Tamb. Sirrah, Callapine! I'll hang a clog about your

1

neck for running away 1 again; you shall not trouble me thus to come and fetch you ;

But as for you, viceroys, you shall have bits,

And, harnessed like my horses, draw my coach;
And when ye stay, be lashed with whips of wire.
I'll have you learn to feed on 2 provender
And in a stable lie upon the planks.

Orc. But, Tamburlaine, first thou shalt kneel to us, And humbly crave a pardon for thy life.

Treb. The common soldiers of our mighty host

Shall bring thee bound unto our general's tent.
Sor. And all have jointly sworn thy cruel death,
Or bind thee in eternal torments' wrath.

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ΠΙΟ

Tamb. Well, sirs, diet yourselves; you know I shall have occasion shortly to journey you.

Cel. See, father,

How Almeda the jailor looks upon us.

Tamb. Villain! traitor! damnèd fugitive!

I'll make thee wish the earth did swallow thee,
See'st thou not death within my wrathful looks?
Go, villain, cast thee headlong from a rock,
Or rip thy bowels, and rent out thy heart
To appease my wrath! or else I'll torture thee,
Searing thy hateful flesh with burning irons
And drops of scalding lead, while all thy joints
Be racked and beat asunder with the wheel;

1 I.e. to prevent your running away.

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

ง

120

For, if thou liv'st, not any element

Shall shroud thee from the wrath of Tamburlaine.
Call. Well, in despite of thee he shall be king.
Come, Almeda; receive this crown of me,

I here invest thee king of Ariadan

Bordering on Mare Roso, near to Mecca.

Orc. What! Take it, man.

Alm. Good my lord, let me take it.

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[To Tamb.

Call. Dost thou ask him leave? Here; take it.

Tamb. Go to, sirrah, take your crown, and make up the half dozen. So, sirrah, now you are a king; you must give arms.1

1

Orc. So he shall, and wear thy head in his scutcheon. Tamb. No; 2 let him hang a bunch of keys on his standard to put him in remembrance he was a jailor, that when I take him, I may knock out his brains with them, and lock you in the stable, when you shall come sweating from my chariot.

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Treb. Away; let us to the field, that the villain may be slain.

Tamb. Sirrah, prepare whips and bring my chariot to my tent, for as soon as the battle is done, I'll ride in triumph through the camp.

Enter THERIDAMAS, TECHELLES, and their train. How now, ye petty kings? Lo, here are bugs 3 Will make the hair stand upright on your heads,

1 One of the few quibbles in Marlowe.

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

3 Bugbears.

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And cast your crowns in slavery at their feet.
Welcome, Theridamas and Techelles, both!
See
ye this rout, and know ye
this same king?
Ther. I, my lord; he was Callapine's keeper.

Tamb. Well, now ye see he is a king; look to him, Theridamas, when we are fighting, lest he hide his crown as the foolish king of Persia did.

Sor. No, Tamburlaine; he shall not be put to that exigent, I warrant thee.

Tamb. You know not, sir

But now, my followers and my loving friends,

Fight as you ever did, like conquerors,

The glory of this happy day is yours.

My stern aspèct shall make fair victory,
Hovering betwixt our armies, light on me
Loaden with laurel wreaths to crown us all.

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Tech. I smile to think how, when this field is fought And rich Natolia ours, our men shall sweat With carrying pearl and treasure on their backs.

Tamb. You shall be princes all, immediately;

Come, fight ye Turks, or yield us victory.

Orc. No; we will meet thee, slavish Tamburlaine.

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[Exeunt.

ACT THE FOURTH.

SCENE I.

Alarums.-AMYRAS and CELEBINUS issue from the tent where CALYPHAS sits asleep.

Amy. Now in their glories shine the golden crowns Of these proud Turks, much like so many suns That half dismay the majesty of heaven. Now, brother, follow me our father's sword, That flies with fury swifter than our thoughts, And cuts down armies with his conquering wings. Cel. Call forth our lazy brother from the tent, For if my father miss him in the field,

Wrath, kindled in the furnace of his breast,

Will send a deadly lightning to his heart.

Amy. Brother! Ho! what given so much to sleep! You cannot leave it, when our enemies' drums And rattling cannons thunder in our ears

Our proper ruin and our father's foil?

Cal. Away, ye fools! my father needs not me,
Nor you in faith, but that you will be thought
More childish-valorous than manly-wise.
If half our camp should sit and sleep with me,
My father were enough to scare the foe.

IO

You do dishonour to his majesty,

To think our helps will do him any good.

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Amy. What! Dar'st thou then be absent from the

field,

Knowing my father hates thy cowardice,

And oft hath warned thee to be still in field,
When he himself amidst the thickest troops
Beats down our foes, to flesh our taintless swords?
Cal. I know, sir, what it is to kill a man ;
It works remorse of conscience in me;

I take no pleasure to be murderous,

Nor care for blood when wine will quench my thirst.
Cel. O cowardly boy! Fie! for shame come forth;

Thou dost dishonour manhood and thy house.

Cal. Go, go, tall1 stripling, fight you for us both, And take my other toward brother here,

For person like to prove a second Mars.

"Twill please my mind as well to hear you both
Have won a heap of honour in the field

And left your slender carcases behind,
As if I lay with you for company.

Amy. You will not go then?

Cal. You say true.

Amy. Were all the lofty mounts of Zona Mundi That fill the midst of farthest Tartary

Turned into pearl and proffered for my stay,

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40

1 Bold. The reader will remember Mercutio's ridicule of the fashionable term:-"The pox of such antic, lisping, affecting fantasticoes, these new tuners of accents! By Jesu a very good blade, a very tall man.'"