Choose which thou wilt; all are at thy command.
A thousand galleys manned with Christian slaves
I freely give thee, which shall cut the Straits
And bring armadoes from the coasts of Spain,
Fraughted with gold of rich America.
The Grecian virgins shall attend on thee,
Skilful in music and in amorous lays,
As fair as was Pygmalion’s ivory girl,
Or lovely Io metamorphosèd.
40 With naked negroes shall thy coach be drawn,
And as thou rid’st in triumph through the streets,
The pavement underneath thy chariot wheels
With Turkey carpets shall be coverèd,
And cloth of arras hung about the walls,
Fit objects for thy princely eye to pierce.
A hundred bassoes, clothed in crimson silk,
Shall ride before thee on Barbarian steeds,
And when thou goest, a golden canopy
Enchased with precious stones which shine as bright
As that fair veil that covers all the world,
50 When Phoebus, leaping from his hemisphere,
Descendeth downward to th’Antipodes –
And more than this, for all I cannot tell.
ALMEDA
How far hence lies the galley, say you?
CALLAPINE
Sweet Almeda, scarce half a league from hence.
ALMEDA
But need we not be spied going aboard?
CALLAPINE
Betwixt the hollow hanging of a hill
And crooked bending of a craggy rock,
The sails wrapped up, the mast and tacklings down,
She lies so close that none can find her out.
60
ALMEDA I like that well. But tell me, my lord, if I should let you
go, would you be as good as your word? Shall I be made a
king for my labour?
CALLAPINE
As I am Callapine the emperor,
And by the hand of Mahomet, I swear
Thou shalt be crowned a king and be my mate.
ALMEDA
Then here I swear, as I am Almeda,
Your keeper under Tamburlaine the Great –
For that’s the style and title I have yet –
Although he sent a thousand armèd men
70 To intercept this haughty enterprise,
Yet would I venture to conduct your grace
And die before I brought you back again.
CALLAPINE
Thanks, gentle Almeda. Then let us haste,
Lest time be past and, ling’ring, let us both.
ALMEDA
When you will, my lord. I am ready.
CALLAPINE
Even straight. And farewell, cursèd Tamburlaine!
Now go I to revenge my father’s death.
Exeunt.
Scene 3
[Enter] TAMBURLAINE with ZENOCRATE, and his three sons, CALYPHAS, AMYRAS, and CELEBINUS, with drums and trumpets. [A throne is brought on.]
TAMBURLAINE
Now, bright Zenocrate, the world’s fair eye,
Whose beams illuminate the lamps of heaven,
Whose cheerful looks do clear the cloudy air
And clothe it in a crystal livery,
Now rest thee here on fair Larissa plains,
Where Egypt and the Turkish empire parts,
Between thy sons that shall be emperors
And every one commander of a world.
ZENOCRATE
Sweet Tamburlaine, when wilt thou leave these arms
10 And save thy sacred person free from scathe
And dangerous chances of the wrathful war?
TAMBURLAINE
When heaven shall cease to move on both the poles,
And when the ground whereon my soldiers march
Shall rise aloft and touch the hornèd moon,
And not before, my sweet Zenocrate.
Sit up and rest thee like a lovely queen.
So, now she sits in pomp and majesty,
When these my sons, more precious in mine eyes
Than all the wealthy kingdoms I subdued,
20 Placed by her side, look on their mother’s face.
But yet methinks their looks are amorous,
Not martial as the sons of Tamburlaine;
Water and air, being symbolized in one,
Argue their want of courage and of wit;
Their hair as white as milk and soft as down,
Which should be like the quills of porcupines,
As black as jet, and hard as iron or steel,
Bewrays they are too dainty for the wars.
Their fingers made to quaver on a lute,
30 Their legs to dance and caper in the air,
Would make me think them bastards, not my sons,
But that I know they issued from thy womb,
That never looked on man but Tamburlaine.
ZENOCRATE
My gracious lord, they have their mother’s looks,
But when they list, their conquering father’s heart.
This lovely boy, the youngest of the three,
Not long ago bestrid a Scythian steed,
Trotting the ring and tilting at a glove,
Which when he tainted with his slender rod,
40 He reined him straight and made him so curvet
As I cried out for fear he should have fall’n.
TAMBURLAINE [to CELEBINUS]
Well done, my boy, thou shalt have shield and lance,
Armour of proof, horse, helm, and curtle-axe,
And I will teach thee how to charge thy foe
And harmless run among the deadly pikes.
If thou wilt love the wars and follow me,
Thou shalt be made a king and reign with me,
Keeping in iron cages emperors.
If thou exceed thy elder brothers’ worth
50 And shine in complete virtue more than they,
Thou shalt be king before them, and thy seed
Shall issue crownèd from their mother’s womb.
CELEBINUS
Yes, father, you shall see me, if I live,
Have under me as many kings as you
And march with such a multitude of men
As all the world shall tremble at their view.
TAMBURLAINE
These words assure me, boy, thou art my son.
When I am old and cannot manage arms,
60 Be thou the scourge and terror of the world.
AMYRAS
Why may not I, my lord, as well as he,
Be termed the scourge and terror of the world?
TAMBURLAINE
Be all a scourge and terror to the world,
Or else you are not sons of Tamburlaine.
CALYPHAS
But while my brothers follow arms, my lord,
Let me accompany my gracious mother.
They are enough to conquer all the world,
And you have won enough for me to keep.
TAMBURLAINE
Bastardly boy, sprung from some coward’s loins
70 And not the issue of great Tamburlaine,
Of all the provinces I have subdued,
Thou shalt not have a foot, unless thou bear
A mind courageous and invincible.
For he shall wear the crown of Persia
Whose head hath deepest scars, whose breast most wounds,
Which, being wroth, sends lightning from his eyes,
And in the furrows of his frowning brows
Harbours revenge, war, death, and cruelty.
For in a field, whose superficies
80 Is covered with a liquid purple veil
And sprinkled with the brains of slaughtered men,
My royal chair of state shall be advanced,
And he that means to place himself therein
&nbs
p; Must armèd wade up to the chin in blood.
ZENOCRATE
My lord, such speeches to our princely sons
Dismays their minds before they come to prove
The wounding troubles angry war affords.
CELEBINUS
No, madam, these are speeches fit for us.
For if his chair were in a sea of blood,
I would prepare a ship and sail to it
90 Ere I would lose the title of a king.
AMYRAS
And I would strive to swim through pools of blood
Or make a bridge of murdered carcasses,
Whose arches should be framed with bones of Turks,
Ere I would lose the title of a king.
TAMBURLAINE
Well, lovely boys, you shall be emperors both,
Stretching your conquering arms from east to west.
[To CALYPHAS]
And, sirrah, if you mean to wear a crown,
When we shall meet the Turkish deputy
And all his viceroys, snatch it from his head,
100 And cleave his pericranion with thy sword.
CALYPHAS
If any man will hold him, I will strike,
And cleave him to the channel with my sword.
TAMBURLAINE
Hold him and cleave him, too, or I’ll cleave thee,
For we will march against them presently.
Theridamas, Techelles, and Casane
Promised to meet me on Larissa plains
With hosts apiece against this Turkish crew,
For I have sworn by sacred Mahomet
To make it parcel of my empery.
110 The trumpets sound, Zenocrate. They come.
Enter THERIDAMAS and his train, with drums and trumpets.
Welcome, Theridamas, King of Argier!
THERIDAMAS
My lord, the great and mighty Tamburlaine,
Arch-monarch of the world, I offer here
My crown, myself, and all the power I have,
In all affection at thy kingly feet.
[He presents his crown to TAMBURLAINE.]
TAMBURLAINE
Thanks, good Theridamas.
THERIDAMAS
Under my colours march ten thousand Greeks,
And of Argier and Afric’s frontier towns
120 Twice twenty thousand valiant men-at-arms,
All which have sworn to sack Natolia.
Five hundred brigantines are under sail,
Meet for your service on the sea, my lord,
That, launching from Argier to Tripoli,
Will quickly ride before Natolia
And batter down the castles on the shore.
TAMBURLAINE
Well said, Argier. Receive thy crown again.
[He returns THERIDAMAS’s crown.]
Enter TECHELLES and USUMCASANE together.
Kings of Moroccus and of Fez, welcome.
USUMCASANE [presenting his crown to TAMBURLAINE]
Magnificent and peerless Tamburlaine,
130 I and my neighbour King of Fez have brought,
To aid thee in this Turkish expedition,
A hundred thousand expert soldiers.
From Azamor to Tunis near the sea
Is Barbary unpeopled for thy sake,
And all the men in armour under me,
Which with my crown I gladly offer thee.
TAMBURLAINE [returning USUMCASANE’s crown]
Thanks, King of Moroccus. Take your crown again.
TECHELLES [presenting his crown to TAMBURLAINE]
And, mighty Tamburlaine, our earthly god,
Whose looks make this inferior world to quake,
140 I here present thee with the crown of Fez
And with an host of Moors trained to the war,
Whose coal-black faces make their foes retire
And quake for fear, as if infernal Jove,
Meaning to aid thee in these Turkish arms,
Should pierce the black circumference of hell
With ugly Furies bearing fiery flags
And millions of his strong tormenting spirits.
From strong Tesella unto Biledull
All Barbary is unpeopled for thy sake.
TAMBURLAINE [returning TECHELLES’s crown]
Thanks, King of Fez. Take here thy crown again.
150 Your presence, loving friends and fellow kings,
Makes me to surfeit in conceiving joy.
If all the crystal gates of Jove’s 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 plains a while
And after march to Turkey with our camp,
In number more than are the drops that fall
When Boreas rents a thousand swelling clouds;
160 And proud Orcanes of Natolia
With all his viceroys shall be so afraid
That though the stones, as at Deucalion’s flood,
Were turned to men, he should be overcome.
Such lavish will I make of Turkish blood
That Jove shall send his wingèd messenger
To bid me sheathe my sword and leave the field.
The sun, unable to sustain the sight,
Shall hide his head in Thetis’ watery lap
And leave his steeds to fair Boötes’ charge;
170 For half the world shall perish in this fight.
But now, my friends, let me examine ye.
How have ye spent your absent time from me?
USUMCASANE
My lord, our men of Barbary have marched
Four hundred miles with armour on their backs
And lain in leaguer fifteen months and more.
For since we left you at the Sultan’s court,
We have subdued the southern Guallatia
And all the land unto the coast of Spain.
We kept the narrow Strait of Gibraltar,
180 And made Canarea call us kings and lords,
Yet never did they recreate themselves
Or cease one day from war and hot alarms;
And therefore let them rest a while, my lord.
TAMBURLAINE
They shall, Casane, and ’tis time, i’faith.
TECHELLES
And I have marched along the river Nile
To Machda, where the mighty Christian priest
Called John the Great, sits in a milk-white robe,
Whose triple mitre I did take by force
190 And made him swear obedience to my crown.
From thence unto Cazates did I march,
Where Amazonians met me in the field,
With whom, being women, I vouchsafed a league;
And with my power did march to Zanzibar,
The western part of Afric, where I viewed
The Ethiopian sea, rivers and lakes,
But neither man nor child in all the land.
Therefore I took my course to Manico,
Where, unresisted, I removed my camp;
200 And by the coast of Byather at last
I came to Cubar, where the negroes dwell,
And, conquering that, made haste to Nubia.
There, having sacked Borno, the kingly seat,
I took the king and led him bound in chains
Unto Damasco, where I stayed before.
TAMBURLAINE
Well done, Techelles. What saith Theridamas?
THERIDAMAS
I left the confines and the bounds of Afric
And made a voyage into Europe,
Where by the river Tyros I subdued
210 Stoka, Podalia, and Codemia,
Then crossed the sea and came to Oblia,
And Nigra Silva, where the devils dance,
Which in despite of them I set on fire.
From thence I crossed the gulf called by the name
Mar
e Maggiore of th’inhabitants.
Yet shall my soldiers make no period
Until Natolia kneel before your feet.
TAMBURLAINE
Then will we triumph, banquet, and carouse;
Cooks shall have pensions to provide us cates
And glut us with the dainties of the world.
220 Lachryma Christi and Calabrian wines
Shall common soldiers drink in quaffing bowls –
Ay, liquid gold when we have conquered him,
Mingled with coral and with orient pearl.
Come, let us banquet and carouse the whiles.
Exeunt.
ACT 2
Scene 1
[Enter] SIGISMOND, FREDERICK, BALDWIN, with their train.
SIGISMOND
Now say, my lords of Buda and Bohemia,
What motion is it that inflames your thoughts
And stirs your valours to such sudden arms?
FREDERICK
Your majesty remembers, I am sure,
What cruel slaughter of our Christian bloods
These heathenish Turks and pagans lately made
Betwixt the city Zula and Danubius,
How through the midst of Varna and Bulgaria
And almost to the very walls of Rome
10 They have, not long since, massacred our camp.
It resteth now, then, that your majesty
Take all advantages of time and power,
And work revenge upon these infidels.
Your highness knows for Tamburlaine’s repair –
That strikes a terror to all Turkish hearts –
Natolia hath dismissed the greatest part
Of all his army, pitched against our power
Betwixt Cutheia and Orminius’ mount,
And sent them marching up to Belgasar,
20 Acantha, Antioch, and Caesaria,
To aid the kings of Soria and Jerusalem.
Now then, my lord, advantage take hereof,
And issue suddenly upon the rest,
That, in the fortune of their overthrow,
We may discourage all the pagan troop
That dare attempt to war with Christians.
SIGISMOND
But calls not, then, your grace to memory
The league we lately made with King Orcanes,
Confirmed by oath and articles of peace,
And calling Christ for record of our truths?
30 This should be treachery and violence
Against the grace of our profession.
BALDWIN
No whit, my lord. For with such infidels,
In whom no faith nor true religion rests,
We are not bound to those accomplishments
The holy laws of Christendom enjoin;
But as the faith which they profanely plight
Is not by necessary policy
To be esteemed assurance for ourselves,
So what we vow to them should not infringe