The Antiates were undoubtedly the most vigorous, since the Volscians had positioned them in the frontline. He asked as a reward for the taking of Corioles the permission to confront them. You Romans, know that he was granted this favor, that his arm guided by the gods honored him by breaking the first ranks of the enemy, that he alone attacked an army to show the Romans how to disregard their lives in order to master others', and that this prodigious bravery was also successful. After the victory was declared in our favor, the consul asked my son to consider his condition and remember that his blood flowed along with that of his enemy's through the wounds he had suffered. However, he responded that victors should not retreat. Therefore, putting his words into the action, he pursued those who fled until nightfall. Being the first to enter the battle, he was the last to leave. One might say that the desire for reward inspired such valor in my son, but nobody can ignore that he declined all rewards that were offered him. On the contrary, his modesty was so great that after assaulting a town, winning a victory, and preserving the honor of the army and the Republic, the only reward he asked for all his effort was the freedom of one man, Tullus, who had once been his host and friend, and who was then a prisoner of war among the Romans. I remember well that the name Coriolan, which he carried, was given to him in honor of this event to immortalize his action. But I also remember that Rome, which had called him Coriolan, had then unjustly labeled him as a disrupter of public order, an enemy of Rome, and a tyrant of the Senate.

Since that day, do you know what he achieved? You surely remember that dreadful year when famine hit Rome hard, when the entire population groaned, when hunger brought death to the most impoverished, and where even the wealthier ones were exposed to the same danger. You are well aware that it was Coriolan who, by his valor and bravery, brought plenty to Rome, revived the people and all this at the cost of his own blood, asking no other reward than of saving the lives of his fellow citizens. Yet, in return for so many services, so many heroic deeds, so many wounds suffered, and so much blood spilt, when he claimed the consulship, an honor granted to many others who did not deserve it as much as he, they treated him as a scoundrel and a criminal, they handed him over to the hands of the Aediles as the worst human being, and they exiled him from his country. I should have begged mercy for those who treated my son so unjustly. But would my distressed son have granted it? Faced with all of Coriolan's suffered insults, what did he do to revenge himself? Did we find out that he had tried to bribe some of our consuls? Did he secretly embezzle money to support the Volscian army or supply them with soldiers?

No, Coriolan did none of that, and contented himself to revenge Rome by handing the most faithful citizen over to his enemies. His despair drove him to the Volscians, and fortunately, he found more humanity in the heart of Tullus, whom he had