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 Macdonald-
	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 damnd 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 valour'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
	Shipwracking 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 valour armed,
	Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
	But the Norwegian lord, surveying vantage,
	With furbished arms and new supplies of men
	Began a fresh assault.

Duncan							Dismayed not this
	Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

Captain										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 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 honour both. Go, get him surgeons.
							 [Exit CAPTAIN with some 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 Norwegian 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 Norways' king, craves composition;
	Nor would we deign him burial of his men
	Till he disbursd 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.
