Tamburlaine the Great Volume I Part 10

ANIPPE. Let these be warnings, then, for you, [204] my slave, How you abuse the person of the king; Or else I swear to have you whipt stark nak'd. [205]

BAJAZETH. Great Tamburlaine, great in my overthrow, Ambitious pride shall make thee fall as low, For treading on the back of Bajazeth, That should be horsed on four mighty kings.

TAMBURLAINE. Thy names, and t.i.tles, and thy dignities [206]

Are fled from Bajazeth, and remain with me, That will maintain it 'gainst a world of kings.-- Put him in again.

[They put him into the cage.]

BAJAZETH. Is this a place for mighty Bajazeth?

Confusion light on him that helps thee thus!

TAMBURLAINE. There, whiles [207] he lives, shall Bajazeth be kept; And, where I go, be thus in triumph drawn; And thou, his wife, shalt [208] feed him with the sc.r.a.ps My servitors shall bring thee from my board; For he that gives him other food than this, Shall sit by him, and starve to death himself: This is my mind, and I will have it so.

Not all the kings and emperors of the earth, If they would lay their crowne before my feet, Shall ransom him, or take him from his cage: The ages that shall talk of Tamburlaine, Even from this day to Plato's wondrous year, Shall talk how I have handled Bajazeth: These Moors, that drew him from Bithynia To fair Damascus, where we now remain, Shall lead him with us wheresoe'er we go.-- Tech.e.l.les, and my loving followers, Now may we see Damascus' lofty towers, Like to the shadows of Pyramides That with their beauties grace [209] the Memphian fields.

The golden stature [210] of their feather'd bird, [211]

That spreads her wings upon the city-walls, Shall not defend it from our battering shot: The townsmen mask in silk and cloth of gold, And every house is as a treasury; The men, the treasure, and the town are [212] ours.

THERIDAMAS. Your tents of white now pitch'd before the gates, And gentle flags of amity display'd, I doubt not but the governor will yield, Offering Damascus to your majesty.

TAMBURLAINE. So shall he have his life, and all the rest: But, if he stay until the b.l.o.o.d.y flag Be once advanc'd on my vermilion tent, He dies, and those that kept us out so long; And, when they see me march in black array, With mournful streamers hanging down their heads, Were in that city all the world contain'd, Not one should scape, but perish by our swords.

ZENOCRATE. Yet would you have some pity for my sake, Because it is my country [213] and my father's.

TAMBURLAINE. Not for the world, Zenocrate, if I have sworn.-- Come; bring in the Turk.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE III.

Enter SOLDAN, KING OF ARABIA, [214] CAPOLIN, and SOLDIERS, with streaming colours.

SOLDAN. Methinks we march as Meleager did, Environed with brave Argolian knights, To chase the savage Calydonian [215] boar, Or Cephalus, with l.u.s.ty [216] Theban youths, Against the wolf that angry Themis sent To waste and spoil the sweet Aonian fields.

A monster of five hundred thousand heads, Compact of rapine, piracy, and spoil, The sc.u.m of men, the hate and scourge of G.o.d, Raves in Aegyptia, and annoyeth us: My lord, it is the b.l.o.o.d.y Tamburlaine, A st.u.r.dy felon, and [217] a base-bred thief, By murder raised to the Persian crown, That dare control us in our territories.

To tame the pride of this presumptuous beast, Join your Arabians with the Soldan's power; Let us unite our royal bands in one, And hasten to remove Damascus' siege.

It is a blemish to the majesty And high estate of mighty emperors, That such a base usurping vagabond Should brave a king, or wear a princely crown.

KING OF ARABIA. Renowmed [218] Soldan, have you lately heard The overthrow of mighty Bajazeth About the confines of Bithynia?

The slavery wherewith he persecutes The n.o.ble Turk and his great emperess?

SOLDAN. I have, and sorrow for his bad success; But, n.o.ble lord of great Arabia, Be so persuaded that the Soldan is No more dismay'd with tidings of his fall, Than in the haven when the pilot stands, And views a stranger's ship rent in the winds, And shivered against a craggy rock: Yet in compa.s.sion to his wretched state, A sacred vow to heaven and him I make, Confirming it with Ibis' holy name, [219]

That Tamburlaine shall rue the day, the [220] hour, Wherein he wrought such ignominious wrong Unto the hallow'd person of a prince, Or kept the fair Zenocrate so long, As concubine, I fear, to feed his l.u.s.t.

KING OF ARABIA. Let grief and fury hasten on revenge; Let Tamburlaine for his offences feel Such plagues as heaven and we can pour on him: I long to break my spear upon his crest, And prove the weight of his victorious arm; For fame, I fear, hath been too prodigal In sounding through the world his partial praise.

SOLDAN. Capolin, hast thou survey'd our powers?

CAPOLIN. Great emperors of Egypt and Arabia, The number of your hosts united is, A hundred and fifty thousand horse, Two hundred thousand foot, brave men-at-arms, Courageous and [221] full of hardiness, As frolic as the hunters in the chase Of savage beasts amid the desert woods.

KING OF ARABIA. My mind presageth fortunate success; And, Tamburlaine, my spirit doth foresee The utter ruin of thy men and thee.

SOLDAN. Then rear your standards; let your sounding drums Direct our soldiers to Damascus' walls.-- Now, Tamburlaine, the mighty Soldan comes, And leads with him the great Arabian king, To dim thy baseness and [222] obscurity, Famous for nothing but for theft and spoil; To raze and scatter thy inglorious crew Of Scythians and slavish Persians.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE IV.

A banquet set out; and to it come TAMBURLAINE all in scarlet, ZENOCRATE, THERIDAMAS, TECh.e.l.lES, USUMCASANE, BAJAZETH drawn in his cage, ZABINA, and others.

TAMBURLAINE. Now hang our b.l.o.o.d.y colours by Damascus, Reflexing hues of blood upon their heads, While they walk quivering on their city-walls, Half-dead for fear before they feel my wrath.

Then let us freely banquet, and carouse Full bowls of wine unto the G.o.d of war, That means to fill your helmets full of gold, And make Damascus' spoils as rich to you As was to Jason Colchos' golden fleece.-- And now, Bajazeth, hast thou any stomach?

BAJAZETH. Ay, such a stomach, cruel Tamburlaine, as I could willingly feed upon thy blood-raw heart.

TAMBURLAINE. Nay, thine own is easier to come by: pluck out that; and 'twill serve thee and thy wife.--Well, Zenocrate, Tech.e.l.les, and the rest, fall to your victuals.

BAJAZETH. Fall to, and never may your meat digest!-- Ye Furies, that can mask [223] invisible, Dive to the bottom of Avernus' pool, And in your hands bring h.e.l.lish poison up, And squeeze it in the cup of Tamburlaine!

Or, winged snakes of Lerna, cast your stings, And leave your venoms in this tyrant's dish?

ZABINA. And may this banquet prove as ominous As Progne's to th' adulterous Thracian king That fed upon the substance of his child!

ZENOCRATE. My lord, [224] how can you suffer these Outrageous curses by these slaves of yours?

TAMBURLAINE. To let them see, divine Zenocrate, I glory in the curses of my foes, Having the power from the empyreal heaven To turn them all upon their proper heads.

TECh.e.l.lES. I pray you, give them leave, madam; this speech is a goodly refreshing for them. [225]

THERIDAMAS. But, if his highness would let them be fed, it would do them more good.

TAMBURLAINE. Sirrah, why fall you not to? are you so daintily brought up, you cannot eat your own flesh?

BAJAZETH. First, legions of devils shall tear thee in pieces.

USUMCASANE. Villain, knowest thou to whom thou speakest?

TAMBURLAINE. O, let him alone.--Here; [226] eat, sir; take it from [227] my sword's point, or I'll thrust it to thy heart.

[BAJAZETH takes the food, and stamps upon it.]

THERIDAMAS. He stamps it under his feet, my lord.

TAMBURLAINE. Take it up, villain, and eat it; or I will make thee slice [228] the brawns of thy arms into carbonadoes and eat them.

USUMCASANE. Nay, 'twere better he killed his wife, and then she shall be sure not to be starved, and he be provided for a month's victual beforehand.