Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would
Make war with mankind.

OLD M.

ROSSE. They did so; That look'd upon 't.

"T is said, they eat each other. to the amazement of mine eyes, Here comes the good Macduff:

Enter MACDUFF.

How goes the world, sir, now?

MACD. Why, see you not?

ROSSE. Is 't known who did this more than bloody deed? MACD. Those that Macbeth hath slain.

ROSSE.

What good could they pretend?

MACD.

Alas, the day!

They were suborn'd:

Malcolm, and Donalbain, the king's two sons,

Are stol'n away and fled; which puts upon them
Suspicion of the deed.

Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up

Thine own life's means!-Then 't is most like

The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth.

MACD. He is already nam'd; and gone to Scone,

To be invested.

ROSSE.

Where is Duncan's body?

MACD. Carried to Colmes-kill;

The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,

And guardian of their bones.

ROSSE.

Will you to Scone?

Well, I will thither.

MACD. No, cousin, I'll to Fife.

ROSSE.

MACD. Well, may you see things well done there:

adieu!

Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!

ROSSE. Farewell, father.

OLD M. God's benison go with you, and with those

That would make good of bad, and friends of foes!

[Exeunt

ACT III.

SCENE I.-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,
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,

May they not be my oracles as well,

And set me up in hope? But, hush; no more.

Senet sounded. Enter MACBETH, as King; LADY MACBETH, as Queen; LENOX, ROSSE, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants.

MACB. Here's our chief guest.

LADY M.

If he had been forgotten

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

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.

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 'Twixt this and supper: go not my horse the better, I must become a borrower of the night,

For a dark hour, or twain.

МАСВ.

Fail not our feast.

BAN. My lord, I will not.

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,
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 us.
MACB. I wish your horses swift and sure of foot;
And so I do commend you to their backs.

Farewell.

Let every man be master of his time

Till seven at night; to make society

The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself

[Exit BANQUO.

Till supper-time alone: while then, God be with you.

[Exeunt LADY MACBETH, Lords, Ladies, &c. Sirrah, a word with you: Attend those men our pleasure? ATTEND. They are, my lord, without the palace gate. MACB. Bring them before us.-[Exit Attend.] 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: 't is 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
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,
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 haud,
No son of mine succeeding. If it be so,
For Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind;

For them the gracious Duncan have I murther'd:
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,

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 Attend.
Was it not yesterday we spoke together?

1 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
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,

-decerved deluded How you were borne in hand; how cross'd; the instruments; Seetambet. 222 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 MUR.
MACB. I did so: and went further, which is now
Our point of second meeting. Do you find
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?

You made it known to us.

1 MUR.

We are men, my licge.

MACB. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men;
As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are cleped
All by the name of dogs: the valued file
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

That writes them all alike: and so of men.
Now, if you have a station in the file,

Not in the worst rank of manhood, say it;
And I will put that business in your bosoms
Whose execution takes your enemy off;
Grapples you to the heart and love of us,
Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
Which in his death were perfect.

2 MUR.

I am one, my liege,

Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incens'd, that I am reckless what

I do, to spite the world.

1 MUR.

And I another,

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.

MACB. So is he mine; and in such bloody distance,

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,
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.

2 MUR.

We shall, my lord,

Perform what you command us.

1 MUR.

Though our lives

MACB. 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' 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,)
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,