For kings are clouts that every man shoots at,
Our crown the pin that thousands seek to cleave.
Therefore in policy I think it good
10 To hide it close – a goodly stratagem,
And far from any man that is a fool.
So shall not I be known, or if I be,
They cannot take away my crown from me.
Here will I hide it in this simple hole.
Enter TAMBURLAINE.
TAMBURLAINE
What, fearful coward, straggling from the camp,
When kings themselves are present in the field?
MYCETES
Thou liest.
TAMBURLAINE Base villain, dar’st thou give the lie?
MYCETES
Away, I am the king. Go, touch me not.
20 Thou break’st the law of arms unless thou kneel
And cry me, ‘Mercy, noble king!’
TAMBURLAINE
Are you the witty king of Persia?
MYCETES
Ay, marry, am I. Have you any suit to me?
TAMBURLAINE
I would entreat you to speak but three wise words.
MYCETES
So I can, when I see my time.
TAMBURLAINE [seizing the crown] Is this your crown?
MYCETES Ay, didst thou ever see a fairer?
TAMBURLAINE You will not sell it, will ye?
MYCETES Such another word, and I will have thee executed.
30 Come, give it me.
TAMBURLAINE No, I took it prisoner.
MYCETES You lie, I gave it you.
TAMBURLAINE Then ’tis mine.
MYCETES No, I mean I let you keep it.
TAMBURLAINE Well, I mean you shall have it again.
[Giving the crown]
Here, take it for a while. I lend it thee
Till I may see thee hemmed with armèd men.
Then shalt thou see me pull it from thy head.
Thou art no match for mighty Tamburlaine.
[Exit TAMBURLAINE.]
MYCETES
40 O gods, is this Tamburlaine the thief?
I marvel much he stole it not away.
Sound trumpets to the battle, and he runs in.
[Scene 5]
[Enter] COSROE [crowned], TAMBURLAINE, THERIDAMAS, MENAPHON, MEANDER, ORTYGIUS, TECHELLES, USUMCASANE, with Others.
TAMBURLAINE [presenting COSROE with MYCETES’S crown]
Hold thee, Cosroe, wear two imperial crowns.
Think thee invested now as royally,
Even by the mighty hand of Tamburlaine,
As if as many kings as could encompass thee
With greatest pomp had crowned thee emperor.
COSROE
So do I, thrice-renownèd man-at-arms,
And none shall keep the crown but Tamburlaine.
Thee do I make my regent of Persia
And general lieutenant of my armies.
Meander, you that were our brother’s guide
10 And chiefest counsellor in all his acts,
Since he is yielded to the stroke of war,
On your submission we with thanks excuse
And give you equal place in our affairs.
MEANDER [kneeling]
Most happy emperor, in humblest terms
I vow my service to your majesty,
With utmost virtue of my faith and duty.
COSROE
Thanks, good Meander, [MEANDER rises.]
Then, Cosroë, reign,
And govern Persia in her former pomp.
Now send embassage to thy neighbour kings
20 And let them know the Persian king is changed
From one that knew not what a king should do
To one that can command what ’longs thereto.
And now we will to fair Persepolis
With twenty thousand expert soldiers.
The lords and captains of my brother’s camp
With little slaughter take Meander’s course
And gladly yield them to my gracious rule.
Ortygius and Menaphon, my trusty friends,
30 Now will I gratify your former good
And grace your calling with a greater sway.
ORTYGIUS
And as we ever aimed at your behoof
And sought your state all honour it deserved,
So will we with our powers and our lives
Endeavour to preserve and prosper it.
COSROE
I will not thank thee, sweet Ortygius;
Better replies shall prove my purposes.
And now, Lord Tamburlaine, my brother’s camp
I leave to thee and to Theridamas,
40 To follow me to fair Persepolis.
Then will we march to all those Indian mines
My witless brother to the Christians lost,
And ransom them with fame and usury.
And till thou overtake me, Tamburlaine,
Staying to order all the scattered troops,
Farewell, lord regent and his happy friends!
I long to sit upon my brother’s throne.
MENAPHON
Your majesty shall shortly have your wish,
And ride in triumph through Persepolis.
Exeunt; TAMBURLAINE, TECHELLES, THERIDAMAS, USUMCASANE remain.
TAMBURLAINE
50 And ride in triumph through Persepolis’!
Is it not brave to be a king, Techelles?
Usumcasane and Theridamas,
Is it not passing brave to be a king,
And ride in triumph through Persepolis?
TECHELLES
O my lord, ’tis sweet and full of pomp.
USUMCASANE
To be a king is half to be a god.
THERIDAMAS
A god is not so glorious as a king.
I think the pleasure they enjoy in heaven
Cannot compare with kingly joys in earth:
To wear a crown enchased with pearl and gold,
60 Whose virtues carry with it life and death;
To ask, and have; command, and be obeyed;
When looks breed love, with looks to gain the prize,
Such power attractive shines in princes’ eyes.
TAMBURLAINE
Why, say, Theridamas, wilt thou be a king?
THERIDAMAS
Nay, though I praise it, I can live without it.
TAMBURLAINE
What says my other friends? Will you be kings?
TECHELLES
Ay, if I could, with all my heart, my lord.
TAMBURLAINE
Why, that’s well said, Techelles. So would I,
70 And so would you, my masters, would you not?
USUMCASANE
What then, my lord?
TAMBURLAINE
Why then, Casane, shall we wish for aught
The world affords in greatest novelty,
And rest attemptless, faint and destitute?
Methinks we should not; I am strongly moved
That if I should desire the Persian crown
I could attain it with a wondrous ease.
And would not all our soldiers soon consent
If we should aim at such a dignity?
THERIDAMAS
80 I know they would with our persuasions.
TAMBURLAINE
Why then, Theridamas, I’ll first essay
To get the Persian kingdom to myself;
Then thou for Parthia, they for Scythia and Media.
And if I prosper, all shall be as sure
As if the Turk, the Pope, Afric, and Greece
Came creeping to us with their crowns apace.
TECHELLES
Then shall we send to this triumphing king
And bid him battle for his novel crown?
USUMCASANE
Nay, quickly then, before his room be hot.
TAMBURLAINE
90 Twill prove a pretty jest, in faith, my friends.
THERIDAMAS
A jest, to charge on twenty thousand men?
I judge the purchase more important far.
TAMBURLAINE
Judge by thyself, Theridamas, not me,
For presently Techelles here shall haste
To bid him battle ere he pass too far,
And lose more labour than the gain will quite.
Then shalt thou see the Scythian Tamburlaine
Make but a jest to win the Persian crown.
Techelles, take a thousand horse with thee
100 And bid him turn him back to war with us
That only made him king to make us sport.
We will not steal upon him cowardly,
But give him warning and more warriors.
Haste thee, Techelles. We will follow thee.
[Exit TECHELLES.]
What saith Theridamas?
THERIDAMAS Go on, for me.
Exeunt.
Scene 6
[Enter] COSROE, MEANDER, ORTYGIUS, MENAPHON, with other SOLDIERS.
COSROE
What means this devilish shepherd to aspire
With such a giantly presumption,
To cast up hills against the face of heaven
And dare the force of angry Jupiter?
But as he thrust them underneath the hills
And pressed out fire from their burning jaws,
So will I send this monstrous slave to hell,
Where flames shall ever feed upon his soul.
MEANDER
Some powers divine, or else infernal, mixed
Their angry seeds at his conception;
10 For he was never sprung of human race,
Since with the spirit of his fearful pride,
He dares so doubtlessly resolve of rule,
And by profession be ambitious.
ORTYGIUS
What god, or fiend, or spirit of the earth,
Or monster turned to a manly shape,
Or of what mould or mettle he be made,
What star or state soever govern him,
Let us put on our meet encount’ring minds,
And, in detesting such a devilish thief,
20 In love of honour and defence of right
Be armed against the hate of such a foe,
Whether from earth, or hell, or heaven he grow.
COSROE
Nobly resolved, my good Ortygius.
And since we all have sucked one wholesome air,
And with the same proportion of elements
Resolve, I hope we are resembled,
Vowing our loves to equal death and life.
Let’s cheer our soldiers to encounter him,
30 That grievous image of ingratitude,
That fiery thirster after sovereignty,
And burn him in the fury of that flame
That none can quench but blood and empery.
Resolve, my lords and loving soldiers, now
To save your king and country from decay.
Then strike up drum! [Strike drum.]
And all the stars that make
The loathsome circle of my dated life,
Direct my weapon to his barbarous heart
That thus opposeth him against the gods,
40 And scorns the powers that govern Persia!
[Exeunt.]
Enter [the armies] to the battle, and after the battle enter COSROE wounded, THERIDAMAS, TAMBURLAINE, TECHELLES, USUMCASANE, with others.
COSROE
Barbarous and bloody Tamburlaine,
Thus to deprive me of my crown and life!
Treacherous and false Theridamas,
Even at the morning of my happy state,
Scarce being seated in my royal throne,
To work my downfall and untimely end!
An uncouth pain torments my grievèd soul,
And death arrests the organ of my voice,
Who, ent’ring at the breach thy sword hath made,
50 Sacks every vein and artier of my heart.
Bloody and insatiate Tamburlaine!
TAMBURLAINE
The thirst of reign and sweetness of a crown,
That caused the eldest son of heavenly Ops
To thrust his doting father from his chair
And place himself in th’empyreal heaven,
Moved me to manage arms against thy state.
What better precedent than mighty Jove?
Nature, that framed us of four elements
Warring within our breasts for regiment,
60 Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.
Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend
The wondrous architecture of the world
And measure every wand’ring planet’s course,
Still climbing after knowledge infinite
And always moving as the restless spheres,
Wills us to wear ourselves and never rest
Until we reach the ripest fruit of all,
That perfect bliss and sole felicity,
The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.
THERIDAMAS
And that made me to join with Tamburlaine,
70 For he is gross and like the massy earth
That moves not upwards nor by princely deeds
Doth mean to soar above the highest sort.
TECHELLES
And that made us, the friends of Tamburlaine,
To lift our swords against the Persian king.
USUMCASANE
For as when Jove did thrust old Saturn down,
Neptune and Dis gained each of them a crown,
So do we hope to reign in Asia
If Tamburlaine be placed in Persia.
COSROE
The strangest men that ever nature made!
80 I know not how to take their tyrannies.
My bloodless body waxeth chill and cold,
And with my blood my life slides through my wound.
My soul begins to take her flight to hell,
And summons all my senses to depart.
The heat and moisture, which did feed each other,
For want of nourishment to feed them both,
Is dry and cold, and now doth ghastly death
With greedy talons gripe my bleeding heart,
And like a harpy tires on my life.
90 Theridamas and Tamburlaine, I die,
And fearful vengeance light upon you both!
[He dies.]
TAMBURLAINE
Not all the curses which the Furies breathe
Shall make me leave so rich a prize as this.
Theridamas, Techelles, and the rest,
Who think you now is King of Persia?
ALL Tamburlaine! Tamburlaine!
TAMBURLAINE
Though Mars himself, the angry god of arms,
And all the earthly potentates conspire
100 To dispossess me of this diadem,
Yet will I wear it in despite of them
As great commander of this eastern world,
If you but say that Tamburlaine shall reign.
ALL
Long live Tamburlaine, and reign in Asia!
TAMBURLAINE
So, now it is more surer on my head
Than if the gods had held a parliament
And all pronounced me King of Persia.
[Exeunt.]
ACT 3
Scene 1
[Enter] BAJAZETH, the KINGS OF FEZ, MOROCCO, and ARGIER, [BASSOES,] with others in great pomp.
BAJAZETH
Great kings of Barbary, and my portly bassoes,
We hear the Tartars and the eastern thieves,
Under the conduct of one Tamburlaine,
Presume a bickering with your emperor,
And thinks to rouse us from our dreadful siege
Of the famous Grecian Constantinople.
You know our army is invincible;
As many c
ircumcisèd Turks we have
And warlike bands of Christians renied
As hath the ocean or the Terrene Sea
10 Small drops of water when the moon begins
To join in one her semicircled horns.
Yet would we not be braved with foreign power,
Nor raise our siege before the Grecians yield,
Or breathless lie before the city walls.
FEZ
Renownèd emperor and mighty general,
What if you sent the bassoes of your guard
To charge him to remain in Asia,
Or else to threaten death and deadly arms
20 As from the mouth of mighty Bajazeth?
BAJAZETH
Hie thee, my basso, fast to Persia.
Tell him thy lord the Turkish emperor,
Dread lord of Afric, Europe, and Asia,
Great king and conqueror of Graecia,
The ocean Terrene, and the coal-black sea,
The high and highest monarch of the world,
Wills and commands (for say not I entreat)
Not once to set his foot in Africa
Or spread his colours in Graecia,
30 Lest he incur the fury of my wrath.
Tell him I am content to take a truce
Because I hear he bears a valiant mind.
But if, presuming on his silly power,
He be so mad to manage arms with me,
Then stay thou with him; say I bid thee so.
And if before the sun have measured heaven
With triple circuit thou regreet us not,
We mean to take his morning’s next arise
For messenger he will not be reclaimed,
40 And mean to fetch thee in despite of him.
BASSO
Most great and puissant monarch of the earth,
Your basso will accomplish your behest
And show your pleasure to the Persian,
As fits the legate of the stately Turk.
Exit BASSO.
ARGIER
They say he is the King of Persia;
But if he dare attempt to stir your siege,
’Twere requisite he should be ten times more,
For all flesh quakes at your magnificence.
BAJAZETH
True, Argier, and tremble at my looks.
MOROCCO
50 The spring is hindered by your smothering host,
For neither rain can fall upon the earth,
Nor sun reflex his virtuous beams thereon,
The ground is mantled with such multitudes.
BAJAZETH
All this is true as holy Mahomet,
And all the trees are blasted with our breaths.
FEZ
What thinks your greatness best to be achieved
In pursuit of the city’s overthrow?
BAJAZETH
I will the captive pioners of Argier
Cut off the water that by leaden pipes
Runs to the city from the mountain Carnon;