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 purchased kingdoms by your martial
deeds,

Cast off your armour, put on scarlet robes,
Mount up your royal places of estate,
Environed with troons of noblemen.

And there make laws to rule your provinces.
Hang up your weapons on Alcides' posts,
For Tamburlaine takes truce with all the
world.

Thy first-betrothed love, Arabia,
Shall we with honour, as beseems, entomb
With this great Turk and his fair Emperess.
Then, after all these solemn exequies,
We will our rites of marriage solemnize.

T

ACT THE FIRST.

SCENE I. Orcanes, King of Natolia, Gazellus, Viceroy of Byron, Uribassa, and their Train, with drums and trumpets.

Orc. Egregious viceroys of these eastern parts,

Placed by the issue of great Bajazet,
And sacred lord, the mighty Callapine,
Who lives in Egypt, prisoner to that slave
Which kept his father in an iron cage:-
Now have we marched from fair Natolia
Two hundred leagues, and on Danubius'
banks

Our warlike host, in complete armour, rest,
Where Sigismund, the king of Hungary
Should meet our person to conclude a truce.

What! Shall we parle with the Christian? Or cross the stream, and meet him in the field?

Gaz. King of Natolia, let us treat of peace;

We all are glutted with the Christians' blood, And have a greater foe to fight against,— Proud Tamburlaine, that, now in Asia, Near Guyron's head doth set his conq'ring feet,

And means to fire Turkey as he goes. 'Gainst him, my lord, you must address your power.

Uri. Besides, King Sigismund bath brought from Christendom, More than his camp of stout Hungarians,— Sclavonians, Almains, Rutters, Muffes, and Danes,

at with the halberd, lance, and murdering axe,

Il hazard that we might with surety hold. Orc. Though from the shortest northern parallel,

st Grantland, compassed with the Frozen Sea,

habited with tall and sturdy men, ints as big as hugy Polypheme,) Ilions of soldiers cut the arctick line, nging the strength of Europe to these

arms,

r Turkey blades shall glide through all their throats,

d make this champion mead a bloody fen. nubius' stream, that runs to Trebizon, all carry, wrapt within his scarlet waves, martial presents to our friends at home, e slaughtered bodies of these Christians. e Terrene Main, wherein Danubius falls, all, by this battle, be the Bloody Sea. e wandering sailors of proud Italy all meet those Christians, fleeting with the tide,

ating in heaps against their Argosies, d make fair Europe, mounted on her bull, ipped with the wealth and riches of the world,

ght, and wear a woeful mourning weed. Gaz. Yet, stout Orcanes, Prorex of the world,

31

He brings a world of people to the field,
From Scythia to the oriental plage
Of India, where raging Lantchidol
Beats on the regions with his boisterous
blows,

That never seaman yet discovered.
All Asia is in arms with Tamburlaine,
Even from the midst of fiery Cancer's tro-
pick,

To Amazonia under Capricorn;

And thence as far as Archipelago,
All Afric is in arms with Tamburlaine;
Therefore, viceroy, the Christians must have
peace.

Enter Sigismund, Frederick, Baldwin, and their Train, with drums and trumpets.

Sig. Orcanes, (as our legates promised thee,)

We, with our peers, have crossed Danubius' stream,

To treat of friendly peace or deadly war. Take which thou wilt, for as the Romans used,

I here present thee with a naked sword; Wilt thou have war, then shake this blade

at me;

Alexandria, and the frontier towns,

aning to make a conquest of our land, ; requisite to parle for a peace

th Sigismund, the king of Hungary,

i save our forces for the hot assaults

ud Tamburlaine intends Natolia.

Quivers about the axle-tree of heaven? Forget'st thou that I sent a shower of darts, Mingled with powdered shot and feathered steel,

So thick upon the blink-eyed burghers' heads,

That thou thyself, then County Palatine,

realm, the centre of our empery,

ce lost, all Turkey would be overthrown, 1 for that cause the Christians shall have peace.

ivonians, Almains, Rutters, Muffes, and = Danes,

Er not Orcanes, but great Tamburlaine; r he, but fortune, that hath made him great.

have revolted Grecians, Albanese, lians, Jews, Arabians, Turks, and Moors, olians, Syrians, black Egyptians, rians, Thracians, and Bithynians, ough to swallow forceless Sigismund, scarce enough to encounter TamburElaine.

Duke,

Sent heralds out, which basely on their knees

In all your names desired a truce of me? Forget'st thou, that to have me raise my siege,

Waggons of gold were set before my tents, Stampt with the princely fowl, that in her wings,

Carries the fearful thunderbolts of Jove? How canst thou think of this, and offer war?

Sig. Vienna was besieged, and I was there,

Then County Palatine, but now a king,
And what we did was in extremity.
But now, Orcanes, view my royal host,

and wide,

As doth the desert of Arabia

To those that stand on Bagdad's lofty tower;
Or as the ocean, to the traveller
That rests upon the snowy Apennines;
And tell me whether I should stoop so low,
As treat of peace with the Natolian king.

Gaz. Kings of Natolia and of Hungary,
We came from Turkey to confirm a league,
And not to dare each other to the field.
A friendly parle might become you both.
Fred. And we from Europe, to the same
intent,

Which if your general refuse or scorn, Our tents are pitched, our men stand in array,

Ready to charge you ere you stir your feet. Orc. So prest are we; but yet, if Sigismund

Speak as a friend, and stand not upon terms,
Here is his sword,-let peace be ratified
On these conditions, specified before,
Drawn with advice of our ambassadors.
Sig. Then here I sheathe it, and give thee
my hand,

Never to draw it out, or manage arms
Against thyself or thy confederates,
But whilst I live will be at truce with thee.
Orc. But, Sigismund, confirm it with an
oath,

And swear in sight of heaven and by thy
Christ.

Sig. By him that made the world and
saved my soul,

The Son of God and issue of a maid,
Sweet Jesus Christ, I solemnly protest
And vow to keep this peace inviolable.

Orc. By sacred Mahomet, the friend of
God,

Whose holy Alcoran remains with us,
Whose glorious body, when he left the

world,

Closed in a coffin mounted up the air,
And hung on stately Mecca's temple-roof,
I swear to keep this truce inviolable;
Of whose conditions and our solemn oaths,
Signed with our hands, each shall retain a
scroll

As memorable witness of our league.
Now Sigismund, if any Christian king
Encroach upon the confines of thy realm,
Send word, Orcanes of Natolia

Confirmed this league beyond Danubius' stream,

And they will, trembling, sound a quick retreat;

So am I feared among all nations.

Sig. If any heathen potentate or king

Callapine with Almeda, his Keeper, discovered.

Call. Sweet Almeda, pity the ruth plight

Of Callapine, the son of Bajazet,
Born to be monarch of the western world
Yet here detained by cruel Tamburlaine.

Alm. My lord, I pity it, and with all heart

Wish your release; but he whose wrath death,

My sovereign lord, renowned Tamburla Forbids you farther liberty than this.

Call. Ah, were I now but half so eloque To paint in words what I'll perform in dee know thou would'st depart from he

I

with me.

Alm. Not for all Afric: therefore mo me not.

Call. Yet hear me speak, my ge Almeda.

Alm. No speech to that end, by favour, sir.

Call. By Cairo runs

Alm. No talk of running, I tell you,
Call. A little farther, gentle Almeda. S
Alm. Well, sir, what of this?
Call. By Cairo runs to Alexandria bal
Darote's streams, wherein at anchor lies
A Turkish galley of my royal fleet,
Waiting my coming to the river side,
Hoping by some means I shall be releas A
Which, when I come aboard, will hoist T
sail,

And soon put forth into the Terrene sea
Where, 'twixt the isles of Cyprus and

Crete,

fo

We quickly may in Turkish seas arrive. Then shalt thou see a hundred kings and more,

Upon their knees, all bid me welcome home. Amongst so many crowns of burnished gold, Choose which thou wilt, all are at thy command;

A thousand galleys, manned with Christian slaves,

I freely give thee, which shall cut the straits,
And bring armados from the coasts of Spain
Fraughted with gold of rich America;
The Grecian virgins shall attend on thee,
Skilful in music and in amorous lays,
As fair as was Pygmalion's ivory girl
Or lovely Io metamorphosed.
With naked negroes shall thy coach be
drawn,

And as thou rid'st in triumph through the

streets

The pavement underneath thy chariot wheels

With Turkey carpets shall be covered,

And cloth of Arras hung about the walls,
Fit objects for thy princely eye to pierce.
A hundred bassoes, clothed in crimson silk,
Shall ride before thee on Barbarian steeds;
And when thou goest, a golden canopy
Enchased with precious stones, which shine
as bright

Enter Tamburlaine, with Zenocrate and his three Sons, Calyphas, Amyras, and Celebinus, with Drums and Trumpets. Tamb. Now, bright Zenocrate, the world's fair eye,

Whose beams illuminate the lamps of heaven,

Whose cheerful looks do clear the cloudy air,

And clothe it in a crystal livery;

Now rest thee here on fair Larissa plains, Where Egypt and the Turkish empire part Between thy sons, that shall be emperors, And every one commander of a world.

Zeno. Sweet Tamburlaine, when wilt thou leave these arms,

And save thy sacred person free from scathe,

Descendeth downward to the Antipodes,And more than this-for all I cannot tell. Alm. How far hence lies the galley, say you?

Call. Sweet Almeda, scarce half a league from hence.

Alm. But need we not be spied going aboard?

Call. Betwixt the hollow hanging of a hill,

And crooked bending of a craggy rock, The sails wrapt up, the mast and tacklings down,

She lies so close that none can find her out. Alm. I like that well: but tell me, my ord, if I should let you go, would you be as good as your word? Shall I be made a king for my labour?

Call. As I am Callapine the emperor, And by the hand of Mahomet I swear Thou shalt be crowned a king, and be my

mate.

Alm. Then here I swear, as I am Almeda Your keeper under Tamburlaine the Great, For that's the style and title I have yet,) Although he sent a thousand armed men

Tamb. When heaven shall cease to move on both the poles,

And when the ground, whereon my soldiers march,

Shall rise aloft and touch the hornèd moon,
And not before, my sweet Zenocrate.
Sit up, and rest thee like a lovely queen;
So, now she sits in pomp and majesty,
When these, my sons, more precious in
mine eyes,

Than all the wealthy kingdoms I subdued,
Placed by her side, look on their mother's

face:

But yet methinks their looks are amorous, Not martial as the sons of Tamburlaine : Water and air, being symbolized in one, Argue their want of courage and of wit; Their hair as white as milk and soft as down, (Which should be like the quills of porcupines

As black as jet and hard as iron or steel) Bewrays they are too dainty for the wars; Their fingers made to quaver on a lute, Their arms to hang about a lady's neck, Would make me think them bastards not my sons,

But that I know they issued from thy womb