GOVERNOR. Yet save my life, and let this wound appease The mortal fury of great Tamburlaine! TAMBURLAINE. No, though Asphaltis' lake were liquid gold, And offer'd me as ransom for thy life, Yet shouldst thou die.--Shoot at him all at once. [They shoot.] So, now he hangs like Bagdet's [278] governor, Having as many bullets in his flesh As there be breaches in her batter'd wall. Go now, and bind the burghers hand and foot, And cast them headlong in the city's lake. Tartars and Persians shall inhabit there; And, to command the city, I will build A citadel, [279] that all Africa, Which hath been subject to the Persian king, Shall pay me tribute for in Babylon. TECHELLES. What shall be done with their wives and children, my lord? TAMBURLAINE. Techelles, drown them all, man, woman, and child; Leave not a Babylonian in the town. TECHELLES. I will about it straight.--Come, soldiers. [Exit with SOLDIERS.] TAMBURLAINE. Now, Casane, where's the Turkish Alcoran, And all the heaps of superstitious books Found in the temples of that Mahomet Whom I have thought a god? they shall be burnt. USUMCASANE. Here they are, my lord. TAMBURLAINE. Well said! [280] let there be a fire presently. [They light a fire.] In vain, I see, men worship Mahomet: My sword hath sent millions of Turks to hell, Slew all his priests, his kinsmen, and his friends, And yet I live untouch'd by Mahomet. There is a God, full of revenging wrath, ]From whom the thunder and the lightning breaks, Whose scourge I am, and him will I [281] obey. So, Casane; fling them in the fire.-- [They burn the books.] Now, Mahomet, if thou have any power, Come down thyself and work a miracle: Thou art not worthy to be worshipped That suffer'st [282] flames of fire to burn the writ Wherein the sum of thy religion rests: Why send'st [283] thou not a furious whirlwind down, To blow thy Alcoran up to thy throne, Where men report thou sitt'st [284] by God himself? Or vengeance on the head [285] of Tamburlaine That shakes his sword against thy majesty, And spurns the abstracts of thy foolish laws?-- Well, soldiers, Mahomet remains in hell; He cannot hear the voice of Tamburlaine: Seek out another godhead to adore; The God that sits in heaven, if any god, For he is God alone, and none but he. Re-enter TECHELLES. TECHELLES. I have fulfill'd your highness' will, my lord: Thousands of men, drown'd in Asphaltis' lake, Have made the water swell above the banks, And fishes, fed [286] by human carcasses, Amaz'd, swim up and down upon [287] the waves, As when they swallow assafoetida, Which makes them fleet [288] aloft and gape [289] for air.