Enter TAMBURLAINE and his three sons, CALYPHAS, AMYRAS, and CELEBINUS; USUMCASANE; four ATTENDANTS bearing the hearse of ZENOCRATE, and the drums sounding a doleful march; the town burning.
TAMBURLAINE.So burn the turrets of this cursed town, Flame to the highest region of the air, And kindle heaps of exhalations, That, being fiery meteors, may presage Death and destruction to the inhabitants!
Over my zenith hang a blazing star, That may endure till heaven be dissolv'd, Fed with the fresh supply of earthly dregs, Threatening a dearth and famine to this land!
Flying dragons, lightning, fearful thunder-claps, Singe these fair plains, and make them seem as black As is the island where the Furies mask, Compass'd with Lethe, Styx, and Phlegethon, Because my dear Zenocrate is dead!
CALYPHAS.This pillar, plac'd in memory of her, Where in Arabian, Hebrew, Greek, is writ, THIS TOWN, BEING BURNT BY TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT, FORBIDS THE WORLD TO BUILD IT UP AGAIN.
AMYRAS.And here this mournful streamer shall be plac'd, Wrought with the Persian and th' Egyptian arms, To signify she was a princess born, And wife unto the monarch of the East.
CELEBINUS.And here this table as a register Of all her virtues and perfections.
TAMBURLAINE.And here the picture of Zenocrate, To shew her beauty which the world admir'd;
Sweet picture of divine Zenocrate, That, hanging here, will draw the gods from heaven, And cause the stars fix'd in the southern arc, (Whose lovely faces never any view'd That have not pass'd the centre's latitude,)
As pilgrims travel to our hemisphere, Only to gaze upon Zenocrate.
Thou shalt not beautify Larissa-plains, But keep within the circle of mine arms:
At every town and castle I besiege, Thou shalt be set upon my royal tent;
And, when I meet an army in the field, Those looks will shed such influence in my camp, As if Bellona, goddess of the war, Threw naked swords and sulphur-balls of fire Upon the heads of all our enemies.--
And now, my lords, advance your spears again;
Sorrow no more, my sweet Casane, now:
Boys, leave to mourn; this town shall ever mourn, Being burnt to cinders for your mother's death.
CALYPHAS.If I had wept a sea of tears for her, would not ease the sorrows I sustain.
AMYRAS.As is that town, so is my heart consum'd With grief and sorrow for my mother's death.
CELEBINUS.My mother's death hath mortified my mind, And sorrow stops the passage of my speech.
TAMBURLAINE.But now, my boys, leave off, and list to me, That mean to teach you rudiments of war.
I'll have you learn to sleep upon the ground, March in your armour thorough watery fens, Sustain the scorching heat and freezing cold, Hunger and thirst, right adjuncts of the war;
And, after this, to scale a castle-wall, Besiege a fort, to undermine a town, And make whole cities caper in the air:
Then next, the way to fortify your men;
In champion grounds what figure serves you best, For which the quinque-angle form is meet, Because the corners there may fall more flat Whereas the fort may fittest be assail'd, And sharpest where th' assault is desperate:
The ditches must be deep; the counterscarps Narrow and steep; the walls made high and broad;
The bulwarks and the rampires large and strong, With cavalieros and thick counterforts, And room within to lodge six thousand men;
It must have privy ditches, countermines, And secret issuings to defend the ditch;
