That these abuses flow not from 1 her tongue :

Chide her, Anippe.

70

Anip. Let these be warnings for you then, my

slave,

How you abuse the person of the king;

Or else I swear to have you whipt, stark-naked.
Baj. Great Tamburlaine, great in my overthrow,
Ambitious pride shall make thee fall as low,
For treading on the back of Bajazeth,
That should be horsèd on four mighty kings.

Tamb. Thy names, and titles, and thy dignities
Are fled from Bajazeth and remain with me,
That will maintain it 'gainst a world of kings.
Put him in again.
[They put him into the cage.

Baj. Is this a place for mighty Bajazeth? Confusion light on him that helps thee thus !

Tamb. There, while he lives, shall Bajazeth be kept;

And, where I go, be thus in triumph drawn ;

And thou, his wife, shalt 2 feed him with the scraps

My servitors shall bring thee from my board;
For he that gives him other food than this,
Shall sit by him and starve to death himself;
This is my mind and I will have it so.
Not all the kings and emperors of the earth,
If they would lay their crowns before my feet,
Shall ransom him, or take him from his cage.
The ages that shall talk of Tamburlaine,

80

90

1 So 4to.-8vo. "in."
2 So 4to.-8vo. "shal."

Even from this day to Plato's wondrous year,1
Shall talk how I have handled Bajazeth;
These Moors, that drew him from Bithynia,
To fair Damascus, where we now remain,
Shall lead him with us wheresoe'er we go.
Techelles, and my loving followers,
Now may we see Damascus' lofty towers,
Like to the shadows of Pyramides,

That with their beauties grace 2 the Memphian fields:
The golden stature of their feathered bird

That spreads her wings upon the city's walls
Shall not defend it from our battering shot:
The townsmen mask in silk and cloth of gold,
And every house is as a treasury:

The men, the treasure, and the town are ours.

100

Ther. Your tents of white now pitched before the

gates,

And gentle flags of amity displayed,

I doubt not but the governor will yield,

Offering Damascus to your majesty.

Tamb. So shall he have his life and all the rest:

But if he stay until the bloody flag

Be once advanced on my vermilion tent,
He dies, and those that kept us out so long.

And when they see us march in black array,

With mournful streamers hanging down their heads,

1 See Plato's Timæus, p. 39.

2 Old copies, "grac'd.'

3 The word "statue" is often written "stature." See Nares' Glossary.

SCENE III.]

Tamburlaine the Great.

Were in that city all the world contained,
Not one should 'scape, but perish by our swords.
Zeno. Yet would you have some pity for my sake,
Because it is my country, and my father's.

Tamb. Not for the world, Zenocrate; I've sworn.
Come; bring in the Turk.

75

120

[Exeunt.

1

SCENE III.

Enter SOLDAN, ARABIA, CAPOLIN, and Soldiers with
streaming colours.

Sold. Methinks we march as Meleager did,
Environed with brave Argolian knights,
To chase the savage Calydonian boar,
Or Cephalus with lusty Theban youths
Against the wolf that angry Themis sent
To waste and spoil the sweet Aonian fields,
A monster of five hundred thousand heads,
Compact of rapine, piracy, and spoil.

The scum of men, the hate and scourge of God,
Raves in Ægyptia and annoyeth us.
My lord, it is the bloody Tamburlaine,
A sturdy felon and1 a base-bred thief,
By murder raisèd to the Persian crown,
That dares control us in our territories.

To tame the pride of this presumptuous beast,

ΙΟ

1 So 4to.-Omitted in 8vo.

She has litt

influence

Zemb.

Join your Arabians with the Soldan's power,

Let us unite our royal bands in one,

And hasten to remove Damascus' siege.

It is a blemish to the majesty

And high estate of mighty emperors,

That such a base usurping vagabond

Should brave a king, or wear a princely crown.

Arab. Renowmèd Soldan, have ye lately heard The overthrow of mighty Bajazeth

About the confines of Bithynia ?

The slavery wherewith he persecutes

The noble Turk and his great emperess?

Sold. I have, and sorrow for his bad success; But noble lord of great Arabia,

Be so persuaded that the Soldan is

20

30

No more dismayed with tidings of his fall,
Than in the haven when the pilot stands,

And views a stranger's ship rent in the winds,
And shivered against a craggy rock;
Yet in compassion of his wretched state,
A sacred vow to heaven and him I make,
Confirming it with Ibis' holy name.

That Tamburlaine shall rue the day, the hour,
Wherein he wrought such ignominious wrong
Unto the hallowed person of a prince,

As concubine, I fear, to feed his lust.

Or kept the fair Zenocrate so long

Arab. Let grief and fury hasten on revenge;

Let Tamburlaine for his offences feel

Such plagues as we and heaven can pour on him.

40

I long to break my spear upon his crest,
And prove the weight of his victorious arm;
For Fame, I fear, hath been too prodigal

In sounding through the world his partial praise.
Sold. Capolin, hast thou surveyed our powers?
Capol. Great emperors of Egypt and Arabia,
The number of your hosts united is

A hundred and fifty thousand horse;

Two hundred thousand foot, brave men at arms,
Courageous, and full of hardiness,

As frolick as the hunters in the chase

Of savage beasts amid the desert woods.

Arab. My mind presageth fortunate success;

And Tamburlaine, my spirit doth foresee

The utter ruin of thy men and thee.

Sold. Then rear your standards; let your sounding drums

Direct our soldiers to Damascus walls.

Now, Tamburlaine, the mighty Soldan comes,
And leads with him the great Arabian king,
To dim thy baseness and obscurity,
Famous for nothing but for theft and spoil;
To raze and scatter thy inglorious crew
Of Scythians and slavish Persians.

[Exeunt.