Macbeth Act 5 Scene 2
The country near Dunsinane.
The Original
Plain Modern English
Drum and colours. Enter Menteith, Caithness, Angus, Lennox, and Soldiers.
Menteith
The English power is near, led on by Malcolm,
His uncle Siward and the good Macduff:
Revenges burn in them; for their dear causes
Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm
Excite the mortified man.
Menteith
The English army is close, led by Malcolm,
his uncle Siward, and good Macduff.
Revenge burns in all three — their grievances are so deep
they'd rouse a dying man
to bloody battle.
Angus
Near Birnam wood
Shall we well meet them; that way are they coming.
Angus
We'll meet them
near Birnam Wood — that's the road they're taking.
Caithness
Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother?
Caithness
Does anyone know if Donalbain is with his brother?
Lennox
For certain, sir, he is not: I have a file
Of all the gentry: there is Siward's son,
And many unrough youths that even now
Protest their first of manhood.
Lennox
Definitely not, sir. I have the roster
of all the gentry: Siward's son is there,
and many smooth-cheeked boys claiming
their first taste of manhood.
Menteith
What does the tyrant?
Menteith
And what's the tyrant doing?
Caithness
Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies:
Some say he's mad; others that lesser hate him
Do call it valiant fury: but, for certain,
He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause
Within the belt of rule.
Caithness
Fortifying great Dunsinane to the hilt.
Some say he's insane; others, who hate him less,
call it heroic fury. But this much is certain:
he can't buckle his diseased cause
inside the belt of control.
Angus
Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands;
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach;
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love: now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.
Angus
Now he feels
his secret murders sticking to his hands.
Now revolts break out by the minute, each one an accusation.
The men he commands move only because they're commanded —
never out of love. Now he feels his kingship
hanging loose around him, like a giant's robe
on a dwarfish thief.
Menteith
Who then shall blame
His pester'd senses to recoil and start,
When all that is within him does condemn
Itself for being there?
Menteith
So who can blame
his tormented nerves for jumping and flinching,
when everything inside him condemns itself
just for being there?
Caithness
Well, march we on,
To give obedience where 'tis truly owed:
Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal,
And with him pour we in our country's purge
Each drop of us.
Caithness
Well — march on,
and give our obedience where it's truly owed.
Let's go meet the medicine of our sick nation — Malcolm —
and to purge our country, pour in with him
every drop of our blood.
Lennox
Or so much as it needs,
To dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds.
Make we our march towards Birnam.
Lennox
Or as much of it as it takes
to water the rightful flower and drown the weeds.
To Birnam — march.
Exeunt, marching.