English

Tamburlaine :
Now fetch me out the Turkish concubines,
I will prefer them for the funeral
They have bestowed on my abortive son.
Where are my common soldiers now, that fought
So lion-like upon Asphaltis' plains?

Soldiers :
Here my lord.

Tamburlaine :
Hold ye tall soldiers, take ye queens apiece —
I mean such queens as were kings' concubines.
Take them, divide them and their jewels too,
And let them equally serve all your turns.

Soldiers :
We thank your majesty.

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,

Turburlaine :
Bastardly boy, sprung from some coward's loins,
And not the issue of great Tamburlaine!
Of all the provinces I have subdu'd
Thou shalt not have a foot, unless thou bear
A mind courageous and invincible;
For he shall wear the crown of Persia
Whose head hath deepest scars, whose breast most wounds,
Which, being wroth, sends lightning from his eyes,
And in the furrows of his frowning brows
Harbours revenge, war, death, and cruelty;
For in a field, whose superficies
Is cover'd with a liquid purple veil,

Tamburlaine . Virgins, in vain you labour to prevent
That which mine honour swears shall be perform'd.
Behold my sword; what see you at the point?
First Virgin . Nothing but fear and fatal steel, my lord.
Tamb . Your fearful minds are thick and misty, then,
For there sits death; there sits imperious Death,
Keeping his circuit by the slicing edge.
But I am pleas'd you shall not see him there;
He now is seated on my horsemen's spears,
And on their points his fleshless body feeds. —

tamburlaine:Nature that fram'd us of foure Elements,
Warring within our breasts for regiment,
Doth teach us all to have aspyring minds:
Our soules, whose faculties can comprehend
The wondrous Architecture of the world:
And measure every wandring plannets course,
Still climing after knowledge infinite,
And alwaies mooving as the restles Spheares,
Wils us to weare our selves and never rest,
Untill we reach the ripest fruit of all,
That perfect blisse and sole felicitie,
The sweet fruition of an earthly crowne.

Menaphon :
Your majesty shall shortly have your wish,
And ride in triumph through Persepolis.

Tamburlaine :
And ride in triumph through Persepolis!
Is it not brave to be a king, Techelles?
Is it not passing brave to be a king
And ride in triumph through Persepolis?

[The Overreacher]
In thee, thou valiant man of Persia,
I see the folly of thy emperor.
Art thou but captain of a thousand horse,
That, by characters graven in thy brows,
And by thy martial face and stout aspect,
Deserv'st to have the leading of an host?
Forsake thy king, and do but join with me,
And we will triumph over all the world.
I hold the Fates bound fast in iron chains,
And with my hand turn Fortune's wheel about;
And sooner shall the sun fall from his sphere

from Dido, Queen of Carthage
Æneas : The Grecian soldiers, tired with ten years' war,
Began to cry, " Let us unto our ships,
Troy is invincible, why stay we here?"
With whose outcries Atrides being appalled,
Summoned the Captains to his princely tent;
Who, looking on the scars we Trojans gave,
Seeing the number of their men decreased,
And the remainder weak and out of heart,
Gave up their voices to dislodge the camp,
And so in troops all marched to Tenedos:
Where when they came, Ulysses on the sand

From Dido, Queene of Carthage
[AENEAS] Then he unlockt the Horse, and suddenly
From out his entrailes, Neoptolemus
Setting his speare upon the ground, leapt forth,
And after him a thousand Grecians more,
In whose sterne faces shin'd the quenchles fire,
That after burnt the pride of Asia .
By this the Campe was come unto the walles,
And through the breach did march into the streetes,
Where meeting with the rest, kill kill they cryed.
Frighted with this confused noyse, I rose,
And looking from a turret, might behold

From Dido, Queen of Carthage (1593)

[Jupiter woos Ganymede]

[Here the Curtaines draw, there is discovered Jupiter dandling Ganimed upon hi knee, and Mercury lying asleepe ]
JUPITER: What is't, sweet wag, I should deny thy youth?
Whose face reflects such pleasure to mine eyes,
As I, exhal'd with thy fire-darting beams,
Have oft driven back the horses of the Night,
Whence they would have hal'd thee from my sight.
Sit on my knee, and call for thy content,
Why, are not all the gods at thy command,