Enter MACDUFF and Lennox. Macduff. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, That you do lie so late? Porter. Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second cock.1 Macduff. I believe drink gave thee the lie last night. Porter. That it did, sir, i' the very throat on me; but I requited him for his lie; and, I think, being too strong for him, though he took up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast 2 him. Macduff. Is thy master stirring ? Enter MACBETH. Our knocking has awak'd him; here he comes. Lennox. Good morrow, noble sir. Macbeth. 2 Good morrow, both. Not yet. Macduff. Is the King stirring, worthy thane.? Macduff. He did command me to call timely on him; Macbeth. I'll bring you to him. Macduff. I know this is a joyful trouble to you; But yet 'tis one. Macbeth. The labor we delight in physics3 pain. This is the door. For 'tis my limited service.4 Lennox. Goes the King hence to-day? [Exit. He does; he did appoint so. Lennox. The night has been unruly: where we lay, Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say, Lamentings heard i' the air,—strange screams of death, And prophesying, with accents terrible, 1 "Till the second cock," i.e., till the cock crew the second time. 4" My limited service," i.e., service specially assigned to me. Macduff. O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart Cannot conceive nor name thee ! Macbeth. What's the matter? Macduff. Confusion 2 now hath made his masterpiece! Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence The life o' the building! Macbeth. What is't you say? the life? Lennox. Mean you his Majesty ? Macduff. Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight With a new Gorgon.3 Do not bid me speak; See, and then speak yourselves. [Exeunt Macbeth and Lennox. Awake, awake! Ring the alarum bell.-Murder and treason! 3 It is fabled that there were three Gorgons, sisters, of whom Medusa, the youngest, was very handsome. Wishing to leave her home, a desolate land, she entreated Minerva to let her go and visit the delightful sunny south. When Minerva refused her request, she reviled the goddess, declaring that nothing but her conviction that mortals would no longer consider her beautiful, if they but once beheld Medusa, could have prompted this denial. This remark so incensed Minerva, that, to punish her for her vanity, the goddess changed Medusa's beautiful curling locks into hissing, writhing serpents, and decreed that one glance into her still beautiful face would suffice to change the beholder into stone. (See GUERBER'S Myths of Greece and Rome, p. 242.) Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake! And look on death itself! The great doom's image! 1 ·Up, up, and see Malcolm Banquo ! As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites, Enter LADY MACBETH. Lady Macbeth. What's the business, That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley 'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak; Would murder as it fell. Enter BANQUO. Our royal master's murder'd ! Lady Macbeth. [Bell rings. O gentle lady, O Banquo, Banquo, Woe, alas! What! in our house? Banquo. Too cruel anywhere. Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself, And say it is not so. Reënter MACBETH and LENNOX, with Ross. Macbeth. Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had liv'd a blessed time; for, from this instant There's nothing serious in mortality;3 All is but toys; renown and grace is dead; The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees 4 Is left this vault to brag of. 1 "The great doom's image," i.e., a sight as terrible as the last judgment. 2 "Walk like sprites," etc. to this horror. 3 Human life. Ghosts are the only proper accompaniments 4 Dregs of the cask. Enter MALCOLM and DONALBAIN. Donalbain. What is amiss ? Macbeth. You are, and do not know't; The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood Macduff. Your royal father's murder'd. Oh! by whom? Lennox. Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done't: Their hands and faces were all badg'd with blood; So were their daggers, which unwip'd we found Upon their pillows. They star'd and were distracted; no man's life Was to be trusted with them. Macbeth. O, yet I do repent me of my fury, That I did kill them. Macduff. Wherefore did you so ? No man. Macbeth. Who can be wise, amaz'd,1 temperate and furious, Loyal and neutral, in a moment? The expedition 2 of my violent love Outran the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan, And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature Courage to make's love known? Lady Macbeth. Macduff. Look to the lady. Help me hence, ho! Malcolm. [Aside to Donalbain] Why do we hold our tongues, That most may claim this argument for ours ? 4 3"Breech'd with gore," i.e., covered with blood. 4 “That most may claim,” etc., i.e., who have the greatest interest in the matter. Donalbain. [Aside to Malcolm] What should be spoken here, where our fate, Hid in an auger hole, may rush and seize us? Let's away; Our tears are not yet brew'd. Malcolm. [Aside to Donalbain] Nor our strong sorrow Upon the foot of motion. Banquo. Look to the lady. [Lady Macbeth is carried out. And when we have our naked frailties hid, And question 2 this most bloody piece of work, Of treasonous malice. Macduff. And so do I. So all. Macbeth. Let's briefly put on manly readiness, And meet i' the hall together. All. Well contented. [Exeunt all but Malcolm and Donalbain. Malcolm. What will you do? Let's not consort with them; To show an unfelt sorrow is an office Which the false man does easy. I'll to England. Donalbain. To Ireland I; our separated fortune There's daggers in men's smiles; the near in blood, 1 "And when we have," etc., is thus paraphrased by Steevens: "When we have clothed our half-dressed bodies, which may take cold from being exposed to the air." 2 Examine thoroughly. 3 "The near in blood," etc., i.e., the nearer the kin, the more the danger to our lives. |