Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Act 3 - Scene 1
Forres. The palace.
Banquo : Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
[p]As the weird women
promised, and, I fear,
[p]Thou play'dst most foully for't: yet it was
said
[p]It should not stand in thy posterity,
[p]But that myself
should be the root and father
[p]Of many kings. If there come truth
from them--
[p]As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine--
[p]Why,
by the verities on thee made good,
[p]May they not be my oracles as
well,
[p]And set me up in hope? But hush! no more.
[p][Sennet sounded.
Enter MACBETH, as king, LADY]
[p]MACBETH, as queen, LENNOX, ROSS,
Lords, Ladies, and Attendants]
Macbeth : Here's our chief guest.
Lady Macbeth : If he had been forgotten,
[p]It had been as a gap in our great
feast,
[p]And all-thing unbecoming.
Macbeth : To-night we hold a solemn supper sir,
[p]And I'll request your
presence.
Banquo : Let your highness
[p]Command upon me; to the which my duties
[p]Are
with a most indissoluble tie
[p]For ever knit.
Macbeth : Ride you this afternoon?
Banquo : Ay, my good lord.
Macbeth : We should have else desired your good advice,
[p]Which still hath been
both grave and prosperous,
[p]In this day's council; but we'll take
to-morrow.
[p]Is't far you ride?
Banquo : As far, my lord, as will fill up the time
[p]'Twixt this and supper:
go not my horse the better,
[p]I must become a borrower of the
night
[p]For a dark hour or twain.
Macbeth : Fail not our feast.
Banquo : My lord, I will not.
Macbeth : We hear, our bloody cousins are bestow'd
[p]In England and in Ireland,
not confessing
[p]Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
[p]With
strange invention: but of that to-morrow,
[p]When therewithal we shall
have cause of state
[p]Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse:
adieu,
[p]Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you?
Banquo : Ay, my good lord: our time does call upon 's.
Macbeth : I wish your horses swift and sure of foot;
[p]And so I do commend you
to their backs. Farewell.
[p][Exit BANQUO]
[p]Let every man be master
of his time
[p]Till seven at night: to make society
[p]The sweeter
welcome, we will keep ourself
[p]Till supper-time alone: while then,
God be with you!
[p][Exeunt all but MACBETH, and an
attendant]
[p]Sirrah, a word with you: attend those men
[p]Our
pleasure?
Attendant : They are, my lord, without the palace gate.
Macbeth : Bring them before us.
[p][Exit Attendant]
[p]To be thus is
nothing;
[p]But to be safely thus.--Our fears in Banquo
[p]Stick deep;
and in his royalty of nature
[p]Reigns that which would be fear'd:
'tis much he dares;
[p]And, to that dauntless temper of his
mind,
[p]He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
[p]To act in
safety. There is none but he
[p]Whose being I do fear: and, under
him,
[p]My Genius is rebuked; as, it is said,
[p]Mark Antony's was by
Caesar. He chid the sisters
[p]When first they put the name of king
upon me,
[p]And bade them speak to him: then prophet-like
[p]They
hail'd him father to a line of kings:
[p]Upon my head they placed a
fruitless crown,
[p]And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
[p]Thence to
be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,
[p]No son of mine succeeding. If 't
be so,
[p]For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind;
[p]For them the
gracious Duncan have I murder'd;
[p]Put rancours in the vessel of my
peace
[p]Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
[p]Given to the common
enemy of man,
[p]To make them kings, the seed of Banquo
kings!
[p]Rather than so, come fate into the list.
[p]And champion me
to the utterance! Who's there!
[p][Re-enter Attendant, with two
Murderers]
[p]Now go to the door, and stay there till we
call.
[p][Exit Attendant]
[p]Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
First Murderer : It was, so please your highness.
Macbeth : Well then, now
[p]Have you consider'd of my speeches? Know
[p]That it
was he in the times past which held you
[p]So under fortune, which you
thought had been
[p]Our innocent self: this I made good to you
[p]In
our last conference, pass'd in probation with you,
[p]How you were
borne in hand, how cross'd,
[p]the instruments,
[p]Who wrought with
them, and all things else that might
[p]To half a soul and to a notion
crazed
[p]Say 'Thus did Banquo.'
First Murderer : You made it known to us.
Macbeth : I did so, and went further, which is now
[p]Our point of second
meeting. Do you find
[p]Your patience so predominant in your
nature
[p]That you can let this go? Are you so gospell'd
[p]To pray
for this good man and for his issue,
[p]Whose heavy hand hath bow'd
you to the grave
[p]And beggar'd yours for ever?
First Murderer : We are men, my liege.
Macbeth : Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men;
[p]As hounds and greyhounds,
mongrels, spaniels, curs,
[p]Shoughs, water-rugs and demi-wolves, are
clept
[p]All by the name of dogs: the valued file
[p]Distinguishes the
swift, the slow, the subtle,
[p]The housekeeper, the hunter, every
one
[p]According to the gift which bounteous nature
[p]Hath in him
closed; whereby he does receive
[p]Particular addition. from the
bill
[p]That writes them all alike: and so of men.
[p]Now, if you have
a station in the file,
[p]Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say
't;
[p]And I will put that business in your bosoms,
[p]Whose execution
takes your enemy off,
[p]Grapples you to the heart and love of
us,
[p]Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
[p]Which in his
death were perfect.
Second Murderer : I am one, my liege,
[p]Whom the vile blows and buffets of the
world
[p]Have so incensed that I am reckless what
[p]I do to spite the
world.
First Murderer : And I another
[p]So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune,
[p]That
I would set my lie on any chance,
[p]To mend it, or be rid on't.
Macbeth : Both of you
[p]Know Banquo was your enemy.
First Murderer : [with Second Murderer] True, my lord.
Macbeth : So is he mine; and in such bloody distance,
[p]That every minute of
his being thrusts
[p]Against my near'st of life: and though I
could
[p]With barefaced power sweep him from my sight
[p]And bid my
will avouch it, yet I must not,
[p]For certain friends that are both
his and mine,
[p]Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
[p]Who
I myself struck down; and thence it is,
[p]That I to your assistance
do make love,
[p]Masking the business from the common eye
[p]For
sundry weighty reasons.
Second Murderer : We shall, my lord,
[p]Perform what you command us.
First Murderer : Though our lives--
Macbeth : Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour at most
[p]I will
advise you where to plant yourselves;
[p]Acquaint you with the perfect
spy o' the time,
[p]The moment on't; for't must be done
to-night,
[p]And something from the palace; always thought
[p]That I
require a clearness: and with him--
[p]To leave no rubs nor botches in
the work--
[p]Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
[p]Whose
absence is no less material to me
[p]Than is his father's, must
embrace the fate
[p]Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves
apart:
[p]I'll come to you anon.
First Murderer : [With Second Murderer] We are resolved, my lord.
Macbeth : I'll call upon you straight: abide within.
[p][Exeunt Murderers]
[p]It
is concluded. Banquo, thy soul's flight,
[p]If it find heaven, must
find it out to-night.
Previous: Act 2 - Scene 4
Next: Act 3 - Scene 2
