Virgilia

Family: Rome · Role: wife of Caius Martius · First appears: Coriolanus · Act I, Scene II

In Act I, Scene II, Virgilia is the wife of Coriolanus and resolves to remain indoors until he returns from the wars: “I’ll not over the threshold till my lord return from the wars.” At Rome in Act I, Scene X, she and Volumnia publicly welcome Coriolanus home after his military triumph.

By Act IV, Scene I, Virgilia is an enemy of Sicinius Velutus, while Volumnia publicly condemns Junius Brutus and Sicinius Velutus for banishing Coriolanus. At the tent in Act V, Scene III, Virgilia is the parent of young Martius, saying, “Ay, and mine, That brought you forth this boy to keep your name Living to time.” Coriolanus then abandons his attack on Rome and agrees to make peace between Rome and the Volsces; in Act V, Scene V, he is restored after Rome welcomes Volumnia and the other ladies, before Tullus Aufidius accuses him of yielding to his wife and mother.

Relationship record

Life events

• Virgilia resolves to remain indoors until Caius Martius returns from the wars.(Coriolanus · Act I, Scene II)
  • With: Coriolanus
  • “I’ll not over the threshold till my lord return from the wars.”
• Coriolanus is publicly welcomed home by Volumnia and Virgilia after his military triumph.(Coriolanus · Act I, Scene X · 📍 Rome)
  • With: Coriolanus Volumnia
  • “Your hand, and yours. Ere in our own house I do shade my head, The good patricians must be visited, From whom I have received not only greetings, But with them change of honours.”
• Volumnia publicly condemns Brutus and Sicinius for banishing Coriolanus.(Coriolanus · Act IV, Scene I · 📍 Rome)
  • With: Volumnia Menenius Junius Brutus Sicinius Velutus
  • “As far as doth the Capitol exceed The meanest house in Rome, so far my son— This lady’s husband here, this, do you see?— Whom you have banished, does exceed you all.”
• Coriolanus abandons his attack on Rome and agrees to make peace between Rome and the Volsces.(Coriolanus · Act V, Scene III · 📍 The tent of Coriolanus)
  • With: Coriolanus Tullus Aufidius Volumnia young Martius
  • “O mother, mother! What have you done? Behold, the heavens do ope, The gods look down, and this unnatural scene They laugh at. O my mother, mother, O! You have won a happy victory to Rome, But, for your son—believe it, O, believe it!— Most dangerously you have with him prevailed, If not most mortal to him. But let it come.— Aufidius, though I cannot make true wars, I’ll frame convenient peace.”
• Coriolanus is restored after Rome welcomes his mother and the other ladies.(Coriolanus · Act V, Scene V · 📍 Rome)
  • With: Volumnia Coriolanus
  • “Repeal him with the welcome of his mother. Cry ‘Welcome, ladies, welcome!’”
• Aufidius publicly accuses Coriolanus of treason for yielding to his wife and mother.(Coriolanus · Act V, Scene V · 📍 Rome)
  • With: Tullus Aufidius Coriolanus Volumnia
  • “He has betrayed your business and given up For certain drops of salt your city Rome— I say your city—to his wife and mother,”

Coriolanus · Act I, Scene II

• married with Coriolanus “Enter Volumnia and Virgilia, mother and wife to Martius.”

Coriolanus · Act I, Scene X

• married with Coriolanus (Volumnia identifies Virgilia, who is present, as Coriolanus’s wife.) “VOLUMNIA. My gentle Martius, worthy Caius, and By deed-achieving honour newly named— What is it? Coriolanus must I call thee? But, O, thy wife—”

Coriolanus · Act IV, Scene I

• married with Coriolanus “Farewell, my wife, my mother.”
• enemies with Sicinius Velutus “He’d make an end of thy posterity.”

Coriolanus · Act V, Scene III

• married with Coriolanus “My lord and husband.”
• child: young Martius “Ay, and mine, That brought you forth this boy to keep your name Living to time.”

Coriolanus · Act V, Scene V

• married with Coriolanus (The named Virgilia is identified in the scene as Coriolanus’s wife.) “He has betrayed your business and given up For certain drops of salt your city Rome—I say your city—to his wife and mother, Breaking his oath and resolution like A twist of rotten silk, never admitting Counsel o’ th’ war, but at his nurse’s tears He whined and roared away your victory”

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Extracted from the original text of Shakespeare's Roman Plays. Made with Rho MD.