worthy of Providence, and would look
as if it were contriv'd by infinite Wisdom, and executed by supreme
Justice, to make _Coriolanus_ a dreadful Example to all who lead on
Foreign Enemies to the Invasion of their native Country; if there were not
something in the Fate of the other Characters, which gives occasion to
doubt of it, and which suggests to the Sceptical Reader that this might
happen by accident. For _Aufidius_ the principal Murderer of _Coriolanus_,
who in cold Blood gets him assassinated by Ruffians, instead of leaving
him to the Law of the Country, and the Justice of the _Volscian_ Senate,
and who commits so black a Crime, not by any erroneous Zeal, or a mistaken
publick Spirit, but thro' Jealousy, Envy, and inveterate Malice; this
Assassinator not only survives, and survives unpunish'd, but seems to be
rewarded for so detestable an Action, by engrossing all those Honours to
himself which _Coriolanus_ before had shar'd with him. But not only
_Aufidius_, but the _Roman_ Tribunes, _Sicinius_ and _Brutus_, appear to
me to cry aloud for Poetick Vengeance. For they are guilty of two Faults,
neither of which ought to go unpunish'd: The first in procuring the
Banishment of _Coriolanus_. If they were really jealous that _Coriolanus_
had a Design on their Liberties, when he stood for the Consulship, it was
but just that they should give him a Repulse; but to get the Champion and
Defender of their Country banish'd upon a pretended Jealousy was a great
deal too much, and could proceed from nothing but that Hatred and Malice
which they had conceiv'd against him, for opposing their Institution.
Their second Fault lay in procuring this Sentence by indirect Methods, by
exasperating and inflaming the People by Artifices and Insinuations, by
taking a base Advantage of the Open-heartedness and Violence of
_Coriolanus_, and by oppressing him with a Sophistical Argument, that he
aim'd at Sovereignty, because he had not delivered into the Publick
Treasury the Spoils which he had taken from the _Antiates_. As if a Design
of Sovereignty could be reasonably concluded from any one Act; or any one
could think of bringing to pass such a Design, by eternally favouring the
Patricians, and disobliging the Populace. For we need make no doubt but
that it was among the young Patricians that _Coriolanus_ distributed the
Spoils which were taken from the _Antiates_; whereas nothing but caressing
the Populace could enslave the _Roman_ People, a