SOLDAN.MightyhathGodandMahometmadethyhand,Renowmed Tamburlaine, to whom all kings Of force must yield their crowns and emperies; And I am pleas'd with this my overthrow, If, as beseems a person of thy state, Thou hast with honour us'd Zenocrate.
TAMBURLAINE. Her state and person want no pomp, you see; And for all blot of foul inchastity, I record heaven, her heavenly self is clear: Then let me find no further time to grace Her princely temples with the Persian crown; But here these kings that on my fortunes wait, And have been crown'd for proved worthiness Even by this hand that shall establish them, Shall now, adjoining all their hands with mine, Invest her here the Queen of Persia What saith the noble Soldan, and Zenocrate?
SOLDAN. I yield with thanks and protestations Of endless honour to thee for her love.
TAMBURLAINE. Then doubt I not but fair Zenocrate Will soon consent to satisfy us both.
ZENOCRATE. Else should I much forget myself, my lord.
THERIDAMAS. Then let us set the crown upon her head, That long hath linger'd for so high a seat.
TECHELLES. My hand is ready to perform the deed; For now her marriage-time shall work us rest.
USUMCASANE. And here's the crown, my lord; help set it on.
TAMBURLAINE. Then sit thou down, divine Zenocrate; And here we crown thee Queen of Persia, And all the kingdoms and dominions That late the power of Tamburlaine subdu'd. As Juno, when the giants were suppress'd, That darted mountains at her brother Jove, So looks my love, shadowing in her brows Triumphs and trophies for my victories; Or as Latona's daughter, bent to arms, Adding more courage to my conquering mind. To gratify the[e], sweet Zenocrate, Egyptians, Moors, and men of Asia, From Barbary unto the Western India, Shall pay a yearly tribute to thy sire; And from the bounds of Afric to the banks Of Ganges shall his mighty arm extend.-- And now, my lords and loving followers, That purchas'd kingdoms by your martial deeds, Cast off your armour, put on scarlet robes, Mount up your royal places of estate, Environed with troops of noblemen, And there make laws to rule your provinces: Hang up yourweapons on Alcides' post[s]; For Tamburlaine takes truce with all the world.-- Thy first-betrothed love, Arabia, Shall we with honour, as beseems, entomb With this great Turk and his fair emperess. Then, after all these solemn exequies, We will our rites of marriage solemnize. [Exeunt.]
To the Gentlemen-readers, &c.] From the 8vo of 1592: in the 4tos this address is worded here and there differently. I have not thought it necessary to mark the varioe lectiones of the worthy printer's composition.
histories] i.e. dramas so called,--plays founded on history.
fond] i.e. foolish.--Concerning the omissions here alluded to, some remarks will be found in the ACCOUNT OF MARLOWE AND HIS WRITINGS.
《The "Account of Marlowe and His Writings," is the introduction to this book of 'The Works of Christopher Marlowe.' That is, the book from which this play has been transcribed. The following is from pages xvi and xvii of that introduction.》
《"This tragedy, which was entered in the Stationers' Books, 14th August, 1590, and printed during the same year, has not come down to us in its original fulness; and probably we have no cause to lament the curtailments which it suffered from the publisher of the first edition. "I have purposely," he says, "omitted and left out some fond and frivolous gestures, digressing, and, in my poor opinion, far unmeet for the matter, which I thought might seem more tedious unto the wise than any way else to be regarded, though haply they have been of some vain-conceited fondlings greatly gaped at, what time they were shewed upon the stage in their graced deformities: nevertheless now to be mixtured in print with such matter of worth, it would prove a great disgrace to so honourable and stately a history." By the words, "fond and frivolous gestures," we are to understand those of the "clown;" who very frequently figured, with more or less prominence, even in the most serious dramas of the time. The introduction of such buffooneries into tragedy is censured by Hall towards the conclusion of a passage which, as it mentions "the Turkish Tamberlaine," would seem to be partly levelled at Marlowe:
"One higher-pitch'd doth set his soaring thought On crowned kingsthat Fortune hath low brought, Or some vpreared high-aspiring swaine, As it might be THE TURKISH TAMBERLAINE. Then weeneth he his base drink-drowned spright Rapt to the three-fold loft of heauen hight, When he conceiues vpon his fained stage The stalking steps of his greate personage, Graced with huf-cap termes and thundring threats, That his poore hearers' hayre quite vpright sets.
