Tamburlaine the Great — Part 2. Christopher Marlowe

      AMYRAS.  Why may not I, my lord, as well as he,

      Be term'd the scourge and terror of 39 the world?

      TAMBURLAINE.  Be all a scourge and terror to 40 the world,

      Or else you are not sons of Tamburlaine.

      CALYPHAS.  But, while my brothers follow arms, my lord,

      Let me accompany my gracious mother:

      They are enough to conquer all the world,

      And you have won enough for me to keep.

      TAMBURLAINE.  Bastardly boy, sprung 41 from some coward's loins,

      And not the issue of great Tamburlaine!

      Of all the provinces I have subdu'd

      Thou shalt not have a foot, unless thou bear

      A mind courageous and invincible;

      For he shall wear the crown of Persia

      Whose head hath deepest scars, whose breast most wounds,

      Which, being wroth, sends lightning from his eyes,

      And in the furrows of his frowning brows

      Harbours revenge, war, death, and cruelty;

      For in a field, whose superficies 42    

      Is cover'd with a liquid purple veil,

      And sprinkled with the brains of slaughter'd men,

      My royal chair of state shall be advanc'd;

      And he that means to place himself therein,

      Must armed wade up to the chin in blood.

      ZENOCRATE.  My lord, such speeches to our princely sons

      Dismay their minds before they come to prove

      The wounding troubles angry war affords.

      CELEBINUS.  No, madam, these are speeches fit for us;

      For, if his chair were in a sea of blood,

      I would prepare a ship and sail to it,

      Ere I would lose the title of a king.

      AMYRAS.  And I would strive to swim through 43 pools of blood,

      Or make a bridge of murder'd carcasses, 44    

      Whose arches should be fram'd with bones of Turks,

      Ere I would lose the title of a king.

      TAMBURLAINE.  Well, lovely boys, ye shall be emperors both,

      Stretching your conquering arms from east to west:—

      And, sirrah, if you mean to wear a crown,

      When we 45 shall meet the Turkish deputy

      And all his viceroys, snatch it from his head,

      And cleave his pericranion with thy sword.

      CALYPHAS.  If any man will hold him, I will strike,

      And cleave him to the channel 46 with my sword.

      TAMBURLAINE.  Hold him, and cleave him too, or I'll cleave thee;

      For we will march against them presently.

      Theridamas, Techelles, and Casane

      Promis'd to meet me on Larissa-plains,

      With hosts a-piece against this Turkish crew;

      For I have sworn by sacred Mahomet

      To make it parcel of my empery.

      The trumpets sound; Zenocrate, they come.