He is given the honorific name "Coriolanus" after he conquers the
Volscian city Corioles in a single-handed attack.
Shakespeare's story is based on Plutarch's ParallelLives, a series of biographies which includes the deeds of Gaius Marcius, a Roman general who helped to conquer the
Volscian town of Corioles in 493 BCE and was thenceforth named Coriolanus.
As Brian Campbell, a professor of Roman history at Queen's University in Belfast, notes, around 40 separate Italic languages and dialects such as Oscan,
Volscian, Venetic, and Umbrian were spoken by Rome's neighbors until Latin became the dominant dialect of this region on the heels of Rome's military success.
The
Volscian campaigns in which Coriolanus made his name were not the same as the easily recognizable imperial follies that followed.
In Sabellian, the attested accusatives of singular personal pronouns include the
Volscian miom, Umbrian and South Picene tiom and Oscan siom (Rix, La lingua, 231, n.
Shakespeare's Marcius is already an action hero--before the end of Act I, we've seen him practically single-handedly conquering the
Volscian city of Corioli, which is how he wins his new name.
Spitting out Shakespeare's speeches and soliloquys with visceral relish, Fiennes elaborates Martius' primordial code: he lives to kill and the man he most yearns to kill is his loathed enemy,
Volscian leader Tullus Aufidius (Butler).
The name Coriolanus is earned defending Rome against Tullus Aufidius''
Volscian forces.
unaccomplished gesture of kindness toward the nameless
Volscian man who
31 In which Shakespeare play is
Volscian general Tullus Aufidius a major character?