians.
The common people-the plebeians-had a say in the
government, too. Each year they chose officers called tribunes
to speak for them in the Senate. The duty of the tribunes was to
look after the interests of the plebeians. They had to protect
them from being unjustly treated by the patricians.
As time went by the common people became more
powerful. They even took part in the choosing of the consuls.
Any patrician who wanted to be consul had to like him he could
not become consul.
Naturally, the patricians were not pleased with
this. They thought they were musch better than the plebians in
every way. They wanted to rule the city without giving any
thought to what the plebeians liked or did not like. The
plebeians of course, suspected that the patricians would rule
the city for their own selfish reasons and do nothing for them.
One year there was a terrible shortage of food.
The poor, hungry plebeians blamed the patricians for the
problem. The patricians owned the corn stores, and the people
thought the patricians were saving the corn so that they could
sell it at a higher price later. They said the patricians were
trying to make themselves richer in this cruel way. They were
especially angry with an aristocrat called Caius Martius.
One morning some of the citizens began to gather
in called Vaius Martius.
One morning some of the citizens began to gather
in the streets. They were hungry. Many of them called out
angrily to one another. They had sticks and clubs and other
weapons in their hands. It looked as if there was going to be a
riot. Gradually, the citizens joined together to from a crowd in
one of the small, open places of Rome.
Listen to me! shouted one of them who seemed to
be their leader.
The rest questioned down and turned their faces
to the speaker.
Now first of all: we would rather die than go on
being hungry like this wouldn't we? All agreed?''
Agreed! they all shouted.
And we know that our worst enemy is Caius Martius!
Yes! We are going to kill him, If we kill him, we shall be able
to get the corn we need at a fair price!''
That's enough talk, shouted one very loud voice
from the back of the crowd. What we want is action Come on
friends. Let's get started!''
The crowd, which was now beginning to look very dangerous roared
in agreement.
Just one word good citizens called out another
man. He was tall and thin, and older than most of the others.
Good citizens? asked the leader. Is that what you
said? We are the poor citizens, that's who we are. The good
citizens are the patricians-good and fat!''
The crowd laughed. and the thin man looked
uncomfortable.
And now do they get so good and fat? continued
the leader. By keeping us poor and thin, that's how they do it.
They use our suffering to make themselves rich. Now let's use
our sticks to take revenge on them, before we all get so thin we
look like sticks ourselves!''
The crowd roared with delight at their leader's
humors. And the noisier they got, the braver they felt.
But the thin man spoke up again. he did not seem
so certain as the others. Are you going to take revenge
especially on Caius Martius?
Yes! Yes! they all shouted. He's the worst!''
Yes we have the leader replied, and if that were
all, we'd speak well of him for it. But everything he has done
has been done out of pride. You might believe he did them to
please that aristocratic mother of his, and to increase his
pride in himself.
But you cannot blame him for his own nature. And
you cannot say he is a greedy man, argued the thin man.
Well if I cannot say he is greedy, there are
plenty of other things I can say. He has so many faults.....
The leader was interrupted by the sound of
shouting in the distance.
Listen-our brother have started a riot on the
other side of the city. Why are we standing about here, wasting
our time talking.
The crowd was just about to move, but at exactly
that moment one of the senators. Menenius, came along.
Menenius came up to face the crowd. He was not
afraid of them. This old man was a friend of Caius Martius, but
he was also well liked by the people. He tried to persyade them
to calm down. As they liked him, they listened.
Menenius told them the food shortage was not
caused be men or by the Senate which was really concerned for
the good of everyone. The State and all its citizens, he said
needed each other.
To show this more clearly he told them a story.
There was a time, he said when the other parts of the body
turned against the stomach. They said that it kept the food that
came into it. It was lazy, it never joined with the other parts
of the body in the work, and just left them to look after
themselves. The stomach answered these accusations, saying, Yes
it is true that I receive the food. But I do not keep it to
myself. Instead I send it through the blood to make the body
strong and keep it to myself. Instead I send it through the
blood to make the body strong and keep all its parts alive.
Through my services the whole body stays healthy. I only keep
that part of the food which is useless to the body as a whole.
''The senators of Rome are like this good
stomach, Menenius explained and you are the angry arms and legs.
The State like the body will suffer if it has members who don't
agree with each other.
The people received this story well-but just then
Caius Martius himself came by. He began to scold the
discontented citizens. He called them dogs. He blamed them for
being stupid. He said he could never trust them, for they were
always changing their minds. Hearing from Menenius that they
they wanted corn at a cheap price, he scolded them for daring to
demand this. He took out his sword and threatened them, and the
people were rough and must be ruled very firmly. He also
disliked their representatives the tribunes. He thought they
would cause trouble and would weaken the Roman Republic.
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Caius Martius
goes to war |
Rome had some old enemies and rivals called the Volsces. Therir
chief city was Corioli and their leader in previous wars was
Tullus Aufidius. He had been beaten by Caius Martius, but he was
a brave and skiful soldier all the same. When the Volsces saw
that the city of Rome was suffering from a shortage of food and
from political quarrels, they got ready to attack it.
When the Roman Senate heard that the
Volsces were going to attack Rome, they immediately formed an
army. One of the two consuls for the yaar would lead it and be
its general. Caius Martius was appointed to be second in
command.
The two tribunes who spoke for the common
people, were present when the Senate made this decision. They
hated Caius for his pride, and for the way he scorned the
people. They were surprised that such a proud man would agree to
serve under the consul. They thought that Caius was being
cunning. If Rome wins Caius will take all the praise but if the
Roman army is defeated, he will blame the consuls.
The Volscian leaders heard of the Roman
preparations for war. They decided to divide their forces into
two parts. The larger part would be led by Tullus Aufidius
against the city of Rome. The smaller part would be left to
defend the city of Corioli.
The Roman soldiers marched out from Rome
leaving behind them wives mothers and sisters, who anxiously
waited to hear any news of the battle. The wife of Caius Martius
was very fearful and worried. However his mother, Volumnia like
many woman of early Rome thought more of honour than of safety.
To her Caius wife seemed weak because she showed her fear. But
they did not have to wait long before a friend brought them some
news. He said that the main Roman army had met the Volscian
army, and a great battle was taking place.
However Caius Martius was not fighting in
that Battle. He had been sent with a part of the army to attack
Corioli.
Caius Martius ordered a few men to guard
Corioli to make sure the Volsces did not try to take it back.
Then make sure the Volsces did no try to take it back. Then`
although he was wounded he hurried off with the rest to join the
main Roman army a mile away. He arrived in time to join in the
battle was the still being fought there. He attacked the section
of the Volscian army under Aufidius.
Caius and Auditions fought man to man. It
was a long hard fight, as both men were good soldiers and they
were both very brave. However Caius was too strong for Aecidium
and slowly began to beat him back. Fortunately but they could do
nothing else. The Volscian army was beaten and ad to surrender.
The Romans treated their enemies with
mercy. After the victory the gave back the city of Corioli to
the Volsces. But Aufidius hated the Romans and most of all he
hated Caius Martius, who had beaten him many times in battle. He
decided to work against Caius Martius and try to destroy him.
Through the courage and strength of Caius
Martius, the Romans had won a great victory. For this and for
his part in the capture of Corioli, they offered him most of the
property that had been taken from the Volsces, but he said he
wanted nothing. The honour of serving Rome was enough for him.
He was therefore given a special name. From then on Caius
Martius became known as Caius Martius Coriolanus.
The news of the Roman victory and of
Coriolanus's bravery soon reached Rome. Everyone was pleased,
except the tribunes. They were happy about the victory, but they
were angry that Coriolanus had been so successful.
The tribunes watched Coriolanus returning
to Rome in victory. They watched him being prasied by his
friends. They saw how even the common people cheered him, and
they dared not show their displeasure. Privately, they feared he
might be given the highest position in the State by becoming one
of th consuls. If he did they thought he would use his power to
take away the rights of the people.
The tribunes were very worried about this.
Their only hope was that his proud behaviour would cause his own
defeat. They planned to make him angry so that he would start
treating the public scornfully. If he did that they were sure
the people would turn against him.
Shortly after this, the Senate met for the
election of the consuls. One of the outgoing consuls, Cominius
suggested Coriolanus should be elected. He told the senators
about Coriolanu's bravery, his fine leadership, and his refusal
to take personal rewards for his victories. The Senate were
pleased to choose Coriolanus.
To complete the election the new consul had
to make a speech to the people in the marketplace and win their
approval. Coriolanus did not want to do this. He said he was not
a good speaker. But he was persuaded to appear in public. When
he spoke, however he did not even try to be persuasive. He spoke
insultingly to the people who asked him questions. In spite of
this the people readily accepted him as consul. Most of the time
they did not like coriolanus as a man, but they loved him as a
fighter and as the winner of great victories for Rome. For the
moment he was their hero.
The tribunes followed the people's
decision. Later when they heard complaints of Coriolanus's
scornful manner they tried to get the people to change their
minds.
Coriolanus has always been your enemy they
power to harm you. He will take away all your rights. It is
still not too late to vote against him. Say if you like that we
told you vote for him, and it was to please us your tribunes
that you did so.
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