Enter TAMBURLAINE, drawn in his chariot by the KINGS OF
TREBIZON and SORIA, with bits in their mouths, reins in his left hand, and in his right hand a whip with which he scourgeth them; AMYRAS, CELEBINUS, TECHELLES, THERIDAMAS, USUMCASANE; ORCANES king of Natolia, and the KING OF JERUSALEM, led by five or six common SOLDIERS;
and other SOLDIERS.
TAMBURLAINE.Holla, ye pamper'd jades of Asia!
What, can ye draw but twenty miles a-day, And have so proud a chariot at your heels, And such a coachman as great Tamburlaine, But from Asphaltis, where I conquer'd you, To Byron here, where thus I honour you?
The horse that guide the golden eye of heaven, And blow the morning from their nostrils,
Making their fiery gait above the clouds, Are not so honour'd in their governor As you, ye slaves, in mighty Tamburlaine.
The headstrong jades of Thrace Alcides tam'd, That King Aegeus fed with human flesh, And made so wanton that they knew their strengths, Were not subdu'd with valour more divine Than you by this unconquer'd arm of mine.
To make you fierce, and fit my appetite, You shall be fed with flesh as raw as blood, And drink in pails the strongest muscadel:
If you can live with it, then live, and draw My chariot swifter than the racking clouds;
If not, then die like beasts, and fit for naught But perches for the black and fatal ravens.
Thus am I right the scourge of highest Jove;
And see the figure of my dignity, By which I hold my name and majesty!
AMYRAS.Let me have coach, my lord, that I may ride, And thus be drawn by these two idle kings.
TAMBURLAINE.Thy youth forbids such ease, my kingly boy:
They shall to-morrow draw my chariot, While these their fellow-kings may be refresh'd.
ORCANES.O thou that sway'st the region under earth, And art a king as absolute as Jove, Come as thou didst in fruitful Sicily, Surveying all the glories of the land, And as thou took'st the fair Proserpina, Joying the fruit of Ceres' garden-plot,
For love, for honour, and to make her queen, So, for just hate, for shame, and to subdue This proud contemner of thy dreadful power, Come once in fury, and survey his pride, Haling him headlong to the lowest hell!
THERIDAMAS.Your majesty must get some bits for these, To bridle their contemptuous cursing tongues, That, like unruly never-broken jades, Break through the hedges of their hateful mouths, And pass their fixed bounds exceedingly.
TECHELLES.Nay, we will break the hedges of their mouths, And pull their kicking colts out of their pastures.
USUMCASANE.Your majesty already hath devis'd A mean, as fit as may be, to restrain These coltish coach-horse tongues from blasphemy.
CELEBINUS.How like you that, sir king? why speak you not?
KING OF JERUSALEM.Ah, cruel brat, sprung from a tyrant's loins!
How like his cursed father he begins To practice taunts and bitter tyrannies!
TAMBURLAINE.Ay, Turk, I tell thee, this same boy is he That must (advanc'd in higher pomp than this)
Rifle the kingdoms I shall leave unsack'd, If Jove, esteeming me too good for earth, Raise me, to match the fair Aldeboran, Above the threefold astracism of heaven, Before I conquer all the triple world.--
Now fetch me out the Turkish concubines:
