I’ll make the kings of India, ere I die, Offer their mines, to sue for peace, to me, And dig for treasure to appease my wrath.– Come, bind them both, and one lead in the Turk; The Turkess let my love’s maid lead away, [They bind them.]
BAJAZETH. Ah, villains, dare you touch my sacred arms?– O Mahomet! O sleepy Mahomet!
ZABINA. O cursed Mahomet, that mak’st us thus The slaves to Scythians rude and barbarous!
TAMBURLAINE. Come, bring them in; and for this happy conquest Triumph, and solemnize a martial<185> feast. [Exeunt.]
ACT IV.
SCENE I.
Enter the SOLDAN OF EGYPT, CAPOLIN, LORDS, and a MESSENGER.
SOLDAN. Awake, ye men of Memphis!<186> hear the clang Of Scythian trumpets; hear the basilisks,<187> That, roaring, shake Damascus’ turrets down! The rogue of Volga holds Zenocrate,
The Soldan’s daughter, for his concubine, And, with a troop of thieves and vagabonds, Hath spread his colours to our high disgrace, While you, faint-hearted base Egyptians, Lie slumbering on the flowery banks of Nile, As crocodiles that unaffrighted rest
While thundering cannons rattle on their skins.
MESSENGER. Nay, mighty Soldan, did your greatness see The frowning looks of fiery Tamburlaine, That with his terror and imperious eyes
Commands the hearts of his associates, It might amaze your royal majesty.
SOLDAN. Villain, I tell thee, were that Tamburlaine As monstrous<188> as Gorgon prince of hell, The Soldan would not start a foot from him. But speak, what power hath he?
MESSENGER. Mighty lord,
Three hundred thousand men in armour clad, Upon their prancing steeds, disdainfully With wanton paces trampling on the ground; Five hundred thousand footmen threatening shot, Shaking their swords, their spears, and iron bills, Environing their standard round, that stood As bristle-pointed as a thorny wood;
Their warlike engines and munition
Exceed the forces of their martial men.
SOLDAN. Nay, could their numbers countervail the stars, Or ever-drizzling<189> drops of April showers, Or wither’d leaves that autumn shaketh down, Yet would the Soldan by his conquering power So scatter and consume them in his rage, That not a man should<190> live to rue their fall.
CAPOLIN. So might your highness, had you time to sort Your fighting men, and raise your royal host; But Tamburlaine by expedition
Advantage takes of your unreadiness.
SOLDAN. Let him take all th’ advantages he can: Were all the world conspir’d to fight for him, Nay, were he devil,<191> as he is no man, Yet in revenge of fair Zenocrate,
Whom he detaineth in despite of us, This arm should send him down to Erebus, To shroud his shame in darkness of the night.
MESSENGER. Pleaseth your mightiness to understand, His resolution far exceedeth all.
The first day when he pitcheth down his tents, White is their hue, and on his silver crest A snowy feather spangled-white he bears, To signify the mildness of his mind,
That, satiate with spoil, refuseth blood: But, when Aurora mounts the second time, As red as scarlet is his furniture;
Then must his kindled wrath be quench’d with blood, Not sparing any that can manage arms:
But, if these threats move not submission, Black are his colours, black pavilion;
His spear, his shield, his horse, his armour, plumes, And jetty feathers, menace death and hell; Without respect of sex, degree, or age,
He razeth all his foes with fire and sword.
SOLDAN. Merciless villain, peasant, ignorant Of lawful arms or martial discipline!
Pillage and murder are his usual trades: The slave usurps the glorious name of war. See, Capolin, the fair Arabian king,<192> That hath been disappointed by this slave Of my fair daughter and his princely love, May have fresh warning to go war with us, And be reveng’d for her disparagement.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE II.
Enter TAMBURLAINE, TECHELLES, THERIDAMAS, USUMCASANE, ZENOCRATE, ANIPPE, two MOORS drawing BAJAZETH in a cage, and ZABINA following him.
TAMBURLAINE. Bring out my footstool.
[They take BAJAZETH out of the cage.]
BAJAZETH. Ye holy priests of heavenly Mahomet, That, sacrificing, slice and cut your flesh, Staining his altars with your purple blood, Make heaven to frown, and every fixed star To suck up poison from the moorish fens, And pour it<193> in this glorious tyrant’s throat!
TAMBURLAINE. The chiefest god, first mover of that sphere Enchas’d with thousands ever-shining lamps, Will sooner burn the glorious frame of heaven Than it should<194> so conspire my overthrow. But, villain, thou that wishest this<195> to me, Fall prostrate on the low disdainful earth, And be the footstool of great Tamburlaine, That I may rise into<196> my royal throne.
BAJAZETH. First shalt thou rip my bowels with thy sword, And sacrifice my heart<197> to death and hell, Before I yield to such a slavery.
TAMBURLAINE. Base villain, vassal, slave to Tamburlaine, Unworthy to embrace or touch the ground
That bears the honour of my royal weight; Stoop, villain, stoop! stoop;<198> for so he bids That may command thee piecemeal to be torn, Or scatter’d like the lofty cedar-trees
Struck with the voice of thundering Jupiter.
BAJAZETH. Then, as I look down to the damned fiends, Fiends, look on me! and thou, dread god of hell, With ebon sceptre strike this hateful earth, And make it swallow both of us at once!
[TAMBURLAINE gets up on him into his chair.]
TAMBURLAINE. Now clear the triple region of the air, And let the Majesty of Heaven behold
Their scourge and terror tread on emperors. Smile, stars that reign’d at my nativity, And dim the brightness of your<199> neighbour lamps; Disdain to borrow light of Cynthia!
For I, the chiefest lamp of all the earth, First rising in the east with mild aspect, But fixed now in the meridian line,
Will send up fire to your turning spheres, And cause the sun to borrow light of you. My sword struck fire from his coat of steel, Even in Bithynia, when I took this Turk; As when a fiery exhalation,
Wrapt in the bowels of a freezing cloud, Fighting for passage, make[s] the welkin crack, And casts a flash of lightning to<200> the earth: But, ere I march to wealthy Persia,
Or leave Damascus and th’ Egyptian fields, As was the fame of Clymene’s brain-sick son That almost brent<201> the axle-tree of heaven, So shall our swords, our lances, and our shot Fill all the air with fiery meteors;
Then, when the sky shall wax as red as blood, It shall be said I made it red myself,
To make me think of naught but blood and war.
ZABINA. Unworthy king, that by thy cruelty Unlawfully usurp’st the Persian seat,
Dar’st thou, that never saw an emperor Before thou met my husband in the field, Being thy captive, thus abuse his state, Keeping his kingly body in a cage,
That roofs of gold and sun-bright palaces Should have prepar’d to entertain his grace? And treading him beneath thy loathsome feet, Whose feet the kings<202> of Africa have kiss’d?
TECHELLES. You must devise some torment worse, my lord, To make these captives rein their lavish tongues.
TAMBURLAINE. Zenocrate, look better to your slave.
ZENOCRATE. She is my handmaid’s slave, and she shall look That these abuses flow not from<203> her tongue.– Chide her, Anippe.
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 titles, 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 scraps 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.– Techelles, 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 bloody 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 lusty<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 scum of men, the hate and scourge of God, Raves in Aegyptia, and annoyeth us:
My lord, it is the bloody Tamburlaine, A sturdy 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 noble Turk and his great emperess?
SOLDAN. I have, and sorrow for his bad success; But, noble 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 compassion 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 lust.
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, TECHELLES, USUMCASANE, BAJAZETH drawn in his cage, ZABINA, and others.
TAMBURLAINE. Now hang our bloody 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 god 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, Techelles, 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 hellish 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.
TECHELLES. 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.
TAMBURLAINE. Here is my dagger: despatch her while she is fat; for, if she live but a while longer, she will fall<229> into a consumption with fretting, and then she will not be worth the eating.
THERIDAMAS. Dost thou think that Mahomet will suffer this?
TECHELLES. ‘Tis like he will, when he cannot let<230> it.
TAMBURLAINE. Go to; fall to your meat. What, not a bit!–Belike he hath not been watered to-day: give him some drink. [They give BAJAZETH water to drink, and he flings it on the ground.]
Fast, and welcome, sir, while<231> hunger make you eat.–How now, Zenocrate! doth not the Turk and his wife make a goodly show at a banquet?
ZENOCRATE. Yes, my lord.
THERIDAMAS.
Methinks ’tis a great deal better than a consort<232> of music.
TAMBURLAINE. Yet music would do well to cheer up Zenocrate. Pray thee, tell why art thou so sad? if thou wilt have a song, the Turk shall strain his voice: but why is it?
ZENOCRATE. My lord, to see my father’s town besieg’d, The country wasted where myself was born, How can it but afflict my very soul?
If any love remain in you, my lord, Or if my love unto your majesty
May merit favour at your highness’ hands, Then raise your siege from fair Damascus’ walls, And with my father take a friendly truce.
TAMBURLAINE. Zenocrate, were Egypt Jove’s own land, Yet would I with my sword make Jove to stoop. I will confute those blind geographers
That make a triple region in the world, Excluding regions which I mean to trace, And with this pen<233> reduce them to a map, Calling the provinces, cities, and towns, After my name and thine, Zenocrate:
Here at Damascus will I make the point That shall begin the perpendicular:
And wouldst thou have me buy thy father’s love With such a loss? tell me, Zenocrate.
ZENOCRATE. Honour still wait on happy Tamburlaine! Yet give me leave to plead for him, my lord.
TAMBURLAINE. Content thyself: his person shall be safe, And all the friends of fair Zenocrate,
If with their lives they will be pleas’d to yield, Or may be forc’d to make me emperor;
For Egypt and Arabia must be mine.– Feed, you slave; thou mayst think thyself happy to be fed from my trencher.
BAJAZETH. My empty stomach, full of idle heat, Draws bloody humours from my feeble parts, Preserving life by hastening<234> cruel death. My veins are pale; my sinews hard and dry; My joints benumb’d; unless I eat, I die.
ZABINA. Eat, Bajazeth; let us live in spite of them, looking some happy power will pity and enlarge us.
TAMBURLAINE. Here, Turk; wilt thou have a clean trencher?
BAJAZETH. Ay, tyrant, and more meat.
TAMBURLAINE. Soft, sir! you must be dieted; too much eating will make you surfeit.
THERIDAMAS. So it would, my lord, ‘specially<235> having so small a walk and so little exercise.
[A second course is brought in of crowns.]
TAMBURLAINE. Theridamas, Techelles, and Casane, here are the cates you desire to finger, are they not?
THERIDAMAS. Ay, my lord: but none save kings must feed with these.
TECHELLES. ‘Tis enough for us to see them, and for Tamburlaine only to enjoy them.
TAMBURLAINE. Well; here is now to the Soldan of Egypt, the King of Arabia, and the Governor of Damascus. Now, take these three crowns, and pledge me, my contributory kings. I crown you here, Theridamas, king of Argier; Techelles, king of Fez; and Usumcasane,
king of Morocco.<236>–How say you to this, Turk? these are not your contributory kings.
BAJAZETH. Nor shall they long be thine, I warrant them.
TAMBURLAINE. Kings of Argier, Morocco, and of Fez, You that have march’d with happy Tamburlaine As far as from the frozen plage<237> of heaven Unto the watery Morning’s ruddy bower,
And thence by land unto the torrid zone, Deserve these titles I endow you with
By valour<238> and by magnanimity. Your births shall be no blemish to your fame; For virtue is the fount whence honour springs, And they are worthy she investeth kings.
THERIDAMAS. And, since your highness hath so well vouchsaf’d, If we deserve them not with higher meeds Than erst our states and actions have retain’d, Take them away again,<239> and make us slaves.
TAMBURLAINE. Well said, Theridamas: when holy Fates Shall stablish me in strong Aegyptia,
We mean to travel to th’ antarctic pole, Conquering the people underneath our feet, And be renowm’d<240> as never emperors were.– Zenocrate, I will not crown thee yet,
Until with greater honours I be grac’d. [Exeunt.]
ACT V.
SCENE I.
Enter the GOVERNOR OF DAMASCUS<241> with three or four CITIZENS, and four VIRGINS with branches of laurel in their hands.
GOVERNOR. Still doth this man, or rather god of war, Batter our walls and beat our turrets down; And to resist with longer stubbornness,
Or hope of rescue from the Soldan’s power, Were but to bring our wilful overthrow,
And make us desperate of our threaten’d lives. We see his tents have now been altered
With terrors to the last and cruel’st hue; His coal-black colours, every where advanc’d, Threaten our city with a general spoil;
And, if we should with common rites of arms Offer our safeties to his clemency,
I fear the custom proper to his sword, Which he observes as parcel of his fame, Intending so to terrify the world,
By any innovation or remorse<242> Will never be dispens’d with till our deaths. Therefore, for these our harmless virgins’ sakes,<243> Whose honours and whose lives rely on him, Let us have hope that their unspotted prayers, Their blubber’d<244> cheeks, and hearty humble moans, Will melt his fury into some remorse,
And use us like a loving conqueror.<245>
FIRST VIRGIN. If humble suite or imprecations (Utter’d with tears of wretchedness and blood Shed from the heads and hearts of all our sex, Some made your wives, and some your children,) Might have entreated your obdurate breasts To entertain some care<246> of our securities Whiles only danger beat upon our walls,
These more than dangerous warrants of our death Had never been erected as they be,
Nor you depend on such weak helps<247> as we.
GOVERNOR. Well, lovely virgins, think our country’s care, Our love of honour, loath to be enthrall’d To foreign powers and rough imperious yokes, Would not with too much cowardice or<248> fear, Before all hope of rescue were denied,
Submit yourselves and us to servitude. Therefore, in that your safeties and our own, Your honours, liberties, and lives were weigh’d In equal care and balance with our own,
Endure as we the malice of our stars, The wrath of Tamburlaine and power<249> of wars; Or be the means the overweighing heavens Have kept to qualify these hot extremes, And bring us pardon in your cheerful looks.
SECOND VIRGIN. Then here, before the Majesty of Heaven And holy patrons of Aegyptia,
With knees and hearts submissive we entreat Grace to our words and pity to our looks, That this device may prove propitious,
And through the eyes and ears of Tamburlaine Convey events of mercy to his heart;
Grant that these signs of victory we yield May bind the temples of his conquering head, To hide the folded furrows of his brows, And shadow his displeased countenance
With happy looks of ruth and lenity. Leave us, my lord, and loving countrymen: What simple virgins may persuade, we will.
GOVERNOR. Farewell, sweet virgins, on whose safe return Depends our city, liberty, and lives.
[Exeunt all except the VIRGINS.]
Enter TAMBURLAINE, all in black and very melancholy, TECHELLES, THERIDAMAS, USUMCASANE, with others.
TAMBURLAINE. What, are the turtles fray’d out of their nests? Alas, poor fools, must you be first shall feel The sworn destruction of Damascus?
They knew<250> my custom; could they not as well Have sent ye out when first my milk-white flags, Through which sweet Mercy threw her gentle beams, Reflexed<251> them on their<252> disdainful eyes, As<253> now when fury and incensed hate Flings slaughtering terror from my coal-black tents,<254> And tells for truth submission<255> comes too late?
FIRST VIRGIN. Most happy king and emperor of the earth, Image of honour and nobility,
For whom the powers divine have made the world, And on whose throne the holy Graces sit; In whose sweet person is compris’d the sum Of Nature’s skill and heavenly majesty;
Pity our plights! O, pity poor Damascus! Pity old age, within whose silver hairs
Honour and reverence evermore have reign’d! Pity the marriage-bed, where many a lord, In prime and glory of his loving joy,
Embraceth now with tears of ruth and<256> blood The jealous body of his fearful wife,
Whose cheeks and hearts, so punish’d with conceit,<257> To think thy puissant never-stayed arm
Will part their bodies, and prevent their souls From heavens of comfort yet their age might bear, Now wax all pale and wither’d to the death, As well for grief our ruthless governor
Hath<258> thus refus’d the mercy of thy hand, (Whose sceptre angels kiss and Furies dread,) As for their liberties, their loves, or lives! O, then, for these, and such as we ourselves, For us, for infants, and for all our bloods, That never nourish’d<259> thought against thy rule, Pity, O, pity, sacred emperor,
The prostrate service of this wretched town; And take in sign thereof this gilded wreath, Whereto each man of rule hath given his hand, And wish’d,<260> as worthy subjects, happy means To be investers of thy royal brows
Even with the true Egyptian diadem!
TAMBURLAINE. Virgins, in vain you labour to prevent That which mine honour swears shall be perform’d. Behold my sword; what see you at the point?
FIRST VIRGIN. Nothing but fear and fatal steel, my lord.
TAMBURLAINE. Your fearful minds are thick and misty, then, For there sits Death; there sits imperious<261> Death, Keeping his circuit by the slicing edge. But I am pleas’d you shall not see him there; He now is seated on my horsemen’s spears, And on their points his fleshless body feeds.– Techelles, straight go charge a few of them To charge these dames, and shew my servant Death, Sitting in scarlet on their armed spears.
VIRGINS. O, pity us!
TAMBURLAINE. Away with them, I say, and shew them Death! [The VIRGINS are taken out by TECHELLES and others.] I will not spare these proud Egyptians,
Nor change my martial observations
For all the wealth of Gihon’s golden waves, Or for the love of Venus, would she leave The angry god of arms and lie with me.
They have refus’d the offer of their lives, And know my customs are as peremptory
As wrathful planets, death, or destiny. Re-enter TECHELLES.
What, have your horsemen shown the virgins Death?
TECHELLES. They have, my lord, and on Damascus’ walls Have hoisted up their slaughter’d carcasses.
TAMBURLAINE. A sight as baneful to their souls, I think, As are Thessalian drugs or mithridate:
But go, my lords, put the rest to the sword. [Exeunt all except TAMBURLAINE.]
Ah, fair Zenocrate!–divine Zenocrate! Fair is too foul an epithet for thee,–
That in thy passion<262> for thy country’s love, And fear to see thy kingly father’s harm, With hair dishevell’d wip’st thy watery cheeks; And, like to Flora in her morning’s pride, Shaking her silver tresses in the air,
Rain’st on the earth resolved<263> pearl in showers, And sprinklest sapphires on thy shining face, Where Beauty, mother to the Muses, sits, And comments volumes with her ivory pen, Taking instructions from thy flowing eyes; Eyes, when that Ebena steps to heaven,<264> In silence of thy solemn evening’s walk, Making the mantle of the richest night,
The moon, the planets, and the meteors, light; There angels in their crystal armours fight<265> A doubtful battle with my tempted thoughts For Egypt’s freedom and the Soldan’s life, His life that so consumes Zenocrate;
Whose sorrows lay more siege unto my soul Than all my army to Damascus’ walls;
And neither Persia’s<266> sovereign nor the Turk Troubled my senses with conceit of foil
So much by much as doth Zenocrate.
What is beauty, saith my sufferings, then? If all the pens that ever poets held
Had fed the feeling of their masters’ thoughts, And every sweetness that inspir’d their hearts, Their minds, and muses on admired themes; If all the heavenly quintessence they still<267> From their immortal flowers of poesy,
Wherein, as in a mirror, we perceive The highest reaches of a human wit;
If these had made one poem’s period, And all combin’d in beauty’s worthiness, Yet should there hover in their restless heads One thought, one grace, one wonder, at the least, Which into words no virtue can digest.
But how unseemly is it for my sex,
My discipline of arms and chivalry, My nature, and the terror of my name,
To harbour thoughts effeminate and faint! Save only that in beauty’s just applause, With whose instinct the soul of man is touch’d; And every warrior that is rapt with love Of fame, of valour, and of victory,
Must needs have beauty beat on his conceits: I thus conceiving,<268> and subduing both, That which hath stoop’d the chiefest of the gods, Even from the fiery-spangled veil of heaven, To feel the lovely warmth of shepherds’ flames, And mask in cottages of strowed reeds,
Shall give the world to note, for all my birth, That virtue solely is the sum of glory,
And fashions men with true nobility.– Who’s within there?
Enter ATTENDANTS.
Hath Bajazeth been fed to-day?
ATTEND.<269> Ay, my lord.
TAMBURLAINE. Bring him forth; and let us know if the town be ransacked.
[Exeunt ATTENDANTS.]
Enter TECHELLES, THERIDAMAS, USUMCASANE, and others.
TECHELLES. The town is ours, my lord, and fresh supply Of conquest and of spoil is offer’d us.
TAMBURLAINE. That’s well, Techelles. What’s the news?
TECHELLES. The Soldan and the Arabian king together March on us with<270> such eager violence As if there were no way but one with us.<271>
TAMBURLAINE. No more there is not, I warrant thee, Techelles.
ATTENDANTS bring in BAJAZETH in his cage, followed by ZABINA.
Exeunt ATTENDANTS.
THERIDAMAS. We know the victory is ours, my lord; But let us save the reverend Soldan’s life For fair Zenocrate that so laments his state.
TAMBURLAINE. That will we chiefly see unto, Theridamas, For sweet Zenocrate, whose worthiness
Deserves a conquest over every heart.– And now, my footstool, if I lose the field, You hope of liberty and restitution?–
Here let him stay, my masters, from the tents, Till we have made us ready for the field.– Pray for us, Bajazeth; we are going.
[Exeunt all except BAJAZETH and ZABINA.]
BAJAZETH. Go, never to return with victory! Millions of men encompass thee about,
And gore thy body with as many wounds! Sharp forked arrows light upon thy horse! Furies from the black Cocytus’ lake,
Break up the earth, and with their fire-brands Enforce thee run upon the baneful pikes! Vollies of shot pierce through thy charmed skin, And every bullet dipt in poison’d drugs! Or roaring cannons sever all thy joints, Making thee mount as high as eagles soar!
ZABINA. Let all the swords and lances in the field Stick in his breast as in their proper rooms! At every pore<272> let blood come dropping forth, That lingering pains may massacre his heart, And madness send his damned soul to hell!
BAJAZETH. Ah, fair Zabina! we may curse his power, The heavens may frown, the earth for anger quake; But such a star hath influence in<273> his sword As rules the skies and countermands the gods More than Cimmerian Styx or Destiny:
And then shall we in this detested guise, With shame, with hunger, and with horror stay,<274> Griping our bowels with retorqued<275> thoughts, And have no hope to end our ecstasies.
ZABINA. Then is there left no Mahomet, no God, No fiend, no fortune, nor no hope of end To our infamous, monstrous slaveries.
Gape, earth, and let the fiends infernal view A<276> hell as hopeless and as full of fear As are the blasted banks of Erebus,
Where shaking ghosts with ever-howling groans Hover about the ugly ferryman,
To get a passage to Elysium!<277> Why should we live?–O, wretches, beggars, slaves!– Why live we, Bajazeth, and build up nests So high within the region of the air,
By living long in this oppression,
That all the world will see and laugh to scorn The former triumphs of our mightiness
In this obscure infernal servitude?
BAJAZETH. O life, more loathsome to my vexed thoughts<278> Than noisome parbreak<279> of the Stygian snakes, Which fills the nooks of hell with standing air, Infecting all the ghosts with cureless griefs! O dreary engines of my loathed sight,
That see my crown, my honour, and my name Thrust under yoke and thraldom of a thief, Why feed ye still on day’s accursed beams, And sink not quite into my tortur’d soul? You see my wife, my queen, and emperess, Brought up and propped by the hand of Fame, Queen of fifteen contributory queens,
Now thrown to rooms of black abjection,<280> Smeared with blots of basest drudgery,
And villainess<281> to shame, disdain, and misery. Accursed Bajazeth, whose words of ruth,<282> That would with pity cheer Zabina’s heart, And make our souls resolve<283> in ceaseless tears, Sharp hunger bites upon and gripes the root From whence the issues of my thoughts do break! O poor Zabina! O my queen, my queen!
Fetch me some water for my burning breast, To cool and comfort me with longer date, That, in the shorten’d sequel of my life, I may pour forth my soul into thine arms With words of love, whose moaning intercourse Hath hitherto been stay’d with wrath and hate Of our expressless bann’d<284> inflictions.
ZABINA. Sweet Bajazeth, I will prolong thy life As long as any blood or spark of breath
Can quench or cool the torments of my grief. [Exit.]
BAJAZETH. Now, Bajazeth, abridge thy baneful days, And beat the<285> brains out of thy conquer’d head, Since other means are all forbidden me,
That may be ministers of my decay.
O highest lamp of ever-living<286> Jove, Accursed day, infected with my griefs,
Hide now thy stained face in endless night, And shut the windows of the lightsome heavens! Let ugly Darkness with her rusty coach,
Engirt with tempests, wrapt in pitchy clouds, Smother the earth with never-fading mists, And let her horses from their nostrils breathe Rebellious winds and dreadful thunder-claps, That in this terror Tamburlaine may live, And my pin’d soul, resolv’d in liquid air, May still excruciate his tormented thoughts! Then let the stony dart of senseless cold Pierce through the centre of my wither’d heart, And make a passage for my loathed life!
[He brains himself against the cage.]
Re-enter ZABINA.
ZABINA. What do mine eyes behold? my husband dead! His skull all riven in twain! his brains dash’d out, The brains of Bajazeth, my lord and sovereign! O Bajazeth, my husband and my lord!
O Bajazeth! O Turk! O emperor!
Give him his liquor? not I. Bring milk and fire, and my blood I bring him again.–Tear me in pieces–give<287> me the sword with a ball of wild-fire upon it.–Down with him! down with him!–Go to my child; away, away, away! ah, save that infant! save him, save him!–I, even I, speak to her.<288>–The sun was down–streamers white, red, black–Here, here, here!–Fling the meat in his face–Tamburlaine, Tamburlaine!–Let the soldiers be buried.–Hell, death, Tamburlaine,<289> hell!–Make ready my coach,<290> my chair, my jewels.–I come, I come, I come!<291> [She runs against the cage, and brains herself.]
Enter ZENOCRATE with ANIPPE.
ZENOCRATE. Wretched Zenocrate! that liv’st to see Damascus’ walls dy’d with Egyptians'<292> blood, Thy father’s subjects and thy countrymen; The<293> streets strow’d with dissever’d joints of men, And wounded bodies gasping yet for life; But most accurs’d, to see the sun-bright troop Of heavenly virgins and unspotted maids
(Whose looks might make the angry god of arms To break his sword and mildly treat of love) On horsemen’s lances to be hoisted up,
And guiltlessly endure a cruel death; For every fell and stout Tartarian steed, That stamp’d on others with their thundering hoofs, When all their riders charg’d their quivering spears, Began to check the ground and rein themselves, Gazing upon the beauty of their looks.
Ah, Tamburlaine, wert thou the cause of this, That term’st Zenocrate thy dearest love? Whose lives were dearer to Zenocrate
Than her own life, or aught save thine own love. But see, another bloody spectacle!
Ah, wretched eyes, the enemies of my heart, How are ye glutted with these grievous objects, And tell my soul more tales of bleeding ruth!– See, see, Anippe, if they breathe or no.
ANIPPE. No breath, nor sense, nor motion, in them both: Ah, madam, this their slavery hath enforc’d, And ruthless cruelty of Tamburlaine!
ZENOCRATE. Earth, cast up fountains from thy<294> entrails, And wet thy cheeks for their untimely deaths; Shake with their weight in sign of fear and grief! Blush, heaven, that gave them honour at their birth, And let them die a death so barbarous!
Those that are proud of fickle empery And place their chiefest good in earthly pomp, Behold the Turk and his great emperess!
Ah, Tamburlaine my love, sweet Tamburlaine, That fight’st for sceptres and for slippery crowns, Behold the Turk and his great emperess!
Thou that, in conduct of thy happy stars, Sleep’st every night with conquest on thy brows, And yet wouldst shun the wavering turns of war,<295> In fear and feeling of the like distress Behold the Turk and his great emperess!
Ah, mighty Jove and holy Mahomet,
Pardon my love! O, pardon his contempt Of earthly fortune and respect of pity;
And let not conquest, ruthlessly pursu’d, Be equally against his life incens’d
In this great Turk and hapless emperess! And pardon me that was not mov’d with ruth To see them live so long in misery!–
Ah, what may chance to thee, Zenocrate?
ANIPPE. Madam, content yourself, and be resolv’d Your love hath Fortune so at his command, That she shall stay, and turn her wheel no more, As long as life maintains his mighty arm That fights for honour to adorn your head.
Enter PHILEMUS.
ZENOCRATE. What other heavy news now brings Philemus?
PHILEMUS. Madam, your father, and the Arabian king, The first affecter of your excellence,
Come<296> now, as Turnus ‘gainst Aeneas did, Armed<297> with lance into the Aegyptian fields, Ready for battle ‘gainst my lord the king.
ZENOCRATE. Now shame and duty, love and fear present A thousand sorrows to my martyr’d soul.
Whom should I wish the fatal victory, When my poor pleasures are divided thus, And rack’d by duty from my cursed heart? My father and my first-betrothed love
Must fight against my life and present love; Wherein the change I use condemns my faith, And makes my deeds infamous through the world: But, as the gods, to end the Trojans’ toil, Prevented Turnus of Lavinia,
And fatally enrich’d Aeneas’ love,
So, for a final<298> issue to my griefs, To pacify my country and my love,
Must Tamburlaine by their resistless powers, With virtue of a gentle victory,
Conclude a league of honour to my hope; Then, as the powers divine have pre-ordain’d, With happy safety of my father’s life
Send like defence of fair Arabia
[They sound to the battle within; and TAMBURLAINE enjoys the victory: after which, the KING OF ARABIA<299> enters wounded.]
KING OF ARABIA. What cursed power guides the murdering hands Of this infamous tyrant’s soldiers,
That no escape may save their enemies, Nor fortune keep themselves from victory? Lie down, Arabia, wounded to the death,
And let Zenocrate’s fair eyes behold, That, as for her thou bear’st these wretched arms, Even so for her thou diest in these arms, Leaving thy<300> blood for witness of thy love.
ZENOCRATE. Too dear a witness for such love, my lord! Behold Zenocrate, the cursed object
Whose fortunes never mastered her griefs; Behold her wounded in conceit<301> for thee, As much as thy fair body is for me!
KING OF ARABIA. Then shall I die with full contented heart, Having beheld divine Zenocrate,
Whose sight with joy would take away my life As now it bringeth sweetness to my wound, If I had not been wounded as I am.
Ah, that the deadly pangs I suffer now Would lend an hour’s licence to my tongue, To make discourse of some sweet accidents Have chanc’d thy merits in this worthless bondage, And that I might be privy to the state
Of thy deserv’d contentment and thy love! But, making now a virtue of thy sight,
To drive all sorrow from my fainting soul, Since death denies me further cause of joy, Depriv’d of care, my heart with comfort dies, Since thy desired hand shall close mine eyes. [Dies.]
Re-enter TAMBURLAINE, leading the SOLDAN; TECHELLES, THERIDAMAS, USUMCASANE, with others.
TAMBURLAINE. Come, happy father of Zenocrate, A title higher than thy Soldan’s name.
Though my right hand have<302> thus enthralled thee, Thy princely daughter here shall set thee free; She that hath calm’d the fury of my sword, Which had ere this been bath’d in streams of blood As vast and deep as Euphrates<303> or Nile.
ZENOCRATE. O sight thrice-welcome to my joyful soul, To see the king, my father, issue safe
From dangerous battle of my conquering love!
SOLDAN. Well met, my only dear Zenocrate, Though with the loss of Egypt and my crown!
TAMBURLAINE. ‘Twas I, my lord, that gat the victory; And therefore grieve not at your overthrow, Since I shall render all into your hands, And add more strength to your dominions
Than ever yet confirm’d th’ Egyptian crown. The god of war resigns his room to me,
Meaning to make me general of the world: Jove, viewing me in arms, looks pale and wan, Fearing my power should<304> pull him from his throne: Where’er I come the Fatal Sisters sweat,<305> And grisly Death, by running to and fro, To do their ceaseless homage to my sword: And here in Afric, where it seldom rains, Since I arriv’d with my triumphant host, Have swelling clouds, drawn from wide-gaping<306> wounds, Been oft resolv’d<307> in bloody purple showers, A meteor that might terrify the earth,
And make it quake at every drop it drinks: Millions<308> of souls sit on the banks of Styx, Waiting the back-return of Charon’s boat; Hell and Elysium<309> swarm with ghosts of men That I have sent from sundry foughten fields To spread my fame through hell and up to heaven: And see, my lord, a sight of strange import,– Emperors and kings lie breathless at my feet; The Turk and his great empress, as it seems, Left to themselves while we were at the fight, Have desperately despatch’d their slavish lives: With them Arabia, too, hath left his life: All sights of power to grace my victory; And such are objects fit for Tamburlaine, Wherein, as in a mirror, may be seen
His honour, that consists in shedding blood When men presume to manage arms with him.
SOLDAN. Mighty hath God and Mahomet made thy hand, Renowmed<310> Tamburlaine, to whom all kings Of force must yield their crowns and emperies; And I am pleas’d with this my overthrow, If, as beseems a person of thy state,
Thou hast with honour us’d Zenocrate.
TAMBURLAINE. Her state and person want no pomp, you see; And for all blot of foul inchastity,
I record<311> heaven, her heavenly self is clear: Then let me find no further time<312> to grace Her princely temples with the Persian crown; But here these kings that on my fortunes wait, And have been crown’d for proved worthiness Even by this hand that shall establish them, Shall now, adjoining all their hands with mine, Invest her here the<313> Queen of Persia What saith the noble Soldan, and Zenocrate?
SOLDAN. I yield with thanks and protestations Of endless honour to thee for her love.
TAMBURLAINE. Then doubt I not<314> but fair Zenocrate Will soon consent to satisfy us both.
ZENOCRATE. Else<315> should I much forget myself, my lord.
THERIDAMAS. Then let us set the crown upon her head, That long hath linger’d for so high a seat.
TECHELLES. My hand is ready to perform the deed; For now her marriage-time shall work us rest.
USUMCASANE. And here’s the crown, my lord; help set it on.<316>
TAMBURLAINE. Then sit thou down, divine Zenocrate; And here we crown thee Queen of Persia,
And all the kingdoms and dominions
That late the power of Tamburlaine subdu’d. As Juno, when the giants were suppress’d, That darted mountains at her brother Jove, So looks my love, shadowing in her brows Triumphs and trophies for my victories;
Or as Latona’s daughter, bent to arms, Adding more courage to my conquering mind. To gratify the[e], sweet Zenocrate,
Egyptians, Moors, and men of Asia,
From Barbary unto the Western India, Shall pay a yearly tribute to thy sire;
And from the bounds of Afric to the banks Of Ganges shall his mighty arm extend.– And now, my lords and loving followers,
That purchas’d kingdoms by your martial deeds, Cast off your armour, put on scarlet robes, Mount up your royal places of estate,
Environed with troops of noblemen,
And there make laws to rule your provinces: Hang up your weapons on Alcides’ post[s]; For Tamburlaine takes truce with all the world.– Thy first-betrothed love, Arabia,
Shall we with honour, as beseems,<317> entomb With this great Turk and his fair emperess. Then, after all these solemn exequies,
We will our rites<318> of marriage solemnize. [Exeunt.]
<1> To the Gentlemen-readers, &c.] From the 8vo of 1592: in the 4tos this address is worded here and there differently. I have not thought it necessary to mark the varioe lectiones of the worthy printer’s composition.
<2> histories] i.e. dramas so called,–plays founded on history.
<3> fond] i.e. foolish.–Concerning the omissions here alluded to, some remarks will be found in the ACCOUNT OF MARLOWE AND HIS WRITINGS.
<the “account=”” of=”” marlowe=”” and=”” his=”” writings,”=”” is=”” the=”” introduction=”” to=”” this=”” book=”” ‘the=”” works=”” christopher=”” marlowe.’=”” that=”” is,=”” from=”” which=”” play=”” has=”” been=”” transcribed.=”” following=”” pages=”” xvi=”” xvii=”” introduction.=””>
“One higher-pitch’d doth set his soaring thought On crowned kings that Fortune hath low brought, Or some vpreared high-aspiring swaine, As it might be THE TURKISH TAMBERLAINE. Then weeneth he his base drink-drowned spright Rapt to the three-fold loft of heauen hight, When he conceiues vpon his fained stage The stalking steps of his greate personage, Graced with huf-cap termes and thundring threats, That his poore hearers’ hayre quite vpright sets.
* * * * * * * * *
NOW, LEAST SUCH FRIGHTFULL SHOWES OF FORTUNE’S FALL AND BLOUDY TYRANTS’ RAGE SHOULD CHANCE APALL THE DEAD-STROKE AUDIENCE, MIDST THE SILENT ROUT COMES LEAPING IN A SELFE-MISFORMED LOUT, AND LAUGHES, AND GRINS, AND FRAMES HIS MIMIK FACE, AND IUSTLES STRAIGHT INTO THE PRINCE’S PLACE: THEN DOTH THE THEATRE ECCHO ALL ALOUD WITH GLADSOME NOYSE OF THAT APPLAUDING CROWD: A GOODLY HOCH-POCH, WHEN VILE RUSSETTINGS ARE MATCH[‘D] WITH MONARCHS AND WITH MIGHTIE KINGS!”
But Hall’s taste was more refined and classical than that of his age; and the success of TAMBURLAINE, in which the celebrated Alleyn represented the hero, was adequate to
the most sanguine expectations which its author could have formed.
P. 4 of the present volume.
In Italy, at the commencement of the 18th century (and probably much later), it was not unusual to introduce “the Doctor,” “Harlequin,” “Pantalone,” and “Coviello,” into deep tragedies. “I have seen,” says Addison, “a translation of THE CID acted at Bolonia, which would never have taken, had they not found a place in it for these buffoons.” REMARKS ON SEVERAL PARTS OF ITALY, &c. IN THE YEARS 1701, 1702, 1703, p. 68, ed. 1745.
Perhaps I ought to add, that Marlowe was dead when (in 1597) the satire, from which these lines are quoted, was first given to the press.
Hall’s VIRGID. Lib. I. Sat. iii., ed. 1602.
See Heywood’s Prol. to our author’s JEW OF MALTA, p. 142 of the present volume. Gutenberg E-Text of ‘The Jew of Malta.’> “>
<4> censures] i.e. judgments, opinions.
<5> Afric] So the 8vo.–The 4to “Affrica.”
<6> their] Old eds. “his.”
<7> through] So the 4to.–The 8vo “thorough.”
<8> incivil] i.e. barbarous.–So the 8vo.–The 4to “vnciuill.”
<9> incontinent] i.e. forthwith, immediately.
<10> chiefest] So the 8vo.–The 4to “chiefe.”
<11> rout] i.e. crew.
<12> press] So the 8vo.–The 4to “prease.”
<13> you] So the 8vo.–0mitted in the 4to.
<14> all] So the 4to.–0mitted in the 8vo.
<15> mated] i.e. confounded.
<16> pass not] i.e. care not.
<17> regiment] i.e. rule, government.
<18> resolve] i.e. dissolve.–So the 8vo.–The 4to “dissolue.”
<19> ships] So the 4to.–The 8vo “shippe.”
<20> Pass] So the 8vo.–The 4to “Hast.”
<21> you] So the 8vo.–The 4to “they.”
<22> Ceneus] Here both the old eds. “Conerus.”
<23> states] i.e. noblemen, persons of rank.
<24> their] So the 8vo.–The 4to “the.”
<25> and Persia] So the 8vo.–The 4to “and OF Persia.”
<26> ever-raging] So the 8vo.–The 4to “RIUER raging.”
<27> ALL] So the 4to.–Omitted in the 8vo.
<28> And Jove may, &c.] i.e. And may Jove, &c. This collocation of words is sometimes found in later writers: so in the Prologue to Fletcher’s WOMAN’S PRIZE,–“WHICH this may PROVE!”
<29> knew] So the 8vo.–The 4to “knowe.”
<30> lords] So the 4to.–The 8vo “Lord.”
<31> injury] This verb frequently occurs in our early writers. “Then haue you INIURIED manie.” Lyly’s ALEXANDER AND CAMPASPE, sig. D 4, ed. 1591. It would seem to have fallen into disuse soon after the commencement of the 17th century: in Heywood’s WOMAN KILLED WITH KINDNESS, 1607, we find,
“You INJURY that good man, and wrong me too.” Sig. F 2.
but in ed. 1617 “injury” is altered to “iniure.”
<32> ALL] So the 4to.–0mitted in the 8vo.
<33> Who, travelling, &c.] The halting metre shews that there is some corruption in this and the next line.
<34> thorough] So the 8vo.–The 4to “through.”
<35> unvalued] i.e. not to be valued, or estimated.
<36> conceit] i.e. fancy, imagination.
<37> Rhodope] Old eds. “Rhodolfe.”
<38> valurous] i.e. valuable.
<39> pools] So the 8vo.–The 4to “Poles.”
<40> resolv’d] i.e. dissolved.–So the 8vo.–The 4to “desolu’d.”
<41> Shall we all offer] The 8vo “Shall we offer” (the word “all” having dropt out).–The 4to “WE ALL SHALL offer.<“>
<42> in] The 8vo “it.”–Omitted in the 4to.
<43> triumph’d] So the 8vo.–The 4to “tryumph.”
<44> brave] i.e. splendidly clad.
<45> top] So the 4to.–The 8vo “foot.”
<46> mails] i.e. bags, budgets.
<47> lance] So the 4to.–Here the 8vo has “lanch;” but more than once in the SEC. PART of the play it has “lance.”
<48> this] So the 8vo.–The 4to “the.”–Qy. “Where is this Scythian SHEPHERD Tamburlaine”? Compare the next words of Theridamas.
<49> vaults] Here the 8vo has “vauts,”–“which,” says one of the modern editors, “was common in Marlowe’s time:” and so it was; but in the SEC. PART of this play, act ii. sc. 4, the same 8vo gives,–
“As we descend into the infernal VAULTS.”
<50> thy] So the 8vo.–The 4to “the.”
<51> brave] See note in preceding column.
<52> renowmed] i.e. renowned.–So the 8vo.–The 4to “renowned.” –The form “RENOWMED” (Fr. renomme) occurs repeatedly afterwards in this play, according to the 8vo. It is occasionally found in writers posterior to Marlowe’s time. e.g.
“Of Constantines great towne RENOUM’D in vaine.” Verses to King James, prefixed to Lord Stirling’s MONARCHICKE TRAGEDIES, ed. 1607.
<53> cliffs] So the 8vo.–The 4to “cliftes.”
<54> merchants] i.e. merchant-men, ships of trade.
<55> stems] i.e. prows.
<56> vail] i.e. lower their flags.
<57> Bootes] The 8vo “Botees.”–The 4to “Boetes.”
<58> competitor] i.e. associate, partner (a sense in which the word is used by Shakespeare).
<59> To these] Old eds. “ARE these.”
<60> renowmed] See note ||, p. 11.–So the 8vo.
–The 4to “renowned.”
<61> statues] So the 4to.–“The first edition reads ‘statutes,’ but, as the Scythians worshipped Pylades and Orestes in temples, we have adopted the reading of the quarto as being most probably the correct one.” Ed. 1826.
<62> kings] So the 8vo.–The 4to “king.”
<63> Nor thee nor them] The modern editors silently print “Nor THEY nor THEIRS.”
<64> will] So the 8vo.–Omitted in the 4to.
<65> pitch] Is generally equivalent to–stature. (“I would have you tell me what PITCH he was of, Velim mihi dicas qua STATURA fuerit.” Coles’s DICT.) But here it means the highest part of the body,–the shoulders (see the 10th sign. of PITCH in Halliwell’s DICT. OF ARCH. AND PROV. WORDS),–the “pearl” being, of course, his head.
<66> and] So the 4to.–The 8vo “with.”
<67> His arms and fingers long and sinewy] So the 8vo, except that, by a misprint, it has “snowy” for “sinewy.”–The 4to gives the line thus,–
“His armes long, HIS fingers SNOWY-WHITE.”!!
(and so the line used to stand in Lamb’s SPEC. OF DRAM. POETS, till I made the necessary alteration in Mr. Moxon’s recent ed. of that selection.)
<68> subdu’d] So the 8vo.–The 4to “subdue.”
<69> Nature doth strive with Fortune, &c.] Qy did Shakespeare recollect this passage when he wrote,–
“Nature and Fortune join’d to make thee great”? KING JOHN, act iii. sc. 1.
<70> port] i.e. gate.
<71> is] So the 8vo.–The 4to “in.”
<72> In fair, &c.] Here “fair” is to be considered as a dissyllable: compare, in the Fourth Act of our author’s JEW OF MALTA,
“I’ll feast you, lodge you, give you FAIR words, And, after that,” &c.
<73> of] i.e. on.
<74> worse] So the 8vo.–The 4to “worst.”
<75> the] So the 8vo.–The 4to “that.”
<76> his] So the 8vo.–The 4to “the.”
<77> be] So the 8vo.–The 4to “are.”
<78> Beside] So the 8vo.–The 4to “Besides.”
<79> champion] i.e. champaign.
<80> greedy after] Old eds. “after greedie.”
<81> Sprung] Here, and in the next speech, both the old eds. “Sprong”: but in p. 18, l. 3, first col., the 4to has “sprung”, and in the SEC. PART of the play, act iv. sc. 4, they both give “SPRUNG from a tyrants loynes.”
<82> teeth of] So the 8vo.–Omitted in the 4to.
<83> lance] Here both the old eds. “lanch”: but see note ||, p. 11.
<84> the] So the 8vo.–0mitted in the 4to.
<85> some] So the 4to.–The 8vo “scorne.”
<86> will] So the 8vo.–The 4to “shall.”
<87> top] i.e. rise above, surpass.–Old eds. “stop.”
<88> renowmed] See note ||, p. 11. So the 8vo.
–The 4to “renowned.”
<89> thirst] The 8vo “thrust”: the 4to “thrist.”
<90> and] So the 4to.–The 8vo “not.”
<91> the fair] So the 8vo.–The 4to “THEE faire.”
<92> she] i.e. Nemesis.
<93> Rhamnus’] Old eds. “Rhamnis.”
<94> meeds] So the 8vo.–The 4to “deeds.”
<95> into] Used here (as the word was formerly often used) for UNTO.
<96> sure] A dissyllable here. In the next line “assure” is a trisyllable.
<97> with his crown in his hand] The old eds. add “offering to hide it;” but THAT he does presently after.
<98> those were] i.e. those who were, who have been.
<99> Stand staggering] So the 8vo.–The 4to “Stand THOSE staggering.”
<100> For kings are clouts that every man shoots at, Our crown the pin, &c.]
CLOUT means the white mark in the butts; PIN, the peg in the centre, which fastened it.
<101> me] So the 4to.–Omitted in the 8vo.
<102> MYCETES. Ay, marry, &c.] From this to “TAMBURLAINE. Well, I mean you shall have it again” inclusive, the dialogue is prose: compare act iv. sc. 4, p. 29.
<103> renowmed man-at-arms] See note ||, p. 11.
So the 8vo.–The 4to “RENOWNED MEN at armes.”
<104> chiefest] So the 4to.–The 8vo “chiefe.”
<105> happy] So the 8vo.–The 4to “happiest.”
<106> aim’d] So the 4to.–The 8vo “and.”
<107> it] So the 4to.–The 8vo “is.”
<108> our] So the 4to.–Omitted in the 8vo.
<109> we] So the 8vo.–The 4to “I.”
<110> in earth] i.e. on earth. So in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will
be done IN EARTH.”
<111> Casane] Both the old eds. here “Casanes.”
<112> a-piece] So the 4to.–The 8vo “apace.”
<113> purchase] i.e. booty, gain.
<114> quite] i.e. requite.
<115> this] So (<>) the 8vo.–The 4to “the.”
<116> him] Old eds. “his.”
<117> and] So the 8vo.–The 4to “with.”
<118> sprung] See note , p. 14.
<119> dares] So the 8vo.–The 4to “dare.”
<120> fate] Old eds. “state.”
<121> Resolve] Seems to mean–dissolve (compare “our bodies turn to elements,” p. 12, sec. col.): but I suspect some corruption here.
“TAMBURLAINE. . . . .
Until our bodies turn to elements, And both our souls aspire celestial thrones.–” etc.>
<122> Barbarous] Qy. “O barbarous”? in the next line but one, “O treacherous”? and in the last line of the speech, “O bloody”? But we occasionally find in our early dramatists lines which are defective in the first syllable; and in some of these instances at least it would almost seem that nothing has been omitted by the transcriber or printer.
<123> artier] i.e. artery. This form occurs again in the SEC. PART of the present play: so too in a copy of verses by Day;
“Hid in the vaines and ARTIERS of the earthe.” SHAKESPEARE SOC. PAPERS, vol. i. 19.
The word indeed was variously written of old:
“The ARTER strynge is the conduyt of the lyfe spiryte.” Hormanni VULGARIA, sig. G iii. ed. 1530.
“Riche treasures serue for th’ARTERS of the war.” Lord Stirling’s DARIUS, act ii. Sig. C 2. ed. 1604.
“Onelye the extrauagant ARTIRE of my arme is brused.” EVERIE WOMAN IN HER HUMOR, 1609, sig. D 4.
“And from the veines some bloud each ARTIRE draines.” Davies’s MICROCOSMOS, 1611, p. 56.
<124> regiment] i.e. rule.
<125> fruit] So the 4to.–The 8vo “fruites.”
<126> are] Old eds. “Is.”
<127> talents] Was often used by our early writers for TALONS, as many passages might be adduced to shew. Hence the quibble in Shakespeare’s LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST, act iv. sc. 2., “If a TALENT be a claw,” &c.
<128> harpy] So the 8vo.–The 4to “Harper;” and with that reading the line is cited, in a note on MACBETH, act iv. sc. 1, by Steevens, who also gives “tires UPON my life;” but “TIRES” (a well-known term in falconry, and equivalent here to–preys) is to be pronounced as a dissyllable. (In the 4to it in spelt “tyers.”
<129> the] So the 4to.–The 8vo “thy.”
<130> bassoes] i.e. bashaws.
<131> Christians renied] i.e. Christians who have denied, or renounced their faith.–In THE GENT. MAGAZINE for Jan. 1841, J. M. would read “Christians RENEGADENS” or “CHRISTIAN RENEGADES:”
but the old text is right; among many passages that might be cited, compare the following;
“And that Ydole is the God of false Cristene, that han RENEYED hire FEYTHE.”
THE VOIAGE AND TRAVAILE OF SIR JOHN MAUNDEVILE, p. 209. ed. 1725.
“For that thou should’st RENY THY FAITH, and her thereby possesse.
The Soldan did capitulat in vaine: the more thy blesse.” Warner’s ALBIONS ENGLAND, B. XI. Ch. 68. p. 287. ed. 1596.
<132> Terrene] i.e. Mediterranean.
<133> Renowmed] See note ||, p. 11. So the 8vo.
–The 4to “renowned.”
<134> basso] So the 8vo.–The 4to “Brother.”
<135> Not] So the 8vo.–The 4to “Nor.”
<136> in] So the 8vo.–The 4to “on.”
<137> Or spread, &c.] A word has dropt out from this line.
<138> measur’d heaven] So the 8vo.–The 4to “measured THE heauen.”
<139> pioners] The usual spelling of the word in our early writers (in Shakespeare, for instance).
<140> ceaseless] So the 8vo.–The 4to “carelesse.”
<141> conceits] i.e<.> fancies, imaginations.
<142> counterfeit] i.e. picture, resemblance.
<143> his] So the 8vo.–The 4to “the.”
<144> you] So the 8vo.–The 4to “me.”
<145> Leave] The author probably wrote, “AGYDAS, leave,” &c.
<146> facts] i.e. deeds.
<147> much] So the 8vo.–The 4to “more.”
<148> Pierides] i.e. The daughters of Pierus, who, having challenged the Muses to a trial of song, were overcome, and changed into magpies.
<149> the young Arabian] Scil. Alcidamus; see p. 10, l. 9, sec. col.
<150> Fearing his love] i.e. Fearing with respect to his love.
<151> of] so the 4to.–The 8vo “and.”
<152> fury] So the 4to.–The 8vo “furies.”
<153> shone] Old eds. “shine.”
<154> send] Old eds. “sent.”
<155> menace] So the 8vo.–The 4to “meane.”
<156> fetch] So the 8vo.–The 4to “fetcht.”
<157> set] So the 8vo.–The 4to “seate.”
<158> Terrene] i.e. Mediterranean.
<159> to rest or breathe] So the 8vo.–The 4to “to BREATH AND REST.”
<160> bastones] i.e. bastinadoes.
<161> they] So the 8vo.–0mitted in the 4to.
<162> Morocco] Here the old eds. “Moroccus,”–a barbarism which I have not retained, because previously, in the stage-direction at the commencement of this act, p. 19, they agree in reading “Morocco.”
<163> titles] So the 8vo.–The 4to “title.”
<164> sarell] i.e. seraglio.
<165> I’ll] So the 8vo.–The 4to “I will.”
<166> the] So the 8vo.–The 4to “this.”
<167> hugy] i.e. huge.
<168> renowm’d] See note ||, p. 11. So the 8vo.
–The 4to “renowned.”
<169> of] So the 8vo.–The 4to “all.”
<170> rule] So the 8vo.–The 4to “raigne.”
<171> braver] So the 8vo.–The 4to “braue.”
<172> pash] i.e. crush to pieces by a stroke.
<173> y-sprung] Here the old eds. “ySPRONG.”–See note , p. 14.
<174> them] Old eds. “thee.”
<175> the] Has perhaps crept in by a mistake of the transcriber or printer.
<176> And make your strokes to wound the senseless light] The old eds. have,
“And make OUR strokes to wound the sencelesse LURE.”
(the last word being, perhaps, in the 8vo “lute.”) Here “light” is a very questionable reading: qy. “air”? (though the third line above ends with that word).
<177> boss] In the GENT. MAG. for Jan. 1841, J. M. proposed to alter “boss” to “Bassa.” But Cotgrave, in his DICT., has; “A fat BOSSE. Femme bien grasse et grosse; une coche.”
<178> advocate] So the 4to.–The 8vo “aduocates.”
<179> That dare, &c.] Something dropt out from this line.
<180> Re-enter Bajazeth, pursued by Tamburlaine] The old eds. have,
“Bajazeth flies, and he pursues him. The battell short [Qto. is short], and they enter, Bajazeth is ouercome.”
This not very intelligible stage-direction means perhaps that, after Bajazeth and Tamburlaine had entered, a short combat was to take place between them.
<181> foil] The old eds. “soil.”
<182> gat] So the 8vo.–The 4to “got.”
<183> pilling] i.e. plundering.
<184> British] So the 4to.–The 8vo “brightest.”
<185> martial] So the 8vo.–The 4to “materiall.”
<186> Awake, ye men of Memphis!] These words are put into the mouth of Judas, in Fletcher’s BONDUCA, at the commencement of act ii.; and in Fletcher’s WIT WITHOUT MONEY, act v. sc. 2. we find “thou man of Memphis.”
<187> basilisks] Pieces of ordnance so called. They were of immense size; see Douce’s ILLUST. OF SHAKESPEARE, i. 425.
<188> monstrous] To be read as a trisyllable.
<189> Or ever-drizzling] So the 4to.–The 8vo “Or drisling.”
<190> should] So the 4to.–The 8vo “shal.”
<191> he devil] So the 8vo.–The 4to “he THE deuill.”
<192> Arabian king] Scil. Alcidamus: see p. 10, l. 9, sec. col.
<193> it] So the 4to.–Omitted in the 8vo.
<194> it should] So the 4to.–The 8vo “should it.”
<195> this] So the 8vo.–The 4to “it.”
<196> into] So the 4to.–The 8vo “vnto.”
<197> heart] So the 4to.–The 8vo “soul.”
<198> stoop] Qy. “stoop, STOOP”?
<199> your] Old eds. “their.”–Compare the tenth line of the speech.
<200> to] So the 8vo.–The 4to “on.”
<201> brent] i.e. burnt. So the 8vo.–The 4to “burnt.”
<202> kings] So the 8vo.–The 4to “king.”
<203> from] So the 4to.–The 8vo “in.”
<204> then, for you] So the 4to.–The 8vo “for you then.”
<205> stark nak’d] Compare (among many passages which might be cited from our early poets),–
“rather on Nilus’ mud
Lay me STARK NAK’D, and let the water-flies Blow me into abhorring!”
Shakespeare’s ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, act v. sc. 2. (where the modern editors print “naked.”)
<206> dignities] So the 8vo.–The 4to “dignitie.”
<207> whiles] So the 8vo.–The 4to “while.”
<208> shalt] So the 4to.–The 8vo “shal.”
<209> grace] Olds eds. “grac’d.”
<210> stature] So the 8vo.–The 4to “statue:” but again, in the SECOND PART of this play, act ii. sc. 4, we have, according to the 8vo–
“And here will I set up her STATURE.”
and, among many passages that might be cited from our early authors, compare the following;
“The STATURES huge, of Porphyrie and costlier matters made.” Warner’s ALBIONS ENGLAND, p. 303. ed. 1596.
“By them shal Isis STATURE gently stand.” Chapman’s BLIND BEGGER OF ALEXANDRIA, 1598, sig. A 3.
“Was not Anubis with his long nose of gold preferred before Neptune, whose STATURE was but brasse?” Lyly’s MIDAS, sig. A 2. ed. 1592.
<211> bird] i.e. the ibis.
<212> are] Old eds. “is.”
<213> country] Old eds. “countries.”
<214> King of Arabia] i.e. Alcidamus; see p. 10, l. 9, sec. col.
<215> Calydonian] So the 8vo.–The 4to “Calcedonian.”
<216> lusty] So the 8vo.–Omitted in the 4to.
<217> and] So the 4to.–0mitted in the 8vo.
<218> Renowmed] See note ||. p. 11. So the 8vo.
–The 4to “Renow<ned.”></ned.”>
<219> Ibis’ holy name] The ibis has been already alluded to in the lines (p. 27, sec. col.),–
“The golden stature of their feather’d bird, That spreads her wings upon the city-walls”;
and it is well known to have been a sacred bird among the Egyptians (see Cicero DE NAT. DEORUM, I. 36). Compare the old play of THE TAMING OF A SHREW;
“Father, I SWEARE BY IBIS’ GOLDEN BEAKE, More faire and radiente is my bonie Kate Then siluer Zanthus,” &c.
p. 22. ed. Shakespeare Soc.
In the passage of our text the modern editors substitute “Isis'” for “Ibis’.”
<220> the] So the 8vo.–The 4to “and.”
<221> and] So the 8vo.–Omitted in the 4to.
<222> thy baseness and] So the 8vo.–The 4to “THE basnesse OF.”
<223> mask] So the 8vo.–The 4to “walke.”
<224> My lord, &c.] Something has dropt out: qy. “TAMELY suffer”?
<225> a goodly refreshing for them] So the 8vo.–The 4to “a GOOD refreshing TO them.”
<226> Here] So the 8vo.–The 4to “there.”
<227> it from] So the 8vo.–The 4to “it VP from.”
<228> slice] So the 8vo.–The 4to “fleece.”
<229> will fall] So the 8vo.–The 4to “will NOT fall.”
<230> let] i.e. hinder.
<231> while] i.e. until.
<232> consort] i.e. band.
<233> pen] i.e. his sword.
<234> hastening] So the 4to.–The 8vo “hasting.”
<235> ‘specially] So the 8vo.–The 4to “especially.”
<236> Morocco] Here and in the next speech the old eds. have “Morocus” and “Moroccus:” but see note , p. 22.
<237> plage] i.e. region.–Old eds. “place.”
<238> valour] Old eds. “value.”
<239> again] So the 8vo.–Omitted in the 4to.
<240> renowm’d] See note ||. p. 11. So the 8vo.
–The 4to “renown’d.”
<241> Damascus] Both the old eds. here “Damasco:” but in many other places they agree in reading “Damascus.”
<242> remorse] i.e. pity.
<243> sakes] So the 8vo.–The 4to. “sake.”
<244> blubber’d] That this word formerly conveyed no ludicrous idea, appears from many passages of our early writers.
<245> And use us like a loving conqueror] “i.e. And that he will use us like, &c.” Ed. 1826.
<246> care] So the 4to.–The 8vo “cares.”
<247> helps] So the 8vo.–The 4to “help.”
<248> or] So the 8vo.–The 4to “for.”
<249> power] So the 8vo.–The 4to “powers.”
<250> knew] So the 8vo.–The 4to “know.”
<251> Reflexed] Old eds. “Reflexing.”
<252> their] Old eds. “your.”
<253> As] So the 8vo.–The 4to “And.”