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thy madness shall be paid by weight, / Till our scale turn the beam: i.e., your madness shall be paid for (revenged) to such an extent that our revenge shall outweigh the wrong done to you. —The picture below, showing the most common kind of scales of Shakespeare's time, which can help us to understand Laertes' metaphor. Scales are called "scales" because each instrument has two scales; a weight is put in one scale (which is a small pan), and the material to be weighed in the other. Both scales hang from the beam, the horizontal crossbar. When one side outweighs the other, beam turns and slants down to the heavier side.
Scales Source: E & C del Pozzo SCALES
