Coriolanus

Also known as: Marcius · Family: Rome · Role: general · First appears: Comparison of Alcibiades with Coriolanus

Life events

Coriolanus spread a false report that provoked war between the Romans and Volscians.(Comparison of Alcibiades with Coriolanus)
- “And Coriolanus also, Dionysius relates, used unfair means to excite war between the Romans and the Volscians, in the false report which he spread about the visitors at the Games;”
Coriolanus was killed by the Volscians after being condemned at Rome.(Comparison of Alcibiades with Coriolanus)
- “Coriolanus was condemned in person at Rome; and in like manner killed by the Volscians, not indeed with any right or justice, yet not without some pretext occasioned by his own acts;”
Coriolanus yielded to the women's entreaties and abandoned the favorable chances of war without establishing peace.(Comparison of Alcibiades with Coriolanus)
- “since, after rejecting all conditions of peace in public, in private he yielded to the solicitations of the women, and, without establishing peace, threw up the favorable chances of war.”

with Alcibiades (The chapter contrasts and compares their characters.) “Marcius, according to our common conceptions of his character, was undoubtedly simple and straightforward; Alcibiades, unscrupulous as a public man, and false.”
with Dionysius (Dionysius reports an episode concerning Coriolanus.) “And Coriolanus also, Dionysius relates, used unfair means to excite war between the Romans and the Volscians, in the false report which he spread about the visitors at the Games;”
with Ion (Ion is cited for a general observation applied in the discussion of Coriolanus.) “And Coriolanus also, Dionysius relates, used unfair means to excite war between the Romans and the Volscians, in the false report which he spread about the visitors at the Games; and the motive of this action seems to make it the worse of the two; since it was not done, like the other, out of ordinary political jealousy, strife, and competition. Simply to gratify anger, from which, as Ion says, no one ever yet got any return, he threw whole districts of Italy into confusion, and sacrificed to his passion against his country numerous innocent cities.”
with Plato (Plato is cited in characterizing the disposition associated with Coriolanus.) “the absence of this in the character of Marcius made all his great actions and noble qualities unacceptable to those whom they benefited: pride, and self-will, the consort, as Plato calls it, of solitude, made him insufferable.”

Extracted from the original text of Plutarch's Lives. Made with Rho MD.