Banq.
Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the three Sisters promis'd; but I fear
Thou plaid'st most foully for't: yet it was said
It should not stand in thy Posterity:
But that my self should be the Root and Father
Of Many Kings; they told thee truth.
Why, since their promise was made good to thee,
May they not be my Oracles as well?

Enter Macbeth, Lenox, and Attendants.

Macb.
Here's our chief Guest, if he had been forgotten,
It had been want of musick to our Feast.
To night we hold a solemn Supper, Sir;
And all request your presence.

Banq.
Your Majesty lays your command on me,
To which my duty is to obey.

Macb.
Ride you this afternoon?

Banq.
Yes, Royal, Sir.

Macb.
We should have else desired your good advice,
(Which still hath been both grave and prosperous)
In this days Counsel; but we'll take to morrow.
Is't far you ride?

Banq.
As far, Great Sir, as will take up the time:
Go not my horse the better,
I must become a borrower of the night,
For a dark hour or two.

Macb.
Fail not our Feast.

Banq.
My Lord, I shall not.

Macb.
We hear our bloudy Cousins are bestovv'd
In England, and in Ireland; not confessing
Their cruel Parricide; filling their hearers
With strange invention. But, of that to morrovv.
Goes your Son vvith you?

Banq.
He does; and our time novv calls upon us.

Macb.
I vvish your Horses svvift, and sure of foot.
Farevvel. [Ex. Banquo.
Let every man be Master of his time;
Till seven at night, to make society
The more vvelcome; vve vvill our selves vvithdravv,
And be alone till supper. [Exeunt Lords.
Macdduff departed frovvningly, perhaps
He is grovvn jealous; he and Banquo must
Embrace the same Fate.
Do those men attend our pleasure?

Serv.
They do, and vvait vvithout.

Macb.
Bring them before us. [Ex. Servant.
I am no King til I am safely so.
My fears stick deep in Banquo's Successors;
And in his Royalty of Nature reigns that

Which wou'd be fear'd. He dares do much;
And to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety. Under him
My Genius is rebuk'd: he chid the Sisters
When first they put the name of King upon me,
And bad them speak to him. Then, Prophet-like,
They hail'd him Father to a Line of Kings.
Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless Crown,
And put a barren Scepter in my hand:
Thence to be wrested by anothers Race;
No Son of mine succeeding: if't be so;
For Banquo's Issue, I have stain'd my soul
For them: the gracious Duncan I have murder'd:
Rather than so, I will attempt yet further,
And blot out, by their bloud, what e're
Is written of them in the book of Fate. Enter Servant, and two Murtherers.
Wait you without, and stay there till we call. [Ex. Servant.
Was it not yesterday we spoke together?

1 Murth.
It was, so please your Highness.

Macb.
And have you since considered what I told you?
How it was Banquo, who in former times
Held you so much in slavery;
Whilst you were guided to suspect my innocence.
This I made good to you in your last conference;
How you were born in hand; how crost:
The Instruments, who wrought with them.

2 Mur.
You made it known to us.

Macb.
I did so; and now let me reason with you:
Do you find your patience so predominant
In your nature,
As tamely to remit those injuries?
Are you so Gospell'd to pray for this good man,
And for his Issue; whose heavy hand
Hath bow'd you to the Grave, and beggar'd
Yours for ever?

1 Mur.
We are men, my Liege.

Macb.
Ay, in the catalogue you go for men;
As Hounds, and Grey-hounds, Mungrels, Spaniels, Curs,

Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are all
Call'd by the name of dogs: the list of which
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtil,
The house-keeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous Nature
Hath bestow'd on him; and so of men.
Now, if you have a station in the list,
Nor i'th' worst rank of manhood; say't,
And I will put that business in your bosoms,
Which, if perform'd, will rid you of your enemy,
And will endear you to the love of us.

2 Mur.
I am one, my Liege,
Whom the vile blows, and malice of the Age
Hath so incens'd, that I care not what I do
To spight the World.

1 Mur.
And I another,
So weary with disasters, and so inflicted by fortune,
That I would set my life on any chance,
To mend it, or to lose it.

Macb.
Both of you know Banquo was your enemy.

2 Mur.
True, my Lord.

Macb.
So is he mine; and though I could
With open power take him from my sight,
And bid my will avouch it: yet I must not;
For certain friends that are both his and mine;
Whose loves I may not hazard; would ill
Resent a publick process: and thence it is
That I do your assistance crave, to mask
The business from the common eye.

2 Mur.
We shall, my Lord, perform what you command us.

1 Mur.
Though our lives—

Macb.
Your spirits shine through you.
Within this hour, at most,
I will advise you where to plant your selves;
For it must be done to night:
And something from the Palace; always remember'd,
That you keep secrecy with the prescribed Father.
Flean, his Son too, keeps him company;
Whose absence is no less material to me
Than that of Banquo's: he too must embrace the fate

Of that dark hour! Resolve your selves apart.

Both Mur.
We are resolv'd my Liege.

Macb.
I'll call upon you streight. [Ex. Murth,
Now, Banquo, if thy soul can in her flight
Find Heaven, thy happiness begins to night. [Ex. Enter Macduff, and Lady Macduff.

Macd.
It must be so. Great Duncan's bloody death
Can have no other Author but Macbeth.
His Dagger now is to a Scepter grown;
From Duncan's Grave he has deriv'd his Throne.

La. Macd.
Ambition urg'd him to that bloody deed:
May you be never by Ambition led:
Forbid it Heav'n, that in revenge you shou'd
Follow a Copy that is writ in blood.

Macd.
From Duncan's Grave, methinks I hear a groan
That calls aloud for justice.

La. Macd.
If the Throne
Was by Macbeth ill gain'd, Heavens may,
Without your Sword, sufficient vengeance pay.
Usurpers lives have but a short extent,
Nothing lives long in a strange Element.

Macd.
My Countreys dangers call for my defence
Against the bloody Tyrants violence.

L. Macd.
I am afraid you have some other end,
Than meerly Scotland's freedom to defend.
You'd raise your self, whilst you wou'd him dethrone;
And shake his Greatness to confirm your own.
That purpose will appear, when rightly scann'd,
But usurpation at the second hand.
Good Sir, recal your thoughts.

Macd.
What if I shou'd
Assume the Scepter for my Countreys good?
Is that an usurpation? can it be
Ambition to procure the liberty
Of this sad Realm; which does by Treason bleed?
That which provokes, will justifie the deed.

La. Macd.
If the Design should prosper, the Event
May make us safe, but not you Innocent:
For whilst to set our fellow Subjects free
From present Death, or future Slavery.

You wear a Crown, not by your Title due,
Defence in them, is an Offence in you;
That deed's unlawful, though it cost no Blood,
In which you'l be at best unjustly Good.
You, by your Pity, which for us you plead,
Weave but Ambition of a finer thread.

Macd.
Ambition does the height of power affect,
My aim is not to Govern, but Protect:
And he is not ambitious that declares,
He nothing seeks of Scepters but their cares.

La. Macd.
Can you so patiently your self molest,
And lose your own to give your Countrey rest!
In Plagues what sound Physician wou'd endure
To be infected for another's Cure.

Macd.
If by my troubles I cou'd yours release,
My Love wou'd turn those torments to my ease:
I shou'd at once be sick, and healthy too,
Though Sickly in my self, yet Well in you.

La. Macd.
But then reflect upon the Danger, Sir,
Which you by your aspiring wou'd incur
From Fortunes Pinacle, you will too late
Look down, when you are giddy with your height:
Whilst you with Fortune play to win a Crown,
The Peoples Stakes are greater than your own.

Macd.
In hopes to have the common Ills redrest,
Who wou'd not venture single interest. Enter Servant.

Ser.
My Lord, a Gentleman, just now arriv'd
From Court, has brought a Message from the King:

Macd.
One sent from him, can no good Tidings bring?

La. Macd.
What wou'd the Tyrant have?

Macd.
Go, I will hear
The News, though it a dismal Accent bear;
Those who expect and do not fear their Doom,
May hear a Message though from Hell it come. [Exeunt. Enter Macbeth's Lady and Servant.

La. Macb.
Is Banquo gone from Court?

Ser.
Yes Madam, but returns again to night.

La. Macb.
Say to the King, I wou'd attend his leisure
For a few words. [Exit. Ser.

Where our desire is got without content,
Alas, it is not Gain, but punishment!
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy,
Then by Destruction live in doubtful joy. Enter Macbeth.
How now my Lord, why do you keep alone?
Making the worst of Fancy your Companions,
Conversing with those thoughts which shou'd ha'dy'd
With those they think on: things without redress
Shou'd be without regard: what's done, is done.

Macb.
Alas, we have but scorch'd the Snake, not kill'd it,
She'l close and be her self, whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former Sting.
But let the frame of all things be disjoynt
E're we will eat our bread in fear; and sleep
In the affliction of those horrid Dreams
That shake us mightily! Better be with him
Whom we to gain the Crown, have sent to peace;
Then on the torture of the mind so lie
In restless Agony. Duncan is dead;
He, after life's short feaver, now sleeps; Well,
Treason has done its worst; nor Steel, nor Poyson,
Nor Foreign force, nor yet Domestick Malice
Can touch him further.

La. Macb.
Come on, smooth your rough brow.
Be free and merry with your guests to night.

Macb.
I shall, and so I pray be you, but still,
Remember to apply your self to Banquo:
Present him kindness with your Eye and Tongue.
In how unsafe a posture are our honours
That we must have recourse to flattery,
And make our Faces Vizors to our hearts.

La Macb.
You must leave this.

Macb.
How full of Scorpions is my mind? Dear Wife
Thou know'st that Banquo and his Flean lives.

La. Macb.
But they are not Immortal, there's comfort yet in that.

Macb.
Be merry then, for e're the Bat has flown
His Cloyster'd flight; e're to black Heccate's Summons,
The sharp brow'd Beetle with his drowsie hums,
Has rung nights second Peal:

There shall be done a deed of dreadful Note.

La. Macb.
What is't?

Macb.
Be innocent of knowing it, my Dear,
Till thou applaud the deed, come dismal Night
Close up the Eye of the quick-sighted Day
With thy invisible and bloody hand.
The Crow makes wing to the thick shady Grove,
Good things of day grow dark and overcast,
Whilst Nights black Agents to their Preys make hast,
Thou wonder'st at my Language, wonder still,
Things ill begun, strengthen themselves by ill. [Exeunt. Enter three Murtherers.

1 Mur.
The time is almost come,
The West yet glimmers with some streaks of day,
Now the benighted Traveller spurs on,
To gain the timely Inn.

2 Mur.
Hark, I hear Horses, and saw some body alight
At the Park gate.

3 Mur.
Then 'tis he; the rest
That are expected are i'th' Court already.

1 Mur.
His horses go about almost a Mile,
And men from hence to th' Pallace make it their usual walk. [Exe. Enter Banquo and Flean.

Banq.
It will be rain to night.

Flean.
We must make haste:

Banq.
Our haste concerns us more than being wet.
The King expects me at his feast to night,
To which he did invite me with a kindness,
Greater than he was wont to express. [Exeunt. Re-enter Murtherers with drawn Swords.

1 Mur.
Banquo, thou little think'st what bloody feast
Is now preparing for thee.

2 Mur.
Nor to what shades the darkness of this night,
Shall lead thy wandring spirit. [Exeunt after Banquo. [Clashing of Swords is heard from within. Re-enter Flean pursu'd by one of the Murtherers.

Flean.
Murther, help, help, my Father's kill'd. [Exe. running

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