Give me your knife, good mother, or strike home* : The Scythians shall not tyrannize on me :

Sweet mother, strike, that I may meet my father.

[She stabs him, and he dies.

Olym. Ah, sacred Mahomet, if this be sin, Entreat a pardon of the God of heaven,

And purge my soul before it come to thee!

[She burns the bodies of her husband and son, and then attempts to kill herself.

Enter THERIDAMAS, TECHELLES, and all their
train.

Ther. How now, madam! what are you doing?
Olym. Killing myself, as I have done my son,
Whose body, with his father's, I have burnt,
Lest cruel Scythians should dismember him.

Tech. 'Twas bravely done, and like a soldier's wife.
Thou shalt with us to Tamburlaine the Great,
Who, when he hears how resolute thou wert +,
Will match thee with a viceroy or a king.

Olym. My lord deceas'd was dearer unto me
Than any viceroy, king, or emperor;
And for his sake here will I end my days.

Ther. But, lady, go with us to Tamburlaine,
And thou shalt see a man greater than Mahomet,
In whose high looks is much more majesty,
Than from the concave superficies

* home] So the 8vo.-The 4to "haue."
twert] So the 8vo.-The 4to " art."

Of Jove's vast palace, the empyreal orb,
Unto the shining bower where Cynthia sits,
Like lovely Thetis, in a crystal robe;

That treadeth Fortune underneath his feet,
And makes the mighty god of arms his slave;
On whom Death and the Fatal Sisters wait
With naked swords and scarlet liveries;
Before whom, mounted on a lion's back,
Rhamnusia bears a helmet full of blood,

And strows the way with brains of slaughter'd men ;
By whose proud side the ugly Furies run,
Hearkening when he shall bid them plague the world;
Over whose zenith, cloth'd in windy air,

And eagle's wings join'd⁕ to her feather'd breast,
Fame hovereth, sounding of + her golden trump,
That to the adverse poles of that straight line
Which measureth the glorious frame of heaven
The name of mighty Tamburlaine is spread;
And him, fair lady, shall thy eyes behold.
Come.

Olym. Take pity of a lady's ruthful tears,
That humbly craves upon her knees to stay,
And cast her body in the burning flame

That feeds upon her son's and husband's flesh.

Tech. Madam, sooner shall fire consume us both, Than scorch a face so beautiful as this,

In frame of which Nature hath shew'd more skill

* join'd] So the 4to.-The 8vo "inioin'd."

t of] So the 8vo.-The 4to "in."

Than when she gave eternal chaos form,
Drawing from it the shining lamps of heaven.
Ther. Madam, I am so far in love with you,
That you must go with us; no remedy.

Olym. Then carry me, I care not, where you will, And let the end of this my fatal journey

Be likewise end to my accursèd life.

Tech. No, madam, but the|| beginning of your joy:

Come willingly therefore.

Ther. Soldiers, now let us meet the general, Who by this time is at Natolia,

Ready to charge the army of the Turk.

*

The gold and silver, and the pearl, ye got,

Rifling this fort, divide in equal shares:

This lady shall have twice so much again
Out of the coffers of our treasury.

SCENE V.

[Exeunt.

Enter CALLAPINE, ORCANES, the KINGS of JERUSALEM, TREBIZON, and SORIA, with their train, ALMEDA, and a MESSENGER.

MES. Renowmèd† emperor, mighty‡ Callapine, God's great lieutenant over all the world,

the] Added perhaps by a mistake of the transcriber or printer.

*and] So the 8vo.-The 4to "the."

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

emperor, mighty] So the 8vo.-The 4to "

emperour, and

mightie."

Here at Aleppo, with an host of men,

Lies Tamburlaine, this king of Persia,

(In number more than are the† quivering leaves
Of Ida's forest, where your highness' hounds
With open cry pursue the wounded stag,)
Who means to girt Natolia's walls with siege,
Fire the town, and over-run the land.

Call. My royal army is as great as his,
That, from the bounds of Phrygia to the sea
Which washeth Cyprus with his brinish waves,
Covers the hills, the valleys, and the plains.
Viceroys and peers of Turkey, play the men;
Whet all your § swords to mangle Tamburlaine,
His sons, his captains, and his followers:
By Mahomet, not one of them shall live!
The field wherein this battle shall be fought
For ever term || the Persians' sepulchre,

In memory of this our victory.

*

ORC. Now he that calls himself the scourge of

Jove,

The emperor of the world, and earthly god,
Shall end the warlike progress he intends,
And travel headlong to the lake of hell,
Where legions of devils (knowing he must die

+ the] So the 4to.-The 8vo "this."
pursue] Old eds. " pursues."

your] So the 8vo.-The 4to "our.'
term] Qy." term'd"?

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

Here in Natolia by your§ highness' hands),
All brandishing their brands of quenchless fire,
Stretching their monstrous paws, grin with their
teeth,

And guard the gates to entertain his soul.

Call. Tell me, viceroys, the number of your men, And what our army royal is esteem'd.

K. of Jer. From Palestina and Jerusalem,
Of Hebrews three score thousand fighting men
Are come, since last we shew'd your† majesty.
Orc. So from Arabia desert, and the bounds
Of that sweet land whose brave metropolis
Re-edified the fair Semiramis,

Came forty thousand warlike foot and horse,
Since last we number'd to your majesty.

K. of Treb. From Trebizon in Asia the Less,
Naturaliz'd Turks and stout Bithynians

Came to my bands, full fifty thousand more, (That, fighting, know not what retreat doth mean, Nor e'er return but with the victory,)

Since last we number'd to your majesty.

K. of Sor. Of Sorians § from Halla is repair'd ||,

your] So the 8vo.-The 4to "our."

brandishing their] So the 4to.-The 8vo " brandishing in

their."

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

+ shew'd your] So the 8vo.-The 4to " shewed to your." know] Old eds. "knowes."

I repair'd] So the 8vo.—The 4to “prepar❜d.”