Usum. What then, my lord?

Tamb. Why then, Casane,1 shall we wish for aught The world affords in greatest novelty,

And rest attemptless, faint, and destitute?

Methinks we should not: I am strongly moved,

That if I should desire the Persian crown,

I could attain it with a wondrous ease.
And would not all our soldiers soon consent,
If we should aim at such a dignity?

Ther. I know they would with our persuasions.

Tamb. Why then, Theridamas, I'll first assay
To get the Persian kingdom to myself;

Then thou for Parthia; they for Scythia and Media;
And, if I prosper, all shall be as sure

As if the Turk, the Pope, Afric, and Greece,

Came creeping to us with their crowns apiece.2
Tech. Then shall we send to this triumphing king,
And bid him battle for his novel crown?

80

Usum. Nay, quickly then, before his room be hot. Tamb. 'Twill prove a pretty jest, in faith, my friends. 90 Ther. A jest to charge on twenty thousand men !

I judge the purchase 3 more important far.

Tamb. Judge by thyself, Theridamas, not me;

For presently Techelles here shall haste

To bid him battle ere he pass too far,

And lose more labour than the gain will quiet.

1 Old copies read "Casanes."

2 So 4to.-8vo. "apace."

3

Purchase" is often found as a cant word for "thieving, filching." Here it seems to mean an "expedition in search of plunder."

Then shalt thou see this Scythian Tamburlaine,
Make but a jest to win the Persian crown.
Techelles, take a thousand horse with thee,
And bid him turn him1 back to war with us,
That only made him king to make us sport.
We will not steal upon him cowardly,
But give him warning and more warriors.
Haste, thee, Techelles, we will follow thee.
What saith Theridamas?

Ther. Go on for me.

SCENE VI.

100

[Exeunt.

Enter COSROE, MEANDER, ORTYGIUS, MENAPHON, with

other Soldiers.

Cos. What means this devilish shepherd to aspire

With such a giantly presumption.

To cast up hills against the face of heaven,
And dare the force of angry Jupiter?

But as he thrust them underneath the hills,
And pressed out fire from their burning jaws,
So will I send this monstrous slave to hell,
Where flames shall ever feed upon his soul.

Meand. Some powers divine, or else infernal, mixed Their angry seeds at his conception;

For he was never sprong of human race,
Since with the spirit of his fearful pride,
He dare so doubtlessly resolve of rule,
And by profession be ambitious.

1 Old copies "his."

10

Orty. What god, or fiend, or spirit of the earth,

Or monster turnèd to a manly shape,

Or of what mould or mettle he be made,
What star or state soever govern him,

Let us put on our meet encountering minds;
And in detesting such a devilish chief,
In love of honour and defence of right,
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 wholesome 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

20

30

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 !

40

[Exeunt; martial music.

SCENE VII.

Alarms. 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 grievèd soul,
And death arrests the organ of my voice,

Who, entering at the breach thy sword hath made,
Sacks every vein and artier 1 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.
What better precedent than mighty Jove?
Nature that framed us of four elements,
Warring within our breasts for regiment,
Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds:
Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend
The wondrous architecture of the world,

20

1 Dyce quotes several instances of this form of the word "artery."

And measure every wandering planet's course,

Still climbing after knowledge infinite,

And always moving as the restless spheres,

Wills us to wear ourselves, and never rest,

Until we reach the ripest fruit of all,
That perfect bliss and sole felicity,

The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.

Ther. And that made me to join with Tamburlaine:

30

For he is gross and like the massy earth,

That moves not upwards, nor by princely deeds

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,

Is dry and cold; and now doth ghastly death,
With greedy talents gripe my bleeding heart,

1

40

1 "Talon" was not unfrequently spelt "talent." Cf. Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 2:-" If a talent be a claw."-Pistol's "Let vultures gripe thy guts," may be, as Stevens suggested, a parody of this passage.