The Complete Plays (16 page)

Techelles, women must be flatteràd.

But this is she with whom I am in love.

Enter a
SOLDIER
.

SOLDIER

News, news!

TAMBURLAINE

110   How now, what's the matter?

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 restored again

And I that triumphed 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 forcèd from me ere you go.

120   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?

SOLDIER

Their plumèd helms are wrought with beaten gold,

Their swords enamelled, and about their necks

Hangs massy chains of gold down to the waist,

In every part exceeding brave and rich.

TAMBURLAINE

Then shall we fight courageously with them;

Or look you I should
play the orator?

TECHELLES

No. Cowards and faint-hearted runaways

130   Look for orations when the foe is near.

Our swords shall play the orators for us.

USUMCASANE

Come, let us meet them at the mountain
top,

And with a sudden and an hot
alarm

Drive all their horses headlong down the hill.

TECHELLES

Come, let us march.

TAMBURLAINE

Stay, Techelles, ask a parley first.

The
SOLDIERS
[
of
TAMBURLAINE
]
enter
.

Open the mails, yet guard the treasure sure.

Lay out our golden wedges to the view,

140   That their reflections may amaze the Persians.

[
The
SOLDIERS
lay out the gold bars
.]

And look we friendly on them when they come,

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 lance his greedy thirsting throat

Or take him prisoner, and his
chain shall
serve

For manacles till he be ransomed home.

TECHELLES

I hear them come. Shall we encounter them?

TAMBURLAINE

150   Keep all your standings, and not stir a foot.

Myself will bide the danger of the brunt.

Enter
THERIDAMAS
with others
.

THERIDAMAS

Where is this Scythian Tamburlaine?

TAMBURLAINE

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

THERIDAMAS
[
aside
]

Tamburlaine?

A Scythian shepherd, so embellishèd

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,

160   Or meant to pierce
Avernus' darksome vaults

And pull the
triple-headed dog from
hell.

TAMBURLAINE
[
to
TECHELLES
]

Noble and mild this Persian seems to be,

If
outward habit judge the
inward man.

TECHELLES
[
to
TAMBURLAINE
]

His deep affections make him passionate.

TAMBURLAINE
[
to
TECHELLES
]

With what a majesty he rears his looks!

[
To
THERIDAMAS
]

In thee, thou valiant man of Persia,

I see the folly of thy emperor.

Art thou but captain of a thousand horse,

That by
characters graven in
thy brows

And by thy martial face and
stout aspect

170   Deserv'st to have the leading of an host?

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 charmèd skin,

And Jove himself will stretch his hand from heaven

180   To ward the blow and shield me safe from harm.

See how he rains down heaps of gold in showers

As if he meant to give my soldiers pay!

[
He points to the gold bars
.]

And, as a sure and grounded argument

That I shall be the monarch of the East,

He sends this Sultan's daughter, rich and brave,

To be my queen and
portly emperess
.

If thou wilt stay with me, renownèd man,

And lead thy thousand horse with my
conduct,

Besides thy share of this Egyptian prize,

190   Those thousand horse shall sweat with martial spoil

Of conquered kingdoms and of cities sacked.

Both we will walk upon the lofty clifts,

And Christian
merchants that
with Russian
stems

Plough up huge furrows in the Caspian Sea

Shall vail 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 sometime
masked in a shepherd's weed,

And by those steps that he hath scaled the heavens

200   May we become immortal like the gods.

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 honour shall be spread

As far as Boreas claps his brazen wings

Or fair Boötes sends his cheerful light,

Then shalt thou be competitor with me

And sit with Tamburlaine in all his majesty.

THERIDAMAS

210   Not Hermes, prolocutor to the gods,

Could use persuasions more pathetical.

TAMBURLAINE

Nor are Apollo's oracles more true

Than thou shalt find my vaunts substantial.

TECHELLES

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.

USUMCASANE

And kingdoms at the least we all expect,

Besides the honour in assurèd conquests

220   Where kings shall crouch unto our conquering swords

And hosts of soldiers stand amazed at us,

When with their fearful tongues they shall confess,

‘These are the men that all the world admires.'

THERIDAMAS

What strong enchantments tice my yielding soul?

Are these
resolvèd noble Scythians?

But shall I prove a traitor to my king?

TAMBURLAINE

No, but the trusty friend of Tamburlaine.

THERIDAMAS

Won with thy words and conquered with thy looks,

I yield myself, my men, and horse to thee,

230   To be partaker of thy good or ill

As long as life maintains Theridamas.

TAMBURLAINE

Theridamas, my friend, take here my hand,

Which is as much as if I swore by heaven

And called 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.

TECHELLES

Welcome, renownèd Persian, to us all!

USUMCASANE

240   Long may Theridamas remain with us!

TAMBURLAINE

These are my friends, in whom I more rejoice

Than doth the king of Persia in his crown.

And by the love of
Pylades and Orestes,

Whose statues 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.

THERIDAMAS

Nor thee nor them, thrice-noble Tamburlaine,

Shall want my
heart to be with gladness pierced

250   To do you honour and security.

TAMBURLAINE

A thousand thanks, worthy Theridamas.

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.

AGYDAS

We yield unto thee, happy Tamburlaine.

TAMBURLAINE

For you, then
, madam, I am out of doubt.

ZENOCRATE

I must be pleased perforce, wretched Zenocrate!

Exeunt
.

[
Enter
]
COSROE
,
MENAPHON
,
ORTYGIUS
,
CENEUS
,
with
other
SOLDIERS
.

COSROE

Thus far are
we towards Theridamas

And valiant Tamburlaine, the man of fame,

The man that in the forehead of his fortune

Bears figures of renown and miracle.

But tell me, that hast seen him, Menaphon,

What stature wields he, and what personage?

MENAPHON

Of stature tall, and straightly fashionèd,

Like his desire,
lift upwards
and divine;

So large of limbs, his joints so strongly knit,

10   Such breadth of shoulders as might mainly bear

Old Atlas' burden. 'Twixt his manly pitch,

A pearl more
worth than all the world is placed,

Wherein by curious sovereignty of art

Are fixed his piercing instruments of sight,

Whose
fiery circles bear
encompassèd

A heaven of heavenly bodies in their spheres

That guides his steps and actions to the throne

Where honour sits invested royally;

Pale of complexion, wrought in him with passion,

20   Thirsting with sovereignty, with love of arms.

His lofty brows
in folds do
figure death,

And in their smoothness amity and life.

About them hangs a knot of amber hair

Wrappèd in curls, as fierce Achilles' was,

On which the breath of heaven delights to play,

Making it dance with wanton majesty.

His arms and fingers long and
sinewy,

Betokening valour and excess of strength;

In every part proportioned like the man

30   Should make the world subdued to Tamburlaine.

COSROE

Well hast thou portrayed in thy
terms of life

The face and personage of a wondrous man.

Nature doth
strive with Fortune and his stars

To make him famous in accomplished worth,

And well his merits show him to be made

His fortune's master and the king of men,

That could persuade at such a sudden pinch,

With reasons of his valour and his life,

A thousand sworn and overmatching foes.

Then, when our powers in points of swords are joined

40   And closed in compass of the killing bullet,

Though
strait the
passage and the port be made

That leads to
palace of
my brother's life,

Proud is
his fortune if we pierce it not.

And when the princely Persian diadem

Shall overweigh his weary witless head

And fall like mellowed fruit, with shakes of death,

In fair Persia noble Tamburlaine

Shall be my regent and remain as king.

ORTYGIUS

In happy hour we have set the crown

50   Upon your kingly head, that seeks our honour

In joining with the man ordained by heaven

To further every action to the best.

CENEUS

He that with shepherds and a little spoil

Durst, in disdain of wrong and tyranny,

Defend his freedom 'gainst a monarchy,

What will he do supported by a king,

Leading a troop of gentlemen and lords,

And stuffed with treasure for his highest thoughts?

COSROE

60   And such shall wait on worthy Tamburlaine.

Our army will be forty thousand strong

When Tamburlaine and brave Theridamas

Have met us by the
river Araris,

And all conjoined to meet the witless king

That now is marching near to Parthia,

And with unwilling soldiers faintly armed,

To seek revenge on me and Tamburlaine –

To whom, sweet Menaphon, direct me straight.

MENAPHON

I will, my lord.

Exeunt
.

[
Enter
]
MYCETES
,
MEANDER
,
with other
LORDS
and
SOLDIERS
.