Tamburlaine the Great — Part 2

Because I stay!  Techelles, let us march,
And weary Death with bearing souls to hell.

FIRST PHYSICIAN.  Pleaseth your majesty to drink this potion,
Which will abate the fury of your fit,
And cause some milder spirits govern you.
TAMBURLAINE.  Tell me what think you of my sickness now?

FIRST PHYSICIAN.  I view'd your urine, and the hypostasis, 303 (#x8_x_8_i44)
Thick and obscure, doth make your danger great:
Your veins are full of accidental heat,
Whereby the moisture of your blood is dried:
The humidum and calor, which some hold
Is not a parcel of the elements,
But of a substance more divine and pure,
Is almost clean extinguished and spent;
Which, being the cause of life, imports your death:
Besides, my lord, this day is critical,
Dangerous to those whose crisis is as yours:
Your artiers, 304 (#x8_x_8_i47) which alongst the veins convey
The lively spirits which the heart engenders,
Are parch'd and void of spirit, that the soul,
Wanting those organons by which it moves,
Cannot endure, by argument of art.
Yet, if your majesty may escape this day,
No doubt but you shall soon recover all.

TAMBURLAINE.  Then will I comfort all my vital parts,
And live, in spite of death, above a day.

[Alarms within.]

Enter a Messenger.

MESSENGER.  My lord, young Callapine, that lately fled from your majesty, hath now gathered a fresh army, and, hearing your absence in the field, offers to set upon 305 (#x8_x_8_i66) us presently.

TAMBURLAINE.  See, my physicians, now, how Jove hath sent
A present medicine to recure my pain!
My looks shall make them fly; and, might I follow,
There should not one of all the villain's power
Live to give offer of another fight.

USUMCASANE.  I joy, my lord, your highness is so strong,
That can endure so well your royal presence,
Which only will dismay the enemy.

TAMBURLAINE.  I know it will, Casane.—Draw, you slaves!
In spite of death, I will go shew my face.

[Alarms.  Exit TAMBURLAINE with all the rest (except the

PHYSICIANS), and re-enter presently.]

TAMBURLAINE.  Thus are the villain cowards 306 (#x8_x_8_i69) fled for fear,
Like summer's vapours vanish'd by the sun;
And, could I but a while pursue the field,
That Callapine should be my slave again.
But I perceive my martial strength is spent:
In vain I strive and rail against those powers
That mean t' invest me in a higher throne,
As much too high for this disdainful earth.
Give me a map; then let me see how much
Is left for me to conquer all the world,
That these, my boys, may finish all my wants.
[One brings a map.]
Here I began to march towards Persia,
Along Armenia and the Caspian Sea,
And thence unto 307 (#x8_x_8_i72) Bithynia, where I took
The Turk and his great empress prisoners.
Then march'd I into Egypt and Arabia;
And here, not far from Alexandria,
Whereas 308 (#x8_x_8_i75) the Terrene 309 (#x8_x_8_i78) and the Red Sea meet,
Being distant less than full a hundred leagues,
I meant to cut a channel to them both,
That men might quickly sail to India.
]From thence to Nubia near Borno-lake,
And so along the Aethiopian sea,
Cutting the tropic line of Capricorn,
I conquer'd all as far as Zanzibar.
Then, by the northern part of Africa,
I came at last to Graecia, and from thence
To Asia, where I stay against my will;
Which is from Scythia, where I first began, 310 (#x8_x_8_i81)
Backward[s] and forwards near five thousand leagues.
Look here, my boys; see, what a world of ground
Lies westward from the midst of Cancer's line
Unto the rising of this 311 (#x8_x_8_i84) earthly globe,
Whereas the sun, declining from our sight,
Begins the day with our Antipodes!
And shall I die, and this unconquered?
Lo, here, my sons, are all the golden mines,
Inestimable drugs and precious stones,
More worth than Asia and the world beside;
And from th' Antarctic Pole eastward behold
As much more land, which never was descried,
Wherein are rocks of pearl that shine as bright
As all the lamps that beautify the sky!
And shall I die, and this unconquered?
Here, lovely boys; what death forbids my life,
That let your lives command in spite of death.