1    What bloody man is that? He can report,
2    As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
3    The newest state.

4    This is the sergeant
5    Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
6    'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
7    Say to the king the knowledge of the broil
8    As thou didst leave it.

9    Doubtful it stood;
10   As two spent swimmers, that do cling together
11   And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald--
12   Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
13   The multiplying villanies of nature
14   Do swarm upon him--from the western isles
15   Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;
16   And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
17   Show'd like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak:
18   For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--
19   Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
20   Which smoked with bloody execution,
21   Like valour's minion carved out his passage
22   Till he faced the slave;
23   Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
24   Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
25   And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

26   O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!

27   As whence the sun 'gins his reflection
28   Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,
29   So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come
30   Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark:
31   No sooner justice had with valour arm'd
32   Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
33   But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage,
34   With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men
35   Began a fresh assault.

36   Dismay'd not this
37   Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

38   Yes;
39   As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
40   If I say sooth, I must report they were
41   As cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they
42   Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
43   Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
44   Or memorise another Golgotha,
45   I cannot tell.
46   But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.

47   So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;
48   They smack of honour both. Go get him surgeons.
Exit Sergeant, attended
49   Who comes here?

50   The worthy thane of Ross.

51   What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look
52   That seems to speak things strange.

53   God save the king!

54   Whence camest thou, worthy thane?

55   From Fife, great king;
56   Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky
57   And fan our people cold. Norway himself,
58   With terrible numbers,
59   Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
60   The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;
61   Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,
62   Confronted him with self-comparisons,
63   Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm.
64   Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude,
65   The victory fell on us.

66   Great happiness!

67   That now
68   Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition:
69   Nor would we deign him burial of his men
70   Till he disbursed at Saint Colme's inch
71   Ten thousand dollars to our general use.

72   No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
73   Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,
74   And with his former title greet Macbeth.

75   I'll see it done.

76   What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.