Fit objects for thy princely eye to pierce.
A hundred bashas, cloth'd in crimson silk,
Shall ride before thee on Barbarian steeds;
And when thou goest, a golden canopy

Enchas'd with precious stones, which shine as bright
As that fair veil that covers all the world,
When Phoebus, leaping from the hemisphere,
Descendeth downward to th' 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 landing of a craggy rock,

The sails wrapt up, the mast and tackling down,
She lies so close that none can find her out.

ALM. I like that well: but tell me, my lord, 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 crown'd 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
To intercept this haughty enterprize,
Yet would I venture to conduct your grace,
And die before I brought you back again.

CALL. Thanks, gentle Almeda; then let us haste, Lest time be past, and ling'ring let us both.

ALM. When you will, my lord; I am ready.

CALL. Ev'n straight; and farewell, cursed Tam

burlaine.

Now go I to revenge my father's death.

SCENE III.

[Exeunt.

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 chrystal livery;

Now rest thee here on fair Larissa's plains,
Where Egypt and the Turkish empire parts,
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,

And dang'rous chances of the wrathful war?

TAMB. When heav'n shall cease to move on both the poles,

And when the ground, whereon my soldiers march, Shall rise aloft and touch the horned 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 subdu'd,

Plac'd 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 symboliz'd 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 issu'd from thy womb
That never look'd on man but Tamburlaine.

ZENO. My gracious lord, they have their mother's looks,

But, when they list, their conq'ring father's heart.
This lovely boy, the youngest of the three,
Not long ago bestrid a Scythian steed
Trotting the ring, and tilting at a glove,

Which, when he tainted with his slender rod,
He rein'd him straight and made him so curvet,
As I cry'd out for fear he should have fall'n.

TAMB. Well done, my boy, thou shalt have shield

and lance,

Armour of proof, horse, helm, and curtle axe,
And I will teach thee how to charge thy foe,
And harmless run among the deadly pikes.

If thou wilt love the wars and follow me,
Thou shalt be made a king and reign with me,
Keeping in iron cages emperors.

If thou exceed thy elder brothers' worth
And shine in complete virtue more than they,
Thou shalt be king before them, and thy seed
Shall issue crowned from their mother's womb.
CEL. Yes, father; you shall see me, if I live,
Have under me as many kings as you,

And march with such a multitude of men,

As all the world shall tremble at their view.
TAMB. These words assure me, boy, thou art my

son.

When I am old and cannot manage arms,
Be thou the scourge and terror of the world.
AMY. Why may not I my lord, as well as he,
Be term'd the scourge and terror of the world?
TAMB. Be all a scourge and terror to the world,
Or else you are not sons of Tamburlaine.

CAL. But while my brothers follow arms, my lord,
Let me accompany my gracious mother;
They are enough to conquer all the world,

And

you have now enough for me to keep.

TAMB. Bastardly boy, sprung from some coward's loins,

And not the issue of great Tamburlaine ;

Of all the provinces I have subdu'd,

Thou shalt not have a foot unless thou bear

A mind courageous and invincible:

For he shall wear the crown of Persia

Whose head hath deepest scars, whose breast most wounds,

Which being wroth sends lightning from his eyes,

And in the furrows of his frowning brows
Harbours revenge, war, death, and cruelty;
For in a field, whose superficies

Is cover'd with a liquid purple veil

And sprinkled with the brains of slaughter'd men,
My royal chair of state shall be advanc'd;
And he that means to place himself therein,
Must armed wade up to the chin in blood.

ZENO. My lord, such speeches to our princely sons
Dismay their minds before they come to prove
The wounding troubles angry war affords.

CEL. No, madam, these are speeches fit for us, For if his chair were in a sea of blood

I would prepare a ship and sail to it,

Ere I would lose the title of a king.

Axy. And I would strive to swim through pools

of blood,

Or make a bridge of murder'd carcases,

Whose arches should be fram'd with bones of Turks, Ere I would lose the title of a king.

TAMB. Well, lovely boys, ye shall be emp❜rors both, Stretching your conquering arms from East to West; And, sirrah, if you mean to wear a crown, When we shall meet the Turkish deputy And all his viceroys, snatch it from his head,

Superfluities, in the old editions.