THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Act 3 Scene 1

(Enter Banquo)
l1l	Banquo	 Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all
l2l		As the weird women promised# and I fear
l3l		Thou played’st most foully for ’t. Yet it was said
l4l		It should not stand in thy posterity,
l5l		But that myself should be the root and father
l6l		Of many kings. If there come truth from them—
l7l		As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine—
l8l		Why by the verities on thee made good
l9l		May they not be my oracles as well,
l10l		And set me up in hope? But hush, no more.
		(Sennet sounded. Enter Macbeth as King, Lady Macbeth as Queen, Lennox, Ross, lords, and attendants)
l11l	Macbeth	 Here’s our chief guest.
	Lady Macbeth	If he had been forgotten
l12l		It had been as a gap in our great feast,
l13l		And all-thing unbecoming.
l14l	Macbeth	(to Banquo)
		 Tonight we hold a solemn supper, sir,
l15l		And I’ll request your presence.
	Banquo	Let your highness
l16l		Command upon me, to the which my duties
l17l		Are with a most indissoluble tie
l18l		For ever knit.
l19l	Macbeth	Ride you this afternoon?
l20l	Banquo	Ay, my good lord.
l21l	Macbeth	We should have else desired your good advice,
l22l		Which still hath been both grave and prosperous,
l23l		In this day’s council# but we’ll talk tomorrow.
l24l		Is ’t far you ride?
l25l	Banquo	As far, my lord, as will fill up the time
l26l		’Twixt this and supper. Go not my horse the better,
l27l		I must become a borrower of the night
l28l		For a dark hour or twain.
l29l	Macbeth	Fail not our feast.
l30l	Banquo	My lord, I will not.
l31l	Macbeth	We hear our bloody cousins are bestowed
l32l		In England and in Ireland, not confessing
l33l		Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
l34l		With strange invention. But of that tomorrow,
l35l		When therewithal we shall have cause of state
l36l		Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse. Adieu,
l37l		Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you?
l38l	Banquo	Ay, my good lord. Our time does call upon ’s.
l39l	Macbeth	I wish your horses swift and sure of foot,
l40l		And so I do commend you to their backs.
l41l		Farewell.
		(Exit Banquo)
l42l		Let every man be master of his time
l43l		Till seven at night. To make society
l44l		The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself
l45l		Till supper-time alone. While then, God be with you.
		(Exeunt all but Macbeth and a Servant)
l46l		Sirrah, a word with you. Attend those men
l47l		Our pleasure?
l48l	Servant	They are, my lord, without the palace gate.
l49l	Macbeth	Bring them before us.
		(Exit Servant)
		 To be thus is nothing
l50l		But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo
l51l		Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature
l52l		Reigns that which would be feared. ’Tis much he dares,
l53l		And to that dauntless temper of his mind
l54l		He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
l55l		To act in safety. There is none but he
l56l		Whose being I do fear, and under him
l57l		My genius is rebuked as, it is said,
l58l		Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the sisters
l59l		When first they put the name of king upon me,
l60l		And bade them speak to him. Then, prophet-like,
l61l		They hailed him father to a line of kings.
l62l		Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,
l63l		And put a barren sceptre in my grip,
l64l		Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,
l65l		No son of mine succeeding. If ’t be so,
l66l		For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind,
l67l		For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered,
l68l		Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
l69l		Only for them, and mine eternal jewel
l70l		Given to the common enemy of man
l71l		To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings.
l72l		Rather than so, come fate into the list
l73l		And champion me to th’ utterance. Who’s there?
		(Enter Servant and two Murderers)
l74l		(To the Servant)
		 Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.
		(Exit Servant)
l75l		Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
l76l	Murderers	It was, so please your highness.
	Macbeth	Well then, now
l77l		Have you considered of my speeches? Know
l78l		That it was he in the times past which held you
l79l		So under fortune, which you thought had been
l80l		Our innocent self. This I made good to you
l81l		In our last conference, passed in probation with you
l82l		How you were borne in hand, how crossed, the instruments,
l83l		Who wrought with them, and all things else that might
l84l		To half a soul, and to a notion crazed,
l85l		Say “Thus did Banquo”.
	First Murderer	You made it known to us.
l86l	Macbeth	I did so, and went further, which is now
l87l		Our point of second meeting. Do you find
l88l		Your patience so predominant in your nature
l89l		That you can let this go? Are you so gospelled
l90l		To pray for this good man and for his issue,
l91l		Whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave
l92l		And beggared yours for ever?
	First Murderer	We are men, my liege.
l93l	Macbeth	Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men,
l94l		As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
l95l		Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves are clept
l96l		All by the name of dogs. The valued file
l97l		Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,
l98l		The housekeeper, the hunter, every one
l99l		According to the gift which bounteous nature
l100l		Hath in him closed# whereby he does receive
l101l		Particular addition from the bill
l102l		That writes them all alike. And so of men.
l103l		Now, if you have a station in the file,
l104l		Not i’ th’ worst rank of manhood, say ’t,
l105l		And I will put that business in your bosoms
l106l		Whose execution takes your enemy off,
l107l		Grapples you to the heart and love of us,
l108l		Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
l109l		Which in his death were perfect.
	Second Murderer	I am one, my liege,
l110l		Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
l111l		Hath so incensed that I am reckless what
l112l		I do to spite the world.
	First Murderer	And I another,
l113l		So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune,
l114l		That I would set my life on any chance
l115l		To mend it or be rid on ’t.
	Macbeth	Both of you
l116l		Know Banquo was your enemy.
	Murderers	True, my lord.
l117l	Macbeth	So is he mine, and in such bloody distance
l118l		That every minute of his being thrusts
l119l		Against my near’st of life# and though I could
l120l		With barefaced power sweep him from my sight
l121l		And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not,
l122l		For certain friends that are both his and mine,
l123l		Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
l124l		Who I myself struck down. And thence it is
l125l		That I to your assistance do make love,
l126l		Masking the business from the common eye
l127l		For sundry weighty reasons.
	Second Murderer	We shall, my lord,
l128l		Perform what you command us.
	First Murderer	Though our lives—
l129l	Macbeth	Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour at most
l130l		I will advise you where to plant yourselves,
l131l		Acquaint you with the perfect spy o’ th’ time,
l132l		The moment on ’t# for ’t must be done tonight,
l133l		And something from the palace# always thought
l134l		That I require a clearness# and with him,
l135l		To leave no rubs nor botches in the work,
l136l		Fleance, his son, that keeps him company—
l137l		Whose absence is no less material to me
l138l		Than is his father’s—must embrace the fate
l139l		Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart.
l140l		I’ll come to you anon.
	Murderers	We are resolved, my lord.
l141l	Macbeth	I’ll call upon you straight. Abide within.
		(Exeunt Murderers)
l142l		It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul’s flight,
l143l		If it find heaven, must find it out tonight.
		(Exit)