Macbeth Act 1 Scene 2

SCENE II. A camp near Forres.

Alarum within. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm,
Donalbain, Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.

DUNCAN
What bloody man is that? he can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.

MALCOLM
This is the sergeant
Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought
'Gainst my captivity. —Hail, brave friend!
Say to the King the knowledge of the broil
As thou didst leave it.

CAPTAIN
Doubtful it stood,
As two spent swimmers that do cling together
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
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,
Showed like a rebel's whore. But all's too weak;
For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name),
Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valor's minion, carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops,
And fixed his head upon our battlements.

DUNCAN
O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!

CAPTAIN
As whence the sun 'gins his reflection
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders [break'],
So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come
Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark;
No sooner justice had, with valor armed,
Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,
With furbished arms and new supplies of men,
Begin a fresh assault.

DUNCAN
Dismayed not this our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

CAPTAIN
Yes, as sparrow eagles, or the hare the lion.
If I say sooth, I must they were
As cannons overcharged with double cracks,
So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds
Or memorize another Golgotha,
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 honor both. -Go, get him surgeons.
[The Captain is led off by Attendants]

Enter Ross and Angus

Who comes here?

MALCOLM
The worthy Thane of Ross.

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
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, lapped in proof,
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 Sweno,
The Norway's 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
Our bosom interest. Go, pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.

ROSS
I'll see it done.

DUNCAN
What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.

They Exit.