Page:Macbeth (1918) Yale.djvu/111

Macbeth doubtful whether I am a brave man), when I see you unterrified.

understood relations. 'The correct understanding of related facts,' i.e., the ability to put two and two together. Macbeth means that observations of the actions of birds of ill omen, and ability to use these observations in interpretation of the facts, have led to the detection of the most secret murders.

It is fairly certain that this scene, and also the half-dozen lines assigned to Hecate in Act IV, Scene i, were not written by Shakespeare. At some revival of the play, perhaps after Shakespeare's death and certainly before the printing of the First Folio, it seems to have been thought best to expand the part of the witches. The writer employed to make the additions had a conception of witches, and of their relations with men, which differed materially from Shakespeare's. He seems to have obtained his conception from a play called The Witch, by Thomas Middleton. The two songs, designated here by their first lines, are found in full in that play.

Harpier. It is impossible to determine who this is; but see note on I. i. 8.

Macbeth conjures the witches in the name of that skill in divination which they profess; and no matter by what evil methods they have learned the answer to his question, he must have it.

treasure Of Nature's germens. Germens are seeds. The phrase seems to mean 'the whole stock of Nature's fruitfulness.' It is almost as if Macbeth had said 'all creation.'

Rebellious dead. Many editors change this to 'Rebellion's head,' but the alteration destroys the sense of the passage. Macbeth is thinking of the ghost of Banquo. He felt that the Second Apparition insured him only against the power of living man; but the Third Apparition seems to mean that he will