Coriolanus/Aufidius

[elviaprose]

What is it with Shakespeare and his Romans? I think that The Tradgedy of Coriolanus, although rather obscure, is probably one of Shakespeare's most blatantly homoerotic plays.  Coriolanus makes peace with his enemy, Aufidius, and Aufidius responds with a very, um, emotional monologue.  The play is definitely worth a read, if you like slash, the history of the early Roman Republic, and a healthy dose of political theory.  Uh...perhaps that's why it isn't exactly a smash hit :P

O Marcius, Marcius!
… Let me twine
Mine arms about that body, where against
My grained ash an hundred times hath broke
And scarr'd the moon with splinters: here I clip
The anvil of my sword, and do contest
As hotly and as nobly with thy love
As ever in ambitious strength I did
Contend against thy valour. Know thou first,
I loved the maid I married; never man
Sigh'd truer breath; but that I see thee here,
Thou noble thing! more dances my rapt heart
Than when I first my wedded mistress saw
Bestride my threshold.
… and I have nightly since
Dreamt of encounters 'twixt thyself and me;
We have been down together in my sleep,
Unbuckling helms, fisting each other's throat,
And waked half dead with nothing.