Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland,

mark:

No sooner justice had, with valour arm'd,
Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their
heels,

But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,
With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men,
Began a fresh assault.

Duncan.

Dismay'd not this Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? Captain.

Yes;

As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
If I say sooth, I must report they were
As cannons overcharged with double cracks; so
they

Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha,

I cannot tell

But I am faint; my gashes cry for help.

Duncan. So well thy words become thee as thy

wounds;

They smack of honour both. Go get him sur

geons.

Who comes here?

32. furbish'd, burnished.

30

40

word applied by Shakespeare to the roar of thunder.

Malcolm.

Enter Ross and ANGUS

The worthy thane of Ross.

Lennox. What a haste looks through his eyes! So

should he look

That seems to speak things strange.

Ross.
Duncan. Whence camest thou, worthy thane ?

Ross.

God save the king!

From Fife, great king;

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
And fan our people cold.

Norway himself with terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor

The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;
Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,
Confronted him with self-comparisons,
Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm,
Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude,
The victory fell on us.

Duncan.

Ross.

Great happiness!

That now

Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition;
Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme's inch,
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.

47. seems, is about to. 49. flout, insult.
astrous. 55. self-comparisons, rivalry to himself.
unbridled. 58. That, so that.
59. composition, treaty of peace.

50

60

53. dismal, dis

57. lavish, 59. Norways', Norwegians' 62. general, public.

Duncan. No more that thane of Cawdor shall de

ceive

Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present

death,

And with his former title greet Macbeth.

Ross. I'll see it done.

Duncan. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. A heath

Thunder. Enter the three Witches

First Witch. Where hast thou been, sister?

Second Witch. Killing swine.

Third Witch. Sister, where thou?

First Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap, And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'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.

Second Witch. I'll give thee a wind.

First Witch. Thou'rt kind.

Third Witch. And I another.

64. present, instant.

6. ronyon, scabby woman.

Scene III. 6. Aroint thee, begone.

First 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'll drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbid :
Weary se'nnights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost.
Look what I have.

Second Witch. Show me, show me.

First Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb,

Wreck'd as homeward he did come.

Third 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.

20

[Drum within.

30

20. pent-house lid, eyelid. 21. forbid, banned, bewitched.

22. se'nnights, weeks.

33. Posters, couriers.

Enter MACBETH and BANQUO

Macbeth. So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
Banquo. How far is't call'd to Forres?

these

What are

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
That man may question? You seem to under-
stand me,

By each at once her choppy finger laying

Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.

Macbeth.

Speak, if you can: what are you? First Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane

of Glamis !

Second Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!

Third Witch. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter !

Banquo. Good sir, why do you start, and seem to
fear

Things that do sound so fair? I' the name of
truth,

Are

ye fantastical, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner

40

50

44. choppy, chapped. 53. fantastical, imaginary. 54. show,

seem to be.