Authors: William Shakespeare
MACDUFF
Why, see you not?
ROSS
Is’t known who did this more than bloody deed?
MACDUFF
Those that Macbeth hath slain.
ROSS
Alas, the day,
What good could they
pretend
29
?
MACDUFF
They were
suborned
30
:
Malcolm and Donalbain, the king’s two sons,
Are stol’n away and fled, which puts upon them
Suspicion of the deed.
ROSS
Gainst nature still:
Thriftless
35
ambition, that will
ravin up
Thine own
life’s means
36
! Then ’tis most
like
The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth.
MACDUFF
He is already
named
38
and gone to
Scone
To be
invested
39
.
ROSS
Where is Duncan’s body?
MACDUFF
Carried to
Colmekill
41
,
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors
And guardian of their bones.
ROSS
Will you to Scone?
MACDUFF
No, cousin, I’ll to Fife.
ROSS
Well, I will
thither
46
.
MACDUFF
Well, may you see things well done there. Adieu,
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new
48
!
ROSS
Farewell, father.
OLD MAN
God’s
benison
50
go with you, and with those
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes!
Exeunt
Location: the Scottish royal palace; exact location unspecified
Enter Banquo
BANQUO
Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all
As the weyard women promised, and I fear
Thou played’st most
foully
3
for’t. Yet it was said
It should not stand in thy posterity
4
,
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
7
—
Why, by the
verities
8
on thee
made good
,
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 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
14
.
MACBETH
Tonight we hold a
solemn
15
supper, sir,
To Banquo
And I’ll request your presence.
BANQUO
Let your highness
Command upon
18
me, to the which my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie
Forever
knit
20
.
MACBETH
Ride you this afternoon?
BANQUO
Ay, my good lord.
MACBETH
We should have
else
23
desired your good advice—
Which
still
24
hath been both
grave and prosperous
—
In this day’s
council
25
: but we’ll take tomorrow.
Is’t far you ride?
BANQUO
As far, my lord, as will fill up the time
’Twixt
this
28
and supper:
go not my horse the better
,
I must become a borrower of the night
For a dark hour or
twain
30
.
MACBETH
Fail not our feast.
BANQUO
My lord, I will not.
MACBETH
We hear our bloody
cousins
33
are
bestowed
In England and in Ireland, not confessing
Their cruel
parricide
35
, filling their hearers
With strange
invention
36
: but of that tomorrow,
When
therewithal
37
we shall have
cause of state
Craving us jointly
. Hie you to horse. Adieu,
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you?
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
42
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
44
, we will keep ourself
Till supper-time alone:
while
46
then, God be with you!
Exeunt Lords.
[
Macbeth and a Servant remain
]
Sirrah
47
, a word with you.
Attend those men
Our pleasure
?
SERVANT
They are, my lord,
without
49
the palace gate.
MACBETH
Bring them before us.
Exit Servant
To be
thus
51
is nothing, but to be safely thus:
Our fears in Banquo
stick
52
deep,
And in his royalty of nature reigns that
Which would be feared. ’tis much he dares,
And
to
55
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
58
I do fear: and under him
My
genius
59
is
rebuked
, as it is said
Mark Antony’s was by Caesar
60
. He
chid
the sisters
When first they put the name of king upon me,
And bade them speak to him: then prophet-like
They hailed him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they placed a
fruitless
64
crown,
And put a
barren
65
sceptre
in my grip,
Thence to be wrenched with an
unlineal
66
hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If’t be so,
For Banquo’s
issue
68
have I
filed
my mind:
For them the
gracious
69
Duncan have I murdered:
Put
rancours
70
in the
vessel
of my peace
Only for them, and mine
eternal jewel
71
Given to the
common enemy of man
72
To make them kings: the seeds of Banquo kings.
Rather than so, come fate into the
list
74
,
And
champion me
75
to
th’utterance
!—Who’s there?
Enter Servant and two Murderers
Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.—
To Servant
Exit Servant
Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
MURDERERS
It was, so please your highness.
MACBETH
Well then, now have you considered of my
speeches? Know that it was
he
80
in the times past which
held
you so under fortune
, which you thought had been our
innocent self: this I
made good
82
to you in our last
conference
,
passed in probation
83
with you how you were
borne in hand
,
how
crossed
84
, the
instruments
, who
wrought
with them, and
all things else that might to half a soul and to a
notion
85
crazed
say ‘Thus did Banquo.’
FIRST 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 your patience so predominant
in your nature that you can let this go? Are you so
gospelled
90
to pray for this good man and for his issue, whose heavy
hand hath bowed you to the grave and beggared
yours
92
for
ever
79
?
FIRST MURDERER
We are men, my liege.
MACBETH
Ay, in the
catalogue
95
ye
go for
men,
As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels,
curs
96
,
Shoughs
97
,
water-rugs
and
demi-wolves
are
clept
All by the name of dogs: the
valued file
98
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the
subtle
99
,
The
housekeeper
100
, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which
bounteous
101
nature
Hath in him
closed
102
, whereby he does receive
Particular addition from the bill
That writes them all alike
103
: and so of men.
Now, if you have a
station
105
in the
file
,
Not i’th’worst
rank
106
of manhood, say’t,
And I will put that business in your bosoms
Whose
execution
108
takes your enemy off,
Grapples
109
you to the heart and love of us,
Who wear our health but sickly
in his life
110
,
Which in his death were
perfect
111
.
SECOND MURDERER
I am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and
buffets
113
of the world
Hath so incensed that I am reckless what
I do to spite the world.
FIRST MURDERER
And I another,
So weary with disasters,
tugged with
117
fortune,
That I would
set
118
my life on any chance
To
mend
119
it or be rid
on’t
.
MACBETH
Both of you know Banquo was your enemy.
MURDERERS
True, my lord.
MACBETH
So is he mine, and in such bloody
distance
122
That every minute of his being
thrusts
123
Against my
near’st of life
124
: and though I could
With barefaced power sweep him from my sight
And
bid my will avouch it
126
, yet I must not,
For
127
certain friends that are both his and mine,
Whose loves I may not drop, but
wail
128
his fall
Who I myself struck down. And thence it is
That I
to your assistance do make love
130
,
Masking the business from the common eye
For
sundry
132
weighty reasons.
SECOND MURDERER
We shall, my lord,
Perform what you command us.
FIRST MURDERER
Though our lives—
135
MACBETH
Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour at
most
I will
advise
137
you where to plant yourselves,
Acquaint you with the
perfect spy o’th’time
138
,
The moment on’t, for’t must be done tonight,
And
something
140
from the palace,
always thought
That I require a clearness
. And with him—
To leave no
rubs nor botches
142
in the work—
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less
material
144
to me
Than is his father’s, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour.
Resolve yourselves apart
146
:
I’ll come to you anon.
MURDERERS
We are resolved, my lord.
MACBETH
I’ll call upon you
straight
149
:
abide
within.—
[
Murderers may exit
]
It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul’s flight,
If it find heaven, must find it out tonight.
Exeunt
Enter Macbeth’s Lady and a Servant
LADY MACBETH
Is Banquo gone from court?