[Low alarums.

It is more worthy to leap in ourselves,
Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius,
Thou know'st that we two went to school together:
Even for that our love of old, I prithee,
Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it.
Vol. That's not an office for a friend, my lord:
[Alarum still.
Cli. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here.
Bru. Farewell to you; and you; and you, Vo-
lumnius.

Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep;
Farewell to thee too, Strato. Countrymen,
My heart doth joy that yet in all my life
I found no man but he was true to me.
I shall have glory by this losing day
More than Octavius and Mark Antony
By this vile conquest shall attain unto.
So fare you well at once; for Brutus' tongue
Hath almost ended his life's history:
Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest,
That have but labour'd to attain this hour.
[Alarum. Cry within, Fly, fly, fly!'
Cli. Fly, my lord, fly.
Bru.

Hence! I will follow. [Exeunt Clitus, Dardanius, and Volumnius. I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord: Thou art a fellow of a good respect;

Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it:
Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face,
While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?
Stra. Give me your hand first. Fare you well,
my lord.

Bru. Farewell, good Strato. [Runs on his sword.]
Cæsar, now be still:

I kill'd not thee with half so good a will. [Dies. Alarum. Retreat. Enter Octavius, Antony, Messala, Lucilius, and the Army.

Oct. What man is that?
[master?
Mes. My master's man. Strato, where is thy
Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, Messala:
The conquerors can but make a fire of him;
For Brutus only overcame himself,

And no man else hath honour by his death.
Lucil. So Brutus should be found. I thank thee,
Brutus,

That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true.
Oct. All that served Brutus, I will entertain them.
Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?
Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you.
Oct. Do so, good Messala.

Mes. How died my master, Strato?

Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on it. Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest service to my master.

Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all:

All the conspirators save only he

Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He only, in a general honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world This was a man!

Oct. According to his virtue let us use him,
With all respect and rites of burial.
Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,
Most like a soldier, order'd honourably.
So call the field to rest; and let 's away,
To part the glories of this happy day.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.-A desert place.

Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches. First Witch. When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Sec. Witch. When the hurlyburly 's done,
When the battle 's lost and won.

Third Witch. That will be ere the set of sun.
First Witch. Where the place?
Sec. Witch.

Third Witch. There to meet with Macbeth.
Upon the heath.
First Witch. I come, Graymalkin!

Sec. Witch. Paddock calls.

Third Witch. Anon.

All. Fair is foul, and foul is fair:

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

SCENE II.-A camp near Forres.

Alarum with in.

[Exeunt.

Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant.

Dun. What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state.

This is the sergeant

Mal. Who like a good and hardy soldier fought 'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend! Say to the king the knowledge of the broil As thou didst leave it.

Ser.

Doubtful it stood:

As two spent swimmers, that do cling together And choke their art. The merciless MacdonwaldWorthy to be a rebel, for to that

The multiplying villanies of nature

Do swarm upon him-from the western isles
Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
Show'd like a rebel's whore: but all 's too weak:
For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,

Which smoked with bloody execution,

Like valour's minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;

Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

Dun. O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
Ser. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,
So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come
Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark:
No sooner justice had with valour arm'd
Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage,
With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men
Began a fresh assault.
Dun.

Dismay'd not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Ser.

Yes;

If I say sooth, I must report they were
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
As cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha,

I cannot tell.

[wounds;

But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
Dun. So well thy words become thee as thy
They smack of honour both. Go get him surgeons.
[Exit Sergeant, attended.

Who comes here?

Mal.

Enter Ross.

The worthy thane of Ross.

Len. What a haste looks through his eyes! So

should he look

That seems to speak things strange.

Ross. God save the king! Dun. Whence camest thou, worthy thane? Ross. From Fife, great king: Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky And fan our people cold. Norway himself,

First Witch. Where hast thou been, sister?
Sec. Witch. Killing swine.

Third Witch. Sister, where thou? [lap, First Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd:-'Give me,' quoth I:

'Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger: But in a sieve I'll thither sail,

And, like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

Sec. Witch. I'll give thee a wind.

First Witch. Thou 'rt kind.

Third Witch. And I another.

First Witch. I myself have all the other,
And the very ports they blow,

All the quarters that they know
I' the shipman's card.

I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbid :
Weary se'nnights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost.
Look what I have.

Sec. Witch. Show me, show me.

First Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wreck'd as homeward he did come. [Drum within. Third Witch. A drum, a drum!

Macbeth doth come.

All. The weird sisters, hand in hand,

Posters of the sea and land,

Thus do go about, about:

Thrice to thine and thrice to mine

And thrice again, to make up nine.

Peace! the charm 's wound up.

Enter Macbeth and Banquo.

Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. Ban. How far is 't call'd to Forres? What are So wither'd and so wild in their attire, [these That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, And yet are on 't? Live you? or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand By each at once her chappy finger laying Upon her skinny lips: you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so. Macb. Speak, if you can: what are you? First Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!

[me,

Sec. Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!

Third Witch. All hail, Macbeth, thou 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, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner You greet with present grace and great prediction Of noble having and of royal hope,

That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,

And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate.

First Witch. Hail! Sec. Witch. Hail! Third Witch. Hail!

First Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. Sec. Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier. Third Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! [be none:

First Witch. Banquo and Macbeth, all hail! Macb. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more: By Sinel's death I know I am thane of Glamis; But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman; and to be king Stands not within the prospect of belief, No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence You owe this strange intelligence? or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge [Witches vanish.

you.

Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd? Macb. Into the air; 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
That takes the reason prisoner?

Macb. Your children shall be kings.
Ban.

You shall be king.

Macb. And thane of Cawdor too: went it not so? [here? Ban. To the selfsame tune and words. Who's

Enter Ross and Angus.

Ross. The king hath happily received, Macbeth, The news of thy success; and when he reads Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, His wonders and his praises do contend Which should be thine or his: silenced with that, In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day, He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, Strange images of death. As thick as hail Came post with post; and every one did bear Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence, And pour'd them down before him.

Ang. We are sent To give thee from our royal master thanks; Only to herald thee into his sight,

Not pay thee.

Ross. And, for an earnest of a greater honour, He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor: In which addition, hail, most worthy thane! For it is thine.

Ban. What, can the devil speak true? Macb. The thane of Cawdor lives: why do you In borrow'd robes? [dress me 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 the rebel With hidden help and vantage, or that with both He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not;