The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Preface
• Publisher's Notice
• Introduction
• Tamburlaine the Great. In Two Parts.
• Tamburlaine the Great, Part Tbe First.
• The Prologue.
• Persons Represented. 1
• Tamburlaine the Great. Part the First.: Act the First.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Act the Second.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI.
• Scene VII.
• Act the Third.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Act the Fourth.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Act the Fifth.
• Scene I.
• Tamburlaine the Great. Part the Second
• Prologue.
• Persons Represented.
• Tamburlaine the Great. Part the Second: Act the First.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene II.
• Act the Second.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Act the Third.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Act the Fourth.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Act the Fifth.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.
• Persons Represented.
• The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.
• Scene I.
• Scene II.
• Scene III.
• Scene IV.
• Scene V.
• Scene VI. 1
• Scene VII.
• Scene VIII.
• Scene IX.
• Scene X.
• Scene XI.
• Scene XII.
• Scene XIII.
• Scene XIV.
• Scene XV.
• Scene XVI.
• Appendix to Dr. Faustus.
• Ballad of Faustus.

SCENE II.

EnterTamburlaineleadingZenocrate, Techelles, Usumcasane, Agydas, Machetes, Lords, and Soldiers, loaden with treasure.

Tamb.

• Come, lady, let not this appal your thoughts;
• The jewels and the treasure we have ta'en
• Shall be reserved, and you in better state,
• Than if you were arrived in Syria,
• Even in the circle of your father's arms,
• The mighty soldan of Ægyptia.

Zeno.

• Ah, shepherd! pity my distresséd plight,
• (If, as thou seem'st, thou art so mean a man,)
• And seek not to enrich thy followers
• By lawless rapine from a silly maid,

  10

• Who travelling with these Median lords
• To Memphis, from my uncle's country of Media,1
• Where all my youth I have been governéd,
• Have past the army of the mighty Turk,
• Bearing his privy signet and his hand
• To safe conduct us thorough Africa.

Mag.

• And since we have arrived in Scythia,
• Besides rich presents from the puissant Cham,
• We have his highness' letters to command
• Aid and assistance, if we stand in need.

  20

Tamb.

• But now you see these letters and commands
• Are countermanded by a greater man;
• And through my provinces you must expect
• Letters of conduct from my mightiness,
• If you intend to keep your treasure safe.
• But, since I love to live at liberty,
• As easily may you get the soldan's crown
• As any prizes out of my precinct;
• For they are friends that help to wean my state
• 'Till men and kingdoms help to strengthen it,
• And must maintain my life exempt from servitude.—
• But, tell me, madam, is your grace betrothed?

Zeno.

• I am—my lord—for so you do import.

Tamb.

• I am a lord, for so my deeds shall prove:
• And yet a shepherd by my parentage.
• But, lady, this fair face and heavenly hue
• Must grace his bed that conquers Asia,
• And means to be a terror to the world,
• Measuring the limits of his empery
• By east and west, as Phoebus doth his course.

  40

• Lie here ye weeds that I disdain to wear!
• This complete armour and this curtle axe
• Are adjuncts more beseeming Tamburlame.
• And, madam, whatsoever you esteem
• Of this success and loss unvaluéd,1
• Both may invest you empress of the East;
• And these that “seem but silly country swains
• May have the leading of so great an host,
• As with their weight shall make the mountains quake,
• Even as when windy exhalations

  50

• Fighting for passage, tilt within the earth.

Tech.

• As princely lions, when they rouse themselves,
• Stretching their paws, and threatening herds of beasts,
• So in his armour looketh Tamburlaine.
• Methinks I see kings kneeling at his feet,
• And he with frowning brows and fiery looks,
• Spurning their crowns from off their captive heads.

Usum.

• And making thee and me, Techelles, kings,
• That even to death will follow Tamburlaine.

Tamb.

• Nobly resolved, sweet friends and followers!

  60

• These Lords, perhaps do scorn our estimates,
• And think we prattle with distempered spirits;
• But since they measure our deserts so mean,
• That in conceit bear empires on our spears,
• Affecting thoughts coequal with the clouds,
• They shall be kept our forcéd followers,
• Till with their eyes they view us emperors.

Zeno.

• The Gods, defenders of the innocent,
• Will never prosper your intended drifts,
• That thus oppress poor friendless passengers.

  70

• Therefore at least admit us liberty,
• Even as thou hopest to be eterniséd,
• By living Asia's mighty emperor.

Agyd.

• I hope our ladies' 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 betrothèd lord Alcidamas,
• Expects th' arrival of her highness' person.

Mag.

• And wheresoever we repose ourselves,

  80

• We will report but well of Tamburlaine.

Tamb.

• Disdains Zenocrate to live with me?
• Or you, my lords, to be my followers?
• Think you I weigh this treasure more than you?
• 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,1
• Fairer than whitest snow on Scythian hills,—
• Thy person is more worth to Tamburlaine,

  90

• Than the possession of the Persian crown,
• Which gracious stars have promised at my birth.
• A hundred Tartars shall attend on thee,
• Mounted on steeds swifter than Pegasus;
• Thy garments shall be made of Median silk,2
• Enchased with precious jewels of mine own,
• More rich and valurous3 than Zenocrate's.
• With milk-white harts upon an ivory sled,
• Thou shalt be drawn amidst the frozen pools,4
• And scale the icy mountains' lofty tops,

  100

• Which with thy beauty will be soon resolved
• My martial prizes with five hundred men,
• Won on the fifty-headed Volga's waves,
• Shall we all5 offer to Zenocrate,—
• And then myself to fair Zenocrate.

Tech.

• What now!—in love?

Tamb.

• Techelles, women must be flatteréd:
• But this is she with whom I am in6 love.
• Enter a Soldier.

Sold.

• News! news!

Tamb.

• How now—what's the matter?

Sold.

• A thousand Persian horsemen are at hand,

  110

• Sent from the king to overcome us all.

Tamb.

• How now, my lords of Egypt, and Zenocrate!
• How!—must your jewels be restored again,
• And I, that triumphed so, be overcome?
• How say you, lordings,—is not this your hope?

Agyd.

• We hope yourself will willingly restore them.

Tamb.

• Such hope, such fortune, have the thousand horse.
• Soft ye, my lords, and sweet Zenocrate!
• You must be forcèd from me ere you go.
• A thousand horsemen!—We five hundred foot!—

  120

• An odds too great for us to stand against.
• But are they rich?—and is their armour good?

Sold.

• Their plumèd helms are wrought with beaten gold,
• Their swords enamelled, and about their necks
• Hangs1 massy chains of gold, down to the waist,
• In every part exceeding brave2 and rich.

Tamb.

• Then shall we fight courageously with them?
• Or look you I should play the orator?

Tech.

• No: cowards and faint-hearted runaways
• Look for orations when the foe is near:

  130

• Our swords shall play the orator for us.

Usum.

• Come! let us meet them at the mountain top,1
• And with a sudden and a hot alarum,
• Drive all their horses headlong down the hill.

Tech.

• Come, let us march!

Tamb.

• Stay, Techelles! ask a parle first.
• The Soldiers enter.
• Open the mails,2 yet guard the treasure sure;
• Lay out our golden wedges to the view,
• That their reflections may amaze the Persians;
• And look we friendly on them when they come;

  140

• But if they offer word or violence,
• We'll fight five hundred men at arms to one,
• Before we part with our possession.
• And 'gainst the general we will lift our swords,
• And either lanch3 his greedy thirsting throat,
• Or take him prisoner, and his chain shall serve.
• For manacles, till he be ransomed home.

Tech.

• I hear them come; shall we encounter them?

Tamb.

• Keep all your standings and not stir a foot,
• Myself will bide the danger of the brunt.

  150

• EnterTheridamasand others.

Ther.

• Where is this Scythian Tamburlaine?

Tamb.

• Whom seek'st thou, Persian?—I am Tamburlaine.

Ther.

• Tamburlaine!—
• A Scythian shepherd so embellishéd
• With nature's pride and richest furniture!
• His looks do menace Heaven and dare the gods:
• His fiery eyes are fixed upon the earth,
• As if he now devised some stratagem,
• Or meant to pierce Avernus' darksome vauts1
• To pull the triple-headed dog from hell.

  160

Tamb.

• Noble and mild this Persian seems to be,
• If outward habit judge the inward man.

Tech.

• His deep affections make him passionate.

Tamb.

• With what a majesty he rears his looks!
• In thee, thou valiant man of Persia,
• I see the folly of thy emperor.
• Art thou but captain of a thousand horse,
• That by chàracters graven in thy brows,
• And by thy martial face and stout aspéct,
• Deserv'st to have the leading of a host!

  170

• Forsake thy king, and do but join with me,
• And we will triumph over all the world;
• I hold the fates bound fast in iron chains,
• And with my hand turn fortune's wheel about:
• And sooner shall the sun fall from his sphere,
• Than Tamburlaine be slain or overcome.
• Draw forth thy sword, thou mighty man at arms,
• Intending but to raze my charméd skin,
• And Jove himself will stretch his hand from Heaven
• To ward the blow and shield me safe from harm.

  180

• See how he rains down heaps of gold in showers,
• As if he meant to give my soldiers pay!
• And as a sure and grounded argument,
• That I shall be the monarch of the East,
• He sends this soldan's daughter rich and brave,
• To be my queen and portly emperess.
• If thou wilt stay with me, renowméd1 man,
• And lead thy thousand horse with my condúct,
• Besides thy share of this Egyptian prize,
• Those thousand horse shall sweat with martial spoil

  190

• Of conquered kingdoms and of cities sacked;
• Both we will walk upon the lofty cliffs,
• And Christian merchants that with Russian stems2
• Plough up huge furrows in the Caspian sea,
• Shall vail3 to us, as lords of all the lake.
• Both we will reign as consuls of the earth,
• And mighty kings shall be our senators.
• Jove sometimes masked in a shepherd's weed,
• And by those steps that he hath scaled the heavens
• May we become immortal like the gods.

  200

• Join with me now in this my mean estate,
• (I call it mean because being yet obscure,
• The nations far removed admire me not.)
• And when my name and hononr shall be spread
• As far as Boreas claps his brazen wings,1
• Or fair Böötes2 sends his cheerful light,
• Then shall thou be competitor3 with me,
• And sit with Tamburlaine in all his majesty.

Ther.

• Not Hermes, prolocutor to the gods,
• Could use persuasions more pathetical.

  210

Tamb.

• Nor are Apollo's oracles more true,
• Than thou shalt find rny vaunts substantial.

Tech.

• We are his friends, and if the Persian king
• Should offer present dukedoms to our state,
• We think it loss to make exchange for that
• We are assured of by our friend's success.

Usum.

• And kingdoms at the least we all expect,
• Besides the honour in assuréd conquests,
• When kings shall crouch unto our conquering swords
• And hosts of soldiers stand amazed at us;

  220

• When with their fearful tongues they shall confess,
• These are the men that all the world admires.

Ther.

• What strong enchantmenls tice my yielding soul!
• These are resolvéd, noble Scythians:4
• But shall I prove a traitor to my king?

Tamb.

• No, but the trusty friend of Tamburlaine.

Ther.

• Won with thy words, and conquered with thy looks,
• I yield myself, my men, and horse to thee,
• To be partaker of thy good or ill,
• As long as life maintains Theridamas.

  230

Tamb.

• Theridamas, my friend, take here my hand,
• Which is as much as if I swore by Heaven,
• And call'd the gods to witness of my vow.
• Thus shall my heart be still combined with thine
• Until our bodies turn to elements,
• And both our souls aspire celestial thrones.
• Techelles and Casane, welcome him!

Tech.

• Welcome, renowmèd Persian, to us all!

Usum.

• Long may Theridamas remain with us!

Tamb.

• These are my friends, in whom I rejoice

  240

• Than doth the king of Persia in his crown,
• And by the love of Pylades and Orestes,
• Whose statues1 we adore in Scythia,
• Thyself and them shall never part from me
• Before I crown you kings in Asia.
• Make much of them, gentle Theridamas,
• And they will never leave thee till the death.

Ther.

• Nor thee nor them, thrice noble Tarnburlaine,
• Shall want my heart to be with gladness pierced,
• To do you honour and security.

  250

Tamb.

• A thousand thanks, worthy Therulamas.
• And now fair madam, and my noble lords,
• If you will willingly remain with me
• You shall have honours as your merits be;
• Or else you shall be forced with slavery.

Agyd.

• We yield unto thee, happy Tamburlaine.

Tamb.

• For you then, madam, I am out of doubt.
• Zeno, I must be pleased perforce. Wretched Zeno-crate!
• [Exeunt.

ACT THE SECOND.

[1]For the sake of the metre Cunningham reads:—With these my uncle's lords To Memphis from his country of Media.”

[1]Not to be valued; as in Richard III., i. 4:—“Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels.”

[1]Old copies “Rhodolfe.”

[2]Cf. 1594 Taming of a Shrew:—

• “Thou shalt have garments wrought of Median silk
• Enchas'd with precious jewels brought from far.”

[3]i.e. valuable.

[4]8vo. “Pooles.”—4to. “poles.”

[5]8vo. omits “all.”—4to. reads “We all shall.”

[6]8vo. “it”—Omitted in the 4to.

[1]So the 8vo. Modern editors (including Dyce) read “hang.” It is very common to find in old writers a plural subject joined to a singular verb. See Abbott's Shakespearean Grammar (§ 333). I have retained the seeming anomaly wherever it occurs in the editioprinceps.

[2]Gaily dressed. The use of the word “brave” in this sense is very common.

[1]So 4to.—8vo. “mountain foot.”

[2]Bags or trunks (Fr. malic).

[3]So 8vo. Marlowe uses “lance” and “lanch” indifferently.

[1]So 8vo. In the Second Part, ii. 4, we find “vaults.”

[1]I have retained the recognised form “renowmed” wherever it occurs in the 8vo.

[2]Cf. 1594 Taming of a Shrew:—

• “Italian merchants that with Russian stems
• Plough up huge furrows in the Tyrrhene main.”
• Merchants = merchantmen stems = prows.

[3]Lower their flags.

[1]Perhaps Marlowe remembered Ovid's “Et quamvis Boreas jac-tatis insonet alis.”—Trust., iii. 10, l. 45.

[2]8vo. “Botgees.”—410 “Boetes.”

[3]I.e. sharer; as in Two Gentlemen of Veron, ii. 6:—“Myself in counsel his competitor.”

[4]Old copies “Are these.” The modern editors read—

• “What strong enchantments tice my yielding soul
• To these resolved noble Scythians?”

[1]So 4to.—8vo. “statutes.” “As the Scythians worshipped Pylades and Orestes in temples,” says the editor of 1826, “we have adopted the reading of the 410., as being most probably the correct one.” What Ovid says is—

• “Minis amor juvenum, quamvis abiere tot anni,
• In Scythia magnum none quoque nomen habet.”
• —Ex Ponto, iii. 2, 95-96.