1 Witch.
Where hast thou been, sister?

2 Witch.
Killing swine.

3 Witch.
Sister, where thou?

1 Witch.
A sailor's wife had chesnuts in her lap,
And mouncht, and mouncht, and mouncht. Give me, quoth I.
Aroint thee, witch!—the rump-fed ronyon cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o'th' Tyger:
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.

2 Witch.
I'll give thee a wind.

1 Witch.
Thou art kind.

3 Witch.
And I another.

1 Witch.
I my self have all the other,
And the very points they blow;
All the quarters that they know,
I'th' ship-man'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;(6) ^note

2 Witch.
Shew me, shew me.

1 Witch.
Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wrackt as homeward he did come. [Drum within.

3 Witch.
A drum, a drum!
Macbeth doth come!

All.
The Weïrd sisters, hand in hand,(7) ^note

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, with Soldiers and other attendants.

Macb.
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

Ban.
How far is't call'd to Foris?—What are these,
So wither'd, and so wild in their attire,
That look not like th' inhabitants o'th' earth,
And yet are on't? Live you, or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her choppy 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?

1 Witch.
All-hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!

2 Witch.
All-hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!

3 Witch.
All-hail, Macbeth! that shalt be King hereafter.

Ban.
Good Sir, why do you start, and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? I'th' name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or That indeed [To the Witches.
Which outwardly ye shew? 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.

1 Witch.
Hail!

2 Witch.
Hail!

3 Witch.
Hail!

1 Witch.
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

2 Witch.
Not so happy, yet much happier.

3 Witch.
Thou shalt get Kings, though thou be none;
So, all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

1 Witch.
Banquo and Macbeth, all-hail!

Macb.
Stay, you imperfect Speakers, tell me more;
By Sinel's death, I know, I'm Thane of Glamis;
But how, of Cawdor? the Thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosp'rous 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 prophetick Greeting?—speak, I charge you. [Witches vanish.

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 staid!

Ban.
Were such things here, as we do speak about?(8) ^note

Macb.
Your children shall be Kings.

Ban.
You shall be King.

Macb.
And Thane of Cawdor too; went it not so?

Ban.
To th' self same tune, and words; who's here? Enter Rosse and Angus.

Rosse.
The King hath happily receiv'd, 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. Silenc'd with That,
In viewing o'er the rest o'th' self-same day,
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afraid of what thy self didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as hail,
Came Post on 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.

Rosse.
And for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bad 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 dress me in his borrow'd robes?

Ang.
Who was the Thane, lives yet;
But under heavy judgment bears that life,
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was
Combin'd with Norway, or did line the Rebel
With hidden help and vantage; or that with both
He labour'd in his country's wrack, I know not:
But treasons capital, confess'd, and prov'd,
Have overthrown him.

Macb.
Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor! [Aside.
The greatest is behind. Thanks for your pains. [To Angus.
Do you not hope, your children shall be Kings? [To Banquo.
When those, that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me,
Promis'd no less to them?

Ban.
That trusted home,
Might yet enkindle you unto the Crown,
Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange:
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,

The instruments of Darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray us
In deepest consequence.
Cousins, a word, I pray you. [To Rosse and Angus.

Macb.
Two truths are told, [Aside.
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme. I thank you, gentlemen—
This supernatural Solliciting
Cannot be ill; cannot be good.—If ill,
Why hath it giv'n me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I'm Thane of Cawdor.
If good; why do I yield to that suggestion,
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair,
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
Against the use of nature? present feats(9) ^note

Shakes so my single state of man, that Function
Is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is,
But what is not.

Ban.
Look, how our Partner's rapt!

Macb.
If Chance will have me King, why, Chance may crown me, [Aside.
Without my stir.

Ban.
New Honours, come upon him,
Like our strange garments cleave not to their mould,
But with the aid of use.

Macb.
Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs thro' the roughest day.

Ban.
Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.

Macb.
Give me your favour: my dull brain was wrought
With things forgot. Kind gentlemen, your pains
Are registred where every day I turn
The leaf to read them—Let us tow'rd the King;
Think, upon what hath chanc'd; and at more time, [To Banquo.
(The Interim having weigh'd it,) let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.

Ban.
Very gladly.

Macb.
'Till then enough: come, friends. [Exeunt.

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