Rosse. And Duncan's horses (a thing most strange

and certain),

Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make War with mankind.

Old M.

'Tis said, they ate each other. Rosse. They did so ; to the amazement of mine eyes, That look'd upon't. Here comes the good Mac

duff:

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 pretend3?

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.

Rosse.

'Gainst nature still:

Thriftless ambition, that will ravin up

Thine own life's means!-Then 'tis 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?

3 Pretend, in the sense of the Latin prætendo, to design, or 'lay for a thing before it come,' as the old dictionaries explain it.

4 Macbeth, by his birth, stood next in succession to the crown after the sons of Duncan. King Malcolm, Duncan's predecessor, had two daughters, the eldest of whom was the mother of Duncan, the younger the mother of Macbeth.-Holinshed.

Macd. Carried to Colme-kill 5;

The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,
And guardian of their bones.

Rosse.

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

Rosse.

Will you to Scone?

Well, I will thither.

Macd. Well, may you see things well done there; adieu!

Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!

Rosse. Father, farewell.

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. Fores. 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.

5 Colme-kill is the famous Iona, one of the western isles mentioned by Holinshed as the burial place of many ancient kings of Scotland. Colme-kill means the cell or chapel of St. Columbo. See note 19, p. 215,

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 things unbecoming.

Macb. To-night we hold a solemn supper1, 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

(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 2, I must become a borrower of the night,

For a dark hour, or twain.

Macb.

Ban. My lord, I will not.

Fail not our feast.

Macb. We hear, our bloody cousins are bestow'd In England, and in Ireland; not confessing Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers

1 A solemn supper,' This was the phrase of Shakspeare's time for a feast or banquet given on a particular occasion, to solemnize any event, as a birth, marriage, coronation, &c. Howel, in a letter to Sir T. Hawke, 1636, says, 'I was invited yesternight to a solemne supper by B. J. [Ben Jonson], where you were deeply remembered.'

2 i. e. if my horse does not go well.' Shakspeare often uses the comparative for the positive and superlative,

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 commend3 you to their backs.

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 LADY MACBETH, Lords, Ladies, &c.
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 Atten.] To be thus is nothing; But to be safely thus :-Our fears in Banquo Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature

4

Reigns that, which would be fear'd: "Tis much he dares;

And, to 5 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, prophetlike,
They hail'd him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown,

3 i. e. commit. See note on p. 237.

4 Nobleness.

And to that,' i. e. in addition to.

And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,
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 murder'd;
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man7,

To make them kings; the seed of Banquo kings!
Rather than so, come, fate, into the list,

And champion me to the utterance R!.

-Who's

Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers. Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.

[Exit Attendant.

Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
1 Mur. It was, so please your highness.

Macb.
Well then, now
Have you considered 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 probation9 with you,

6 For defiled.

7 'The common enemy of man.' Shakspeare repeats the phrase in Twelfth Night, Act iii. Sc. 4:- Defy the devil: consider, he's an enemy to mankind.' The phrase was common among his cotemporaries; the word fiend, Johnson remarks, signifies enemy.

8 To the utterance.' This phrase, which is found in writers who preceded Shakspeare, is borrowed from the French; se battre à l'outrance, to fight desperately or to extremity, even to death. The sense therefore is: Let fate, that has foredoomed the exaltation of Banquo's sons, enter the lists against me in defence of its own decrees, I will fight against it to the extremity, whatever be the consequence.'

9 i. e. 'passed in proving to you.'