ACT I. SCENE I.-An open Place. Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches. 1st Witch. When shall we three meet agair In thunder, lightning, or in rain? 2nd Witch. When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won: 3rd Witch. That will be ere set of sun. 1st Witch. Where the place? 2nd Witch. Upon the heath: 3rd Witch. There to meet with Macbeth. 1st Witch. I come, Graymalkin! All. Paddock calls:-Anon. Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air. [Witches vanish SCENE II.-A Camp near Fores. Alarum within. Enter King DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENOX, with Attendants meeting a bleeding Soldier. Dun. What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state. Doubtfully it stood; As two spent swimmers, that do cling together, And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald (Worthy to be a rebel; for, to that, The multiplying villanies of nature Do swarm upon him,) from the western isles But all's too weak: For brave Macbeth, (well he deserves that name,) Like valor's minion, Carv'd out his passage, till he fac'd the slave; Dun. O, valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! Sol. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection Compell'd these skipping kernes to trust their heels: With furbish'd arms, and new supplies of men, Dun. Dismay'd not this Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? Sol. Yes; As sparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion. Dun. So well thy words become thee, as thy wounds; [Exit Soldier, attended Who comes here? Enter ROSSE. The worthy thane of Rosse. Len. What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look, That seems to speak things strange. Rosse. God save the king! Dun. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane? Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky, Norway himself, with terrible numbers, The thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict: Dun. Rosse. That now From Fife, great king, Great happiness! Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition; Nor would we deign him burial of his men, Till he disbursed, at Saint Colmes' inch, Ten thousand dollars to our general use. Dun. No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive Our boxom interest.-Go, pronounce his present death, Rosse. Il see it done. Dun. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won. [Exeunt SCENE III.-A Heath. Thunder Enter the three Witches. 1st Witch. Where hast thou been, sister? 2nd Witch. Killing swine. 3rd Witch. Sister, where thou? 1st Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap, And mounch'd and mounch'd and mounch'd ;-Give me, quoth I' Aroint thee, witch! the rump-fed ronyon cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger: But in a sieve I'll thither sail, And, like a rat without a tail, I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do. 2nd Witch. I'll give thee a wind. 1st Witch. Thou art kind. 3rd Witch. And I another. 1st Witch. I myself have all the other⚫ And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I'the shipman's card. I will drain him dry as hay: Weary sev'n-nights, nine times nine, 2nd Witch. Show me, show me. 1st Witch. Here I have a pilot's thum, Wreck'd as homeward he did come. 3rd Witch. A drum, a drum : Macbeth doth come. All. The weird sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about; 'Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, And thrice again, to make up nine : Peace!-the charm's wound up. Enter MACBETH and BANQUO. [Drum within Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. So wither'd, and so wild in their attire; That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught The man may question? You scem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying Macb. Speak, if you can ;-What are you? 1st Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glam.is! 2nd Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! 3rd Witch. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter. Ban. Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair?-I' the name of truth, Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner That he seems wrapt withal; to me you speak not: And say, which grain will grow, and which will not; 1st Witch. Hail! 2nd Witch. Hail! 3rd Witch. Hail! 1st Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 2nd Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier. 3rd Witch. Thy children shall be kings, though thou be ncne: So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! 1st Witch. Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail! Macb. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more: By Sinel's death, I know, I am thane of Glamis; But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman; and, to be king, No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence With such prophetic greeting ?--Speak, I charge you. [Witches vanish Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, That takes the reason prisoner? Macb. Your children shall be kings. You shall be king. Macb. And thane of Cawdor, too; went it not so? Enter ROSSE and ANGUS. Rosse. The king hath happily received, Macbeth, Which should be thine, or his: Silenc'd with that, Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater honor, For it is thine. Ban. What, can the devil speak true? Ang. Macb. Ban. That, trusted homo Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange And oftentimes to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths; Win us with honest trifles, to betray us In deepest consequences. Cousins, a word, I pray you. Macb. Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme.—I thank you, gentlemen.— |