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The Works of Christopher Marlowe

Tamburlaine Part 2

Act: 1 Scene: 3

Tamburlaine

Now, bright Zenocrate, the worlds faire eie,

Whose beames illuminate the lamps of heaven,

Whose cheerful looks do cleare the clowdy aire

And cloath it in a christall liverie,

Now rest thee here on faire Larissa Plaines,

Where Egypt and the Turkish Empire parts,

Betweene thy sons that shall be Emperours,

And every one Commander of a world.

Tamburlaine

When heaven shal cease to moove on both the poles

And when the ground wheron my souldiers march

Shal rise aloft and touch the horned Moon,

And not before, my sweet Zenocrate:

Sit up and rest thee like a lovely Queene.

So, now she sits in pompe and majestie:

When these my sonnes, more precious in mine eies

Than all the wealthy kingdomes I subdewed:

Plac'd by her side, looke on their mothers face.

But yet me thks irinthe looks are amorous,

Not martiall as the sons of Tamburlaine .

Water and ayre being simbolisde in one,

Argue their want of courage and of wit:

Their haire as white as milke and soft as Downe,

Which should be like the quilles of Porcupines,

As blacke as Jeat, and hard as Iron or steel,

Bewraies they are too dainty for the wars.

Their fingers made to quaver on a Lute,

Their armes to hang about a Ladies necke:

Their legs to dance and caper in the aire:

Would make me thinke them Bastards, not my sons,

But that I know they issued from thy wombe,

That never look'd on man but Tamburlaine.

Tamburlaine

Wel done my boy, thou shalt have shield and lance,

Armour of proofe, horse, helme, and Curtle-axe,

And I will teach thee how to charge thy foe,

And harmelesse run among the deadly pikes.

If thou wilt love the warres and follow me,

Thou shalt be made a King and raigne with me,

Keeping in yron cages Emperours.

If thou exceed thy elder Brothers worth,

And shine in compleat vertue more than they,

Thou shalt be king before them, and thy seed

Shall issue crowned from their mothers wombe.

Tamburlaine

These words assure me boy, thou art my sonne,

When I am old and cannot mannage armes,

Be thou the scourge and terrour of the world.

Tamburlaine

Be al a scourge and terror to the world,

Or els you are not sons of Tamburlaine.

Tamburlaine

Bastardly boy, sprong from some cowards loins,

And not the issue of great Tamburlaine :

Of all the provinces I have subdued

Thou shalt not have a foot, unlesse thou beare

A mind corragious and invincible:

For he shall weare the crowne of Persea,

Whose head hath deepest scarres, whose breast most woundes,

Which being wroth, sends lightning from his eies,

And in the furrowes of his frowning browes,

Harbors revenge, war, death and cruelty:

For in a field whose superficies

Is covered with a liquid purple veile,

And sprinkled with the braines of slaughtered men,

My royal chaire of state shall be advanc'd:

And he that meanes to place himselfe therein

Must armed wade up to the chin in blood.

Tamburlaine

Wel lovely boies, you shal be Emperours both,

Stretching your conquering armes from east to west:

And sirha, if you meane to weare a crowne,

When we shall meet the Turkish Deputie

And all his Viceroies, snatch it from his head,

And cleave his Pericranion with thy sword.

Tamburlaine

Hold him, and cleave him too, or Ile cleave thee,

For we will martch against them presently.

Theridamas, Techelles, and Casane

Promist to meet me on Larissa plaines

With hostes apeece against this Turkish crue,

For I have sworne by sacred Mahomet,

To make it parcel of my Empery.

The trumpets sound, Zenocrate, they come.

Tamburlaine

Welcome Theridamas, king of Argier.

Tamburlaine

Thanks good Theridamas.

Tamburlaine

Wel said Argier, receive thy crowne againe.

Tamburlaine

Kings of Morocus and of Fesse, welcome.

Tamburlaine

Thanks king of Morocus, take your crown again.

Tamburlaine

Thanks king of Fesse, take here thy crowne again.

Your presence (loving friends and fellow kings)

Makes me to surfet in conceiving joy.

If all the christall gates of Joves high court

Were opened wide, and I might enter in

To see the state and majesty of heaven,

It could not more delight me than your sight.

Now will we banquet on these plaines a while,

And after martch to Turky with our Campe,

In number more than are the drops that fall

When Boreas rents a thousand swelling cloudes,

And proud Orcanes of Natolia,

With all his viceroies shall be so affraide,

That though the stones, as at Deucalions flood,

Were turnde to men, he should be overcome:

Such lavish will I make of Turkish blood,

That Jove shall send his winged Messenger

To bid me sheath my sword, and leave the field:

The Sun unable to sustaine the sight,

Shall hide his head in Thetis watery lap,

And leave his steeds to faire Boetes charge:

For halfe the world shall perish in this fight:

But now my friends, let me examine ye,

How have ye spent your absent time from me?

Tamburlaine

They shal Casane, and tis time yfaith.

Tamburlaine

Well done Techelles: what saith Theridamas?

Tamburlaine

Then wil we triumph, banquet and carouse,

Cookes shall have pensions to provide us cates,

And glut us with the dainties of the world,

Lachrima Christi and Calabrian wines

Shall common Souldiers drink in quafling boules,

I, liquid golde when we have conquer'd him,

Mingled with corrall and with orient pearle:

Come let us banquet and carrouse the whiles.

Act: 2 Scene: 4

Tamburlaine

Blacke is the beauty of the brightest day,

The golden belle of heavens eternal fire,

That danc'd with glorie on the silver waves,

Now wants the fewell that enflamde his beames:

And all with faintnesse and for foule disgrace,

He bindes his temples with a frowning cloude,

Ready to darken earth with endlesse night:

Zenocrate that gave him light and life,

Whose eies shot fire from their Ivory bowers,

And tempered every soule with lively heat,

Now by the malice of the angry Skies,

Whose jealousie admits no second Mate,

Drawes in the comfort of her latest breath

All dasled with the hellish mists of death.

Now walk the angels on the walles of heaven,

As Centinels to warne th'immortall soules,

To entertaine devine Zenocrate.

Apollo, Cynthia, and the ceaslesse lamps

That gently look'd upon this loathsome earth,

Shine downwards now no more, but deck the heavens

To entertaine divine Zenocrate.

The christall springs whose taste illuminates

Refined eies with an eternall sight,

Like tried silver runs through Paradice

To entertaine divine Zenocrate.

The Cherubins and holy Seraphins

That sing and play before the king of kings,

Use all their voices and their instruments

To entertaine divine Zenocrate.

And in this sweet and currious harmony,

The God that tunes this musicke to our soules,

Holds out his hand in highest majesty

To entertaine divine Zenocrate.

Then let some holy trance convey my thoughts,

Up to the pallace of th'imperiall heaven:

That this my life may be as short to me

As are the daies of sweet Zenocrate:

Phisitions, wil no phisicke do her good?

Tamburlaine

Tell me, how fares my faire Zenocrate?

Tamburlaine

May never such a change transfourme my love

In whose sweet being I repose my life,

Whose heavenly presence beautified with health,

Gives light to Phoebus and the fixed stars,

Whose absence make the sun and Moone as darke

As when opposde in one Diamiter,

Their Spheares are mounted on the serpents head,

Or els discended to his winding traine:

Live still my Love and so conserve my life,

Or dieng, be the author of my death.

Tamburlaine

Proud furie and intollorable fit,

That dares torment the body of my Love,

And scourge the Scourge of the immortall God:

Now are those Spheares where Cupid usde to sit,

Wounding the world with woonder and with love,

Sadly supplied with pale and ghastly death,

Whose darts do pierce the Center of my soule:

Her sacred beauy hath enchaunted heaven,

And had she liv'd before the siege of Troy,

Hellen, whose beany sommond Greece to armes,

And drew a thousand ships to Tenedos,

Had not bene nam'd in Homers Iliads:

Her name had bene in every line he wrote:

Or had those wanton Poets, for whose byrth

Olde Rome was proud, but gasde a while on her,

Nor Lesbia, nor Corrinna had bene nam'd,

Zenocrate had bene the argument

Of every Epigram or Eligie.

The musicke sounds, and she dies.

What, is she dead? Techelles, draw thy sword,

And wound the earth, that it may cleave in twaine,

And we discend into the infernall vaults,

To haile the fatall Sisters by the haire,

And throw them in the triple mote of Hell,

For taking hence my faire Zenocrate.

Casene and Theridamas to armes:

Raise Cavalieros higher than the cloudes,

And with the cannon breake the frame of heaven,

Batter the shining pallace of the Sun,

And shiver all the starry firmament:

For amorous Jove hath snatcht my love from hence,

Meaning to make her stately Queene of heaven,

What God so ever holds thee in his armes,

Giving thee Nectar and Ambrosia,

Behold me here divine Zenocrate,

Raving, impatient, desperate and mad,

Breaking my steeled lance, with which I burst

The rusty beames of Janus Temple doores,

Letting out death and tyrannising war,

To martch with me under this bloody flag:

And if thou pitiest Tamburlain the great,

Come downe from heaven and live with me againe.

Tamburlaine

For she is dead? thy words doo pierce my soule.

Ah sweet Theridamas, say so no more,

Though she be dead, yet let me think she lives,

And feed my mind that dies for want of her:

Where ere her soule be, thou shalt stay with me

Embalm'd with Cassia, Amber Greece and Myrre,

Not lapt in lead but in a sheet of gold,

And till I die thou shalt not be interr'd.

Then in as rich a tombe as Meusolus,

We both will rest and have one Epitaph

Writ in as many severall languages,

As I have conquered kingdomes with my sword.

This cursed towne will I consume with fire,

Because this place bereft me of my Love:

The houses burnt, wil looke as if they mourn'd,

And here will I set up her stature

And martch about it with my mourning campe,

Drooping and pining for Zenocrate.

Act: 3 Scene: 2

Tamburlaine

So, burne the turrets of this cursed towne,

Flame to the highest region of the aire:

And kindle heaps of exhalations,

That being fiery meteors, may presage,

Death and destruction to th'inhabitants.

Over my Zenith hang a blazing star,

That may endure till heaven be dissolv'd,

Fed with the fresh supply of earthly dregs,

Threatning a death and famine to this land,

Flieng Dragons, lightning, fearfull thunderclaps,

Sindge these fair plaines, and make them seeme as black

As is the Island where the Furies maske,

Compast with Lethe, Styx, and Phlegeton,

Because my deare Zenocrate is dead.

Tamburlaine

And here the picture of Zenocrate,

To shew her beautie, which the world admyr'd,

Sweet picture of divine Zenocrate,

That hanging here, wil draw the Gods from heaven:

And cause the stars fixt in the Southern arke,

Whose lovely faces never any viewed,

That have not past the Centers latitude,

As Pilgrimes traveile to our Hemi-spheare,

Onely to gaze upon Zenocrate.

Thou shalt not beautifie Larissa plaines,

But keep within the circle of mine armes.

At every towne and castle I besiege,

Thou shalt be set upon my royall tent.

And when I meet an armie in the field,

Those looks will shed such influence in my campe,

As if Bellona, Goddesse of the war

Threw naked swords and sulphur teals of fire,

Upon the heads of all our enemies.

And now my Lords, advance your speares againe,

Sorrow no more my sweet Casane now:

Boyes leave to mourne, this towne shall ever mourne,

Being burnt to cynders for your mothers death.

Tamburlaine

But now my boies, leave off, and list to me,

That meane to teach you rudiments of war:

Ile have you learne to sleepe upon the ground,

March in your armour thorowe watery Fens,

Sustaine the scortching heat and freezing cold,

Hunger and thirst, right adjuncts of the war.

And after this, to scale a castle wal,

Besiege a fort, to undermine a towne,

And make whole cyties caper in the aire.

Then next, the way to fortifie your men,

In champion grounds, what figure serves you best,

For which the quinque-angle fourme is meet:

Because the corners there may fall more flat,

Whereas the Fort may fittest be assailde,

And sharpest where th'assault is desperate.

The ditches must be deepe, the Counterscarps

Narrow and steepe, the wals made high and broad,

The Bulwarks and the rampiers large and strong,

With Cavalieros and thicke counterforts,

And roome within to lodge sixe thousand men.

It must have privy ditches, countermines,

And secret issuings to defend the ditch.

It must have high Argins and covered waies

To keep the bulwark fronts from battery,

And Parapets to hide the Muscatters:

Casemates to place the great Artillery,

And store of ordinance that from every flanke

May scoure the outward curtaines of the Fort,

Dismount the Cannon of the adverse part,

Murther the Foe and save the walles from breach.

When this is learn'd for service on the land,

By plaine and easie demonstration,

Ile teach you how to make the water mount,

That you may dryfoot martch through lakes and pooles,

Deep rivers, havens, creekes, and litle seas,

And make a Fortresse in the raging waves,

Fenc'd with the concave of a monstrous rocke,

Invincible by nature of the place.

When this is done, then are ye souldiers,

And worthy sonnes of Tamburlain the great.

Tamburlaine

Villain, art thou the sonne of Tamburlaine,

And fear'st to die, or with a Curtle-axe

To hew thy flesh and make a gaping wound?

Hast thou beheld a peale of ordinance strike

A ring of pikes, mingled with shot and horse,

Whose shattered rims, being tost as high as heaven,

Hang in the aire as thicke as sunny motes,

And canst thou Coward stand in feare of death?

Hast thou not scene my horsmen charge the foe,

Shot through the armes, cut overthwart the hands,

Dieng their lances with their streaming blood,

And yet at night carrouse within my tent,

Filling their empty vaines with aiery wine,

That being concocted, turnes to crimson blood,

And wilt thou shun the field for feare of woundes?

View me thy father that hath conquered kings,

And with his hoste martcht round about the earth,

Quite voice of skars, and cleare from any wound,

That by the warres lost not a dram of blood,

And see him lance his flesh to teach you all. He cuts his arme.

A wound is nothing be it nere so deepe,

Blood is the God of Wars rich livery.

Now look I like a souldier, and this wound

As great a grace and majesty to me,

As if a chaire of gold enamiled,

Enchac'd with Diamondes, Saphyres, Rubies

And fairest pearle of welthie India

Were mounted here under a Canapie:

And I sat downe, cloth'd with the massie robe,

That late adorn'd the Affrike Potentate,

Whom I brought bound unto Damascus walles.

Come boyes and with your fingers search my wound,

And in my blood wash all your hands at once,

While I sit smiling to behold the sight.

Now my boyes, what think you of a wound?

Tamburlaine

Come sirra, give me your arme.

Tamburlaine

It shall suffice thou darst abide a wound.

My boy, Thou shalt not loose a drop of blood,

Before we meet the armie of the Turke.

But then run desperate through the thickest throngs,

Dreadlesse of blowes, of bloody wounds and death:

And let the burning of Larissa wals,

My speech of war, and this my wound you see,

Teach you my boyes to beare couragious minds,

Fit for the followers of great Tamburlaine.

Usumcasane now come let us martch

Towards Techelles and Theridamas,

That we have sent before to fire the townes,

The towers and cities of these hateful! Turks,

And hunt that Coward, faintheart runaway,

With that accursed traitor Almeda,

Til fire and sword have found them at a bay.

Tamburlaine

Then let us see if coward Calapine

Dare levie armes against our puissance,

That we may tread upon his captive necke,

And treble all his fathers slaveries.

Act: 3 Scene: 5

Tamburlaine

How now Casane? See a knot of kings,

Sitting as if they were a telling ridles.

Tamburlaine

Why, so he is Casane, I am here,

But yet Ile save their lives and make them slaves.

Ye petty kings of Turkye I am come,

As Hector did into the Grecian campe,

To overdare the pride of Græcia ,

And set his warlike person to the view

Of fierce Achilles, rivall of his fame.

I doe you honor in the simile ,

For if I should as Hector did Achilles,

(The worthiest knight that ever brandisht sword)

Challenge in combat any of you all,

I see how fearfully ye would refuse,

And fly my glove as from a Scorpion.

Tamburlaine

Villain, the shepheards issue, at whose byrth

Heaven did affoord a gratious aspect,

And join'd those stars that shall be opposite,

Even till the dissolution of the world,

And never meant to make a Conquerour,

So famous as is mighty Tamburlain:

Shall so torment thee and that Callapine,

That like a roguish runnaway, suborn'd

That villaine there, that slave, that Turkish dog,

To false his service to his Soveraigne,

As ye shal curse the byrth of Tamburlaine.

Tamburlaine

Sirha, Callapine, Ile hang a clogge about your necke for running away againe, you shall not trouble me thus to come and fetch you.

But as for you (Viceroy) you shal have bits,

And harnest like my horses, draw my coch,

And when ye stay, be lasht with whips of wier:

Ile have you learne to feed on provender,

And in a stable lie upon the planks.

Tamburlaine

Wel sirs, diet your selves, you knowe I shall have occasion shortly to journey you.

Tamburlaine

Villaine, traitor, damned fugitive,

Ile make thee wish the earth had swallowed thee:

Seest thou not death within my wrathfull looks?

Goe villaine, cast thee headlong from a rock,

Or rip thy bowels, and rend out thy heart,

T'appease my wrath, or els Ile torture thee,

Searing thy hatefull flesh with burning yrons,

And drops of scalding lead, while all thy joints

Be racks and beat asunder with the wheele,

For if thou livest, not any Element

Shal shrowde thee from the wrath of Tamburlaine.

Tamburlaine

Go too sirha, take your crown, and make up the halfe dozen. So sirha, now you are a king you must give armes.

Tamburlaine

No, let him hang a bunch of keies on his standerd, to put him in remembrance he was a Jailor, that when I take him, I may knocke out his braines with them, and lock you in the stable, when you shall come sweating from my chariot.

Tamburlaine

Sirha, prepare whips, and bring my chariot to my Tent: For as soone as the battaile is done, Ile ride in triumph through the Camp. Enter Theridamas, Techelles, and their traine.

How now ye pety kings, foe, here are Bugges

Wil make the haire stand upright on your heads,

And cast your crownes in slavery at their feet.

Welcome Theridamas and Techelles both,

See ye this rout, and know ye this same king?

Tamburlaine

Wel, now you see hee is a king, looke to him.

Tamburlaine

You knowe not sir:

But now my followers and my loving friends,

Fight as you ever did, like Conquerours,

The glorie of this happy day is yours:

My sterne aspect shall make faire Victory,

Hovering betwixt our armies, light on me,

Loden with Lawrell wreathes to crowne us all.

Tamburlaine

You shall be princes all immediatly:

Come fight ye Turks, or yeeld us victory.

Act: 4 Scene: 1

Tamburlaine

See now ye slaves, my children stoops your pride

And leads your glories sheep-like to the sword.

Bring them my boyes, and tel me if the warres

Be not a life that may illustrate Gods,

And tickle not your Spirits with desire

Stil to be train'd in armes and chivalry?

Tamburlaine

No, no Amyras, tempt not Fortune so,

Cherish thy valour stil with fresh supplies:

And glut it not with stale and daunted foes.

But wher's this coward, villaine, not my sonne,

But traitor to my name and majesty.

He goes in and brings him out.

Image of sloth, and picture of a slave,

The obloquie and skorne of my renowne,

How may my hart, thus fired with mine eies,

Wounded with shame, and kill'd with discontent,

Shrowd any thought may horde my striving hands

From martiall justice on thy wretched soule.

Tamburlaine

Stand up, ye base unworthy souldiers,

Know ye not yet the argument of Armes?

Tamburlaine

Stand up my boyes, and I wil teach ye arms,

And what the jealousie of warres must doe.

O Samarcanda, where I breathed first,

And joy'd the fire of this martiall flesh,

Blush, blush faire citie, at thine honors foile,

And shame of nature which Jaertis streame,

Embracing thee with deepest of his love,

Can never wash from thy distained browes.

Here Jove, receive his fainting soule againe,

A Forme not meet to give that subject essence,

Whose matter is the flesh of Tamburlaine,

Wherein an incorporeall spirit mooves,

Made of the mould whereof thy selfe consists,

Which makes me valiant, proud, ambitious,

Ready to levie power against thy throne,

That I might moove the turning Spheares of heaven,

For earth and al this aery region

Cannot containe the state of Tamburlaine.

[Stabs Calyphas.]

By Mahomet, thy mighty friend I sweare,

In sending to my issue such a soule,

Created of the messy dregges of earth,

The scum and tartar of the Elements,

Wherein was neither corrage, strength or wit,

But follie, sloth, and damned idlenesse:

Thou hast procur'd a greater enemie,

Than he that darted mountaines at thy head,

Shaking the burthen mighty Atlas beares:

Whereat thou trembling hid'st thee in the aire,

Cloth'd with a pitchy cloud for being seene.

And now ye cankred curres of Asia,

That will not see the strength of Tamburlaine,

Although it shine as brightly as the Sun.

Now you shal feele the strength of Tamburlain,

And by the state of his supremacie,

Approove the difference twixt himself and you.

Tamburlaine

Villaines, these terrours and these tyrannies

(If tyrannies wars justice ye repute)

I execute, enjoin'd me from above,

To scourge the pride of such as heaven abhors:

Nor am I made Arch-monark of the world,

Crown'd and invested by the hand of Jove,

For deeds of bounty or nobility:

But since I exercise a greater name,

The Scourge of God and terrour of the world,

I must apply my selfe to fit those tearmes,

In war, in blood, in death, in crueltie,

And plague such Pesants as resist in me

The power of heavens eternall majesty.

Theridamas, Techelles, and Casane ,

Ransacke the tents and the pavilions

Of these proud Turks, and take their Concubines,

Making them burie this effeminate brat,

For not a common Souldier shall defile

His manly fingers with so faint a boy.

Then bring those Turkish harlots to my tent,

And Ile dispose them as it likes me best,

Meane while take him in.

Tamburlaine

Wel, bark ye dogs. Ile bridle al your tongues

And bind them close with bits of burnisht steele,

Downe to the channels of your hatefull throats,

And with the paines my rigour shall inflict,

Ile make ye roare, that earth may eccho foorth

The far resounding torments ye sustaine,

As when an heard of lusty Cymbrian Buls,

Run mourning round about the Femals misse,

And stung with furie of their following,

Fill all the aire with troublous bellowing:

I will with Engines, never exercisde,

Conquer, sacke, and utterly consume

Your cities and your golden pallaces,

And with the flames that beat against the clowdes

Incense the heavens, and make the starres to melt,

As if they were the teares of Mahomet

For hot consumption of his countries pride:

And til by vision, or by speech I heare

Immortall Jove say, Cease my Tamburlaine,

I will persist a terrour to the world,

Making the Meteors, that like armed men

Are seene to march upon the towers of heaven,

Run tilting round about the firmament,

And breake their burning Lances in the aire,

For honor of my woondrous victories.

Come bring them in to our Pavilion.

Act: 4 Scene: 3

Tamburlaine

Holla, ye pampered Jades of Asia:

What, can ye draw but twenty miles a day,

And have so proud a chariot at your heeles,

And such a Coachman as great Tamburlaine?

But from Asphaltis, where I conquer'd you,

To Byron here where thus I honor you?

The horse that guide the golden eie of heaven,

And blow the morning from their nosterils,

Making their fiery gate above the cloudes,

Are not so honoured in their Governour,

As you (ye slaves) in mighty Tamburlain.

The headstrong Jades of Thrace, Alcides tam'd,

That King Egeus fed with humaine flesh,

And made so wanton that they knew their strengths,

Were not subdew'd with valour more divine,

Than you by this unconquered arme of mine.

To make you fierce, and fit my appetite,

You shal be fed with flesh as raw as blood,

And drinke in pailes the strongest Muscadell:

If you can live with it, then live, and draw

My chariot swifter than the racking cloudes:

If not, then dy like beasts, and fit for nought

But perches for the black and fatall Ravens.

Thus arn I right the Scourge of highest Jove

And see the figure of my dignitie,

By which I hold my name and majesty.

Tamburlaine

Thy youth forbids such ease my kingly boy,

They shall to morrow draw my chariot,

While these their fellow kings may be refresht.

Tamburlaine

I Turke, I tel thee, this same Boy is he,

That must (advaunst in higher pompe than this)

Rifle the kingdomes I shall leave unsackt,

If Jove esteeming me too good for earth,

Raise me to match the faire Aldeboran,

Above the threefold Astracisme of heaven,

Before I conquere all the triple world.

Now fetch me out the Turkish Concubines,

I will prefer them for the funerall

They have bestowed on my abortive sonnet

The Concubines are brought in.

Where are my common souldiers now that fought

So Lion-like upon Asphaltis plaines?

Tamburlaine

Hold ye tal souldiers, take ye Queens apeece

(I meane such Queens as were kings Concubines)

Take them, devide them and their jewels too,

And let them equally serve all your turnes.

Tambulaine

Brawle not (I warne you) for your lechery,

For every man that so offends shall die.

Tamburlaine

Live continent then (ye slaves) and meet not me

With troopes of harlots at your sloothful heeles.

Tamburlaine

Are ye not gone ye villaines with your spoiles?

Tamburlaine

Save your honours? twere but time indeed,

Lost long before you knew what honour meant.

Tamburlaine

And now themselves shal make our Pageant,

And common souldiers jest with all their Truls.

Let them take pleasure soundly in their spoiles,

Till we prepare our martch to Babylon,

Whether we next make expedition.

Tamburlaine

We wil Techelles, forward then ye Jades:

Now crowch ye kings of greatest Asia,

And tremble when ye heare this Scourge wil come,

That whips downe cities, and controwleth crownes,

Adding their wealth and treasure to my store.

The Euxine sea North to Natolia,

The Terrene west, the Caspian north north-east,

And on the south Senus Arabicus ,

Shal al be loden with the martiall spoiles

We will convey with us to Persea.

Then shal my native city Samarcanda

And christall waves of fresh Jaertis streame,

The pride and beautie of her princely seat,

Be famous through the furthest continents,

For there my Pallace royal shal be plac'd:

Whose shyning Turrets shal dismay the heavens,

And cast the fame of Ilions Tower to hell.

Thorow the streets with troops of conquered kings,

Ile ride in golden armour like the Sun,

And in my helme a triple plume shal spring,

Spangled with Diamonds dancing in the aire,

To note me Emperour of the three fold world:

Like to an almond tree ymounted high,

Upon the lofty and celestiall mount,

Of ever greene Selinus queintly dect

With bloomes more white than Hericinas browes,

Whose tender blossoms tremble every one,

At every little breath that thorow heaven is blowen:

Then in my coach like Saturnes royal son,

Mounted his shining chariot, gilt with fire,

And drawen with princely Eagles through the path,

Pav'd with bright Christall, and enchac'd with starres,

When all the Gods stand gazing at his pomp:

So will I ride through Samarcanda streets,

Until my soule dissevered from this flesh,

Shall mount the milk-white way and meet him there.

To Babylon my Lords, to Babylon.

Act: 5 Scene: 1

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?

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.

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.

Tamburlaine

Up with him then, his body shalbe scard.

Tamburlaine

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

Where about lies it?

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.

Tamburlaine

Take them away Theridamas, see them dispatcht.

Tamburlaine

Come Asian Viceroies, to your taskes a while

And take such fortune as your fellowes felt.

Tamburlaine

Bridle them, and let me to my coach.

Tamburlaine

Tis brave indeed my boy, wel done,

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

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.

Tamburlaine.

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

Leave not a Babylonian in the towne.

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.

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.

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.

Tamburlaine

Let it be so, about it souldiers:

But stay, I feele my selfe distempered sudainly.

Tamburlaine

Something Techelles, but I know not what,

But foorth ye vassals, what so ere it be,

Sicknes or death can never conquer me.

Act: 5 Scene: 3

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.

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.

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.

Tamburlaine

Tel me, what think you of my sicknes now?

Tamburlaine

Then will I comfort all my vital parts,

And live in spight of death above a day.

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.

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.

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.

Tamburlaine

Sit up my sonne, let me see how well

Thou wilt become thy fathers majestie.

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.

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.

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.

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.