As two spent swimmers that do cling together
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald –
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that 10
The multiplying villainies 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; 15
For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name –
Disdaining Fortune, with his brandish’d steel
Which smok’d with bloody execution,
Like valour’s minion, carv’d out his passage
Till he fac’d the slave; 20
Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam’d him from the nave to th’ chaps,
And fix’d his head upon our battlements.
Duncan
O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
Sergeant
As whence the sun gins his reflection 25
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, 30
But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,
With furbish’d arms and new supplies of men,
Began a fresh assault.
Duncan
Dismay’d not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Sergeant
Yes;
As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. 35
If I say sooth, I must report they were
As cannons overcharg’d with double cracks;
So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha, 40
I cannot tell –
But I am faint; my gashes cry for help.
Duncan
So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;
They smack of honour both. – Go get him surgeons.
[Exit SERGEANT, attended. Enter ROSS.]
Who comes here?
Malcolm
The worthy Thane of Ross. 45
Lennox
What a haste looks through his eyes!
So should he look that seems to speak things strange.
Ross
God save the King!
Duncan
Whence cam’st thou, worthy thane?
Ross
From Fife, great King
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky 50
And fan our people cold.
Norway himself, with terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict,
Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapp’d in proof, 55
Confronted him with self-comparisons,
Point against point rebellious, arm ‘gainst arm,
Curbing his lavish spirit; and to conclude,
The victory fell on us.
Duncan
Great happiness!
Ross
That now 60
Sweno, the Norways’ king, craves composition;
Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme’s Inch,
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
Duncan
No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive 65
Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
Ross
I’ll see it done.
Duncan
What be hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE II
The second scene deals mainly with the report of the battle in which the ‘Macbeth’ we have already heard about, and another man, Banquo, have excelled. However, the feeling of uncertainty is maintained, because the outcome of the battle is left in doubt by the Sergeant. He nevertheless presents Macbeth as the decisive factor, and Ross gives the same impression from his point of view when he provides
