TECHELLES
Let us not be idle, then, my lord,
But presently be prest to conquer it.
TAMBURLAINE
We will, Techelles. Forward, then, ye jades!
Now crouch, ye kings of greatest Asia,
And tremble when ye hear this scourge will come
100 That whips down cities and controlleth crowns,
Adding their wealth and treasure to my store.
The Euxine Sea north to Natolia,
The Terrene west, the Caspian north-north-east,
And on the south Sinus Arabicus,
Shall all be loaden with the martial spoils
We will convey with us to Persia.
Then shall my native city Samarcanda
And crystal waves of fresh Jaertis’ stream,
The pride and beauty of her princely seat,
Be famous through the furthest continents;
110 For there my palace royal shall be placed,
Whose shining turrets shall dismay the heavens
And cast the fame of Ilion’s tower to hell.
Thorough the streets with troops of conquered kings
I’ll ride in golden armour like the sun,
And in my helm a triple plume shall spring,
Spangled with diamonds dancing in the air,
To note me emperor of the threefold world,
Like to an almond tree y-mounted high
Upon the lofty and celestial mount
120 Of ever-green Selinus, quaintly decked
With blooms more white than Erycina’s brows,
Whose tender blossoms tremble every one
At every little breath that thorough heaven is blown.
Then in my coach, like Saturn’s royal son,
Mounted his shining chariot gilt with fire,
And drawn with princely eagles through the path
Paved with bright crystal and enchased with stars,
When all the gods stand gazing at his pomp,
So will I ride through Samarcanda streets,
130 Until my soul, dissevered from this flesh,
Shall mount the milk-white way and meet him there.
To Babylon, my lords, to Babylon!
Exeunt.
ACT 5
Scene 1
Enter the GOVERNOR OF BABYLON upon the walls with [MAXIMUS and] others.
GOVERNOR
What saith Maximus?
MAXIMUS
My lord, the breach the enemy hath made
Gives such assurance of our overthrow
That little hope is left to save our lives,
Or hold our city from the conqueror’s hands.
Then hang out flags, my lord, of humble truce,
And satisfy the people’s general prayers
That Tamburlaine’s intolerable wrath
May be suppressed by our submission.
GOVERNOR
10 Villain, respects thou more thy slavish life
Than honour of thy country or thy name?
Is not my life and state as dear to me,
The city and my native country’s weal,
As any thing of price with thy conceit?
Have we not hope, for all our battered walls,
To live secure and keep his forces out,
When this our famous lake of Limnasphaltis
Makes walls afresh with every thing that falls
Into the liquid substance of his stream,
20 More strong than are the gates of death or hell?
What faintness should dismay our courages
When we are thus defenced against our foe
And have no terror but his threat’ning looks?
Enter another [CITIZEN above], kneeling to the GOVERNOR.
FIRST CITIZEN
My lord, if ever you did deed of ruth
And now will work a refuge to our lives,
Offer submission, hang up flags of truce,
That Tamburlaine may pity our distress
And use us like a loving conqueror.
Though this be held his last day’s dreadful siege
30 Wherein he spareth neither man nor child,
Yet are there Christians of Georgia here,
Whose state he ever pitied and relieved,
Will get his pardon if your grace would send.
GOVERNOR
How is my soul environéd,
And this eternized city Babylon
Filled with a pack of faint-heart fugitives
That thus entreat their shame and servitude!
[Enter another CITIZENabove, kneeling to the GOVERNOR.]
SECOND CITIZEN
My lord, if ever you will win our hearts,
Yield up the town, save our wives and children!
40 For I will cast myself from off these walls,
Or die some death of quickest violence
Before I bide the wrath of Tamburlaine.
GOVERNOR
Villains, cowards, traitors to our state!
Fall to the earth and pierce the pit of hell,
That legions of tormenting spirits may vex
Your slavish bosoms with continual pains!
I care not, nor the town will never yield
As long as any life is in my breast.
Enter THERIDAMAS and TECHELLES, with other SOLDIERS.
THERIDAMAS
Thou desperate governor of Babylon,
50 To save thy life, and us a little labour,
Yield speedily the city to our hands,
Or else be sure thou shalt be forced with pains
More exquisite than ever traitor felt.
GOVERNOR
Tyrant, I turn the traitor in thy throat,
And will defend it in despite of thee.
Call up the soldiers to defend these walls.
TECHELLES
Yield, foolish governor. We offer more
Than ever yet we did to such proud slaves
As durst resist us till our third day’s siege.
60 Thou seest us prest to give the last assault,
And that shall bide no more regard of parley.
GOVERNOR
Assault and spare not. We will never yield.
Alarm, and they scale the walls. [Exeunt CITIZENS and GOVERNOR above, followed in by THERIDAMAS, TECHELLES, and their SOLDIERS.] Enter TAMBURLAINE [all in black, drawn in his chariot by the kings of TREBIZOND and SORIA], with USUMCASANE, AMYRAS, and CELEBINUS, with others; the two spare kings [ORCANES of Natolia, and JERUSALEM].
TAMBURLAINE
The stately buildings of fair Babylon,
Whose lofty pillars, higher than the clouds,
Were wont to guide the seaman in the deep,
Being carried thither by the cannon’s force,
Now fill the mouth of Limnasphaltis’ lake
And make a bridge unto the battered walls.
Where Belus, Ninus, and great Alexander
70 Have rode in triumph, triumphs Tamburlaine,
Whose chariot wheels have burst th’Assyrians’bones,
Drawn with these kings on heaps of carcasses.
Now in the place where fair Semiramis,
Courted by kings and peers of Asia,
Hath trod the measures, do my soldiers march;
And in the streets, where brave Assyrian dames
Have rid in pomp like rich Saturnia,
With furious words and frowning visages
My horsemen brandish their unruly blades.
Enter [below] THERIDAMAS and TECHELLES, bringing the
GOVERNOR OF BABYLON.
80 Who have ye there, my lords?
THERIDAMAS
The sturdy governor of Babylon,
That made us all the labour for the town
And used such slender reck’ning of your majesty.
TAMBURLAINE
Go bind the villain. He shall hang in chains
Upon the ruins of this conquered town.
Sirrah, the view of our vermilion tents,
Which threatened more than if the region
Next underneath the element of fire
Were full of comets and of blazing stars
90 Whose flaming trains should reach down to the earth,
Could not affright you; no, nor I myself,
The wrathful messenger of mighty Jove,
That with his sword hath quailed all earthly kings,
Could not persuade you to submission,
But still the ports were shut. Villain, I say,
Should I but touch the rusty gates of hell,
The triple-headed Cerberus would howl
And wake black Jove to crouch and kneel to me;
But I have sent volleys of shot to you,
100 Yet could not enter till the breach was made.
GOVERNOR
Nor, if my body could have stopped the breach,
Shouldst thou have entered, cruel Tamburlaine.
’Tis not thy bloody tents can make me yield,
Nor yet thyself, the anger of the Highest,
For, though thy cannon shook the city walls,
My heart did never quake, or courage faint.
TAMBURLAINE
Well, now I’ll make it quake. Go draw him up.
Hang him in chains upon the city walls,
And let my soldiers shoot the slave to death.
GOVERNOR
110 Vile monster, born of some infernal hag,
And sent from hell to tyrannize on earth,
Do all thy worst. Nor death, nor Tamburlaine,
Torture, or pain can daunt my dreadless mind.
TAMBURLAINE
Up with him, then; his body shall be scarred.
GOVERNOR
But Tamburlaine, in Limnasphaltis’ lake
There lies more gold than Babylon is worth,
Which when the city was besieged I hid.
Save but my life, and I will give it thee.
TAMBURLAINE
Then, for all your valour, you would save your life?
120 Whereabout lies it?
GOVERNOR
Under a hollow bank, right opposite
Against the western gate of Babylon.
TAMBURLAINE
Go thither, some of you, and take his gold.
[Exeunt SOLDIERS.]
The rest, forward with execution!
Away with him hence, let him speak no more.
I think I make your courage something quail.
[Exit GOVERNOR, led away by SOLDIERS.]
When this is done, we’ll march from Babylon
And make our greatest haste to Persia.
These jades are broken-winded and half tired;
130 Unharness them, and let me have fresh horse.
[SOLDIERS unharness TREBIZOND and SORIA.]
So, now their best is done to honour me,
Take them and hang them both up presently.
TREBIZOND
Vile tyrant, barbarous, bloody Tamburlaine!
TAMBURLAINETake them away, Theridamas. See them dispatched.
THERIDAMAS I will, my lord.
[Exit THERIDAMAS with the kings of TREBIZOND and SORIA.]
TAMBURLAINE
Come, Asian viceroys, to your tasks a while,
And take such fortune as your fellows felt.
ORCANES
First let thy Scythian horse tear both our limbs,
140 Rather than we should draw thy chariot,
And like base slaves abject our princely minds
To vile and ignominious servitude.
JERUSALEM
Rather lend me thy weapon, Tamburlaine,
That I may sheathe it in this breast of mine.
A thousand deaths could not torment our hearts
More than the thought of this doth vex our souls.
AMYRAS
They will talk still, my lord, if you do not bridle them.
TAMBURLAINE
Bridle them, and let me to my coach.
They bridle them. [The GOVERNOR OF BABYLON is hung up in chains. Re-enter THERIDAMAS. TAMBURLAINE mounts his chariot.]
AMYRAS
See now, my lord, how brave the captain hangs!
TAMBURLAINE
150 ’Tis brave indeed, my boy. Well done!
Shoot first, my lord, and then the rest shall follow.
THERIDAMAS
Then have at him to begin withal.
THERIDAMAS shoots [the GOVERNOR].
GOVERNOR
Yet save my life, and let this wound appease
The mortal fury of great Tamburlaine.
TAMBURLAINE
No, though Asphaltis’ lake were liquid gold
And offered me as ransom for thy life,
Yet shouldst thou die. Shoot at him all at once.
They shoot.
So, now he hangs like Baghdad’s governor,
Having as many bullets in his flesh
160 As there be breaches in her battered wall.
Go now and bind the burghers hand and foot,
And cast them headlong in the city’s lake;
Tartars and Persians shall inhabit there,
And, to command the city, I will build
A citadel, that all Assyria,
Which hath been subject to the Persian king,
Shall pay me tribute for, in Babylon.
TECHELLES
What shall be done with their wives and children, my lord?
TAMBURLAINE
Techelles, drown them all, man, woman, and child.
170 Leave not a Babylonian in the town.
TECHELLES
I will about it straight. Come, soldiers.
Exit [TECHELLESwith SOLDIERS].
TAMBURLAINE
Now, Casane, where’s the Turkish Alcoran,
And all the heaps of superstitious books
Found in the temples of that Mahomet
Whom I have thought a god? They shall be burnt.
USUMCASANE [presenting the books] Here they are, my lord.
TAMBURLAINE
Well said. Let there be a fire presently.
[They light a fire.]
In vain, I see, men worship Mahomet.
My sword hath sent millions of Turks to hell,
180 Slew all his priests, his kinsmen, and his friends,
And yet I live untouched by Mahomet.
There is a God full of revenging wrath,
From whom the thunder and the lightning breaks,
Whose scourge I am, and him will I obey.
So, Casane, fling them in the fire.
[They burn the books.]
Now, Mahomet, if thou have any power,
Come down thyself and work a miracle.
Thou art not worthy to be worshippéd
That suffers flames of fire to burn the writ
190 Wherein the sum of thy religion rests.
Why send’st thou not a furious whirlwind down
To blow thy Alcoran up to thy throne,
Where men report thou sitt’st by God himself,
Or vengeance on the head of Tamburlaine,
That shakes his sword against thy majesty
And spurns the abstracts of thy foolish laws?
Well, soldiers, Mahomet remains in hell;
He cannot hear the voice of Tamburlaine.
Seek out another godhead to adore,
200 The God that sits in heaven, if any god,
For he is God alone, and none but he.
[Re-enter TECHELLES.]
TECHELLES
I have fulfilled your highness’ will, my lord.
Thousands of men, drowned in Asphaltis’ lake,
Have made the water swell above the banks,
And fishes, fed by human carcasses,
Amazed, swim up and down upon the waves As when they swallow assafoetida,
Which makes them fleet aloft and gasp for air.
TAMBURLAINE
Well, then, my friendly lords, what now remains,
210
But that we leave sufficient garrison,
And presently depart to Persia
To triumph after all our victories?
THERIDAMAS
Ay, good my lord. Let us in haste to Persia,
And let this captain be removed the walls
To some high hill about the city here.
TAMBURLAINE
Let it be so. About it, soldiers.
But stay, I feel myself distempered suddenly.
TECHELLES
What is it dares distemper Tamburlaine?
TAMBURLAINE
Something, Techelles, but I know not what.
220 But forth, ye vassals! Whatsoe’er it be,
Sickness or death can never conquer me.
Exeunt.
Scene 2
Enter CALLAPINE, [the King of] AMASIA, [a CAPTAIN, SOLDIERS,] with drums and trumpets.
CALLAPINE
King of Amasia, now our mighty host
Marcheth in Asia Major, where the streams
Of Euphrates and Tigris swiftly runs,
And here may we behold great Babylon,
Circled about with Limnasphaltis’ lake,
Where Tamburlaine with all his army lies,
Which being faint and weary with the siege,
We may lie ready to encounter him
Before his host be full from Babylon,
10 And so revenge our latest grievous loss,
If God or Mahomet send any aid.
AMASIA
Doubt not, my lord, but we shall conquer him.
The monster that hath drunk a sea of blood
And yet gapes still for more to quench his thirst,
Our Turkish swords shall headlong send to hell;
And that vile carcass drawn by warlike kings,
The fowls shall eat, for never sepulchre
Shall grace that base-born tyrant Tamburlaine.
CALLAPINE
When I record my parents’ slavish life,
20 Their cruel death, mine own captivity,
My viceroys’ bondage under Tamburlaine,
Methinks I could sustain a thousand deaths
To be revenged of all his villainy.
Ah, sacred Mahomet! Thou that hast seen
Millions of Turks perish by Tamburlaine,
Kingdoms made waste, brave cities sacked and burnt,
And but one host is left to honour thee,
Aid thy obedient servant Callapine,
And make him, after all these overthrows,
30 To triumph over cursed Tamburlaine!
AMASIA
Fear not, my lord. I see great Mahomet
Clothèd in purple clouds, and on his head
A chapter brighter than Apoll’s crown,
Marching about the air with armèd mcn
To join with you against this Tamburlaine.
CAPTAIN
Renownèd general, mighty Callapine,
Though God himself and holy Mahomet
Should come in person to resist your power,
The Complete Plays Page 24