The Complete Plays (29 page)

And vow to burn the villain's cruel heart.

SORIA

From Soria with seventy thousand strong,

Ta'en from
Aleppo
, Soldino, Tripoli,

And so unto my city of Damasco,

60   I march to meet and aid my neighbour kings,

All which will join against this Tamburlaine

And bring him captive to your highness' feet.

ORCANES

Our
battle
, then, in martial manner pitched,

According to our ancient use, shall bear

The figure of the semicircled moon,

Whose horns shall sprinkle through the tainted air

The poisoned brains of this proud Scythian.

CALLAPINE

Well then, my noble lords, for this my friend

That freed me from the bondage of my foe,

70   I think it requisite and honourable

To keep my promise and to make him king,

That is a gentleman, I know, at least.

ALMEDA

That's no matter, sir, for being a king,

For Tamburlaine came up of nothing.

JERUSALEM

Your majesty may choose some 'pointed time,

Performing all your promise to the full.

'Tis nought for your majesty to give a kingdom.

CALLAPINE

Then will I shortly keep my promise, Almeda.

ALMEDA

80   Why, I thank your majesty.

Exeunt.

[
Enter
]
TAMBURLAINE
with
USUMCASANE
,
and his three
SONS
[
CALYPHAS
,
AMYRAS
,
CELEBINUS
];
four
[
SOLDIERS
]
bearing the hearse of
ZENOCRATE
,
and the drums sounding a doleful march,
the town
burning
.

TAMBURLAINE

So, burn the turrets of this cursèd town.

Flame to the highest region of the air

And kindle heaps of
exhalations

That, being fiery meteors, may presage

Death and destruction to th'inhabitants;

Over my
zenith
hang a blazing star

That may endure till heaven be dissolved,

Fed with the fresh supply of earthly dregs,

Threat'ning a death and famine to this land!

10   Flying dragons, lightning, fearful thunderclaps,

Singe these fair plains, and make them seem as black

As is the island where the Furies mask

Compassed with Lethe, Styx, and Phlegethon,

Because my dear Zenocrate is dead!

CALYPHAS

This pillar
placed in memory of her,

Where in Arabian, Hebrew, Greek, is writ:

'This town, being burnt by Tamburlaine the Great,

Forbids the world to build it up again.'

AMYRAS

And here this mournful streamer shall be placed,

20   
Wrought
with the Persian and Egyptian arms

To signify she was a princess born

And wife unto the monarch of the East.

CELEBINUS

And here this table, as a register

Of all her virtues and perfections.

TAMBURLAINE

And here the picture of Zenocrate

To show her beauty which the world admired –

Sweet picture of divine Zenocrate

That, hanging here, will draw the gods from heaven

And cause
the stars
fixed in the southern arc,

Whose lovely faces never any viewed

30   That have not passed the centre's latitude,

As pilgrims travel to our hemisphere

Only to gaze upon Zenocrate.

Thou
shalt not beautify Larissa plains,

But keep within the circle of mine arms!

At every town and castle I besiege

Thou shalt be set upon my royal tent,

And when I meet an army in the field,

Those
looks will shed such influence in my camp

As if Bellona, goddess of the war,

40   Threw naked swords and sulphur balls of fire

Upon the heads of all our enemies.

And now, my lords, advance your spears again.

Sorrow no more, my sweet Casane, now.

Boys, leave to mourn. This town shall ever mourn,

Being burnt to cinders for your mother's death.

CALYPHAS

If I had wept a sea of tears for her,

It would not ease the sorrow I sustain.

AMYRAS

As is that town, so is my heart consumed

50   With grief and sorrow for my mother's death.

CELEBINUS

My mother's death hath mortified my mind,

And sorrow stops the passage of my speech.

TAMBURLAINE

But now, my boys, leave off, and list to me

That mean to teach you rudiments of war.

I'll have you learn to sleep upon the ground,

March in your armour thorough watery fens,

Sustain the scorching heat and freezing cold,

Hunger and
thirst
– right adjuncts of the war;

And after this to scale a castle wall,

Besiege a fort, to undermine a town,

60   And make whole cities
caper
in the air.

Then next
, the way to fortify your men,

In champian grounds what figure serves you best;

For which the quinque-angle form is meet,

Because
the corners
there may fall more flat

Whereas the fort may fittest be assailed,

And sharpest where th'assault is desperate.

The ditches must be deep, the counterscarps

Narrow and steep, the walls made high and broad,

70   The bulwarks and the rampires large and strong,

With cavalieros and thick counterforts,

And room within to lodge six thousand men.

It must have privy ditches, countermines,

And
secret issuings
to defend the ditch,

It must have high argins and
covered ways

To keep the bulwark fronts from battery,

And parapets to hide the musketeers,

Casemates to place the great artillery,

And store of
ordnance
, that from every flank

80   May
scour
the outward curtains of the fort,

Dismount
the cannon of the adverse part,

Murder the foe, and save the walls from breach.

When this is learned for service on the land,

By plain and easy demonstration

I'll teach you how to make the water
mount
,

That you may dry-foot march through lakes and pools,

Deep rivers, havens, creeks, and little seas,

And make a fortress in the raging waves,

Fenced with the concave of a monstrous rock,

90   Invincible by nature of the place.

When this is done, then are ye soldiers,

And worthy sons of Tamburlaine the Great.

CALYPHAS

My lord, but this is dangerous to be done.

We may be slain or wounded ere we learn.

TAMBURLAINE

Villain, art thou the son of Tamburlaine

And fear'st to die, or with a curtle-axe

To hew thy flesh and make a gaping wound?

Hast thou beheld a
peal of ordnance
strike

A ring
of pikes, mingled with shot and horse,

Whose shattered limbs, being tossed as high as heaven,

100   Hang in the air as thick as
sunny motes
,

And canst thou, coward, stand in fear of death?

Hast thou not seen my horsemen charge the foe,

Shot through the arms, cut overthwart the hands,

Dyeing their lances with their streaming blood,

And yet at night carouse within my tent,

Filling
their empty veins with airy wine

That, being concocted, turns to crimson blood,

And wilt thou shun the field for fear of wounds?

View me, thy father, that hath conquered kings

110   And with his host marched round about the earth

Quite void of scars and clear from any wound,

That by the wars lost not a dram of blood,

And see him lance his flesh to teach you all.

He cuts his arm
.

A wound is nothing, be it ne'er so deep;

Blood is the god of war's rich livery.

Now look I like a soldier, and this wound

As great a grace and majesty to me

As if a chair of gold enamellèd,

Enchased with diamonds, sapphires, rubies,

120  And fairest pearl of wealthy India,

Were mounted here under a canopy,

And I sat down, clothed with the massy robe

That late adorned
the Afric potentate

Whom I brought bound unto Damascus' walls.

Come, boys, and with your fingers
search
my wound

And in my blood wash all your hands at once,

While I sit smiling to behold the sight.

[
They probe his wound with their fingers
.]

Now, my boys, what think you of a wound?

CALYPHAS
I know not what I should think of it. Methinks 'tis a pitiful sight.

130
CELEBINUS
'Tis nothing. Give me a wound, father.

AMYRAS
And me another, my lord.

TAMBURLAINE
[
to
CELEBINUS
] Come, sirrah, give me your arm.

CELEBINUS
Here, father, cut it
bravely
as you did your own.

TAMBURLAINE

It shall suffice thou dar'st abide a wound.

My boy, thou shalt not lose a drop of blood

Before we meet the army of the Turk.

140  But then run desperate through the thickest throngs,

Dreadless of blows, of bloody wounds and death.

And let the burning of Larissa walls,

My speech of war, and this my wound you see,

Teach you, my boys, to bear courageous minds

Fit for the followers of great Tamburlaine.

Usumcasane, now come let us march

Towards Techelles and Theridamas,

That we have sent before to fire the towns,

The towers and cities of these hateful Turks,

150  And hunt that coward, faint-heart runaway,

With that accursed traitor Almeda,

Till fire and sword have found them
at a bay
.

USUMCASANE

I long to pierce his bowels with my sword,

That hath betrayed my gracious sovereign,

That curst and damnèd traitor Almeda.

TAMBURLAINE

Then let us see if coward Callapine

Dare levy arms against our
puissance
,

That we may tread upon his captive neck

And treble all his father's slaveries.

Exeunt
.

[
Enter
]
TECHELLES
,
THERIDAMAS
,
and their train
[SOLDIERS
and
PIONERS
].

THERIDAMAS

Thus have we marched northward from Tamburlaine

Unto the frontier point of Soria;

And this is
Balsera
, their chiefest
hold
,

Wherein is all the treasure of the land.

TECHELLES

Then let us bring our light artillery,

Minions, falc'nets, and sakers, to the trench,

Filling
the ditches with the walls' wide breach,

And enter in to seize upon the gold.

How say ye, soldiers, shall we not?

SOLDIERS

10   Yes, my lord, yes! Come, let's about it.

THERIDAMAS

But stay a while. Summon a parley,
drum
.

It may be they will yield it quietly,

Knowing two kings, the friends to Tamburlaine,

Stand at the walls with such a mighty power.

[
Drums
]
summon the battle
.

[
Enter
above
]
CAPTAIN
with his wife
[
OLYMPIA
]
and
SON
.

CAPTAIN

What require you, my masters?

THERIDAMAS

Captain, that thou yield up thy hold to us.

CAPTAIN

To you? Why, do you think me weary of it?

TECHELLES

Nay, captain, thou art weary of thy life

If thou withstand the friends of Tamburlaine.

THERIDAMAS

These pioners of Argier in Africa,

20   Even in the cannon's face shall raise a hill

Of earth and faggots higher than thy fort,

And over thy argins and covered ways

Shall play upon the bulwarks of thy hold

Volleys of ordnance till the breach be made

That with
his ruin
fills up all the trench;

And when we enter in, not heaven itself

Shall ransom thee, thy wife, and family.

TECHELLES

Captain, these Moors shall cut the leaden pipes

30   That bring fresh water to thy men and thee,

And lie in trench before thy castle walls,

That no supply of victual shall come in,

Nor
any
issue forth but they shall die.

And therefore, captain, yield it quietly.

CAPTAIN

Were you, that are the friends of Tamburlaine,

Brothers to holy Mahomet himself,

I would not yield it. Therefore do your worst.

Raise mounts, batter, entrench, and undermine,

Cut off the water, all convoys
that can
,

40   Yet I am resolute. And so, farewell,

[
Exeunt above
.]