The Plays of William Shakespeare

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

For a dark hour, or twain.
Mech.

Ban. My lord, I will not.

Fail not our feast.

Mach. 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?
Ben. 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.

To half a soul, and a notion craz'd,
Say, Thus did Banquo.

1 Mur.
You made it known to us.
Mach. 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 gospell'd,
To pray for this good man, and for his issue,
Whose heavy hand hath bow'd you to the grave,
And beggar'd yours for ever?

1 Mur.

We are men, my liege.
Macb. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men ;
As hounds, and grey-hounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are cleped
All by the name of dogs: the valued file
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,
The house-keeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous nature
Hath in him clos'd; whereby he does receive
Particular addition, from the bill

That writes them all alike: and so of men.

[Exit Banquo. Now, if you have a station in the file,

Let every man be master of his time
Till seven at night; to make society
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.
Macb. 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,

He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour

To act in safety. There is none, but he
Whose being I do fear: and, under him,
My genius is rebuk'd; as, it is said,

Mark Antony's was by Cæsar. He chid the sisters,
When first they put the name of king upon me,
And bade them speak to him; then, prophet-like,
They hail'd him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown,
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If it be so,
For Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd;
Pat rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them: and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,

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?-
Reenter Attendant, with two Murderers.
Now to the door, and stay there till we call. [Exit At.
-Was it not yesterday we spoke together?

1 Mur. It was, so please your highness.
Mach.

Well then, now
Have you consider'd of my speeches? Know,
That it was he, in the times past, which held you
So under fortune; which, you thought, had been
Our innocent self: this I made good to you,

2 Mur.

True, my lord.
Mach. So is he mine: and in such bloody distance,
That every minute of his being thrusts
Against my near'st of life: And though I could
With bare-fae'd power sweep him from my sight,
And bid my will avouch it; yet I must not,
For certain friends that are both his and mine,
Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
Whom I myself struck down: and thence it is,
That I to your assistance do make love;
Masking the business from the common eye,
For sundry weighty reasons.

2 Mur.

We shall, my lord,
Perform what you command us.
1 Mur.
Though our lives→→→→
Macb. Your spirits shine through you. Within this
hour, at most,

I will advise you where to plant yourselves.
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time,
The moment on't; for't must be done to-night,
And something from the palace; always thought,
That I require a clearness: And with him,
(To leave no rubs, nor botches, in the work.)
Flcance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me
Than is his father's, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart ;

The frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreams,
That shake us nightly: Better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our place, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstacy. Duncan is in his grave;
After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well;

Treason has done bis worst: nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic. foreign levy, nothing,
Can touch him further!

Mach. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night, Ska f up the tender eye of pitiful day; And, with thy bloody and invisible hand, Cancel, and tear to pieces, that great bond Wich keeps me pale !-Light thickens; and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood:

Good things of day begin to droop and drowse; Whiles night's black agents to their prey do rouse. Thot marvell'st at my words: but hold thee still;

Ban. O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly; Thou may'st revenge.O slave!

[Dies. Fleance and Servant escape.

3 Mur. Who did strike out the light? 1 Mur. Was't not the way? 3 Mur. There's but one down; the son is fied. 2 Mur. We have lost best half of our affair.

1 Mur. Well, let's away, and say how much is done. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV-A Room of State in the Palace. A Banquet prepared. Enter Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Rosse, Lenox, Lords, and Attendants.

Mach. You know your own degrees, sit down; at

first

And last, the hearty welcome.
Lords.
Thanks to your majesty.
Mach. Ourself will mingle with society,
And play the humble host.
Our hostess keeps her state; but, in best time,
We will require her welcome.

Lady M. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends; For my heart speaks, they are welcome.

Enter first Murderer, to the door. Macb. See, they encounter thee with their hearts thanks:--

Both sides are even: Here I'll sit i' the midst:
Be large in mirth; anon, we'll drink a measure
The table round.-There's blood upon thy face.
Mur. 'Tis Banquo's then.

Mach. 'Tis better thee without, than he within.
Is he despatch'd?

Mur. My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him. Macb. Thou art the best of the cut throats: Yet he's

My royal lord,

You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold,
That is not often vouch'd, while 'tis a making,

'Tis given with welcome: To feed, were best at home;
From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony;
Meeting were bare without it.

Mach. Sweet remembrancer!Now, good digestion wait on appetite, And health on both! Len.

May it please your highness sit? [The Ghost of Banquo rises, and sits in Macbeth's place. Mach. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd, Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present; Who may I rather challenge for unkindness, Than pity for mischance!

His absence, sir,

Len.

Marb

Here's a place reserv'd, sir.
Where?

Len. Here, my lord. What is't that moves your highness?

Mach. Which of you have done this?
Lords.

What, my good lord? Mach. Thou can'st not say, I did it: never shake Thy gory locks at me.

Rosse. Gentlemen, rise; his highness is not well. Lady M. Sit, worthy friends:-my lord is often thus,

And hath been from his youth: 'pray you, keep seat;
The fit is momentary; upon a thought
He will again be well: If much you note him,
You shall offend him, and extend his passion;
Feed, and regard him not.-Are you a man?
Mach. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appal the devil.
Lady M.

O proper stuff!

This is the very painting of your fear:
This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said,
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws, and starts,
(Impostors to true fear,) would well become
A woman's story, at a winter's fire,
Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!
Why do you make such faces? When all's done,
You look but on a stool.

Macb. Pr'ythee, see there! behold! look! lo! how say you?

Why, what eare I? If thou canst nod, speak too.~
If charnel-houses, and our graves, must send
Those that we bury, back, our monuments
Shall be the maws of kites. [Ghost disappears.
Lady M, What! quite unmann'd in folly?

Mach. If I stand here, I saw him.

Lady M.

Fie, for shame! Mach. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time,

Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal;
Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd
Too terrible for the ear: the times have been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end: but now, they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools: This is more strange
Than such a murder is.

Lady M.
My worthy lord,
Your noble friends do lack you.
Macb.

I do forget

Think of this, good peers,

But as a thing of custom: 'tis no other;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.
Mach. Waat mau dare, I dare:
Approach thou like the ragged Russian bear,
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger,
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble: Or, be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword:
If trembling I inhibit thee, protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!
[Ghost disappears.
Unreal mockery, hence!-Why, so ;-being gone,
I am a man again.-Pray you, sit still.
Lady M. You have displac'd the mirth, broke the
good meeting,

With most admir'd disorder.

Mach.
Can such things be,
And overcome us like a summer's cloud,
Without our special wonder? You make me strange
Even to the disposition that I owe,

When now I think you can behold such sights,
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,
When mine are blanch'd with fear.

The secret'st man of blood.What is the night? Lady M. Almost at odds with morning, which is

which.

Macb. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his per

son,

At our great bidding?

Lady M.

Did you send to him, sir?
Macb. I hear it by the way; but I will send:
There's not a one of them, but in his house
I keep a servant feed. I will to-morrow,
(Betimes I will,) unto the weird sisters:

More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know,
By the worst means, the worst: for mine own good,
All causes shall give way; I am in blood
Stept in so far, that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er:
Strange things I have in head, that will to hand;
Which must be acted, ere they may be scann'd.

Lady M. You lack the season of all natures, sleep.
Mach. Come, we'll to sleep: My strange and self-

SCENE V-The Heath. Thunder. Enter Hecate meeting the three Witches.

1 Witch. Why, how now, Hecate? you look angerly. Hec. Have I not reason, beldams, as you are, Saucy, and overbold? How did you dare

To trade and traffic with Macbeth,

In riddles and affairs of death;

And I, the mistress of your charms,

The close contriver of all harms,

Was never call'd to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?

And, which is worse, all you have done,
Hath been but for a wayward son,
Spiteful, and wrathful; who, as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for you.
But make amends now: Get you gone,
And at the pit of Acheron
Meet me i' the morning; thither he
Will come to know his destiny.

Your vessels, and your spells, provide,
Your charms, and every thing beside:
I am for the air; this night I'll spend
Unto a dismal-fatal end.

Great business must be wrought ere nqon:
Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vaporous drop profound;
I'll catch it ere it come to ground:
And that, distill'd by magic slights,
Shall raise such artificial sprights,
As, by the strength of their illusion,
Shall draw him on to his confusion:
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear :
And you all know, security

Is mortals' chiefest enemy.

Things have been strangely borne: The gracious DUR

can

Was pitied of Macbeth:-marry, he was dead:--
And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late;
Whom, you may say, if it please you, Fleance kill'd,
For Fleance fled. Men must not walk too late.
Who cannot want the thought, how monstrous
It was for Malcolm, and for Donalbain,
To kill their gracious father? damned fact!
How it did grieve Macbeth! did he not straight,
In pious rage, the two delinquents tear,
That were the slaves of drink, and thralls of sleep?
Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too;
For 'twould have anger'd any heart alive,
To hear the men deny it. So that, I say,
He has borne all things well: and I do think,
That, had he Duncan's sons under his key,
(As, an't please heaven, he shall not,) they should find
What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance.
But, peace!-for from broad words, and 'cause he fail'd
His presence at the tyrant's feast, I fear,
Macduff lives in disgrace: Sir, can you tell
Where he bestows himself?

Lord.

The son of Duncan,
From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth,
Lives in the English court; and is receiv'd
Of the most pious Edward with such grace,
That the malevolence of fortune nothing
Takes from his high respect: Thither Macduff is gone,
To pray the holy king, on his aid

To wake Northumberland, and warlike Siward:
That, by the help of these, (with Him above

To ratify the work.) we may again

Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights;
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives;
Do faithful homage, and receive free honours,
All which we pine for now: And this report
Hath so exasperate the king, that he
Prepares for some attempt of war.

Len.
Sent be to Macduff?
Lord. He did and with an absolute, Sir not I,
The cloudy messenger turns me his back,
And hums; as who should say, You'll rue the time
That clogs me with this answer.

Len. And that well might Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel Fly to the court of England, and unfold His message ere he come; that a swift blessing May soon return to this our suffering country Under a hand accurs'd!" Lord.

My prayers with him. [Exeun'.

ACT IV.

SCENE 1.-A dark Cave. In the middle a Cauldren boiling. Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

1 Witch.

THRICE the brinded cat hath mew'd.

2 Witch. Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whind.

3 Witch. Harper cries :-"Tis time, 'tis time.

1 Witch. Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under coldest stone,
Days and nights hast thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!

All. Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.
2 Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake:
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wood of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing.
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

All. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.

3 Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw, and gulf,
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;

Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew:
Gall of goat, and slips of yew,
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe,
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

All. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.

2 Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

Enter Hecate, and the other three Witches. Hec. O, well done! I commend your pains; And every one shall share i' the gains. And now about the cauldron sing, Like elves and fairies in a ring,

Enchanting all that you put in.

Mach. I conjure you, by that which you profess, (Howe'er you come to know it,) answer me: Though you untie the winds, and let them fight Against the churches; though the yesty waves Confound and swallow navigation up; Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown down; Though castles topple on their warders' heads; Though palaces, and pyramids, do slope Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure Of nature's germins tumble all together, Even till destruction sicken, answer me To what I ask you.

Mach. Then liye, Macduff; What need I fear of thee?

But yet I'll make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live;
That I may tell pale-hearted fear, it lies,
And sleep in spite of thunder.What is this,

Thunder. An Apparition of a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand, rises.

That rises like the issue of a king;

And wears upon his baby brow the round

And top of sovereignty.

All.

Listen, but speak not.

App. Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.

[Descends.
Mach.
That will never be ;
Who can impress the forest; bid the tree
Unfix his earth-bound root? sweet bodements! good!
Rebellious head, rise never, till the wood
Of Birnam rise, and our high-plae'd Macbeth
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath
To time, and mortal custom.-Yet my heart
Throbs to know one thing: Tell me, (if your art
Can tell so much,) shall Banquo's issue ever
Reign in this kingdom?

All. Seek to know no more. Macb. I will be satisfied: deny me this, And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know :Why sinks that cauldron ? and what noise is this?

1 Witch. Show!

2 Witch. Show!

[Hautboys.

« Anterior Continuar »

Livros

The Plays of William Shakespeare, Volume 1