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Ban. Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, 'Twixt this and supper: go not my horse the better,

all,

As the weird women promised; and I fear

Thou play'dst most foully for 't: yet it was said,
It should not stand in thy posterity;

But that myself should be the root and father
Of many kings. If there come truth from them
(As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine),
Why, by the verities on thee made good,
May they not be my oracles as well,
And set me up in hope? But, hush; no more.

Senet sounded. Enter MACBETH as King; LADY
MACBETHI, as Queen; LENOX, Rosse, Lords,
Ladies, and Attendants.

Macb. Here's our chief guest.
Lady M.

If he had been forgotten,
It had been as a gap in our great feast,

And all things unbecoming.

Macb. To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir, And I'll request your presence.

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Reigns that which would be feared: 't is much he Whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave,

dares;

And to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom thath doth guide his valor
To act in safety. There is none but he
Whose being I do fear and under him
My genius is rebuked; 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 hailed him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrenched with an unlincal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If it be so,
For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered;
Put rancors in the vessel of my peace
Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,

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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 housekeeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous Nature
Hath in him closed; whereby he does receive
Particular addition, from the bill

That writes them all alike and so of men.
Now, if you have a station in the file,
And not in the worst rank of manhood, say it;
And I will put that business in your bosoms,
Whose execution takes your enemy off;
Grapples you to the heart and love of us,
Who wear our health but sickly in his life,

2nd Mur.

To make them kings; the seed of Banquo kings! Which in his death were perfect.
Rather than so, come fate into the list,
And champion me to the utterance! Who's there?

Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers.
Now to the door, and stay there till we call.
[Exit Attendant.

Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
1st Mur. It was, so please your highness.
Macb. Well then, now
Have you considered 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
In our last conference: passed in probation with

you,

I am one, my liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incensed, that I am reckless what
I do, to spite the world.

1st Mur.

And I another,

So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune,
That I would set my life on any chance,
To mend it, or be rid on 't.
Both of you

Macb.

Know Banquo was your enemy.

2nd Mur.

True, my lord.

Macb. So is he mine: and in such bloody dis-
tance,

That every minute of his being thrusts
Against my near'st of life: and though I could

How you were borne in hand; how crossed; the With barefaced power sweep him from my sight, And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not,

instruments;

Who wrought with them; and all things else, that For certain friends that are both his and mine,

might,

To half a soul, and to a notion crazed,

Say, "Thus did Banquo."

1st Mur.

You made it known to us.

Macb. I did so; and went further, which is now
Our point of second meeting. Do you find
Your patience so predominant in your nature,

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.

2nd Mur. We shall, my lord,
Perform what you command us.

1st Mur.

Though our lives

But let the frame of things disjoint,

Macb. Your spirits shine through you. With- Both the worlds suffer,

in 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),
Fleance 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;
I'll come to you anon.

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How now, my lord? why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest fancies your companions making!
Using those thoughts, which should indeed have

died

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 ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave;
After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well;

Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,

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Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night,

With them they think on? Things without all Skarf up the tender eye of pitiful day;

remedy,

Should be without regard: what's done, is done.
Macb. We have scotched the snake, not killed

And, with thy bloody and invisible hand,
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond
Which keeps me pale!-Light thickens; and the

crow

it: She'll close, and be herself; whilst our poor Makes wing to the rooky wood:

malice

Remains in danger of her former tooth.

Good things of day begin to droop and drowse,
Whiles night's black agents to their prey
do rouse.

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[Assaults BANQUO.

Ban. O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly,

fly, fly;

Thou mayst revenge. O slave!

[Dies. FLEANCE and Servant escape. 3rd Mur. Who did strike out the light? 1st Mur. Was 't not the way?

3rd Mur. There's but one down; the son is fled.

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Mur.
Fleance is 'scaped.

Macb. Then comes my fit again: I had else
been perfect;

Whole as the marble, founded as the rock;
As broad and general as the casing air;
But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo's safe?
Mur. Ay, my good lord; safe in a ditch he
bides,

With twenty trenchéd gashes on his head;

2nd Mur. We have lost best half of our affair. The least a death to nature.

Macb.

Thanks for that:

Macb. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that

There the grown serpent lies; the worm that's Which might appal the devil.

fled

Hath nature that in time will venom breed;

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Lady M. O proper stuff! This is the very painting of your fear:

No teeth for the present. Get thee gone; to- This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said, Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts

morrow

We'll hear ourselves again.

My royal lord,

[Exit Murderer. (Impostors to true fear) would well become
A woman's story, at a winter's fire,
Authorized by her grandam.

Lady M. You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold That is not often vouched, while 'tis a making, 'Tis given with welcome. To feed were best at

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Shame itself!

Why do you make such faces? When all 's done, You look but on a stool.

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

Why, what care 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 unmanned in folly?
Macb. If I stand here, I saw him.
Lady M. Fy, for shame!

Macb. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time,

Ere human statute purged the gentle weal;
Ay, and since too, murders have been performed
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

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Macb. Thou canst not say, I did it: never shake I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing 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?

To those that know me. to all;

Come, love and health

Then I'll sit down:- Give me some wine; fill full:

I drink to the general joy of the whole table,

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