For turning my poor charge to his direction. And these his two renownèd friends, my lord,

Would make one thirst and strive to be retained

In such a great degree of amity.

SCENE IV.

Enter Mycetes, with his Crown in his hand, offering to hide it.

Myc. Accursed be he that first invented war!

Our utmost service to the fair Cosroe.

men,

crown.

leaf

Fearing the force of Boreas' boisterous blasts.
In what a lamentable case were I
If Nature had not given me wisdom's lore,
For kings are clouts that every man shoots at,
Our crown the pin that thousands seek to
cleave;

Therefore in policy I think it good
To hide it close; a goodly stratagem,
And far from any man that is a fool:
So shall I not be known; or if I be,
They cannot take away my crown from me.
Here will I hide it in this simple hole.

Thou break'st the law of arms, unless thou kneel

And cry me "mercy, noble king."

Tamb. Are you the witty king of Persia? Myc. Aye, marry am I: have you any suit to me?

Tamb. I would entreat you speak but three wise words.

Myc. So I can when I see my time.
Tamb. Is this your crown?

me!

Myc. Aye, didst thou ever see a fairer?
Tamb. You will not sell it, will you?
Myc. Such another word and I will have
thee executed. Come, give
Tamb. No; I took it prisoner.
Myc. You lie; I gave it you.
Tamb. Then 'tis mine.

Myc. No; I mean I let you keep it. Tamb. Well; I mean you shall have it again.

Here; take it for awhile: I lend it thee, 'Till I may see thee hemmed with armèd men; Then shalt thou see me pull it from thy head! Thou art no match for mighty Tamburlaine. [Exit Tamb.

d, if I prosper, all shall be as sure

if the Turk, the Pope, Afric, and Greece, ne creeping to us with their crowns apiece. Tech. Then shall we send to this triumphing king,

1 bid him battle for his novel crown? Isum. Nay, quickly then, before his room be hot.

"amb. "Twill prove a pretty jest, in faith, my friends.

her. A jest to charge on twenty thousand men!

dge the purchase more important far. "amb. Judge by thyself, Theridamas, not

me;

presently Techelles here shall haste bid him battle ere he pass too far,

I lose more labour than the gain will quit. n shalt thou see this Scythian Tamburlaine,

xe but a jest to win the Persian crown. helles, take a thousand horse with thee, I bid him turn him back to war with us, it only made him king to make us sport. will not steal upon him cowardly, give him warning and more warriors. te, thee, Techelles, we will follow thee. at saith Theridamas? her. Go on for me.

SCENE VI.

[Exeunt.

ter Cosroe, Meander, Ortygius, Menaphon, with other Soldiers.

os. What means this devilish shepherd to aspire

h such a giantly presumption
cast up hills against the face of heaven,
dare the force of angry Jupiter?
as he thrust them underneath the hills,
pressed out fire from their burning jaws,
ill I send this monstrous slave to hell,
ere flames shall ever feed upon his soul.
eand. Some powers divine, or else in-
fernal, mixed

Er angry seeds at his conception;
he was never sprung of human race,
e with the spirit of his fearful pride,
dare so doubtlessly resolve of rule,
by profession be ambitious.

Be armed against the hate of such a foe, Whether from earth, or hell, or heaven, he

grow.

Cos. Nobly resolved, my good Ortygius; And since we all have sucked one whole. some air,

And with the same proportion of elements
Resolve, I hope we are resembled
Vowing our loves to equal death and life.
Let's cheer our soldiers to encounter him,
That grievous image of ingratitude,
That fiery thirster after sovereignty,
And burn him in the fury of that flame,
That none can quench but blood and

empery.

Resolve, my lords and loving soldiers, now To save your king and country from decay. Then strike up, drum; and all the stars that make

The loathsome circle of my dated life, Direct my weapon to his barbarous heart, That thus opposeth him against the gods, And scorns the powers that govern Persia! [Exeunt. Martial music.

SCENE VII.

Alarums.-A battle; enter Cosroe, wounded, Theridamas, Tamburlaine, Techelles, Usumcasane, with others.

Cos. Barbarous and bloody 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 of my heart.Bloody and insatiate Tamburlaine !

Tamb. The thirst of reign and sweetness of a crown

That caused the eldest son of heavenly Ops, To thrust his doting father from his chair, And place himself in the empyreal heaven, Moved me to manage arms against thy

state.

nonster turned to a manly shape,

f what mould or mettle he be made, t star or state soever govern him,

us put on our meet encountering minds; in detesting such a devilish chief,

Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds: Our souls, whose facultics can comprehend The wondrous architecture of the world, And measure every wandering planet's

course,

Still climbing after knowledge infinite,

Doth mean to soar above the highest sort. Tech. And that made us the friends of Tamburlaine,

To lift our swords against the Persian king. Usum. For as when Jove did thrust old Saturn down,

Neptune and Dis gained each of them a crown,

So do we hope to reign in Asia,
If Tamburlaine be placed in Persia.
Cos. 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 hell,
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 dry and cold; and now doth ghastly death,

With greedy talons gripe my bleeding heart, And like a harpy, tires on my life. Theridamas and Tamburlaine, I die: And fearful vengeance light upon you both! [Cosroe dies.-Tamburlaine takes the crown and puts it on.

Tamb. Not all the curses, which the furies
breathe,

Shall make me leave so rich a prize as this.
Theridamas, Techelles, and the rest,
Who think you now is king of Persia?

All. Tamburlaine! Tamburlaine!
Tamb. Though Mars himself, the angry
god 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!

Tamb. So now it is more surer on my
head,

Than if the gods had held a Parliament,
And all pronounced me king of Persia.

[Exeunt.

ACT THE THIRD. SCENE I.

Bajazet, the Kings of Fez, Morocco,
Argier, with others in great Pomp.
Baj. Great kings of Barbary and
portly bassoes,

We hear the Tartars and the eastern thie
Under the conduct of one Tamburlaine,
Presume a bickering with your emperor,
And think to rouse us from our dread
siege

Of the famous Grecian Constantinople.
You know our army is invincible;
As many circumcisèd Turks we have,
And warlike bands of Christians renied,
As hath the ocean or the Terrene sea
Small drops of water when the moon beg
To join in one her semicircled horns.
Yet would we not be braved with foret
power,

Nor raise our siege before the Grecians yie P
Or breathless lie before the city walls.

K. of Fez. Renowned emperor,

mighty general,

What, if you sent the bassoes of your gua
To charge him to remain in Asia,
Or else to threaten death and deadly arm
As from the mouth of mighty Bajazet.

Baj. Hie thee, my basso, fast to Persia
Tell him thy lord, the Turkish emperor,
Dread lord of Afric, Europe, and Asia,
Great king and conqueror of Græcia,
The ocean Terrene, and the Coal-black s
The high and highest monarch of the wo
Wills and commands (for say not I entrea
Not once to set his foot on Africa,
Or spread his colours [forth] in Græcia,
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 thees
And if, before the sun have measured hear
With triple circuit, thou regreet us not,
We mean to take his morning's next aris
For messenger he will not be reclaimed,
And mean to fetch thee in despite of him
Bas. Most great and puissant monarch

the earth,

H

A

A

A

A

I

or all flesh quakes at your magnificence. Baj. True, Argier; and trembles at my looks.

K. of Mor. The spring is hindered by your smothering host,

or neither rain can fall upon the earth, or sun reflex his virtuous beams thereon, he ground is mantled with such multitudes. Baj. All this is true as holy Mahomet ; nd all the trees are blasted with our breaths. K. of Fez. What thinks your greatness best to be achieved

à pursuit of the city's overthrow?

Baj. I will the captive pioneers of Argier ut off the water that by leaden pipes uns to the city from the mountain Carnon. wo thousand horse shall forage up and down,

hat no relief or succour come by land: nd all the sea my gallies countermand. hen shall our footmen lie within the trench, nd with their cannons mouthed like Orcus' gulf,

Batter the walls, and we will enter in ; nd thus the Grecians shall be conquered. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Zenocrate, Agydas, Anippe, with others. Agyd. Madam Zenocrate, may I presume 'o know the cause of these unquiet fits, hat work such trouble to your wonted rest? Tis more than pity such a heavenly face hould by heart's sorrow wax so wan and pale,

When your offensive rape by Tamburlaine, Which of your whole displeasures should be most)

Hath seemed to be digested long ago.

Zeno. Although it be digested long ago, s his exceeding favours have deserved, and might content the Queen of Heaven, as well

s it hath changed my first conceived disdain,

et since a farther passion feeds my thoughts With ceaseless and disconsolate conceits, Which dye my looks so lifeless as they are, nd might, if my extremes had full events, Make me the ghastly counterfeit of death. Agyd. Eternal heaven sooner be dissolved,

nd all that pierceth Phoebus' silver eye, efore such hap fall to Zenocrate !

Zeno. Ah, life and soul, still hover in his breast

nd leave my body senseless as the earth. r else unite you to his life and soul, hat I may live and die with Tamburlaine!

Enter behind Tamburlaine, Techelles, and others.

Agyd. With Tamburlaine ! Ah, fair
Zenocrate,

Let not a man so vile and barbarous,
That holds you from your father in despite,
And keeps you from the honours of a queen,
(Being supposed his worthless concubine,)
Be honoured with your love but for necessity.
So now the mighty soldan hears of you,
Your highness needs not doubt, but in short
time,

He will with Tamburlaine's destruction
Redeem you from this deadly servitude.

Zeno. Leave [Agydas] to wound me with these words,

And speak of Tamburlaine as he deserves.

The entertainment we have had of him
Is far from villainy or servitude,

And might in noble minds be counted princely.

Agyd. How can you fancy one that looks so fierce,

Only disposed to martial stratagems?
Who, when he shall embrace you in his

arms,

Will tell how many thousand men he slew; And when you look for amorous discourse, Will rattle forth his facts of war and blood, Too harsh a subject for your dainty ears.

Zeno. As looks the Sun through Nilus' flowing stream,

Or when the Morning holds him in her

arms,

So looks my lordly love, fair Tamburlaine;
His talk more sweeter than the Muses' song
They sung for honour 'gainst Pierides;
Or when Minerva did with Neptune strive:
And higher would I rear my estimate
Than Juno, sister to the highest god,
If I were matched with mighty Tambur.
laine.

Agyd. Yet be not so inconstant in your love;

But let the young Arabian live in hope
After your rescue to enjoy his choice.
You see though first the king of Persia,
Being a shepherd, seem'd to love you much,
Now in his majesty he leaves those looks,
Those words of favour, and those comfort-
ings,

And gives no more than common courtesies.
Zeno. Thence rise the tears that so dis-

tain my cheeks, Fearing his love through my unworthiness.-[Tamburlaine goes to her and takes her

away lovingly by the hand, looking wrathfully on Agydas, and says nothing. Exeunt all but Agydas.