Enter the KINGS OF TREBIZON and SORIA, one bringing a sword and the other a sceptre; next, ORCANES king of Natolia, and the KING OF JERUSALEM with the imperial crown, after, CALLAPINE; and, after him, other LORDS and ALMEDA.
ORCANES and the KING OF JERUSALEM crown CALLAPINE, and the others give him the sceptre.
ORCANES.Callapinus Cyricelibes, otherwise Cybelius, son and successive heir to the late mighty emperor Bajazeth, by the aid of God and his friend Mahomet, Emperor of Natolia, Jerusalem, Trebizon, Soria, Amasia, Thracia, Ilyria, Carmania, and all the hundred and thirty kingdoms late contributory to his mighty father,--long live Callapinus, Emperor of Turkey!
CALLAPINE.Thrice-worthy kings, of Natolia and the rest, I will requite your royal gratitudes With all the benefits my empire yields;
And, were the sinews of th' imperial seat So knit and strengthen'd as when Bajazeth, My royal lord and father, fill'd the throne, Whose cursed fate hath so dismember'd it, Then should you see this thief of Scythia, This proud usurping king of Persia, Do us such honour and supremacy, Bearing the vengeance of our father's wrongs, As all the world should blot his dignities Out of the book of base-born infamies.
And now I doubt not but your royal cares Have so provided for this cursed foe, That, since the heir of mighty Bajazeth (An emperor so honour'd for his virtues)
Revives the spirits of all true Turkish hearts, In grievous memory of his father's shame, We shall not need to nourish any doubt, But that proud Fortune, who hath follow'd long The martial sword of mighty Tamburlaine, Will now retain her old inconstancy, And raise our honoursFrom all the cruelty my soul sustain'd, By this my friendly keeper's happy means, That Jove, surcharg'd with pity of our wrongs, Will pour it down in showers on our heads, Scourging the pride of cursed Tamburlaine.
ORCANES.I have a hundred thousand men in arms;
Some that, in conquest of the perjur'd Christian, Being a handful to a mighty host, Think them in number yet sufficient To drink the river Nile or Euphrates, And for their power enow to win the world.
KING OF JERUSALEM.And I as many from Jerusalem, Judaea, Gaza, and Sclavonia's bounds, That on mount Sinai, with their ensigns spread, Look like the parti-colour'd clouds of heaven That shew fair weather to the neighbour morn.
KING OF TREBIZON.And I as many bring from Trebizon, Chio, Famastro, and Amasia, All bordering on the Mare-Major-sea, Riso, Sancina, and the bordering towns That touch the end of famous Euphrates, Whose courages are kindled with the flames The cursed Scythian sets on all their towns, And vow to burn the villain's cruel heart.
KING OF SORIA.From Soria with seventy thousand strong, Ta'en from Aleppo, Soldino, Tripoly, And so unto my city of Damascus,
I march to meet and aid my neighbour kings;
All which will join against this Tamburlaine, And bring him captive to your highness' feet.
ORCANES.Our battle, then, in martial manner pitch'd, According to our ancient use, shall bear The figure of the semicircled moon, Whose horns shell sprinkle through the tainted air The poison'd brains of this proud Scythian.
CALLAPINE.Well, then, my noble lords, for this my friend That freed me from the bondage of my foe, I think it requisite and honourable To keep my promise and to make him king, That is a gentleman, I know, at least.
ALMEDA.That's no matter, sir, for being a king;
or Tamburlaine came up of nothing.
KING OF JERUSALEM.Your majesty may choose some 'pointed time, Performing all your promise to the full;
'Tis naught for your majesty to give a kingdom.
CALLAPINE.Then will I shortly keep my promise, Almeda.
ALMEDA.Why, I thank your majesty.
[Exeunt.]
