The Works of Christopher Marlowe

Tamburlaine Part 2


Act: 5 Scene: 3
Pleaseth your Majesty to drink this potion,
Which wil abate the furie of your fit,
And cause some milder spirits governe you.
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.