ZENOCRATE.By this the Turks lie weltering in their blood, And Tamburlaine is lord of Africa.
ZABINA.Thou art deceiv'd.I heard the trumpets sound As when my emperor overthrew the Greeks, And led them captive into Africa.
Straight will I use thee as thy pride deserves;
Prepare thyself to live and die my slave.
ZENOCRATE.If Mahomet should come from heaven and swear My royal lord is slain or conquered, Yet should he not persuade me otherwise But that he lives and will be conqueror.
Re-enter BAJAZETH, pursued by TAMBURLAINE.<180>
TAMBURLAINE.Now, king of bassoes, who is conqueror?
BAJAZETH.Thou, by the fortune of this damned foil.<181>
TAMBURLAINE.Where are your stout contributory kings?
Re-enter TECHELLES, THERIDAMAS, and USUMCASANE.
TECHELLES.We have their crowns; their bodies strow the field.
TAMBURLAINE.Each man a crown! why, kingly fought, i'faith.
Deliver them into my treasury.
ZENOCRATE.Now let me offer to my gracious lord His royal crown again so highly won.
TAMBURLAINE.Nay, take the Turkish crown from her, Zenocrate, And crown me emperor of Africa.
ZABINA.No, Tamburlaine; though now thou gat<182> the best, Thou shalt not yet be lord of Africa.
THERIDAMAS.Give her the crown, Turkess, you were best.
[Takes it from her.]
ZABINA.Injurious villains, thieves, runagates, How dare you thus abuse my majesty?
THERIDAMAS.Here, madam, you are empress; she is none.
[Gives it to ZENOCRATE.]
TAMBURLAINE.Not now, Theridamas; her time is past:
The pillars, that have bolster'd up those terms, Are faln in clusters at my conquering feet.
ZABINA.Though he be prisoner, he may be ransom'd.
TAMBURLAINE.Not all the world shall ransom Bajazeth.
BAJAZETH.Ah, fair Zabina! we have lost the field;
And never had the Turkish emperor So great a foil by any foreign foe.
Now will the Christian miscreants be glad, Ringing with joy their superstitious bells, And making bonfires for my overthrow:
But, ere I die, those foul idolaters Shall make me bonfires with their filthy bones;
For, though the glory of this day be lost, Afric and Greece have garrisons enough To make me sovereign of the earth again.
TAMBURLAINE.Those walled garrisons will I subdue, And write myself great lord of Africa:
So from the East unto the furthest West Shall Tamburlaine extend his puissant arm.
The galleys and those pilling<183> brigandines, That yearly sail to the Venetian gulf, And hover in the Straits for Christians' wreck, Shall lie at anchor in the Isle Asant, Until the Persian fleet and men-of-war, Sailing along the oriental sea, Have fetch'd about the Indian continent, Even from Persepolis to Mexico, And thence unto the Straits of Jubalter;
Where they shall meet and join their force in one.
Keeping in awe the Bay of Portingale, And all the ocean by the British<184> shore;
And by this means I'll win the world at last.
BAJAZETH.Yet set a ransom on me, Tamburlaine.
TAMBURLAINE.What, think'st thou Tamburlaine esteems thy gold?
I'll make the kings of India, ere I die, Offer their mines, to sue for peace, to me, And dig for treasure to appease my wrath.--
Come, bind them both, and one lead in the Turk;
The Turkess let my love's maid lead away, [They bind them.]
BAJAZETH.Ah, villains, dare you touch my sacred arms?--
O Mahomet! O sleepy Mahomet!
ZABINA.O cursed Mahomet, that mak'st us thus The slaves to Scythians rude and barbarous!
TAMBURLAINE.Come, bring them in; and for this happy conquest Triumph, and solemnize a martial<185> feast.
[Exeunt.]
