They sung for honour 'gainst Pierides ;

Or when Minerva did with Neptune strive :
And higher would I rear my estimate

Than Juno, sister to the highest god,

If I were matched with mighty Tamburlaine.
Agyd. Yet be not so inconstant in your love;
But let the young Arabian 1 live in hope
After your rescue to enjoy his choice.
You see though first the king of Persia,
Being a shepherd, seemed to love you much,
Now in his majesty he leaves those looks,
Those words of favour, and those comfortings,
And gives no more than common courtesies.
Zeno. Thence rise the tears that so distain
Fearing his love through my unworthiness.

my

60

cheeks

[TAMBURLAINE goes to her and takes her away
lovingly by the hand, looking wrathfully on
AGYDAS, and says nothing. Exeunt all but
AGYDAS.

Agyd. Betrayed by fortune and suspicious love,
Threatened with frowning wrath and jealousy,
Surprised with fear of hideous revenge,
I stand aghast; but most astonièd

To see his choler shut in secret thoughts,
And wrapt in silence of his angry soul.
Upon his brows was pourtrayed ugly death;
And in his eyes the furies of his heart

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1 Alcidamas, to whom Zenocrate had been betrothed.
2 So 4to.-8vo. "and."

That shine as comets, menacing revenge,
And casts a pale complexion on his cheeks.
As when the seaman sees the Hyades
Gather an army of Cimmerian clouds,
(Auster and Aquilon with wingèd steeds,
All sweating, tilt about the watery heavens,
With shivering spears enforcing thunder claps,
And from their shields strike flames of lightening,)
All-fearful folds his sails and sounds the main,
Lifting his prayers to the Heavens for aid
Against the terror of the winds and waves,

So fares Agydas for the late-felt frowns,

That sent a tempest to my daunted thoughts,
And make my soul divine her overthrow.

Enter USUMCASANE and TECHELLES with a naked dagger.

Tech. See you, Agydas, how the king salutes you

?

He bids you prophesy what it imports.

Agyd. I prophesied before, and now I prove

The killing frowns of jealousy and love.

He needed not with words confirm my fear,

For words are vain where working tools present

The naked action of my threatened end:

It says, Agydas, thou shalt surely die,

And of extremities elect the least;

More honour and less pain it may procure

To die by this resolvèd hand of thine,

Than stay the torments he and Heaven have sworn.
Then haste, Agydas, and prevent the plagues

Which thy prolongèd fates may draw on thee.

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90

Go, wander, free from fear of tyrant's rage,
Removed from the torments and the hell,
Wherewith he may excruciate thy soul,
And let Agydas by Agydas die,

And with this stab slumber eternally.

[Stabs himself.

Tech. Usumcasane, see, how right the man

Hath hit the meaning of my lord, the king.

Usum. 'Faith, and Techelles, it was manly done; And since he was so wise and honourable,

Let us afford him now the bearing hence,

And crave his triple-worthy burial.

Tech. Agreed, Casane; we will honour him.

[Exeunt bearing out the body.

SCENE III.

Enter TAMBURLAINE, Techelles, Usumcasane, Theri-
DAMAS, a Basso, ZENOCRATE, ANIPPE, with others.

Tamb. Basso, by this thy lord and master knows
I mean to meet him in Bithynia :

See how he comes! tush, Turks are full of brags,
And menace more than they can well perform.
He meet me in the field, and fetch thee hence !
Alas! poor Turk! his fortune is too weak
To encounter with the strength of Tamburlaine.
View well my camp, and speak indifferently;
Do not my captains and my soldiers look
As if they meant to conquer Africa.

IO

Bas. Your men are valiant, but their number few,
And cannot terrify his mighty host.

My lord, the great commander of the world,
Besides fifteen contributory kings,

Hath now in arms ten thousand Janisaries,
Mounted on lusty Mauritanian steeds,
Brought to the war by men of Tripoli ;

Two hundred thousand footmen that have serv'd
In two set battles fought in Græcia ;
And for the expedition of this war,
If he think good, can from his garrisons
Withdraw as many more to follow him.

Tech. The more he brings the greater is the spoil,
For when they perish by our warlike hands,

We mean to seat our footmen on their steeds,

And rifle all those stately Janisars.

20

Tamb. But will those kings accompany your lord? Bas. Such as his highness please; but some must stay To rule the provinces he late subdued.

Tamb. [To his Officers.

their crowns are yours;

Then fight courageously:

This hand shall set them on your conquering heads,
That made me emperor of Asia.

Usum. Let him bring millions infinite of men,
Unpeopling Western Africa and Greece,

Yet we assure us of the victory.

Ther. Even he that in a trice vanquished two kings,

More mighty than the Turkish emperor,

Shall rouse him out of Europe, and pursue

His scattered army till they yield or die.

30

Tamb. Well said, Theridamas; speak in that mood; 40 For will and shall best fitteth Tamburlaine,

Whose smiling stars give him assured hope
Of martial triumph ere he meet his foes.

I that am termed the scourge and wrath of God,
The only fear and terror of the world,

Will first subdue the Turk, and then enlarge
Those Christian captives, which you keep as slaves,
Burthening their bodies with your heavy chains,
And feeding them with thin and slender fare,
That naked row about the Terrene sea,

Are punished with bastones1 so grievously,

And when they chance to rest or breathe a space,

50

That they lie panting on the galley's side,

And strive for life at every stroke they give.
These are the cruel pirates of Argier,

That damned train, the scum of Africa,

Inhabited with straggling runagates,

That make quick havoc of the Christian blood;

But as I live that town shall curse the time
That Tamburlaine set foot in Africa.

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Enter BAJAZETH with his Bassoes and contributory Kings.
Baj. Bassoes and Janisaries of my guard,
Attend upon the person of your lord,
The greatest potentate of Africa.

1 "Mr. Dyce says, ' bastones, i.e. bastinadoes;' but the bastinado, as I have seen it, was applied to the soles of the feet, and was therefore a punishment inapplicable to rowers, whom it would have rendered unfit for work. 'Bastones' simply means batons, sticks.”—Cunningham.