Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 4

You know your own degrees, sit down. At first And last the hearty welcome.

You know your own ranks, so sit down. From the first to the last, a warm welcome to you all.

Thanks to your Majesty.

Thank you, Your Majesty.

Ourself will mingle with society, And play the humble host. Our hostess keeps her state; but, in best time, We will require her welcome.

I myself will move among the company and act the modest host. Our hostess keeps her royal seat, but at the right moment I will ask her to give her welcome.

Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends; For my heart speaks they are welcome.

Give it for me, sir, to all our friends, because my heart says they are welcome.

See, they encounter thee with their hearts’ thanks. Both sides are even: here I’ll sit i’ th’ midst.

See, they answer you with the thanks of their hearts. There are equal numbers on both sides. I will sit here in the middle.

Be large in mirth; anon we’ll drink a measure The table round. There’s blood upon thy face.

Be generous with your good cheer; soon we will drink a round of toasts all the way around the table. There is blood on your face.

’Tis Banquo’s then.

Then it is Banquo's.

’Tis better thee without than he within. Is he dispatch’d?

It is better outside on you than inside him. Has he been killed?

My lord, his throat is cut. That I did for him.

My lord, his throat is cut. I did that for him myself.

Thou art the best o’ th’ cut-throats; Yet he’s good that did the like for Fleance: If thou didst it, thou art the nonpareil.

You are the best of the cut-throats. Yet whoever did the same for Fleance is good too. If you did that as well, you have no equal.

Most royal sir, Fleance is ’scap’d.

Most royal sir, Fleance escaped.

Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect; Whole as the marble, founded as the rock, As broad and general as the casing air: But now I am cabin’d, cribb’d, confin’d, bound in To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo’s safe?

Then my sickness comes back on me. Otherwise I would have been complete: solid as marble, firmly fixed as the rock, as free and unconfined as the air that surrounds us. But now I am shut in a cabin, penned up, locked in, tied down by insolent fears and worries. But Banquo is safely dealt with?

Ay, my good lord. Safe in a ditch he bides, With twenty trenched gashes on his head; The least a death to nature.

Yes, my good lord. He is safe in a ditch, where he stays, with twenty deep cuts in his head, the smallest of them enough to kill a man.

Thanks for that. There the grown serpent lies; the worm that’s fled Hath nature that in time will venom breed, No teeth for th’ present.—Get thee gone; tomorrow We’ll hear, ourselves, again.

Thank you for that. There lies the full-grown snake; the young one that has escaped has a nature that will breed poison in time, though it has no teeth for now. Go now; tomorrow we will hear you again in person.

My royal lord, You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold That is not often vouch’d, while ’tis a-making, ’Tis given with welcome. To feed were best at home; From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony; Meeting were bare without it.

My royal lord, you are not giving the welcome. A feast is no better than a meal that is paid for if the host does not often assure the guests, while it is being served, that it is offered gladly. For simply eating, home is best; away from home, what gives the food its flavour is courtesy; a gathering is bare without it.

Sweet remembrancer!— Now, good digestion wait on appetite, And health on both!

Kind reminder! Now may good digestion go with appetite, and health with both!

May’t please your Highness sit.

Would Your Highness please sit down.

Here had we now our country’s honour roof’d, Were the grac’d person of our Banquo present; Who may I rather challenge for unkindness Than pity for mischance!

We would have all the nobility of the country under one roof here, if our honoured Banquo were present. I would rather blame him for rudeness than pity him for some accident.

His absence, sir, Lays blame upon his promise. Please’t your Highness To grace us with your royal company?

His absence, sir, breaks the promise he made. Would Your Highness honour us with your royal company at the table?

The table’s full.

The table is full.

Here is a place reserv’d, sir.

Here is a place kept for you, sir.

Where?

Where?

Here, my good lord. What is’t that moves your Highness?

Here, my good lord. What is it that upsets Your Highness?

Which of you have done this?

Which of you has done this?

What, my good lord?

Done what, my good lord?

Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake Thy gory locks at me.

You cannot say I did it. Never shake your blood-matted hair at me.

Gentlemen, rise; his Highness is not well.

Gentlemen, get up; His Highness is not well.

Sit, worthy friends. My lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat; The fit is momentary; upon a thought He will again be well. If much you note him, You shall offend him, and extend his passion. Feed, and regard him not.—Are you a man?

Sit down, worthy friends. My lord is often like this, and has been since he was young. Please, keep your seats. The attack lasts only a moment; in a moment's thought he will be well again. If you take much notice of him, you will offend him and make his fit last longer. Eat, and pay no attention to him. Are you a man?

Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that Which might appal the devil.

Yes, and a bold one, who dares to look at something that might terrify the devil.

O proper stuff! This is the very painting of your fear: This is the air-drawn dagger which you said, Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws, and starts (Impostors to true fear), would well become A woman’s story at a winter’s fire, Authoris’d by her grandam. Shame itself! Why do you make such faces? When all’s done, You look but on a stool.

Oh, what nonsense! This is nothing but a picture painted by your fear. This is the dagger drawn in the air that you said led you to Duncan. Oh, these outbursts and flinchings, fakes compared with real fear, would suit a woman's tale told at a winter fire and vouched for by her grandmother. Shame on you! Why do you make such faces? When it all comes down to it, you are only looking at a stool.

Pr’ythee, see there! Behold! look! lo! how say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.— If charnel houses and our graves must send Those that we bury back, our monuments Shall be the maws of kites.

Please, look over there! Look at it! Look! See! What do you say now? Why, what do I care? If you can nod, then speak as well. If burial vaults and our graves must send back those we bury, then our tombs will have to be the stomachs of birds of prey.

What, quite unmann’d in folly?

What, completely unmanned by foolishness?

If I stand here, I saw him.

As surely as I am standing here, I saw him.

Fie, for shame!

Stop it, shame on you!

Blood hath been shed ere now, i’ th’ olden time, Ere humane statute purg’d the gentle weal; Ay, and since too, murders have been perform’d Too terrible for the ear: the time has been, That, when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end; but now they rise again, With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, And push us from our stools. This is more strange Than such a murder is.

Blood has been shed before now, in the old days, before law made the community civilized and gentle. Yes, and since then too, murders have been committed too terrible to hear about. There was a time when, once a man's brains were out, he would die, and that was the end of it. But now they rise again with twenty deadly wounds on their heads and push us from our seats. This is stranger than the murder itself.

My worthy lord, Your noble friends do lack you.

My worthy lord, your noble friends are missing you.

I do forget.— Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends. I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing To those that know me. Come, love and health to all; Then I’ll sit down.—Give me some wine, fill full.— I drink to the general joy o’ th’ whole table, And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss: Would he were here.

I forget myself. Do not be puzzled at me, my most worthy friends. I have a strange illness, which is nothing to those who know me. Come, love and health to you all. Then I will sit down. Give me some wine, fill the cup full. I drink to the happiness of the whole table, and to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss. I wish he were here.

To all, and him, we thirst, And all to all.

We drink to everyone, and to him, and everyone drinks to everyone.

Our duties, and the pledge.

We offer our loyalty and drink the toast.

Avaunt! and quit my sight! let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; Thou hast no speculation in those eyes Which thou dost glare with!

Get away! Get out of my sight! Let the earth hide you! Your bones have no marrow, your blood is cold; there is no power of sight in those eyes you are glaring with!

Think of this, good peers, But as a thing of custom: ’tis no other, Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.

Think of this, good lords, as just something that happens regularly. It is nothing else; it only spoils the pleasure of the occasion.

What man dare, I dare: Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, The arm’d rhinoceros, or th’ Hyrcan tiger; Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble: or be alive again, And dare me to the desert with thy sword; If trembling I inhabit then, protest me The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mock’ry, hence!

Whatever any man dares, I dare. Come at me like the shaggy Russian bear, the armoured rhinoceros, or the tiger of Hyrcania; take any shape but that one, and my steady nerves will never shake. Or come alive again and challenge me to fight with your sword in some empty place; if I am trembling then, declare me a helpless newborn. Get away, horrible phantom! Unreal illusion, get away!

Why, so;—being gone, I am a man again.—Pray you, sit still.

There now; with it gone, I am a man again. Please, stay in your seats.

You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting With most admir’d disorder.

You have driven away the cheerfulness and broken up this fine gathering with the most astonishing disturbance.

Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer’s cloud, Without our special wonder? You make me strange Even to the disposition that I owe, When now I think you can behold such sights, And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, When mine are blanch’d with fear.

Can such things happen and pass over us like a summer cloud without our being especially amazed? You make me a stranger to my own nature, when I realize that you can look at such sights and keep the natural redness of your cheeks, while mine are white with fear.

What sights, my lord?

What sights, my lord?

I pray you, speak not; he grows worse and worse; Question enrages him. At once, good night:— Stand not upon the order of your going, But go at once.

Please, do not speak; he grows worse and worse. Questions enrage him. Good night to you all at once. Do not bother about leaving in order of rank, but go immediately.

Good night; and better health Attend his Majesty!

Good night, and may better health come to His Majesty!

A kind good night to all!

A kind good night to you all!

It will have blood, they say, blood will have blood. Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak; Augurs, and understood relations, have By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth The secret’st man of blood.—What is the night?

It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood. Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak. Prophets, and people who understood the signs, have by means of magpies, jackdaws and rooks exposed the most secret murderer. What time of night is it?

Almost at odds with morning, which is which.

Night is almost struggling with morning over which is which.

How say’st thou, that Macduff denies his person At our great bidding?

What do you say to the fact that Macduff refuses to come when we summon him?

Did you send to him, sir?

Did you send for him, sir?

I hear it by the way; but I will send. There’s not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant fee’d. I will tomorrow (And betimes I will) to the Weird Sisters: More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know, By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good, All causes shall give way: I am in blood Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er. Strange things I have in head, that will to hand, Which must be acted ere they may be scann’d.

I hear it indirectly, but I will send. There is not one of them in whose house I do not keep a paid servant. Tomorrow, and early, I will go to the Weird Sisters. They must tell me more, because now I am determined to know the worst, by the worst means. Everything must give way to my own good. I am so far waded into blood that, if I stopped now, going back would be as wearisome as going on through. I have strange things in my head that will come to my hands, things that must be done before they are examined.

You lack the season of all natures, sleep.

You lack sleep, the preservative of all living creatures.

Come, we’ll to sleep. My strange and self-abuse Is the initiate fear that wants hard use. We are yet but young in deed.

Come, we will go to sleep. My strange delusion is the fear of a beginner, who needs hard practice. We are still only beginners in action.