BAJ. Kings of Fez, Morocco, and Argier, He calls me Bajazet, whom you call lord! Note the presumption of this Scythian slave! I tell thee, villain; those that lead my horse, Have to their names title of dignity, And dar'st thou bluntly call me Bajazet? TAMB. And know, thou Turk, that those which lead my horse, Shall lead thee captive thorough Africa; He shall be made a chaste and lustless eunuch, TAMB. By this my sword, that conquer'd Persia, Thy fall shall make me famous through the world. I will not tell thee how I'll handle thee, But every common soldier of my camp Shall smile to see thy miserable state. K. OF FEZ. What means the mighty Turkish emperor, To talk with one so base as Tamburlaine? K. OF MOR. Ye Moors and valiant men of Barbary, How can ye suffer these indignities? K. OF ARG. Leave words, and let them feel your lances' points Which glided through the bowels of the Greeks. BAJ. Well said, my stout contributory kings: Your threefold army and my huge host Shall swallow up these base-born Persians. TECH. Puissant, renowned, and mighty Tamburlaine, Why stay we thus prolonging of their lives? THER. I long to see those crowns won by our swords, That we may rule as kings of Africa. USUM. What coward would not fight for such a prize? TAMB. Fight all courageously, and be you kings; I speak it, and my words are oracles. BAJ. Zabina, mother of three braver boys Than Hercules, that in his infancy Did part the jaws of serpents venomous; ZAB. Such good success happen to Bajazet! Whose eyes are brighter than the lamps of heaven, Zeno. And may my love the king of Persia, BAJ. Now shalt thou feel the force of Turkish arms, Which lately made all Europe quake for fear. TAMB. Our conq'ring swords shall marshal us the way We use to march upon the slaughter'd foe, Direct our bullets and our weapons' points, -- And make our strokes to wound the senseless light, swords, That thirst to drink the feeble Persian's blood. [Exit, with his followers. ZAB. Base concubine! must thou be plac'd by me, That am the empress of the mighty Turk? ZENO. Disdainful Turkess and unrev'rend Boss!* Callest thou me concubine, that am betroth'd Unto the great and mighty Tamburlaine? * Boss, a contemptuous epithet, expressive of the inflated pride of the Turkish empress ;-a tumour, an excrescence. ZAB. To Tamburlaine, the great Tartarian thief! Zeno. Thou wilt repent these lavish words of thine, When thy great bassa-master and thyself Must plead for mercy at his kingly feet, And sue to me to be your advocate. ZAB. And sue to thee ! I tell thee, shameless girl, Thou shalt be laundress to my waiting maid! How likest thou her, Ebra ?--Will she serve? Ebra. Madam, perhaps, she thinks she is too fine, But I shall turn her into other weeds, And make her dainty fingers fall to work. Zeno. Hear’st thou, Anippe, how thy drudge doth talk ? And how my slave, her mistress, menaceth? Both for their sauciness shall be employ'd To dress the common soldiers' meat and drink, For we will scorn they should come near ourselves. ANIP. Yet sometimes let your highness send for them, To do the work my chambermaid disdains. [They sound to the battle within. Zeno. Ye Gods and Pow'rs that govern Persia, And made my lordly love her worthy king, Now strengthen him against the fearful Bajazet, And let his foes, like flocks of fearful roes Pursu'd by hunters fly his angry looks, That I may see him issue conqueror ! ZAB. Now, Mahomet, solicit God himself, 4 VOL I. |