SCENE II. A CAMP NEAR FORRES.
Alarum within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENNOX, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant
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.
SERGEANT
Doubtful it stood; As two spent swimmers, that do cling together And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwaldโ
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that The multiplying villanies of nature Do swarm upon himโfrom 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: For brave Macbethโwell he deserves that nameโ Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution, Like valour's minion carved out his passage Till he faced the slave; Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, And ๏ฌx'd his head upon our battlements.
DUNCAN
O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
SERGEANT
As whence the sun 'gins his re๏ฌection 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, 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.
If I say sooth, I must report 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 memorise 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 honour both. Go get him surgeons.
Exit Sergeant, attended
Who comes here?
Enter ROSS
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 camest thou, worthy thane?
ROSS
From Fife, great king; Where the Norweyan banners ๏ฌout 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 con๏ฌict; Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd 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 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 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.
Exeunt
