Coriolanus

Also known as: Caius Martius / Caius Martius Coriolanus / Martius / Martius Caius Coriolanus · Family: Rome · Role: Roman commander · First appears: Coriolanus · Act I, Scene I

Coriolanus, also known as Caius Martius, begins as Rome’s commander amid a revolt in which the citizens resolve to kill him. Sent by Volumnia into war, he returns crowned with oak while Virgilia waits for him at home; Titus Lartius pledges to fight beside him, and Cominius commands and supports him. At Corioles, Martius rallies the Romans, enters the city alone, fights through its defenders, and faces Tullus Aufidius in single combat. After refusing a share of the spoils, he is awarded the name Coriolanus, along with Cominius’s war horse and equipment. Their friendship is grounded in the battles and blood they shared, while Aufidius remains his enemy and rival: “He is a lion / That I am proud to hunt.”

Returning to Rome with twenty-seven battle wounds, Coriolanus is welcomed by Volumnia and Virgilia but refuses to court the people for the consulship. Though elected, he is opposed by the tribunes Junius Brutus and Sicinius Velutus, who turn the plebeians against him. He resists arrest, accepts trial, and is banished from Rome; after declaring his contempt for the people, he leaves with his family and friends, including Cominius and Menenius. In Antium, he seeks Aufidius’s mercy and offers service to the Volsces. Aufidius welcomes him as an ally, grants him half his military commission, and obeys his commands as they lead an army against Rome, while Menenius remains a true friend—Coriolanus later calls him father.

Before Rome, Coriolanus rejects Menenius’s plea for mercy but gives him a written paper because he loved him. He then meets Volumnia, Virgilia, and his young son, young Martius, and abandons the attack, choosing peace between Rome and the Volsces: “Aufidius, though I cannot make true wars, I’ll frame convenient peace.” Rome welcomes Volumnia and Virgilia and restores Coriolanus, but Aufidius accuses him of betraying the Volscian cause and has him killed before the assembled lords and people; afterward, Aufidius orders that he receive noble remembrance.