The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth.
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MACDUFF He is already nam’d, and gone to Scone
To be invested.
ROSSE Where is Duncan’s body?
MACDUFF Carried to Colme-kill,
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,
And guardian of their bones.
ROSSE Will you to Scone?
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MACDUFF No cousin; I’ll to Fife.
ROSSE Well, I will thither.
MACDUFF
Well, may you see things well done there: – adieu! –
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!
ROSSE Farewell, Father.
OLD MAN God’s benison go with you; and with those
40
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes!
Exeunt.
3.1 Enter BANQUO.
BANQUO Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the Weïrd Women promis’d; and, I fear,
Thou play’dst most foully for’t; yet it was said,
It should not stand in thy posterity;
But that myself should be the root and father
5
Of many kings. If there come truth from them
(As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine),
Why, by the verities on thee made good,
May they not be my oracles as well,
And set me up in hope? But, hush; no more.
10
Sennet sounded. Enter MACBETH as King;
LADY MACBETH as Queen; LENOX, ROSSE,
lords and attendants.
MACBETH Here’s our chief guest.
LADY MACBETH If he had been forgotten,
It had been as a gap in our great feast,
And all-thing unbecoming.
MACBETH To-night we hold a solemn supper, Sir,
And I’ll request your presence.
BANQUO Let your Highness
15
Command upon me, to the which my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie
For ever knit.
MACBETH Ride you this afternoon?
BANQUO Ay, my good Lord.
MACBETH
We should have else desir’d your good advice
20
(Which still hath been both grave and prosperous)
In this day’s council; but we’ll take to-morrow.
Is’t far you ride?
BANQUO As far, my Lord, as will fill up the time
’Twixt this and supper: go not my horse the better,
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I must become a borrower of the night,
For a dark hour, or twain.
MACBETH Fail not our feast.
BANQUO My Lord, I will not.
MACBETH We hear, our bloody cousins are bestow’d
In England, and in Ireland; not confessing
30
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
With strange invention. But of that to-morrow,
When, therewithal, we shall have cause of State,
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse: adieu,
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you?
35
BANQUO Ay, my good Lord: our time does call upon’s.
MACBETH I wish your horses swift, and sure of foot;
And so I do commend you to their backs.
Farewell. – Exit Banquo.
Let every man be master of his time
40
Till seven at night;
To make society the sweeter welcome,
We will keep ourself till supper-time alone:
While then, God be with you.
Exeunt all except Macbeth and a Servant.
Sirrah, a word with you.
Attend those men our pleasure?
SERVANT They are, my Lord,
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Without the palace gate.
MACBETH Bring them before us.
Exit Servant.
To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus:
Our fears in Banquo
Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be fear’d: ’tis much he dares;
50
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety. There is none but he
Whose being I do fear: and under him
My Genius is rebuk’d; as, it is said,
55
Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the Sisters,
When first they put the name of King upon me,
And bade them speak to him; then, prophet-like,
They hail’d him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown,
60
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If ‘t be so,
For Banquo’s issue have I fil’d my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murther’d;
65
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace,
Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common Enemy of man,
To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!
Rather than so, come, fate, into the list,
70
And champion me to th’utterance! – Who’s there? –
Re-enter Servant, with two Murderers.
Now, go to the door, and stay there till we call.
Exit Servant.
Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
1 MURDERER It was, so please your Highness.
MACBETH Well then, now
Have you consider’d of my speeches? – know
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That it was he, in the times past, which held you
So under fortune, which you thought had been
Our innocent self? This I made good to you
In our last conference; pass’d in probation with you,
How you were borne in hand; how cross’d; the instruments;
80
Who wrought with them; and all things else, that might,
To half a soul, and to a notion craz’d,
Say, ‘Thus did Banquo.’
1 MURDERER You made it known to us.
MACBETH I did so; and went further, which is now
Our point of second meeting. Do you find
85
Your patience so predominant in your nature,
That you can let this go? Are you so gospell’d,
To pray for this good man, and for his issue,
Whose heavy hand hath bow’d you to the grave,
And beggar’d yours for ever?
1 MURDERER We are men, my Liege.
90
MACBETH Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men;
As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are clept
All by the name of dogs: the valu’d file
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,
95
The housekeeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous Nature
Hath in him clos’d; whereby he does receive
Particular addition, from the bill
That writes them all alike; and so of men.
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Now, if you have a station in the file,
Not i’th’ worst rank of manhood, say’t;
And I will put that business in your bosoms,
Whose execution takes your enemy off,
Grapples you to the heart and love of us,
105
Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
Which in his death were perfect.
2 MURDERER I am one, my Liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
&nb
sp; Hath so incens’d, that I am reckless what
I do, to spite the world.
1 MURDERER And I another,
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So weary with disasters, tugg’d with fortune,
That I would set my life on any chance,
To mend it, or be rid on’t.
MACBETH Both of you
Know, Banquo was your enemy.
2 MURDERER True, my Lord.
MACBETH So is he mine; and in such bloody distance,
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That every minute of his being thrusts
Against my near’st of life: and though I could
With bare-fac’d power sweep him from my sight,
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not,
For certain friends that are both his and mine,
120
Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
Who I myself struck down: and thence it is
That I to your assistance do make love,
Masking the business from the common eye,
For sundry weighty reasons.
2 MURDERER We shall, my Lord,
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Perform what you command us.
1 MURDERER Though our lives –
MACBETH
Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour, at most,
I will advise you where to plant yourselves,
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o’th’ time,
The moment on’t; for’t must be done to-night,
130
And something from the palace; always thought,
That I require a clearness: and with him
(To leave no rubs nor botches in the work),
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me
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Than is his father’s, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart;
I’ll come to you anon.
2 MURDERER We are resolv’d, my Lord.
MACBETH I’ll call upon you straight: abide within. –
Exeunt Murderers.
It is concluded: Banquo, thy soul’s flight,
140
If it find Heaven, must find it out to-night. Exit.
3.2 Enter LADY MACBETH and a Servant.
LADY MACBETH Is Banquo gone from court?
SERVANT Ay, Madam, but returns again to-night.
LADY MACBETH
Say to the King, I would attend his leisure
For a few words.
SERVANT Madam, I will. Exit.
LADY MACBETH Nought’s had, all’s spent,
Where our desire is got without content:
5
’Tis safer to be that which we destroy,
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.
Enter MACBETH.
How now, my Lord? why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest fancies your companions making,
Using those thoughts, which should indeed have died
10
With them they think on? Things without all remedy
Should be without regard: what’s done is done.
MACBETH We have scorch’d the snake, not kill’d it:
She’ll close, and be herself; whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth.
15
But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreams,
That shake us nightly. Better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,
20
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave;
After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well;
Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing
25
Can touch him further!
LADY MACBETH Come on:
Gentle my Lord, sleek o’er your rugged looks;
Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night.
MACBETH So shall I, Love; and so, I pray, be you.
Let your remembrance apply to Banquo:
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Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue:
Unsafe the while, that we
Must lave our honours in these flattering streams,
And make our faces vizards to our hearts,
Disguising what they are.
LADY MACBETH You must leave this
35
MACBETH O! full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
Thou know’st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.
LADY MACBETH
The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works Page 342
