Enter the Third Servingman.
3. Serv. O slaves! I can tell you news; news,
you rascals.
Both. What, what, what? let's partake. 184
3. Serv. I would not be a Roman, of all nations;
I had as lief be a condemned man.
Both. Wherefore? wherefore?
3. Serv. Why, here's he that was wont to 188
thwack our general, Caius Martius.
1. Serv. Why do you say 'thwack our
general?'
3. Serv. I do not say, 'thwack our general'; 192
but he was always good enough for him.
2. Serv. Come, we are fellows and friends: he
was ever too hard for him; I have heard him say
so himself. 196
1. Serv. He was too hard for him,—directly
to say the truth on 't: before Corioli he scotched
him and notched him like a carbonado.
2. Serv. An he had been cannibally given, he 200
might have boiled and eaten him too.
1. Serv. But, more of thy news.
3. Serv. Why, he is so made on here
within, as if he were son and heir to Mars; set 204
at upper end o' the table; no question asked
him by any of the senators, but they stand bald
before him. Our general himself makes a mistress
of him; sanctifies himself with 's hand, and turns 208
up the white o' th' eye to his discourse. But the
184 let's partake: let us share it
189 thwack: beat
197 directly: candidly
198 scotched: slashed
199 notched: cut
carbonado: steak prepared for broiling
201 boiled; cf. n.
203 made on: made much of, pampered
208 sanctifies . . . hand: fondles his hand as if it were a saint's relic
208, 209 turns . . . eye: gazes upward in reverence
