Tamburlaine the Great Volume I Part 6

[Exeunt, drums sounding.]

SCENE VII.

Alarms of battle within. Then enter COSROE wounded, TAMBURLAINE, THERIDAMAS, TECh.e.l.lES, USUMCASANE, with others.

COSROE. Barbarous [122] and b.l.o.o.d.y 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 grieved soul; And death arrests the organ of my voice, Who, entering at the breach thy sword hath made, Sacks every vein and artier [123] of my heart.-- b.l.o.o.d.y and insatiate Tamburlaine!

TAMBURLAINE. The thirst of reign and sweetness of a crown, That caus'd the eldest son of heavenly Ops To thrust his doting father from his chair, And place himself in the empyreal heaven, Mov'd me to manage arms against thy state.

What better precedent than mighty Jove?

Nature, that fram'd us of four elements Warring within our b.r.e.a.s.t.s for regiment, [124]

Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds: Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend The wondrous architecture of the world, And measure every wandering planet's course, Still climbing after knowledge infinite, And always moving as the restless spheres, Will us to wear ourselves, and never rest, Until we reach the ripest fruit [125] of all, That perfect bliss and sole felicity, The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.

THERIDAMAS. And that made me to join with Tamburlaine; For he is gross and like the ma.s.sy earth That moves not upwards, nor by princely deeds Doth mean to soar above the highest sort.

TECh.e.l.lES. 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 gain'd each of them a crown, So do we hope to reign in Asia, If Tamburlaine be plac'd in Persia.

COSROE. The strangest men that ever nature made!

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 h.e.l.l, And summons all my senses to depart: The heat and moisture, which did feed each other, For want of nourishment to feed them both, Are [126] dry and cold; and now doth ghastly Death With greedy talents [127] gripe my bleeding heart, And like a harpy [128] tires on my life.-- Theridamas and Tamburlaine, I die: And fearful vengeance light upon you both!

[Dies.--TAMBURLAINE takes COSROE'S crown, and puts it on his own head.]

TAMBURLAINE. Not all the curses which the [129] Furies breathe Shall make me leave so rich a prize as this.

Theridamas, Tech.e.l.les, and the rest, Who think you now is king of Persia?

ALL. Tamburlaine! Tamburlaine!

TAMBURLAINE. Though Mars himself, the angry G.o.d of arms, And all the earthly potentates conspire 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 G.o.ds had held a parliament, And all p.r.o.nounc'd me king of Persia.

[Exeunt.]

ACT III.

SCENE I.

Enter BAJAZETH, the KINGS OF FEZ, MOROCCO, and ARGIER, with others, in great pomp.

BAJAZETH. Great kings of Barbary, and my portly ba.s.soes, [130]

We hear the Tartars and the eastern thieves, Under the conduct of one Tamburlaine, Presume a bickering with your emperor, And think to rouse us from our dreadful siege Of the famous Grecian Constantinople.

You know our army is invincible; As many circ.u.mcised Turks we have, And warlike bands of Christians renied, [131]

As hath the ocean or the Terrene [132] sea Small drops of water when the moon begins To join in one her semicircled horns: Yet would we not be brav'd with foreign power, Nor raise our siege before the Grecians yield, Or breathless lie before the city-walls.

KING OF FEZ. Renowmed [133] emperor and mighty general, What, if you sent the ba.s.soes of your guard To charge him to remain in Asia, Or else to threaten death and deadly arms As from the mouth of mighty Bajazeth?

BAJAZETH. Hie thee, my ba.s.so, [134] 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 [135] once to set his foot in [136] Africa, Or spread [137] his colours in Graecia, 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 measur'd heaven [138]

With triple circuit, thou regreet us not, We mean to take his morning's next arise For messenger he will not be reclaim'd, And mean to fetch thee in despite of him.

Ba.s.sO. Most great and puissant monarch of the earth, Your ba.s.so will accomplish your behest, And shew your pleasure to the Persian, As fits the legate of the stately Turk.

[Exit.]

KING OF 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[s] at my looks.

KING OF MOROCCO. The spring is hinder'd 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 mult.i.tudes.

BAJAZETH. All this is true as holy Mahomet; And all the trees are blasted with our breaths.

KING OF FEZ. What thinks your greatness best to be achiev'd In pursuit of the city's overthrow?

BAJAZETH. I will the captive pioners [139] of Argier Cut off the water that by leaden pipes Runs to the city from the mountain Carnon; Two thousand horse shall forage up and down, That no relief or succour come by land; And all the sea my galleys countermand: Then shall our footmen lie within the trench, And with their cannons, mouth'd like Orcus' gulf, Batter the walls, and we will enter in; And thus the Grecians shall be conquered.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II.

Enter ZENOCRATE, AGYDAS, ANIPPE, with others.

AGYDAS. Madam Zenocrate, may I presume To know the cause of these unquiet fits That work such trouble to your wonted rest?

'Tis more than pity such a heavenly face Should by heart's sorrow wax so wan and pale, When your offensive rape by Tamburlaine (Which of your whole displeasures should be most) Hath seem'd to be digested long ago.

ZENOCRATE. Although it be digested long ago, As his exceeding favours have deserv'd, And might content the Queen of Heaven, as well As it hath chang'd my first-conceiv'd disdain; Yet since a farther pa.s.sion feeds my thoughts With ceaseless [140] and disconsolate conceits, [141]

Which dye my looks so lifeless as they are, And might, if my extremes had full events, Make me the ghastly counterfeit [142] of death.

AGYDAS. Eternal heaven sooner be dissolv'd, And all that pierceth Phoebus' silver eye, Before such hap fall to Zenocrate!

ZENOCRATE. Ah, life and soul, still hover in his [143] breast, And leave my body senseless as the earth, Or else unite you [144] to his life and soul, That I may live and die with Tamburlaine!

Enter, behind, TAMBURLAINE, with TECh.e.l.lES, and others.