Scy. The queen, my lord, is dead.[4591]
Macb. She should have died hereafter;[4592]
There would have been a time for such a word.[4592][4593]
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,[4594] 20
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools[4595]
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle![4596]
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player[4597]
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage[4597] 25
And then is heard no more: it is a tale[4597]
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Enter a Messenger.
Thou comest to use thy tongue; thy story quickly.
Mess. Gracious my lord,[4598] 30
I should report that which I say I saw,[4599]
But know not how to do it.[4600]
Macb. Well, say, sir.
Mess. As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought,[4601]
The wood began to move.
Macb. Liar and slave![4602] 35
Mess. Let me endure your wrath, if't be not so:
Within this three mile may you see it coming;[4603]
I say, a moving grove.
Macb. If thou speak'st false,
Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive,[4604]
Till famine cling thee: if thy speech be sooth,[4605] 40
I care not if thou dost for me as much.
I pull in resolution, and begin[4606]
To doubt the equivocation of the fiend
That lies like truth: 'Fear not, till Birnam wood[4601]
Do come to Dunsinane;' and now a wood 45
Comes toward Dunsinane. Arm, arm, and out![4607]
If this which he avouches does appear,[4608]
There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here.[4608][4609]
I 'gin to be a-weary of the sun,[4608][4610]
And wish the estate o' the world were now undone.[4608][4611] 50
Ring the alarum-bell! Blow, wind! come, wrack![4612]
At least we'll die with harness on our back. [Exeunt.