CALLAPINE. Captain, the force of Tamburlaine is great, His fortune greater, and the victories Wherewith he hath so sore dismay'd the world Are greatest to discourage all our drifts; Yet, when the pride of Cynthia is at full, She wanes again; and so shall his, I hope; For we have here the chief selected men Of twenty several kingdoms at the least; Nor ploughman, priest, nor merchant, stays at home; All Turkey is in arms with Callapine; And never will we sunder camps and arms Before himself or his be conquered: This is the time that must eternize me For conquering the tyrant of the world. Come, soldiers, let us lie in wait for him, And, if we find him absent from his camp, Or that it be rejoin'd again at full, Assail it, and be sure of victory. [Exeunt.] SCENE III. Enter THERIDAMAS, TECHELLES, and USUMCASANE. THERIDAMAS. Weep, heavens, and vanish into liquid tears! Fall, stars that govern his nativity, And summon all the shining lamps of heaven To cast their bootless fires to the earth, And shed their feeble influence in the air; Muffle your beauties with eternal clouds; For Hell and Darkness pitch their pitchy tents, And Death, with armies of Cimmerian spirits, Gives battle 'gainst the heart of Tamburlaine! Now, in defiance of that wonted love Your sacred virtues pour'd upon his throne, And made his state an honour to the heavens, These cowards invisibly [299] assail his soul, And threaten conquest on our sovereign; But, if he die, your glories are disgrac'd, Earth droops, and says that hell in heaven is plac'd! TECHELLES. O, then, ye powers that sway eternal seats, And guide this massy substance of the earth, If you retain desert of holiness, As your supreme estates instruct our thoughts, Be not inconstant, careless of your fame, Bear not the burden of your enemies' joys, Triumphing in his fall whom you advanc'd; But, as his birth, life, health, and majesty Were strangely blest and governed by heaven, So honour, heaven, (till heaven dissolved be,) His birth, his life, his health, and majesty! USUMCASANE. Blush, heaven, to lose the honour of thy name, To see thy footstool set upon thy head; And let no baseness in thy haughty breast Sustain a shame of such inexcellence, [300] To see the devils mount in angels' thrones, And angels dive into the pools of hell! And, though they think their painful date is out, And that their power is puissant as Jove's, Which makes them manage arms against thy state, Yet make them feel the strength of Tamburlaine (Thy instrument and note of majesty) Is greater far than they can thus subdue; For, if he die, thy glory is disgrac'd, Earth droops, and says that hell in heaven is plac'd!