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 I.

ORCANES,King of Natolia, GAZELLUS,Viceroy of Byron, URiBASSA,1and their train, with drums and trumpets.

Orc.

• Egregious viceroys of these eastern parts,
• Placed by the issue of great Bajazeth,
• And sacred lord, the mighty Callapine,
• Who lives in Egypt, prisoner to that slave
• Which kept his father in an iron cage;—
• Now have we marched from fair Natolia
• Two hundred leagues, and on Danubius' banks
• Our warlike host, in complete armour, rest,
• Where Sigismund, the king of Hungary,
• Should meet our person to conclude a truce.

  10

• What? Shall we parle with the Christian?
• Or cross the stream, and meet him in the field?

Gaz.

• King of Natolia, let us treat of peace;
• We are all glutted with the Christians' blood,
• And have a greater foe to fight against,—
• Proud Tamburlaine, that, now in Asia,
• Near Guyron's head doth set his conq'ring feet,
• And means to fire Turkey as he goes.
• 'Gainst him, my lord, you roust address your power.

Uri.

• Besides, King Sigismund hath brought from Christendom,

  20

• More than his camp of stout Hungarians,—
• Sclavonians, Almain rutters,1 Muffes, and Danes,
• That with the halbert, lance, and murdering axe,
• Will hazard that we might with surety hold.

[Ocr.]

• Though from the shortest northern parallel,
• Vast Grantland, compassed with the Frozen Sea,
• (Inhabited with tall and sturdy men,
• Giants as big as hugy Polypheme,)
• Millions of soldiers cut the arctick line,
• Bringing the strength of Europe to these arms,

  30

• Our Turkey blades shall glide through all their throats,
• And make this champion2 mead a bloody fen.
• Danubius' stream, that runs to Trebizon,
• Shall carry, wrapt within his scarlet waves,
• As martial presents to our friends at home,
• The slaughtered bodies of these Christians.
• The Terrene Main, wherein Danubius falls,1
• Shall, by this battle, be the Bloody Sea.
• The wandering sailors of proud Italy
• Shall meet those Christians, fleeting with the tide,

  40

• Beating in heaps against their Argosies,
• And make fair Europe, mounted on her bull,
• Trapped with the wealth and riches of the world,
• Alight, and wear a woful mourning weed.

Gaz.

• Yet, stout Orcanes, Prorex of the world,
• Since Tamburlaine hath mustered all his men,
• Marching from Cairon northward with his camp,
• To Alexandria, and the frontier towns,
• Meaning to make a conquest of our land,
• Tis requisite to parle for a peace

  50

• With Sigismund, the king of Hungary,
• And save our forces for the hot assaults
• Proud Tamburlaine intends Natolia.

Orc.

• Viceroy of Byron, wisely hast thou said.
• My realm, the centre of our empery,
• Once lost, all Turkey would be overthrown,
• And for that cause the Christians shall have peace.
• Sclavonians, Almain rutters, Muffes, and Danes,
• Fear not Orcanes, but great Tamburlaine;
• Nor he, but fortune, that hath made him great.

  60

• We have revolted Grecians, Albanese,
• Sicilians, Jews, Arabians, Turks, and Moors,
• Natolians, Syrians, black Egyptians,
• Illyrians,1 Thracians, and Bithynians,
• Enough to swallow forceless Sigismund,
• Yet scarce enough to encounter Tamburlaine.
• He brings a world of people to the field,
• From Scythia to the oriental plage
• Of India, where raging Lantchidol2
• Beats on the regions with his boisterous blows,

  70

• That never seaman yet discovered.
• All Asia is in arms with Tamburlaine,
• Even from the midst of fiery Cancer's tropick,
• To Amazonia under Capricorn;
• And thence as far as Archipelago,
• All Afric is in arms with Tamburlaine;
• Therefore, viceroy, the Christians must have peace.
• Enter SIGISMUND, FREDERICK, BALDWIN, and their Train, with drums and trumpets.

Sig.

• Orcanes, (as our legates promised thee,)
• We, with our peers, have crossed Danubius' stream,
• To treat of friendly peace or deadly war.

  80

• Take which thou wilt, for as the Romans used,
• I here present thee with a naked sword;
• Wilt thou have war, then shake this blade at me;
• If peace, restore it to my hands again,
• And I will sheath it, to confirm the same.

Orc.

• Stay, Sigismund! forget'st thou I am he
• That with the cannon shook Vienna walls,
• And made it dance upon the continent,
• As when the massy substance of the earth
• Quiver[s] about the axle-tree of heaven?

  90

• Forget'st thou that I sent a shower of darts,
• Mingled with powdered shot and feathered steel,
• So thick upon the blink-eyed burghers' heads,
• That thou thyself, then County Palatine,
• The King of Boheme, and the Austrick Duke,
• Sent heralds out, which basely on their knees
• In all your names desired a truce of me?
• Forget'st thou, that to have me raise my siege,
• Waggons of gold were set before my tents,
• Stampt with the princely fowl, that in her wings,

  100

• Carries the fearful thunderbolts of Jove?
• How canst thou think of this, and offer war '

Sig.

• Vienna was besieged, and I was there,
• Then County Palatine, but now a king,
• And what we did was in extremity.
• But now, Orcanes, view my royal host,
• That hides these plains, and seems as vast and wide,
• As doth the desert of Arabia
• To those that stand on Badgeth's1 lofty tower;
• Or as the ocean, to the traveller
• That rests upon the snowy Apennines;
• And tell me whether I should stoop so low,
• Or treat of peace with the Natolian king.

Gaz.

• Kings of Natolia and of Hungary,
• We came from Turkey to confirm a league,
• And not to dare each other to the field.
• A friendly parle might become you both.

Fred.

• And we from Europe, to the same intent,
• Which if your general refuse or scorn,
• Our tents are pitched, our men stand in array,

  120

• Ready to charge you ere you stir your feet.

Orc.

• So prest1 are we; but yet, if Sigismund
• Speak as a friend, and stand not upon terms,
• Here is his sword,—let peace be ratified
• On these conditions, specified before,
• Drawn with advice of our ambassadors.

Sig.

• Then here I sheathe it, and give thee my hand,
• Never to draw it out, or manage arms
• Against thyself or thy confederates,
• But whilst I live will be a truce with thee.

  130

Orc.

• But, Sigismund, confirm it with an oath,
• And swear in sight of heaven and by thy Christ.

Sig.

• By him that made the world and saved my soul,
• The son of God and issue of a maid,
• Sweet Jesus Christ, I solemnly protest
• And vow to keep this peace inviolable.

Orc.

• By sacred Mahomet, the friend of God,
• Whose holy Alcoran remains with us,
• Whose glorious body, when he left the world,
• Closed in a coffin mounted up the air,

  140

• And hung on stately Mecca's temple-roof,
• I swear to keep this truce inviolable;
• Of whose conditions2 and our solemn oaths,
• Signed with our hands, each shall retain a scroll
• As memorable witness of our league.
• Now, Sigismund, if any Christian king
• Encroach upon the confines of thy realm,

• Send word, Orcanes of Natolia
• Confirm'd1 this league beyond Danubius' stream,
• And they will, trembling, sound a quick retreat;

  150

• So am I feared among all nations.

Sig.

• If any heathen potentate or king
• Invade Natolia, Sigismund will send
• A hundred thousand horse trained to the war,
• And backed by stout lanciers of Germany,
• The strength and sinews of the Imperial seat.

Orc.

• I thank thee, Sigismund; but, when I war,
• All Asia Minor, Africa, and Greece,
• Follow my standard and my thundering drums.
• Come, let us go and banquet in our tents;

  160

• I will despatch chief of my army hence
• To fair Natolia and to Trebison,
• To stay my coming 'gainst proud Tamburlaine.
• Friend Sigismund, and peers of Hungary,
• Come, banquet and carouse with us a while,
• And then depart we to our territories.
• [Exeunt.

[1]Old copies “Upibassa.”

[1]Old copies give “Almains, Rutters,” here and in 1. 58, but in Faustus, i. r, we find-“

• Like Almainrutterswiththeirhorsemen's staves.”

Rutters = troopers {Germ. Router).

[2]“Like Almain rutters with their horsemen's staves.” Rutters = troopers (Germ. Reutrr).

[1]Marlowe's notions of geography are as vague as Eschylus's.

[1]“IlUcians.”.

[2]“Lantchidol is that part of the Indian Ocean which lies between Java and New Holland.” Broughtm.

[1]I.e., Bagdad's.

[1]Ready.

[2]Ready.

[1]“confirme.”