Macbeth (14 page)

MALCOLM
    But I have none. The
king-becoming
¹⁰³
graces,
        As justice,
verity
¹⁰⁴
,
temp’rance
, stableness,
        
Bounty
¹⁰⁵
, perseverance, mercy,
lowliness
,
        Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,
        I have no
relish
¹⁰⁷
of them, but
abound
        In the
division
¹⁰⁸
of each
several
crime,
        Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should
        Pour the sweet milk of
concord
¹¹⁰
into hell,
        
Uproar
¹¹¹
the universal peace, confound
        All unity on earth.

MACDUFF
    O Scotland, Scotland!

MALCOLM
    If such a one be fit to govern, speak:
        I am as I have spoken.

MACDUFF
    Fit to govern?
        No, not to live. O nation miserable,
        With an
untitled
¹¹⁸
tyrant bloody-sceptred,
        When shalt thou see thy
wholesome
¹¹⁹
days again,
        Since that the truest issue of thy throne
        By his own
interdiction
¹²¹
stands accused
        And does
blaspheme
¹²²
his
breed
?—Thy royal father
        Was a most
sainted
¹²³
king: the queen that bore thee,
        Oft’ner
upon her knees
¹²⁴
than on her feet,
        
Died every day she lived
¹²⁵
. Fare thee well.
        These evils thou
repeat’st upon
¹²⁶
thyself
        
Hath banished me from Scotland
¹²⁷
.—O my breast,
        Thy hope ends here!

MALCOLM
    Macduff, this noble passion,
        Child of integrity, hath from my soul
        Wiped the black
scruples
¹³¹
, reconciled my thoughts
        To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth
        By many of these
trains
¹³³
hath sought to win me
        Into his power, and modest wisdom
plucks
¹³⁴
me
        From
over-credulous
¹³⁵
haste: but God above
        Deal between thee and me! For even now
        I put myself to thy
direction
¹³⁷
and
        
Unspeak mine own detraction
¹³⁸
: here
abjure
        The
taints
¹³⁹
and blames I laid upon myself
        
For
¹⁴⁰
strangers to my nature. I am yet
        
Unknown to woman
¹⁴¹
, never was
forsworn
,
        
Scarcely have coveted what was mine own
¹⁴²
,
        At no time broke my faith, would not betray
        The devil to his fellow, and delight
        No less in truth than life. My first
false speaking
¹⁴⁵
        Was
this upon myself
¹⁴⁶
. What I am truly
        Is thine and my poor country’s to command:
        Whither indeed, before thy
here-approach
¹⁴⁸
,
        Old Siward with ten thousand warlike men,
        Already
at a point
¹⁵⁰
, was setting forth.
        Now
we’ll
¹⁵¹
toge
ther, and the chance of goodness
        Be like our warranted quarrel
. Why are you silent?

MACDUFF
    Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
        ’Tis hard to reconcile.

Enter a Doctor

MALCOLM
    Well, more anon.—Comes the king forth, I pray
                    you?

DOCTOR
    Ay, sir, there are a crew of wretched souls
        That
stay
¹⁵⁷
his
cure
: their malady
convinces
        The great
assay of art
¹⁵⁸
, but at his touch—
        Such
sanctity
¹⁵⁹
hath heaven given his hand—
        They
presently amend
¹⁶⁰
.
Exit

MALCOLM
    I thank you, doctor.

MACDUFF
    What’s the disease he means?

MALCOLM
    ’Tis called
the evil
¹⁶³
:
        A most miraculous work in this good king,
        Which often, since my
here-remain
¹⁶⁵
in England,
        I have seen him do. How he
solicits
¹⁶⁶
heaven
        Himself best knows: but
strangely-visited
¹⁶⁷
people,
        All swoll’n and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,
        The
mere
¹⁶⁹
despair of surgery, he cures,
        Hanging a golden
stamp
¹⁷⁰
about their necks
        Put on with holy prayers: and
’tis spoken
¹⁷¹
,
        To the
succeeding royalty
¹⁷²
he leaves
        The healing
benediction
¹⁷³
. With this
strange
virtue
        He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy,
        And sundry blessings hang about his throne
        That
speak him
¹⁷⁶
full of grace.

Enter Ross

MACDUFF
    See who comes here.

MALCOLM
    My
countryman
¹⁷⁸
, but yet I
know
him not.

MACDUFF
    My
ever-gentle
¹⁷⁹
cousin, welcome hither.

MALCOLM
    I know him now. Good God
betimes
¹⁸⁰
remove
        The
means
¹⁸¹
that makes us strangers!

ROSS
    Sir, amen.

MACDUFF
    Stands Scotland where it did?

ROSS
    Alas, poor country,
        Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot
        Be called our mother, but our grave; where
nothing
¹⁸⁶
        But who knows nothing is once seen to smile:
        Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rend the air
        Are made, not
marked
¹⁸⁹
: where violent sorrow seems
        A
modern ecstasy
¹⁹⁰
.
The dead man’s knell
        Is there scarce asked for who
, and good men’s lives
        Expire before the flowers in their caps,
        Dying
or ere they sicken
¹⁹³
.

MACDUFF
    O,
relation
¹⁹⁴
too
nice
, and yet too true!

MALCOLM
    What’s the newest grief?

ROSS
    That of an hour’s age doth
hiss the speaker
¹⁹⁶
:
        Each minute
teems
¹⁹⁷
a new one.

MACDUFF
    How does my wife?

ROSS
    Why, well.

MACDUFF
    And all my children?

ROSS
    Well, too.

MACDUFF
    The tyrant has not battered at their peace?

ROSS
    No, they were well
at peace
²⁰³
when I did leave ’em.

MACDUFF
    Be not a
niggard of
²⁰⁴
your speech: how goes’t?

ROSS
    When I came hither to transport the tidings
        Which I have
heavily
²⁰⁶
borne, there ran a rumour
        Of many worthy fellows that were
out
²⁰⁷
,
        Which was to my belief
witnessed the rather
²⁰⁸
,
        For that I saw the tyrant’s
power
²⁰⁹
afoot
.
        Now is the time of help.—Your
eye
²¹⁰
in Scotland
To Malcolm

        Would create soldiers, make our women fight,
        To
doff
²¹²
their dire distresses.

MALCOLM
    
Be’t
²¹³
their comfort
        We are coming thither. Gracious England hath
        Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men:
        
An older and a better soldier none
        That Christendom
gives out
^217
216
.

ROSS
    Would I could answer
        This comfort with
the like
²¹⁹
. But I have words
        That
would
²²⁰
be howled out in the
desert
air,
        Where hearing should not
latch
²²¹
them.

MACDUFF
    What concern they?
        The
general cause
²²³
? Or is it a
fee-grief
        Due to some single breast?

ROSS
    No mind that’s honest
        But in it shares some woe, though the main part
        Pertains to you alone.

MACDUFF
    If it be mine,
        Keep it not from me, quickly let me have it.

ROSS
    Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever,
        Which shall
possess them with
²³¹
the
heaviest
sound
        That ever yet they heard.

MACDUFF
    Hum! I guess at it.

ROSS
    Your castle is
surprised
²³⁴
, your wife and babes
        Savagely slaughtered: to relate the
manner
²³⁵
        Were, on the
quarry
²³⁶
of these murdered
deer
,
        To add the death of you.

MALCOLM
    Merciful heaven!
        What, man, ne’er
pull your hat upon your brows
²³⁹
:
        Give sorrow words. The grief that does not speak
        
Whispers
²⁴¹
the
o’er-fraught
heart and bids it break.

MACDUFF
    My children too?

ROSS
    Wife, children, servants, all that could be found.

MACDUFF
    And I
must be from thence
²⁴⁴
! My wife killed too?

ROSS
    I have said.

MALCOLM
    Be comforted:
        Let’s make us med’cines of our great revenge,
        To cure this deadly grief.

MACDUFF
    
He
²⁴⁹
has no children.—All my pretty ones?
        Did you say all? O
hell-kite
²⁵⁰
! All?
        What, all my pretty chickens and their
dam
²⁵¹
        At one
fell swoop
²⁵²
?

MALCOLM
    
Dispute
²⁵³
it like a man.

MACDUFF
    I shall do so,
        But I must also feel it as a man:
        I cannot but remember such things were
        That were most precious to me. Did heaven look on
        And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff,
        They were all
struck
²⁵⁹
for thee!
Naught
that I am,
        Not for their own
demerits
²⁶⁰
, but for mine,
        
Fell
²⁶¹
slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now!

MALCOLM
    Be this the
whetstone
²⁶²
of your sword. Let grief
        Convert to anger: blunt not the heart, enrage it.

MACDUFF
    O, I could
play the woman with mine eyes
²⁶⁴
        And
braggart
²⁶⁵
with my tongue! But, gentle heavens,
        Cut short all
intermission
²⁶⁶
.
Front to front
        Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself:
        Within my sword’s length set him. If he
scape
²⁶⁸
,
        Heaven forgive him too!

MALCOLM
    This
tune
²⁷⁰
goes manly.
        Come, go we to the king. Our
power
²⁷¹
is ready:
        
Our lack is nothing but our leave
²⁷²
. Macbeth
        Is
ripe for shaking
²⁷³
, and the
powers above
        
Put on their instruments
²⁷⁴
. Receive what cheer you may:
        The night is long that never finds the day.
Exeunt

Location: Macbeth’s castle at Dunsinane
  

Enter a Doctor of
Physic
and a Waiting-Gentlewoman

DOCTOR
    I have two nights
watched
¹
with you, but can
        perceive no truth in your report. When was it she last
        
walked
³
?

GENTLEWOMAN
    Since his majesty went into the
field
⁴
, I have seen
        her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her,
        unlock her
closet
⁶
, take forth paper, fold it, write upon’t, read
        it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this
        while in a most fast sleep.

DOCTOR
    A great
perturbation
⁹
in nature, to receive at once
        the benefit of sleep and do the
effects of watching
¹⁰
. In this
        slumbery
agitation
¹¹
, besides her walking and other actual
        performances, what—at any time—have you heard her
        say?