SCENE IV.
Flourish. Enter King, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lenox, and Attendants.
King.
Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet return'd?
-- 470 --
Mal.
My liege,
They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
6 noteWith one that saw him die: who did report,
That very frankly he confess'd his treasons;
Implor'd your highness' pardon; and set forth
A deep repentance: nothing in his life
Became him, like the leaving it; he dy'd
As one that had been 7 notestudied in his death,
To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd,
As 'twere a careless trifle.
King.
There's no art,
8 noteTo find the mind's construction in the face 9Q0502;
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.—O worthiest cousin!
Enter Macbeth, Banquo, Rosse, and Angus.
The sin of my ingratitude even now
Was heavy on me: Thou art so far before,
That swiftest wing of recompence is slow
To overtake thee. 'Would thou hadst less deserv'd;
That the proportion both of thanks and payment
-- 471 --
Might have been mine! only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay 9Q0503.
Macb.
The service and the loyalty I owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part.
Is to receive our duties: and our duties
Are to your throne and state, children, and servants;
9 note
Which do but what they should, by doing every thing9Q0504
Safe toward your love and honour 9Q0505.
-- 472 --
King.
Welcome hither:
I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing.—Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserv'd, nor must be known
No less to have done so, let me enfold thee,
And hold thee to my heart.
Ban.
There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.
King.
My plenteous joys,
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow 9Q0506.—Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
And you whose places are the nearest, know,
We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm; whom we name hereafter,
The prince of Cumberland: which honour must
Not, unaccompanied, invest him only,
But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers.—From hence to Inverness1 note,
And bind us further to you 9Q0507.
Macb.
The rest is labour, which is not us'd for you:
I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful
-- 473 --
The hearing of my wife with your approach;
So, humbly take my leave.
King.
My worthy Cawdor!
Macb.
The prince of Cumberland2 note
!—That is a step,
On which I must fall down, or else o'er-leap,
[Aside.
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires!
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand! yet let that be,
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.
[Exit.
King.
True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant;
And in his commendations I am fed;
It is a banquet to me. Let us after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome:
It is a peerless kinsman.
[Flourish. Exeunt.
Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].
