Tamburlaine the Great — Part 2Marlowe, Christopher
History
Tamburlaine the Great — Part 2
Marlowe, Christopher
English drama; Historical drama; Timur, 1336-1405 -- Drama; Tragedies (Drama)
TAMBURLAINE. And here the picture of Zenocrate,
To shew her beauty which the world admir'd;
Sweet picture of divine Zenocrate,
That, hanging here, will draw the gods from heaven,
And cause the stars fix'd in the southern arc,
(Whose lovely faces never any view'd
That have not pass'd the centre's latitude,)
As pilgrims travel to our hemisphere,
Only to gaze upon Zenocrate.
Thou shalt not beautify Larissa-plains,
But keep within the circle of mine arms:
At every town and castle I besiege,
Thou shalt be set upon my royal tent;
And, when I meet an army in the field,
Those [109] looks will shed such influence in my camp,
As if Bellona, goddess of the war,
Threw naked swords and sulphur-balls of fire
Upon the heads of all our enemies.--
And now, my lords, advance your spears again;
Sorrow no more, my sweet Casane, now:
Boys, leave to mourn; this town shall ever mourn,
Being burnt to cinders for your mother's death.
CALYPHAS. If I had wept a sea of tears for her,
would not ease the sorrows [110] I sustain.
AMYRAS. As is that town, so is my heart consum'd
With grief and sorrow for my mother's death.
CELEBINUS. My mother's death hath mortified my mind,
And sorrow stops the passage of my speech.
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, [111] 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 [112] grounds what figure serves you best,
For which [113] the quinque-angle form is meet,
Because the corners there may fall more flat
Whereas [114] the fort may fittest be assail'd,
And sharpest where th' assault is desperate:
The ditches must be deep; the [115] counterscarps
Narrow and steep; the walls made high and broad;
The bulwarks and the rampires large and strong,
With cavalieros [116] and thick counterforts,
And room within to lodge six thousand men;
It must have privy ditches, countermines,
And secret issuings to defend the ditch;
It must have high argins [117] and cover'd ways
To keep the bulwark-fronts from battery,
And parapets to hide the musketeers,
Casemates to place the great [118] artillery,
And store of ordnance, that from every flank
May scour the outward curtains of the fort,
Dismount the cannon of the adverse part,
Murder the foe, and save the [119] walls from breach.
When this is learn'd for service on the land,
By plain and easy demonstration
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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