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 issue may be fulfilled, he knows not; he is condemned to live in the apprehension of its hourly accomplishment:— Thou shalt get Kings, though thou be none.

This is the worm that gnaws his heart; this is the "Hag that rides his dreams;" this is the fiend that binds his soul on the rack of restless extasy; and this the only fear that makes his firm nerve tremble, and urges him on to the perpetration of crimes abhorrent from his nature.

However the case may stand as to Banquo, it cannot be denied that Macbeth meditates the death of Fleance