Behold me here, divine Zenocrate,

Raving, impatient, desperate, and mad,
Breaking my steeled lance, with which I burst
The rusty beams of Janus' temple-doors,
Letting out death and tyrannizing war,
To march with me under this bloody flag!
And if thou pitiest Tamburlaine the Great,
Come down from heav'n, and live with me again.
THER. Ah, good my lord, be patient; she is dead,
And all this raging can not make her live.

If words might serve, our voice hath rent the air;
If tears, our eyes have water'd all the earth;

If grief, our murder'd hearts have strain'd forth blood; Nothing prevails, for she is dead, my lord.

TAMB. For she is dead! Thy words do pierce my

soul!

Ah, sweet Theridamas! say so no more;

Though she be dead, yet let me think she lives,
And feed my mind that dies for want of her.
Where'er her soul be, thou (To the body.) shalt stay

with me,

Embalm'd with cassia, ambergris, and myrrh,

Not lapt in lead, but in a sheet of gold,

And till I die thou shalt not be interr'd.
Then in as rich a tomb as Mausolus
We both will rest and have our epitaph
Writ in as many several languages

As I have conquer'd kingdoms with my sword.
This cursed town will I consume with fire,
Because this place bereav'd me of my love:

The houses, burnt, will look as if they mourn'd;
And here will I set up her statue,

And march about it with my mourning camp
Drooping and pining for Zenocrate. [The Scene closes.

ACT THE THIRD.

SCENE I.

Enter the Kings of TREBIZOND and SYRIA, one bearing a sword, and another a sceptre; next NATOLIA and JERUSALEM, with the imperial Crown; after CALLAPINE, and after him other Lords. ORCANES and JERUSALEM crown him, and the others give him the sceptre.

ORC. Callapinus Cyricelibes, otherwise Cybelius, son and successive heir to the late mighty emperor, Bajazet, by the aid of God and his friend Mahomet, emperor of Natolia, Jerusalem, Trebizond, Syria, Amasia, Thracia, Ilyria, Carmonia, and all the hundred and thirty kingdoms late contributory to his mighty father. Long live Callapinus, emperor of Turkey.

CALL. Thrice worthy kings of Natolia, and the rest, I will requite your royal gratitudes

With all the benefits my empire yields;
And were the sinews of th' imperial seat
So knit and strengthen'd as when Bajazet
My royal lord and father fill'd the throne,

Whose cursed fate hath so dismember'd it,
Then should you see this chief of Scythia,
This proud, usurping king of Persia,

Do us such honour and supremacy,

Bearing the

vengeance of our father's wrongs,
As all the world should blot our dignities
Out of the book of base-born infamies.
And now I doubt not but your royal cares
Have so provided for this cursed foe,
That, since the heir of mighty Bajazet,
(An emperor so honour'd for his virtues,)
Revives the spirits of true Turkish hearts,
In grievous mem'ry of his father's shame,
We shall not need to nourish any doubt,
But that proud fortune, who hath follow'd long
The martial sword of mighty Tamburlaine,
Will now retain her old inconstancy,
And raise our honours to as high a pitch,
In this our strong and fortunate encounter ;
For so hath heaven provided my escape,
From all the cruelty my soul sustain'd,
By this my friendly keeper's happy means,
That Jove, surcharg'd with pity of our wrongs,

Will

pour it down in showers on our heads,

Scourging the pride of Tamburlaine.

ORC. I have a hundred thousand men in arms; Some, that in conquest of the perjur'd Christian, Being a handful to a mighty host,

Think them in number yet sufficient
To drink the river Nile or Euphrates,

And for their power know to win the world.

TER. And I as many from Jerusalem,
Judæa, Gaza, and Sclavonia's bounds,
That on mount Sinai with their ensigns spread,
Look like the parti-coloured clouds of heaven
That show fair weather to the neighbour morn.
TREB. And I as many bring from Trebizond,
Chio, Famastro, and Amasia

All bord'ring on the Mare Major sea,
Riso, Sancina, and the bord'ring towns
That touch the end of famous Euphrates,
Whose courages are kindled with the flames,
The cursed Scythian sets on all their towns,
And vow to burn the villain's cruel heart.

SYR. From Syria with seventy thousand strong Ta'en from Aleppo, Saldino, Tripoli,

And so unto my city of Damascus,

I march to meet and aid my neighbour kings;
All which will join against this Tamburlaine,
And bring him captive to your highness' feet.

ORC. Our battle then in martial manner pitch'd
According to our ancient use, shall bear
The figure of the semicircled moon,

Whose horns shall sprinkle through the tainted air The poison'd brains of this proud Scythian.

CALL. Well then, my noble lords, for this my friend

That freed me from the bondage of my foe,

I think it requisite and honourable,

To keep my promise and to make him king,

That is a gentleman, I know, at least.

ALM. That is no matter, sir, for being a king; For Tamburlaine came up from nothing.

JER. Your majesty may choose some pointed

time,

Performing all your promise to the full;

'Tis nought for your majesty to give a kingdom. CALL. Then will I shortly keep my promise, Almeda.

ALM. Why, I thank your majesty.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

Enter TAMBURLAINE with USUMCASANE, and his three Sons, four bearing the hearse of Zenocrate, and the drums sounding a doleful march; the town burning.

TAM. So burn the turrets of this cursed town,
Flame to the highest region of the air,

And kindle heaps of exhalations,
That being fiery meteors may presage
Death and destruction to the inhabitants!
Over my Zenith hang a blazing star,
That may endure till heaven be dissolv'd,
Fed with the fresh supply of earthly dregs,
Threat'ning a death and famine to this land!
Flying dragons, lightning, fearful thunderbolts,
Singe these fair plains, and make them seem as

black

As is the island where the Furies mask,

Compass'd with Lethe, Styx, and Phlegethon,