part of the area north of the Black

part of the area north of the Black
Sea, of Asia (apart from Natolia)
in a still more doubtful control of
the Levant, the Persian kingdom
and its adjuncts, and a territory
with vague boundaries stretching
back towards India.
29. Or . . . Gri^cia] This line
apparently lacks a stressed syllable
after ' colours ', or an unstressed
118 THE FIRST PART OF [act m
Lest he incur the fury of my wrath. 30
Tell him I am content to take a truce,
Because I hear he bears a valiant mind ;
But if, presuming on his silly power.
He be so mad to manage arms with me.
Then stay thou with him, say I bid thee so.
And if, before the sun have measured heaven
With triple circuit, thou regreet us not.
We mean to take his morning's next arise
For messenger he will not be reclaim'd.
And mean to fetch thee in despite of him. 40
Bass. Most great and puissant monarch of the earth.
Your basso will accomplish your behest,
And shew your pleasure to the Persian,
As fits the legate of the stately Turk. [Exit Bass.
Arg. They say he is the king of Persia ;
But, if he dare attempt to stir your siege,
'Twere requisite he should be ten times more,
For all flesh quakes at your magnificence.
Baj. True, Argier, and tremble at my looks.
Mor. The spring is hindered by your smothering host ; 50
For neither rain can fall upon the earth.
Nor sun reflex his virtuous beams thereon,
The ground is mantled with such multitudes.
Baj. All this is true as holy Mahomet ;
And all the trees are blasted with our breaths.
Fez. What thinks your greatness best to be achieved
In pursuit of the city's overthrow ?
36. heaven] the heaven O3 O4.
after 'in'. Cunningham suggested 50-5. The spying . . . breaths]
reading ' colours forth ', Elze ' into ' For the hyperboles indulged in by
for ' in 'and Wagner ' over 'for ' in ', Bajazet and his followers we may
33, silly] inexpert, untrained, as compare the fabulous accounts of
in I. ii. 47. the armies of Xerxes with which
49. tremble] the reading of O1-4. Marlowe has already shown himself
Dyce and many editors after him familiar. Cf. II. iii. 15 and 16
read, more grammatically, ' trem- and notes,
bles '.
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 119
Baj. I will the captive pioners of Argier
Cut off the water that by leaden pipes
Runs to the city from the mountain Carnon ; 60
Two thousand horse shall forage up and down,
That no relief or succour come by land,
And all the sea my galleys countermand.
Then shall our footmen lie within the trench.
And with their cannons, mouth'd like Orcus' gulf.
Batter the walls, and we will enter in ;
And thus the Grecians shall be conquered. [Exeunt.
SCENE II
Agydas, Zenocrate, Anippe, with others.
Agyd. Madam Zenocrate, may I presume
To know the cause of these unquiet fits
That work such trouble to your wonted rest ?
Tis more than pity such a heavenly face
Should by heart's sorrow wax so wan and pale.
Scene ii.
I. Prefix Agyd.] Rob. etc. om. O^-i-
58-67. / will . . . conquered] cites S. Finche (1596-7), ' The inner
Timur, in his operations against trenches which doth countermaunde
walled cities, is generally described those other.'
(by those historians capable of 65. Orcus'] one of several names
appreciating his siege methods) by which the Roman poets de-
as setting sappers to work upon the scribe alike Pluto, the god of the
walls under cover of a barrage of underworld (equivalent to the
bow-shot which prevented the Greek Hades) and the underworld
besieged from interfering with itself ; the name Orcus probably re-
their operations, pioners] An ad- f erred originally to the place of con-
vance-guard of trench-diggers, etc. finement. ' Orcus' gulf ' is thus, to
Cf. Moryson, Itin. ii. 115, ' Our Marlowe, the mouth of hell,
pioners had been busied in forti-
fying and building a new Fort.' ^^^ ^^^- ^^^^^ **•
60. Carnon] Miss Seaton (R.E.S.) Agydas] has no prototype in
points out that the Mountain Car- any of the sources which Marlowe
non, which does not appear to be used, and is an addition, though
in any map, may be ' a confusion the only one that reproduces a
of the famous aqueduct of [Con- stock or conventional type, as
stantinople] with its equally fa- Mr. L. Spense points out. (See
mous Golden Horn, seeing that The Influence of Marlowe's Sources
Carnon represents adequately the on Tamburlaine. I., Mod. Phil,
Turkish for horn ' (p. 393). XXIV.)
63. countermand] control. N.E.D.
V
120 THE FIRST PART OF [actiii
When your offensive rape by Tamburlaine
(Which of your whole displeasures should be most)
Hath seem'd to be digested long ago.
Zen. Although it be digested long ago,
As his exceeding favours have deserv'd, lo
And might content the Queen of Heaven, as well
As it hath chang'd my first conceived disdain ;
Yet since a farther passion feeds my thoughts
With ceaseless and disconsolate conceits,
.^ Which dyes my looks so lifeless as they are,
And might, if my extremes had full events,
Make me the ghastly counterfeit of death.
Agyd. Eternal heaven sooner be dissolv'd.
And all that pierceth Phoebe's silver eye.
Before such hap fall to Zenocrate ! 20
Zen. Ah, life and soul still hover in his breast.
And leave my body senseless as the earth,
Or else unite you to his life and soul,
14. ceaseless] carelesse O4. 19. Phoebe's'] Phcebus O4. 21. his] the O4.
23. you] me O3 O4.
6. rape] snatching away, seizure. i^-i^j. Yetsince . . . ofdeath]Zeno-
9-10. Although . . . deserv'd] This crate's meaning is, I take it : ' Yet
is the first intimation the audience since then a further passion leads
has had of the change in Zeno- me to ceaseless and comfortless
crate's feeUngs towards Tambur- thoughts, which cause the hfeless
laine. The figure of Zenocrate is looks you remark in me and might
substantially an addition of Mar- if the worst extremity came to pass,
lowe's and the story of her relations make me the very picture of death
with Tamburlaine is skilfully inter- itself.' ' Conceit ', in Elizabethan
woven with that of his rising career, English had many meanings,
serving both to indicate the passage ' Fancy ' perhaps comes nearest to
of time and to give variety. But the sense in this line. A ' counter-
Marlowe is not yet experienced feit ' was normally a picture, hence,
enough to be able to reveal this the perfect semblance or image of
relationship by brief passages a thing.
mingled with other parts of the 19. P/^^fce's] Dyce and some sub-
action, as he does the relations of sequent editors, following O4, read
Mortimer and Isabella in £afway^//. Phoebus. But the Elizabethans,
He chooses instead the more no more than the moderns, associ-
obvious and primitive convention ated silver with the sun. The
of a dialogue between Zenocrate epithet has been the prerogative
and her confidant. of the moon in many literatures.
II. the Queen of Heaven] Juno, of 23. you] Zenocrate is invoking her
Roman mythology. own soul, begging it to remain
sen] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 121
That I may live and die with Tamburlaine !
Enter Tamburlaine, with Techelles, and others.
Agyd. With Tamburlaine ! Ah, fair Zenocrate,
Let not a man so vile and barbarous.
That holds you from your father in despite,
And keeps you from the honours of a queen,
Being supposed his worthless concubine.
Be honoured with your love but for necessity ! 30
So now the mighty Soldan hears of you.
Your highness needs not doubt but in short time
He will, with Tamburlaine 's destruction.
Redeem you from this deadly servitude.
Zen. Leave to wound me with these words.
And speak of Tamburlaine as he deserves.
The entertainment we have had of him
Is far from villany or servitude.
And might in noble minds be counted princely.
Agyd. How can you fancy one that looks so fierce, 40
Only disposed to martial stratagems ?
Who, when he shall embrace you in his arms.
Will tell how many thousand men he slew ;
And, when you look for amorous discourse.
Will rattle forth his facts of war and blood.
Too harsh a subject for your dainty ears.
Zen. As looks the sun through Nilus' flowing stream,
centred in Tamburlaine, even the context which connotation
though by doing so it leaves her Marlowe has in mind,
lifeless in its absence. Better still, 40. fancy] in its earlier meaning
she adds, and a solution of the con- often had a stronger sense than the
flict, would be a complete union modern somewhat debased phrase,
with his life and soul. The N.E.D. compares Shakespeare
35. Dyce and most subsequent {Twelfth Night, 11. v. 29), ' Should
editors supply the name ' Agydas ' shee fancie, it should bee one of
which in the octavos has probably my complection ' where, as in
dropped out at the beginning of the Marlowe's line, the phrase has the
line. force of ' fall in love with '.
38. villany'] has here either the 45. facts] here in the original
sense of discourtesy or the more sense of deeds, feats. Compare
emphatic sense of dishonour, in- Macbeth, iii. vi. 10. ' Damned
jury. It is not easy to judge from fact I '
122 THE FIRST PART OF [actiii
Or when the Morning holds him in her arms,
So looks my lordly love, fair Tamburlaine ;
His talk much sweeter than the Muses' song 50
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.
Agyd. Yet be not so inconstant in your love,
But let the young Arabian live in hope.
After your rescue to enjoy his choice.
You see, though first the king of Persia,
Being a shepherd, seem'd to love you much, 60
Now, in his majesty, he leaves those looks.
Those words of favour, and those comfortings,
And gives no more than common courtesies.
Zen. Thence rise the tears that so distain my cheeks.
Fearing his love through my un worthiness.
Tamburlaine goes to her, and takes her away lovingly
by the hand, looking wrathfully on Agydas, and says
nothing. Exeunt all except Agydas.
Agyd. Betrayed by fortune and suspicious love,
Threatened with frowning wrath and jealousy,
Surpris'd with fear of hideous revenge,
I stand aghast ; but most astonied
To see his choler shut in secret thoughts, 70
50. much] more O4. 58. enjoy'] eioy O^ inioy O^O^^. 65. S.T>. Exeunt
. . . Agydas] Add. Dyce. 68. of]and02-
50-1. the Muses' song . . . Pier- 65. Fearing his love] Fearing for
ides] The nine daughters of Pierus, his love ; fearing lest it should fail,
king of Emathia, contested with through my unworthiness.
the Muses and were transformed 70-87. To see his choler . . . her
into birds after their defeat. This overthrow] This picture of the
story, like that referred to in the wrath of Tamburlaine and of the
following lines, the contest of terror it struck into its victim is
Athena and Poseidon for the generally reminiscent of the episode
government of Athens, probably described, by Mexia, Perondinus
reached Marlowe through Ovid's and three or four other historians,
account [Metam., v. 302 seq.)^ qi the merchant of Genoa who
sc.ii] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 123
And wrapt in silence of his angry soul.
Upon his brows was pour t rayed ugly death,
And in his eyes the fury of his heart.
That shine as comets, menacing revenge.
And casts a pale complexion on his cheeks.
As when the seaman sees the Hyades
Gather an army of Cimmerian clouds,
(Auster and Aquilon with winged steeds.
All sweating, tilt about the watery heavens,
With shivering spears enforcing thunderclaps, 80
And from their shields strike flames of lightning)
All fearful folds his sails and sounds the main,
Lifting his prayers to the heavens for aid
Against the terror of the winds and waves ;
So fares Agydas for the late felt frowns.
That sent a tempest to my daunted thoughts.
And makes my soul divine her overthrow.
Enter Techelles with a naked dagger, and Usumcasane.
Tech. See you, Agydas, how the king salutes you.
He bids you prophesy what it imports.
73. fury] furies O^. 87. S.D. and Usumcasane] Add. Dyce. 89. S.D.]
Exit. Add. Oi O2.
opposed Tamburlaine and provoked Aquilo (' victoque aquilonibus aus-
the famous words ' [I am] the tro ', Metam., v. 285) and Lucre-
wrath and vengeaunce of God . . .' tius, whose work was also probably
(See Appendix C.) well known to Marlowe, gives a
76. the Hyades] a group of seven scientific description of thunder as
stars, which, if they rose simul- caused by the collision of clouds
taneously with the sun, were be- when the winds (no specific winds
lieved to bring rain (cf. Tennyson, are named) fight {De Rer. Nat., vi.
?7/ysses, lo-i I, ' the rainy Hyades I 95 seq.). Marlowe has perhaps
Vext the dim sea. . . .') combined two passages with which
77. Cimmerian] black, as gener- he was familiar.
ally with Marlowe. 88. Enter . . . Usumcasane] There
78. Auster and Aquilon] The is some discrepancy in the original
south-west and north winds brought versions here. O^ Og have the
at certain seasons fogs and rain. S.D. ' Exit ', (1. 89) which would
The description of their conflict and take Techelles off the stage during
the thunder and lightning produced Agydas's speech and require another
by it seems to have no parallel in S.D. for his entry at or before 1. 107.
classical literature, though Ovid The S.D. at 1. 89 is omitted alto-
describes the conflict of Auster and gether by OgO^,, which would mean
124 THE FIRST PART OF [act m
Agyd. I prophesied before and now I prove 90
The kilHng frowns of jealousy and love.
He needed not with words confirm my fear,
For words are vain where working tools present
The naked action of my threatened end.
It says, Agydas, thou shalt surely die.
And of extremities elect the least ;
More honour and less pain it may procure
To die by this resolved hand of thine,
Than stay the torments he and heaven have sworn.
Then haste, Agydas, and prevent the plagues 100
Which thy prolonged fates may draw on thee ;
Go wander free from fear of tyrant's rage,
Removed from the torments and the hell
Wherewith he may excruciate thy soul ;
And let Agydas by Agydas die,
And with this stab slumber eternally. [Stabs himself.
Tech. Usumcasane, see how right the man
Hath hit the meaning of my lord the king !
Usum. Faith, and, Techelles, it was manly done ;
And, since he was so wise and honourable, no
Let us afford him now the bearing hence.
And crave his triple worthy burial.
Tech. Agreed, Casane ; we will honour him.
[Exeunt, hearing out the body.
106. S.D.] om. Oi_3. 113. S.D.] Add. Dyce.
that Usumcasane and Techelles sentiment comes in abruptly and
presumably withdraw to the back slightly confuses the direction of the
of the stage while Agydas makes emotion. In its present form it
his final speech and stabs himself. recalls Seneca : * Prima huius
99. stay] as often, await, stay for. notae sunt hostium manibus eripi
102. Go . . . rage] This somewhat et tyrannicae irae et proscription!
misplaced echo of a common stoic et aliis periculis ' [De Ben,, i, ii, 2).
sc. Ill] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 125
SCENE III
TAMBURLAINE, TeCHELLES, UsUMCASANE, ThERIDAMAS,
Basso, Zenocrate, with others.
Tamh. Basso, by this thy lord and master knows
I mean to meet him in Bithynia :
See how he comes ! tush, Turks are full of brags
And menace more than they can well perform.
He meet me in the field and fetch thee hence !
Alas, poor Turk ! his fortune is too weak
T' encounter with the strength of Tamburlaine.
View well my camp, and speak indifferently ;
Do not my captains and my soldiers look
As if they meant to conquer Africa ? lo
Bas, Your men are valiant, but their number few,
And cannot terrify his mighty host ;
My lord, the great commander of the world,
Besides fifteen contributory kings.
Hath now in arms ten thousand janizaries.
Scene in.
4. menace'] meane O4.
Scene Hi. leaves the actual site of so well
1. Basso] Upon the position and known an historical event vague,
duties of the Basso (Bashaw), the That this caution was dehberate on
Pasha, or Captain of the Janissaries, Marlowe's part, there is no doubt
Nicholas Nicholay gives some de- (see Seaton, Marlowe's Map, p. 27) ;
tailed information in his Naviga- he is specific enough in geographical
tions . . ., Bk. Ill, chaps, iii-vi, details when he is not treating
which Marlowe probably knew. matter of historical fact.
2. Bithynia] The battle between 3-4- Turks . . . perform] Marlowe
Tamburlaine and Bajazet is vari- emphasizes the braggart in Bajazet
ously placed by the historians of even more than do most of the
the sixteenth century. Newton sources, who generally describe
puts it ' in Bithynia ' and further Bajazet as defying his enemy in
specifies ' near to Mount Stella ' exultant terms, but able and pre-
(see Appendix D), as do also Cus- pared to make good his defiance,
pinian. Perondinus. Granucci ; 1 1 • ^^^^'*' number few] A dehber-
Mexia puts it on the confines of ate departure from the records.
Armenia, an alternative also men- Marlowe wishes to emphasize the
tioned by Cuspinian and Peron- valour of Tamburlaine and must do
dinus ; the Byzantines incline to i^ at the expense of the Turkish
Phrygia. Marlowe takes full ad- army. (See Introduction and Ap-
vantage of this uncertainty and pendix C.)
126 THE FIRST PART OF [actiii
Mounted on lusty Mauritanian steeds.
Brought to the war by men of Tripoly ;
Two hundred thousand footmen that have serv'd
In two set battles fought in Grsecia ;
And for the expedition of this war, 20
If he think good, can from his garrisons
Withdraw as many more to follow him.
Tech. The more he brings, the greater is the spoil ;
For, when they perish by our warlike hands.
We mean to seat our footmen on their steeds,
And rifle all those stately janizars.
Tamb. But will those kings accompany your lord ?
Bas. Such as his highness please ; but some must stay
To rule the provinces he late subdued.
r\ Tamb. Then fight courageously ; their crowns are yours, 30
k This hand shall set them on your conquering heads
; ^' That made me emperor of Asia.
Usum. Let him bring millions infinite of men.
Unpeopling Western Africa and Greece,
Yet we assure us of the victory.
H Ther. Even he, that in a trice vanquished two kings ^v
■■^'*^^ More mighty than the Turkish emperor, v"^
■; "^ Shall rouse him out of Europe, and pursue 'v^ .
V' -^ His scattered army till they yield or die. " ^V J^
M Z^' Tamb. Well said, Theridamas ! speak in that mood; 40
"^ ----^_^ u YoT Will and Shall best fitteth Tamburlaine, ~ ^y ,
V^ _^ Whose smiling stars gives him assured hope
^ Of martial triumph ere he meet his foes. fv v -^
I that am term'd the Scourge and Wrath of God, ^
25. seat] set Og. 42. gives] give O2. ^\. '^
16. Mauritania] A district of before the siege of Constantinople,
North-west Africa, sometimes re- from which he was turned aside by
garded as including Numidia, Tamburlaine's attack. The two
famous for its horses and horse- provinces referred to by the Basso
men. Tripoly is further east, on are coupled in Usumcasane's words
the coast of Barbary. (1. 34) ' unpeopling Western Africa
19. Grcscia] The invasion of and Greece '.
Greece by Bajazet had taken place 44. / that . . . God] Such a phrase
^. III] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT
127
The only fear and terror of the world,
Will first subdue the Turk, and then enlarge fr'^---^^^-^--
Those Christian captives which you keep as slaves,
Burdening their bodies with your heavy chains.
And feeding them with thin and slender fare,
That naked row about the Terrene sea, 50
And, when they chance to breathe and rest a space,
Are punished with bast ones so grievously
That they lie panting on the galley's side,
And strive for life at every stroke they give. . ,-^V-'!^''
These are the cruel pirates of Argier, "^^
That damned train, the scum of Africa,
Inhabited with straggling runagates.
That make quick havoc of the Christian blood.
But, as I live, that town shall curse the time
That Tamburlaine set foot in Africa. 60
51. breathe and rest] rest or breathe Og. 53. they] om. O4.
as this is attributed to Tamburlaine
by several of the historians whom
Marlowe had studied, chief among
them Mexia and Perondinus, though
generally in a form more like that
of Fortescue (see Appendix C) :
' the wrath (or vengeance) of God
and the destruction of the world.'
Perondinus gives it the form
' Memento me, ait, Dei maximi
iram esse, atque depravati saeculi
funestam cladem ' {Per., Cap.
xix).
52. bastones] (scanned as dis-
syllabic) a stick or cudgel. Com-
pare mod. F. baton and see
Nicholas Nicholay's account (note
"to 1. 55) where the word ' staves '
is used.
55. pirates of Argier] On the pir-
ates of Algeria Nicholas Nicholay
has an interesting comment. Some
of his phrases seem to have found
their way into Marlowe's play :
' The most part of the Turks of
Algier, whether they be of the king's
household or the gallies, are
Christians renied, or Mahomatised,
of all nations, but most of them
Spaniards, Italians and of Provence,
of the islands and coasts of the
Mediteranean Sea, given all to
whoredom, sodomy, theft, and all
other most detestable vices, living
only on rovings, spoils, and pillaging
at the seas and islands being about
them ; and with their practic art
bring daily to Algier a great number
of poor Christians , which they sell
unto the Moors, and other mer-
chants of Barbary, for slaves, who
afterwards transport them and sell
them where they think good, or
else beating them miserably with
staves, do employ and constrain
them to work in the fields, and all
other vile and abject occupations
and servitude almost intolerable.'
{A Collection of Voyages, ed. 1745
(No. x), p. 560.)
57. runagates] vagabonds, deser-
ters, or, more specifically, apostates
(perhaps by association with ' rene-
gade '). In view of Nicholay's ac-
count quoted above the latter seems
the most probable meaning here.
128 THE FIRST PART OF [actiii
Enter Bajazeth with his Bassoes and contributory Kings.
Zabina and Ebea.
Baj. Bassoes and janizaries of my guard,
Attend upon the person of your lord,
The greatest potentate of Africa.
Tamb. Techelles and the rest, prepare your swords ;
I mean t' encounter with that Bajazeth.
Baj. Kings of Fesse, 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 ; 70
And dar'st thou bluntly call me Bajazeth ?
Tamb. And know thou, Turk, that those which lead my horse
Shall lead thee captive thorough Africa ;
And dar'st thou bluntly call me Tamburlaine ?
Baj. By Mahomet my kinsman's sepulchre.
And by the holy Alcaron I swear.
He shall be made a chaste and lustless eunuch.
And in my sarell tend my concubines ;
And all his captains, that thus stoutly stand,
Shall draw the chariot of my emperess, 80
Whom I have brought to see their overthrow.
Tamb. By this my sword that conquer'd Persia,
Thy fall shall make me famous through the world !
60. S.D. contributory] his contributory O3 O4. 65. t' encounter] t' incoun-
ter Oi- to incounter Og. 70. titles] title O3 O4.
66. Fesse, Moroccus] These forms house or in the preparing of the
are regular in EHzabethan EngUsh printed text. (See R. J. ' To the
and interchangeable with Fez, Gentleman Readers . . .' and the
Morocco. The three kingdoms be- notes.)
tween them comprise the whole 76. yl/carow] appears to be a form
stretch of the north African coast preferred by Marlowe (or by the
under the suzerainty of Bajazet. printer) and by some of his con-
74. call me Tamburlaine] It may temporaries. It occurs also in
be remarked that Bajazet has not Part II, i. ii. 61 and V. i. 172,
yet spoken to Tamburlaine by 192.
name so that the retort is point- 78. sarell] (more familiar to
less. Possibly this indicates some modem readers through the Italian
contracting or expanding of the form ' seraglio '), the women's
original text either in the play- quarters in a Mahometan house.
sc. Ill] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 129
I will not tell thee how Til handle thee.
But every common soldier of my camp
Shall smile to see thy miserable state.
Fez. What means the mighty Turkish emperor,
To talk with one so base as Tamburlaine ?
Morocco. Ye Moors and valiant men of Barbary,
How can ye suffer these indignities ? 90
Arg. Leave words, and let them feel your lances' points,
Which glided through the bowels of the Greeks.
Baj. Well said, my stout contributory kings !
Your threefold army and my hugy host
Shall swallow up these base born Persians.
Tech. Puissant, renowmed, and mighty Tamburlaine,
Why stay we thus prolonging all their lives ?
Ther. I long to see those crowns won by our swords,
That we may reign as kings of Africa.
Usum. What coward would not fight for such a prize ? 100
Tamb. Fight all courageously, and be you kings :
I speak it, and my words are oracles.
Baj. Zabina, mother of three braver boys
Than Hercules, that in his infancy
Did pash the jaws of serpents venomous,
Whose hands are made to gripe a warlike lance,
Their shoulders broad for complete armour fit,
84. 77/] / wil{l) O3O4. 87. the] this O4. 90. ye\ you O4. 97 all] of
Og. 99. reign] rule Og. 103. braver] brave O4.
84. I will . . . thee] Tamburlaine's 104. Hercules] The life and ex-
imagination fails him — as it well ploits of Hercules were a common-
may. It is hardly necessary to place of Elizabethan allusion. Mar-
point out that this undignified dia- lowe may have found the source
logue is without a close parallel for his numerous references in
in most of Marlowe's sources. Ovid, Metam. ix (especially 182 ff.
There is, in many, an exchange of and 136 ff.). There is a brief refer-
letters containing threats and ence to this episode in Metam.
veiled insults, but the theatrically ix, 67, but the fuller accounts
effective situation in which the depend upon Pindar {Nem. i.)
leaders exchange vituperation on and Theocritus (xxiv.), neither of
the battlefield and their Queens which writers was, I think, known
continue the strife of words dur- to Marlowe.
ing the battle is unknown to his- 105. pash] A common onomato-
tory. poeic word : to dash to pieces, to
94. hugy] huge. smash.
9
130 THE FIRST PART OF [actih
Their limbs more large and of a bigger size
Than all the brats y-sprung from Typhon's loins ;
Who, when they come unto their father's age, no
Will batter turrets with their manly fists —
Sit here upon this royal chair of state.
And on thy head wear my imperial crown,
Until I bring this sturdy Tamburlaine
And all his captains bound in captive chains.
Zah. Such good success happen to Bajazeth !
Tamb. Zenocrate, the loveliest maid alive,
Fairer than rocks of pearl and precious stone,
The only paragon of Tamburlaine ;
Whose eyes are brighter than the lamps of heaven, 120
And speech more pleasant than sweet harmony ;
That with thy looks canst clear the darkened sky.
And calm the rage of thundering Jupiter ;
Sit down by her, adorned with my crown.
As if thou wert the empress of the world.
Stir not, Zenocrate, until thou see
Me march victoriously with all my men.
Triumphing over him and these his kings.
Which I will bring as vassals to thy feet ;
Till then, take thou my crown, vaunt of my worth, 130
And manage words with her, as we will arms.
Zeno. And may my love, the king of Persia,
Return with victory and free from wound !
Baj. Now shalt thou feel the force of Turkish arms,
Which lately made all Europe quake for fear.
I have of Turks, Arabians, Moors and Jews,
Enough to cover all Bithynia.
109. Typhon's] Tryphons O4.
109. ^-s^^Mw^] Archaic forms such Cerberus, the Lernaean hydra,
as this are rare in Marlowe's writing. Chimaera and the Sphynx, though
The reference is to Hesiod's account it is perhaps unhkely that Mar-
{Theog. 306 ff.) of Typhaon (often lowe derived it from Hesiod him-
confused later with Typhoeus, the self.
father of the winds), whose chil- 131. manage.] See II. v. iii. 36
dren were the monsters Orthus, and note.
sc. Ill] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT I3i
Let thousands die : their slaughtered carcasses
Shall serve for walls and bulwarks to the rest ;
And as the heads of Hydra, so my power, 140
Subdued, shall stand as mighty as before.
If they should yield their necks unto the sword,
Thy soldiers' arms could not endure to strike
So many blows as I have heads for thee.
Thou knowest not, foolish-hardy Tamburlaine,
What 'tis to meet me in the open field.
That leave no ground for thee to march upon.
Tamb. Our conquering swords shall marshal us the way
We use to march upon the slaughtered foe,
Trampling their bowels with our horses' hoofs, 150
Brave horses bred on the white Tartarian hills.
My camp is like to Julius Caesar's host.
That never fought but had the victory ;
Nor in Pharsalia was there such hot war
As these my followers willingly would have.
Legions of spirits fleeting in the air
Direct our bullets and our weapons' points
And make our strokes to wound the senseless lure ;
And when she sees our bloody colours spread.
Then Victory begins to take her flight, 160
Resting herself upon my milk-white tent.
But come, my lords, to weapons let us fall ;
The field is ours, the Turk, his wife and all.
[Exit with his followers.
142. they] they they O3. yield] ycelde Og- 158. lure] lute Og.
140. Hydra.] See note to 1. 109. burlaine and contemporaneous with
148. Our . . . way] Compare histranslationof the Elegies of Ovid,
Shakespeare's almost identical use 158. /wye] This passage appears to
of the metaphor : Macbeth, 11. i. ^2 : be hopelessly corrupt. The rela-
' Thou marshall'st me the way that tively less unsatisfactory reading of
I was going.' O^ O3 O4 has been retained here,
154. Pharsalia] It may be re- though it is difficult to believe that
called that Marlowe's blank verse it represents the original. Dyce's
translation of part of the first conjecture ' air ' is substituted in
book of Lucan's Pharsalia belongs most modern reprints, and is rather
to the early period of his career, more probable than ' light ' (Rob.)
probably slightly earlier than Tam- ' wind ' (Cunn.) or ' winds ' (Wag.).
132 THE FIRST PART OF [actiii
Baj. Come, kings and bassoes, let us glut our swords
That thirst to drink the feeble Persians* blood.
[Exit with his followers.
Zah. Base concubine, must thou be plac'd by me
That am the empress of the mighty Turk ?
Zeno. Disdainful Turkess, and unreverend boss,
Call'st thou me concubine, that am betroth'd
Unto the great and mighty Tamburlaine ? 170
Zah. To Tamburlaine, the great Tartarian thief !
Zeno. Thou wilt repent these lavish words of thine
When thy great basso master and thyself
Must plead for mercy at his kingly feet,
And sue to me to be your advocates.
Zah. And sue to thee ! I tell thee, shameless girl,
Thou shalt be laundress to my waiting maid.
How lik'st thou her, Ebea ? will she serve ?
Ehea. Madam, she thinks perhaps she is too fine ;
But I shall turn her into other weeds, 180
And make her dainty fingers fall to work.
Zeno. Hearst thou, Anippe, how thy drudge doth talk.
And how my slave, her mistress, menaceth ?
Both for their sauciness shall be employed
To dress the common soldiers' meat and drink ;
For we will scorn they should come near ourselves.
Anip. Yet sometimes let your highness send for them
173. basso master] Bassoe, maister O-^. Bassoe-maister O^-^. 175. advo-
cates'] Advocate O3 O4. 180. vueeds] weed O^. 181. In O4 this and the
following line are repeated, once at the bottom of Sig. F. and again at the top
of Sig. Fy. The catchword for I. 183, ' And ', was perhaps confused with
the first word of I. 181.
165. feeble Persians' blood] Tarn- 175. advocates] As Wagner points
burlaine and his generals have be- out, this may be regarded as a
come identified in Bajazet's mind feminine, ' advocatess ', though
with the Persians, of whom they only one other doubtful instance
are now the rulers and governors. is given in the N.E.D.
168. boss] Mitford would have 185. To dress . . . drink] This
emended to ' Bassa ', but there is was, in fact, the fate assigned to
something to be said for retaining Bajazet's empress by Perondinus
' Bosse '. See N.E.D. (s.v.) which and others. See Appendix D3 and
cites Sherwood, s.v. : ' A fatt notes.
Bosse, femme bien grasse et grosse.'
sc.iii] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 133
To do the work my chambermaid disdains.
[They sound to the battle within and stay.
Zeno. Ye gods and powers that govern Persia,
And made my lordly love her worthy king, 190
Now strengthen him against the Turkish Bajazeth,
And let his foes, like flocks of fearful roes
Pursued by hunters, fly his angry looks,
That I may see him issue conqueror !
Zah. Now, Mahomet, solicit God himself,
And make him rain down murdering shot from heaven.
To dash the Scythians' brains, and strike them dead,
That dare to manage arms with him
That offered jewels to thy sacred shrine
When first he warr'd against the Christians ! 200
\To the battle again.
Zeno. By this the Turks lie weltring in their blood,
And Tamburlaine is lord of Africa.
Zab. Thou art deceiv'd. I heard the trumpets sound
As when my emperor overthrew the Greeks,
And led them captive into Africa.
Straight will I use thee as thy pride deserves ;
Prepare thyself to live and die my slave.
Zeno. If Mahomet should come from heaven and swear
My royal lord is slain or conquered.
Yet should he not persuade me otherwise 210
But that he lives and will be conqueror.
Bajazeth flies and he pursues him. The battle short and
they enter. Bajazeth is overcome.
Tamb. Now, king of bassoes, who is conqueror ?
196. murdering] murthering O^ Og. 202. And] as O4. 204. As] and O4.
211. S.D. battle short] battle is short O3 O4.
199. thy sacred shrine] Most of the Tamburlaine, himself a devout
historians agree in describing Ba- Mahometan, long refrained from
jazet as the zealous champion of crushing him on account of this
Islam against Christendom. Ac- virtue,
cording to the Byzantine accounts,
134 THE FIRST PART OF [act m
Baj. Thou, by the fortune of this damned foil.
Tamb. Where are your stout contributory kings ?
Enter Techelles, Theridamas, and Usumcasane.
Tech. We have their crowns ; their bodies strow the field.
Tamb. Each man a crown ! why, kingly fought, i 'faith.
Deliver them into my treasury.
Zeno. Now let me offer to my gracious lord
His royal crown again so highly won.
Tamb. Nay, take the Turkish crown from her, Zenocrate, 220
And crown me emperor of Africa.
Zab. No, Tamburlaine ; though now thou gat the best.
Thou shalt not yet be lord of Africa.
Ther. Give her the crown, Turkess, you were best.
[He takes it from her, and gives it Zenocrate.
Zab. Injurious villains, thieves, runagates,
How dare you thus abuse my majesty ?
Ther. Here, madam, you are empress ; she is none.
Tamb. Not now, Theridamas ; her time is past :
The pillars that have bolstered up those terms
Are fain in clusters at my conquering feet. 230
Zab. Though he be prisoner, he may be ransom'd.
Tamb. Not all the world shall ransom Bajazeth.
Baj. Ah, fair Zabina, we have lost the field ;
And never had the Turkish emperor
So great a foil by any foreign foe.
Now will the Christian miscreants be glad,
213. foir\ Conj. Dyce etc. soile O^ Og. soyle O3 O4. 220. Zenocrate]
Zen. Oi Og. Zeno-crate O3O4 {line division). 234. In O4 this line stands
before I. 233 and is given to Tamburlaine.
213. /oi/] (conj. Dyce) is an almost difficult to believe that they are
irresistible emendation for soile not a survival of the ' fond and
(soyle) of the four early texts. frivolous gestures ' which Jones
The error of substituting a long did his best to omit. They bear
' s ' for an ' f ' is repeated more a similar aesthetic relation to the
than once in this play, though this context as do the frivolities written
is the only case in which it occurs into Faustus.
in Oj. 225. runagates'] See note to 1. 57
215-27. We have . . . is none] The above,
puerility of these lines makes it
sc. Ill] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 135
Ringing with joy their superstitious bells,
And making bonfires for my overthrow :
But, ere I die, those foul idolaters
Shall make me bonfires with their filthy bones ; 240
For, though the glory of this day be lost,
Afric and Greece have garrisons enough
To make me sovereign of the earth again.
Tamb. Those walled garrisons will I subdue,
And write myself great lord of Africa.
So from the East unto the furthest West
Shall Tamburlaine extend his puissant arm.
The galleys and those pilling brigandines.
That yearly sail to the Venetian gulf.
And hover in the straits for Christians' wreck, 250
Shall lie at anchor in the Isle Asant,
Until the Persian fleet and men-of-war,
Sailing along the oriental sea.
Have fetched about the Indian continent.
Even from Persepolis to Mexico,
And thence unto the Straits of Jubalter,
Where they shall meet and join their force in one,
Keeping in awe the Bay of Portingale,
And all the ocean by the British shore ;
And by this means I'll win the world at last. 260
246. furthest] farthest O4. 259. British] Brittish O3 O4 brightest Og.
242. Afric and Greece] Bajazet's coast of Achaia, so named by the
constant references to the provinces ancients and by Ortehus : Thea-
of Africa and Greece and his de- trum Orbis Terrarum (Graecia).
pendence upon them for his re- 252. Persian fleet] Tamburlaine's
covery are explained when we Persian fleet is to follow approxi-
remember that it was in Natolia, mately the route of the Portuguese
at the heart of the Turkish empire, and Italian traders from Ormuz
that this battle had been fought. to southern China. He then sees
248. galleys . . . brigandines] For them strike across the Pacific to
descriptions of the Turkish pirates the western coast of Mexico and
of the Mediterranean, Marlowe appears to anticipate the Panama
may, as has been noted, be in- canal, bringing them straight
debted to Nicholas Nicholay. (See through the isthmus to Gibraltar,
I. III. iii. 55 and note.) where they are to be joined by the
251. Asant] generally interpreted Mediterranean fleet and control the
as Zante, a large island off the shipping in Biscay and the Channel.
136 TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT [actiii
Baj. Yet set a ransom on me, Tamburlaine.
Tamb. What, thinkst thou Tamburlaine esteems thy gold ?
I I'll make the kings of India, ere I die,
^ Offer their mines, to sue for peace, to me.
And dig for treasure to appease my wrath.
Come, bind them both, and one lead in the Turk ;
™ The Turkess let my love's maid lead away.
* [They hind them.
J' Baj. Ah, villains, dare ye touch my sacred arms ?
f O Mahomet ! O sleepy Mahomet !
! Zah. O cursed Mahomet, that makest us thus 270
The slaves to Scythians rude and barbarous !
Tamb. Come, bring them in ; and for this happy conquest
' Triumph and solemnise a martial feast. [Exeunt.
Finis Actus Tertii.
268. ye] you O^. 270. makest] makst O3 makes O4. 273. martial]
materiall O4.
263. kings of India] Timur historians and by Schiltberger, does
actually invaded and subdued a not appear in any of the European
great part of Northern India about biographers Marlowe appears to
the year 1395, but this, though have studied,
recorded by most of the oriental
ACT IV
SCENE I
SoLDAN OF Egypt with three or four Lords, Capolin.
Sold. Awake, ye men of Memphis ! hear the clang
Of Scythian trumpets ; hear the basilisks,
That roaring shake Damascus' turrets down.
The rogue of Volga holds Zenocrate,
The Soldan's daughter, for his concubine,
And with a troop of thieves and vagabonds,
Hath spread his colours to our high disgrace,
While you faint-hearted, base Egyptians,
Lie slumbering on the flowery banks of Nile,
As crocodiles that unaffrighted rest lo
While thundering cannons rattle on their skins.
Mess. Nay, mighty Soldan, did your greatness see
The frowning looks of fiery Tamburlaine,
That with his terror and imperious eyes
Commands the hearts of his associates,
dued this hitherto impregnable
Act IV. Scene i. town.
2. basilisks] pieces of ordnance, 4. Volga] Marlowe's references
cannons. Marlowe uses the term suggest that he associates Tam-
also in the Jew of Malta, ' Our burlaine with the district north
bombards, shot and basilisk' (1. and west of the Caspian Sea, though
2228). at other times he follows the tradi-
3. Damascus] The siege of Dam- tion which makes him a native of
ascus by Tamburlaine is described Samarcand or its neighbourhood,
in detail by nearly all the his- 10. crocodiles] were to the Eliza-
torians. Historically, it appears to bethans strictly natives of the Nile,
have occurred before the defeat Their fabulous powers and strange
of Bajazet and to have formed an habits are frequently described, and
episode in Timur's march to the credulity which the Elizabeth-
Angora. Most of the accounts ans accorded to these tales is satiric-
describe also the remarkable siege ally touched on by Anthony {Ant.
operations by which Timur sub- and Cleop., 11. vii).
137
138 THE FIRST PART OF [activ
It might amaze your royal majesty.
Sold, Villain, I tell thee, were that Tamburlaine
As monstrous as Gorgon prince of hell,
The Soldan would not start a foot from him.
But speak, what power hath he ? 20
Mess. Mighty lord,
Three hundred thousand men in armour clad.
Upon their prancing steeds, disdainfully
With wanton paces trampling on the ground ;
Five hundred thousand footmen threatening shot.
Shaking their swords, their spears and iron bills.
Environing their standard round, that stood
As bristle-pointed as a thorny wood ;
Their warlike engines and munition
Exceed the forces of their martial men. 30
Sold. Nay, could their numbers countervail the stars.
Or ever drizzling drops of April showers,
Or withered leaves that autumn shaketh down,
, Yet would the Soldan by his conquering power
\ So scatter and consume them in his rage.
That not a man should live to rue their fall.
Capo. So might your highness, had you time to sort
Your fighting men, and raise your royal host.
But Tamburlaine by expedition
Advantage takes of your unreadiness. 4®
Sold. Let him take all th' advantages he can.
Were all the world conspir'd to fight for him,
Act IV. Scene i.
32. ever drizzling'] drisling O^. 36. should] shal O^- 41. th' advantages]
the advantages O4.
18. monstrous] abnormal, un- is perhaps worth remark that one
natural. Cf. Chapman, Odyss., ix. of the few early references to this
268, ' A man in shape, immane and mysterious deity occurs in Lucan's
monsterous.' Gorgon] an abbrevi- Pharsalia (vi. 744-9), a work of
ated form of Demogorgon, a poten- which Marlowe had already made
tate of hell of obscure and possibly a partial translation.
Egyptian origin. Faustus couples 31. coww^gyyai/] equal or match in
his name with that of Belzibub in number. The N.E.D. cites no
his invocation {Faustus,2^2),2,nd. it instance exactly parallel to this.
SC. I]
TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT
139
Nay, were he devil, as he is no man,
Yet in revenge of fair Zenocrate,
Whom he detaineth in despite of us,
This arm should send him down to Erebus,
To shroud his shame in darkness of the night.
Mess. Pleaseth your mightiness to understand,
His resolution far exceedeth all.
- The first day when he pitcheth down his tents, 50
White is their hue, and on his silver crest,
A snowy feather spangled white he bears,
To signify the mildness of his mind.
That, satiate with spoil, refuseth blood :
But when Aurora mounts the second time.
As red as scarlet is his furniture ;
Then must his kindled Vv^rath be quenched with blood,
Not sparing any that can manage arms :
But if these threats move not submission,
. Black are his colours, black pavilion ; 60
His spear, his shield, his horse, his armour, plumes.
And jetty feathers menace death and hell ;
Without respect of sex, degree, or age,
He razeth all his foes with fire and sword.
43. devil] the devill O4 Deul Og. 47. darkness] darkeesse O3. 51. White]
While O4.
46. Erebus] The name of the son
of Chaos came in classical myth-
ology to signify darkness and par-
ticularly the gloomy space between
the earth and Hades.
50 etc. The first day . . . tents] The
messenger's rhetorical description
of the tents of Tamburlaine has
its counterpart in nearly every
later European historian who wrote
at any length, but does not appear
in the records of Schiltberger,
Clavijo, the oriental historians or
the Byzantines. It is a late
European fiction difficult to trace
to its source. The earliest record
I find of it is in Cambinus (1529),
where they are described as ' pa-
diglioni dello allogiamento suo *. I
presume the origin of the myth
to be a European misinterpretation
of some description by an eye-
witness of the many-coloured tents
of the Tartar camp-cities. The
details are strictly followed by
each writer, with a few differences
of phrasing, until we come to For-
tescue who boldly transforms them
into ' ensigns '. (See also Appen-
dix C and notes.) Marlowe has
added the details of Tamburlaine's
plume and ' furniture '.
56. furniture] Tamburlaine's tent,
accoutrements and dress. The use
of the word in any or all of these
senses was common in the late
sixteenth century.
140
THE FIRST PART OF
[act IV
Sold. Merciless villain, peasant, ignorant
Of lawful arms or martial discipline,
Pillage and murder are his usual trades,
The slave usurps the glorious name of war !
See Capolin the fair Arabian king.
That hath been disappointed by this slave
Of my fair daughter and his princely love.
May have fresh warning to go war with us,
And be reveng'd for her disparagement.
70
[Exeunt.
SCENE II
Tamburlaine, Techelles, Theridamas, Usumcasane,
Zenocrate, Anippe, two Moors drawing Bajazeth in
his cage, and his wife following him.
Tamb. Bring out my footstool.
[They take him out of the cage.
Baj. Ye holy priests of heavenly Mahomet,
That, sacrificing, slice and cut your flesh,
y^. disparagement] dispardgemenf O ■^02- S.D.] Add. Dyce.
69. Arabian king] Most of Tam-
burlaine's western biographers men-
tion the invasion of Egypt or
Arabia or both. Mexia and those
deriving from him, such as Primau-
daye, bring Egypt and Arabia into
aUiance as Marlowe does here.
Scene ii.
I. Bring out my footstool] Tam-
burlaine's treatment of Bajazet
follows closely the accounts given
by Perondinus and Mexia. (See
Introduction and Appendix C and
notes.) Sir Walter Ralegh, writing
some quarter of a century later upon
the vicissitudes of fortune, recalls
this scene from the play which had
been popular in his youth : '. . .
God, who is the Author of all our
tragedies, hath written out for us,
and appointed us all the parts we
are to play : and hath not, in their
distribution, beene partiall to the
most mighty Princes of the world f
. . . that appointed Bajazet to
play the Gran Signior of the
Turkes in the morning, and in the
same day the Footstoole of Tamer-
lane (both which parts Valerian
had also playd, beeing taken by
Sapor es). . . .' {The History of the
World : The Preface, ed. 1829,
vol. II, p. xlii.)
2 seq. Ye holy priests . . . blood]
Marlowe may have drawn his
accounts of Mahometan rites
from any one of several popular
volumes, many of which combined
with their accounts of the customs
of the Turks a short history of the
Turkish empire, in which the life
of Bajazet appeared. This passage
can be paralleled, as Miss Seaton
points out {R.E.S., p. 396) with a
description in Belleforest's Cos-
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 141
Staining his altars with your purple blood,
Make heaven to frown and every fixed star
To suck up poison from the moorish fens,
And pour it in this glorious tyrant's throat !
Tamb. The chief est God, first mover of that sphere
Enchas'd with thousands ever shining lamps,
Will sooner burn the glorious frame of heaven lo
Than it should so conspire my overthrow.
But, villain, thou that wishest this to me.
Fall prostrate on the low disdainful earth,
And be the footstool of great Tamburlaine,
That I may rise into my royal throne.
Baj. First shalt thou rip my bowels with thy sword
And sacrifice my heart to death and hell.
Before I yield to such a slavery.
Tamb. Base villain, vassal, slave to Tamburlaine,
Unworthy to embrace or touch the ground 20
That bears the honour of my royal weight.
Stoop, villain, stoop ! Stoop, for so he bids
That may command thee piecemeal to be torn.
Or scattered like the lofty cedar trees
Scene ii.
4, your] you O3. 7. if] om. Og. 8. sphere] speare O4. 11. than] then
O3O4. it should] should it O^. 12. this] it O4. 15. into]unto02. 17. heart]
soule O2.
mographie Universelle (1575), in 9. Enchas'd with] set with, as
which he speaks of the Turkish gold with jewels. N.E.D. cites
dervishes who ' se font des incisions Sandys, Rel. Journ., i. 75, '. . . of
avec leurs rasoirs le long des beaten gold, and inchaced with
cuisses, des fesses, des bras, et de gems.' Cf. I, i. ii. 96 and note.
I'estomach, et autres parties du thousands] The reading of O1-4 has
corps ' (11. 597). been retained. The use of the
7. glorious] boastful. Derived numeral as an inflected adjective
directly from the Latin ' gloriosus ', agreeing with the substantive is
and made familiar by the popular rare in English and unknown to the
character of the ' miles gloriosus '. classical tongues, though it has,
8. The chiefest . . . sphere] This is of course, an analogy in the French
the Aristotelian conception of God ' Trois cents hommes '.
as the ' primus motor ' (The ' First 22. stoop ! Stoop,] There is no need
Unmoved Mover ' of Metaphysics, to repeat ' stoop ' a fourth time as
XII. 6ff.), the power which turned Dyce suggested. The hiatus in the
the ' primum mobile ', that in its verse is natural in imperative speech
motion gave movement to the other and can be paralleled in many
spheres of the Ptolemaic system. contemporary plays.
142
THE FIRST PART OF
[act IV
Struck with the voice of thundering Jupiter.
Baj. Then as I look down to the damned fiends,
Fiends, look on me ! and thou, dread god of hell.
With ebon sceptre strike this hateful earth,
And make it swallow both of us at once !
[He gets up upon him to his chair.
Tamb. Now clear the triple region of the air, 30
And let the majesty of heaven behold
Their scourge and terror tread on emperors.
Smile, stars that reign'd at my nativity.
And dim the brightness of their neighbour lamps ;
Disdain to borrow light of Cynthia,
For I, the chief est lamp of all the earth.
First rising in the east with mild aspect.
But fixed now in the meridian line.
Will send up fire to your turning spheres,
And cause the sun to borrow light of you. 40
My sword struck fire from his coat of steel.
Even in Bithynia, when I took this Turk ;
As when a fiery exhalation,
Wrapt in the bowels of a freezing cloud.
Fighting for passage, makes the welkin crack,
45. makes'] Dyce etc. make Oi_4.
29. He gets up . . . chair] This
detail, unknown, of course, to the
Oriental historians, may have been
assimilated to Tamburlaine's saga
from the record of the treatment of
the Emperor Licinius Valerianus
by Sapor, King of Persia (c. a.d.
260). (See the reference of Sir
Walter Ralegh, in note to 1. i.)
30. triple region of the air] The
N.E.D. defines ' region ' in this
sense as ' One of the successive
portions into which the air or
atmosphere is theoretically divided
according to height ', and quotes
J. Harris, Lex. Techn., i. s.v.,
' Regions of the Air, are divided
into Upper, Middle, and Lower '
(1704). Marlowe's Tamburlaine
calls upon this threefold space to
clear itself that the gods may look
down upon him.
34. their] Dyce and other editors
would read ' your ' . But the change
from second to third person is nor-
mal and can be readily paralleled.
38. meridian line] The N.E.D.
(s.v.) defines the celestial meridian
as ' The great circle (of the celestial
sphere) which passes through the
celestial poles and the zenith of
any place on the earth's surface.
... So named because the sun
crosses it at noon '. Tamburlaine,
likening himself to a sun, says that
he has now reached the meridian
line, or noon of his fortunes. He
further implies that he, unlike
other suns, is ' fixed ' in the
meridian and will not decline.
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 143
And casts a flash of lightning to the earth.
But ere I march to wealthy Persia,
Or leave Damascus and th' Egyptian fields,
As was the fame of Clymene's brainsick son
That almost brent the axletree of heaven, 50
So shall our swords, our lances and our shot
Fill all the air with fiery meteors ; '- ''^■^' f ^uSi^.S^L^^.^
Then, when the sky shall wax as red as blood,
V V Iv' ^^ shall be said I made it red myself,
'. To make me think of naught but blood and war.
?%
Zdb. Unworthy king, that by thy cruelty
Unlawfully usurpest the Persian seat,
Dar'st thou, that never saw an emperor
Before thou met my husband in the field,
Being thy captive, thus abuse his state, 60
Keeping his kingly body in a cage.
That roofs of gold and sun-bright palaces
Should have prepared to entertain his grace ?
And treading him beneath thy loathsome feet,
Whose feet the kings of Africa have kissed ?
Tech. You must devise some torment worse, my lord.
To make these captives rein their lavish tongues.
Tamb. Zenocrate, look better to your slave.
Zeno. She is my handmaid's slave, and she shall look
That these abuses flow not from her tongue. 70
Chide her, Anippe.
46. to] on O4. 49. Clymene' s] Clymeus O^ O3 O4. 50. brent] burnt
O3 O4. 57. usurpest] usurp'st O3 O4. 70. from] in O2.
49. Clymene's brain sick son] dering from its sphere and dashing
References to Phaethon and his against the axis of the universe
ill-starred attempt to guide the upon which all the spheres, as he
chariot of the sun are numerous explains in Faustus, should turn,
in this play ; the story, indeed, (' All jointly move upon one axel-
was a favourite with many Eliza- tree | Whose terminine is tearmd
bethan poets. Ovid again {Metam. the worlds wide pole.' Faustus,
I. 750 ff. and II. 1-366) affords a 652-3.)
version of the tale which would be 50. brent] the older form (the
readily accessible to Marlowe. Mar- reading of O^ O2), relatively com-
lowe seems to picture the sun wan- mon in Spenser, has been retained.
144 THE FIRST PART OF [act iv
Anip. Let these be warnings for you then, my slave.
How you abuse the person of the king ;
Or else I swear to have you whipt stark nak'd.
Baj. Great Tamburlaine, great in my overthrow.
Ambitious pride shall make thee fall as low,
For treading on the back of Bajazeth,
That should be horsed on four mighty kings.
Tamb. Thy names and titles and thy dignities
Are fled from Bajazeth and remain with me, 80
That will maintain it against a world of kings. —
Put him in again. [They put him into the cage.
Baj. Is this a place for mighty Bajazeth ?
Confusion light on him that helps thee thus.
Tamb. There, whiles he lives, shall Bajazeth be kept ;
And where I go be thus in triumph drawn ;
And thou his wife shalt feed him with the scraps
My servitors shall bring thee from my board ;
For he that gives him other food than this.
Shall sit by him and starve to death himself : 90
This is my mind and I will have it so.
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 ;
The ages that shall talk of Tamburlaine,
Even from this day to Plato's wondrous year,
72. for you then] then for you O3 O4. 79. dignities'] dignitis O3 dignitie
O4. 82. S.D.] Add. Dyce. 85. whiles] while O4. 87. shalt] shal Og.
88. servitors] servitures O1-4. 89. than] then O3 O4.
75 seq. Great Tamburlaine ... It is to Marlowe's credit that he
kings] Marlowe has deliberately does not incorporate the wholly
stripped Bajazet of dignity in unfounded details which Peron-
adversity no less than in pros- dinus (followed verbally by Loni-
perity, yet he has preserved a cerus, Bizarus and Primaudaye)
certain consistency in the charac- develops from Chalcondylas's ac-
ter ; the futile defiance of this count of Tamburlaine 's treatment
scene is the counterpart of his of the Turkish empress,
earlier insolence. 96. Plato's wondrous year] A
86. in triumph drawn] For this commonplace of the schools ; the
detail, comparison should be made idea and the term occurring fre-
with the accounts of Mexia, quently in medieval thought. Plato
Perondinus and their followers. {Timaeus, 39D.) refers to the per-
sen] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT
145
Shall talk how I have handled Bajazeth ;
These Moors, that drew him from Bithynia
To fair Damascus, where we now remain,
Shall lead him with us wheresoe'er we go. loo
Techelles, and my loving followers,
Now may we see Damascus' lofty towers.
Like to the shadows of Pyramides
That with their beauties graced the Memphian fields.
The golden stature of their feathered bird.
That spreads her wings upon the city walls,
Shall not defend it from our battering shot.
The townsmen mask in silk and cloth of gold.
And every house is as a treasury ;
The men, the treasure and the town is ours. no
Ther. Your tents of white now pitch'd before the gates.
And gentle flags of amity displayed,
I doubt not but the governor will yield,
Offering Damascus to your majesty.
Tamh. So shall he have his life, and all the rest.
But if he stay until the bloody flag
105. stature] statue O3 O4.
feet year (rAeos eviavTvs), the
period ' at the end of which all the
seven " planets " {— Sun, Moon,
and 5 planets) are relatively in the
same position as at its beginning
... at once a whole number of
days, of solar years, of revolutions
of each of the planets ' (Note :
A. E. Taylor). Cicero {Nat. Deor.
II. 20) refers to the ' magnus annus ',
the period in which the constella-
tions return to their places and
Macrobius says that Cicero com-
puted it as 15,000 years. Various
computations of its length were
made, the early astronomers placing
it as low as 8, 19 or 59 solar years.
Adam, in the appendix to the
Republic (vol. 11., p. 304) quotes
Barocius' Cosmographia, i. p. 6
(Venetiis, 1598) where, after men-
tioning various computations, he
continues ' quod utique ' (i.e. what-
10
ever its duration) ' temporis spa-
tium vocant magnum Platonicum
annum ' ; also Johannes de Sacra-
Bosco [Sphaera, ed. Burgersdicius,
1639, p. 12) ' quod spatium magnus
annus appellari solet, aut annus
Platonicus '.
104. graced^ Dyce and many
subsequent editors read ' grace ',
but Tamburlaine's transition to the
past tense of reminiscence is not
inconsistent.
105. stature . . . bird] The refer-
ence is to the Ibis (see Cicero,
Nat. Deor., i. 36, loi and also i.
29, 82, II. 50, 126), the sacred bird
of the Egyptians (cf. Scene iii, 1.
37). The reading ' stature ' of
Oj O2 is here preferred to ' statue '
of O3 O4. There is a similar con-
fusion of the two words in Part II,
II. iv. 140.
146 THE FIRST PART OF [act iv
Be once advanc'd 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, 120
Were in that city all the world contained.
Not one should scape, but perish by our swords.
Zeno. Yet would you have some pity for my sake.
Because it is my country's and my father's.
Tamb. Not for the world, Zenocrate, if I have sworn.
Come, bring in the Turk. \_Exeunt.
SCENE III
SoLDAN, Arabia, Capolin, with streaming colours, and
Soldiers.
Sold. Methinks we march as Meleager did.
Environed with brave Argolian knights.
To chase the savage Calydonian boar.
Or Cephalus, with lusty Theban youths.
Against the wolf that angry Themis sent
To waste and spoil the sweet Aonian fields.
A monster of five hundred thousand heads,
Compact of rapine, piracy and spoil,
The scum of men, the hate and scourge of God,
Raves in Egyptia, and annoyeth us. 10
Scene Hi.
Heading. S.D. streaming] steaming O^ Og. 3. Calydonian'] Caldonian
Oi Calcedonian O3 O4. 4. lusty] om. O4.
124. country's] Robinson and seems to have been a favourite
some later editors would read with Marlowe at this time. The
' country ' here. There seems no legend, ultimately derived from
reason for rejecting the reading of Homer, probably reached Marlowe
the octavos. The city Damascus, through Ovid {Metam. viii. 270 ff.).
of which Zenocrate is speaking, 4-6. Cephalus . . . Aonian fields]
belongs to her country and to her This again is Ovid's version of the
father. story of Cephalus rather than that
Scene Hi. of the Greek poets. (See Metam.
1-3. as Meleager . . . Calydonian vii. 762 ff .)
boar] The story of Meleager and the 10. annoyeth] has a somewhat
hunting of the Calydonian boar stronger force in Elizabethan Eng-
sc. Ill] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 147
My lord, it is the bloody Tamburlaine,
A sturdy felon and a base bred thief,
Bv murder raised to the Persian crown,
.... f,
That dares control us m our territories. 4
To tame the pride of this presumptuous beast, jj
Join your Arabians with the Soldan's power ;
Let us unite our royal bands m one, 4
And hasten to remove Damascus' siege. _'ii
It is a blemish to the majesty ,1
And high estate of mighty emperors, 20 *
That such a base usurping vagabond |
Should brave a king, or wear a princely crown. '^
Arab. Renowmed Soldan, have ye lately heard '^
The overthrow of mighty Bajazeth
About the confines of Bithynia ?
I
The slavery wherewith he persecutes
The noble Turk and his great emperess ?
Sold. I have, and sorrow for his bad success ; oi
But, noble lord of great Arabia, fi
Be so persuaded that the Soldan is 30
No more dismayed with tidings of his fall, "<
Than in the haven when the pilot stands, '^
And views a stranger's ship rent in the winds, |
And shivered against a craggy rock.
Yet in compassion of his wretched state,
A sacred vow to heaven and him I make,
Confirming it with Ibis' holy name,
12. and] om. O^- 14- dares] dare O2-4. 17. bands] handes O4.
lish than in modern, and often 32—3. in the haven. . . winds] The
bears, as here, the specifically image immediately recalls that of
military sense of molest. Compare Lucretius {De Rer. Nat. 11. 1—2), a
Milton's use (P.L. vi. 369) : ' Nor writer with whom it is hard
stood unmindful Abdiel to annoy to believe Marlowe unacquainted,
The Atheist crew.' though actual parallels are not
28. bad success] ill fortune. Cf. readily found.
Ralegh, Discov. Guiana, 17 : ' The 37. Ibis' holy name] see note iv,
hard successe which all these and ii. 105.
other Spaniards found in attempt-
ing the same.'
148 THE FIRST PART OF [activ
That Tamburlaine shall rue the day, the hour,
Wherein he wrought such ignominious wrong
Unto the hallowed person of a prince, 40
Or kept the fair Zenocrate so long,
As concubine, I fear, to feed his lust.
Arab. Let grief and fury hasten on revenge ;
Let Tamburlaine for his offences feel
Such plagues as heaven and we can pour on him.
I long to break my spear upon his crest,
And prove the weight of his victorious arm ;
For fame, I fear, hath been too prodigal
In sounding through the world his partial praise.
Sold. Capolin, hast thou surveyed our powers ? 50
Capol. Great emperors of Egypt and Arabia,
The number of your hosts united is,
A hundred and fifty thousand horse,
Two hundred thousand foot, brave men-at-arms,
Courageous and full of hardiness.
As frolic as the hunters in the chase
Of savage beasts amid the desert woods.
Arab. My mind presageth fortunate success ;
And, Tamburlaine, my spirit doth foresee
The utter ruin of thy men and thee. 60
Sold. Then rear your standards ; let your sounding drums
Direct our soldiers to Damascus' walls.
Now, Tamburlaine, the mighty Soldan comes,
And leads with him the great Arabian king.
To dim thy baseness and obscurity,
Famous for nothing but for theft and spoil ;
To raze and scatter thy inglorious crew
Of Scythians and slavish Persians. [Exeunt.
38. the hour] and houre O4. 55. and] om. O4. 65. thy baseness and]
the basnesse of O4.
sc. IV] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 149
SCENE IV
The banquet, and to it cometh Tamburlaine all in scarlet,
Theridamas, Techelles, Usumcasane, the Turk with
others.
Tamb. Now hang our bloody colours by Damascus,
Reflexing hues of blood upon their heads,
While they walk quivering on their city walls,
Half dead for fear before they feel my wrath.
Then let us freely banquet and carouse
Full bowls of wine unto the god of war,
That means to fill your helmets full of gold,
And make Damascus spoils as rich to you
As was to Jason Colchos' golden fleece.
And now, Bajazeth, hast thou any stomach ? lo
Baj. Ay, such a stomach, cruel Tamburlaine, as I could
willingly feed upon thy blood-raw heart.
Tamb. Nay, thine own is easier to come by ; pluck out that
and 'twill serve thee and thy wife. Well, Zenocrate,
Techelles, and the rest, fall to your victuals.
Baj. Fall to, and never may your meat digest !
Ye Furies, that can mask invisible.
Scene iv.
Heading Scene 4] Actus 4 : Scaena 5 O^.g. 17. masTi] walke O3 O4.
Scene iv. possible to confirm this suspicion
Tamburlaine all in scarlet] Bullen by the fragments of blank verse
first drew attention to the entry in which are buried in the prose
Henslowe's Diary (Mar. 13, 1598) : passages. The lines in this scene
' Tamberlanes breches of crymson do not appear to contain any such
velvett.' fragments, with the exception of
9. Colchos' golden fleece'] The Bajazet's speech here, which,
legend of the Argonautae and the with the omission of ' willingly "
expedition to Colchis is to be found scans as two blank verse lines, but
in several ancient writers, of whom we can say with confidence, none
Ovid at least was familiar to the less, that they are not of Mar-
Marlowe (see Metam. vii. i ff. ; lowe's writing ; he was capable
Her. VI, I ff . and Her. xii. i £E.). of (and far more at ease in) con-
11-15. Ay, such . . . victuals] ducting such a dialogue as this in
Prose, always a warning signal in rhetorical blank verse (cf. iii. iii).
Marlowe's dialogue, here possibly 17. Furies . . . invisible] There
represents either condensation or seems little need to invest the
interpolation. In many cases in Erinyes with the power of invisi-
this play and in Faustus it is bility as Bajazet does here.
150
THE FIRST PART OF
[act IV
Dive to the bottom of Avernas pool,
And in your hands bring helKsh poison up,
And squeeze it in the cup of Tamburlaine ! 20
Or, winged snakes of Lerna, cast your stings.
And leave 3/our venoms in this tyrant's dish.
Zah. And may this banquet prove as ominous
As Progne's to th' adulterous Thracian king
That fed upon the substance of his child !
Zeno. My lord, how can you suffer these
Outrageous curses by these slaves of yours ?
Tamh. To let them see, divine Zenocrate,
I glory in the curses of my foes,
Having the power from the imperial heaven 30
To turn them all upon their proper heads.
Tech. I pray you, give them leave, madam ; this speech is
a goodly refreshing to them.
Ther. But if his highness would let them be fed, it would do
them more good.
Tamh. Sirrah, why fall you not to ? are you so daintily
brought up, you cannot eat your own flesh ?
33. goodly] good O3 O4. to] for O^.
not eat] cannot not eat O3.
Throughout Greek mythology the
Avengers have no difficulty in
carrying out their purposes with-
out this aid. Marlowe's impres-
sion may have been due in the first
place to the common association of
the classical lower world with
darkness, and in the second to
allusions in Christian literature to
the ' unseen ' powers of evil.
These grim deities seem to have
been favourites with Marlowe : he
reverts to them, with a pleasing
fantasy, at the end of the first
sestiad of Hero and Leander. He
seems, moreover, to make little
distinction between the Furies and
the Fates, a confusion possibly
traceable to passages such as
Metam. iv. 450 ff., where the two
groups are mentioned in close
connection.
36. you not] ye not O3 O4. 37. can-
18. Avernas] see i. ii. 159 and
note.
24. Progne's . . . king] For the
story of Procne, Philomela and
Tereus, king of Thrace, who was
deceived by Procne into eating their
child Itys, Marlowe is indebted
again to Ovid {Met. vi. 565). It
is worth noting that here, as in
other cases where there are various
versions of a tale, Marlowe follows
the O vidian version.
26. My lord . . . these] The line
lacks two syllables. Various con-
jectures have been made to supply
the defect : ' tamely suffer ', Dyce
etc. ; ' My gracious Lord ', Wagner.
30. imperial] represents more
nearly the ' Emperiall ' of the
octavos than the ' empyreal ' of
some later editors. In such a
passage as this it is hard to say
sc. IV] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 151
Baj. First, legions of devils shall tear thee in pieces.
JJsum. Villain, knowest thou to whom thou speakest ?
Tamh. 0, let him alone. Here ; eat, sir ; take it from my
sword's point, or I'll thrust it to thy heart. 41
[He takes it, and stamps upon it.
Ther. He stamps it under his feet, my lord.
Tamh. Take it up, villain, and eat it ; or I will make thee
slice the brawns of thy arms into carbonadoes and eat
them.
Usum. Nay, 'twere better he killed his wife, and then she
shall be sure not to be starv'd, and he be provided for
a month's victual beforehand.
Tamh. Here is my dagger ; despatch her while she is fat,
for if she live but a while longer, she will fall into a
consumption with fretting, and then she will not be
worth the eating. 52
Ther. Dost thou think that Mahomet will suffer this ?
n
Tech. 'Tis like he will, when he cannot let it. «i
Tamh. Go to ; fall to your meat. What, not a bit ? ^^
Belike he hath not been watered to-day ; give him some
drink. 1
[They give him water to drink, and he
flings it on the ground.
Fast, and welcome, sir, while hunger make you eat.
40. Here] there O3 O4. JYorn] up from O4. 44. slice'] fiice O3 fleece
O4. 50. jalV] not jail O4.
which word is meant or whether a similar context {Coy. iv. v. 198
distinction in spelHng was observed seq.) : ' Before Corioh he scotched
by the printers. him and notched him hke a car-
44. slice] The relations between bonado.'
the four texts are clearly indicated 53-4- IS't] hinder.
by the variants in this line. O^ O2 5O. watevecC] used transitively,
read 'slice'; O3, by a common with an animate creature for object,
error, substitutes ' f ' for long ' s ' was confined in Elizabethan Eng-
and reads ' flice ' ; O4, endeavour- lish, as in modern, to the giving
ing to make sense of this, reads of drink to horses and cattle, or to
' fleece ', a form not likely to have an army on the march.
been arrived at had the printer of 58. while] until. Compare Mac-
O4 worked directly from O^ O^- beth, iii. i. 44 : ' While then, God
carbonadoes], steaks, thin strips be with you ! ' and the modem
of meat. Shakespeare uses it in a Scots and Irish usage.
1
152 THE FIRST PART OF [act iv
How now, Zenocrate, doth not the Turk and his wife
make a goodly show at a banquet ? 60
Zeno. Yes, my lord.
Ther. Methinks 'tis a great deal better than a consort of
music.
Tamb. Yet music would do well to cheer up Zenocrate.
Pray thee tell, why art thou so sad ? if thou wilt have a
song, the Turk shall strain his voice. But why is it ?
Zeno. My lord, to see my father's town besieg'd.
The country wasted, where myself was born.
How can it but afflict my very soul ?
If any love remain in you, my lord, 70
Or if my love unto your majesty
May merit favour at your highness' hands.
Then raise your siege from fair Damascus walls,
And with my father take a friendly truce.
Tamb. Zenocrate, were Egypt Jove's own land,
Yet would I with my sword make Jove to stoop.
I will confute those blind geographers
That make a triple region in the world.
Excluding regions which I mean to trace.
And with this pen reduce them to a map, 80
Calling the provinces, cities and towns
After my name and thine, Zenocrate.
62. than] then O3 O4. y^. friendly] frindly O^.
61. Yes, my lord] Zenocrate's occur until the late seventeenth
mood is consistent throughout this century.
scene. She has not spoken, except 78. triple region] Marlowe is
for the half-protesting words of thinking of the three great groups
11. 26-27, until now when Tambur- of land, America, Europe with
laine directly addresses her. The Asia, and Africa. The continent
brevity of her reply brings his of Australasia was as yet only a
attention at once to her sadness, rumour. Tamburlaine intends to
for which he can see no reason. re-map the world, discovering fresh
Marlowe has well revealed the con- territories and naming them. Da-
trast between the two characters. mascus shall be the centre of this
62. a consort of music] as usually new world, through it shall travel
in the late sixteenth century, a the zero line upon his map from
company of musicians. The use which longitude shall in future be
of the phrase to mean a musical calculated.
entertainment does not seem to
sc.iv] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 153
Here at Damascus will I make the point
That shall begin the perpendicular ;
And wouldst thou have me buy thy father's love
With such a loss ? tell me, Zenocrate.
Zeno. Honour still wait on happy Tamburlaine.
Yet give me leave to plead for him, my lord.
Tamh. Content thyself ; his person shall be safe,
And all the friends of fair Zenocrate, 90
If with their lives they will be pleas'd to yield,
Or may be forc'd to make me emperor ;
For Egypt and Arabia must be mine.
Feed, you slave ; thou mayst think thyself happy to
be fed from my trencher.
Baj. My empty stomach, full of idle heat.
Draws bloody humours from my feeble parts.
Preserving life by hasting cruel death.
My veins are pale, my sinews hard and dry.
My joints benumb'd ; unless I eat, I die. 100
Zah. Eat, Bajazeth. Let us live in spite of them, looking
some happy power will pity and enlarge us.
Tamb. Here Turk, wilt thou have a clean trencher ?
Baj. Ay, tyrant, and more meat.
Tamb. Soft sir, you must be dieted ; too much eating will
make you surfeit.
85. thy] my O^. 98. hasting] hastening O^O^. 100. benumb'd] benumbd
O2 be numb d O3 O4.
84. the perpendicular] The imag- physiology seems never, as has
inary line dropped from any given been noticed above, to have been
point on the earth's surface to the so extensive as his knowledge of
celestial grand circle, so determin- more abstract sciences. In his
ing the zenith of that place and later work there are very few
establishing a meridian. Tambur- physiological descriptions or ex-
laine means that he will make planations, and even in this play,
Damascus the zero of the new map which contains more than any
of the world that he is going to create, other, we find only academic
as Greenwich is now the zero of knowledge derived ultimately from
British maps, by making its meridian Aristotle and showing no recogni-
the first meridian, or longitude 0°. tion of the more advanced of
96-100. my empty stomach . . . contemporary discoveries.
penumb'd] Marlowe's knowledge of
154 THE FIRST PART OF [act iv
Ther. So it would, my lord, specially having so small a walk
and so little exercise.
Enter a second course of crowns.
Tamb. Theridamas, Techelles and Casane, here are the cates
you desire to finger, are they not ? no
Ther. Ay, my lord ; but none save kings must feed with these.
Tech. 'Tis enough for us to see them, and for Tamburlaine
only to enjoy them.
Tamb. Well ; here is now to the Soldan of Egypt, the King
of Arabia, and the Governor of Damascus.
Now, take these three crowns.
And pledge me, my contributory kings.
I crown you here, Theridamas, king of Argier ;
Techelles, king of Fesse ; and Usumcasane,
King of Moroccus. How say you to this, Turk ?
These are not your contributory kings.
Baj. Nor shall they long be thine, I warrant them. 122
Tamb. Kings of Argier, Moroccus, and of Fesse,
You that have marched with happy Tamburlaine
As far as from the frozen place of heaven
Unto the watery morning's ruddy bower.
And thence by land unto the torrid zone.
Deserve these titles I endow you with.
By valour and by magnanimity.
107. specially] especially O3 O4. 126. bower] hower O^ Og. 129. valour]
Rob. etc. value 0^_^.
115-121. Now, take . . . kings] of history than with the routes
This passage, generally printed as described in the play, which are
prose (as in the octavos), has here mainly South and West from
been divided according to the Tamburlaine's starting-point,
suggestion of Bullen, so that it 125. place] For ' place ' of
reads as rough blank verse. O1-4 many editors read ' plage ',
125-7. ^^ f^'^ • • • torrid zone] a reading which is supported by
Tartary and Scythia were pictured that of II. i. i. 68, and by Miss
by the Elizabethans as lands of Seaton's reference {R.E.S., p. 397)
ice and snow lying to the far north. to Clauserus' and Bibliander's
Tamburlaine's marches have led use of the word in the sense of
him from North to East and shore or region : ' Versus Orien-
from there to the tropical south. talem plagam ' and ' in orientali
This squares better with the records plaga '.
sc. IV] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT
155
Your births shall be no blemish to your fame ; 130
For virtue is the fount whence honour springs,
And they are worthy she invest eth kings.
Ther. And, since your highness hath so well vouchsafed.
If we deserve them not with higher meeds
Than erst our states and actions have retained,
Take them away again and make us slaves.
Tamb. Well said, Theridamas. When holy Fates
Shall stablish me in strong Egypt ia.
We mean to travel to th* antarctic pole,
Conquering the people underneath our feet,
And be renowm'd as never emperors were.
Zenocrate, I will not crown thee yet, f^^
Until with greater honours I be grac'd. '\ {
Finis Actus qiiarti.
131. whence] where O4. 136. again] om. O3 O4. 139. th' antarctic] th'
Antatique O^ th' Antartique O2 O3 the Antartique O4.
130-3. Your births . . . kings] A
sentiment which Marlowe, the
scholar of Corpus Christi, loses no
opportunity of expressing.
131. virtue] power and ability.
137. holy Fates] Marlowe blends
again the language of Christendom
and paganism.
139-40. We mean . . . feet] With
this boast, and with the lingering
thought of the southern stars
(Part II, III. ii. 29-31) we may con-
trast Tamburlaine's regrets as he
surveys the map of the world upon
his death-bed (II. v. iii. 154-8).
1
ACT V ^#
u
SCENE I
The Governor of Damasco with three or four Citizens,
and four Virgins with branches of laurel in their hands.
Gov. Still doth this man, or rather god of war,
Batter our walls and beat our turrets down ;
And to resist with longer stubbornness,
Or hope of rescue from the Soldan's power.
Were but to bring our wilful overthrow,
And make us desperate of our threatened lives.
We see his tents have now been altered
With terrors to the last and cruel'st hue ;
His coal-black colours, everywhere advanced,
Threaten our city with a general spoil ; lo
And if we should with common rites of arms
Offer our safeties to his clemency,
I fear the custom proper to his sword.
Which he observes as parcel of his fame.
Intending so to terrify the world.
By any innovation or remorse
Will never be dispensed with till our deaths.
Therefore, for these our harmless virgins' sakes.
Whose honours and whose lives rely on him.
Let us have hope that their unspotted prayers, 20
Act V. Scene i.
8. cruel' sf] crulest O3. 18. sakes] sake O3 O4.
ness ... is parcel of the wor-
Act V. Scene i. shipping of God.'
14. parcel of] an essential part 20 seq. Let us . . . conqueror]
of. N.E.D. cites Norton's tr. of In the sending out of the Damascan
Norvell's Catechism (1570) : ' To virgins Marlowe has combined the
praise and magnify God's good- records given by Mexia, Peron-
156
SCI] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 157
Their blubbered cheeks and hearty humble moans
Will melt his fury into some remorse,
And use us like a loving conqueror.
Vtrg. If humble suits or imprecations
(Uttered with tears of wretchedness and blood
Shed from the heads and hearts of all our sex,
Some made your wives, and some your children,)
Might have entreated your obdurate breasts
To entertain some care of our securities
Whiles only danger beat upon our walls, 30
These more than dangerous warrants of our death
Had never been erected as they be,
Nor you depend on such weak helps as we.
Gov. Well, lovely virgins, think our country's care.
Our love of honour, loath to be enthrall'd
To foreign powers and rough imperious yokes,
Would not with too much cowardice or fear,
Before all hope of rescue were denied.
Submit yourselves and us to servitude.
Therefore, in that your safeties and our own, 40
Your honours, liberties, and lives were weigh'd
In equal care and balance with our own,
Endure as we the malice of our stars.
The wrath of Tamburlaine and power of wars ;
29. care] cares O^. 31 • than] then O3 O4. 33. helps] help O4. 37. too]
two O4. 44. power] powers O4.
dinus and others of the taking of treatment of Bajazet and the legend
Damascus and of an unnamed city of the tents, seems to have a his-
which rashly delayed submission torical basis. Arabshah, Schilt-
until too late, and then sent emis- berger and Chalcondylas agree in
saries to beg for mercy. None of describing some such massacre,
these versions make the emissaries either at Ispahan or at Sebastia.
virgins only ; Mexia has women 24. imprecations] prayers. Mar-
aud children ; Perondinus, like lowe's usage is nearer to the Latin
Pius, girls and boys ; Granucci, than is the modern English,
priests, boys, women and children. 29. securities] either safety, se-
AU agree as to their destruction by curity (somewhat unusually, con-
Tamburlaine ; Mexia, Perondinus crete and plural), or protection,
and the majority of the others say defence. The N.E.D. gives no
they were destroyed by a cavalry examples of a similar plural usage
charge. This episode, unlike the at this time.
158 THE FIRST PART OF [act v
Or be the means the overweighing heavens
Have kept to qualify these hot extremes,
And bring us pardon in your cheerful looks.
2. Virg. Then here, before the majesty of heaven
And holy patrons of Egyptia,
With knees and hearts submissive we entreat 50
Grace to our words and pity to our looks.
That this device may prove propitious,
And through the eyes and ears of Tamburlaine
Convey events of mercy to his heart ;
Grant that these signs of victory we yield
May bind the temples of his conquering head,
To hide the folded furrows of his brows.
And shadow his displeased countenance
With happy looks of ruth and lenity.
Leave us, my lord, and loving countrymen : 60
What simple virgins may persuade, we will.
Gov. Farewell, sweet virgins, on whose safe return
Depends our city, liberty, and lives.
[Exeunt all except the Virgins.
SCENE II
Tamburlaine, Techelles, Theridamas, Usumcasane,
with others. Tamburlaine all in black and very
melancholy.
Tamb. What, are the turtles frayed out of their nests ?
Alas, poor fools, must you be first shall feel
The sworn destruction of Damascus ?
63. S.D. all . . . Virgins] Add. Dyce.
45. overweighing] preponderating, laurel boughs, here symbolical of
overruling. victory to be resigned to Tambur-
54. events] as in iii. ii. 16, results, laine, are substituted by Marlowe
effects. The idea here seems to be for the olive branches which in the
that a merciful result or outcome versions of Mexia and Perondinus
may be suggested to Tamburlaine. conveyed the desire for peace.
Collier's suggested emendation ' in-
tents ' is, I think, unnecessary. Scene ii.
55-6. these signs of victory] The i. turtles] turtle-doves.
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 159
The}^ know my custom ; could they not as well
Have sent ye out when first my milk-white flags,
Through which sweet Mercy threw her gentle beams,
Reflexed them on your disdainful eyes.
As now when fury and incensed hate
Flings slaughtering terror from my coal-black tents.
And tells for truth submissions comes too late ? lo
I. Virg. Most happy king and emperor of the earth,
Image of honour and nobility,
For whom the powers divine have made the world.
And on whose throne the holy graces sit ;
In whose sweet person is compris'd the sum
Of nature's skill and heavenly majesty ;
Pity our plights ! O, pity poor Damascus !
Pity old age, within whose silver hairs
Honour and reverence evermore have reign'd.
Pity the marriage bed, where many a lord 20
In prime and glory of his loving joy
Embraceth now with tears of ruth and blood
The jealous body of his fearful wife,
Whose cheeks and hearts, so punished with conceit.
To think thy puissant never-stayed arm
Will part their bodies and prevent their souls
From heavens of comfort yet their age might bear.
Now wax all pale and withered to the death.
As well for grief our ruthless governor
Have thus refused the mercy of thy hand, 30
(Whose sceptre angels kiss and furies dread,)
As for their liberties, their loves, or lives.
O, then, for these and such as we ourselves.
Scene ii.
4. know] knew Og. 8. As] and O4. 9. tents] tent O3 O4. 10. comes]
come O3. 22. of ruth and] and ruth of O4. 30. Have] Hath O3 O4.
5. flags] perhaps a reminiscence Wagner and others have done,
of Fortescue's ' ensigns '. Tamburlaine is speaking to the
7. yowr] It seems hardly necessary virgins as they approach him.
to emend to ' their ' as Dyce,
160 THE FIRST PART OF [actv
For us, for infants, and for all our bloods.
That never nourished thought against thy rule.
Pity, O pity, sacred emperor.
The prostrate service of this wretched town ;
And take in sign thereof this gilded wreath.
Whereto each man of rule hath given his hand,
And wished, as worthy subjects, happy means 40
To be investers of thy royal brows
Even with the true Egyptian diadem.
Tamb. Virgins, in vain ye labour to prevent
That which mine honour swears shall be perform'd.
Behold my sword ; what see you at the point ?
Vir. Nothing but fear and fatal steel, my lord.
Tamb. Your fearful minds are thick and misty, then.
For there sits Death ; there sits imperious Death,
Keeping his circuit by the slicing edge.
But I am pleased you shall not see him there ; 50
He now is seated on my horsemen's spears,
And on their points his fleshless body feeds.
Techelles, straight go charge a few of them
To charge these dames, and shew my servant Death,
Sitting in scarlet on their armed spears.
Omnes. O, pity us !
Tamb. Away with them, I say, and shew them Death.
[They take them away.
I will not spare these proud Egyptians,
Nor change my martial observations
For all the wealth of Gihon's golden waves, 60
35. nourished] nourish O3 O4. 37. prostrate] prostarte O3. 40. wished]
wish O3 O4. 43. ye] you Og. 50. there] chere O3 O4.
34. bloods] metonymy for lives with that reached by Tamburlaine's
or spirits. sword. Tamburlaine's personifica-
48-9. Death . . . edge] the im- tion of Death is interesting, the
perious judge, holds his court on the image is almost invariably that of
edge of Tamburlaine's sword, the a destroyer as in this speech. (Cf.
image being that of a judge's circuit. Part II, 11. iv. 83-4 ; v. iii. 67-71.)
Or, more simply, the domain of 59. observations] observances.
Death, the area through which he rites,
ranges (his circuit), is co-terminous 60. Gihon] the second river of
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 161
Or for the love of Venus, would she leave
The angry god of arms and lie with me.
They have refused the offer of their lives,
And know my customs are as peremptory
As wrathful planets, death, or destiny.
Enter Techelles.
What, have your horsemen shown the virgins Death ?
Tech. They have, my lord, and on Damascus' walls
Have hoisted up their slaughtered carcasses.
Tamh. A sight as baneful to their souls, I think,
As are Thessalian drugs or mithridate. 70
But go, my lords, put the rest to the sword.
[Exeunt.
Ah, fair Zenocrate, divine Zenocrate,
/Fair is too foul an epithet for thee,j
ihat in thy passion for thy country's love,
And fear to see thy kingly father's harm,
With hair dishevelled wip'st thy w^atery cheeks ;
And like to Flora in her morning's pride,
Shaking her silver tresses in the air,
Rain'st on the earth resolved pearl in showers.
And sprinklest sapphires on thy shining face, 80
Where Beauty, mother to the Muses, sits,
76. dishevelled] discheweld O^ Og dischevaeld O3 O4. 78. tresses]
treshes Oj O3 O4.
Eden, ' that encompasseth. the Marlowe's knowledge. See Horace,
whole land of Ethiopia ' {Genesis ii. Od., i. 27, 21 ; Ovid, Metam., vii.
13), sometimes identified, as by 264, etc., and especially Am., iii.
Broughton, with the Oxus of the 7, 27 : ' num mea Thessalico
ancients, ' and the gold of that languet devota veneno corpora ?
land is good '. num misero carmen et herba
70. Thessalian] the land of witch- nocent ? ' Mithridate is generally
craft (spoken of by Plato, Aristo- an antidote to poisons, here it is
phanes, Horace, Ovid, etc.) bore a the poison itself,
reputation for magic and strange 72. Ah, fair Zenocrate . . .] Such
drugs, never better revealed than in a transition is ever characteristic of
The Golden Ass of Apuleius or the Tamburlaine and of Marlowe,
sixth book of Lucan's Pharsalia. 81. Beauty, mother to the Muses]
Ovid, Horace or Lucan is most The genealogy is, of course. Mar-
likely to have been the source of lowe's own.
11
162
THE FIRST PART OF
[act V
lat'^'"
And comments volumes with her ivory pen,
Taking instructions from thy flowing eyes,
Eyes, when that Ebena steps to heaven, n"
In silence of thy solemn evening's walk.
Making the mantle of the richest night.
The moon, the planets, and the meteors, light.
There angels in their crystal armours fight y
A doubtful battle with my tempted thoughts
For Egypt's freedom and the Soldan's life.
His life that so consumes Zenocrate ;
Whose sorrows lay more siege unto my soul
Than all my army to Damascus' walls ;
And neither Persia's sovereign nor the Turk
Troubled my senses with conceit of foil
So much by much as doth Zenocrate.
What is beauty, saith my sufferings, then ?
S8. fight] fights O^O^. 94. Persia's] Rob. etc. Perseans [Persians) 0-^_^.
.-}J^
90
84. Eyes] must, as this line stands,
be accented as a dissyllable. Ebena]
has long been untraceable. Classi-
cal mythology knows no such
deity. It is just possible that
Marlowe had read, in some source
unknown to his editors, a phrase
such as ' Nux ebenina ', though
the adjective from ' ebenus ' does
not occur in classical Latin. Even
were this so, we should have to
assume, first that Marlowe mistook
the quantity (a rare thing with him,
but the more pardonable in that
the word could not in any event
occur in a verse source) and
secondly that a minim misprint
has occurred in the text and that
the line should read ' Eyes when
that Ebenina steps to heaven '.
The construction is perhaps a
little unusual ; Zenocrate's eyes
prompt Beauty to her wisest reflec-
tions, giving, at evening, light to
the luminaries of heaven. From
those eyes, moreover, comes the
fiercest battle that is raised against
Tamburlaine's ambitious thoughts.
95. conceit] conception, idea.
97-110. What is beauty . . . can di-
gest] This passage has been over-
praised. It is fine rhetoric, but
there is surely more poetry in the
broken passage that follows and cer-
tainly in many others in the play.
Marlowe is self-conscious and has
filled out his lines with phrases
characteristic of the prompting of
self-consciousness rather than of
passion. If we consider frankly
phrases such as ' sweetness
that inspir'd their hearts ', ' muses
on admyred theames ', ' flowers of
Poesy ', ' restlesse heads ' and,
most betraying of all, the charac-
teristic ' at the least ' (so like the
equally characteristic ' and the
rest ') we agree with Broughton's
honest and independent comment :
' The author in this speech " appre-
hends a world of figures ' ' but has not
expressed them very felicitously.
He apparently aimed at producing
a sample of fine writing, and, to
confess the truth, succeeded per-
fectly.' Had the passage been
written in rime, it would have been
fitter for the Essay on Criticism than
for Tamburlaine upon the battle-
field.
sen] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 163
If all the pens that ever poets held
Had fed the feeling of their masters' thoughts.
And every sweetness that inspir'd their hearts, lOO --^^^ ^
Their minds and muses on admired themes ; ^ y... ^y^^ j4\ i ^
If all the heavenly quintessence they still ,„^2(\^^ , 'p f
From their immortal flowers of poesy, t/ ■ Q-,^ [, i
Wherein as in a mirror we perceive .qC .\jy _J Ij;
The highest reaches of a human wit — y .,^ s, ,
If these had made one poem's period.
And all combin'd in beauty's worthiness, i
Yet should there hover in their restless heads ;' ;
One thought, one grace, one wonder, at the least, m
Which into words no virtue can digest. \ no u
;But how unseemly is it for my sex, ''' "'^'^'^ j^^^Qf^Q^'tO^
My discipline of arms and chivalry, \v>-i^^
My nature, and the terror of my name.
To harbour thoughts effeminate and faint !
Save only that in beauty's just applause,
114. harbour] habour O3. effeminate] effemiate O3 O4.
115 seq. Save only . . . nobility] by an interpolated sentence, 'And
What follows is in complete con- every . . . conceits ') which can-
trast to the rhetoric of the pre- not without violence be yoked to
ceding lines, a penetrating analysis 1. 120. A further, similar, diffi-
(unfortunately confused by an culty occurs in 1. 126, in which
obviously corrupt text) of the ' that ' may be a conjunction and
power of beauty over the soul of ' virtue ' bear the general meaning
man. of ' power ', * capacity ', or ' that '
115-27. This passage presents be a demonstrative adjective re-
more textual difficulty than any ferring ' virtue ' back to ' beauty '
other in the play. The lines of 1. 119, or to the power of con-
120-4 present in themselves a ceiving and subduing it of 1. 120.
series of problems and have been Briefly I should paraphrase the
freely emended and discussed, but original reading as follows, itali-
they do not seriously affect the cizing the phrase supplied to com-
meaning of the whole passage. plete the idea that seems implicit
This meaning is, however, ob- in the development of the thought
scured for other reasons. Lines from 1. 72 to 127 :
1 15-16 read, in all the early texts, ' [It is a disgrace to a soldier to
' Save only that in beauty's just harbour effeminate thoughts] Ex-
applause, etc' a reading which cept for the fact that in a just
(taking ' that ' as a conjunction), reverence for beauty, with the
though presenting a movement of prompting of which the soul of
thought and metre highly charac- man is stirred, lies one of the main
teristic of Marlowe, leaves us with sources of valour — and every war-
an unfinished sentence (followed rior . . . needs the stimulus of
164
THE FIRST PART OF
[act V
With whose instinct the soul of man is touched,
And every warrior that is rapt with love
Of fame, of valour, and of victory.
Must needs have beauty beat on his conceits,
I thus conceiving, and subduing both.
That which hath stopt the tempest of the gods.
Even from the fiery spangled veil of heaven.
To feel the lovely warmth of shepherds' flames.
And march in cottages of strowed weeds.
120
122. fiery spangled] spangled firie O3 O4.
cottages'] cottges O3 coatches O4.
124. march] martch 0^_^.
beauty to urge his thought to its
highest achievement. I, who can
both acknowledge beauty and hold
it to its due function, even that
beauty which has reduced the gods
etc. . . . shall reveal to the world,
despite my birth, that this dual
power is alone the highest glory
and alone fashions a noble man.'
The alternative interpretation of
the Oi_4 reading of 11. 11 5-1 6 re-
moves the need to supply words
omitted by the author or the
printer, but gives a somewhat
strained syntax and a general effect
unlike Marlowe's writing at this
time, ' No effeminate thought
should be harboured by a warrior
except that (thought) in the
applause of beauty, etc'
A third suggestion has been
made to me which seems to allow of
both thought and metrical form
worthy of the concluding couplet
of a long Marlovian debate, with-
out either straining the syntax or
fathering upon Marlowe anything
so unusual or so slovenly as an
unfinished sentence. It involves
the not improbable transposition
of ' in ' and ' that ' by the printer
which, when adjusted, would give
' No effeminate thought . . . ex-
cept in the just applause of that
beauty with whose instinct . . .' etc.
The separate group of problems
presented by the obviously corrupt
lines 1 2 1-4 has been variously
handled. The reading of Oj is
given in the text, as in the Oxford
edition, the readings of 03-4, where
they differ from Oi, in the critical
apparatus and in the notes below ,
The following are the emendations
that have been suggested :
121. stopt] stoopt Dyce ^ etc.
tempest temper Collier, tempers
Fraser's Mag., Brereton. chief est,
Dyce 2 to Wagner, etc. topmost,
Deighton.
122. fiery spangled] Oi_2- span-
gled firie O3 O4. Collier and Dyce ^
conjectured fire-y spangled. For
vaile of Oi_4, Collier somewhat
unnecessarily suggested vault.
123. lovely] lowly conj. Collier,
Cunningham, Bullen, Brereton.
124. martch] mask, conj. Brough-
ton, Dyce to Wag., etc. match
conj. Fraser's Mag. and Brereton.
cottages 0/ Oi_2. cottges of O3.
coatches of O4.] cottagers' off-
strowed, conj. Broughton. of] on,
conj. Cook, weeds] reeds Dyce ^ etc.
The mistakes implied in some of
these emendations are such as are
not likely to occur in setting up
from an Elizabethan manuscript
(for example, ' martch ' from an
original ' mask '), while other sug-
gestions are neither necessary nor
helpful to the interpretation. Keep-
ing the original reading, the fol-
lowing paraphrase, among others,
can be made : ' That [i.e. beauty]
which has brought down the
wrath of the Gods [therefore, by
metonymy, " the Gods "] even
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 165
Shall give the world to note, for all my birth.
That virtue solely is the sum of glory.
And fashions men with true nobility.
Who's within there ?
Enter two or three.
Hath Bajazeth been fed to-day ?
Attend. Ay, my lord. 130
Tamh. Bring him forth ; and let us know if the town be
ransacked.
Enter Techelles, Theridamas, Usumcasane, and others.
Tech. The town is ours, my lord, and fresh supply
Of conquest and of spoil is offered us.
Tamh. That's well, Techelles. What's the news ?
Tech. The Soldan and the Arabian king together
March on us with such eager violence
As if there were no way but one with us.
Tamh. No more there is not, I warrant thee, Techelles.
They hring in the Turk.
Ther. We know the victory is ours, my lord, 140
But let us save the reverend Soldan's life
For fair Zenocrate that so laments his state.
Tamh. That will we chiefly see unto, Theridamas,
For sweet Zenocrate, whose worthiness
Deserves a conquest over every heart.
130. Prefix Attend.l Dyce. An. Oi_^. 132. S.D. and] with O3 O4.
137. us] with us O2. 141. reverend] reverent O3 O4.
from the very height of heaven, this can make the already con-
to feel the humble joys of human siderable confusion anything but
emotions and move in spheres no worse confounded,
higher than weed-strown cottages,' 138. no way but one with us]
A further suggestion was made This is surely a common phrase,
by Mitford and quoted by Dyce ^, Dyce cites an instance as late as
namely that 11. 1 2 1-4, for whatever Dryden and Mistress Quickly's
they are worth, should be bodily words on the death of FalstafE
moved to a position between {Henry V, 11. iii. 16) come in-
1. 116 and 1. 117. I fail to see how stantly to mind.
166 THE FIRST PART OF [actv
And now, my footstool, if I lose the field,
You hope of liberty and restitution.
Here let him stay, my masters, from the tents.
Till we have made us ready for the field.
Pray for us, Bajazeth ; we are going. 150
[Exeunt.
Baj, Go, never to return with victory !
Millions of men encompass thee about,
And gore thy body with as many wounds !
Sharp, forked arrows light upon thy horse !
Furies from the black Cocytus' lake.
Break up the earth, and with their firebrands
Enforce thee run upon the baneful pikes !
Vollies of shot pierce through thy charmed skin.
And every bullet dipt in poisoned drugs !
Or roaring cannons sever all thy joints, 160
Making thee mount as high as eagles soar !
Zah. Let all the swords and lances in the field
Stick in his breast as in their proper rooms !
At every pore let blood come dropping forth.
That lingering pains may massacre his heart.
And madness send his damned soul to hell !
Baj. Ah, fair Zabina, we may curse his power.
The heavens may frown, the earth for anger quake ;
But such a star hath influence in his sword
As rules the skies and countermands the gods 170
More than Cimmerian Styx or Destiny :
And then shall we in this detested guise,
158. Vollies] Valleyes O4. 164. pore] dove O4. 171. than] then O3 O4.
155. Furies . . . lake] The line 171. Styx] The chief river of the
lacks the initial unaccented syllable. underworld, the daughter of
Cocytus is generally described as a Oceanus, was the divinity by whom
river, not a lake, of the under- the most solemn oaths were sworn,
world. Like the Acheron, of which Marlowe's allusion may be a
it was actually a tributary, its reminiscence of Virgil's line : ' Di
association with the underworld cuius jurare timent et fallere un-
caused it to be transferred there by men.'
popular mythology.
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 167
With shame, with hunger and with horror ay
Griping our bowels with retorqued thoughts,
And have no hope to end our ecstasies. jh
Zah. Then is there left no Mahomet, no God, , 'I
No fiend, no fortune, nor no hope of end "Ijl
To our infamous, monstrous slaveries. 1 1|!
Gape, earth, and let the fiends infernal view ^ p
A hell as hopeless and as full of fear i8o ' \
As are the blasted banks of Erebus, it
Where shaking ghosts with ever howling groans '> i
Hover about the ugly ferryman, ; |
To get a passage to Elysian. ^ I
Why should we live ? O wretches, beggars, slaves !
Why live we, Bajazeth, and build up nests \
So high within the region of the air, ^^
By living long in this oppression,
That all the world will see and laugh to scorn v\
The former triumphs of our mightiness 190 ,,|
In this obscure infernal servitude ? j
Baj. O life, more loathsome to my vexed thoughts f '
Than noisome parbreak of the Stygian snakes, jf
Which fills the nooks of hell with standing air,
173- ^y] (^y^ O4 ^^"^ Oi O2. 180. A'\ Rob. etc. As Oi_4. 192. thoughts]
thought O3 O4. 193. Than] Then O3 O4.
173- <^y] The reading aye (aie) 178. infamous] Marlowe per-
of the octavos presupposes a verb sistently stresses thus. Cf. below
such as ' remain ', ' live ', un- 11. 329, 342.
expressed. This seems preferable 184. Elysian] the reading of the
to the emendations ' live ' and octavo is retained here.
' stay ' suggested by Robinson and 193-5- Than noisome . . . cureless
by Dyce and adopted by many griefs] The graphic quality of these
later editors. lines suggests that they are a
174. re/or^-Me^] An unusual word, deliberate reproduction, but from
obviously closely connected with what source I do not know. The
the French ' retorquer '. Here it Stygian snakes call to mind Spen-
may be taken to mean ' driven ser's description of Error {F.Q.,
back upon themselves ', ' twisted i. i.) and have, so far as I can dis-
inward ' and exactly expresses cover, no parallel in classical myth-
Bajazet's misery. The N.E.D. cites ology, although the Furies are
only this passage. commonly described with serpents
175. ecstasies] as often, any twined about them or in their hair,
superlative emotions ; not neces- (See Ovid, Metam., iv. 490 and
sarily joyful. Seneca, De Ira, iii. 35. 5.)
168 THE FIRST PART OF [actv
Infecting all the ghosts with cureless griefs !
O dreary engines of my loathed sight,
That sees my crown, my honour and my name
Thrust under yoke and thraldom of a thief,
Why feed ye still on day's accursed beams.
And sink not quite into my tortur'd soul ? 200
You see my wife, my queen, and emperess.
Brought up and propped by the hand of Fame,
Queen of fifteen contributory queens.
Now thrown to rooms of black abjection,
Smear'd with blots of basest drudgery.
And villeiness to shame, disdain, and misery.
Accursed Bajazeth, whose words of ruth.
That would with pity cheer Zabina's heart.
And make our souls resolve in ceaseless tears.
Sharp hunger bites upon and gripes the root 210
From whence the issues of my thoughts do break.
0 poor Zabina ! O my queen, my queen !
Fetch me some water for my burning breast.
To cool and comfort me with longer date.
That, in the shortened sequel of my life,
1 may pour forth my soul into thine arms
With words of love, whose moaning intercourse
Hath hitherto been stayed with wrath and hate
Of our expressless banned inflictions.
Zah. Sweet Bajazeth, I will prolong thy life 220
199. ye]you O4. 204. abjection] objection O^ O4. 207. ruth] truth O4.
196, engines] as often, instru- N.E.D. quotes this passage under
ments, means. ' villainess ' without distinguishing
204. abjection] here used in the it from the later and modern
still surviving sense of abasement, usage of that word. It should
degradation. These lines represent rather, I think, appear as ' villein-
Marlowe's general reproduction of ess '. (See Cotgrave : A villein-
the detailed account of Peron- esse, a woman of a servile condi-
dinus. (See Appendix D.) tion.)
206. villeiness] The reading of 219. expressless] passive, as often
Oi_4 stands, I think, for villei- in Elizabethan English : inex-
ness, the feminine of villein, in pressible. banned] repressed, bound
the sense of servant, still cur- down,
rent in Elizabethan English. The
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 169
As long as any blood or spark of breath
Can quench or cool the torments of my grief.
[She goes out.
Baj. Now, Bajazeth, abridge thy baneful days,
And beat thy brains out of thy conquer'd head,
Since other means are all forbidden me.
That may be ministers of my decay.
O highest lamp of ever-living Jove,
Accursed day, infected with my griefs,
Hide now thy stained face in endless night,
And shut the windows of the lightsome heavens. 230
Let ugly darkness with her rusty coach.
Engirt with tempests wrapt in pitchy clouds.
Smother the earth with never-fading mists.
And let her horses from their nostrils breathe
Rebellious winds and dreadful thunder claps,
That in this terror Tamburlaine may live,
And my pin'd soul, resolv'd in liquid air.
May still excruciate his tormented thoughts.
Then let the stony dart of senseless cold
Pierce through the centre of my withered heart, 240
And make a passage for my loathed life.
[He brains himself against the cage.
224. thy] the O3 O4. 227. ever-living] everlasting O ^. 237. air]ayOi02-
231. ugly Darkness . . . coach] 'bits' (i. v, 20) ; ' charet fild with
The coach or chariot of night rusty blood ' (i. v. 32).
(to which Marlowe again refers in 2^7-8. my pin'd soul . . . thoughts]
Hero and Leander, 11. 332-4) is Bajazet here conceives of the
a commonplace and is described Spirit as a subtle essence allied to
by Euripides, Theocritus, Tibullus the air and dwelling in it, a theory
and Virgil {Aen., v. 721), the last which seems to carry us back rather
of which writers was certainly to the doctrines of Anaximenes of
read by Marlowe. But the attri- Miletus and Diogenes of Apollonia
butes of ugliness (' rusty ' in this (sixth and fifth centuries b.c.) than
passage, ' loathsome ' in H. and L.) to Aristotle or to the common
seem to be Marlowe's own addition. Christian view. I cannot trace
I can find no parallel in the classical the means by which this idea
references, though they frequently reached Marlowe,
call the coach black. A little later, 241. He brains himself] The sui-
however, in the Faery Queene, cide of Bajazet is described only
Spenser has several similar refer- by Perondinus and Primaudaye,
ences : ' yron charet ' and ' rusty who obviously follows him.
170 THE FIRST PART OF [act v
Enter Zabina.
Zah. What do mine eyes behold ? my husband dead !
His skull all riven in twain ! his brains dash'd out,
The brains of Bajazeth, my lord and sovereign !
O Bajazeth, my husband and my lord !
O Bajazeth ! O Turk ! O emperor ! 246
Give him his liquor ? not I. Bring milk and fire, and
my blood I bring him again. Tear me in pieces, give me
the sword with a ball of wild-fire upon it. Down with
him, down with him. Go to my child ; away, away,
away ! ah, save that infant ! save him, save him ! I, even
I, speak to her. The sun was down, streamers white,
red, black. Here, here, here ! Fling the meat in his
face 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 1
[She runs against the cage, and brains herself.
Zenocrate with Anippe.
Zeno. Wretched Zenocrate, that livest to see
Damascus' walls dy'd with Egyptian blood,
Thy father's subjects and thy countrymen ;
Thy streets strowed with dissevered joints of men, 260
And wounded bodies gasping yet for life ;
But most accursed, to see the sun-bright troop
248. give] and give O^- 254-5. Let . . . Tamburlaine] om. O3O4. 256.
/ come, I come, I come] I come I come O3 O4. S.D. Zenocrate with Anippe]
Enter Zenocrate . . . etc. O4. 257. Prefix Zeno.] om. Oj.g.
247-56. Give him ... 7 come, I uses prose mixed with snatches of
come] This seems to be one of the verse for Opheha's words and prose
few passages in which the prose for Lady Macbeth's. Each of
form is intentional and not the Zabina's exclamations can, like
result of corruption of the text. Lady Macbeth's, be traced to some
Though blank verse lines may be episode of the immediate past,
found embedded in it, the passage though not always to one which
is best printed as prose. I think has been chronicled in the play.
Marlowe meant to express these 255. Make ready my coach] Here,
broken thoughts in a medium which at least, is a phrase which Shake-
combined broken rhythms with speare was destined to remember
prose, just as Shakespeare, later, and use again.
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 171
Of heavenly virgins and unspotted maids,
Whose looks might make the angry god of arms
To break his sword and mildly treat of love,
On horsemen's lances to be hoisted up,
And guiltlessly endure a cruel death.
For every fell and stout Tartarian steed,
That stamped on others with their thundring hoofs,
When all their riders charg'd their quivering spears, 270
Began to check the ground and rein themselves.
Gazing upon the beauty of their looks.
Ah, Tamburlaine, wert thou the cause of this.
That term'st Zenocrate thy dearest love ?
Whose lives were dearer to Zenocrate
Than her own life, or aught save thine own love.
But see another bloody spectacle.
Ah, wretched eyes, the enemies of my heart,
How are ye glutted with these grievous objects.
And tell my soul more tales of bleeding ruth ! 280
See, see, Anippe, if they breathe or no.
Anip, No breath, nor sense, nor motion, in them both.
Ah, madam, this their slavery hath enforc'd.
And ruthless cruelty of Tamburlaine.
Zeno. Earth, cast up fountains from thy entrails.
And wet thy cheeks for their untimely deaths ;
Shake with their weight in sign of fear and grief.
Blush heaven, that gave them honour at their birth,
269. hoofs] hooves OjOg. 2^6. ThanjThen O3O4. 285. thy] thine O3O4.
271. check the ground] used again. in misery] In this speech alone is
of horses stamping on the ground in reproduced the gist of the reflexions
Hero and Leander, 11. 143-4. with which Mexia accompanies
279. glutted] is an unfortunate the narrative of Bajazet. ' Sic
favourite with Marlowe, most un- transit gloria mundi ' is no part of
suitably used, perhaps, in Faustus, Marlowe's main theme in Tamhur-
but ill-placed here also. Miss laine, but it is skilfully suggested
Seaton points out that it also in the intervals, through Zeno-
occurs in Belleforest's Cosmographie crate's reflexions, and serves to
universelle. (See R.E.S., Oct., emphasize the high colour and
1929, p. 397.) strong movement of the main
285. entrails] here trisyllabic. action. The strophic movement of
288 seq. Blush heaven . . . so long this speech, with its refrain, may
172 THE FIRST PART OF [actv
And let them die a death so barbarous.
Those that are proud of fickle empery 290
And place their chiefest good in earthly pomp,
Behold the Turk and his great emperess !
Ah, Tamburlaine, my love, sweet Tamburlaine,
That fightst 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 ! 300
Ah, mighty Jove and holy Mahomet,
Pardon my love ! O, pardon his contempt
Of earthly fortune and respect of pity ;
And let not conquest, ruthlessly pursued.
Be equally against his life incensed
In this great Turk and hapless emperess !
And pardon me that was not mov'd with ruth
To see them live so long in misery.
Ah, what may chance to thee, Zenocrate ?
Anip. Madam, content yourself, and be resolv'd, 310
Your love hath Fortune so at his command,
That she shall stay and turn her wheel no more,
As long as life maintains his mighty arm
That fights for honour to adorn your head.
Enter a Messenger.
Zeno. What other heavy news now brings Philemus ?
Phil. Madam, your father and th' Arabian king,
The first affect er of your excellence,
Comes now as Turnus 'gainst ^neas did,
294- fightst] fights Oi Og. 298. war] warres O3 O4.
be compared with Part II, 11. iv. 318. as Turnus . . .] The wars of
i~33 > V. hi. 1-41 and 145-158. Turnus and Aeneas, occasioned by
290. empery] empire or imperial Aeneas's marriage with Lavinia,
power, formerly betrothed to Turnus, are
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 173
Armed with lance into the ^Egyptian fields,
Ready for battle 'gainst my lord the king. 320
Zeno. Now shame and duty, love and fear presents
A thousand sorrows to my martyred soul. , \
Whom should I wish the fatal victory, ,
When my poor pleasures are divided thus, ' \
And racked by duty from my cursed heart ? • \
My father and my first betrothed love ^ \
Must fight against my life and present love ;
Wherein the change I use condemns my faith, \ \
And makes my deeds infamous through the world. ' '
But as the gods, to end the Trojan's toil, 330 \ 1
Prevented Turnus of Lavinia, 1
And fatally enriched iEneas' love.
So, for a final issue to my griefs, '
To pacify my country and my love, \'\
\ Must Tamburlaine by their resistless powers,
"^ With virtue of a gentle victory, \'\
% Conclude a league of honour to my hope ; ,, j
^^; Then, as the powers divine have pre-ordained,
\)^ With happy safety of my father's life i''
Y< r.r! Send like defence of fair Arabia. 340 f I
\They sound to the battle. And Tamburlaine enjoys
the victory ; after, Arabia enters wounded.
Arab. What cursed power guides the murdering hands
Of this infamous tyrant's soldiers.
That no escape may save their enemies,
Nor fortune keep themselves from victory ?
Lie down, Arabia, wounded to the death.
And let Zenocrate's fair eyes behold.
That, as for her thou bearst these wretched arms,
333. final] small Og.
described in the seventh book of Virgil, though not, I think, at this
the Aeneid. Marlowe shows from date so close a knowledge as of Ovid.
time to time a knowledge of Compare 11. 330-2 below.
174 THE FIRST PART OF [actv
Even so for her thou diest in these arms,
Leaving thy blood for witness of thy love.
Zeno. Too dear a witness for such love, my lord. 350
Behold Zenocrate, the cursed object
Whose fortunes never mastered her griefs ;
Behold her wounded in conceit for thee,
As much as thy fair body is for me !
Arab. Then shall I die with full contented heart,
Having beheld divine Zenocrate,
Whose sight with joy would take away my life,
As now it bringeth sweetness to my wound.
If I had not been wounded as I am —
Ah, that the deadly pangs I suffer now 360
Would lend an hour's licence to my tongue.
To make discourse of some sweet accidents
Have chanc'd thy merits in this worthless bondage,
And that I might be privy to the state
Of thy deserv'd contentment and thy love !
But making now a virtue of thy sight.
To drive all sorrow from my fainting soul,
Since death denies me further cause of joy,
Depriv'd of care, my heart with comfort dies.
Since thy desired hand shall close mine eyes. 370
Enter Tamburlaine leading the Soldan, Techelles,
Theridamas, Usumcasane, with others.
Tamb. Come, happy father of Zenocrate,
A title higher than thy Soldan's name.
Though my right hand have thus enthralled thee.
Thy princely daughter here shall set thee free.
She that hath calmed the fury of my sword.
Which had ere this been bathed in streams of blood
349. thy blood] my bloodO^- 358. bringeth] bringth O3. 373. have] hath
353. conceit] here equivalent to pare ' That in conceit bear empires-
the modern ' imagination '. Com- on our spears ' (i. ii. 64).
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 175
As vast and deep as Euphrates or Nile.
Zeno. O sight thrice welcome to my joyful soul,
To see the king my father issue safe
From dangerous battle of my conquering love ! 380
Sold. Well met, my only dear Zenocrate,
Though with the loss of Egypt and my crown.
Tamh. 'Twas I, my lord, that gat the victory.
And therefore grieve not at your overthrow,
Since I shall render all into your hands.
And add more strength to your dominions
Then ever yet confirmed th' Egyptian crown.
The god of war resigns his room to me.
Meaning to make me general of the world ; ^
Jove, viewing me in arms, looks pale and wan, 390
Fearing my power should pull him from his throne ;
Where'er I come the fatal sisters sweat.
And grisly death, by running to and fro
To do their ceaseless homage to my sword ;
And here in Afric, where it seldom rains,
Since I arriv'd with my triumphant host.
Have swelling clouds, drawn from wide gasping wounds.
Been oft resolv'd in bloody purple showers,
A meteor that might terrify the earth.
And make it quake at every drop it drinks ; 400
Millions of souls sit on the banks of Styx,
Waiting the back return of Charon's boat ;
Hell and Elysium swarm with ghosts of men
That I have sent from sundry foughten fields
To spread my fame through hell and up to heaven ;
And see, my lord, a sight of strange import,
391. should] shall O3 O4. 392. sweat] sweare O3 O4.
377. Euphrates] With this ac- and almost unconscious blending
centing of the name, Wagner com- of pagan and Christian phraseology
pares Ant. and Cleop., i. ii. 106 : in the phrases about Styx, Charon
* Extended Asia from Euphrates.' and Elysium, followed by the
401-5. Millions of souls . . . up ' up to heaven ' of 1. 405.
io heaven] Again here is the familiar
176 THE FIRST PART OF [actv
Emperors and kings lie breathless at my feet ;
The Turk and his great empress, as it seems,
Left to themselves while we were at the fight,
Have desperately despatched their slavish lives ; 410
With them Arabia too hath left his life :
All sights of power to grace my victory.
And such are objects fit for Tamburlaine,
Wherein, as in a mirror, may be seen
His honour, that consists in shedding blood
When men presume to manage arms with him.
Sold. Mighty hath God and Mahomet made thy hand,
Renowmed Tamburlaine, to whom all kings
Of force must yield their crowns and emperies ; "^^^^
And I am pleased with this my overthrow, 420
If, as beseems a person of thy state,
Thou hast with honour used Zenocrate.
Tamh. Her state and person wants no pomp, you see ;
And for all blot of foul inchastity,
I record heaven, her heavenly self is clear : ,
Then let me find no further time to grace ^
Her princely temples with the Persian crown ; ^*
But here these kings that on my fortunes wait.
And have been crown'd for proved worthiness
Even by this hand that shall establish them, 430
Shall now, adjoining all their hands with mine.
Invest her here my Queen of Persia.
What saith the noble Soldan and Zenocrate ?
Sold. I yield with thanks and protestations
Of endless honour to thee for her love.
Tamh. Then doubt I not but fair Zenocrate
Will soon consent to satisfy us both.
Zeno. Else should I much forget myself, my lord.
Ther. Then let us set the crown upon her head.
That long hath lingered for so high a seat. 440
Tech. My hand is ready to perform the deed,
432. my] the O^. 436. I not] not I O3 O4. 438, Else] Then Og.
sc. II] TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT 177
For now her marriage time shall work us rest.
Usum. And here's the crown, my lord ; help set it on.
Tamh. Then sit thou down, divine Zenocrate ;
And here we crown thee Queen of Persia,
And all the kingdoms and dominions
That late the power of Tamburlaine subdued.
As Juno, when the giants were suppressed
That darted mountains at her brother Jove,
So looks my love, shadowing in her brows 450
Triumphs and trophies for my victories ;
Or as Latona's daughter, bent to arms.
Adding more courage to my conquering mind.
To gratify thee, sweet Zenocrate,
Egyptians, Moors, and men of Asia,
From Barbary unto the Western Indie,
Shall pay a yearly tribute to thy sire ;
And from the bounds of Afric to the banks
Of Ganges shall his mighty arm extend.
And now, my lords and loving followers, 460
That purchas'd kingdoms by your martial deeds.
Cast off your armour, put on scarlet robes.
Mount up your royal places of estate.
Environed with troops of noble men.
And there make laws to rule your provinces :
Hang up your weapons on Alcides' post ;
443. on] om. O2. 461. your] you O3. martial] matiall O^.
448. As Juno . . .] This appears 466. Alcides' post] The emenda-
to be Marlowe's own image. Hera tion ' posts ' substituted (perhaps
is not specifically mentioned in by confusion with the Pillars of
classical accounts of the battles Hercules ?) by Dyce and others
between Zeus and the Titans. for the reading of the octavos is
452. Latona's daughter] The arms invalidated by Horace's lines :
of Artemis (daughter of Leto) are .
not, strictly, those of war, but of , ,, ,. Veianms, armis
the chase Herculis ad postem fixis, latet
456. From Barbary . . . Indie] abditus agro.'
That is, from the northern coast of \^P-' ^- ^- 4""5-) _
Africa in the west to the Ganges ' Post ' is an obvious Latinism,
in the east, the extent, eastward and ' postis ' being the door-post of the
westward, of Tamburlaine's empire, temple.
12
178 TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT [actv
For Tamburlaine takes truce with all the world.
Thy first betrothed love, Arabia,
Shall we with honour, as beseems, entomb,
A With this great Turk and his fair emperess. 470
11 Then, after all these solemn exequies,
II We will our rites of marriage solemnise.
[1 Finis Actus quinti and ultimi huius primae partis.
t
^' 469. as] as best Og- 472. rites'] conj. Mit. celebrated rites O1-4.
472. rites] The reading follows octavos agree in the reading ' cele-
the conjecture of Mitford. The brated rites '.
u
h<
Ci
^
<
s-
Ph
>;
o
«
(x,
<;
hi
TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT
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