Tamburlaine the Great — Part 2

AMYRAS.  Alas, my lord, how should our bleeding hearts,
Wounded and broken with your highness' grief,
Retain a thought of joy or spark of life?
Your soul gives essence to our wretched subjects, 312 (#x8_x_8_i87)
Whose matter is incorporate in your flesh.

CELEBINUS.  Your pains do pierce our souls; no hope survives,
For by your life we entertain our lives.

TAMBURLAINE.  But, sons, this subject, not of force enough
To hold the fiery spirit it contains,
Must part, imparting his impressions
By equal portions into 313 (#x8_x_8_i92) both your breasts;
My flesh, divided in your precious shapes,
Shall still retain my spirit, though I die,
And live in all your seeds 314 (#x8_x_8_i95) immortally.—
Then now remove me, that I may resign
My place and proper title to my son.—
First, take my scourge and my imperial crown,
And mount my royal chariot of estate,
That I may see thee crown'd before I die.—
Help me, my lords, to make my last remove.

[They assist TAMBURLAINE to descend from the chariot.]

THERIDAMAS.  A woful change, my lord, that daunts our thoughts
More than the ruin of our proper souls!

TAMBURLAINE.  Sit up, my son, [and] let me see how well
Thou wilt become thy father's majesty.

AMYRAS.  With what a flinty bosom should I joy
The breath of life and burden of my soul,
If not resolv'd into resolved pains,
My body's mortified lineaments 315 (#x8_x_8_i98)
Should exercise the motions of my heart,
Pierc'd with the joy of any dignity!
O father, if the unrelenting ears
Of Death and Hell be shut against my prayers,
And that the spiteful influence of Heaven
Deny my soul fruition of her joy,
How should I step, or stir my hateful feet
Against the inward powers of my heart,
Leading a life that only strives to die,
And plead in vain unpleasing sovereignty!

TAMBURLAINE.  Let not thy love exceed thine honour, son,
Nor bar thy mind that magnanimity
That nobly must admit necessity.
Sit up, my boy, and with these 316 (#x8_x_8_i101) silken reins
Bridle the steeled stomachs of these 317 (#x8_x_8_i104) jades.

THERIDAMAS.  My lord, you must obey his majesty,
Since fate commands and proud necessity.

AMYRAS.  Heavens witness me with what a broken heart

[Mounting the chariot.]

And damned 318 (#x8_x_8_i107) spirit I ascend this seat,
And send my soul, before my father die,
His anguish and his burning agony!

[They crown AMYRAS.]

TAMBURLAINE.  Now fetch the hearse of fair Zenocrate;
Let it be plac'd by this my fatal chair,
And serve as parcel of my funeral.

USUMCASANE.  Then feels your majesty no sovereign ease,
Nor may our hearts, all drown'd in tears of blood,
Joy any hope of your recovery?

TAMBURLAINE.  Casane, no; the monarch of the earth,
And eyeless monster that torments my soul,
Cannot behold the tears ye shed for me,
And therefore still augments his cruelty.

TECHELLES.  Then let some god oppose his holy power
Against the wrath and tyranny of Death,
That his tear-thirsty and unquenched hate
May be upon himself reverberate!

[They bring in the hearse of ZENOCRATE.]

TAMBURLAINE.  Now, eyes, enjoy your latest benefit,
And, when my soul hath virtue of your sight,
Pierce through the coffin and the sheet of gold,
And glut your longings with a heaven of joy.
So, reign, my son; scourge and control those slaves,
Guiding thy chariot with thy father's hand.
As precious is the charge thou undertak'st
As that which Clymene's 319 (#x8_x_8_i110) brain-sick son did guide,
When wandering Phoebe's 320 (#x8_x_8_i113) ivory cheeks were scorch'd,
And all the earth, like Aetna, breathing fire:
Be warn'd by him, then; learn with awful eye
To sway a throne as dangerous as his;
For, if thy body thrive not full of thoughts
As pure and fiery as Phyteus' 321 (#x8_x_8_i116) beams,