Enter CALLAPINE, ORCANES, the KINGS OF JERUSALEM, TREBIZON, and SORIA, with their train, ALMEDA, and a MESSENGER.
MESSENGER.Renowmed emperor, mighty Callapine, God's great lieutenant over all the world, Here at Aleppo, with an host of men, Lies Tamburlaine, this king of Persia, (In number more than are the quivering leaves Of Ida's forest, where your highness' hounds With open cry pursue the wounded stag,)
Who means to girt Natolia's walls with siege, Fire the town, and over-run the land.
CALLAPINE.My royal army is as great as his, That, from the bounds of Phrygia to the sea Which washeth Cyprus with his brinish waves, Covers the hills, the valleys, and the plains.
Viceroys and peers of Turkey, play the men;
Whet all your swords to mangle Tamburlaine, His sons, his captains, and his followers:
By Mahomet, not one of them shall live!
The field wherein this battle shall be fought For ever term'd the Persians' sepulchre, In memory of this our victory.
ORCANES.Now he that calls himself the scourge of Jove, The emperor of the world, and earthly god, Shall end the warlike progress he intends, And travel headlong to the lake of hell, Where legions of devils (knowing he must die Here in Natolia by your highness' hands), All brandishing their brands of quenchless fire, Stretching their monstrous paws, grin with their teeth, And guard the gates to entertain his soul.
CALLAPINE.Tell me, viceroys, the number of your men, And what our army royal is esteem'd.
KING OF JERUSALEM.From Palestina and Jerusalem, Of Hebrews three score thousand fighting men Are come, since last we shew'd your majesty.
ORCANES.So from Arabia Desert, and the bounds Of that sweet land whose brave metropolis Re-edified the fair Semiramis, Came forty thousand warlike foot and horse, Since last we number'd to your majesty.
KING OF TREBIZON.From Trebizon in Asia the Less, Naturaliz'd Turks and stout Bithynians Came to my bands, full fifty thousand more, (That, fighting, know not what retreat doth mean, Nor e'er return but with the victory,)
Since last we number'd to your majesty.
KING OF SORIA.Of Sorians from Halla is repair'd,
And neighbour cities of your highness' land,
Ten thousand horse, and thirty thousand foot, Since last we number'd to your majesty;
So that the army royal is esteem'd Six hundred thousand valiant fighting men.
CALLAPINE.Then welcome, Tamburlaine, unto thy death!--
Come, puissant viceroys, let us to the field (The Persians' sepulchre), and sacrifice Mountains of breathless men to Mahomet, Who now, with Jove, opens the firmament To see the slaughter of our enemies.
Enter TAMBURLAINE with his three SONS, CALYPHAS, AMYRAS, and CELEBINUS; USUMCASANE, and others.
TAMBURLAINE.How now, Casane! see, a knot of kings, Sitting as if they were a-telling riddles!
USUMCASANE.My lord, your presence makes them pale and wan:
Poor souls, they look as if their deaths were near.
TAMBURLAINE.Why, so he is, Casane; I am here:
But yet I'll save their lives, and make them slaves.--
Ye petty kings of Turkey, I am come, As Hector did into the Grecian camp, To overdare the pride of Graecia, And set his warlike person to the view Of fierce Achilles, rival of his fame:
I do you honour in the simile;
For, if I should, as Hector did Achilles, (The worthiest knight that ever brandish'd sword,)
Challenge in combat any of you all, I see how fearfully ye would refuse, And fly my glove as from a scorpion.
ORCANES.Now, thou art fearful of thy army's strength, Thou wouldst with overmatch of person fight:
But, shepherd's issue, base-born Tamburlaine, Think of thy end; this sword shall lance thy throat.
TAMBURLAINE.Villain, the shepherd's issue (at whose birth Heaven did afford a gracious aspect, And join'd those stars that shall be opposite Even till the dissolution of the world, And never meant to make a conqueror So famous as is mighty Tamburlaine)
