<b>Coriolanus by William Shakespeare</b> -&nbsp;<i><b>Coriolanus</b></i>&nbsp;(/k?ri?'le?n?s/&nbsp;or&nbsp;/-'l??-/) is a&nbsp;tragedy&nbsp;by&nbsp;William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1605 and 1608. The play is based on the life of the legendary&nbsp;Roman&nbsp;leader&nbsp;Caius Marcius Coriolanus. Shakespeare worked on it during the same years he wrote&nbsp;<i>Antony and Cleopatra</i>, making them the last two tragedies written by him.<br /><br />Coriolanus is the name given to a Roman general after his military feats against the&nbsp;Volscians&nbsp;at&nbsp;Corioli. Following his success he seeks to be&nbsp;consul, but his disdain for the&nbsp;plebeians&nbsp;and the mutual hostility of the&nbsp;tribunes&nbsp;lead to his banishment from Rome. He presents himself to the Volscians, then leads them against Rome.<br /><br />The play opens in Rome shortly after the expulsion of the&nbsp;Tarquin&nbsp;kings. There are riots in progress, after stores of grain were withheld from ordinary citizens. The rioters are particularly angry at&nbsp;Caius Marcius, a brilliant Roman general whom they blame for the loss of their grain.<br /><br />The rioters encounter a&nbsp;patrician&nbsp;named&nbsp;Menenius Agrippa, as well as Caius Marcius himself. Menenius tries to calm the rioters, while Marcius is openly contemptuous, and says that the&nbsp;plebeians&nbsp;were not worthy of the grain because of their lack of military service. Two of the&nbsp;tribunes&nbsp;of Rome, Brutus and Sicinius, privately denounce Marcius. He leaves Rome after news arrives that a&nbsp;Volscian&nbsp;army is in the field.