Tamburlaine the Great Volume Ii Part 12

See, where my slave, the ugly monster Death, Shaking and quivering, pale and wan for fear, Stands aiming at me with his murdering dart, Who flies away at every glance I give, And, when I look away, comes stealing on!-- Villain, away, and hie thee to the field!

I and mine army come to load thy back With souls of thousand mangled carca.s.ses.-- Look, where he goes! but, see, he comes again, Because I stay! Tech.e.l.les, let us march, And weary Death with bearing souls to h.e.l.l.

FIRST PHYSICIAN. Pleaseth your majesty to drink this potion, Which will abate the fury of your fit, And cause some milder spirits govern you.

TAMBURLAINE. Tell me what think you of my sickness now?

FIRST PHYSICIAN. I view'd your urine, and the hypostasis, [303]

Thick and obscure, doth make your danger great: Your veins are full of accidental heat, Whereby the moisture of your blood is dried: The humidum and calor, which some hold Is not a parcel of the elements, But of a substance more divine and pure, Is almost clean extinguished and spent; Which, being the cause of life, imports your death: Besides, my lord, this day is critical, Dangerous to those whose crisis is as yours: Your artiers, [304] which alongst the veins convey The lively spirits which the heart engenders, Are parch'd and void of spirit, that the soul, Wanting those organons by which it moves, Cannot endure, by argument of art.

Yet, if your majesty may escape this day, No doubt but you shall soon recover all.

TAMBURLAINE. Then will I comfort all my vital parts, And live, in spite of death, above a day.

[Alarms within.]

Enter a Messenger.

MESSENGER. My lord, young Callapine, that lately fled from your majesty, hath now gathered a fresh army, and, hearing your absence in the field, offers to set upon [305] us presently.

TAMBURLAINE. See, my physicians, now, how Jove hath sent A present medicine to recure my pain!

My looks shall make them fly; and, might I follow, There should not one of all the villain's power Live to give offer of another fight.

USUMCASANE. I joy, my lord, your highness is so strong, That can endure so well your royal presence, Which only will dismay the enemy.

TAMBURLAINE. I know it will, Casane.--Draw, you slaves!

In spite of death, I will go shew my face.

[Alarms. Exit TAMBURLAINE with all the rest (except the PHYSICIANS), and re-enter presently.]

TAMBURLAINE. Thus are the villain cowards [306] fled for fear, Like summer's vapours vanish'd by the sun; And, could I but a while pursue the field, That Callapine should be my slave again.

But I perceive my martial strength is spent: In vain I strive and rail against those powers That mean t' invest me in a higher throne, As much too high for this disdainful earth.

Give me a map; then let me see how much Is left for me to conquer all the world, That these, my boys, may finish all my wants.

[One brings a map.]

Here I began to march towards Persia, Along Armenia and the Caspian Sea, And thence unto [307] Bithynia, where I took The Turk and his great empress prisoners.

Then march'd I into Egypt and Arabia; And here, not far from Alexandria, Whereas [308] the Terrene [309] and the Red Sea meet, Being distant less than full a hundred leagues, I meant to cut a channel to them both, That men might quickly sail to India.

]From thence to Nubia near Borno-lake, And so along the Aethiopian sea, Cutting the tropic line of Capricorn, I conquer'd all as far as Zanzibar.

Then, by the northern part of Africa, I came at last to Graecia, and from thence To Asia, where I stay against my will; Which is from Scythia, where I first began, [310]

Backward[s] and forwards near five thousand leagues.

Look here, my boys; see, what a world of ground Lies westward from the midst of Cancer's line Unto the rising of this [311] earthly globe, Whereas the sun, declining from our sight, Begins the day with our Antipodes!

And shall I die, and this unconquered?

Lo, here, my sons, are all the golden mines, Inestimable drugs and precious stones, More worth than Asia and the world beside; And from th' Antarctic Pole eastward behold As much more land, which never was descried, Wherein are rocks of pearl that s.h.i.+ne as bright As all the lamps that beautify the sky!

And shall I die, and this unconquered?

Here, lovely boys; what death forbids my life, That let your lives command in spite of death.

AMYRAS. Alas, my lord, how should our bleeding hearts, Wounded and broken with your highness' grief, Retain a thought of joy or spark of life?

Your soul gives essence to our wretched subjects, [312]

Whose matter is incorporate in your flesh.

CELEBINUS. Your pains do pierce our souls; no hope survives, For by your life we entertain our lives.

TAMBURLAINE. But, sons, this subject, not of force enough To hold the fiery spirit it contains, Must part, imparting his impressions By equal portions into [313] both your b.r.e.a.s.t.s; My flesh, divided in your precious shapes, Shall still retain my spirit, though I die, And live in all your seeds [314] immortally.-- Then now remove me, that I may resign My place and proper t.i.tle to my son.-- First, take my scourge and my imperial crown, And mount my royal chariot of estate, That I may see thee crown'd before I die.-- Help me, my lords, to make my last remove.

[They a.s.sist TAMBURLAINE to descend from the chariot.]

THERIDAMAS. A woful change, my lord, that daunts our thoughts More than the ruin of our proper souls!

TAMBURLAINE. Sit up, my son, [and] let me see how well Thou wilt become thy father's majesty.

AMYRAS. With what a flinty bosom should I joy The breath of life and burden of my soul, If not resolv'd into resolved pains, My body's mortified lineaments [315]

Should exercise the motions of my heart, Pierc'd with the joy of any dignity!

O father, if the unrelenting ears Of Death and h.e.l.l be shut against my prayers, And that the spiteful influence of Heaven Deny my soul fruition of her joy, How should I step, or stir my hateful feet Against the inward powers of my heart, Leading a life that only strives to die, And plead in vain unpleasing sovereignty!

TAMBURLAINE. Let not thy love exceed thine honour, son, Nor bar thy mind that magnanimity That n.o.bly must admit necessity.

Sit up, my boy, and with these [316] silken reins Bridle the steeled stomachs of these [317] jades.

THERIDAMAS. My lord, you must obey his majesty, Since fate commands and proud necessity.

AMYRAS. Heavens witness me with what a broken heart [Mounting the chariot.]

And d.a.m.ned [318] spirit I ascend this seat, And send my soul, before my father die, His anguish and his burning agony!

[They crown AMYRAS.]

TAMBURLAINE. Now fetch the hea.r.s.e of fair Zenocrate; Let it be plac'd by this my fatal chair, And serve as parcel of my funeral.

USUMCASANE. Then feels your majesty no sovereign ease, Nor may our hearts, all drown'd in tears of blood, Joy any hope of your recovery?

TAMBURLAINE. Casane, no; the monarch of the earth, And eyeless monster that torments my soul, Cannot behold the tears ye shed for me, And therefore still augments his cruelty.

TECh.e.l.lES. Then let some G.o.d oppose his holy power Against the wrath and tyranny of Death, That his tear-thirsty and unquenched hate May be upon himself reverberate!

[They bring in the hea.r.s.e of ZENOCRATE.]

TAMBURLAINE. Now, eyes, enjoy your latest benefit, And, when my soul hath virtue of your sight, Pierce through the coffin and the sheet of gold, And glut your longings with a heaven of joy.

So, reign, my son; scourge and control those slaves, Guiding thy chariot with thy father's hand.

As precious is the charge thou undertak'st As that which Clymene's [319] brain-sick son did guide, When wandering Phoebe's [320] ivory cheeks were scorch'd, And all the earth, like Aetna, breathing fire: Be warn'd by him, then; learn with awful eye To sway a throne as dangerous as his; For, if thy body thrive not full of thoughts As pure and fiery as Phyteus' [321] beams, The nature of these proud rebelling jades Will take occasion by the slenderest hair, And draw thee [322] piecemeal, like Hippolytus, Through rocks more steep and sharp than Caspian cliffs: [323]

The nature of thy chariot will not bear A guide of baser temper than myself, More than heaven's coach the pride of Phaeton.

Farewell, my boys! my dearest friends, farewell!

My body feels, my soul doth weep to see Your sweet desires depriv'd my company, For Tamburlaine, the scourge of G.o.d, must die.

[Dies.]

AMYRAS. Meet heaven and earth, and here let all things end, For earth hath spent the pride of all her fruit, And heaven consum'd his choicest living fire!

Let earth and heaven his timeless death deplore, For both their worths will equal him no more!

[Exeunt.]

NOTES:

[a] [From THE FIRST PART OF TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT]

Tamburlaine the Great. Who, from a Scythian Shephearde by his rare and woonderfull Conquests, became a most puissant and mightye Monarque. And (for his tyranny, and terrour in Warre) was tearmed, The Scourge of G.o.d.

Deuided into two Tragicall Discourses, as they were sundrie times shewed vpon Stages in the Citie of London.

By the right honorable the Lord Admyrall, his seruauntes.

Now first, and newlie published. London. Printed by Richard Ihones: at the signe of the Rose and Crowne neere Holborne Bridge. 1590. 4to.