‘I BANISH YOU’: A HERO'S ROME

No play by Shakespeare is more obsessively concerned with Roman values, or more critical of these values, than Coriolanus. The words ‘Rome’ and ‘Roman’ recur more times in Coriolanus than in any Shakespeare play other than Titus Andronicus – eighty-eight for ‘Rome’, twenty-two for ‘Roman’. The terms are sometimes used in a ceremonial way, as in the Herald's speech in 2.1 honouring Coriolanus with his newly won title:

In the early republic, citizens were expected to serve Rome on the battlefield, demonstrating their patriotism by the wounds they have endured. Cominius, who at one point says ‘I have been consul, and can show for Rome /Her enemies’ marks upon me', praises Martius, emerging from the battlefield covered in blood: ‘We thank the gods /Our Rome has such a soldier … /Rome must know /The value of her own’ (1.10.8–9, 20–21; 3.3.111–12). In praising ‘the deeds of Coriolanus’, Cominius identifies ‘valour’, martial courage, as the primary virtue:

At the beginning of Plutarch's ‘Life of Caius Martius Coriolanus’, Martius is presented as exemplifying the equation of virtus with manly courage in the early republic: