Schlegel
“In the three Roman pieces—Coriolanus, Julius Cæsar, and Antony and Cleopatra—the moderation with which Shakspeare excludes foreign appendages and arbitrary suppositions, and yet fully satisfied the wants of the stage, is particularly deserving of our admiration. These plays are the very thing itself; and under the apparent artlessness of adhering closely to history as he found it, an uncommon degree of art is concealed. Of every historical trans- action Shakspeare knows how to seize the true poetical point of view, and to give unity and rounding to a series of events detached from the immeasurable extent of history without in any degree changing them. The public life of ancient Rome is called up from its grave, and exhibited before our eyes with the utmost grandeur and freedom of the dramatic form, and the heroes of Plutarch are en- nobled by the most eloquent poetry.
In Coriolanus we have more comic intermixtures than in the others, as the many-headed multitude plays here a considerable part; and when Shakspeare portrays the blind movements of the people in a mass, he almost always gives him- self up to his merry humor. To the plebeians, whose folly is certainly sufficiently conspicuous already, the original old satirist Menenius is added by way of abun- dance. This gives rise to droll scenes of a description altogether peculiar, and which are alone compatible with such a political drama; for instance, when Corio- lanus, to obtain the consulate, must solicit the lower order of citizens whom he holds in contempt for their cowardice in war, but cannot so far master his haughty disposition as to assume the customary humility, and yet extorts from them their votes.”