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112 Macbeth [Act V 

But certain issue strokes must arbitrate : 20 

Towards which advance the war. [Exeunt marching. 



The Second 

Discouragement 

Scene. 

Scene V. Dunsinanc. Within the castle 

Enter Macbeth, Seyton, and Soldiers, with drum 
and colours 

Macbeth. Hang out our banners on the outward 
walls ; 
The cry is still They come :' our castle's strength 
Will laugh a siege to scorn : here let them lie 
Till famine and the ague eat them up : 
Were they not forc'd with those that should be ours, 
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard, 
And beat them backward home. 

[A cry of women within. 
What is that noise? 
Seyton. It is the cry of women, my good lord. 

[Exit. 

Macbeth. I have almost forgot the taste of fears : 
The time has been, my senses would have cool'd 10 
To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair 
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir 
As life were in't : I have supp'd full with horrors ; 

10. What specific reference to this play?