Volumnia

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

Volumnia is the mother of Coriolanus, whom she sent to war; he returned crowned with oak. After his military triumph, she and Virgilia publicly welcomed him home. When Coriolanus agreed to seek the people’s support in the marketplace, he told her, “Mother, I am going to the marketplace. Chide me no more.”

When Junius Brutus and Sicinius Velutus banished Coriolanus, Volumnia confronted them in Rome, blaming them for his exile and declaring that her son exceeded them all. She then joined Virgilia and the other Roman ladies in appealing to Coriolanus at the Volscian camp. He abandoned his attack and agreed to make peace between Rome and the Volsces, while Tullus Aufidius accused him of yielding to his wife and mother.

The Volscians withdrew, and Rome welcomed Volumnia and the other ladies. Coriolanus was restored after that welcome; as the report put it, “The ladies have prevailed. The Volscians are dislodged and Martius gone.”

Relationship record

Life events

• Volumnia sent Caius Martius to war, and he returned crowned with oak.(Coriolanus · Act I, Scene II)
  • With: Coriolanus
  • “To a cruel war I sent him, from whence he returned, his brows bound with oak.”
• Coriolanus is publicly welcomed home by Volumnia and Virgilia after his military triumph.(Coriolanus · Act I, Scene X · 📍 Rome)
  • With: Coriolanus Virgilia
  • “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.”
• Coriolanus agrees to flatter Rome’s people and goes to the marketplace seeking their support.(Coriolanus · Act III, Scene II · 📍 Rome)
  • With: Coriolanus
  • “Mother, I am going to the marketplace. Chide me no more. I’ll mountebank their loves, Cog their hearts from them, and come home beloved Of all the trades in Rome.”
• Volumnia publicly condemns Brutus and Sicinius for banishing Coriolanus.(Coriolanus · Act IV, Scene I · 📍 Rome)
  • With: Virgilia 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 Virgilia 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.”
• Volumnia and the Roman ladies prevail, ending Coriolanus’s assault as the Volscians withdraw.(Coriolanus · Act V, Scene IV · 📍 Rome)
  • With: Coriolanus
  • “The ladies have prevailed. The Volscians are dislodged and Martius gone.”
• Coriolanus is restored after Rome welcomes his mother and the other ladies.(Coriolanus · Act V, Scene V · 📍 Rome)
  • With: Virgilia 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 Virgilia
  • “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

• child: Coriolanus “Enter Volumnia and Virgilia, mother and wife to Martius.”

Coriolanus · Act I, Scene X

• child: Coriolanus (Volumnia identifies Coriolanus as her son.) “The Senate has letters from the General, wherein he gives my son the whole name of the war. He hath in this action outdone his former deeds doubly.”

Coriolanus · Act III, Scene II

• child: Coriolanus (Volumnia is identified as Coriolanus's mother elsewhere in the same speech: ) “I talk of you. Why did you wish me milder? Would you have me False to my nature? Rather say I play The man I am.”

Coriolanus · Act IV, Scene I

• child: Coriolanus “My first son, Whither wilt thou go? Take good Cominius”
• enemies with Sicinius Velutus “Was not a man my father? Hadst thou foxship To banish him that struck more blows for Rome Than thou hast spoken words?”
• enemies with Junius Brutus “‘I would he had?’ ’Twas you incensed the rabble.”

Coriolanus · Act V, Scene III

• child: Coriolanus “My mother bows, As if Olympus to a molehill should In supplication nod;”

Coriolanus · Act V, Scene IV

• child: Coriolanus “He loved his mother dearly.”

Coriolanus · Act V, Scene V

• child: Coriolanus (The named Volumnia is identified in the scene as Coriolanus’s mother.) “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”

⭐ Constellation map → · 📖 Read the original → · 🗂 Character index → · 🕰 Chronicle → · 📍 Places →

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