To suck up poison from the moorish fens,
And pour it in this glorious tyrant's throat!

TAMB. 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 + so conspire my overthrow. But, villain, thou that wishest this to me, Fall prostrate on the low disdainful earth, And be the footstool of great Tamburlaine, That I may rise into § my royal throne.

BAJ. First shalt thou rip my bowels with thy sword, And sacrifice my soul || to death and hell,

Before I yield to such a slavery.

TAMB. 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 ¶; for so he bids That may command thee piecemeal to be torn, Or scatter'd like the lofty cedar-trees

Strook with the voice of thundering Jupiter.

BAJ. 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.

it] So the 4to.-Omitted in the 8vo.
tit should] So the 4to.-The 8vo "should it."
this] So the 8vo.-The 4to" it."
Sinto] So the 4to.-The 8vo " vnto."
soul] So the 8vo.-The 4to "heart."
¶ stoop] Qy." stoop, stoop "?

TAMB. 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 their neighbour lamps;
Disdain to borrow light of Cynthia !
For I, the chiefest lamp of all the earth,
First rising in the east with mild aspèct,
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 strook 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 † 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 ↑ the axle-tree of heaven,
は
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 nought but blood and war.

* their] Qy.

your"? see tenth line of the speech.

t to] So the 8vo.-The 4to "on."

brent] i. e. burnt. So the 8vo.-The 4to " burnt."

ZAB. 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* of Africa have kiss'd?

TECH. You must devise some torment worse, my

lord,

To make these captives rein their lavish tongues.
TAMB. Zenocrate, look better to your slave.
ZENO. She is my handmaid's slave, and she shall
look

That these abuses flow not from + her tongue.—
Chide her, Anippe.

ANIP. Let these be warnings, then, for you, ‡, my slave,

How

you abuse the person of the king;

Or else I swear to have you whipt stark-naked.

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

*kings] So the 8vo.-The 4to " king." + from] So the 4to.-The 8vo "in.”

then, for you] So the 4to.-The 8vo " for you then.”

*

TAMB. Thy names, and titles, and thy dignities Are fled from Bajazeth, and remain with me, That will maintain it against a world of kings.— Put him in again. [They put him into the cage. BAJ. Is this a place for mighty Bajazeth? Confusion light on him that helps thee thus!

TAMB. There, whiles + he lives, shall Bajazeth be

kept;

t

And, where I go, be thus in triumph drawn ;
And thou, his wife, shalt ‡ 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 crowns 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 § the Memphian fields.

*

dignities] So the 8vo.-The 4to" dignitie.”

+ whiles] So the 8vo.-The 4to" while."

shalt] So the 4to.-The 8vo "shal."

grace] Old eds. "grac'd."

The golden stature of their feather'd bird,+
That spreads her wings upon the city-walls,
Shall not defend it from our battering shot:
The townsmen masque in silk and cloth of gold,
And every house is as a treasury;

The men, the treasure, and the town are ours.
THER. 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.

TAMB. So shall he have his life, and all the rest : But, if he stay until the bloody flag

Be once advanc'd on my vermillion tent,

He dies, and those that kept us out so long.

* 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.