Act 3, Scene 3

The same. A Park or Lawn, with a gate leading to the Palace.

[Enter three Murderers.]
First Murderer
1132 But who did bid thee join with us?
Third Murderer
1133 Macbeth.
Second Murderer
1134 He needs not our mistrust; since he delivers
1135 Our offices and what we have to do
1136 To the direction just.
First Murderer
1137 Then stand with us.
1138 The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day:
1139 Now spurs the lated traveller apace,
1140 To gain the timely inn; and near approaches
1141 The subject of our watch.
Third Murderer
1142 Hark! I hear horses.
[Within.]
Banquo
1143 Give us a light there, ho!
Second Murderer
1144 Then 'tis he; the rest
1145 That are within the note of expectation
1146 Already are i' the court.
First Murderer
1147 His horses go about.
Third Murderer
1148 Almost a mile; but he does usually,
1149 So all men do, from hence to the palace gate
1150 Make it their walk.
Second Murderer
1151 A light, a light!
Third Murderer
1152 'Tis he.
First Murderer
1153 Stand to't.
[Enter Banquo, and Fleance with a torch.]
Banquo
1154 It will be rain to-night.
First Murderer
1155 Let it come down.
[Assaults Banquo.]
Banquo
1156 O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!
1157 Thou mayst revenge.—O slave!
[Dies. Fleance escapes.]
Third Murderer
1158 Who did strike out the light?
First Murderer
1159 Was't not the way?
Third Murderer
1160 There's but one down: the son is fled.
Second Murderer
1161 We have lost best half of our affair.
First Murderer
1162 Well, let's away, and say how much is done.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 1139archaic vocab
“spurs the lated traveller apace”
'Lated' means belated — overtaken by nightfall, left out in the dark. The First Murderer pictures a traveller caught on the road after dark and hurrying ('spurring' his horse) toward the safety of an inn before full night closes in. The image sets the physical and moral stakes: darkness is closing, and both the traveller and Banquo are racing against it.
TLN 1145archaic vocab
“within the note of expectation Already are i' the court”
'Within the note of expectation' means 'on the list of guests who are expected' — the rest of Banquo's party have already arrived at the palace and checked in, as it were. The Second Murderer reasons from this that the rider outside must therefore be Banquo himself, arriving last because he has sent his horses around.
TLN 1154wordplay
“It will be rain to-night. Let it come down.”
Banquo looks at the sky and remarks it will rain; the First Murderer replies 'Let it come down' — meaning the rain, but simultaneously giving the cue to attack. The phrase 'come down' is at once a weather comment and a command for the ambush to fall. The double meaning is the scene's one flash of grim wit: nature's downpour and Banquo's murder are spoken in the same breath.
TLN 1156historical topical
“Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! Thou mayst revenge.”
As Banquo is stabbed he urges his son Fleance to run, saying Fleance 'mayst revenge' — may one day avenge him. Fleance's escape is the scene's hinge: the witches have prophesied that Banquo, never king himself, will father a line of kings. His son's survival means that line survives, and Macbeth's attempt to cut off Banquo's future has failed. For Shakespeare's audience, Fleance's descendants were the Stuart dynasty of the reigning King James I.
historical Banquo and the Stuart line (the show of kings)