The Tragedy Of Macbeth

1 Enter Banquo.
2 BANQUO.
3 Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
4 As the Weird Women promis’d; and, I fear,
5 Thou play’dst most foully for’t; yet it was said
6 It should not stand in thy posterity;
7 But that myself should be the root and father
8 Of many kings. If there come truth from them
9 (As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine)
10 Why, by the verities on thee made good,
11 May they not be my oracles as well,
12 And set me up in hope? But hush; no more.
13 Sennet sounded. Enter Macbeth as King, Lady Macbeth as Queen; Lennox,
14 Ross, Lords, and Attendants.
15 MACBETH.
16 Here’s our chief guest.
17 LADY MACBETH.
18 If he had been forgotten,
19 It had been as a gap in our great feast,
20 And all-thing unbecoming.
21 MACBETH.
22 Tonight we hold a solemn supper, sir,
23 And I’ll request your presence.
24 BANQUO.
25 Let your Highness
26 Command upon me, to the which my duties
27 Are with a most indissoluble tie
28 For ever knit.
29 MACBETH.
30 Ride you this afternoon?
31 BANQUO.
32 Ay, my good lord.
33 MACBETH.
34 We should have else desir’d your good advice
35 (Which still hath been both grave and prosperous)
36 In this day’s council; but we’ll take tomorrow.
37 Is’t far you ride?
38 BANQUO.
39 As far, my lord, as will fill up the time
40 ’Twixt this and supper: go not my horse the better,
41 I must become a borrower of the night,
42 For a dark hour or twain.
43 MACBETH.
44 Fail not our feast.
45 BANQUO.
46 My lord, I will not.
47 MACBETH.
48 We hear our bloody cousins are bestow’d
49 In England and in Ireland; not confessing
50 Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
51 With strange invention. But of that tomorrow,
52 When therewithal we shall have cause of state
53 Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse: adieu,
54 Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you?
55 BANQUO.
56 Ay, my good lord: our time does call upon’s.
57 MACBETH.
58 I wish your horses swift and sure of foot;
59 And so I do commend you to their backs.
60 Farewell.—
61 [_Exit Banquo._]
62 Let every man be master of his time
63 Till seven at night; to make society
64 The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself
65 Till supper time alone: while then, God be with you.
66 [_Exeunt Lady Macbeth, Lords, &c._]
67 Sirrah, a word with you. Attend those men
68 Our pleasure?
69 SERVANT.
70 They are, my lord, without the palace gate.
71 MACBETH.
72 Bring them before us.
73 [_Exit Servant._]
74 To be thus is nothing,
75 But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo
76 Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature
77 Reigns that which would be fear’d: ’tis much he dares;
78 And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
79 He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
80 To act in safety. There is none but he
81 Whose being I do fear: and under him
82 My genius is rebuk’d; as, it is said,
83 Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the sisters
84 When first they put the name of king upon me,
85 And bade them speak to him; then, prophet-like,
86 They hail’d him father to a line of kings:
87 Upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown,
88 And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
89 Thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand,
90 No son of mine succeeding. If’t be so,
91 For Banquo’s issue have I fil’d my mind;
92 For them the gracious Duncan have I murder’d;
93 Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
94 Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
95 Given to the common enemy of man,
96 To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!
97 Rather than so, come, fate, into the list,
98 And champion me to th’ utterance!—Who’s there?—
99 Enter Servant with two Murderers.
100 Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.
101 [_Exit Servant._]
102 Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
103 FIRST MURDERER.
104 It was, so please your Highness.
105 MACBETH.
106 Well then, now
107 Have you consider’d of my speeches? Know
108 That it was he, in the times past, which held you
109 So under fortune, which you thought had been
110 Our innocent self? This I made good to you
111 In our last conference, pass’d in probation with you
112 How you were borne in hand, how cross’d, the instruments,
113 Who wrought with them, and all things else that might
114 To half a soul and to a notion craz’d
115 Say, “Thus did Banquo.”
116 FIRST MURDERER.
117 You made it known to us.
118 MACBETH.
119 I did so; and went further, which is now
120 Our point of second meeting. Do you find
121 Your patience so predominant in your nature,
122 That you can let this go? Are you so gospell’d,
123 To pray for this good man and for his issue,
124 Whose heavy hand hath bow’d you to the grave,
125 And beggar’d yours forever?
126 FIRST MURDERER.
127 We are men, my liege.
128 MACBETH.
129 Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men;
130 As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
131 Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves are clept
132 All by the name of dogs: the valu’d file
133 Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,
134 The housekeeper, the hunter, every one
135 According to the gift which bounteous nature
136 Hath in him clos’d; whereby he does receive
137 Particular addition, from the bill
138 That writes them all alike: and so of men.
139 Now, if you have a station in the file,
140 Not i’ th’ worst rank of manhood, say’t;
141 And I will put that business in your bosoms,
142 Whose execution takes your enemy off,
143 Grapples you to the heart and love of us,
144 Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
145 Which in his death were perfect.
146 SECOND MURDERER.
147 I am one, my liege,
148 Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
149 Hath so incens’d that I am reckless what
150 I do to spite the world.
151 FIRST MURDERER.
152 And I another,
153 So weary with disasters, tugg’d with fortune,
154 That I would set my life on any chance,
155 To mend it or be rid on’t.
156 MACBETH.
157 Both of you
158 Know Banquo was your enemy.
159 BOTH MURDERERS.
160 True, my lord.
161 MACBETH.
162 So is he mine; and in such bloody distance,
163 That every minute of his being thrusts
164 Against my near’st of life; and though I could
165 With barefac’d power sweep him from my sight,
166 And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not,
167 For certain friends that are both his and mine,
168 Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
169 Who I myself struck down: and thence it is
170 That I to your assistance do make love,
171 Masking the business from the common eye
172 For sundry weighty reasons.
173 SECOND MURDERER.
174 We shall, my lord,
175 Perform what you command us.
176 FIRST MURDERER.
177 Though our lives—
178 MACBETH.
179 Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour at most,
180 I will advise you where to plant yourselves,
181 Acquaint you with the perfect spy o’ th’ time,
182 The moment on’t; for’t must be done tonight
183 And something from the palace; always thought
184 That I require a clearness. And with him
185 (To leave no rubs nor botches in the work)
186 Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
187 Whose absence is no less material to me
188 Than is his father’s, must embrace the fate
189 Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart.
190 I’ll come to you anon.
191 BOTH MURDERERS.
192 We are resolv’d, my lord.
193 MACBETH.
194 I’ll call upon you straight: abide within.
195 [_Exeunt Murderers._]
196 It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul’s flight,
197 If it find heaven, must find it out tonight.
198 [_Exit._]