The Complete Plays (14 page)

ANNA

Before I came, Aeneas was aboard,

And, spying me, hoist up the sails amain;

But I cried out, ‘Aeneas, false Aeneas, stay!'

Then gan he wag his hand, which, yet held up,

230    Made me suppose he would have heard me speak.

Then gan they drive into the ocean,

Which when I viewed, I cried, ‘Aeneas, stay!

Dido, fair Dido wills Aeneas stay!'

Yet he, whose
heart's of adamant or
flint,

My tears nor plaints could mollify a whit.

Then carelessly I rent my hair for grief,

Which seen to all, though he beheld me not,

They gan to move him to redress my ruth,

And stay a while to hear what I could say;

240    But he, clapped under hatches, sailed away.

DIDO

O Anna, Anna, I will follow him!

ANNA

How can ye go when he hath all your fleet?

DIDO

I'll frame me wings of wax like Icarus,

And o'er his ships will soar unto the sun,

That they may melt and I fall in his arms;

Or else I'll make a prayer unto the waves

That I may swim to him like
Triton's niece.

O Anna, fetch
Arion's harp,

That I may tice a dolphin to the shore

250    And ride upon his back unto
my love
!

Look, sister, look, lovely Aeneas' ships!

See, see, the billows heave him up to heaven,

And now down falls the keels into the deep.

O sister, sister, take away the rocks,

They'll break his ships! O Proteus, Neptune, Jove,

Save, save Aeneas, Dido's liefest love!

Now is he come on shore, safe without hurt;

But see, Achates wills him put to sea,

And all the sailors merry-make for joy,

260    But he, rememb'ring me, shrinks back again.

See where he comes. Welcome, welcome, my love!

ANNA

Ah sister, leave these idle fantasies.

Sweet sister, cease; remember who you are.

DIDO

Dido I am, unless I be deceived,

And must I rave thus for a runagate?

Must I make ships for him to sail away?

Nothing can bear me to him but a ship,

And he hath all my fleet. What shall I do,

But die in fury of this oversight?

270    Ay, I must be the murderer of myself:

No, but I am not; yet I will be
straight.

Anna, be glad; now have I found a mean

To rid me from these thoughts of lunacy:

Not far from
hence

There is a woman famousèd for
arts,

Daughter unto the nymphs Hesperides,

Who willed me sacrifice his
ticing relics.

Go, Anna, bid my servants bring me fire.

Exit
ANNA
.

Enter
IARBAS
.

IARBAS

How long will Dido mourn a stranger's flight

That hath dishonoured her and Carthage both?

280    How long shall I with grief consume my days

And reap no guerdon for my truest love?

DIDO

Iarbas, talk not of Aeneas, let him go.

[
Enter
ATTENDANTS
with wood and torches, and exeunt
.]

Lay to thy hands and help me make a fire

That shall consume all that this stranger left;

For I intend a private sacrifice

To cure my mind that melts for unkind love.

IARBAS

But afterwards will Dido grant me love?

DIDO

Ay, ay, Iarbas, after this is done,

290        None in the world shall have my love but thou.

[
DIDO
and
IARBAS
build a fire
.]

So, leave me now, let none approach this place.

Exit
IARBAS
.

Now, Dido, with these relics burn thyself,

And make Aeneas famous through the world

For perjury and slaughter of a queen.

Here lie the sword that in the darksome cave

He drew and swore by to be true to me:

Thou shalt burn first, thy crime is worse than his.

Here lie the garment which I clothed him in

When first he came on shore: perish thou too.

300    These letters, lines, and perjured papers all

Shall burn to cinders in this precious flame.

And now, ye gods that guide the starry frame

And order all things at your high dispose,

Grant, though the traitors land in Italy,

They may be still tormented with unrest,

And from mine ashes let
a conqueror rise
,

That may revenge this treason to a queen

By ploughing up
his
countries with the sword!

Betwixt this land and that be never league;

310    
Litora litoribus
contraria, fluctibus undas

Imprecor; arma armis; pugnent ipsique nepotes
:

Live, false Aeneas! Truest Dido dies;

Sic, sic
iuvat ire sub umbras
.

[
Throws herself onto the fire
.]

Enter Anna
.

ANNA

O help, Iarbas
! Dido in these flames

Hath burnt herself! Ay me, unhappy me!

Enter
IARBAS
running
.

IARBAS

Cursèd Iarbas, die to expiate

The grief that
tires upon thine
inward soul!

Dido, I come to thee: ay me, Aeneas!

[
Kills himself
.]

ANNA

What can my tears or cries
prevail me now
?

Dido is dead, larbas slain, larbas, my dear love!

320    O sweet larbas, Anna's sole delight,

What fatal Destiny envies me thus

To see my sweet larbas slay himself?

But Anna now shall honour thee in death

And mix her blood with thine; this shall I do

That gods and men may pity this my death

And rue our ends, senseless of life or breath.

Now, sweet larbas, stay! I come to thee!

[
Kills herself
.]

[Dramatis Personae

THE PROLOGUE
MYCETES
,
King of Persia
COSROE
,
his brother
MEANDER
THERIDAMAS
ORTYGIUS
CENEUS
MENAPHON
TAMBURLAINE
ZENOCRATE
,
daughter to the Sultan of Egypt
TECHELLES
USUMCASANE
MAGNETES
AGYDAS
LORDS
SOLDIERS
A SPY
A MESSENGER
BAJAZETH
Emperor of Turkey
KING OF FEZ
KING OF MOROCCO
KING OF ARGIER
BASSOES
ANIPPE
,
maid to Zenocrate
ZABINA
,
wife to Bajazeth
EBEA
,
maid to Zahina
THE SULTAN OF EGYPT
CAPOLIN
,
an Egyptian
ALCIDAMAS
,
King of Arabia
GOVERNOR OF DAMASCUS
CITIZENS
FOUR VIRGINS
PHILEMUS
MOORS
ATTENDANTS
]

Gentlemen and courteous readers whosoever: I have here
published in print for your sakes, the two tragical discourses
of the Scythian shepherd Tamburlaine, that became so great
a conqueror and so mighty a monarch. My hope is, that they
will be now no less acceptable unto you to read after your
serious affairs and studies than they have been, lately, delightful
for many of you to see, when the same were showed in
London upon stages. I have purposely omitted and left out
some
fond and
frivolous jestures, digressing and, in my poor
opinion, far unmeet for the matter, which I thought might
10        seem more tedious unto the wise than any way else to be
regarded – though, haply, they have been of some vain conceited
fondlings greatly gaped at, what times they were
showed upon the stage in their
graced deformities
. Nevertheless,
now to be mixtured in print with such matter of worth,
it would prove a great disgrace to so honourable and stately
a history. Great folly were it in me to commend unto your
wisdoms, either the eloquence of the author that writ them,
or the worthiness of the matter itself; I therefore leave unto
your learned censures both the one and the other, and myself
20        the poor printer of them unto your most courteous and favourable
protection: which if you vouchsafe to accept, you
shall evermore bind me to employ what travail and service I
can to the advancing and pleasuring of your excellent
degree.

Yours, most humble at commandment,

R.J.

Printer.

[
Enter
]
the
PROLOGUE.

PROLOGUE

From
jigging veins of
rhyming
mother-wits

And
such conceits as
clownage keeps in pay,

We'll lead you to the stately tent of war,

Where you shall hear the Scythian Tamburlaine

5   Threat'ning the world with high astounding terms

And scourging kingdoms with his conquering sword.

View but his picture in this tragic
glass,

And then applaud his fortunes as you please.

[
Exit
.]

[
Enter
]
MYCETES
,
COSROE
,
MEANDER
,
THERIDAMAS
,
ORTYGIUS
,
CENEUS
, [
MENAPHON
,]
with others.

MYCETES

Brother Cosroe, I find myself aggrieved,

Yet insufficient to express the same,

For it requires a great and thund'ring speech.

Good brother, tell the cause unto my lords,

I know you have a better wit than I.

COSROE

Unhappy Persia, that in former age

Hast been the seat of mighty conquerors

That in their prowess and their policies

Have triumphed over Afric, and the bounds

Of Europe where the sun dares scarce appear

10   For
freezing
meteors
and congealèd cold –

Now to be ruled and governed by a man

At whose birthday Cynthia
with Saturn joined,

And Jove, the sun, and Mercury denied

To shed
their influence
in his fickle brain!

Now Turks and Tartars shake their swords at thee,

Meaning to mangle all thy provinces.

MYCETES

Brother, I see your meaning well enough,

And
through your planets I
perceive you think

I am not wise enough to be a king.

20   But I refer me to my noblemen

That know my wit and can be witnesses.

I might command you to be slain for this,

Meander, might I not?

MEANDER

Not for so small a fault, my sovereign lord.

MYCETES

I mean it not, but yet I know I might.

Yet live, yea, live, Mycetes wills it so.

Meander, thou my faithful counsellor,

Declare the cause of my conceivèd grief,

30   Which is, God knows, about that Tamburlaine,

That like a fox in midst of harvest time

Doth prey upon my flocks of passengers,

And, as I hear, doth mean to
pull my plumes.

Therefore 'tis good and meet for to be wise.

MEANDER

Oft have I heard your majesty complain

Of Tamburlaine, that sturdy
Scythian thief,

That robs your merchants of Persepolis

Trading by land unto the Western Isles,

And in your
confines with
his lawless train

40   Daily commits incivil outrages,

Hoping, misled by
dreaming prophecies,

To reign in Asia and with barbarous arms

To make himself the monarch of the East.

But ere he march in Asia or display

His
vagrant ensign in
the Persian fields,

Your grace hath taken order by Theridamas,

Charged with a thousand horse, to apprehend

And bring him captive to your highness' throne.

MYCETES

Full true thou speak'st, and like thyself, my lord,

50   Whom I may term a
Damon for
thy love.

Therefore 'tis best, if so it like you all,

To send my thousand horse incontinent

To apprehend that paltry Scythian.

How like you this, my honourable lords?

Is it not a kingly resolution?

COSROE

It cannot choose, because it comes from you.

MYCETES

Then hear thy charge, valiant Theridamas,

The chiefest captain of Mycetes' host,

The hope of Persia, and the very legs

Whereon our state doth lean, as on a staff

That holds us up and foils our neighbour foes:

Thou shalt be leader of this thousand horse,

Whose foaming
gall with
rage and high disdain

Have sworn the death of wicked Tamburlaine.

Go frowning forth, but come thou smiling home,

As did Sir Paris with
the Grecian dame.