[Illustration: Coriolanus yielding to the entreaties of his Mother.]
20. When the people saw them return without success, they began to
give up the commonwealth as lost. Their temples were filled with old
men, with women and children, who, prostrate at the altars, put up
their ardent prayers for the preservation of their country. Nothing
was to be heard but anguish and lamentation; nothing to be seen but
scenes of affright and distress. 21. At length it was suggested to
them, that what could not be effected by the intercession of the
senate, or the adjuration of the priests, might be brought about by
the tears of a wife, or the commands of a mother. 22. This deputation
seemed to be approved by all, and even the senate themselves gave it
the sanction of their authority. Vetu'ria, the mother of Coriola'nus,
at first hesitated to undertake so pious a work; knowing the
inflexible temper of her son, and fearing only to show his
disobedience in a new point of light, by his rejecting the commands of
a parent; however, she at last undertook the embassy, and set forward
from the city, accompanied by many of the principal matrons of Rome,
with Volum'nia his wife, and his two children.
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