Page:Macbeth (1918) Yale.djvu/14

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The newest state.

Mal. 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.

Serg. Doubtful it stood;

As two spent swimmers, that do cling together

And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald—

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 damned quarrel smiling,

Show'd like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak;

For brave Macbeth,—well he deserves that name,—

Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,

Which smok'd with bloody execution,

Like valour's minion carv'd out his passage

Till he fac'd the slave;

Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,

Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chops,

And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

Dun. O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!

Serg. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection

Shipwracking storms and direful thunders break,

So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come

Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark:

No sooner justice had with valour arm'd

 10 to that: i.e., to make him a rebel

13 kerns: light infantry, spearmen

gallowglasses: armored men with axes

15 Cf. n.

19 minion: favorite

21 Which: who, i.e., Macbeth; cf. n.

22 nave: navel

chops: jaws

25 reflection; cf. n.

