Enter the GOVERNOR OF BABYLON, MAXIMUS, and others, upon

          the walls.

     GOVERNOR.  What saith Maximus?

     MAXIMUS.  My lord, the breach the enemy hath made

     Gives such assurance of our overthrow,

     That little hope is left to save our lives,

     Or hold our city from the conqueror's hands.

     Then hang out 258 flags, my lord, of humble truce,

     And satisfy the people's general prayers,

     That Tamburlaine's intolerable wrath

     May be suppress'd by our submission.

     GOVERNOR.  Villain, respect'st thou 259 more thy slavish life

     Than honour of thy country or thy name?

     Is not my life and state as dear to me,

     The city and my native country's weal,

     As any thing of 260 price with thy conceit?

     Have we not hope, for all our batter'd walls,

     To live secure and keep his forces out,

     When this our famous lake of Limnasphaltis

     Makes walls a-fresh with every thing that falls

     Into the liquid substance of his stream,

     More strong than are the gates of death or hell?

     What faintness should dismay our courages,

     When we are thus defenc'd against our foe,

     And have no terror but his threatening looks?

          Enter, above, a CITIZEN, who kneels to the GOVERNOR.

     CITIZEN.  My lord, if ever you did deed of ruth,

     And now will work a refuge to our lives,

     Offer submission, hang up flags of truce,

     That Tamburlaine may pity our distress,

     And use us like a loving conqueror.

     Though this be held his last day's dreadful siege,

     Wherein he spareth neither man nor child,

     Yet are there Christians of Georgia here,

     Whose state he 261 ever pitied and reliev'd,

     Will get his pardon, if your grace would send.

     GOVERNOR.  How 262 is my soul environed!

     And this eterniz'd 263 city Babylon

     Fill'd with a pack of faint-heart fugitives

     That thus entreat their shame and servitude!

          Enter, above, a SECOND CITIZEN.

     SECOND CITIZEN.  My lord, if ever you will win our hearts,

     Yield up the town, and 264 save our wives and children;

     For I will cast myself from off these walls,

     Or die some death of quickest violence,

     Before I bide the wrath of Tamburlaine.

     GOVERNOR.  Villains, cowards, traitors to our state!

     Fall to the earth, and pierce the pit of hell,

     That legions of tormenting spirits may vex

     Your slavish bosoms with continual pains!

     I care not, nor the town will never yield

     As long as any life is in my breast.

          Enter THERIDAMAS and TECHELLES, with SOLDIERS.

     THERIDAMAS.  Thou desperate governor of Babylon,

     To save thy life, and us a little labour,

     Yield speedily the city to our hands,

     Or else be sure thou shalt be forc'd with pains

     More exquisite than ever traitor felt.

     GOVERNOR.  Tyrant, I turn the traitor in thy throat,

     And will defend it in despite of thee.—

     Call up the soldiers to defend these walls.

     TECHELLES.  Yield, foolish governor; we offer more

     Than ever yet we did to such proud slaves

     As durst resist us till our third day's siege.

     Thou seest us prest 265 to give the last assault,

     And that shall bide no more regard of parle. 266

     GOVERNOR.  Assault and spare not; we will never yield.

          [Alarms:  and they scale the walls.]

          Enter TAMBURLAINE, drawn in his chariot (as before) by the

          KINGS OF TREBIZON and SORIA; AMYRAS, CELEBINUS, USUMCASANE;

          ORCANES king of Natolia, and the KING OF JERUSALEM, led by

          SOLDIERS; 267 and others.

     TAMBURLAINE.  The stately buildings of fair Babylon,

     Whose lofty pillars, higher than the clouds,

     Were wont to guide the seaman in the deep,

     Being carried thither by the cannon's force,

     Now fill the mouth of Limnasphaltis' lake,

     And make a bridge unto the batter'd walls.

     Where Belus, Ninus, and great Alexander

     Have rode in triumph, triumphs Tamburlaine,

     Whose chariot-wheels have burst 268 th' Assyrians' bones,

     Drawn with these kings on heaps of carcasses.

     Now in the place, where fair Semiramis,

     Courted by kings and peers of Asia,

     Hath trod the measures, 269 do my soldiers march;

     And in the streets, where brave Assyrian dames

     Have rid in pomp like rich Saturnia,

     With furious words and frowning visages

     My horsemen brandish their unruly blades.

          Re-enter THERIDAMAS and TECHELLES, bringing in the

          GOVERNOR OF BABYLON.

     Who have ye there, my lords?

     THERIDAMAS.  The sturdy governor of Babylon,

     That made us all the labour for the town,

     And us'd such slender reckoning of 270 your majesty.

     TAMBURLAINE.  Go, bind the villain; he shall hang in chains

     Upon the ruins of this conquer'd town.—

     Sirrah, the view of our vermilion tents

     (Which threaten'd more than if the region

     Next underneath the element of fire

     Were full of comets and of blazing stars,

     Whose flaming trains should reach down to the earth)

     Could not affright you; no, nor I myself,

     The wrathful messenger of mighty Jove,

     That with his sword hath quail'd all earthly kings,

     Could not persuade you to submission,

     But still the ports 271 were shut:  villain, I say,

     Should I but touch the rusty gates of hell,

     The triple-headed Cerberus would howl,

     And make 272 black Jove to crouch and kneel to me;

     But I have sent volleys of shot to you,

     Yet could not enter till the breach was made.

     GOVERNOR.  Nor, if my body could have stopt the breach,

     Shouldst thou have enter'd, cruel Tamburlaine.

     'Tis not thy bloody tents can make me yield,

     Nor yet thyself, the anger of the Highest;

     For, though thy cannon shook the city-walls, 273     My heart did never quake, or courage faint.

     TAMBURLAINE.  Well, now I'll make it quake.—Go draw him 274 up,

     Hang him in 275 chains upon the city-walls,

     And let my soldiers shoot the slave to death.

     GOVERNOR.  Vile monster, born of some infernal hag,

     And sent from hell to tyrannize on earth,

     Do all thy worst; nor death, nor Tamburlaine,

     Torture, or pain, can daunt my dreadless mind.

     TAMBURLAINE.  Up with him, then! his body shall be scar'd. 276

     GOVERNOR.  But, Tamburlaine, in Limnasphaltis' lake

     There lies more gold than Babylon is worth,

     Which, when the city was besieg'd, I hid:

     Save but my life, and I will give it thee.

     TAMBURLAINE.

     Then, for all your valour, you would save your life?

     Whereabout lies it?

     GOVERNOR.  Under a hollow bank, right opposite

     Against the western gate of Babylon.

     TAMBURLAINE.  Go thither, some of you, and take his gold:—

          [Exeunt some ATTENDANTS.]

     The rest forward with execution.

     Away with him hence, let him speak no more.—

     I think I make your courage something quail.—

          [Exeunt ATTENDANTS with the GOVERNOR or BABYLON.]

     When this is done, we'll march from Babylon,

     And make our greatest haste to Persia.

     These jades are broken-winded and half-tir'd;

     Unharness them, and let me have fresh horse.

          [ATTENDANTS unharness the KINGS or TREBIZON and SORIA]

     So; now their best is done to honour me,

     Take them and hang them both up presently.

     KING OF TREBIZON.

     Vile 277 tyrant! barbarous bloody Tamburlaine!

     TAMBURLAINE.  Take them away, Theridamas; see them despatch'd.

     THERIDAMAS.  I will, my lord.

          [Exit with the KINGS or TREBIZON and SORIA.]

     TAMBURLAINE.  Come, Asian viceroys; to your tasks a while,

     And take such fortune as your fellows felt.

     ORCANES.  First let thy Scythian horse tear both our limbs,

     Rather than we should draw thy chariot,

     And, like base slaves, abject our princely minds

     To vile and ignominious servitude.

     KING OF JERUSALEM.  Rather lend me thy weapon, Tamburlaine,

     That I may sheathe it in this breast of mine.

     A thousand deaths could not torment our hearts

     More than the thought of this doth vex our souls.

     AMYRAS.

     They will talk still, my lord, if you do not bridle them.

     TAMBURLAINE.  Bridle them, and let me to my coach.

          [ATTENDANTS bridle ORCANES king of Natolia, and the

          KING OF JERUSALEM, and harness them to the chariot.—

          The GOVERNOR OF BABYLON appears hanging in chains

          on the walls.—Re-enter THERIDAMAS.]

     AMYRAS.  See, now, my lord, how brave the captain hangs!

     TAMBURLAINE.  'Tis brave indeed, my boy:—well done!—

     Shoot first, my lord, and then the rest shall follow.

     THERIDAMAS.  Then have at him, to begin withal.

          [THERIDAMAS shoots at the GOVERNOR.]

     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.

     TAMBURLAINE.  Well, then, my friendly lords, what now remains,

     But that we leave sufficient garrison,

     And presently depart to Persia,

     To triumph after all our victories?

     THERIDAMAS.  Ay, good my lord, let us in 290 haste to Persia;

     And let this captain be remov'd the walls

     To some high hill about the city here.

     TAMBURLAINE.  Let it be so;—about it, soldiers;—

     But stay; I feel myself distemper'd suddenly.

     TECHELLES.  What is it dares distemper Tamburlaine?

     TAMBURLAINE.  Something, Techelles; but I know not what.—

     But, forth, ye vassals! 291 whatsoe'er 292 it be,

     Sickness or death can never conquer me.

          [Exeunt.]