Tamburlaine the Great — Part 1

SCENE I.

          Enter BAJAZETH, the KINGS OF FEZ, MOROCCO, and ARGIER, with
          others, in great pomp.

     BAJAZETH. Great kings of Barbary, and my portly bassoes, 
     We hear the Tartars and the eastern thieves,
     Under the conduct of one Tamburlaine,
     Presume a bickering with your emperor,
     And think to rouse us from our dreadful siege
     Of the famous Grecian Constantinople.
     You know our army is invincible;
     As many circumcised Turks we have,
     And warlike bands of Christians renied, 
     As hath the ocean or the Terrene  sea
     Small drops of water when the moon begins
     To join in one her semicircled horns:
     Yet would we not be brav'd with foreign power,
     Nor raise our siege before the Grecians yield,
     Or breathless lie before the city-walls.

     KING OF FEZ. Renowmed  emperor and mighty general,
     What, if you sent the bassoes of your guard
     To charge him to remain in Asia,
     Or else to threaten death and deadly arms
     As from the mouth of mighty Bajazeth?

     BAJAZETH. Hie thee, my basso,  fast to Persia;
     Tell him thy lord, the Turkish emperor,
     Dread lord of Afric, Europe, and Asia,
     Great king and conqueror of Graecia,
     The ocean, Terrene, and the Coal-black sea,
     The high and highest monarch of the world,
     Wills and commands, (for say not I entreat,)
     Not  once to set his foot in  Africa,
     Or spread  his colours in Graecia,
     Lest he incur the fury of my wrath:
     Tell him I am content to take a truce,
     Because I hear he bears a valiant mind:
     But if, presuming on his silly power,
     He be so mad to manage arms with me,
     Then stay thou with him,—say, I bid thee so;
     And if, before the sun have measur'd heaven 
     With triple circuit, thou regreet us not,
     We mean to take his morning's next arise
     For messenger he will not be reclaim'd,
     And mean to fetch thee in despite of him.

     BASSO. Most great and puissant monarch of the earth,
     Your basso will accomplish your behest,
     And shew your pleasure to the Persian,
     As fits the legate of the stately Turk.

          [Exit.]

     KING OF ARGIER. They say he is the king of Persia;
     But, if he dare attempt to stir your siege,
     'Twere requisite he should be ten times more,
     For all flesh quakes at your magnificence.

     BAJAZETH. True, Argier; and tremble[s] at my looks.

     KING OF MOROCCO. The spring is hinder'd by your smothering host;
     For neither rain can fall upon the earth,
     Nor sun reflex his virtuous beams thereon,
     The ground is mantled with such multitudes.

     BAJAZETH. All this is true as holy Mahomet;
     And all the trees are blasted with our breaths.

     KING OF FEZ. What thinks your greatness best to be achiev'd
     In pursuit of the city's overthrow?

     BAJAZETH. I will the captive pioners  of Argier
     Cut off the water that by leaden pipes
     Runs to the city from the mountain Carnon;
     Two thousand horse shall forage up and down,
     That no relief or succour come by land;
     And all the sea my galleys countermand:
     Then shall our footmen lie within the trench,
     And with their cannons, mouth'd like Orcus' gulf,
     Batter the walls, and we will enter in;
     And thus the Grecians shall be conquered.

          [Exeunt.]