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The Works of Christopher Marlowe

Tamburlaine Part 2

Act: 5 Scene: 1<<- -

Enter the Governour of Babylon upon the walles with [Maximus and] others.

Governour

What saith Maximus?

Maximus

My Lord, the breach the enimie hath made

Gives such assurance of our overthrow,

That litle hope is left to save our lives,

Or hold our citie from the Conquerours hands.

Then hang out flagges (my Lord) of humble truce,

And satisfie the peoples generall praiers,

That Tamburlains intollorable wrath

May be suppresst by our submission.

Governour

Villaine, respects thou more thy slavish life,

Than honor of thy countrie or thy name?

Is not my life and state as deere to me,

The citie and my native countries weale,

As any thing of price with thy conceit?

Have we not hope, for all our battered walles,

To live secure, and keep his forces out,

When this our famous lake of Limnasphaltis

Makes walles a fresh with every thing that falles

Into the liquid substance of his streame,

More strong than are the gates of death or hel?

What faintnesse should dismay our courages,

When we are thus defenc'd against our Foe,

And have no terrour but his threatning lookes?

Enter another [1. Citizen], kneeling to the Governour.

1. Citizen

My Lord, if ever you did deed of rush,

And now will work a refuge to our lives,

Ofter submission, hang up flags of truce,

That Tamburlaine may pitie our distresse,

And use us like a loving Conquerour.

Though this be held his last daies dreadfull siege,

Wherein he spareth neither man nor child,

Yet are there Christians of Georgia here,

Whose state he ever pitied and reliev'd,

Wil get his pardon if your grace would send.

Governour

How is my soule environed,

And this eternisde citie Babylon,

Fill'd with a packe of faintheart Fugitives,

That thus intreat their shame and servitude?

Enter 2. Citizen.]

2. Citizen

My Lord, if ever you wil win our hearts,

Yeeld up the towne, save our wives and children:

For I wil cast my selfe from off these walles,

Or die some death of quickest violence,

Before I bide the wrath of Tamburlaine.

Governour

Villaines, cowards, Traitors to our state.

Fall to the earth, and pierce the pit of Hel,

That legions of tormenting spirits may vex

Your slavish bosomes with continuall paines,

I care not, nor the towne will never yeeld

As long as any life is in my breast.

Enter Theridamas and Techelles, with other souldiers.

Theridamas

Thou desperate Governour of Babylon,

To save thy life, and us a litle labour,

Yeeld speedily the citie to our hands,

Or els be sure thou shalt be forc'd with paines,

More exquisite than ever Traitor felt.

Governour

Tyrant I turne the traitor in thy throat,

And wil defend it in despight of thee.

Call up the soldiers to defend these wals.

Techelles

Yeeld foolish Governour, we offer more

Than ever yet we did to such proud slaves,

As durst resist us till our third daies siege:

Thou seest us prest to give the last assault,

And that shal bide no more regard of parlie.

Governour

Assault and spare not, we wil never yeeld.

Alarme, and they scale the walles.

Enter Tamburlaine, [drawn in his chariot by the kings of Trebizon and Soria ,] with Usumcasane, Amyras, and Celebinus, with others, the two spare kings [Orcanes, King of Natolia, and King of Jerusalem, led by souldiers].

Tamburlaine

The stately buildings of faire Babylon,

Whose lofty Pillers, higher than the cloudes,

Were woont to guide the seaman in the deepe,

Being carried thither by the cannons force,

Now fil the mouth of Limnasphaltes lake,

And make a bridge unto the battered walles.

Where Belus, Ninus and great Alexander

Have rode in triumph, triumphs Tamburlaine,

Whose chariot wheeles have burst th'Assirians bones,

Drawen with these kings on heaps of carkasses.

Now in the place where faire Semiramis,

Courted by kings and peeres of Asia,

Hath trode the Meisures, do my souldiers martch,

And in the streets, where brave Assirian Dames

Have rid in pompe like rich Saturnia,

With furious words and frowning visages,

My horsemen brandish their unruly blades.

Enter [below] Theridamas and Techelles bringing the Governour of Babylon.

Who have ye there my Lordes?

Theridamas

The sturdy Governour of Babylon,

That made us all the labour for the towne,

And usde such slender reckning of your majesty.

Tamburlaine

Go bind the villaine, he shall hang in chaines,

Upon the ruines of this conquered towne.

Sirha, the view of our vermillion tents,

Which threatned more than if the region

Next underneath the Element of fire,

Were full of commtes and of blazing stars,

Whose flaming traines should reach down to the earth

Could not affright you , no, nor I my selfe,

The wrathfull messenger of mighty Jove,

That with his sword hath quail'd all earthly kings,

Could not perswade you to submission,

But stil the ports were shut: villaine I say,

Should I but touch the rusty gates of hell,

The triple headed Cerebus would howle,

And wake blacke Jove to crouch and kneele to me,

But I have sent volleies of shot to you,

Yet could not enter till the breach was made.

Governour

Nor if my body could have stopt the breach,

Shouldst thou have entred, cruel Tamburlaine:

Tis not thy bloody tents can make me yeeld,

Nor yet thy self, the anger of the highest,

For though thy cannon shook the citie walles,

My heart did never quake, or corrage faint.

Tamburlaine

Wel, now Ile make it quake, go draw him up,

Hang him up in chaines upon the citie walles,

And let my souldiers shoot the slave to death.

Governour

Vile monster, born of some infernal hag,

And sent from hell to tyrannise on earth,

Do all thy wurst, nor death, nor Tamburlaine,

Torture or paine can daunt my dreadlesse minde.

Tamburlaine

Up with him then, his body shalbe scard.

Governour

But Tamburlaine in Lymnasphaltis lake,

There lies more gold than Babylon is worth,

Which when the citie was besieg'd I hid,

Save but my life and I wil give it thee.

Tamburlaine

Then for all your valour, you would save your life.

Where about lies it?

Governour

Under a hollow bank, right opposite

Against the Westerne gate of Babylon.

Tamburlaine

Go thither some of you and take his gold,

The rest forward with execution,

Away with him hence, let him speake no more:

I think I make your courage something quaile.

[Exeunt souldiers several ways, some with Governour.]

When this is done, we'll martch from Babylon,

And make our greatest haste to Persea:

These Jades are broken winded, and halfe tyr'd,

Unharnesse them, and let me have fresh horse:

So, now their best is done to honour me,

Take them, and hang them both up presently.

Trebizon

Vild Tyrant, barbarous bloody Tamburlain.

Tamburlaine

Take them away Theridamas, see them dispatcht.

Theridamas

I will my Lord.

[Exit with the Kings of Trebizon and Soria ]

Tamburlaine

Come Asian Viceroies, to your taskes a while

And take such fortune as your fellowes felt.

Orcanes

First let thy Scythyan horse teare both our limmes

Rather then we should draw thy chariot,

And like base slaves abject our princely mindes

To vile and ignominious servitude.

Jerusalem

Rather lend me thy weapon Tamburlain,

That I may sheath it in this breast of mine,

A thousand deathes could not torment our hearts

More than the thought of this dooth vexe our soules.

Amyras

They will talk still my Lord, if you doe not bridle them.

Tamburlaine

Bridle them, and let me to my coach.

They bridle them.

[Souldiers hang the Governour of Babylon in chaines on the walles. Enter Theridamas below.]

Amyras

See now my Lord how brave the Captaine hangs.

Tamburlaine

Tis brave indeed my boy, wel done,

Shoot first my Lord, and then the rest shall follow.

Theridamas

Then have at him to begin withall.

Theridamas shootes.

Governour

Yet save my life, and let this wound appease

The mortall furie of great Tamburlain.

Tamburlaine

No, though Asphaltis lake were liquid gold,

And offer'd me as ransome for thy life,

Yet shouldst thou die, shoot at him all at once. They shoote.

So now he hangs like Bagdets Governour,

Having as many bullets in his flesh,

As there be breaches in her battered wall.

Goe now and bind the Burghers hand and foot,

And cast them headlong in the cities lake:

Tartars and Perseans shall inhabit there,

And to command the citie, I will build

A Cytadell, that all Assiria

Which hath bene subject to the Persean king,

Shall pay me tribute for, in Babylon.

Techelles

What shal be done with their wives and children my Lord.

Tamburlaine.

Techelles, Drowne them all, man, woman, and child,

Leave not a Babylonian in the towne.

Techelles

I will about it straight, come Souldiers.

Exit.

Tamburlaine

Now Casane, wher's the Turkish Alcaron,

And all the heapes of supersticious bookes,

Found in the Temples of that Mahomet ,

Whom I have thought a God? they shal be burnt.

Usumcasane

Here they are my Lord.

Tamburlaine

Wel said, let there be a fire presently.

In vaine I see men worship Mahomet,

My sword hath sent millions of Turks to hell,

Slew all his Priests, his kinsmen, and his friends,

And yet I live untoucht by Mahomet:

There is a God full of revenging wrath,

From whom the thunder and the lightning breaks,

Whose Scourge I am, and him will I obey.

So Casane, fling them in the fire.

Now Mahomet, if thou have any power,

Come downe thy selfe and worke a myracle,

Thou art not woorthy to be worshipped,

That suffers flames of fire to burne the writ

Wherein the sum of thy religion rests.

Why send'st thou not a furious whyrlwind downe,

To blow thy Alcaron up to thy throne,

Where men report, thou sitt'st by God himselfe,

Or vengeance on the head of Tamburlain,

That shakes his sword against thy majesty,

And spurns the Abstracts of thy foolish lawes.

Wel souldiers, Mahomet remaines in hell,

He cannot heare the voice of Tamburlain,

Seeke out another Godhead to adore,

The God that sits in heaven, if any God,

For he is God alone, and none but he.

[Enter Techelles.]

Techelles

I have fulfil'd your highnes wil, my Lord,

Thousands of men drown'd in Asphaltis Lake,

Have made the water swell above the bankes,

And fishes fed by humaine carkasses,

Amasde, swim up and downe upon the waves,

As when they swallow Assafatida,

Which makes them fleet aloft and gaspe for aire.

Tamburlaine

Wel then my friendly Lordes, what now remaines

But that we leave sufficient garrison

And presently depart to Persea,

To triumph after all our victories.

Theridamas

I, good my Lord, let us in hast to Persea,

And let this Captaine be remoov'd the walles,

To some high hill about the citie here.

Tamburlaine

Let it be so, about it souldiers:

But stay, I feele my selfe distempered sudainly.

Techelles

What is it dares distemper Tamburlain?

Tamburlaine

Something Techelles, but I know not what,

But foorth ye vassals, what so ere it be,

Sicknes or death can never conquer me.

Exeunt.

Act: 5 Scene: 2<<- -

Enter Callapine, Amasia, [Captaine, Souldiers,] with drums and trumpets.

Callapine

King of Amasia, now our mighty hoste,

Marcheth in Asia major, where the streames,

Of Euphrates and Tigris swiftly runs,

And here may we behold great Babylon ,

Circled about with Limnasphaltis Lake,

Where Tamburlaine with all his armie lies,

Which being faint and weary with the siege,

Wee may lie ready to encounter him,

Before his hoste be full from Babylon,

And so revenge our latest grievous losse,

If God or Mahomet send any aide.

Amasia

Doubt not my lord, but we shal conquer him.

The Monster that Hath drunke a sea of blood,

And yet gapes stil for more to quench his thirst,

Our Turkish swords shal headlong send to hell,

And that vile Carkasse drawne by warlike kings,

The Foules shall eate, for never sepulchre

Shall grace that base-borne Tyrant Tamburlaine.

Callapine

When I record my Parents slavish life,

Their cruel death, mine owne captivity,

My Viceroies bondage under Tamburlaine,

Me thinks I could sustaine a thousand deaths,

To be reveng'd of all his Villanie.

Ah sacred Mahomet, thou that hast seene

Millions of Turkes perish by Tamburlaine,

Kingdomes made waste, brave cities sacks and burnt,

And but one hoste is left to honor thee:

Aid thy obedient servant Callapine ,

And make him after all these overthrowes,

To triumph over cursed Tamburlaine.

Amasia

Feare not my Lord, I see great Mahomet

Clothed in purple clowdes, and on his head

A Chaplet brighter than Apollos crowne,

Marching about the ayer with armed men,

To joine with you against this Tamburlaine.

Renowmed Generall mighty Callapine,

Though God himselfe and holy Mahomet,

Should come in person to resist your power,

Yet might your mighty hoste incounter all,

And pull proud Tamburlaine upon his knees,

To sue for mercie at your highnesse feete.

Callapine

Captaine, the force of Tamburlaine is great,

His fortune greater, and the victories

Wherewith he hath so sore dismaide the world,

Are greatest to discourage all our drifts,

Yet when the pride of Cynthia is at full,

She waines againe, and so shall his I hope,

For we have here the chiefe selected men

Of twenty severall kingdomes at the least:

Nor plowman, Priest, nor Merchant staies at home,

All Turkie is in armes with Callapine.

And never wil we sunder camps and armes,

Before himselfe or his be conquered.

This is the time that must eternize me,

For conquering the Tyrant of the world.

Come Souldiers, let us lie in wait for him

And if we find him absent from his campe,

Or that it be rejoin'd again at full,

Assaile it and be sure of victorie.

Exeunt.

Act: 5 Scene: 3<<-- -

[Enter] Theridamas, Techelles, Usumcasane.

Theridamas

Weepe heavens, and vanish into liquid teares,

Fal starres that governe his nativity,

And sommon al the shining lamps of heaven

To cast their bootlesse fires to the earth,

And shed their feble influence in the aire.

Muffle your beauties with eternall clowdes,

For hell and darknesse pitch their pitchy tentes,

And Death with armies of Cymerian spirits

Gives battile gainst the heart of Tamburlaine.

Now in defiance of that woonted love,

Your sacred vertues pour'd upon his throne,

And made his state an honor to the heavens,

These cowards invisiblie assaile his soule,

And threaten conquest on our Soveraigne:

But if he die, your glories are disgrac'd,

Earth droopes and saies, that hell in heaven is plac'd.

Techelles

O then ye Powers that sway eternal seates,

And guide this messy substance of the earthe,

If you retaine desert of holinesse,

As your supreame estates instruct our thoughtes,

Be not inconstant, carelesse of your fame,

Beare not the burthen of your enemies joyes,

Triumphing in his fall whom you advaunst,

But as his birth, life, health and majesty

Were strangely blest and governed by heaven,

So honour heaven til heaven dissolved be,

His byrth, his life, his health and majesty.

Usumcasane

Blush heaven to loose the honor of thy name,

To see thy foot-stoole set upon thy head,

And let no basenesse in thy haughty breast,

Sustaine a shame of such inexcellence:

To see the devils mount in Angels throanes,

And Angels dive into the pooles of hell.

And though they think their painfull date is out,

And that their power is puissant as Joves,

Which makes them manage armes against thy state,

Yet make them feele the strength of Tamburlain,

Thy instrument and note of Majesty,

Is greater far, than they can thus subdue.

For if he die, thy glorie is disgrac'd,

Earth droopes and saies that hel in heaven is plac'd.

[Enter Tamburlaine, drawn by the captive kings; Amyras, Celebinus, Physitians.]

Tamburlaine

What daring God torments my body thus,

And seeks to conquer mighty Tamburlaine,

Shall sicknesse proove me now to be a man,

That have bene tearm'd the terrour of the world?

Techelles and the rest, come take your swords,

And threaten him whose hand afflicts my soul,

Come let us march against the powers of heaven,

And set blacke streamers in the firmament,

To signifie the slaughter of the Gods.

Ah friends, what shal I doe, I cannot stand,

Come carie me to war against the Gods,

That thus invie the health of Tamburlaine.

Theridamas

Ah good my Lord, leave these impatient words,

Which ad much danger to your malladie.

Tamburlaine

Why, shal I sit and languish in this paine?

No, strike the drums, and in revenge of this,

Come let us chardge our speares and pierce his breast,

Whose shoulders beare the Axis of the world,

That if I perish, heaven and earth may fade.

Theridamas, haste to the court of Jove,

Will him to send Apollo hether straight,

To cure me, or Ile fetch him downe my selfe.

Techelles

Sit stil my gratious Lord, this griefe wil cease ,

And cannot last, it is so violent.

Tamburlaine

Not last Techelles, no, for I shall die.

See where my slave, the uglie monster death

Shaking and quivering, pale and wan for feare,

Stands aiming at me with his murthering dart,

Who flies away at every glance I give,

And when I look away, comes stealing on:

Villaine away, and hie thee to the field,

I and myne armie come to lode thy barke

With soules of thousand mangled carkasses.

Looke where he goes, but see, he comes againe

Because I stay: Techelles let us march,

And weary Death with bearing soules to hell.

Phisitian

Pleaseth your Majesty to drink this potion,

Which wil abate the furie of your fit,

And cause some milder spirits governe you.

Tamburlaine

Tel me, what think you of my sicknes now?

Phisitian

I view'd your urine, and the Hipostasis

Thick and obscure doth make your danger great,

Your vaines are full of accidentall heat,

Whereby the moisture of your blood is dried,

The Humidum and Calor, which some holde

Is not a parcell of the Elements,

But of a substance more divine and pure,

Is almost cleane extinguished and spent,

Which being the cause of life, imports your death.

Besides my Lord, this day is Criticall,

Dangerous to those, whose chrisis is as yours:

Your Artiers which alongst the vaines convey

The lively spirits which the heart ingenders

Are partcht and void of spirit, that the soule

Wanting those Organnons by which it mooves,

Can not indure by argument of art.

Yet if your majesty may escape this day,

No doubt, but you shal soone recover all.

Tamburlaine

Then will I comfort all my vital parts,

And live in spight of death above a day.

Alarme within.

[Enter a Messenger.]

Messenger

My Lord, yong Callapine that lately fled from your majesty, hath nowe gathered a fresh Armie, and hearing your absence in the field, offers to set upon us presently.

Tamburlaine

See my Phisitions now, how Jove hath sent

A present medicine to recure my paine:

My looks shall make them flie, and might I follow,

There should not one of all the villaines power

Live to give offer of another fight.

Usumcasane

I joy my Lord, your highnesse is so strong,

That can endure so well your royall presence,

Which onely will dismay the enemy.

Tamburlaine

I know it wil Casane: draw you slaves,

In spight of death I will goe show my face.

Alarme, Tamburlaine goes in, and comes out againe with al the rest.

Thus are the villaines, cowards fled for feare,

Like Summers vapours, vanisht by the Sun.

And could I but a while pursue the field,

That Callapine should be my slave againe.

But I perceive my martial strength is spent,

In vaine I strive and raile against those powers,

That meane t'invest me in a higher throane,

As much too high for this disdainfull earth.

Give me a Map, then let me see how much

Is left for me to conquer all the world,

That these my boies may finish all my wantes.

One brings a Map.

Here I began to martch towards Persea,

Along Armenia and the Caspian sea,

And thence unto Bythinia, where I tooke

The Turke and his great Empresse prisoners,

Then martcht I into Egypt and Aralia,

And here not far from Alexandria,

Whereas the Terren and the red sea meet,

Being distant lesse than ful a hundred leagues,

I meant to cut a channell to them both,

That men might quickly saile to India.

From thence to Nubia neere Borno Lake,

And so along the Ethiopian sea,

Cutting the Tropicke line of Capricorne,

I conquered all as far as Zansibar .

Then by the Northerne part of Affrica ,

I came at last to Graecia, and from thence

To Asia, where I stay against my will,

Which is from Scythia, where I first began,

Backeward and forwards nere five thousand leagues.

Looke here my boies, see what a world of ground,

Lies westward from the midst of Cancers line,

Unto the rising of this earthly globe,

Whereas the Sun declining from our sight,

Begins the day with our Antypodes:

And shall I die, and this unconquered?

Loe here my sonnes, are all the golden Mines,

Inestimable drugs and precious stones,

More worth than Asia, and the world beside,

And from th'Antartique Pole, Eastward behold

As much more land, which never was descried,

Wherein are rockes of Pearle, that shine as bright

As all the Lamps that beautifie the Sky,

And shal I die, and this unconquered?

Here lovely boies, what death forbids my life,

That let your lives commaund in spight of death.

Amyras

Alas my Lord, how should our bleeding harts

Wounded and broken with your Highnesse griefe,

Retaine a thought of joy, or sparke of life?

Your soul gives essence to our wretched subjects ,

Whose matter is incorporat in your flesh.

Celebinus

Your paines do pierce our soules, no hope survives,

For by your life we entertaine our lives.

Tamburlaine

But sons, this subject not of force enough,

To hold the fiery spirit it containes,

Must part, imparting his impressions,

By equall portions into both your breasts:

My flesh devided in your precious shapes,

Shal still retaine my spirit, though I die,

And live in all your seedes immortally:

Then now remoove me, that I may resigne

My place and proper tytle to my sonne:

First take my Scourge and my imperiall Crowne, [To Amyras.]

And mount my royall chariot of estate,

That I may see thee crown'd before I die.

Help me (my Lords) to make my last remoove.

Theridamas

A woful change my Lord, that daunts our thoughts,

More than the wine of our proper soules.

Tamburlaine

Sit up my sonne, let me see how well

Thou wilt become thy fathers majestie.

They crowne him.

Amyras

With what a flinty bosome should I joy,

The breath of life, and burthen of my soule,

If not resolv'd into resolved paines,

My bodies mortified lineaments

Should exercise the motions of my heart,

Pierc'd with the joy of any dignity?

O father, if the unrelenting eares

Of death and hell be shut against my praiers,

And that the spightfull influence of heaven,

Denie my soule fruition of her joy,

How should I step or stir my hatefull feete,

Against the inward powers of my heart,

Leading a life that onely strives to die,

And plead in vaine, unpleasing soverainty.

Tamburlaine

Let not thy love exceed thyne honor sonne,

Nor bar thy mind that magnanimitie,

That nobly must admit necessity:

Sit up my boy, and with those silken raines,

Bridle the steeled stomackes of those Jades.

Theridamas

My Lord, you must obey his majesty,

Since Fate commands, and proud necessity.

Amyras

Heavens witnes me, with what a broken hart

And damned spirit I ascend this seat,

And send my soule before my father die,

His anguish and his burning agony.

Tamburlaine

Now fetch the hearse of faire Zenocrate,

Let it be plac'd by this my fatall chaire,

And serve as parcell of my funerall.

Usumcasane

Then feeles your majesy no sovereraigne ease,

Nor may our hearts all drown'd in teares of blood,

Joy any hope of your recovery?

Tamburlaine

Casane no, the Monarke of the earth,

And eielesse Monster that torments my soule,

Cannot behold the teares ye shed for me,

And therefore stil augments his cruelty.

Techelles

Then let some God oppose his holy power,

Against the wrath and tyranny of death,

That his teare-thyrsty and unquenched hate,

May be upon himselfe reverberate.

They bring in the hearse.

Tamburlaine

Now eies, injoy your latest benefite,

And when my soule hath vertue of your sight,

Pierce through the coffin and the sheet of gold,

And glut your longings with a heaven of joy.

So, raigne my sonne, scourge and controlle those slaves,

Guiding thy chariot with thy Fathers hand.

As precious is the charge thou undertak'st

As that which Clymens brainsicke sonne did guide,

When wandring Phœbes Ivory cheeks were scortcht

And all the earth like Aetna breathing fire:

Be warn'd by him then, learne with awfull eie

To sway a throane as dangerous as his:

For if thy body thrive not full of thoughtes

As pure and fiery as Phyteus beames,

The nature of these proud rebelling Jades

Wil take occasion by the slenderest haire,

And draw thee peecemeale like Hyppolitus,

Through rocks more steepe and sharp than Caspian cliftes.

The nature of thy chariot wil not beare

A guide of baser temper than my selfe,

More then heavens coach, the pride of Phaeton.

Farewel my boies, my dearest friends, farewel,

My body feeles, my soule dooth weepe to see

Your sweet desires depriv'd my company,

For Tamburlaine, the Scourge of God must die.

[Dies.]

Amyras

Meet heaven and earth, and here let al things end,

For earth hath spent the pride of all her fruit,

And heaven consum'd his choicest living fire.

Let earth and heaven his timelesse death deplore,

For both their woorths wil equall him no more.

Nav.