Do Trojans use to quit their lovers thus?
Fare well may Dido, so Aeneas stay;
I die if my Aeneas say farewell.
AENEAS
Then let me go and never say farewell.
DIDO
110 ‘Let me go’; ‘farewell’; ‘I must from hence’:
These words are poison to poor Dido’s soul.
O speak like my Aeneas, like my love!
Why look’st thou toward the sea? The time hath been
When Dido’s beauty chained thine eyes to her.
Am I less fair than when thou sawest me first?
O then, Aeneas, ’tis for grief of thee!
Say thou wilt stay in Carthage with thy queen,
And Dido’s beauty will return again.
Aeneas, say, how canst thou take thy leave?
120 Wilt thou kiss Dido? O, thy lips have sworn
To stay with Dido! Canst thou take her hand?
Thy hand and mine have plighted mutual faith!
Therefore, unkind Aeneas, must thou say
‘Then let me go and never say farewell’?
AENEAS
O Queen of Carthage, wert thou ugly-black,
Aeneas could not choose but hold thee dear.
Yet must he not gainsay the gods’ behest.
DIDO
The gods? What gods be those that seek my death?
Wherein have I offended Jupiter
130 That he should take Aeneas from mine arms?
O no, the gods weigh not what lovers do;
It is Aeneas calls Aeneas hence,
And woeful Dido, by these blubbered cheeks,
By this right hand and by our spousal rites
Desires Aeneas to remain with her.
Si bene quid de te merui, fuit aut tibi quidquam
Dulce meum, miserere dotmus labentis, et istam
Oro, si quis adhuc precibus locus, exue mentetm.
AENEAS
Desine meque tuis incendere teque querelis,
140 Italiam non sponte sequor.
DIDO
Hast thou forgot how many neighbour kings
Were up in arms for making thee my love?
How Carthage did rebel, Iarbas storm,
And all the world calls me a second Helen,
For being entangled by a stranger’s looks?
So thou wouldst prove as true as Paris did,
Would, as fair Troy was, Carthage might be sacked
And I be called a second Helena!
Had I a son by thee, the grief were less,
150 That I might see Aeneas in his face.
Now if thou goest, what canst thou leave behind
But rather will augment than ease my woe?
AENEAS
In vain, my love, thou spend’st thy fainting breath,
If words might move me, I were overcome.
DIDO
And wilt thou not be moved with Dido’s words?
Thy mother was no goddess, perjured man,
Nor Dardanus the author of thy stock;
But thou art sprung from Scythian Caucasus,
160 And tigers of Hercynia gave thee suck.
Ah, foolish Dido, to forbear this long!
Wast thou not wracked upon this Libyan shore,
And cam’st to Dido like a fisher swain?
Repaired not I thy ships, made thee a king,
And all thy needy followers noblemen?
O serpent that came creeping from the shore,
And I for pity harboured in my bosom,
Wilt thou now slay me with thy venomed sting
And hiss at Dido for preserving thee?
Go, go, and spare not. Seek out Italy;
170 I hope that that which love forbids me do,
The rocks and sea-gulfs will perform at large,
And thou shalt perish in the billows’ ways
To whom poor Dido doth bequeath revenge.
Ay, traitor, and the waves shall cast thee up,
Where thou and false Achates first set foot;
Which if it chance, I’ll give ye burial,
And weep upon your lifeless carcasses,
Though thou nor he will pity me a whit.
Why star’st thou in my face? If thou wilt stay,
180 Leap in mine arms, mine arms are open wide.
If not, turn from me, and I’ll turn from thee;
For though thou hast the heart to say farewell,
I have not power to stay thee.
[Exit AENEAS.]
Is he gone?
Ay, but he’ll come again, he cannot go.
He loves me too too well to serve me so.
Yet he that in my sight would not relent
Will, being absent, be obdurate still.
By this is he got to the water-side;
And see, the sailors take him by the hand,
190 But he shrinks back, and now, rememb’ring me,
Returns amain: welcome, welcome, my love!
But where’s Aeneas? Ah, he’s gone, he’s gone!
[Enter ANNA.]
ANNA
What means my sister thus to rave and cry?
DIDO
O Anna, my Aeneas is aboard
And, leaving me, will sail to Italy!
Once didst thou go and he came back again;
Now bring him back and thou shalt be a queen,
And I will live a private life with him.
ANNA Wicked Aeneas!
DIDO
200 Call him not wicked, sister, speak him fair,
And look upon him with a mermaid’s eye;
Tell him, I never vowed at Aulis’ gulf
The desolation of his native Troy,
Nor sent a thousand ships unto the walls,
Nor ever violated faith to him;
Request him gently, Anna, to return;
I crave but this, he stay a tide or two,
That I may learn to bear it patiently;
If he depart thus suddenly, I die.
210 Run, Anna, run! Stay not to answer me!
ANNA
I go, fair sister; heavens grant good success!
Exit.
Enter the NURSE.
NURSE
O Dido, your little son Ascanius
Is gone! He lay with me last night
And in the morning he was stol’n from me;
I think some fairies have beguiled me.
DIDO
O cursèd hag and false dissembling wretch
That slayest me with thy harsh and hellish tale!
Thou for some petty gift hast let him go,
And I am thus deluded of my boy.
220 Away with her to prison presently!
[Enter ATTENDANTS.]
Traitoress too keen and cursed sorceress!
NURSE
I know not what you mean by treason, I,
I am as true as any one of yours.
Exeunt [ATTENDANTS with] the NURSE.
DIDO
Away with her, suffer her not to speak.
My sister comes. I like not her sad looks.
Enter ANNA.
ANNA
Before I came, Aeneas was aboard,
And, spying me, hoist up the sails amain;
But I cried out, ‘Aeneas, false Aeneas, stay!’
Then gan he wag his hand, which, yet held up,
230 Made me suppose he would have heard me speak.
Then gan they drive into the ocean,
Which when I viewed, I cried, ‘Aeneas, stay!
Dido, fair Dido wills Aeneas stay!’
Yet he, whose heart’s of adamant or flint,
My tears nor plaints could mollify a whit.
Then carelessly I rent my hair for grief,
Which seen to all, though he beheld me not,
They gan to move him to redress my ruth,
And stay a while to hear what I could say;
240 But he, clapped under hatches, sailed away.
DIDO
O Anna, Anna, I will follow him!
ANNA
How can ye go when he hath all your fleet?
DIDO
I’ll frame me wings of wax like Icarus,
And o’er his ships will soar unto the sun,
That they may melt and I fall in his arms;
Or else I’ll make a prayer unto the waves
That I may swim to him like Triton’s niece.
O Anna, fetch Arion’s harp,
That I may tice a dolphin to the shore
250 And ride upon his back unto my love!
Look, sister, look, lovely Aeneas’ ships!
See, see, the billows heave him up to heaven,
And now down falls the keels into the deep.
O sister, sister, take away the rocks,
They’ll break his ships! O Proteus, Neptune, Jove,
Save, save Aeneas, Dido’s liefest love!
Now is he come on shore, safe without hurt;
But see, Achates wills him put to sea,
And all the sailors merry-make for joy,
260 But he, rememb’ring me, shrinks back again.
See where he comes. Welcome, welcome, my love!
ANNA
Ah sister, leave these idle fantasies.
Sweet sister, cease; remember who you are.
DIDO
Dido I am, unless I be deceived,
And must I rave thus for a runagate?
Must I make ships for him to sail away?
Nothing can bear me to him but a ship,
And he hath all my fleet. What shall I do,
But die in fury of this oversight?
270 Ay, I must be the murderer of myself:
No, but I am not; yet I will be straight.
Anna, be glad; now have I found a mean
To rid me from these thoughts of lunacy:
Not far from hence
There is a woman famousèd for arts,
Daughter unto the nymphs Hesperides,
Who willed me sacrifice his ticing relics.
Go, Anna, bid my servants bring me fire.
Exit ANNA.
Enter IARBAS.
IARBAS
How long will Dido mourn a stranger’s flight
That hath dishonoured her and Carthage both?
280 How long shall I with grief consume my days
And reap no guerdon for my truest love?
DIDO
Iarbas, talk not of Aeneas, let him go.
[Enter ATTENDANTS with wood and torches, and exeunt.]
Lay to thy hands and help me make a fire
That shall consume all that this stranger left;
For I intend a private sacrifice
To cure my mind that melts for unkind love.
IARBAS
But afterwards will Dido grant me love?
DIDO
Ay, ay, Iarbas, after this is done,
290 None in the world shall have my love but thou.
[DIDO and IARBAS build a fire.]
So, leave me now, let none approach this place.
Exit IARBAS.
Now, Dido, with these relics burn thyself,
And make Aeneas famous through the world
For perjury and slaughter of a queen.
Here lie the sword that in the darksome cave
He drew and swore by to be true to me:
Thou shalt burn first, thy crime is worse than his.
Here lie the garment which I clothed him in
When first he came on shore: perish thou too.
300 These letters, lines, and perjured papers all
Shall burn to cinders in this precious flame.
And now, ye gods that guide the starry frame
And order all things at your high dispose,
Grant, though the traitors land in Italy,
They may be still tormented with unrest,
And from mine ashes let a conqueror rise,
That may revenge this treason to a queen
By ploughing up his countries with the sword!
Betwixt this land and that be never league;
310 Litora litoribus contraria, fluctibus undas
Imprecor; arma armis; pugnent ipsique nepotes:
Live, false Aeneas! Truest Dido dies;
Sic, sic iuvat ire sub umbras.
[Throws herself onto the fire.]
Enter Anna.
ANNA
O help, Iarbas! Dido in these flames
Hath burnt herself! Ay me, unhappy me!
Enter IARBAS running.
IARBAS
Cursèd Iarbas, die to expiate
The grief that tires upon thine inward soul!
Dido, I come to thee: ay me, Aeneas!
[Kills himself.]
ANNA
What can my tears or cries prevail me now?
Dido is dead, larbas slain, larbas, my dear love!
320 O sweet larbas, Anna’s sole delight,
What fatal Destiny envies me thus
To see my sweet larbas slay himself?
But Anna now shall honour thee in death
And mix her blood with thine; this shall I do
That gods and men may pity this my death
And rue our ends, senseless of life or breath.
Now, sweet larbas, stay! I come to thee!
[Kills herself.]
TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT, PART ONE
[Dramatis Personae
THE PROLOGUE
MYCETES, King of Persia
COSROE, his brother
MEANDER
THERIDAMAS
ORTYGIUS
CENEUS
MENAPHON
TAMBURLAINE
ZENOCRATE, daughter to the Sultan of Egypt
TECHELLES
USUMCASANE
MAGNETES
AGYDAS
LORDS
SOLDIERS
A SPY
A MESSENGER
BAJAZETH Emperor of Turkey
KING OF FEZ
KING OF MOROCCO
KING OF ARGIER
BASSOES
ANIPPE, maid to Zenocrate
ZABINA, wife to Bajazeth
EBEA, maid to Zahina
THE SULTAN OF EGYPT
CAPOLIN, an Egyptian
ALCIDAMAS, King of Arabia
GOVERNOR OF DAMASCUS
CITIZENS
FOUR VIRGINS
PHILEMUS
MOORS
ATTENDANTS]
TO THE GENTLEMEN READERS AND OTHERS THAT TAKE PLEASURE IN READING HISTORIES
Gentlemen and courteous readers whosoever: I have here
published in print for your sakes, the two tragical discourses
of the Scythian shepherd Tamburlaine, that became so great
a conqueror and so mighty a monarch. My hope is, that they
will be now no less acceptable unto you to read after your
serious affairs and studies than they have been, lately, delightful
for many of you to see, when the same were showed in
London upon stages. I have purposely omitted and left out
some fond and frivolous jestures, digressing and, in my poor
opinion, far unmeet for the matter, which I thought might
10 seem more tedious unto the wise than any way else to be
regarded – though, haply, they have been of some vain conceited
fondlings greatly gaped at, what times they were
showed upon the stage in their graced deformities. Nevertheless,
now to be mixtured in print with such matter of worth,
it would prove a great disgrace to so honourable and stately
a history. Great folly were it in me to commend unto your
wisdoms, either the eloquence of the author that writ them,
or the worthiness of the matter itself; I therefore leave unto
your learned censures both the one and the other, and myself
20 the poor printer of the
m unto your most courteous and favourable
protection: which if you vouchsafe to accept, you
shall evermore bind me to employ what travail and service I
can to the advancing and pleasuring of your excellent degree.
Yours, most humble at commandment,
R.J.
Printer.
[Enter] the PROLOGUE.
PROLOGUE
From jigging veins of rhyming mother-wits
And such conceits as clownage keeps in pay,
We’ll lead you to the stately tent of war,
Where you shall hear the Scythian Tamburlaine
5 Threat’ning the world with high astounding terms
And scourging kingdoms with his conquering sword.
View but his picture in this tragic glass,
And then applaud his fortunes as you please.
[Exit.]
ACT 1
Scene 1
[Enter] MYCETES, COSROE, MEANDER, THERIDAMAS,
ORTYGIUS, CENEUS, [MENAPHON,] with others.
MYCETES
Brother Cosroe, I find myself aggrieved,
Yet insufficient to express the same,
For it requires a great and thund’ring speech.
Good brother, tell the cause unto my lords,
I know you have a better wit than I.
COSROE
Unhappy Persia, that in former age
Hast been the seat of mighty conquerors
That in their prowess and their policies
Have triumphed over Afric, and the bounds
Of Europe where the sun dares scarce appear
10 For freezing meteors and congealèd cold –
Now to be ruled and governed by a man
At whose birthday Cynthia with Saturn joined,
And Jove, the sun, and Mercury denied
To shed their influence in his fickle brain!
Now Turks and Tartars shake their swords at thee,
Meaning to mangle all thy provinces.
MYCETES
Brother, I see your meaning well enough,
And through your planets I perceive you think
I am not wise enough to be a king.
20 But I refer me to my noblemen
That know my wit and can be witnesses.
I might command you to be slain for this,
Meander, might I not?
MEANDER
Not for so small a fault, my sovereign lord.
MYCETES
I mean it not, but yet I know I might.
Yet live, yea, live, Mycetes wills it so.
Meander, thou my faithful counsellor,
Declare the cause of my conceivèd grief,
30 Which is, God knows, about that Tamburlaine,
That like a fox in midst of harvest time
Doth prey upon my flocks of passengers,
And, as I hear, doth mean to pull my plumes.
Therefore ’tis good and meet for to be wise.
MEANDER
Oft have I heard your majesty complain
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