Banquo.

Very gladly.

[Exeunt.

Macbeth. Till then, enough. Come, friends.

SCENE IV. Forres. The palace

Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, and Attendants

Duncan. Is execution done on Cawdor?

Are not

Those in commission yet return'd?
Malcolm.

My liege,
They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
With one that saw him die, who did report
That very frankly he confess'd his treasons,
Implored your highness' pardon and set forth
A deep repentance: nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it; he died
As one that had been studied in his death,
To throw away the dearest thing he owed
As 'twere a careless trifle.

Duncan.

There's no art

To find the mind's construction in the face:

He was a gentleman on whom I built

An absolute trust.

Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, Ross, and ANGUS

O worthiest cousin!

6. set forth, declared. 10. owed, owned. II. careless, worth

The sin of my ingratitude even now

Was heavy on me: thou art so far before,
That swiftest wing of recompense is slow

To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less
deserved,

That the proportion both of thanks and pay

ment

Might have been mine! only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay.
Macbeth. The service and the loyalty I owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part
Is to receive our duties: and our duties

Are, to your throne and state, children and
servants;

Which do but what they should, by doing every

thing

Safe toward your love and honour.
Duncan.

Welcome hither:
I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserved, nor must be known
No less to have done so let me infold thee
And hold thee to my heart.

Banquo.

The harvest is your own.

Duncan.

There if I grow,

My plenteous joys,
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
And you whose places are the nearest, know,
MACBETH 5

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30

We will establish our estate upon

Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
The Prince of Cumberland: which honour

must

Not unaccompanied invest him only,

But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers.

to Inverness,

[To Macbeth] From hence

And bind us further to you.

Macbeth. The rest is labour, which is not used for

you:

I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful
The hearing of my wife with your approach;
So humbly take my leave.

Duncan.

My worthy Cawdor! Macbeth. [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! that

is a step

On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,

For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires :
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.

[Exit.

Duncan. True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant,

And in his commendations I am fed ;
It is a banquet to me. Let's after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome:
It is a peerless kinsman. [Flourish. Exeunt.
45. harbinger, forerunner.

40

50

SCENE V. Inverness. Macbeth's Castle

Enter LADY MACBETH, reading a letter

Lady Macbeth. They met me in the day of success;
and I have learned by the perfectest report, they
have more in them than mortal knowledge.
When I burned in desire to question them fur-
ther, they made themselves air, into which they
vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder
of it, came missives from the king, who all-
hailed me
Thane of Cawdor; " by which title,
before, these weird sisters saluted me, and re-
ferred me to the coming on of time, with "Hail,
king that shalt be!" This have I thought good
to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness,
that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing,
by being ignorant of what greatness is promised
thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.'
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy na-

ture;

It is too full o' the milk of human kindness

To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be

great;

Art not without ambition, but without

The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst
highly,

7. missives, messengers, 12. deliver, report.

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20

That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play
false,

And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'ldst have,
great Glamis,

That which cries ‘Thus thou must do, if thou

have it;

And that which rather thou dost fear to do
Than wishest should be undone.

hither,

Hie thee

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crown'd withal.

Enter a Messenger

What is your tidings?

Thou'rt mad to say it:

Messenger. The king comes here to-night.

Lady Macbeth.

Is not thy master with him? who, were't so,
Would have inform'd for preparation.

Messenger. So please you, it is true: our thane is
coming:

One of my fellows had the speed of him,

Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more
Than would make up his message.

Lady Macbeth.

Give him tending;

30

30. metaphysical, supernatural. 31. withal, with. 38. tending, attention.

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