TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT, PART
TWO
A monologue from the
play by Christopher
Marlowe
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Masterpieces of the English Drama. Ed. William Lyon
Phelps. New York: American Book Company, 1912. |
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- CALLAPINE: Thrice-worthy kings, of Natolia and the
rest,
- I will requite your royal gratitudes
- With all the benefits my empire yields;
- And, were the sinews of th' imperial seat
- So knit and strengthen'd as when Bajazeth,
- My royal lord and father, fill'd the throne,
- Whose cursed fate hath so dismember'd it,
- Then should you see this thief of Scythia,
- This proud usurping king of Persia,
- Do us such honour and supremacy,
- Bearing the vengeance of our father's wrongs,
- As all the world should blot his dignities
- Out of the book of base-born infamies.
- And now I doubt not but your royal cares
- Have so provided for this cursed foe,
- That, since the heir of mighty Bajazeth
- (An emperor so honour'd for his virtues)
- Revives the spirits of all true Turkish hearts,
- In grievous memory of his father's shame,
- We shall not need to nourish any doubt,
- But that proud Fortune, who hath follow'd long
- The martial sword of mighty Tamburlaine,
- Will now retain her old inconstancy,
- And raise our honours to as high a pitch,
- In this our strong and fortunate encounter;
- For so hath heaven provided my escape
- From all the cruelty my soul sustain'd,
- By this my friendly keeper's happy means,
- That Jove, surcharg'd with pity of our wrongs,
- Will pour it down in showers on our heads,
- Scourging the pride of cursed Tamburlaine.
MORE MONOLOGUES BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE |
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