Christopher Marlowe

“ Our life is frail, and we may die to-day. THERIDAMAS. Before the moon renew her borrow'd light, Doubt not, my lord and gracious sovereign, But Tamburlaine and that Tartarian rout 11 Shall either perish by our warlike hands, Or plead for mercy at your highness' feet. MYCETES. Go, stout Theridamas; thy words are swords, And with thy looks thou conquerest all thy foes. I long to see thee back return from thence, That I may view these milk-white steeds of mine All loaden with the heads of killed men, And, from their knees even to their hoofs below, Besmear'd with blood that makes a dainty show. ”

“ TAMBURLAINE. Not now, Theridamas; her time is past: The pillars, that have bolster'd up those terms, Are faln in clusters at my conquering feet. ZABINA. Though he be prisoner, he may be ransom'd. TAMBURLAINE. Not all the world shall ransom Bajazeth. BAJAZETH. Ah, fair Zabina! we have lost the field; And never had the Turkish emperor So great a foil by any foreign foe. Now will the Christian miscreants be glad, Ringing with joy their superstitious bells, And making bonfires for my overthrow: But, ere I die, those foul idolaters Shall make me bonfires with their filthy bones ”

“ THERIDAMAS. And that made me to join with Tamburlaine; For he is gross and like the massy earth That moves not upwards, nor by princely deeds Doth mean to soar above the highest sort. TECHELLES. And that made us, the friends of Tamburlaine, To lift our swords against the Persian king. USUMCASANE. For as, when Jove did thrust old Saturn down, Neptune and Dis gain'd each of them a crown, So do we hope to reign in Asia, If Tamburlaine be plac'd in Persia. COSROE. The strangest men that ever nature made! ”

“ Stir not, Zenocrate, until thou see Me march victoriously with all my men, Triumphing over him and these his kings, Which I will bring as vassals to thy feet; Till then, take thou my crown, vaunt of my worth, And manage words with her, as we will arms. ZENOCRATE. And may my love, the king of Persia, Return with victory and free from wound! BAJAZETH. Now shalt thou feel the force of Turkish arms, Which lately made all Europe quake for fear. I have of Turks, Arabians, Moors, and Jews, Enough to cover all Bithynia: Let thousands die ”

“ ZENOCRATE. My lord, 224 how can you suffer these Outrageous curses by these slaves of yours? TAMBURLAINE. To let them see, divine Zenocrate, I glory in the curses of my foes, Having the power from the empyreal heaven To turn them all upon their proper heads. TECHELLES. I pray you, give them leave, madam; this speech is a goodly refreshing for them. 225 THERIDAMAS. But, if his highness would let them be fed, it would do them more good. TAMBURLAINE. Sirrah, why fall you not to? are you so daintily brought up, you cannot eat your own flesh? ”

“ ATTENDANTS bring in BAJAZETH in his cage, followed by ZABINA. Exeunt ATTENDANTS. THERIDAMAS. We know the victory is ours, my lord; But let us save the reverend Soldan's life For fair Zenocrate that so laments his state. TAMBURLAINE. That will we chiefly see unto, Theridamas, For sweet Zenocrate, whose worthiness Deserves a conquest over every heart.— And now, my footstool, if I lose the field, You hope of liberty and restitution?— Here let him stay, my masters, from the tents, Till we have made us ready for the field.— Pray for us, Bajazeth; we are going. ”

“ Save only that in beauty's just applause, With whose instinct the soul of man is touch'd; And every warrior that is rapt with love Of fame, of valour, and of victory, Must needs have beauty beat on his conceits: I thus conceiving, 268 and subduing both, That which hath stoop'd the chiefest of the gods, Even from the fiery-spangled veil of heaven, To feel the lovely warmth of shepherds' flames, And mask in cottages of strowed reeds, Shall give the world to note, for all my birth, That virtue solely is the sum of glory, And fashions men with true nobility.— Who's within there? ”

“ Ah, madam, this their slavery hath enforc'd, And ruthless cruelty of Tamburlaine! ZENOCRATE. Earth, cast up fountains from thy 294 entrails, And wet thy cheeks for their untimely deaths; Shake with their weight in sign of fear and grief! Blush, heaven, that gave them honour at their birth, And let them die a death so barbarous! Those that are proud of fickle empery And place their chiefest good in earthly pomp, Behold the Turk and his great emperess! Ah, Tamburlaine my love, sweet Tamburlaine, That fight'st for sceptres and for slippery crowns, Behold the Turk and his great emperess! ”

“ But most accurs'd, to see the sun-bright troop Of heavenly virgins and unspotted maids (Whose looks might make the angry god of arms To break his sword and mildly treat of love) On horsemen's lances to be hoisted up, And guiltlessly endure a cruel death; For every fell and stout Tartarian steed, That stamp'd on others with their thundering hoofs, When all their riders charg'd their quivering spears, Began to check the ground and rein themselves, Gazing upon the beauty of their looks. Ah, Tamburlaine, wert thou the cause of this, That term'st Zenocrate thy dearest love? ”

“ Yet give me leave to plead for him, my lord. TAMBURLAINE. Content thyself: his person shall be safe, And all the friends of fair Zenocrate, If with their lives they will be pleas'd to yield, Or may be forc'd to make me emperor; For Egypt and Arabia must be mine.— Feed, you slave; thou mayst think thyself happy to be fed from my trencher. BAJAZETH. My empty stomach, full of idle heat, Draws bloody humours from my feeble parts, Preserving life by hastening 234 cruel death. My veins are pale; my sinews hard and dry; My joints benumb'd; unless I eat, I die. ”

“ ZENOCRATE. The gods, defenders of the innocent. Will never prosper your intended drifts, That thus oppress poor friendless passengers. Therefore at least admit us liberty, Even as thou hop'st to be eternized By living Asia's mighty emperor. AGYDAS. I hope our lady's treasure and our own May serve for ransom to our liberties: Return our mules and empty camels back, That we may travel into Syria, Where her betrothed lord, Alcidamus, Expects the arrival of her highness' person. MAGNETES. And wheresoever we repose ourselves, We will report but well of Tamburlaine. ”

“ And how my slave, her mistress, menaceth? Both for their sauciness shall be employ'd To dress the common soldiers' meat and drink; For we will scorn they should come near ourselves. ANIPPE. Yet sometimes let your highness send for them To do the work my chambermaid disdains. [They sound to the battle within.] ZENOCRATE. Ye gods and powers that govern Persia, And made my lordly love her worthy king, Now strengthen him against the Turkish Bajazeth, And let his foes, like flocks of fearful roes Pursu'd by hunters, fly his angry looks, That I may see him issue conqueror! ”

“ ZENOCRATE. Thou wilt repent these lavish words of thine When thy great basso-master and thyself Must plead for mercy at his kingly feet, And sue to me to be your advocate. 178 ZABINA. And sue to thee! I tell thee, shameless girl, Thou shalt be laundress to my waiting-maid.— How lik'st thou her, Ebea? will she serve? EBEA. Madam, she thinks perhaps she is too fine; But I shall turn her into other weeds, And make her dainty fingers fall to work. ZENOCRATE. Hear'st thou, Anippe, how thy drudge doth talk? ”

“ Not all the gold in India's wealthy arms Shall buy the meanest soldier in my train. Zenocrate, lovelier than the love of Jove, Brighter than is the silver Rhodope, 37 Fairer than whitest snow on Scythian hills, Thy person is more worth to Tamburlaine Than the possession of the Persian crown, Which gracious stars have promis'd at my birth. A hundred Tartars shall attend on thee, Mounted on steeds swifter than Pegasus ”

“ Who, when they come unto their father's age, Will batter turrets with their manly fists;— Sit here upon this royal chair of state, And on thy head wear my imperial crown, Until I bring this sturdy Tamburlaine And all his captains bound in captive chains. ZABINA. Such good success happen to Bajazeth! TAMBURLAINE. Zenocrate, the loveliest maid alive, Fairer than rocks of pearl and precious stone, The only paragon of Tamburlaine; Whose eyes are brighter than the lamps of heaven, And speech more pleasant than sweet harmony ”

“ SOLDIER. A thousand Persian horsemen are at hand, Sent from the king to overcome us all. TAMBURLAINE. How now, my lords of Egypt, and Zenocrate! Now must your jewels be restor'd again, And I, that triumph'd 43 so, be overcome? How say you, lordings? is not this your hope? AGYDAS. We hope yourself will willingly restore them. TAMBURLAINE. Such hope, such fortune, have the thousand horse. Soft ye, my lords, and sweet Zenocrate! You must be forced from me ere you go.— A thousand horsemen! we five hundred foot! An odds too great for us to stand against. But are they rich? and is their armour good! ”

“ My lord, it is the bloody Tamburlaine, A sturdy felon, and 217 a base-bred thief, By murder raised to the Persian crown, That dare control us in our territories. To tame the pride of this presumptuous beast, Join your Arabians with the Soldan's power; Let us unite our royal bands in one, And hasten to remove Damascus' siege. It is a blemish to the majesty And high estate of mighty emperors, That such a base usurping vagabond Should brave a king, or wear a princely crown. KING OF ARABIA. Renowmed 218 Soldan, have you lately heard The overthrow of mighty Bajazeth About the confines of Bithynia? ”

“ THERIDAMAS. Tamburlaine! A Scythian shepherd so embellished With nature's pride and richest furniture! His looks do menace heaven and dare the gods; His fiery eyes are fix'd upon the earth, As if he now devis'd some stratagem, Or meant to pierce Avernus' darksome vaults 49 To pull the triple-headed dog from hell. TAMBURLAINE. Noble and mild this Persian seems to be, If outward habit judge the inward man. TECHELLES. His deep affections make him passionate. TAMBURLAINE. With what a majesty he rears his looks!— In thee, thou valiant man of Persia, I see the folly of thy 50 emperor. ”

“ There angels in their crystal armours fight 265 A doubtful battle with my tempted thoughts For Egypt's freedom and the Soldan's life, His life that so consumes Zenocrate; Whose sorrows lay more siege unto my soul Than all my army to Damascus' walls; And neither Persia's 266 sovereign nor the Turk Troubled my senses with conceit of foil So much by much as doth Zenocrate. What is beauty, saith my sufferings, then? If all the pens that ever poets held Had fed the feeling of their masters' thoughts, And every sweetness that inspir'd their hearts, Their minds, and muses on admired themes ”

“ Let's cheer our soldiers to encounter him, That grievous image of ingratitude, That fiery thirster after sovereignty, And burn him in the fury of that flame That none can quench but blood and empery. Resolve, my lords and loving soldiers, now To save your king and country from decay. Then strike up, drum; and all the stars that make The loathsome circle of my dated life, Direct my weapon to his barbarous heart, That thus opposeth him against the gods, And scorns the powers that govern Persia! ”

“ BAJAZETH. Ye holy priests of heavenly Mahomet, That, sacrificing, slice and cut your flesh, Staining his altars with your purple blood, Make heaven to frown, and every fixed star To suck up poison from the moorish fens, And pour it 193 in this glorious tyrant's throat! TAMBURLAINE. The chiefest god, first mover of that sphere Enchas'd with thousands ever-shining lamps, Will sooner burn the glorious frame of heaven Than it should 194 so conspire my overthrow. ”

“ Ah, Menaphon, why stay'st thou thus behind, When other men press 12 forward for renown? Go, Menaphon, go into Scythia, And foot by foot follow Theridamas. COSROE. Nay, pray you, 13 let him stay; a greater [task] Fits Menaphon than warring with a thief: Create him pro-rex of all 14 Africa, That he may win the Babylonians' hearts, Which will revolt from Persian government, Unless they have a wiser king than you. MYCETES. Unless they have a wiser king than you! These are his words; Meander, set them down. COSROE. And add this to them,—that all Asia Lament to see the folly of their king. ”

“ For virtue is the fount whence honour springs, And they are worthy she investeth kings. THERIDAMAS. And, since your highness hath so well vouchsaf'd, If we deserve them not with higher meeds Than erst our states and actions have retain'd, Take them away again, 239 and make us slaves. TAMBURLAINE. Well said, Theridamas: when holy Fates Shall stablish me in strong Aegyptia, We mean to travel to th' antarctic pole, Conquering the people underneath our feet, And be renowm'd 240 as never emperors were.— Zenocrate, I will not crown thee yet, Until with greater honours I be grac'd. ”

“ At every pore 272 let blood come dropping forth, That lingering pains may massacre his heart, And madness send his damned soul to hell! BAJAZETH. Ah, fair Zabina! we may curse his power, The heavens may frown, the earth for anger quake; But such a star hath influence in 273 his sword As rules the skies and countermands the gods More than Cimmerian Styx or Destiny: And then shall we in this detested guise, With shame, with hunger, and with horror stay, 274 Griping our bowels with retorqued 275 thoughts, And have no hope to end our ecstasies. ”

“ The townsmen mask in silk and cloth of gold, And every house is as a treasury; The men, the treasure, and the town are 212 ours. THERIDAMAS. Your tents of white now pitch'd before the gates, And gentle flags of amity display'd, I doubt not but the governor will yield, Offering Damascus to your majesty. TAMBURLAINE. So shall he have his life, and all the rest: But, if he stay until the bloody flag Be once advanc'd on my vermilion tent, He dies, and those that kept us out so long ”