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ACT THE THIRD.

SCENE I.

Enter the Kings of Trebizond and Syria, one bearing a sword, and the other a sceptre; next the Kings of Natolia and Jerusalem, with the imperial crown; after, CALLAPINE, and after him other Lords and ALMEDA. ORCANES and the King of Jerusalem crown him, and the others give him the sceptre.

Orc. Callapinus Cyricelibes, otherwise Cybelius, son and successive heir to the late mighty emperor, Bajazeth, by the aid of God and his friend Mahomet, emperor of Natolia, Jerusalem, Trebizond, Soria, Amasia, Thracia, Illyria, Carmania, and all the hundred and thirty kingdoms late contributory to his mighty father. Long live Callapinus, Emperor of Turkey!

Call. Thrice worthy kings of Natolia, and the rest,
I will requite your royal gratitudes
With all the benefits my empire yields;
And were the sinews of the imperial seat
So knit and strengthened as when Bajazeth
My royal lord and father filled the throne,
Whose cursed fate hath so dismembered it,

ΙΟ

C

right (since he -fate)

Then should you see this chief of Scythia,

This proud, usurping king of Persia,
Do us such honour and supremacy,

Bearing the vengeance of our father's wrongs,
As all the world should blot his 1 dignities
Out of the book of base-born infamies.
And now I doubt not but your royal cares
Have so provided for this cursèd foe,
That, since the heir of mighty Bajazeth,
(An emperor so honoured for his virtues,)
Revives the spirits of all true Turkish hearts,
In grievous memory of his father's shame,
We shall not need to nourish any doubt,
But that proud fortune, who hath followed long
The martial sword of mighty Tamburlaine,
Will now retain her old inconstancy,
And raise our honours to as high a pitch,
In this our strong and fortunate encounter;
For so hath heaven provided my escape,
From all the cruelty my soul sustained,
By this my friendly keeper's happy means,
That Jove, surcharged with pity of our wrongs,
Will
pour it down in showers on our heads,
Scourging the pride of cursèd Tamburlaine.

Orc. I have a hundred thousand men in arms;
Some, that in conquest 2 of the perjured Christian,
Being a handful to a mighty host,

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Think them in number yet sufficient

To drink the river Nile or Euphrates,
And for their power enow to win the world.
Jer. And I as many from Jerusalem,
Judæa, Gaza, and Sclavonia's 1 bounds,
That on Mount Sinai with their ensigns spread,
Look like the parti-coloured clouds of heaven
That show fair weather to the neighbour morn.
Treb. And I as many bring from Trebizond,
Chio, Famastro, and Amasia

All bordering on the Mare Major sea,
Riso, Sancina, and the bordering towns
That touch the end of famous Euphrates,
Whose courages are kindled with the flames,
The cursed Scythian sets on all their towns,
And vow to burn the villain's cruel heart.

Syr. From Syria 2 with seventy thousand strong
Ta'en from Aleppo, Soldino, Tripoli,

And so on to my city of Damasco,

I march to meet and aid my neighbour kings;
All which will join against this Tamburlaine,
And bring him captive to your highness' feet.
Orc. Our battle then in martial manner pitched,
According to our ancient use, shall bear

The figure of the semicircled moon,

Whose horns shall sprinkle through the tainted air
The poisoned brains of this proud Scythian.

1 8vo. "Scalonians."-4to. "Sclavonians."

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2 So 8vo.-Elsewhere 8vo. gives the form "Soria" (which is found

in Ben Jonson, &c.)

VOL. I.

K

Call. Well then, my noble lords, for this my friend That freed me from the bondage of my foe,

I think it requisite and honourable,

To keep my promise and to make him king,
That is a gentleman, I know, at least.

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Alm. That's no matter, sir, for being a king; [f]or Tamburlaine came up of nothing.

Jer. Your majesty may choose some 'pointed time, Performing all your promise to the full;

'Tis nought for your majesty to give a kingdom.

Call. Then will I shortly keep my promise, Almeda.
Alm. Why, I thank your majesty.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

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Enter TAMBURLAINE, with USUMCASANE, and his three

Sons; four Attendants bearing the hearse of ZENO-
CRATE, and the drums sounding a doleful march; the
town burning.

Tamb. So burn the turrets of this cursed town,

Flame to the highest region of the air,

And kindle heaps of exhalations,

That being fiery meteors may presage

Death and destruction to the inhabitants!
Over my zenith hang a blazing star,

That may endure till heaven be dissolved,
Fed with the fresh supply of earthly dregs,
Threatening a dearth1 and famine to this land!
Flying dragons, lightning, fearful thunderclaps,

1 Old copies "death."

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Singe these fair plains and make them seem as black
As is the island where the Furies mask,

Compassed with Lethe, Styx, and Phlegethon,
Because my dear'st Zenocrate is dead.

Cal. This pillar, placed in memory of her,
Where in Arabian, Hebrew, Greek, is writ :-
This town, being burnt by Tamburlaine the Great,
Forbids the world to build it up again.

Amy. And here this mournful streamer shall be placed, Wrought with the Persian and th' Egyptian arms,

To signify she was a princess born,

And wife unto the monarch of the East.

Cel. And here this table as a register

Of all her virtues and perfections.

Tamb. And here the picture of Zenocrate,

To show her beauty which the world admired;

Sweet picture of divine Zenocrate,

That, hanging here, will draw the gods from heaven,

And cause the stars fixed in the southern arc,

(Whose lovely faces never any viewed

That have not passed the centre's latitude,)
As pilgrims, travel to our hemisphere,
Only to gaze upon Zenocrate.

Thou shalt not beautify Larissa plains,
But keep within the circle of mine arms.
At every town and castle I besiege,
Thou shalt be set upon my royal tent ;

And when I meet an army in the field,

Those 1 looks will shed such influence in my camp

1 Old copies "Whose."

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