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 ?3 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 wilt ravin up Thine own life's means!-Then 'tis most like, 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. Father, farewell. 3 they pretend?] i. e. intend, or design. 4 Colmes-kill;] Or Colm-kill, is the famous Iona, one of the western isles, which Dr. Johnson visited, and describes in his Tour. It is now called Icolmkill. Kill, in the Erse language, signifies a burying-place. 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, But that myself should be the root, and father 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-things 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. 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 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. Mach. 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 [Exit BANQUO. 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: Attend those men our pleasure? Atten. They are, my lord, without the palace gate. Mack. 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' Reigns that, which would be fear'd: 'Tis much he dares; And, to that dauntless temper of his mind, Mark Antony's was by Cæsar. He chid the sisters, 8 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? 5 royalty of nature-] Royalty, in the present instance, signifies nobleness, supreme excellence. 6 to-] i. e. in addition to. 7 For Banquo's issue have I fil'd-] i. e. defiled. 8 the common enemy of man,] It is always an entertainment to an inquisitive reader, to trace a sentiment to its original source; and therefore, though the term enemy of man, applied to the devil, is in itself natural and obvious, yet some may be pleased with being informed, that Shakspeare probably borrowed it from the first lines of The Destruction of Troy, a book which he is known to have read. This expression, however, he might have had in many other places. The word fiend signifies enemy. 9 come, fate, into the list, And champion me to the utterance!] This passage will be best Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers. Now to the door, and stay there till we call. [Exit Attendant. Was it not yesterday we spoke together? 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, To half a soul, and a notion craz'd, Say, Thus did Banquo. 1 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 Your patience so predominant in your nature, explained by translating it into the language from whence the only word of difficulty in it is borrowed. Que la destinée se rende en lice, et qu'elle me donne un defi à l'outrance. A challenge, or a combat à l'outrance, to extremity, was a fixed term in the law of arms, used when the combatants engaged with an odium internecinum, an intention to destroy each other, in opposition to trials of skill at festivals, or on other occasions, where the contest was only for reputation or a prize. The sense therefore is: Let fate, that has fore-doomed the exaltation of the sons of Banquo, enter the lists against me, with the utmost animosity, in defence of its own decrees, which I will endeavour to invalidate, whatever be the danger. JOHNSON. 1 · pass'd in probation with you, How you were borne in hand; &c.] Pass'd in probation is, perhaps, only a bulky phrase, employed to signify-proved.-To bear in hand is, to delude by encouraging hope and holding out fair prospects, without any intention of performance. |