The Complete Plays (83 page)

184      
stopped the tempest
: Some editors emend to
stooped the topmost.

187      
strewèd weeds
: Herbs and rushes scattered on the floor.

201      
no way but one
: The proverbial phrase (Tilley W148) implies, ‘nothing but disaster', but Tamburlaine (202) turns the phrase to his own account: If there can be only one outcome, let us be the winners.

218      
Furies… Cocytus
: See (N). Cf. 4.4.17–18.

226      
proper rooms
: Natural places.

234      
Cimmerian Styx
: An oath by the Styx, the principal river of Hades, bound even the gods.

236–7  
aye / Griping
: Constantly clawing: the ‘thoughts' are imagined as curled talons. The sentence lacks a main verb.

240      
fiend
: Infernal spirit to whom we might pray for help.

241      
infamous
: Stressed on the second syllable. Cf. lines 391   and 404.

244      
Erebus
: Usually, the darkness of Hell; here associated with the river Styx (see next note).

246      
ferryman
: Charon, who conveyed the souls of the dead across the river Styx to the underworld, which included the Elysian fields (247)

249  
build up nests
: Build false hopes.

256      
noisome parbreak
: Offensive vomit.

257      
standing
: Stagnant.

259      
engines
: I.e. eyes.

270–74  
Accursed Bajazéth… break
: Bajazeth would wish to condole with Zabina, but hunger gnaws at the source of his feelings.

277      
date
: I.e. life.

282      
expressless, banned inflictions
: The inexpressible, cursed things inflicted on.

300      
resolved… air
: Melted into transparent, bright air.
air
: O's
ay
is nonsense.

311      
wildfire
: Inflammable substance used as a weapon of war.

332      
charged
: (Here) levelled.

333      
check
: Stamp, paw.

337      
Whose
: The Virgins'.

347  
entrails
: Perhaps trisyllabic.

349      
Shake… grief
: Zenocrate calls for an earthquake to mark their deaths.

358      
in conduct
: Under the guidance.

365      
Of… pity
: ‘For the inevitable turn of Fortune's wheel and for considerations of pity' (Bevington and Rasmussen 1995).

368      
In
: As in the case of (or, on account of?).

380      
Turnus… Aeneas
: See (N). Aeneas killed his rival for the hand of Lavinia. Cf. lines 392–4.

387      
racked
: Tormented, pulled apart (by her divided loyalties).

390      
change I use
: My inconstancy.

393      
Prevented
: Deprived.

394      
fatally
: (i) By decree of fate, (ii) disastrously (to Turnus).

395–9  
So… my hope
: Similarly, to end my sorrows and reconcile my nation with my beloved, Tamburlaine must, through the irresistible power of the gods, grant honourable terms to the losers.

397      
by… powers
: Referring to ‘the gods' (392).

400–402  
Then… fair Arabia
: Zenocrate prays that the King of Arabia may be saved, as well as her father.

412      
for such love
: For one so unworthy of that love.

414      
Whose fortunes… griefs
: Whose good fortune has never overcome her sorrow.

424–5  
sweet accidents… merits
: Happy events such as you deserve which have befallen you.

438      
had ere this
: Would by now have.

449      
confirmed
: Established firmly, or was confirmed by.

454      
the Fatal Sisters
: The three Fates (N); see 1.2.174.

459–62  
swelling clouds… drinks
: Tamburlaine has killed so many people that their blood, drawn up by the sun, has fallen like a portentous rain on the earth.

466      
foughten fields
: Battle fields (an archaic poetic formula).

474      
of power to
: Able to.

487      
record
: Call to witness.

488      
find… time
: Wait no longer.

497      
her love
: Your love for her.

504      
work us rest
: Cause us to stop the work of conquest.

510–11  
the giants… Jove
: On Zeus' triumph over the giants, see 2.3.21 and 2.6.5–6.

512      
shadowing
: (i) Depicting, (ii) bearing.

514      
Latona's daughter
: Diana, whom Marlowe here seems to conflate with Minerva (Athena); she played a prominent role in the war of the gods against the giants.

528  
Alcides' post
: The door-post of the temple of Hercules, or the Pillars of Hercules, which marked the end of the known world.

TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT, PART TWO

PROLOGUE

8    
sad
: For O's
said.

ACT 1

Scene 1

2          
Placed by the issue
: Appointed by (or to a place close to) the offspring (his son Callapine).

6–10      
Now… a truce
: They have marched from Anatolia to the Danube, where Christian and Muslim worlds met.

17        
Guyron
: Marlowe seems to give the name of this town on the upper Euphrates, north-east of Aleppo, to a river.

20        
Besides
: Apparently hypermetrical (i.e. the line has six feet instead of the pentameter's five).

22        
Slavonians
: Slavs.

Almains, rutters
: German cavalry.

Muffs
: An abusive name for the Swiss or Germans.

24        
hazard that
: Endanger what.

25        SP
ORCANES
: Omitted in all early texts.

25        
shortest northern parallel
: The most northerly (and shortest) line of latitude.

26–8    
Vast Gruntland… Polypheme
: Greenland was legendarily populated by giants, here compared to the Cyclops of the
Odyssey.
See (N).

29        
cut the Arctic line
: Cross the Arctic Circle.

32        
champian mead
: Open plain.

33–41  
Danubius' stream… argosies
: Marlowe ‘sees the waters of the Danube sweeping from the river mouths in two strong currents, one racing across the Black Sea to Trebizond, the other swirling southward to the Bosporus, and so onward to the Hellespont and the Aegean. Both currents bear the slaughtered bodies of Christian soldiers, the one to bring proof of victory to the great Turkish town, the other to strike terror to the Italian merchants cruising round the Isles of Greece' (Seaton 1924:33).

42    
Europe… bull
: The continent is identified with Europa, abducted by Jupiter in the form of a bull.

55–6  
My realm… overthrown
: ‘Natolia' is larger than modern Anatolia, occupying most of Asia Minor.

59        
Fear not… Tamburlaine
: [They] do not frighten me, but great Tamburlaine does.

61        
Albanese
: Albanians.

62        
Sicilians
: O's
Cicilians
may be an error for Cilicians, from Anatolia.

63        
Sorians
: Syrians (in Part Two, Soria is treated as distinct from Egypt). Alternatively, the name may designate inhabitants of Zor, i.e. Tyre.

68        
oriental plage
: Eastern region.

73–5  
Even from… Archipelago
: All of Africa, from the northern Tropic of Cancer to Amazonia (near the southern Tropic of Capricorn in Marlowe's maps), and as far north as the islands of the Aegean archipelago.

81        
as the Romans used
: As was the custom of the Romans.

88        
the continent
: (Here) the ground.

90        
axletree of heaven
: See Part One, 4.2.50 Orcanes compares the force of his cannon to earthquakes which shake the globe on its axis.

92        
powdered shot… steel
: Gunshot and arrows.

93        
blink-eyed burghers
: Citizens shutting their eyes in fear, wincing.

94        
County Palatine
: Count enjoying territorial autonomy under the Holy Roman Emperor.

95        
Austric
: Austrian.

100      
princely fowl
: The eagle, emblem of the Holy Roman Empire.

122      
So prest are we
: We too are ready for action.

123      
stand not upon terms
: Does not insist on unreasonable conditions.

161      
chief
: Most.

163      
stay
: Await.

Scene
2

3          
the western world
: The Turkish Empire, from an oriental point of view. Orcanes's ambitions may also stretch to the rest of Europe.

12–18  
Not for… of this
: Almeda's jokey prose, with its puns on ‘move' and ‘run', perhaps gives a hint of the kind of comedy cut by the printer.

12        
move
: Urge.

20        
Darote's streams
: Ortelius's atlas shows a town of this name (pronounced with three syllables) in the Nile delta.

33    
Straits
: Straits of Gibraltar.

44        
cloth of arras
: Rich tapestry (originally manufactured in Arras, France).

48        
goest
: Take a walk.

50–52  
fair veil… Antipodes
: The veil of starlight, after the sun has set.

71        
haughty
: Lofty.

77        
Even straight
: Immediately.

Scene
3

23        
Water… in one
: The combination of the moist cold phlegmatic humour (associated with water) with the moist hot humour of blood (associated with air).

39        
Trotting the ring
: Riding around a circular enclosure for training horses.

41        
reined… curvet
: Raising the forelegs of a horse and exercising a leap with the back ones alone.

44        
Armour of proof
: Armour tested for strength.

46        
harmless
: Unharmed.

79        
superficies
: Surface (for O's
superfluities).

80        
purple
: (Blood-) red.

103      
channel
: Throat, or perhaps shoulder (channel-bone = collar-bone).

133–4  
From Azamor… unpeopled
: The people of North Africa (‘Barbary'), from Azimur in Morocco as far east as Tunis, have all been conscripted.

143      
infernal Jove
: Pluto.

144      
thee… these
: For O's
them… this.

152      
Makes me… joy
: Overjoys me at the thought of future delight.

165      
lavish
: Profligate spilling.

166      
his wingèd messenger
: Mercury.

169      
Thetis'
: I.e. the sea's (N).

170      
Boötes
: Bootes (N), a ploughman, drove oxen.

174–215  
My lord… th'inhabitants
: The journeys of Tamburlaine's henchmen are all derived from Ortelius. See (N).

176      
lain in leaguer
: Encamped for besieging.

182      
recreate
: Rest, spend time in recreation.

188      
John the Great
: Prester John, the legendary Christian priest-king who ruled Abyssinia.

189      
triple mitre
: Papal tiara.

192      
Amazonians
: Amazons.

193      
vouchsafed a league
: Granted an alliance.

194      
Zanzibar
: Not the island, but part of the mainland.

196  
Ethiopian sea
: (Apparently) the southern Atlantic.

198–201  
Therefore… to Cubar
: See (N). Techelles travelled up through west Africa.