Tamburlaine the Great — Part 2

Kings of Morocco 47 and of Fez, welcome.

USUMCASANE.  Magnificent and peerless Tamburlaine, 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.  Thanks, king of Morocco:  take your crown again. TECHELLES.  And, mighty Tamburlaine, our earthly god, Whose looks make this inferior world to quake, I here present thee with the crown of Fez, And with an host of Moors train'd to the war, 48     Whose coal-black faces make their foes retire, And quake for fear, as if infernal 49 Jove, Meaning to aid thee 50 in these 51 Turkish arms, Should pierce the black circumference of hell, With ugly Furies bearing fiery flags, And millions of his strong 52 tormenting spirits: ]From strong Tesella unto Biledull All Barbary is unpeopled for thy sake. TAMBURLAINE.  Thanks, king of Fez:  take here thy crown again. Your presence, loving friends and fellow-kings, Makes me to surfeit in conceiving joy: If all the crystal gates of Jove's high court Were open'd wide, and I might enter in To see the state and majesty of heaven, It could not more delight me than your sight. Now will we banquet on these plains a while, And after march to Turkey with our camp, In number more than are the drops that fall When Boreas rents a thousand swelling clouds; And proud Orcanes of Natolia With all his viceroys shall be so afraid, That, though the stones, as at Deucalion's flood, Were turn'd to men, he should be overcome. Such lavish will I make of Turkish blood, That Jove shall send his winged messenger To bid me sheathe my sword and leave the field; The sun, unable to sustain the sight, Shall hide his head in Thetis' watery lap, And leave his steeds to fair Bootes' 53 charge; For half the world shall perish in this fight. But now, my friends, let me examine ye; How have ye spent your absent time from me? USUMCASANE.  My lord, our men of Barbary have march'd Four hundred miles with armour on their backs, And lain in leaguer 54 fifteen months and more; For, since we left you at the Soldan's court, We have subdu'd the southern Guallatia, And all the land unto the coast of Spain; We kept the narrow Strait of Jubalter, 55     And made Canaria call us kings and lords: Yet never did they recreate themselves, Or cease one day from war and hot alarms; And therefore let them rest a while, my lord. TAMBURLAINE.  They shall, Casane, and 'tis time, i'faith. TECHELLES.  And I have march'd along the river Nile To Machda, where the mighty Christian priest, Call'd John the Great, 56 sits in a milk-white robe, Whose triple mitre I did take by force, And made him swear obedience to my crown. ]From thence unto Cazates did I march, Where Amazonians met me in the field, With whom, being women, I vouchsaf'd a league, And with my power did march to Zanzibar, The western part of Afric, where I view'd The Ethiopian sea, rivers and lakes, But neither man nor child in all the land: Therefore I took my course to Manico, Where, 57 unresisted, I remov'd my camp; And, by the coast of Byather, 58 at last I came to Cubar, where the negroes dwell, And, conquering that, made haste to Nubia. There, having sack'd Borno, the kingly seat, I took the king and led him bound in chains Unto Damascus, 59 where I stay'd before. TAMBURLAINE.  Well done, Techelles!—What saith Theridamas? THERIDAMAS.  I left the confines and the bounds of Afric, And made 60 a voyage into Europe, Where, by the river Tyras, I subdu'd Stoka, Podolia, and Codemia; Then cross'd the sea and came to Oblia, And Nigra Silva, where the devils dance, Which, in despite of them, I set on fire. ]From thence I cross'd the gulf call'd by the name Mare Majore of the inhabitants. Yet shall my soldiers make no period Until Natolia kneel before your feet. TAMBURLAINE.  Then will we triumph, banquet and carouse; Cooks shall have pensions to provide us cates, And glut us with the dainties of the world; Lachryma Christi and Calabrian wines Shall common soldiers drink in quaffing bowls, Ay, liquid gold, when we have conquer'd him, 61     Mingled with coral and with orient 62 pearl. Come, let us banquet and carouse the whiles. [Exeunt.]

ACT II

SCENE I

Enter SIGISMUND, FREDERICK, and BALDWIN, with their train.

SIGISMUND.  Now say, my lords of Buda and Bohemia, What motion is it that inflames your thoughts, And stirs your valours to such sudden arms? FREDERICK.  Your majesty remembers, I am sure, What cruel slaughter of our Christian bloods These heathenish Turks and pagans lately made Betwixt the city Zula and Danubius; How through the midst of Varna and Bulgaria, And almost to the very walls of Rome, They have, not long since, massacred our camp. It resteth now, then, that your majesty Take all advantages of time and power, And work revenge upon these infidels. Your highness knows, for Tamburlaine's repair, That strikes a terror to all Turkish hearts, Natolia hath dismiss'd the greatest part Of all his army, pitch'd against our power Betwixt Cutheia and Orminius' mount, And sent them marching up to Belgasar, Acantha, Antioch, and Caesarea, To aid the kings of Soria 63 and Jerusalem. Now, then, my lord, advantage take thereof, 64     And issue suddenly upon the rest; That, in the fortune of their overthrow, We may discourage all the pagan troop That dare attempt to war with Christians. SIGISMUND.  But calls not, then, your grace to memory The league we lately made with King Orcanes, Confirm'd by oath and articles of peace, And calling Christ for record of our truths? This should be treachery and violence Against the grace of our profession. BALDWIN.  No whit, my lord; for with such infidels, In whom no faith nor true religion rests, We are not bound to those accomplishments The holy laws of Christendom enjoin; But, as the faith which they profanely plight Is not by necessary policy To be esteem'd assurance for ourselves, So that we vow 65 to them should not infringe Our liberty of arms and victory. SIGISMUND.  Though I confess the oaths they undertake Breed little strength to our security, Yet those infirmities that thus defame Their faiths, 66 their honours, and religion, 67     Should not give us presumption to the like. Our faiths are sound, and must be consummate, 68     Religious, righteous, and inviolate. FREDERICK.  Assure your grace, 'tis superstition To stand so strictly on dispensive faith; And, should we lose the opportunity That God hath given to venge our Christians' death, And scourge their foul blasphemous paganism, As fell to Saul, to Balaam, and the rest, That would not kill and curse at God's command, So surely will the vengeance of the Highest, And jealous anger of his fearful arm, Be pour'd with rigour on our sinful heads, If we neglect this 69 offer'd victory. SIGISMUND.  Then arm, my lords, and issue suddenly, Giving commandment to our general host, With expedition to assail the pagan, And take the victory our God hath given. [Exeunt.]

SCENE II

Enter ORCANES, GAZELLUS, and URIBASSA, with their train.

ORCANES.  Gazellus, Uribassa, and the rest, Now will we march from proud Orminius' mount To fair Natolia, where our neighbour kings Expect our power and our royal presence, T' encounter with the cruel Tamburlaine, That nigh Larissa sways a mighty host, And with the thunder of his martial 70 tools Makes earthquakes in the hearts of men and heaven. GAZELLUS.  And now come we to make his sinews shake With greater power than erst his pride hath felt. An hundred kings, by scores, will bid him arms, And hundred thousands subjects to each score: Which, if a shower of wounding thunderbolts Should break out of the bowels of the clouds, And fall as thick as hail upon our heads, In partial aid of that proud Scythian, Yet should our courages and steeled crests, And numbers, more than infinite, of men,

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