And thou shalt see a man greater than Mahomet,
In whose high looks is much more majesty
Than from the concave superficies
Of Jove’s vast palace, the empyreal orb,
Unto the shining bower where Cynthia sits
50 Like lovely Thetis in a crystal robe;
That treadeth Fortune underneath his feet
And makes the mighty god of arms his slave;
On whom Death and the Fatal Sisters wait
With naked swords and scarlet liveries;
Before whom, mounted on a lion’s back,
Rhamnusia bears a helmet full of blood
And strews the way with brains of slaughtered men;
By whose proud side the ugly Furies run,
Hearkening when he shall bid them plague the world;
60 Over whose zenith, clothed in windy air
And eagle’s wings joined to her feathered breast,
Fame hovereth, sounding of her golden trump,
That to the adverse poles of that straight line
Which measureth the glorious frame of heaven
The name of mighty Tamburlaine is spread –
And him, fair lady, shall thy eyes behold.
Come.
OLYMPIA [kneeling]
Take pity of a lady’s ruthful tears,
That humbly craves upon her knees to stay
70 And cast her body in the burning flame
That feeds upon her son’s and husband’s flesh.
TECHELLES
Madam, sooner shall fire consume us both
Than scorch a face so beautiful as this,
In frame of which Nature hath showed more skill
Than when she gave eternal chaos form,
Drawing from it the shining lamps of heaven.
THERIDAMAS
Madam, I am so far in love with you
That you must go with us. No remedy.
OLYMPIA
80 Then carry me I care not where you will,
And let the end of this my fatal journey
Be likewise end to my accursèd life.
TECHELLES
No madam, but the beginning of your joy.
Come willingly, therefore.
THERIDAMAS
Soldiers, now let us meet the general,
Who by this time is at Natolia,
Ready to charge the army of the Turk.
The gold, the silver, and the pearl ye got
Rifling this fort, divide in equal shares.
90 This lady shall have twice so much again
Out of the coffers of our treasury.
Exeunt.
Scene 5
[Enter] CALLAPINE, ORCANES, JERUSALEM, TREBIZOND, SORIA, ALMEDA, with their train. [To them a MESSENGER.]
MESSENGER
Renownèd emperor, mighty Callapine,
God’s great lieutenant over all the world,
Here at Aleppo with an host of men
Lies Tamburlaine, this king of Persia –
In number more than are the quivering leaves
Of Ida’s forest, where your highness’ hounds
With open cry pursues the wounded stag –
Who means to girt Natolia’s walls with siege,
Fire the town, and overrun the land.
CALLAPINE
My royal army is as great as his,
10 That from the bounds of Phrygia to the sea
Which washeth Cyprus with his brinish waves,
Covers the hills, the valleys, and the plains.
Viceroys and peers of Turkey, play the men!
Whet all your swords to mangle Tamburlaine,
His sons, his captains, and his followers.
By Mahomet, not one of them shall live!
The field wherein this battle shall be fought
For ever term the Persians’ sepulchre
20 In memory of this our victory.
ORCANES
Now he that calls himself the scourge of Jove,
The emperor of the world, and earthly god,
Shall end the warlike progress he intends
And travel headlong to the lake of hell
Where legions of devils, knowing he must die
Here in Natolia by your highness’ hands,
All brandishing their brands of quenchless fire,
Stretching their monstrous paws, grin with their teeth
And guard the gates to entertain his soul.
CALLAPINE
Tell me, viceroys, the number of your men,
30 And what our army royal is esteemed.
JERUSALEM
From Palestina and Jerusalem,
Are come since last we showed your majesty.
ORCANES
So from Arabia desert, and the bounds
Of that sweet land whose brave metropolis
Re-edified the fair Semiramis,
Came forty thousand warlike foot and horse
Since last we numbered to your majesty.
TREBIZOND
From Trebizond in Asia the Less,
40 Naturalized Turks and stout Bithynians
Came to my bands full fifty thousand more
That, fighting, knows not what retreat doth mean,
Nor e’er return but with the victory,
Since last we numbered to your majesty.
SORIA
Of Sorians from Halla is repaired,
And neighbour cities of your highness’ land,
Ten thousand horse and thirty thousand foot
Since last we numbered to your majesty;
50 So that the army royal is esteemed
Six hundred thousand valiant fighting men.
CALLAPINE
Then welcome, Tamburlaine, unto thy death.
Come, puissant viceroys, let us to the field –
The Persians’ sepulchre – and sacrifice
Mountains of breathless men to Mahomet,
Who now with Jove opens the firmament
To see the slaughter of our enemies.
[Enter] TAMBURLAINE with his three SONS [CALYPHAS, AMYRAS, CELEBINUS], USUMCASANE, with other [SOLDIERS].
TAMBURLAINE
How now, Casane? See, a knot of kings,
Sitting as if they were a-telling riddles.
USUMCASANE
60 My lord, your presence makes them pale and wan.
Poor souls, they look as if their deaths were near.
TAMBURLAINE
Why, so he is, Casane. I am here.
But yet I’ll save their lives and make them slaves.
Ye petty kings of Turkey, I am come
As Hector did into the Grecian camp
To overdare the pride of Graecia
And set his warlike person to the view
Of fierce Achilles, rival of his fame.
I do you honour in the simile;
70 For if I should, as Hector did Achilles
(The worthiest knight that ever brandished sword)
Challenge in combat any of you all,
I see how fearfully ye would refuse
And fly my glove as from a scorpion.
ORCANES
Now thou art fearful of thy army’s strength,
Thou wouldst with overmatch of person fight.
But, shepherd’s issue, baseborn Tamburlaine,
Think of thy end. This sword shall lance thy throat.
TAMBURLAINE
Villain, the shepherd’s issue, at whose birth
Heaven did afford a gracious aspect
80 And joined those stars that shall be opposite
Even till the dissolution of the world,
And never meant to make a conqueror
So famous as is mighty Tamburlaine,
Shall so torment thee and that Callapine
That like a roguish runaway suborned
That villain there, that slave, that Turkish dog,
To false his service to
his sovereign,
As ye shall curse the birth of Tamburlaine.
CALLAPINE
Rail not, proud Scythian, I shall now revenge
90 My father’s vile abuses and mine own.
JERUSALEM
By Mahomet, he shall be tied in chains,
Rowing with Christians in a brigantine
About the Grecian isles to rob and spoil,
And turn him to his ancient trade again.
Methinks the slave should make a lusty thief.
CALLAPINE
Nay, when the battle ends, all we will meet
And sit in council to invent some pain
That most may vex his body and his soul.
TAMBURLAINE Sirrah Callapine, I’ll hang a clog about your
100 neck for running away again. You shall not trouble me thus
to come and fetch you.
But as for you, viceroy, you shall have bits
And, harnessed like my horses, draw my coach,
And, when ye stay, be lashed with whips of wire.
I’ll have you learn to feed on provender,
And in a stable lie upon the planks.
ORCANES
But, Tamburlaine, first thou shalt kneel to us
And humbly crave a pardon for thy life.
TREBIZOND
110 The common soldiers of our mighty host
Shall bring thee bound unto the general’s tent.
SORIA
And all have jointly sworn thy cruel death,
Or bind thee in eternal torment’s wrath.
TAMBURLAINE Well, sirs, diet yourselves. You know I shall have occasion shortly to journey you.
CELEBINUS
See, father, how Almeda the gaoler looks upon us!
TAMBURLAINE [to ALMEDA]
Villain, traitor, damned fugitive,
I’ll make thee wish the earth had swallowed thee.
See’st thou not death within my wrathful looks?
120 Go, villain, cast thee headlong from a rock,
Or rip thy bowels and rend out thy heart
T’appease my wrath, or else I’ll torture thee,
Searing thy hateful flesh with burning irons
And drops of scalding lead, while all thy joints
Be racked and beat asunder with the wheel.
For, if thou livest, not any element
Shall shroud thee from the wrath of Tamburlaine.
CALLAPINE
Well, in despite of thee he shall be king.
Come, Almeda, receive this crown of me.
130 I here invest thee king of Ariadan,
Bordering on Mare Rosso near to Mecca.
[CALLAPINE offers ALMEDA a crown.]
ORCANES [to ALMEDA] What, take it, man!
ALMEDA [to TAMBURLAINE] Good my lord, let me take it.
CALLAPINE [to ALMEDA] Dost thou ask him leave? Here, take it.
TAMBURLAINE [to ALMEDA] Go to, sirrah, take your crown, and make up the half dozen.
[ALMEDA takes the crown.]
So, sirrah, now you are a king you must give arms.
ORCANES [to TAMBURLAINE] So he shall, and wear thy head in his scutcheon.
140
TAMBURLAINE No, let him hang a bunch of keys on his standard, to put him in remembrance he was a gaoler, that, when I take him, I may knock out his brains with them, and lock you in the stable when you shall come sweating from my chariot.
TREBIZOND Away! Let us to the field, that the villain may be slain.
TAMBURLAINE [to a SOLDIER] Sirrah, prepare whips, and bring my chariot to my tent. For as soon as the battle is done, I’ll ride in triumph through the camp.
150 Enter THERIDAMAS, TECHELLES, and their train.
How now, ye petty kings, lo, here are bugs
Will make the hair stand upright on your heads
And cast your crowns in slavery at their feet.
Welcome, Theridamas and Techelles both.
See ye this rout, and know ye this same king?
THERIDAMAS
Ay, my lord, he was Callapine’s keeper.
TAMBURLAINE Well, now you see he is a king, look to him, Theridamas, when we are fighting, lest he hide his crown as the foolish King of Persia did.
160 SORIA No, Tamburlaine, he shall not be put to that exigent, I warrant thee.
TAMBURLAINE
You know not, sir.
But now, my followers and my loving friends,
Fight as you ever did, like conquerors.
The glory of this happy day is yours.
My stern aspect shall make fair Victory,
Hovering betwixt our armies, light on me,
Loaden with laurel wreaths to crown us all.
TECHELLES
I smile to think how, when the field is fought
170 And rich Natolia ours, our men shall sweat
With carrying pearl and treasure on their backs.
TAMBURLAINE
You shall be princes all immediately.
Come fight, ye Turks, or yield us victory.
ORCANES
No, we will meet thee, slavish Tamburlaine.
Exeunt.
ACT 4
Scene 1
Alarm. AMYRAS and CELEBINUS issue from the tent where CALYPHAS sits asleep.
AMYRAS
Now in their glories shine the golden crowns
Of these proud Turks, much like so many suns
That half dismay the majesty of heaven.
Now, brother, follow we our father’s sword
That flies with fury swifter than our thoughts
And cuts down armies with his conquering wings.
CELEBINUS
Call forth our lazy brother from the tent,
For, if my father miss him in the field,
Wrath kindled in the furnace of his breast
10 Will send a deadly lightning to his heart.
AMYRAS [calling into the tent]
Brother, ho! What, given so much to sleep
You cannot leave it when our enemies’ drums
And rattling cannons thunder in our ears
Our proper ruin and our father’s foil?
CALYPHAS
Away, ye fools! My father needs not me,
Nor you, in faith, but that you will be thought
More childish-valorous than manly-wise.
If half our camp should sit and sleep with me,
My father were enough to scare the foe.
You do dishonour to his majesty
20 To think our helps will do him any good.
AMYRAS
What, dar’st thou then be absent from the fight,
Knowing my father hates thy cowardice
And oft hath warned thee to be still in field,
When he himself amidst the thickest troops
Beats down our foes to flesh our taintless swords?
CALYPHAS
I know, sir, what it is to kill a man.
It works remorse of conscience in me.
I take no pleasure to be murderous,
30 Nor care for blood when wine will quench my thirst.
CELEBINUS
O cowardly boy! Fie, for shame, come forth.
Thou dost dishonour manhood and thy house.
CALYPHAS
Go, go, tall stripling, fight you for us both,
And take my other toward brother here,
For person like to prove a second Mars.
’Twill please my mind as well to hear both you
Have won a heap of honour in the field
And left your slender carcasses behind
As if I lay with you for company.
AMYRAS
40 You will not go, then?
CALYPHAS
You will not go, then?
CALYPHAS
You say true.
AMYRAS
Were all the lofty mounts of Zona Mundi
That fill the midst of farthest Tartary
Turned into pearl and proffered for my
stay,
I would not bide the fury of my father
When, made a victor in these haughty arms,
He comes and finds his sons have had no shares
In all the honours he proposed for us.
CALYPHAS
Take you the honour, I will take my ease;
50 My wisdom shall excuse my cowardice.
I go into the field before I need?
Alarm, and AMYRAS and CELEBINUS run in.
The bullets fly at random where they list,
And, should I go and kill a thousand men,
I were as soon rewarded with a shot,
And sooner far than he that never fights.
And, should I go and do nor harm nor good,
I might have harm, which all the good I have,
Joined with my father’s crown, would never cure.
I’ll to cards. Perdicas!
[Enter PERDICAS.]
PERDICAS Here, my lord.
60 CALYPHAS Come, thou and I will go to cards to drive away the time.
PERDICAS Content, my lord. But what shall we play for?
CALYPHAS Who shall kiss the fairest of the Turks’ concubines
first, when my father hath conquered them.
PERDICAS Agreed, i’faith.
They play [in the open tent].
CALYPHAS They say I am a coward, Perdicas, and I fear as little
their taratantaras, their swords, or their cannons as I do a
naked lady in a net of gold, and, for fear I should be afraid,
would put it off and come to bed with me.
70 PERDICAS Such a fear, my lord, would never make ye retire.
CALYPHAS I would my father would le me be put in the front
of such a battle once, to try my valour.
Alarm.
What a coil they keep! I believe there will be some hurt done
anon amongst them.
Enter TAMBURLAINE, THERIDAMAS, TECHELLES,
USUMCASANE, AMYRAS, CELEBINUS, leading the Turkish
kings [ORCANES of Natolia, JERUSALEM, TREBIZOND,
SORIA; and SOLDIERS].
TAMBURLAINE
See now, ye slaves, my children stoops your pride
And leads your glories sheep-like to the sword.
Bring them, my boys, and tell me if the wars
Be not a life that may illustrate gods,
80 And tickle not your spirits with desire
Still to be trained in arms and chivalry?
AMYRAS
Shall we let go these kings again, my lord,
To gather greater numbers ’gainst our power,
That they may say it is not chance doth this
But matchless strength and magnanimity?
TAMBURLAINE
No, no, Amyras, tempt not Fortune so.
Cherish thy valour still with fresh supplies,
And glut it not with stale and daunted foes.
But where’s this coward – villain, not my son,