13. "The Complete Plays," by Christopher Marlowe, pp. 187-240

Tamburlaine the Great, Part Two, Acts 3, 4 and 5 

_____

Callapine, having escaped with the help of Almeda, is crowned emperor of Turkey, the title his father once held. He vows to keep his promise and make Almeda a king, saying that he "is a gentleman, I know, at least." Almeda replies, "That's no matter, sir, for being a king, / For Tamburlaine came up of nothing." And speaking of Tamburlaine, Callapine is determined to get his revenge. 

Tamburlaine, meanwhile, is burning "the turrets of this cursèd town" where Zenocrate died and vowing to turn his sons into warriors, putting them through a rigorous training course. Calyphas protests, "My lord, but this is dangerous to be done. / We may be slain or wounded ere we learn," which of course enrages Tamburlaine so much that he cuts a gash in his own arm to demonstrate how little fear he has. "Now, my boys, what think you of a wound?" Calyphas regards it as "a pitiful sight," but Celebinus and Amyras beg him to give them one, too. Tamburlaine regards it as enough that they should volunteer, and declines, then urges them to set out on a campaign to hunt down Callapine and and "that accursèd traitor Almeda." 

Techelles and Theridamas are laying siege to Balsera, whose captain and his wife, Olympia, and son come out on the walls to hear their demands. Techelles and Theridamas make the usual threats, but the captain vows, "Were you, that are the friends of Tamburlaine, / Brothers to holy Mahomet himself, / I would not yield it." So the attack begins, and ends with the captain mortally wounded. When he dies, Olympia takes a knife and responds to her son's plea, "dispatch me, or I'll kill myself," by stabbing him. But Theridamas enters and stops her before she can kill herself. Admiring her bravery, he says he'll take her to Tamburlaine who "Will match thee with a viceroy or a king." She kneels to Theridamas, begging to be allowed to throw herself on the funeral pyre for her husband and son, but he replies, "Madam, I am so far in love with you / That you must go with us. No remedy." She reluctantly complies. 

A messenger comes to Callapine and Orcanes to say that Tamburlaine's army is near. He and his sons enter, and Usumcasane observes that "your presence makes them pale and wan." Tamburlaine says he'll spare their lives and make them slaves. Callapine is defiant, but Tamburlaine promises that he will make the conquered kings, "harnessed like my horses, draw my coach." Orcanes promises, "first thou shalt kneel to us / And humbly crave a pardon for thy life." Celebinus points out Almeda to Tamburlaine, who denounces his former jailer as "Villain, traitor, damnèd fugitive, / I'll make thee wish the earth had swallowed thee." Callapine retorts by making Almeda a king, but when he offers him the crown, Almeda turns to Tamburlaine to request, "Good my lord, let me take it." This annoys Callapine, but Tamburlaine tells Almeda to take the crown, and when Almeda does, Tamburlaine points out that now that he's a king he'll have to fight. Theridamas and Techelles enter, and points out Almeda to them: 

TAMBURLAINE 

See ye this rout, and know ye this same king?

THERIDAMAS 

Ay, my lord, he was Callapine's keeper. 

TAMBURLAINE Well, now you see he is a king, look to him, Theridamas, when we are fighting lest he hide his crown as the foolish King of Persia did.  

Before the battle, Amyras and Celebinus enter, ready to fight, but Calyphas is still asleep. When they try to wake him to get ready, Calyphas argues that Tamburlaine doesn't need any of them to fight, and that they "will be thought / More childish-valorous than manly-wise." Amyras warns him that their "father hates thy cowardice." Calyphas replies, 

I know, sir, what it is to kill a man. 

It works remorse of conscience in me. 

I take no pleasure to be murderous, 

Nor care for blood when wine will quench my thirst. 

The alarm sounds, and Amyras and Celebinus go off to battle, leaving Calyphas who observes, 

The bullets fly at random where they list, 
And, should I go and kill a thousand men, 
I were as soon rewarded with a shot, 
And sooner far than he that never fights. 
And, should I go and do nor harm nor good, 
I might have harm, which all the good I have, 
Joined with my father's crown, would never cure. 

So he stays and plays cards with Perdicas, agreeing that the winner "shall kiss the fairest of the Turks' concubines first, when my father hath conquered them."


Tamburlaine wins, of course, and enters with the conquered kings, including Orcanes. He praises Amyras and Celebinus for their valor, but denounces Calyphas as "coward -- villain, not my son, / But traitor to my name and majesty." He hauls Calyphas out of his tent, and although Theridamas, Techelles and Usumcasane kneel and beg Tamburlaine to pardon him, he stabs Calyphas. And then then he denounces the gods for giving him a son like Calyphas, 

Wherein was neither courage, strength, or wit, 
But folly, sloth, and damnèd idleness, 
Thou [i.e., Jupiter] hast procured a greater enemy 
Than he that darted mountains at thy head.

He orders his soldiers to 

Ransack the tents and the pavilions 
Of these proud Turks, and take their concubines. 
Make them bury this effeminate brat, 
For not a common soldier shall defile 
His manly fingers with so faint a boy.

And when Jerusalem, Trebizond, Orcanes and Soria denounce his cruelties, he vows to "bridle all your tongues / And bind them close with bits of burnished steel / Down to the channels of your hateful throats."


Olympia is looking for a way to commit suicide rather than yield to Theridamas, who enters and promises that she will "be stately queen of fair Argier." She tells him that she's not interested in hearing love talk: "No such discourse is pleasant in mine ears / But that where every period ends with death / And every line begins with death again." So when he tells her, "I'll use some other means to make you yield," she hits upon an idea. She promises to give him "An ointment which a cunning alchemist / Distillèd" that makes the wearer invulnerable: "Nor pistol, sword, nor lance can pierce your flesh." And to prove it she rubs some on her throat and says, "Now stab, my lord, and mark your weapon's point, / That will be blunted if the blow be great." He falls for it, and kills her, then spends some time blaming himself.

Tamburlaine makes his great entrance with the kings of Trebizond and Soria drawing his chariot. He lashes his whip and cries, "Holla, ye pampered jades of Asia!" Amyras asks for a chance to drive the chariot but Tamburlaine replies, "Thy youth forbids such ease, my kingly boy." Orcanes, who is among the other kings being led in triumph, calls on Pluto "to subdue / This proud contemner of thy dreadful power" and haul Tamburlaine off to hell. Theridamas, who seems to have overcome his grief at killing Olympia, tells Tamburlaine, "Your majesty must get some bits for these, / To bridle their contemptuous cursing tongues," and Techelles suggests just pulling their tongues out. Celebinus puts a bridle on Orcanes. Then they bring the concubines of the captured kings on and give them to the soldiers, who run off to have their way with them. Tamburlaine continues to boast: 

Thorough the streets with troops of conquered kings 
I'll ride in golden armour like the sun, 
And in my helm a triple plume shall spring, 
Spangled with diamonds dancing in the air, 
To note me emperor of the threefold world....
To Babylon, my lords, to Babylon! 

At Babylon, the Governor of the city enters, and listens to pleas to submit to Tamburlaine to save the city from destruction. He's having none of it, of course, and denounces them as "Villains, cowards, traitors to our state!" Theridamas and Techelles enter to warn the Governor to surrender, but he replies, "Assault and spare not. We will never yield." Of course, Tamburlaine's forces win, and Theridamas and Techelles bring to him "The sturdy governor of Babylon, / That made us all the labour for the town / And used such slender reck'ning of your majesty." When Tamburlaine orders him hanged in chains, the governor tries to bargain with him, revealing where he stashed the city's gold in exchange for his life. Tamburlaine sends some soldiers to get the gold and proceeds with the execution anyway. He also orders the kings of Trebizond and Soria hanged, and Orcanes and the king of Jerusalem harnessed to his chariot. When the governor is hanged in chains, he has the others shoot at him.

So, now he hangs like Baghdad's governor, 
Having as many bullets in his flesh 
As there be breaches in her battered wall. 
Go now and bind the burghers hand and foot, 
And cast them headlong in the city's lake. 

When Techelles asks what should be done with their wives and children, Tamburlaine orders them drowned too: "Leave not a Babylonian in the town." Then he tells Usumcasane,
Now, Casane, where's the Turkish Alcoran, 
And all the heaps of superstitious books 
Found in the temples of that Mahomet 
Whom I have thought a god? They shall be burnt....
In vain, I see, men worship Mahomet. 
My sword hath sent millions of Turks to hell, 
Slew all his priests, his kinsmen, and his friends, 
And yet I live untouched by Mahomet. 
It is a final act of hubris, for shortly after the burning of the books and the drowning of the citizens, he says, "But stay, I feel myself distempered suddenly." However, he makes an effort at recovering with his old bluster, "Sickness or death can never conquer me."  


Thinking that Tamburlaine and his army will be "faint and weary with the siege," Callapine and the king of Amasia decide that this is a good time to take them on. They call on Muhammad to aid them in their attempt to conquer Tamburlaine. 


Theridamas, Techelles, and Usumcasane enter to lament Tamburlaine's illness, and Tamburlaine himself enters in his chariot drawn by Orcanes and Jerusalem to defy the gods once again: 

What daring god torments my body thus 
And seeks to conquer mighty Tamburlaine? 
Shall sickness prove me now to be a man, 
That have been termed the terror of the world? ...
Come let us march against the powers of heaven 
And set black streamers in the firmament 
To signify the slaughter of the gods.

He falls back in weakness, but when he hears that Callapine is approaching with his army, he rallies and goes out to confront the enemy: "My looks shall make them fly.... In spite of Death I will go show my face." 


The stratagem works: "Thus are the villains, cowards, fled for fear, / Like summer's vapours vanished by the sun." And he calls for a map, to "see how much / Is left for me to conquer all the world." He outlines his plans but realizes he can't fulfill them: "And shall I die, and this unconquerèd?" He gives the map to his sons, telling them to finish the job, "For Tamburlaine, the scourge of God, must die."

12. "The Complete Plays," by Christopher Marlowe, pp. 157-186

Tamburlaine the Great, Part Two, Acts 1 and 2

_____

Yet another king, Orcanes, the king of Natolia, vows to do something about Tamburlaine. This time, the scheme is to join forces with a Christian leader. Gazellus, the viceroy of Byron, explains, 

'Tis requisite to parley for a peace 
With Sigismond the King of Hungary, 
And save our forces for the hot assaults 
Proud Tamburlaine intends Natolia.

Orcanes agrees that despite their considerable forces, which are "Enough to swallow forceless Sigismond," they don't have enough to defeat Tamburlaine, who "brings a world of people to the field." 


Sigismond enters with his retinue, and seems uncertain whether this meeting will result in a peace treaty or a battle, but Gazellus insists, "We came from Turkey to confirm a league, / And not to dare each other to the field." So Sigismond agrees to join forces against Tamburlaine, and swears by "Sweet Jesus Christ, I solemnly protest / And vow to keep this peace inviolable." And Orcanes similarly swears "By sacred Mahomet, the friend of God." And they go off to "banquet and carouse" together. 


Callapine, Bajezeth's son, enters with Almeda, his keeper, to complain about being held by Tamburlaine. Almeda is a little dim: When Callapine starts a sentence with "By Cairo runs --," he protests, "No talk of running, I tell you, sir." So Callapine bribes him by promising that if he helps him escape, "Amongst so many crowns of burnished gold / Choose which thou wilt." Almeda falls for it. 


Tamburlaine, Zenocrate, and their three sons enter, and Zenocrate pleads with her husband to "leave these arms / And save thy sacred person fee from scathe / And dangerous chances of the wrathful war." But he's having none of it, and moreover worries that his sons are not warlike enough, that "they are too dainty for the wars, / Their fingers made to quaver on a lute, / Their arms to hang about a lady's neck," and so on. Zenocrate assures him that "they have their mother's looks, / But when they list, their conquering father's heart." She singles out the youngest, Celebinus, for a recent feat of horsemanship. Tamburlaine commends him: 

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 
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 says he's up to the task, and his brother Amyras says he wants to be "the scourge and terror of the world" too, which is what Tamburlaine wants to hear. 

But Calyphas is willing to let his brothers "follow arms" while he accompanies his mother: "They are enough to conquer all the world, / And you have won enough for me to keep." Tamburlaine denounces him as "Bastardly boy, spring from some coward's loins / And not the issue of great Tamburlaine." He warns him that he'll be disinherited unless he learns to "armèd wade up to the chin in blood." Zenocrate worries that such talk will scare the boys, but Celebinus boasts that he would sail a ship through a sea of blood "Ere I would lose the title of a king," and Amyras vows to "swim through pools of blood / Or make a bridge of murdered carcasses" before he would lose such a title. Finally Calyphas volunteers that when he meets the Turkish deputy, "If any man will hold him, I will strike, / And cleave him to the channel with my sword." This isn't quite good enough for Tamburlaine: "Hold him and cleave him, too, or I'll cleave thee, / For we will march against them presently." 


Theridamas, Techelles and Usumcasane enter, and ritually present their crowns to Tamburlaine, who, after commending their valor, returns the crowns. Before setting off to battle, they "banquet and carouse." 


Meanwhile, on the other side, Sigismond is letting himself be persuaded to void the treaty with Orcanes. He protests at first that "This should be teachery and violence / Against the grace of our profession," but Baldwin, the lord of Bohemia, argues that they're not bound by an agreement with a Muslim: "such infidels, / In whom no faith nor true religion rests." Frederick, lord of Buda, says they shouldn't "lose the opportunity / That God hath given to venge our Christians' death / And scourge their foul blasphemous paganism." So Sigismond gives in. 


Orcanes and his retinue are getting ready to fight Tamburlaine when a messenger enters with the news that Sigismond has broken the treaty:

The treacherous army of the Christians, 
Taking advantage of your slender power, 
Comes marching on us and determines straight 
To bid us battle for our dearest lives.

Orcanes denounces them as "Traitors, villains" and shows the "solemn covenants we have both confirmed, / He by his Christ and I by Mahomet." 

Can there be such deceit in Christians, 
Or treason in the fleshly heart of man, 
Whose shape is figure of the highest God? 

And he burns the treaty and himself ask Christ to prove himself by helping the Muslims take revenge against "false Christians":

If thou wilt prove thyself a perfect God 
Worthy the worship of all faithful hearts, 
Be now revenged upon this traitor's soul....
If there be Christ, we shall have victory.

Apparently Christ agrees, because the battle takes place and Sigismond enters, fatally wounded, to say "God hath thundered vengeance from on high" and to die. Orcanes and the others enter in triumph, and though Gazellus calls it "but the fortune of the wars," Sigismond insists, "Yet in my thoughts shall Christ be honourèd, / Not doing Mahomet an injury." And they go off to "celebrae / Our happy conquest." 


Things aren't so happy for Tamburlaine now: Zenocrate is dying. He calls on the gods to receive her, repeating the plea "To entertain [welcome] divine Zenocrate," but when he threatens suicide if she dies, she pleads for him to live: 

For, should I but suspect your death by mine, 
The comfort of my future happiness 
And hope to meet your highness in the heavens, 
Turned to despair, would break my wretched breast, 
And fury would confound my present rest.

She dies, and he goes into a rant, "Raving, impatient, desperate, and mad," and vows "This cursèd town will I consume with fire / Because this place bereft me of my love."

11. "The Complete Plays," by Christopher Marlowe, pp. 137-153

Tamburlaine the Great, Part One, Act 5

_____

The Governor of Damascus, seeing Tambulaine's tents turn to black, "the last and cruell'st hue," sends four virgins with laurel branches out to plead for mercy. But Tamburlaine tells them it's too late, "when fury and incensèd hate / Flings slaughtering terror from my coal-black tents." Too bad for the virgins: Techelles reports that his horsemen "on Damascus' walls / Have hoisted up their slaughtered carcasses." Tamburlaine orders him to "put the rest to the sword," then stays to fret about how upset Zenocrate is.

But how unseemly is it for my sex, 
My discipline of arms and chivalry, 
My nature, and the terror of my name, 
To harbour thoughts effeminate and faint!

Techelles returns with word that the town has fallen to them, but that the Sultan and the king of Arabia are marching on them. Theridamas urges that the Sultan be spared "For fair Zenocrate that so laments his state," and Tamburlaine agrees. 


Meanwhile, Bajazeth has been brought on in his cage, and Zabina follows him. He rants for a while about what Tamburlaine has done to him: 

O life more loathsome to my vexèd thoughts
Than noisome parbreak of the Stygian snakes 
Which fills the nooks of hell with standing air, 
Infecting all the ghosts with cureless griefs!

And when he sends Zabina out to fetch a drink of water, he rants some more and then bashes his brains out on the bars of his cage. When Zabina sees what he has done, she has a little mad scene -- "Tamburlaine, Tamburlaine! Let the soldiers be buried. Hell, death, Tamburlaine, hell! Make ready my coach, my chair, my jewels. I come, I come, I come!" -- and bashes her own brains out. 


Zenocrate, fretting about what has happened to Damascus, enters and finds the bodies of Bajazeth and Zabina. Anippe says, "Ah, madam, this their slavery hath enforced, / And ruthless cruelty of Tamburlaine." And Zenocrate adds, "Blush, heaven, that gave them honour at their birth, / And let them die a death so barbarous!" 

Ah, Tamburlaine, my love, sweet Tamburlaine, 
That fight'st for sceptres and for slippery crowns, 
Behold the Turk and his great emperess! 
Thou that in conduct of thy happy stars, 
Sleep'st every night with conquest on thy brows, 
And yet wouldst shun the wavering turns of war, 
In fear and feeling of the like distress, 
Behold the Turk and his great emperess! 

A messenger enters to tell her that the Sultan and the king of Arabia are about to do battle, and she frets, "My father and my first betrothèd love / Must fight against my life and present love / ... With happy safety of my father's life / Send like defence of fair Arabia." But Arabia is not so lucky, and enters mortally wounded. Fortunately, he gets to see Zenocrate again before he dies. 


Then Tamburlaine enters with the Sultan, telling him that Zenocrate has successfully pleaded for his life. The Sultan accepts his fate: 

Mighty hath God and Mahomet made thy hand, 
Renownèd Tamburlaine, to whom all kings 
Of force must yield their crowns and emperies, 
And I am pleased with this my overthrow 
If, as beseems a person of thy state, 
Thou has with honour used Zenocrate.

Tamburlaine assures him that he has done so, and the Sultan yields "with thanks and protestations / Of endless honour to thee for her love." Tamburlaine crowns Zenocrate "queen of Persia / And all the kingdoms and dominions / That late the power of Tamburlaine subdued." He also orders that her "first betrothèd love, Arabia / Shall we with honor as beseems, entomb / With this great Turk and his fair emperess." And they all go off to see Tamburlaine and Zenocrate married. 

10. "The Complete Plays," by Christopher Marlowe, pp. 123-136

Tamburlaine the Great, Part One, Act 4

_____

Yet another potentate comes in to boast about how he's going to vanquish Tamburlaine. This time it's the Sultan  of Egypt, incensed that "The rogue of Volga holds Zenocrate, / The Sultan's daughter, for his concubine." Advised that Tamburlaine has been successful so far in his campaign and that his army has grown large, the Sultan proclaims, "Yet would the Sultan by his conquering power / So scatter and consume them in his rage / That not a man should live to rue their fall." The messenger bringing the news advises that the first day Tamburlaine arrives on the scene, he pitches white tents, "But when Aurora mounts the second time, / As red as scarlet is his furniture," and if the foe doesn't surrender, "Black are his colours, black pavilion, / His spear, his shield, his horse, his armour, plumes, / And jetty feathers menace death and hell." The Sultan is undeterred, however.

So Tamburlaine and his company enter in white, with Bajazeth in his cage cursing Tamburlaine every step of the way. Tamburlaine orders Bajazeth to "Fall prostrate on the low, disdainful earth / And be the footstool of great Tamburlaine, / That I may rise into my royal throne." Bajazeth is forced to comply. When Zabina protests this treatment of her husband, Tamburlaine tells Zenocrate to "look better to your slave," but Zenocrate points out that Zabina is really her maid's slave, and lets Anippe do the tongue-lashing. And Tamburlaine vows that "Not all the kings and emperors of the earth, / If they would lay their crowns before my feet, / Shall ransom him or take him from his cage." Theridamas says, "I doubt not but the governor will yield, / Offering Damascus to your majesty." Tamburlaine replies,

But if he stay until the bloody flag
Be once advanced on my vermilion tent,
He dies, and those that kept us out so long.
And when they see me march in black array,
With mournful streamers hanging down their heads,
Were in that city all the world contained,
Not one should 'scape, but perish by our swords.

They leave, and the Sultan enters to denounce "bloody Tamburlaine" some more. The king of Arabia asks if the Sultan has heard about "The overthrow of mighty Bajazeth." The Sultan has, and vows,

That Tamburlaine shall rue the day, the hour,
Wherein he wrought such ignominious wrong
Unto the hallowed person of a prince,
Or kept the fair Zenocrate so long
As concubine, I fear, to feed his lust. 

Arabia is hopeful -- "My mind presageth fortunate success" -- and the drums sound and they march off to encounter Tamburlaine.

Tamburlaine et al. are now decked out in scarlet and feasting, while teasing Bajazeth and Zabina with the food. Bajazeth takes the meat offered and trample it under foot, and pours the water they give him on the ground. Zenocrate, meanwhile, is upset to see Damascus under siege, and tries to persuade Tamburlaine to "raise your siege from fair Damascus' walls / And with my father take a friendly truce." Tamburlaine will only say that her father "shall be safe, / And all the friends of fair Zenocrate." Then he taunts Bajazeth some more by crowning Theridamas king of Argier, Techelles king of Fez, and Usumcasane king of Moroccus. Theridamas says that if they don't prove worthy of the honor, "Take them away again and make us slaves."

TAMBURLAINE

Well said, Theridamas! When holy Fates 

Shall 'stablish me in strong Egyptia, 

We mean to travel to th'Antarctic Pole, 

Conquering the people underneath our feet, 

And be renowned as never emperors were. 

Zenocrate, I will not crown thee yet, 

Until with greater honours I be graced.

9. "The Complete Plays," by Christopher Marlowe, pp. 107-122

Tamburlaine the Great, Part One, Act 3

_____

Bajazeth, the emperor of Turkey, has heard about Tamburlaine's imperial ambitions, and sends an emissary to "charge him to remain in Asia." Bajazeth is rather full of himself: When the king of Argier notes that "all flesh quakes at your magnificence," Bajazeth replies, "True, Argier, and tremble at my looks." Anyway, he's preoccupied with besieging the Greeks in Constantinople.

Zenocrate, meanwhile, has fallen hard for Tambulaine, to the dismay of Agydas. When she proclaims her intent to "live and die with Tamburlaine," he denounces "a man so vile and barbarous, / That holds you from your father in despite," causing gossip that she has become his concubine. "How can you fancy one that looks so fierce?" he asks. She replies,

As looks the sun through Nilus' flowing stream,
Or when the morning holds him in her arms,
So looks my lordly love, fair Tamburlaine;
His talk much sweeter than the Muses' song
They sung for honour 'gainst Pierides,
Or when Minerva did with Neptune strive;
And higher would I rear my estimate
Than Juno, sister to the highest god,
If I were matched with mighty Tamburlaine.

Tamburlaine, having overheard Agydas' opposition, sends Techelles with "a naked dagger." Agydas gets the hint and kills himself.

Tamburlaine has gotten Bajazeth's message, and dismisses it: "Turks are full of brags / And menace more than they can well perform.... / I that am termed the scourge and wrath of God, / The only fear and terror of the world, / Will first subdue the Turk and then enlarge / Those Christian captives which you keep as slaves."  When Bajazeth arrives, Tamburlaine greets him without deference.

BAJAZETH
Kings of Fez, Moroccus, and Argier,
He calls me Bajazeth, whom you call lord!
Note the presumption of this Scythian slave.
I tell thee, villain, those that lead my horse
Have to their names titles of dignity;
And dar'st thou bluntly call me Bajazeth?
TAMBURLAINE 
And know thou, Turk, that those which lead my horse
Shall lead thee captive thorough Africa;
And dar'st thou bluntly call me Tamburlaine? 

Bajazeth brings in his wife, Zabina, "to see their overthrow," so Tamburlaine counters by bringing in Zenocrate and telling her to "manage words with her as we will arms." The men go off to battle and the women sit there trading insults. Sure enough, Bajazeth loses and his "stout contributory kings" are killed. Over Zabina's objections, Zenocrate, with the help of Theridamas, takes the Turkish crown from her and crowns Tamburlaine emperor of Africa. Bajazeth is defiant: "Afric and Greece have garrisons enough / To make me sovereign of the earth again." But Tamburlaine assures him, "Those wallèd garrisons will I subdue, / And write myself great lord of Africa," though that's only the beginning: "I'll win the world at last."

8. "The Complete Plays," by Christopher Marlowe, pp. 90-106

Tamburlaine the Great, Part One, Act 2

_____

Cosroe has joined forces with Theridamas and "Valiant Tamburlaine, the man of fame, / The man that in the forehead of his fortune / Bears figures of renown and miracle." Menaphon, too, is taken with Tamburlaine:

Of statures tall, and straightly fashionèd,
Like his desire, lift upwards and divine;
So large of limbs, his joints so strongly knit,
Such breadth of shoulders 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,
Thirsting with sovereignty, with love of arms,
And in their smoothness amity and life
....
In every part proportioned like the man
Should make the world subdued to Tamburlaine. 

Cosroe is determined that "In fair Persia noble Tamburlaine / Shall be my regent and remain as king." Meanwhile, he notes, "the witless king / ... now is marching near to Parthia, / And with unwilling soldiers faintly armed, / To seek revenge on me and Tamburlaine."

And so he is. Mycetes proclaims, "my heart is swoll'n with wrath / On this same thievish villain Tamburlaine, / And of that false Cosroe, my traitorous brother." And Meander promises the troops that "He that can take or slaughter Tamburlaine / Shall rule the province of Albania. / Who brings that traitor's head, Theridamas', / Shall have a government in Media, / Beside the spoil of him and all his train." As for Cosroe, "His highness' pleasure is that he should live / And be reclaimed with princely lenity."

A spy enters with word that "the army of the Scythians ... far exceeds the king's," but Meander is sure that they're a disorganized rabble, and makes an allusion to the army that rose up when Cadmus sowed the dragon's teeth and slaughtered itself. This impresses Mycetes, who seems unfamiliar with the story, and comments, "'tis a pretty toy to be a poet. / Well, well, Meander, thou art deeply read, / And having thee I have a jewel sure." Meander goes on to plot to scatter gold on the battlefield and distract Tamburlaine's soldiers.

Meanwhile, Tamburlaine assures Cosroe that "fates and oracles of heaven have sworn / To royalize the deeds of Tamburlaine," and Theridamas tells him that Tamburlaine's "actions top his speech." Cosroe tells Tamburlaine that when he is "solely emperor of Asia," he'll reward Tamburlaine. And they go off to fight Mycetes' troops.

The battle takes place, and Mycetes enters, looking for a place to hide his crown and cursing "he that first invented war!" He's sure that if he's not wearing the crown nobody will recognize him, but Tamburlaine has pursued him and addresses him mockingly as "the witty king of Persia." Tamburlaine snatches the crown and there's a comic argument over it before Tamburlaine gives it back:

Here, take it for a while. I lend it thee
Till I may see thee hemmed with armèd men.
Then shalt thou see me pull it from thy head.
Thou art no match for mighty Tamburlaine. 

Mycetes is startled to realize who he's been quarreling with: "O gods, is this Tamburlaine the thief? / I marvel much he stole it not away." He runs off to the battle and isn't seen again.

The victors enter, and Tamburlaine gives Cosroe Mycetes' crown: "Think thee invested now as royally, / Even by the mighty hand of Tamburlaine." Cosroe gives the crown back to him, proclaiming, "Thee do I make my regent of Persia." And Meander kneels to Cosroe, vowing to serve him. Cosroe thanks him, and orders that word be sent to "neighbour kings / And let them know the Persian king is changed / From one that knew not what a king should do / To one that can command what 'longs thereto." He bids them all "To follow me to fair Persepolis. / Then wll we march to all those Indian mines / My witless brother to the Christians lost, / And ransom them with fame and usury," adding, "I long to sit upon my brother's throne." Menaphon assures Cosroe, "Your majesty shall shortly have your wish, / And ride in triumph through Persepolis."

That last sounds pretty good to Tamburlaine who, as soon as Cosroe and his followers have left, says to his men,

"And ride in triumph through Persepolis"!
Is it not brave to be a king, Techelles?
Usumcasane and Theridamas,
Is it not passing brave to be a king,
And ride in triumph through Persepolis? 

Techelles and Usumcasane agree that it is, and Theridamas goes even further:

A god is not so glorious as a king. 

I think the pleasure they enjoy in heaven 

Cannot compare with kingly joys in earth: 

To wear a crown enchased with pearl and gold, 

Whose virtues carry with it life and death; 

To ask, and have; command, and be obeyed; 

When looks breed love, with looks to gain the prize, 

Such power attractive shines in princes' eyes. 

But when Tamburlaine asks if Theridamas wants to be a king, he replies, "Nay, though I praise it, I can live without it." Tamburlaine then announces, "if I should desire the Persian crown / I could attain it with wondrous ease." And Theridamas agrees that their soldiers up to the task of helping him. Which sets Tamburlaine to thinking that there's no reason to stop there: "And if I prosper, all shall be as sure / As if the Turk, the Pope, Afric, and Greece / Came creeping to us with their crowns apace." So they agree to set off after Cosroe.

Cosroe is enraged by Tamburlaine's presumption, of course, and blusters out his defiance before he's defeated. Wounded in battle, he denounces "Barbarous and bloody Tamburlaine" and "Treacherous and false Theridamas." Tamburlaine, however, sees his ambition as perfectly natural:

Nature, that framed us of four elements
Warring within our breasts for regiment,
Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.
Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend
The wondrous architecture of the world
And measure every wand'ring planet's course,
Still climbing after knowledge infinite
And always moving as the restless spheres,
Wills us to wear ourselves and never rest
Until we reach the ripest fruit of all,
That perfect bliss and sole felicity,
The sweet fruition of an earthly crown. 

Cosroe denounces them as "The strangest men that ever nature made!" and dies cursing Theridamas and Tamburlaine. The latter takes the crown, proclaiming it "more surer on my head / Than if the gods had held a parliament / And all pronounced me King of Persia."

7. "The Complete Plays," by Christopher Marlowe, pp. 81-89

Tamburlaine the Great, Part One, Act 1, Scene 2

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Tamburlaine has captured Zenocrate, daughter of "The mighty Sultan of Egyptia," who was "travelling with these Median lords / To Memphis, from my uncle's country of Media." The other Medians include Magnetes, who protests that they have letters of passage and "rich presents from the puissant Chan," but Tamburlaine says that "these letters and commands / Are countermanded by a greater man," i.e., himself. Then he begins to flirt with Zenocrate, inquiring if she's betrothed. She says she is, and he boasts that he's a lord, though he was born a shepherd, and that anyone as beautiful as she is should "grace his bed that conquers Asia / And means to be a terror to the world." He takes off his shepherd's cloak and starts putting on armor.

Techelles and Usumcasane vow to follow Tamburlaine, expecting to be made kings in the bargain, but Zenocrate protests that "The gods, defenders of the innocent, / Will never prosper your intended drifts / That thus oppress poor friendless passengers." Agydas offers the treasure they're carrying as ransom, so that they can continue on their way to Syria, "Where her betrothèd, Lord Alcidamus, / Expects th'arrival of her highness' person," and Magnetes promises that they'll "report but well of Tamburlaine" along the way. But Tamburlaine knows what he wants:

Zenocrate, lovelier than the love of Jove,
Brighter than is the silver Rhodope,
Fairer than the whitest snow on Scythian hills,
Thy person is more worth to Tamburlaine
Than the possession of the Persian crown,
Which gracious stars have promised at my birth. 

A soldier enters to report that "A thousand Persian horsemen are at hand, / Sent from the king to overcome us all." Tamburlaine admits that the odds are against him, but Techelles and Usumcasane urge him to fight anyway. Tamburlaine decides they should talk to the Persians first, and orders his soldiers to lay out the gold bars they have seized from Zenocrate's retinue.

Theridamas and his men enter, and are surprised when they meet Tamburlaine, whom they thought a mere "Scythian shepherd":

His looks do menace heaven and dare the gods,
His fiery eyes are fixed upon the earth,
As if he now devised some stratagem,
Or meant to pierce Avernus' darksome vaults
And pull the triple-headed dog from hell. 

Tamburlaine takes Theridamas' measure and appeals to his pride, saying that he deserves "to have the leading of an host" instead of just a thousand men. "Forsake thy king, and do but join with me." He promises Theridamas "martial spoil / Of conquered kingdoms and of cities sacked" and that they will "reign as consuls of the earth."

Theridamas, who knows what a wuss Mycetes is, decides that this sounds like a good deal:

Won with thy words and conquered with thy looks,
I yield myself, my men, and horse to thee,
To be partaker of they good or ill
As long as life maintains Theridamas.

And having won that round, Tambulaine tells Zenocrate and her retinue, "If you will willingly remain with me / You shall have honours as your merits be -- / Or else you shall be forced with slavery." Agydas yields, but Zenocrate isn't happy about it.

6. "The Complete Plays," by Christopher Marlowe, pp. 71-81

Tamburlaine the Great, Part One, Act 1, Scene 1

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Mycetes, the king of Persia, and his brother, Cosroe, are at odds, largely because Cosroe thinks Mycetes is a dunce: "Unhappy Persia, ... / Now to be ruled and governed by a man / At whose birthday Cynthia with Saturn joined, / And Jove, the sun, and Mercury denied / To shed their influence in his fickle brain!" (The note tells us that Cynthia, i.e., the moon, is "changeable" and Saturn is dull, whereas Jupiter denotes greatness, the sun majesty and Mercury wisdom and eloquence.) Mycetes replies, "I perceive you think / I am not wise enough to be a king." Well, duh. But when he asks Meander if he can have Cosroe killed for what he said, Meander replies, "Not for so small a fault, my sovereign lord."

So Mycetes gives in and proceeds to fret about "that Tamburlaine, / That like a fox in midst of harvest time / Doth prey upon my flocks of passengers," i.e., the "merchants ... / Trading by land unto the Western isles," as Meander reiterates, noting that Theridamas has been "Charged with a thousand horse, to apprehend / And bring him captive to your highness' throne." And so Mycetes bids Theridamas, "Go frowning forth, but come thou smiling home, / As did Sir Paris with the Grecian dame." (Yet another Marlovian reference to Helen.)

When Mycetes tries to send Menaphon after Theridamas, however, Cosroe protests that Menaphon should be sent to rule over Assyria, "Which will revolt from Persian government / Unless they have a wiser king than you." Mycetes tells Meander to make a note of this latest slur from Cosroe, who says, "And add this to them, that all Asia / Lament to see the folly of their king," and follows it up with a sly joke about ass-kissing that seems to fly over Mycetes' head, although he loses his temper:

What, shall I call thee brother? No, a foe
Monster of nature, shame unto thy stock,
That dar'st presume thy sovereign for to mock.

And he exits with his retinue, leaving Cosroe and Meander alone. Cosroe, it seems, isn't bothered by his brother's anger because "The plot is laid by Persian noblemen / And captains of the Median garrisons / To crown me emperor of Asia." Whereupon a trumpet sounds and Menaphon announces, "Behold, my lord, Ortygius and the rest, / Bringing a crown to make you emperor." Cosroe says to them,

Well, since I see the state of Persia droop
And languish in my brother's government,
I willingly receive th'imperial crown
And vow to wear it for my country's good,
In spite of them shall malice my estate. 

And having been crowned by Ortygius, Cosroe goes off to join up with Theridamas and his army to complete his coup against Mycetes.