*Posters 11 of the sea and land, *Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, Enter MACBETH and BANQUO. Macb. So foul and fair a day 13 I have not seen. That look not like th' inhabitants o' the Earth, And yet are on't? - Live you? or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand me, Upon her skinny lips: you should be women, That you are so. Macb. Speak, if you can: what are you? 1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis ! 2 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! 3 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, Are ye fantastical,14 or that indeed Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner his eye: "The common opinion was, that these women were either the weird sisters, that is (as ye would say) the goddesses of destinie, or else some nymphs or feiries, indued with knowledge of prophesie by their necromanticall science, bicause everie thing came to passe as they had spoken." 11 Posters is rapid travellers; going with a postman's speed. 12 Here the Witches perform a sort of incantation by joining hands, and dancing round in a ring, three rounds for each. Odd numbers and multiples of odd numbers, especially three and nine, were thought to have great magical power in thus winding up a charm. 13 A day fouled with storm, but brightened with victory. 14 That is, "Are ye imaginary beings, creatures of fantasy ?" You greet with present grace and great prediction That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not. And say which grain will grow, and which will not, I Witch. Hail! 2 Witch. Hail! 3 Witch. Hail! I Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 2 Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier. 3 Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. All Three. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! Banquo and Macbeth, all hail! Mach. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more: No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you. [Witches vanish. 15 Here, again, that has the force of so that. - Present grace refers to noble having, and great prediction to royal hope; and the Poet often uses having for possession. A similar distribution of terms occurs a little after: "Who neither beg nor fear your favours nor your hate." 16 Macbeth was the son of Sinel, Thane of Glamis, so that this title was rightfully his by inheritance. 17 We have a strange discrepancy here. In the preceding scene, Macbeth is said to have met Cawdor face to face in the ranks of Norway: he must therefore have known him to be a rebel and traitor; yet he here describes him in terms quite inconsistent with such knowledge. 18 To owe for to own, to have, to possess, occurs continually. Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them. Macb. Into the air; Whither are they vanish'd? and what seem'd corporal melted As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd! Ban. Were such things here as we do speak about? Or have we eaten on the insane root 19 That takes the reason prisoner? Mach. Your children shall be kings. You shall be king. Mach. And Thane of Cawdor too: went it not so? Ross. The King hath happily received, Macbeth, Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, His wonders and his praises do contend What should be thine or his : 20 silenced with that, 19" The insane root" is henbane or hemlock. So in Batman's Commentary on Bartholome de Proprietate Rerum: "Henbane is called insana, mad, for the use thereof is perillous; for if it be eate or dronke it breedeth madnesse, or slow lykenesse of sleepe. Therefore this hearb is commonly called mirilidium, for it taketh away wit and reason." And in Greene's Never too Late: "You have gazed against the sun, and so blemished your sight, or else you have eaten of the roots of hemlock, that makes men's eyes conceit unseen objects." - On and of were used indifferently in such cases. The meaning probably is, “ His wonders and his praises are so earnest and enthusiastic, that they seem to be debating or raising the question whether what is his ought not to be thine,-whether you ought not to be in his place." Such a thought, or seeming thought, on the King's part, would naturally act upon Macbeth as a further spur to his ambition. But that is a thought which the King cannot breathe aloud; it would be a sort of treason to the State and to himself; he is silenced by it. See Critical Notes. 21 That is, "not at all afraid of the death which you were dealing upon the enemy." The Poet often uses nothing thus as a strong negative. Strange images of death. As thick as tale Came post with post; 22 and every one did bear And pour'd them down before him. Ang. We are sent To give thee, from our royal master, thanks; Not pay thee. Ross. And, for an earnest of a greater honour, He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor: For it is thine. Ban. [Aside.] What, can the Devil speak true? Macb. The Thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me In borrow'd robes? Ang. Who was the thane lives yet; But under heavy judgment bears that life Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined With those of Norway, or did line 24 the rebel With hidden help and vantage, or that with both Have overthrown him. Macb. [Aside.] Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor! The greatest is behind. - [To Ross and ANG.] Thanks for your pains. [Aside to BAN.] Do you not hope your children shall be kings, - 22 Meaning," messengers came as fast as one can count." The use of thick for fast occurs repeatedly. So we have speaks thick used of one who talks so fast that his words tread on each other's heels. - The Poet often has to tell also for to count. And we still say "keep tally" for "keep count." So Milton in L'Allegro. "And every shepherd tells his tale"; that is, counts the number of his sheep, or to see whether the number is full. 23 Here, as often, addition is title, mark of distinction. 24 To line, here, is to strengthen. Often so. See vol. xii. page 42, note 1. When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me Ban. [Aside to MACB.] That, trusted home,2 Cousins, a word, I pray you. Macb. [Aside.] Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme.27 - I thank you, gentlemen. — [Aside.] This supernatural soliciting Cannot be ill; cannot be good if ill, Why hath it given me earnest of success, If good, why do I yield to that suggestion 28 - 25 Home is thoroughly or to the uttermost. See vol. xv. page 85, note I. Betray's for betray us. The Poet has many such contractions. — It is nowise likely that Shakespeare was a reader of Livy; yet we have here a striking resemblance to a passage in that author, Book xxviii. 42, 4: An Syphaci Numidisque credis ? satis sit semel creditum: non semper temeritas est felix, et fraus fidem in parvis sibi præstruit ut, quum operæ pretium sit, cum mercede magna fallat." Happy is auspicious, like the Latin felix; swelling is grand, imposing ; and act is drama. Thus the image is of the stage, with an august drama of kingly state to be performed; the inspiring prologue has been spoken, and the glorious action is about to commence. Macbeth con 28 The use of suggestion for temptation was common. strues the "prophetic greeting" into an instigation to murder, and accepts it as such, though while doing so he shudders at the conception. Fears for objects of fear, dangers or terrors; the effect for the cause. |