And Fortune, on his damned quarrel ) smiling, Like Valour's minion, Carv'd out his passage till he fac'd the slave; Dun. O, valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! Sold. As whence the sun 'gins his reflexion 10), Compell'd these skipping Kernes to trust their heels; With furbish'd arms and new snpplies of men Dun. Dismay'd not this Yes; Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? Sold.. As sparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion. I If I say sooth ), I must report, they were As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks 13); So they Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe; Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, 8) quarrel was formerly used for cause. Johnson. 9) I suppose the meaning is, that Fortune, while she smiled on him, deceived him. Shakspeare probably alludes to Macdowald's first successful action, elated by which he attempted to pursue his fortune, but lost his life. Malone, 10) As whence the sun 'gins his reflexion. The thought is expressed with some obscurity, but the plain meaning is this:,, As the same quarter, whence the blessing of day-light arises, sometimes sends us, by a dreadful reverse, the calamities of storms and tempests; so the glorious event of Macbeth's victory, which promised us the comforts of peace, 'was immediately succeeded by the alarming news of the Norweyan invasion." Steevens. 1) Discomfort the natural opposite to comfort. 12) sooth, truth, reality, 13) That is, with double charges: a metonymy of the effect for the cause. Heath But I am faint, my gashes cry for help. Dun. So well thy words become thee, as thy wounds; They smack of honour both. Who comes here? Mal. [Exit Soldier, attended.] Enter Rosse. The worthy Thane 15) of Rosse. Len. What a haste looks through his eyes? So should he look, That seems to speak things strange 16). Rosse. God save the King! Dun. Whence cam'st thou, worthy Thane? From File, great King; Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky, Norway himself, with terrible numbers, The Thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict: -Dun, Great happiness! Rosse. That now Sweno, the Norway's King, craves composition; 1) That is, or make another Golgatha, which should be celebrated and delivered down to posterity, with as frequent mention as the first. Heath. 15) Thane war ein alter Schottischer Ehrenname, ungefähr so viel als Baron. 16) That seems to speak things strange, i. e. that seems about to speak strange things. Malone. 17) The meaning seems to be, not that the Norweyan banners proudly insulted the sky; but that the standards being taken by Duncan's forces, and fixed in the ground, the colours idly flapped about, serving only to cool the conquerors, instead of being proudly displayed by their possessors. Malone. 1) lapt in proof, is, defended by armour of proof. Steevens. 19) with self-comparisons i. e. gave him as good as he brought, shew'd he was his equal. Warburton. Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme's inch ), Ten thousand dollars, to our general use. Dun. No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive Rosse. I'll see it done. Dun. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won. [Exeunt.] SCENE III. A Heath. Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 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 mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd. Give me, quoth 1: Aroint thee 1), witch! the rump- -fed ronyon 22) cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone: master o' the Tiger: But in a sieve I'll thither sail, And like a rat without a tail 23), Fll do, I'll do, and I'll do. r 20) Colme's inch, now called Inchcomb, is a small island lying in the Firth of Edinburgh, with an abbey upon it, dedicated to St. Columb. Inch in the Irish and Erse languages signifies an island. Steevens. 21) aroint thee, witch! Aroint, or avaunt, be gone. Pope. 22) ronyon, i. e. scabby, or mangy person.' Steevens. rump-fed. The chief cooks in noblemen's families, colleges, religious houses, hospitals etc. anciently claimed the emoluments or kitchen fees of kidneys, fat, trotters, rumps etc.,, which they sold to the poor. The weird sister in this scene, as an insult on the poverty of the woman, who had called her witch, reproaches her poor abject state, as not being able to procure better provision than offals, which are considered as the refuse of the tables of others. Colepeper. 23) It should be remembered (as it was the belief of the times,) that though a witch could assume the form of any animal she pleased, the tail would still be wanting. The reason given by some of the old writers, for such a deficiency, is that though the hands and feet, by an easy change might be converted into the four paws of a beast, there was still no part about a woman which corresponded with the length of tail common to almost all four-footed creatures. Stee vens. 2. Witch. I'll give thee a wind 24). 3. Witch. And I another. 1. Witch. I myself have all the other; And the very ports they blow 25); · All the quarters that they know, I the shipman's tard 26). I will drain him dry as hay:! 2. Witch. Show me, show me. 1. Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wreck'd as homeward he did come. 3. Witch. A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come. [Drum within.] All. The weird 29) sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, 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. Mach. So foul and fair a day I have not seen, 24) This free gift of a wind is to be considered as an act of sisterly friendship, for witches were supposed to sell them. Steevens. 25) In ancient language to blow sometimes means to blow upon. The very ports are the exact ports. Very is used here (as in thousand instances which might be brought) to express the declaration more emphatically. Steevens. 26, The card is the paper on which the winds are marked under the pilot's needle; or perhaps the sea-chart, so called in our author's age. Steevens. 27 i. e. as one under a curse, an interdiction. Theobald, 28) This mischief was supposed to be put in execution by means of a waxen figure, which represented the person who was to be consumed by slow degrees. Stevens. 29) Weird is used substantively signifying a prophecy by some, and by others, Destinies. Steevens. Ban. How fat is't call'd to Fores 30)? What are these, So wither'd, and so wild in their attire; That look not like the inhabitants of the earth, And yet are on't! Live you? or are you aught That man may question 31)? 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. 1. Witch. 2. Witch. 3. Witch. All- hail 32), Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis ! All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee! Thane of All - hail, Macbeth! that shalt be King hereafter. Which outwardly ye shew? My noble partner You greet with present grace, and great prediction Of noble having 34), and of royal hope, That he seems rapt 5) 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; 1. Witch. Hail! 2. Witch. Hail! 3. Witch. Hail! I. Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 30) The King at this time resided at Fores, a town in Murray, not far from Inverness. Steevens. 31) That man may question? Are ye any beings with which man is permitted to hold converse, or of whom it is lawful to ask questions? Johuson. 32) All hail is a corruption of al-hael, Sax. i. e. ave, salve. Malone. 33) By fantastical he means creatures of fantasy or imagination. The question is: Are these real beings before or are we deceived by illusions of fancy? Johnson. 34) Having is estate, possession, fortune, Steevens. 35) Rapt is rapturously affected, extra se raptus. Steevens. |