| |
Forres. A Room in the Palace. | |
| |
Enter BANQUO. | |
| Ban. Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all, | |
| As the weird women promis’d; and, I fear, | |
| Thou play’dst most foully for ’t; yet it was said | 5 |
| It should not stand in thy posterity, | |
| But that myself should be the root and father | |
| Of many kings. If there come truth from them,— | |
| As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine,— | |
| Why, by the verities on thee made good, | 10 |
| May they not be my oracles as well, | |
| And set me up in hope? But, hush! no more. | |
| |
Sennet sounded. Enter MACBETH, as king; LADY MACBETH, as queen; LENNOX, ROSS, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants. | |
| Macb. Here’s our chief guest. | |
| Lady M. If he had been forgotten | 15 |
| It had been as a gap in our great feast, | |
| And all-thing unbecoming. | |
| Macb. To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir, | |
| And I’ll request your presence. | |
| Ban. Let your highness | 20 |
| Command upon me; to the which my duties | |
| Are with a most indissoluble tie | |
| For ever knit. | |
| Macb. Ride you this afternoon? | |
| Ban. Ay, my good lord. | 25 |
| Macb. We should have else desir’d your good advice— | |
| Which still hath been both grave and prosperous— | |
| In this day’s council; but we’ll take to-morrow. | |
| Is ’t far you ride? | |
| Ban. As far, my lord, as will fill up the time | 30 |
| ’Twixt this and supper; go not my horse the better, | |
| I must become a borrower of the night | |
| For a dark hour or twain. | |
| Macb. Fail not our feast. | |
| Ban. My lord, I will not. | 35 |
| Macb. We hear our bloody cousins are bestow’d | |
| In England and in Ireland, not confessing | |
| Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers | |
| With strange invention; but of that to-morrow, | |
| When therewithal we shall have cause of state | 40 |
| Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse; adieu | |
| Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you? | |
| Ban. Ay, my good lord: our time does call upon ’s. | |
| Macb. I wish your horses swift and sure of foot; | |
| And so I do commend you to their backs. | 45 |
| Farewell. [Exit BANQUO. | |
| Let every man be master of his time | |
| 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 but MACBETH and an Attendant. | 50 |
| Sirrah, a word with you. Attend those men | |
| Our pleasure? | |
| Atten. They are, my lord, without the palace gate. | |
| Macb. Bring them before us. [Exit Attendant.] To be thus is nothing; | |
| But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo | 55 |
| Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature | |
| Reigns that which would be fear’d: ’tis much he dares, | |
| 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 | 60 |
| Whose being I do fear; and under him | |
| My genius is rebuk’d, as it is said | |
| Mark Antony’s was by Cæsar. He chid the sisters | |
| When first they put the name of king upon me, | |
| And bade them speak to him; then, prophet-like, | 65 |
| They hail’d him father to a line of kings. | |
| Upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown, | |
| 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, | 70 |
| For Banquo’s issue have I fil’d my mind; | |
| For them the gracious Duncan have I murder’d; | |
| Put rancours in the vessel of my peace | |
| Only for them; and mine eternal jewel | |
| Given to the common enemy of man, | 75 |
| To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! | |
| Rather than so, come fate into the list, | |
| And champion me to the utterance! Who’s there? | |
| |
Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers. | |
| Now go to the door, and stay there till we call. [Exit Attendant. | 80 |
| Was it not yesterday we spoke together? | |
| First Mur. It was, so please your highness. | |
| Macb. Well then, now | |
| Have you consider’d of my speeches? Know | |
| That it was he in the times past which held you | 85 |
| 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, | |
| Who wrought with them, and all things else that might | 90 |
| To half a soul and to a notion craz’d | |
| Say, ‘Thus did Banquo.’ | |
| First Mur. You made it known to us. | |
| Macb. I did so; and went further, which is now | |
| Our point of second meeting. Do you find | 95 |
| 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? | 100 |
| First Mur. We are men, my liege. | |
| Macb. 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 | 105 |
| Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle, | |
| 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 | 110 |
| That writes them all alike: and so of men. | |
| Now, if you have a station in the file, | |
| Not i’ the worst rank of manhood, say it; | |
| And I will put that business in your bosoms, | |
| Whose execution takes your enemy off, | 115 |
| Grapples you to the heart and love of us, | |
| Who wear our health but sickly in his life, | |
| Which in his death were perfect. | |
| Sec. Mur. I am one, my liege, | |
| Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world | 120 |
| Have so incens’d that I am reckless what | |
| I do to spite the world. | |
| First Mur. And I another, | |
| So weary with disasters, tugg’d with fortune, | |
| That I would set my life on any chance, | 125 |
| To mend it or be rid on ’t. | |
| Macb. Both of you | |
| Know Banquo was your enemy. | |
| Sec. Mur. True, my lord. | |
| Macb. So is he mine; and in such bloody distance | 130 |
| That every minute of his being thrusts | |
| Against my near’st of life: and though I could | |
| With bare-fac’d powersweep him from my sight | |
| And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not, | |
| For certain friends that are both his and mine, | 135 |
| Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall | |
| Whom 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. | 140 |
| Sec. Mur. We shall, my lord, | |
| Perform what you command us. | |
| First Mur. Though our lives— | |
| Macb. Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour at most | |
| I will advise you where to plant yourselves, | 145 |
| Acquaint you with the perfect spy o’ the time, | |
| The moment on ’t; for ’t must be done to-night, | |
| And something from the palace; always thought | |
| That I require a clearness: and with him— | |
| To leave no rubs nor botches in the work— | 150 |
| Fleance his son, that keeps him company, | |
| Whose absence is no less material to me | |
| Than is his father’s, must embrace the fate | |
| Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart; | |
| I’ll come to you anon. | 155 |
| Sec. Mur. We are resolv’d, my lord. | |
| Macb. I’ll call upon you straight: abide within. [Exeunt Murderers. | |
| It is concluded: Banquo, thy soul’s flight, | |
| If it find heaven, must find it out to-night. [Exit. | |
| |
