Should not be utter'd feebly. It is held 88
That valour is the chiefest virtue, and
Most dignifies the haver: if it be,
The man I speak of cannot in the world
Be singly counterpois'd. At sixteen years, 92
When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought
Beyond the mark of others; our then dictator,
Whom with all praise I point at, saw him fight,
When with his Amazonian chin he drove 96
The bristled lips before him. He bestrid
An o'er-press'd Roman, and i' the consul's view
Slew three opposers: Tarquin's self he met,
And struck him on his knee: in that day's feats, 100
When he might act the woman in the scene,
He prov'd best man i' the field, and for his meed
Was brow-bound with the oak. His pupil age
Man-enter'd thus, he waxed like a sea, 104
And in the brunt of seventeen battles since
He lurch'd all swords of the garland. For this last,
Before and in Corioli, let me say,
I cannot speak him home: he stopp'd the fliers, 108
And by his rare example made the coward
Turn terror into sport: as weeds before
A vessel under sail, so men obey'd,
And fell below his stem: his sword, death's stamp, 112
Where it did mark, it took; from face to foot
He was a thing of blood, whose every motion
90 haver: possessor
92 Be . . . counterpois'd: find any single equal
93 made . . . for: raised an army against
94 mark; cf. n.
96 Amazonian: i.e. beardless
100 on his knee: with such force as to bring him to his knee
101 in the scene: on the stage
104 Man-enter'd: entered upon manhood
106 lurch'd: robbed; cf. n.
108 speak him home: do him full justice
112 fell . . . stem: yielded to his course
113 took: took possession, slew
