Act I, Scene iv

[Enter] TAMBURLAINE with ZENOCRATE, and his three sons, CALYPHAS, AMYRAS, and CELEBINUS, with drums and trumpets

TAMBURLAINE
Now, bright Zenocrate, the world’s fair eye.
Whose beams illuminate the lamps of heaven.
Whose cheerful looks do clear the cloudy air
And clothe it in a crystal livery,
Now rest thee here on fair Larissa plains,	5
Where Egypt and the Turkish empire parts,
Between thy sons that shall be emperors,
And every one commander of a world.
ZENOCRATE
Sweet Tamburlaine, when wilt thou leave these arms
And save thy sacred person free from scathe	10
And dangerous chances of the wrathful war?
TAMBURLAINE
When heaven shall cease to move on both the poles
And when the ground whereon my soldiers march
Shall rise aloft and touch the hornèd moon,
And not before, my sweet Zenocrate;	15
Sit up and rest thee like a lovely queen.
So, now she sits in pomp and majesty,
When these my sons, more precious in mine eyes
Than all the wealthy kingdoms I subdued,
Placed by her side, look on their mother’s face.	20
But yet methinks their looks are amorous,
Not martial as the sons of Tamburlaine.
Water and air being symbolized in one
Argue their want of courage and of wit;
Their hair as white as milk and soft as down,	25
Which should be like the quills of porcupines,
As black as jet, and hard as iron or steel,
Bewrays they are too dainty for the wars.
Their fingers made to quaver on a lute,
Their arms to hang about a lady’s neck,	30
Their legs to dance and caper in the air,
Would make me think them bastards, not my sons,
But that I know they issued from thy womb,
That never looked on man but Tamburlaine.
ZENOCRATE
My gracious lord, they have their mother’s looks,	35
But when they list, their conquering father’s heart:
This lovely boy, the youngest of the three,
Not long ago bestrid a Scythian steed,
Trotting the ring and tilting at a glove,
Which when he tainted with his slender rod,	40
He reined him straight and made him so curvet,
As I cried out for fear he should have fall’n.
TAMBURLAINE
Well done, my boy, thou shalt have shield and lance,
Armour of proof, horse, helm, and curtle-axe,
And I will teach thee how to charge thy foe	45
And harmless run among the deadly pikes.
If thou wilt love the wars and follow me,
Thou shalt be made a king and reign with me,
Keeping in iron cages emperors.
If thou exceed thy elder brothers’ worth	50
And shine in complete virtue more than they,
Thou shalt be king before them, and thy seed
Shall issue crowned from their mother’s womb.
CELEBINUS
Yes father, you shall see me if I live
Have under me as many kings as you,	55
And march with such a multitude of men
As all the world shall tremble at their view.
TAMBURLAINE
These words assure me, boy, thou art my son.
When I am old and cannot manage arms,
Be thou the scourge and terror of the world.	60
AMYRAS
Why may not I, my lord, as well as he,
Be termed the scourge and terror of the world?
TAMBURLAINE
Be all a scourge and terror to the world,
Or else you are not sons of Tamburlaine.
CALYPHAS
But while my brothers follow arms, my lord,	65
Let me accompany my gracious mother,
They are enough to conquer all the world
And you have won enough for me to keep.
TAMBURLAINE
Bastardly boy, sprung from some coward’s loins,
And not the issue of great Tamburlaine,	70
Of all the provinces I have subdued
Thou shalt not have a foot, unless thou bear
A mind courageous and invincible:
For he shall wear the crown of Persia ‘
Whose head hath deepest scars, whose breast most wounds,	75
Which being wroth, sends lightning from his eyes,
And in the furrows of his frowning brows
Harbours revenge, war, death and cruelty.
For in a field whose superficies
Is covered with a liquid purple veil	80
And sprinkled with the brains of slaughtered men,
My royal chair of state shall be advanced,
And he that means to place himself therein
Must armèd wade up to the chin in blood.
ZENOCRATE
My lord, such speeches to our princely sons	85
Dismays their minds before they come to prove
The wounding troubles angry war affords.
CELEBINUS
No madam, these are speeches fit for us,
For if his chair were in a sea of blood
I would prepare a ship and sail to it,	90
Ere I would lose the title of a king.
AMYRAS
And I would strive to swim through pools of blood
Or make a bridge of murdered carcasses
Whose arches should be framed with bones of Turks,
Ere I would lose the title of a king.	95
TAMBURLAINE
Well, lovely boys, you shall be emperors both,
Stretching your conquering arms from east to west;
And, sirrah, if you mean to wear a crown,
When we shall meet the Turkish deputy
And all his viceroys, snatch it from his head,	100
And cleave his pericranion with thy sword.
CALYPHAS
If any man will hold him, I will strike,
And cleave him to the channel with my sword.
TAMBURLAINE
Hold him and cleave him too, or I’ll cleave thee,
For we will march against them presently.	105
Theridamas, Techelles, and Casane
Promised to meet me on Larissa plains
With hosts apiece against this Turkish crew,
For I have sworn by sacred Mahomet
To make it parcel of my empery.	110
The trumpets sound, Zenocrate, they come.