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.

ZENO. Yet would you have some pity for my sake, Because it is my country's and my father's.

TAMB. Not for the world, Zenocrate, if I have

sworn.

Come; bring in the Turk.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Enter SOLDAN, KING of ARABIA*, CAPOLIN, and
Soldiers, with streaming colours.

SOLD. Methinks, we march as Meleager did,
Environed with brave Argolian knights,
To chase the savage Calydonian+ boar,
Or Cephalus, with lusty + 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 Ægyptia, and annoyeth us:

My lord, it is the bloody Tamburlaine,

*King of Arabia] i. e. Alcidamus; see p. 22. 1. 18.
+ Calydonian] So the 8vo.-The 4to "Calcedonian."
lusty] So the 8vo.-Omitted in the 4to.

*

A sturdy felon, and 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

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

power;

Should brave a king, or wear a princely crown.

K. OF AR. Renowmèd† 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?

SOLD. 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 of his wretched state,
A sacred vow to Heaven and him I make,

*and] So the 4to.-Omitted in the 8vo.

+ Renowmed] See note, p. 27. So the 8vo.-The 4to "Renowned."

Confirming it with Ibis' holy name*,

That Tamburlaine shall rue the day, the + 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.

K. OF AR. 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.
SOLD. Capolin, hast thou survey'd our powers?
CAPOL. Great emperors of Egypt and Arabia,
The number of your hosts united is,

A hundred and fifty thousand horse,

* Ibis' holy name] The ibis has been already alluded to in these lines (at p. 80),

"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 (which there are grounds for believing to be the work of Marlowe);

"Father, I sweare by Ibis' golden beake,

More faire and radiente is my bonie Kate

Then siluer Zanthus," &c. p. 22. ed. Shakespeare Soc., accow, dopobar In the passage of our text the modern editors substitute LXV.

"Isis'" for " Ibis'."

† the] So the 8vo.-The 4to " and."

Two hundred thousand foot, brave men at arms,

*

Courageous and full of hardiness,

As frolic as the hunters in the chase

Of savage beasts amid the desert woods.

K. OF AR. My mind presageth fortunate success; And, Tamburlaine, my spirit doth foresee

The utter ruin of thy men and thee.

SOLD. 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 + obscurity,
Famous for nothing but for theft and spoil;
To raze and scatter thy inglorious crew
Of Scythians and slavish Persians.

SCENE IV.

[Exeunt.

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

TAMB. 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

* and] So the 8vo.-Omitted in the 4to.

+ thy baseness and] So the 8vo.-The 4to "the basnesse of."

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

TAMB. 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.

BAJ. Fall to, and never may your meat digest!— Ye Furies, that can mask 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!

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

ZENO. My lordt, how can you suffer these
Outrageous curses by these slaves of yours?
TAMB. 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.

mask] So the 8vo.-The 4to "walke."

+ My lord, &c.] A word has dropt out: qy. "tamely suffer"?