Read The Complete Plays Online
Authors: Christopher Marlowe
Techelles, women must be flatterà d.
But this is she with whom I am in love.
Enter a
SOLDIER
.
SOLDIER
News, news!
TAMBURLAINE
110Â Â Â 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.
120Â Â Â 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
130Â Â Â 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,
140Â Â Â 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
150Â Â Â 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,
160Â Â Â 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
170Â Â Â 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
180Â Â Â 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,
190Â Â Â 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
200Â Â Â 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
210Â Â Â 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
220Â Â Â Where kings shall crouch unto our conquering swords
And hosts of soldiers stand amazed at us,
When with their fearful tongues they shall confess,
âThese 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,
230Â Â Â 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
240Â Â Â 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
250Â Â Â 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 â
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,
10Â Â Â 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,
20Â Â Â 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
30Â Â Â 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
40Â Â Â 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
50Â Â Â 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
60Â Â Â 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 â
To whom, sweet Menaphon, direct me straight.
MENAPHON
I will, my lord.
Exeunt
.
[
Enter
]
MYCETES
,
MEANDER
,
with other
LORDS
and
SOLDIERS
.