Tamburlaine the Great Volume Ii Part 4

Sweet sons, farewell! in death resemble me, And in your lives your father's excellence. [90]

Some music, and my fit will cease, my lord.

[They call for music.]

TAMBURLAINE. Proud fury, and intolerable fit, That dares torment the body of my love, And scourge the scourge of the immortal G.o.d!

Now are those spheres, where Cupid us'd to sit, Wounding the world with wonder and with love, Sadly supplied with pale and ghastly death, Whose darts do pierce the centre of my soul.

Her sacred beauty hath enchanted heaven; And, had she liv'd before the siege of Troy, Helen, whose beauty summon'd Greece to arms, And drew a thousand s.h.i.+ps to Tenedos, Had not been nam'd in Homer's Iliads,-- Her name had been in every line he wrote; Or, had those wanton poets, for whose birth Old Rome was proud, but gaz'd a while on her, Nor Lesbia nor Corinna had been nam'd,-- Zenocrate had been the argument Of every epigram or elegy.

[The music sounds--ZENOCRATE dies.]

What, is she dead? Tech.e.l.les, draw thy sword, And wound the earth, that it may cleave in twain, And we descend into th' infernal vaults, To hale the Fatal Sisters by the hair, And throw them in the triple moat of h.e.l.l, For taking hence my fair Zenocrate.

Casane and Theridamas, to arms!

Raise cavalieros [91] higher than the clouds, And with the cannon break the frame of heaven; Batter the s.h.i.+ning palace of the sun, And s.h.i.+ver all the starry firmament, For amorous Jove hath s.n.a.t.c.h'd my love from hence, Meaning to make her stately queen of heaven.

What G.o.d soever holds thee in his arms, Giving thee nectar and ambrosia, Behold me here, divine Zenocrate, Raving, impatient, desperate, and mad, Breaking my steeled lance, with which I burst The rusty beams of Ja.n.u.s' temple-doors, Letting out Death and tyrannizing War, To march with me under this b.l.o.o.d.y flag!

And, if thou pitiest Tamburlaine the Great, Come down from heaven, and live with me again!

THERIDAMAS. Ah, good my lord, be patient! she is dead, And all this raging cannot make her live.

If words might serve, our voice hath rent the air; If tears, our eyes have water'd all the earth; If grief, our murder'd hearts have strain'd forth blood: Nothing prevails, [92] for she is dead, my lord.

TAMBURLAINE. FOR SHE IS DEAD! thy words do pierce my soul: Ah, sweet Theridamas, say so no more!

Though she be dead, yet let me think she lives, And feed my mind that dies for want of her.

Where'er her soul be, thou [To the body] shalt stay with me, Embalm'd with ca.s.sia, ambergris, and myrrh, Not lapt in lead, but in a sheet of gold, And, till I die, thou shalt not be interr'd.

Then in as rich a tomb as Mausolus' [93]

We both will rest, and have one [94] epitaph Writ in as many several languages As I have conquer'd kingdoms with my sword.

This cursed town will I consume with fire, Because this place bereft me of my love; The houses, burnt, will look as if they mourn'd; And here will I set up her stature, [95]

And march about it with my mourning camp, Drooping and pining for Zenocrate.

[The arras is drawn.]

ACT III.

SCENE I.

Enter the KINGS OF TREBIZON and SORIA, [96] one bringing a sword and the other a sceptre; next, ORCANES king of Natolia, and the KING OF JERUSALEM with the imperial crown, after, CALLAPINE; and, after him, other LORDS and ALMEDA.

ORCANES and the KING OF JERUSALEM crown CALLAPINE, and the others give him the sceptre.

ORCANES. Callapinus Cyricelibes, otherwise Cybelius, son and successive heir to the late mighty emperor Bajazeth, by the aid of G.o.d and his friend Mahomet, Emperor of Natolia, Jerusalem, Trebizon, Soria, Amasia, Thracia, Ilyria, Carmania, and all the hundred and thirty kingdoms late contributory to his mighty father,--long live Callapinus, Emperor of Turkey!

CALLAPINE. Thrice-worthy kings, of Natolia and the rest, I will requite your royal grat.i.tudes With all the benefits my empire yields; And, were the sinews of th' imperial seat So knit and strengthen'd as when Bajazeth, My royal lord and father, fill'd the throne, Whose cursed fate [97] hath so dismember'd it, Then should you see this thief 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 [98] dignities Out of the book of base-born infamies.

And now I doubt not but your royal cares Have so provided for this cursed foe, That, since the heir of mighty Bajazeth (An emperor so honour'd for his virtues) Revives the spirits of all [99] 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 follow'd long The martial sword of mighty Tamburlaine, Will now retain her old inconstancy, And raise our honours [100] 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 sustain'd, By this my friendly keeper's happy means, That Jove, surcharg'd with pity of our wrongs, Will pour it down in showers on our heads, Scourging the pride of cursed Tamburlaine.

ORCANES. I have a hundred thousand men in arms; Some that, in conquest [101] of the perjur'd Christian, Being a handful to a mighty host, Think them in number yet sufficient To drink the river Nile or Euphrates, And for their power enow to win the world.

KING OF JERUSALEM. And I as many from Jerusalem, Judaea, [102] Gaza, and Sclavonia's [103] bounds, That on mount Sinai, with their ensigns spread, Look like the parti-colour'd clouds of heaven That shew fair weather to the neighbour morn.

KING OF TREBIZON. And I as many bring from Trebizon, 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.

KING OF SORIA. From Soria [104] with seventy thousand strong, Ta'en from Aleppo, Soldino, Tripoly, And so unto my city of Damascus, [105]

I march to meet and aid my neighbour kings; All which will join against this Tamburlaine, And bring him captive to your highness' feet.

ORCANES. Our battle, then, in martial manner pitch'd, According to our ancient use, shall bear The figure of the semicircled moon, Whose horns sh.e.l.l sprinkle through the tainted air The poison'd brains of this proud Scythian.

CALLAPINE. Well, then, my n.o.ble 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.

ALMEDA. That's no matter, [106] sir, for being a king; or Tamburlaine came up of nothing.

KING OF JERUSALEM. Your majesty may choose some 'pointed time, Performing all your promise to the full; 'Tis naught for your majesty to give a kingdom.

CALLAPINE. Then will I shortly keep my promise, Almeda.

ALMEDA. Why, I thank your majesty.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II.

Enter TAMBURLAINE and his three sons, CALYPHAS, AMYRAS, and CELEBINUS; USUMCASANE; four ATTENDANTS bearing the hea.r.s.e of ZENOCRATE, and the drums sounding a doleful march; the town burning.

TAMBURLAINE. 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 dissolv'd, Fed with the fresh supply of earthly dregs, Threatening a dearth [107] and famine to this land!

Flying dragons, lightning, fearful thunder-claps, Singe these fair plains, and make them seem as black As is the island where the Furies mask, Compa.s.s'd with Lethe, Styx, and Phlegethon, Because my dear Zenocrate is dead!

CALYPHAS. This pillar, plac'd 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.

AMYRAS. And here this mournful streamer shall be plac'd, Wrought with the Persian and th' [108] Egyptian arms, To signify she was a princess born, And wife unto the monarch of the East.

CELEBINUS. And here this table as a register Of all her virtues and perfections.

TAMBURLAINE. And here the picture of Zenocrate, To shew her beauty which the world admir'd; Sweet picture of divine Zenocrate, That, hanging here, will draw the G.o.ds from heaven, And cause the stars fix'd in the southern arc, (Whose lovely faces never any view'd That have not pa.s.s'd the centre's lat.i.tude,) 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 [109] looks will shed such influence in my camp, As if Bellona, G.o.ddess of the war, Threw naked swords and sulphur-b.a.l.l.s of fire Upon the heads of all our enemies.-- And now, my lords, advance your spears again; Sorrow no more, my sweet Casane, now: Boys, leave to mourn; this town shall ever mourn, Being burnt to cinders for your mother's death.

CALYPHAS. If I had wept a sea of tears for her, would not ease the sorrows [110] I sustain.

AMYRAS. As is that town, so is my heart consum'd With grief and sorrow for my mother's death.

CELEBINUS. My mother's death hath mortified my mind, And sorrow stops the pa.s.sage of my speech.

TAMBURLAINE. But now, my boys, leave off, and list to me, That mean to teach you rudiments of war.

I'll have you learn to sleep upon the ground, March in your armour thorough watery fens, Sustain the scorching heat and freezing cold, Hunger and thirst, [111] right adjuncts of the war; And, after this, to scale a castle-wall, Besiege a fort, to undermine a town, And make whole cities caper in the air: Then next, the way to fortify your men; In champion [112] grounds what figure serves you best, For which [113] the quinque-angle form is meet, Because the corners there may fall more flat Whereas [114] the fort may fittest be a.s.sail'd, And sharpest where th' a.s.sault is desperate: The ditches must be deep; the [115] counterscarps Narrow and steep; the walls made high and broad; The bulwarks and the rampires large and strong, With cavalieros [116] and thick counterforts, And room within to lodge six thousand men; It must have privy ditches, countermines, And secret issuings to defend the ditch; It must have high argins [117] and cover'd ways To keep the bulwark-fronts from battery, And parapets to hide the musketeers, Casemates to place the great [118] artillery, And store of ordnance, that from every flank May scour the outward curtains of the fort, Dismount the cannon of the adverse part, Murder the foe, and save the [119] walls from breach.

When this is learn'd for service on the land, By plain and easy demonstration I'll teach you how to make the water mount, That you may dry-foot march through lakes and pools, Deep rivers, havens, creeks, and little seas, And make a fortress in the raging waves, Fenc'd with the concave of a monstrous rock, Invincible by nature [120] of the place.

When this is done, then are ye soldiers, And worthy sons of Tamburlaine the Great.

CALYPHAS. My lord, but this is dangerous to be done; We may be slain or wounded ere we learn.

TAMBURLAINE. Villain, art thou the son of Tamburlaine, And fear'st to die, or with a [121] curtle-axe To hew thy flesh, and make a gaping wound?