Act 3, Scene 6

Forres. A Room in the Palace.

[Enter Lennox and another Lord.]
Lennox
1365 My former speeches have but hit your thoughts,
1366 Which can interpret further: only, I say,
1367 Thing's have been strangely borne. The gracious Duncan
1368 Was pitied of Macbeth:—marry, he was dead:—
1369 And the right valiant Banquo walk'd too late;
1370 Whom, you may say, if't please you, Fleance kill'd,
1371 For Fleance fled. Men must not walk too late.
1372 Who cannot want the thought, how monstrous
1373 It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain
1374 To kill their gracious father? damned fact!
1375 How it did grieve Macbeth! did he not straight,
1376 In pious rage, the two delinquents tear
1377 That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep?
1378 Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too;
1379 For 'twould have anger'd any heart alive,
1380 To hear the men deny't. So that, I say,
1381 He has borne all things well: and I do think,
1382 That had he Duncan's sons under his key,—
1383 As, an't please heaven, he shall not,—they should find
1384 What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance.
1385 But, peace!—for from broad words, and 'cause he fail'd
1386 His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear,
1387 Macduff lives in disgrace. Sir, can you tell
1388 Where he bestows himself?
Lord
1389 The son of Duncan,
1390 From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth,
1391 Lives in the English court and is receiv'd
1392 Of the most pious Edward with such grace
1393 That the malevolence of fortune nothing
1394 Takes from his high respect: thither Macduff
1395 Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid
1396 To wake Northumberland, and warlike Siward:
1397 That, by the help of these,—with Him above
1398 To ratify the work,—we may again
1399 Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights;
1400 Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives;
1401 Do faithful homage, and receive free honours,—
1402 All which we pine for now: and this report
1403 Hath so exasperate the king that he
1404 Prepares for some attempt of war.
Lennox
1405 Sent he to Macduff?
Lord
1406 He did: and with an absolute "Sir, not I,"
1407 The cloudy messenger turns me his back,
1408 And hums, as who should say, "You'll rue the time
1409 That clogs me with this answer."
Lennox
1410 And that well might
1411 Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance
1412 His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel
1413 Fly to the court of England, and unfold
1414 His message ere he come; that a swift blessing
1415 May soon return to this our suffering country
1416 Under a hand accurs'd!
Lord
1417 I'll send my prayers with him.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 1367rhetorical device
“Things have been strangely borne”
Lennox's entire opening speech is sustained dramatic irony: he recites the official story — Macbeth pitied the dead Duncan, the grooms must have killed Banquo, how nobly Macbeth avenged both crimes — while using a tone of exaggerated credulity that signals he believes none of it. 'Strangely borne' means 'managed or conducted in a suspicious way.' The speech is one of Shakespeare's most concentrated exercises in a character saying exactly the opposite of what he means, trusting his companion to read the irony.
TLN 1368archaic vocab
“marry, he was dead”
'Marry' is a mild oath, a shortened form of 'by Mary' — an invocation of the Virgin Mary used as an exclamation or emphatic filler. By Shakespeare's time it had been reduced to a colloquial interjection roughly equivalent to 'indeed' or 'well, of course.' Here Lennox uses it for biting comic effect: 'Macbeth pitied Duncan — marry, he was dead' means 'he pitied him, sure enough — seeing as how he was, of course, already dead (having been murdered).'
TLN 1385archaic vocab
“from broad words, and 'cause he fail'd / His presence at the tyrant's feast”
'Broad words' means plain, unguarded, openly critical speech — the kind of blunt talk that leaves no room for a charitable interpretation. Lennox reports that Macduff has fallen from favor because he spoke too frankly (about Macbeth) and then refused to appear at the king's banquet. Notably, Lennox now calls Macbeth 'the tyrant' without any irony — the first time in the scene he drops the pretense and names him directly.
TLN 1390historical topical
“the due of birth”
'The due of birth' means the right or entitlement that comes from being born in a particular position — here, Malcolm's hereditary claim to the Scottish throne as Duncan's elder son. Macbeth 'holds' it from him by force. The Lord describes Malcolm at the English court of Edward the Confessor ('the most pious Edward'), where Macduff has gone to beg the king's help in raising an army under the English general Siward to restore Malcolm to Scotland.
historical Holinshed's Chronicleshistorical Touching for the King's Evil
TLN 1406archaic vocab
“absolute "Sir, not I," / The cloudy messenger turns me his back”
'Absolute' here means flat, unconditional, admitting no qualification — Macduff gave Macbeth's messenger a flat refusal with no diplomatic softening. 'Cloudy' means dark-faced, sullen, or threatening — the messenger scowls as he turns away. The image captures a political atmosphere in which even Macbeth's own envoys sense that the game is changing: the messenger mutters that Macduff will regret putting him in this awkward position, and his sulking exit signals that Macduff's refusal has been noted with menace.