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 IV.

Alarum within.—Enter the Captain, with Olympia, and his Son.

Olymp.

• Come, good my lord, and let us haste from hence
• Along the cave that leads beyond the foe;
• No hope is left to save this conquered hold.

Capt.

• A deadly bullet, gliding through my side,
• Lies heavy on my heart; I cannot live.
• I feel my liver pierced, and all my veins,
• That there begin and nourish every part,
• Mangled and torn, and all my entrails bathed
• In blood that straineth2 from their orifex.
• Farewell, sweet wife! sweet son, farewell! I die.

  10

• [He dies.

Olymp.

• Death, whither art thou gone, that both we live?
• Come back again, sweet Death, and strike us both!
• One minute end our days! and one sepùlchre
• Contain our bodies! Death, why com'st thou not?
• Well, this must be the messenger for thee:
• [Drawing a dagger.
• Now, ugly Death, stretch out thy sable wings,
• And carry both our souls where his remains.
• Tell me, sweet boy, art thou content to die?
• These barbarous Scythians, full of cruelty,
• And Moors, in whom was never pity found,

  20

• Will hew us piecemeal, put us to the wheel,
• Or else invent some torture worse than that;
• Therefore die by thy loving mother's hand,
• Who gently now will lance thy ivory throat,
• And quickly rid thee both of pain and life.

Son.

• Mother, despatch me, or I'll kill myself;
• For think you I can live and see him dead?
• Give me your knife, good mother, or strike home:
• The Scythians shall not tyrannise on me:
• Sweet mother, strike, that I may meet my father.

  30

• [She stabs him and he dies.

Olymp.

• Ah, sacred Mahomet, if this be sin,
• Entreat a pardon of the God of heaven,
• And purge my soul before it come to thee.
• [She burns the bodies of her husband and son and then attempts to kill herself.
• Enter Theridamas, Techelles, and all their train.

Ther.

• How now, madam, what are you doing?

Olymp.

• Killing myself, as I have done my son,
• Whose body, with his father's, I have burnt,
• Lest cruel Scythians should dismember him.

Tech.

• 'Twas bravely done, and, like a soldier's wife.
• Thou shall with us to Tamburlaine the Great,
• Who, when he hears how resolute thou art,

  40

• Will match thee with a viceroy or a king.

Olymp.

• My lord deceased was dearer unto me
• Than any viceroy, king, or emperor;
• And for his sake here will I end my days.

Ther.

• But, lady, go with us to Tamburlaine,
• And thou shalt see a man, greater than Mahomet,
• In whose high looks is much more majesty,
• Than from the concave superficies
• Of Jove's vast palace, the empyreal orb,
• Unto the shining bower where Cynthia sits,

  50

• Like lovely Thetis, in a crystal robe;
• That treadeth fortune underneath his feet,
• And makes the mighty god of arms his slave;
• On whom Death and the Fatal Sisters wait
• With naked swords and scarlet liveries:
• Before whom, mounted on a lion's back,
• Rhamnusia bears a helmet full of blood,
• And strews the way with brains of slaughtered men;
• By whose proud side the ugly Furies run,
• Hearkening when he shall bid them plague the world;

  60

• Over whose zenith, clothed in windy air,
• And eagle's wings join'd1 to her feathered breast,
• Fame hovereth, sounding of her golden trump,
• That to the adverse poles of that straight line,
• Which measureth the glorious frame of heaven,
• The name of mighty Tamburlaine is spread,
• And him, fair lady, shall thy eyes behold.
• Come!

Olymp.

• Take pity of a lady's ruthful tears,
• That humbly craves upon her knees to stay

  70

• And cast her body in the burning flame,
• That feeds upon her son's and husband's flesh,

Tech.

• Madam, sooner shall fire consume us both,
• Than scorch a face so beautiful as this,
• In frame of which Nature hath showed more skill
• Than when she gave eternal chaos form,
• Drawing from it the shining lamps of heaven.

Ther.

• Madam, I am so far in love with you,
• That you must go with us—no remedy.

Olymp.

• Then carry me, I care not, where you will,

  80

• And let the end of this my fatal journey
• Be likewise end to my accursèd life.

Tech.

• No, madam, but the beginning of your joy:
• Come willingly therefore.

Ther.

• Soldiers, now let us meet the general,
• Who by this time is at Natolia,
• Ready to charge the army of the Turk.
• The gold and silver, and the pearl, we got,
• Rifling this fort, divide in equal shares:
• Tnis lady shall have twice as much again

  90

• Out of the coffers of our treasury.
• [Exeunt.

[2]So 4to.—8vo. “stameth.” The confusion between stain and strain is constantly occurring. In Shelley's dirge, “Rough wind that moanest loud,” we should surely read, “Bare woods whose branches strain.'”

[1]So 4to.—8vo. “inioin'd.”