Read The Complete Plays Online
Authors: Christopher Marlowe
And then depart we to our territories.
Exeunt
.
[
Enter
]
CALLAPINE
with
ALMEDA
,
his keeper
.
CALLAPINE
Sweet Almeda, pity the ruthful plight
Of Callapine, the son of Bajazeth,
Born to be monarch of
the western world
,
Yet here detained by cruel Tamburlaine.
ALMEDA
My lord, I pity it, and with my heart
Wish your release. But he whose wrath is death,
My sovereign lord, renownèd Tamburlaine,
Forbids you further liberty than this.
CALLAPINE
Ah, were I now but half so eloquent
To paint in words what I'll perform in deeds,
10Â Â Â I know thou wouldst depart from hence with me.
ALMEDA
Not for
all Afric. Therefore
move
me not.
CALLAPINE
Yet hear me speak, my gentle Almeda.
ALMEDA
No speech to that end, by your favour, sir.
CALLAPINE
By Cairo runs â
ALMEDA
No talk of running, I tell you, sir.
CALLAPINE
A little further, gentle Almeda.
ALMEDA
Well, sir, what of this?
CALLAPINE
By Cairo runs to Alexandria Bay
20Â Â Â
Darote's streams
, wherein at anchor lies
A Turkish galley of my royal fleet,
Waiting my coming to the river side,
Hoping by some means I shall be released,
Which, when I come aboard, will hoist up sail
And soon put forth into the Terrene Sea,
Where 'twixt the isles of Cyprus and of Crete
We quickly may in Turkish seas arrive.
Then shalt thou see a hundred kings and more,
Upon their knees, all bid me welcome home.
30Â Â Â Amongst so many crowns of burnished gold
Choose which thou wilt; all are at thy command.
A thousand galleys manned with Christian slaves
I freely give thee, which shall cut the
Straits
And bring armadoes from the coasts of Spain,
Fraughted with gold of rich America.
The Grecian virgins shall attend on thee,
Skilful in music and in amorous lays,
As fair as was Pygmalion's ivory girl,
Or lovely Io metamorphosèd.
40Â Â Â With naked negroes shall thy coach be drawn,
And as thou rid'st in triumph through the streets,
The pavement underneath thy chariot wheels
With Turkey carpets shall be coverèd,
And
cloth of arras
hung about the walls,
Fit objects for thy princely eye to pierce.
A hundred bassoes, clothed in crimson silk,
Shall ride before thee on Barbarian steeds,
And when thou
goest
, a golden canopy
Enchased with precious stones which shine as bright
As that
fair veil
that covers all the world,
50Â Â Â When Phoebus, leaping from his hemisphere,
Descendeth downward to th'Antipodes â
And more than this, for all I cannot tell.
ALMEDA
How far hence lies the galley, say you?
CALLAPINE
Sweet Almeda, scarce half a league from hence.
ALMEDA
But need we not be spied going aboard?
CALLAPINE
Betwixt the hollow hanging of a hill
And crooked bending of a craggy rock,
The sails wrapped up, the mast and tacklings down,
She lies so close that none can find her out.
60Â Â Â
ALMEDA
I like that well. But tell me, my lord, if I should let you
go, would you be as good as your word? Shall I be made a
king for my labour?
CALLAPINE
As I am Callapine the emperor,
And by the hand of Mahomet, I swear
Thou shalt be crowned a king and be my mate.
ALMEDA
Then here I swear, as I am Almeda,
Your keeper under Tamburlaine the Great â
For that's the style and title I have yet â
Although he sent a thousand armèd men
70Â Â Â To intercept this
haughty
enterprise,
Yet would I venture to conduct your grace
And die before I brought you back again.
CALLAPINE
Thanks, gentle Almeda. Then let us haste,
Lest time be past and, ling'ring, let us both.
ALMEDA
When you will, my lord. I am ready.
CALLAPINE
Even straight. And farewell, cursèd Tamburlaine!
Now go I to revenge my father's death.
Exeunt
.
[
Enter
]
TAMBURLAINE
with
ZENOCRATE
,
and his three sons
,
CALYPHAS
,
AMYRAS
,
and
CELEBINUS
,
with drums and trumpets
. [
A throne is brought on
.]
TAMBURLAINE
Now, bright Zenocrate, the world's fair eye,
Whose beams illuminate the lamps of heaven,
Whose cheerful looks do clear the cloudy air
And clothe it in a crystal livery,
Now rest thee here on fair Larissa plains,
Where Egypt and the Turkish empire parts,
Between thy sons that shall be emperors
And every one commander of a world.
ZENOCRATE
Sweet Tamburlaine, when wilt thou leave these arms
10Â Â Â And save thy sacred person free from scathe
And dangerous chances of the wrathful war?
TAMBURLAINE
When heaven shall cease to move on both the poles,
And when the ground whereon my soldiers march
Shall rise aloft and touch the hornèd moon,
And not before, my sweet Zenocrate.
Sit up and rest thee like a lovely queen.
So, now she sits in pomp and majesty,
When these my sons, more precious in mine eyes
Than all the wealthy kingdoms I subdued,
20Â Â Â Placed by her side, look on their mother's face.
But yet methinks their looks are amorous,
Not martial as the sons of Tamburlaine;
Water
and air, being symbolized in one,
Argue their want of courage and of wit;
Their hair as white as milk and soft as down,
Which should be like the quills of porcupines,
As black as jet, and hard as iron or steel,
Bewrays they are too dainty for the wars.
Their fingers made to quaver on a lute,
Their arms to hang about a lady's neck,
30Â Â Â Their legs to dance and caper in the air,
Would make me think them bastards, not my sons,
But that I know they issued from thy womb,
That never looked on man but Tamburlaine.
ZENOCRATE
My gracious lord, they have their mother's looks,
But when they list, their conquering father's heart.
This lovely boy, the youngest of the three,
Not long ago bestrid a Scythian steed,
Trotting the ring
and tilting at a glove,
Which when he tainted with his slender rod,
40Â Â Â He reined him straight and made him so
curvet
As I cried out for fear he should have fall'n.
TAMBURLAINE
[
to
CELEBINUS
]
Well done, my boy, thou shalt have shield and lance,
Armour of proof
, horse, helm, and curtle-axe,
And I will teach thee how to charge thy foe
And
harmless
run among the deadly pikes.
If thou wilt love the wars and follow me,
Thou shalt be made a king and reign with me,
Keeping in iron cages emperors.
If thou exceed thy elder brothers' worth
50Â Â Â And shine in complete virtue more than they,
Thou shalt be king before them, and thy seed
Shall issue crownèd from their mother's womb.
CELEBINUS
Yes, father, you shall see me, if I live,
Have under me as many kings as you
And march with such a multitude of men
As all the world shall tremble at their view.
TAMBURLAINE
These words assure me, boy, thou art my son.
When I am old and cannot manage arms,
60Â Â Â Be thou the scourge and terror of the world.
AMYRAS
Why may not I, my lord, as well as he,
Be termed the scourge and terror of the world?
TAMBURLAINE
Be all a scourge and terror to the world,
Or else you are not sons of Tamburlaine.
CALYPHAS
But while my brothers follow arms, my lord,
Let me accompany my gracious mother.
They are enough to conquer all the world,
And you have won enough for me to keep.
TAMBURLAINE
Bastardly boy, sprung from some coward's loins
70Â Â Â And not the issue of great Tamburlaine,
Of all the provinces I have subdued,
Thou shalt not have a foot, unless thou bear
A mind courageous and invincible.
For he shall wear the crown of Persia
Whose head hath deepest scars, whose breast most wounds,
Which, being wroth, sends lightning from his eyes,
And in the furrows of his frowning brows
Harbours revenge, war, death, and cruelty.
For in a field, whose
superficies
80Â Â Â Is covered with a liquid
purple
veil
And sprinkled with the brains of slaughtered men,
My royal chair of state shall be advanced,
And he that means to place himself therein
Must armèd wade up to the chin in blood.
ZENOCRATE
My lord, such speeches to our princely sons
Dismays their minds before they come to prove
The wounding troubles angry war affords.
CELEBINUS
No, madam, these are speeches fit for us.
For if his chair were in a sea of blood,
I would prepare a ship and sail to it
90Â Â Â Ere I would lose the title of a king.
AMYRAS
And I would strive to swim through pools of blood
Or make a bridge of murdered carcasses,
Whose arches should be framed with bones of Turks,
Ere I would lose the title of a king.
TAMBURLAINE
Well, lovely boys, you shall be emperors both,
Stretching your conquering arms from east to west.
[
To
CALYPHAS
]
And, sirrah, if you mean to wear a crown,
When we shall meet the Turkish deputy
And all his viceroys, snatch it from his head,
100Â Â Â And cleave his pericranion with thy sword.
CALYPHAS
If any man will hold him, I will strike,
And cleave him to the
channel
with my sword.
TAMBURLAINE
Hold him and cleave him, too, or I'll cleave thee,
For we will march against them presently.
Theridamas, Techelles, and Casane
Promised to meet me on Larissa plains
With hosts apiece against this Turkish crew,
For I have sworn by sacred Mahomet
To make it parcel of my empery.
110Â Â Â The trumpets sound, Zenocrate. They come.
Enter
THERIDAMAS
and his train, with drums and trumpets
.
Welcome, Theridamas, King of Argier!
THERIDAMAS
My lord, the great and mighty Tamburlaine,
Arch-monarch of the world, I offer here
My crown, myself, and all the power I have,
In all affection at thy kingly feet.
[
He presents his crown to
TAMBURLAINE
.]
TAMBURLAINE
Thanks, good Theridamas.
THERIDAMAS
Under my colours march ten thousand Greeks,
And of Argier and Afric's frontier towns
120Â Â Â Twice twenty thousand valiant men-at-arms,
All which have sworn to sack Natolia.
Five hundred brigantines are under sail,
Meet for your service on the sea, my lord,
That, launching from Argier to Tripoli,
Will quickly ride before Natolia
And batter down the castles on the shore.
TAMBURLAINE
Well said, Argier. Receive thy crown again.
[
He returns
THERIDAMAS
'
s
crown
.]
Enter
TECHELLES
and
USUMCASANE
together
.
Kings of Moroccus and of Fez, welcome.
USUMCASANE
[
presenting his crown to
TAMBURLAINE
]
Magnificent and peerless Tamburlaine,
130Â Â Â I and my neighbour King of Fez have brought,
To aid thee in this Turkish expedition,
A hundred thousand expert soldiers.
From Azamor
to Tunis near the sea
Is Barbary unpeopled for thy sake,
And all the men in armour under me,
Which with my crown I gladly offer thee.
TAMBURLAINE
[
returning
USUMCASANE
's
crown
]
Thanks, King of Moroccus. Take your crown again.
TECHELLES
[
presenting his crown to
TAMBURLAINE
]
And, mighty Tamburlaine, our earthly god,
Whose looks make this inferior world to quake,