Selimus
Prologue
Enter Prologue.Pro.Sp1Prologue*
Exit.
Gentles, we here present unto your view*
But a most lamentable history,
Which this last age* acknowledgeth for true.
Here shall you see the wicked son pursue
His wretched father with remorseless spite
And, daunted once, his force again renew,
Poison his father, kill his friends in fight.
You shall behold him character* in blood
The image of an implacable
* king
* kingAnd, like a sea or high resurging flood,
All obstant lets* down with his fury fling,
Which if with patience of you shall be heard,
We have the greatest part of our reward.
*Scene 1
Enter Bajazeth* Emperor of Turkey, Mustaffa, Cherseoli, and the Janissaries*. Exeunt all but Bajazeth*.1.Sp2
Enter again Mustaffa, Cherseoli, and the Janissaries.So, Bajazeth, now thou remainst alone,
And eat thee up, for arbiter here’s none
That may descry* the cause of thy unrest,
Unless these walls thy secret thoughts declare,
And princes’ walls, they say, unfaithful are.*
Why, that’s the profit of great regiment*,
That all of us are subject unto fears,
And this vain show and glorious intent
Privy suspicion on each scruple* rears.
Ay, though on all the world we make extent*,
From the south pole unto the northern bears*,
And stretch our reign from East to Western shore,
Yet doubt and care are with us evermore*.
Look how the earth, clad in her summer’s pride,
Embroidereth her mantle* gorgeously
With fragrant herbs and flowers gaily dyed,
Spreading abroad her spangled tapestry:
Yet under all a loathsome snake doth hide.
Such is our life: under crowns cares do lie,
And fear the scepter still attends upon.
Oh, who can take delight in kingly throne?
Public disorders joined with private cark*,
Care of our friends and of our children dear,
Do toss our lives, as waves a silly bark*.
Though we be fearless, ’tis not without fear,
For hidden mischief lurketh in the dark,
And storms may fall be the day ne’er so clear.
He knows not what it is to be a king
That thinks a scepter is a pleasant thing*.
Twice fifteen times hath fair Latona’s son*
Walked about the world with his great light
Since I began—would I had ne’er begun—
To sway this scepter. Many a careful night,
When Cynthia* in haste to bed did run,
Have I with watching vexed my agèd spirit.
.Since when, what dangers I have overpassed
Would make a heart of adamant* aghast.
The Persian Sophy, mighty Ismael*,
And Caraguis Bassa*, sent his force to quell,
Was killed himself the while his men did flee.
Poor Hali Bassa*, having once sped well
And gained of him a bloody victory,
Was at the last slain fighting in the field,
Charactering* honor in his battered shield.
Gathering to him a number numberless
Of big-boned Tatars, in a hapless* hour
Encountered me, and there my chiefest bliss
Good Alemshae (ah, this remembrance sour)
Was slain*, the more t’augment my sad distress.
In losing Alemshae poor, I lost more
lost moreThan ever I had gainèd theretofore.
Well may thy soul rest in her latest grave*,
Sweet Alemshae, the comfort of my days.
That thou mightst live, how often did I crave?
How often did I bootless prayers raise
To that high power that life first to thee gave?
Trusty was thou to me at all assays*,
And, dearest child, thy father oft hath cried
That thou hadst lived, so he himself had died.
The Christian armies, oftentimes defeated
By my victorious father*’s valiance,
Have all my captains famously confronted,
And cracked in two our uncontrollèd* lance.
My strongest garrisons* they have supplanted
And overwhelmed me in sad mischance;
And my decrease so long wrought their increase,
’Til I was forced conclude a friendly peace.*
Now all these are but foreign damages,
Taken in war whose die* uncertain is,
But I shall have more home-born outrages,
Unless my divination aims amiss.
I have three sons all of unequal ages,
And all in diverse studies set their bliss:
Corcut, my eldest, a philosopher,
Acomat pompous, Selim* a warrior.
a warrior.Corcut in fair Magnesia* leads his life
Acomat loves to court it with his wife,
And in a pleasant quiet joys to pause*;
But Selim follows wars in dismal strife
And snatcheth at my crown with greedy claws.
But he shall miss of that he aimeth at,
For I reserve it for my Acomat*.
For Acomat? Alas, it cannot be.
Stern Selimus hath won my people’s hearts.
.The Janissaries love him more than me
And for his cause will suffer any smart*.
They see he is a friend to chivalry*,
And sooner will they from my faith depart,
And by strong hand, Bajazeth, pull thee down,
Than let their Selim hop without the crown*.
Ah, if the soldiers overrule thy state,
And nothing must be done without their will;
If every base and upstart runagate*
Shall cross a prince and overthwart him still;
If Corcut, Selimus, and Acomat,
With crowns and kingdoms shall their hungers fill,
Poor Bajazeth, what then remains to thee
But the bare title of thy dignity?
Ay, and unless thou do dissemble all
And wink at Selimus’s aspiring thought,
The bassas* cruelly shall work thy fall,
And then thy empire is but dearly bought.
Ah, that our sons, thus to ambition thrall,
Should set the law of nature* all at nought.
But what must be cannot choose but be done.
—Come, bassas, enter; Bajazeth hath done.
1.Sp3Cherseoli
Dread Emperor, long may you happy live,
Loved of your subjects and feared of your foes.
We wonder much what doth your highness grieve
That you will not unto your lords disclose.
Perhaps you fear lest we, your loyal peers*,
Would prove disloyal to your majesty
And be rebellious in your dying years.
But, mighty prince, the heavens can testify
How dearly we esteem your safety.
1.Sp4Mustaffa
Perhaps you think Mustaffa will revolt
And leave your grace and cleave to Selimus,
But sooner shall th’almighty’s thunderbolt
Strike me down to the cave tenebrious*,
The lowest land and damnèd spirits’ holt*,
Than true Mustaffa prove so treacherous.
Your majesty then needs not much to fear,
Since you are loved of subject, prince, and peer.
First shall the sun rise from the occident*,
And loose his steeds* benighted in the East,
First shall the sea become the continent,
Ere we forsake our sovereign’s behest.
We fought not for you against Persians’ tent*,
Breaking our lances on his* sturdy crest;
We fought not for you gainst the Christian host
To become traitors after all our cost.
1.Sp5Bajazeth
Sound withinHear me, Mustaffa and Cherseoli.
I am a father of a headstrong brood,
Which if I look not closely to myself,
Will seek to ruinate* their father’s state,
Even as the vipers in great Nero’s fen*
Eat up the belly that first nourished them*.
You see the harvest of my life is past,
,And agèd winter hath besprent* my head
With a hoar-frost of silver colored hairs,
The harbingers of honorable eld*;
These branchlike veins which once did guide my arms
my armsTo toss the spear in battellous* array,
Now withered up, have lost their former strength.
My sons, whom now ambition ’gins to prick*,
May take occasion of my weakened age
And rise in rebel arms against my state.
arms against my state.But stay, here comes a messenger to us.
. Enter a Messenger.
1.Sp6Messenger
Health and good hap to Bajazeth,
The great commander of all Asia.
Sends me unto your grace to signify
His alliance with the King of Tatary*.
1.Sp7Bajazeth
Said I not, lords, as much to you before
That mine own sons would seek my overthrow?
And see, here comes a luckless messenger*
To prove that true which my mind did foretell.
Does Selim make so small account of us
That he dare marry without our consent,
And to that devil, too, of Tatary?*
And could he then, unkind, so soon forget
The injuries that Ramir *did to me,
Thus to consort himself with him gainst me?
1.Sp8Cherseoli
Your majesty misconsters* Selimus;
It cannot be that he in whose high thoughts
A map of many valors is enshrined
Should seek his father’s ruin and decay.
Selimus is a prince of forward* hope,
Whose only name affrights your enemies;
It cannot be he should prove false to you.
1.Sp9Bajazeth
Can it not be? Oh yes, Cherseoli,
For Selim’s* hands do itch to have the crown,
hands do itch to have the crown,And he will have it or else pull me down.
Is he a prince? Ah no, he is a sea*,
Seditious complots*, murder, fraud, and hate.
Could he not let his father know his mind,
But match himself when I least thought on it?
I least thought on it?1.Sp10Mustaffa
Perhaps, my lord, Selimus* loved the dame
loved the dameAnd feared to certify you of his love
Because her father was your enemy.
1.Sp11Bajazeth
Sound within.In love, Mustaffa? Selimus in love?
If he be, lording, ’tis not ladies’ love
But love of rule and kingly sov’reignty.
For wherefore should he fear t’ask my consent?
Trusty Mustaffa, if he had feared me,
He never would have loved mine enemy.
But this his marriage with the Tatar’s daughter
Is but the prologue* to his cruelty,
And quickly shall we have the tragedy,
Which though he act with meditated* bravery,
The world will never give him plaudity*.
What, yet more news?
Enter another Messenger.
1.Sp12Messenger
Dread Emperor, Selimus is at hand;
Two hundred thousand strong Tatarians,
Armèd at all points, does he lead with him,
Besides his followers from Trebisond.
1.Sp13Bajazeth
Exeunt all.
I thought so much of wicked Selimus.
Oh forlorn hopes and hapless Bajazeth,
Is duty then exilèd from his breast,
Which nature hath inscribed with golden pen,
Deep in the hearts of honorable men?
Ah Selim, Selim, wert thou not my son,
But some strange unacquainted* foreigner,
Whom I should honor as I honored thee,
Yet would it grieve me even unto the death,
If he should deal as thou hast dealt with me.
And thou, my son, to whom I freely gave
The mighty Empire of great Trebisond*,
Art too unnatural to requite me thus.
Good Alemshae, hadst thou lived ’til this day,
Thou wouldst have blushèd at thy brother’s mind.
Come, sweet Mustaffa. Come, Cherseoli.
And with some good advice recomfort* me.
Scene 2
Enter Selimus, Sinam Bassa, Ottrante, Occhiali, and the soldiers.2.Sp1Selimus
Long hast thou marched in disguisèd attire,
But now unmask thyself and play thy part
And manifest the heat of thy desire*;
Nourish the coals of thine ambitious fire,
And think that then thy empire is most sure
When men for fear thy tyranny endure.
Think that to thee there is no worse reproach*
Than filial duty in so high a place.
Thou oughtst to set barrels of blood abroach*
And seek with sword whole kingdoms to displace.
And meaner men and of a baser spirit
In virtuous actions seek for glorious merit*.
I count it sacrilege for to be holy
Or reverence this threadbare name of good.
Leave to old men and babes that kind of folly;
Count it of equal value with the mud.
Make thou a passage for thy gushing flood
By slaughter, treason, or what else thou can,
And scorn religion; it disgraces man.
My father Bajazeth is weak and old
And hath not much above two years to live.
The Turkish crown of pearl and Ophir* gold
He means to his dear Acomat to give*.
But ere his ship can to her haven drive,
I’ll send abroad my tempests in such sort
That she shall sink before she get the port.
Alas, alas, his highness’ agèd head
Is not sufficient to support a crown.
Then, Selimus, take thou it in his stead,
And if at this thy boldness he dare frown
Or but resist thy will, then pull him down.
For since he hath so short a time t’enjoy it,
I’ll make it shorter, or I will destroy him.
.Nor pass I what our holy votaries*
Shall here object against my forward mind*:
I reck not of* their foolish ceremonies
But mean to take my fortune as I find.
Wisdom commands to follow tide and wind:
And catch the front of swift Occasion
Before she be too quickly overgone*.
Some man will say I am too impious,
Thus to lay siege against my father’s life,
And that I ought to follow virtuous
And godly sons, that virtue is a glass
Wherein I may my errant life behold
And frame myself by it in ancient mold*.
Good sir, your wisdom’s overflowing wit
Digs deep with learning’s wonder-working spade.
Perhaps you think that now forsooth* you sit
With some grave wizard in a prattling shade*.
Avaunt *such glasses: let them view in me
The perfect picture of right tyranny.
I, like a lion, look not worth a leek,
When every dog deprives him of his prey:
These honest terms are far enough to seek.
When angry Fortune menaceth decay,
My resolution treads a nearer way.
Give me the heart conspiring with the hand
In such a cause my father to withstand.
Is he my father? Why, I am his son:
I owe no more to him than he to me.
If he proceed as he hath now begun
And pass from me the Turkish seigniory*
To Acomat, then Selimus is free.
And if he injure me that am his son,
Faith*, all the love ’twixt him and me is done.
But for I see the schoolmen are prepared
To plant gainst me their bookish ordinance*,
I mean to stand on a sententious guard*:
:And without any far-fetched circumstance*,
Quickly unfold mine own opinion
To arm my heart with irreligion.
When first this circled round, this building fair*,
Some god took out of the confusèd mass
(What god I do not know, nor greatly care),
Then every man of his own dition* was,
And everyone his life in peace did pass*.
War was not then, and riches were not known,
And no man said this, or this, is mine own.
The plowman with a furrow did not mark
How far his great possessions did reach;
The earth knew not the share*, nor seas the bark;
, nor seas the bark;The soldiers entered not the battered breach,
not the battered breach,Nor trumpets the tantara* loud did teach.
There needed them no judge, nor yet no law,
Nor any king of whom to stand in awe*.
But after Ninus*, warlike Belus’ son,
Then first the sacred name of king begun:
And things that were as common as the day
Did then to set possessors first obey.
Then they established laws and holy rites
To maintain peace and govern bloody fights*.
Then some sage man, above the vulgar *wise,
Knowing that laws could not in quiet dwell,
Unless they were observed, did first devise
The names of gods, religion, heaven, and hell,
And gan* of pains and feigned rewards to tell:
Pains for those men which did neglect the law,
Rewards for those that lived in quiet awe.
Whereas, indeed, they were just mere* fictions—
fictions—And if they were not, Selim thinks they were
And these religious observations
observationsOnly bugbears* to keep the world in fear
And make men quietly a yoke to bear.
So that religion, of itself a bauble*,
,Was only found to make us peaceable.
Hence in especial come the foolish names
Of father, mother, brother, and such like:
For who so well his cogitation frames
Shall find they serve but only for to strike
Into our minds a certain kind of like*.
.For these names, too, are but a policy*
To keep the quiet of society.
Indeed, I must confess they are not bad
Because they keep the baser sort in fear.
But we, whose mind in heavenly thoughts is clad,
thoughts is clad,Whose body doth a glorious spirit bear
spirit bearThat hath no bounds but flieth everywhere,
but flieth everywhere,Why should we seek to make that soul a slave
To which dame Nature so large freedom gave?
Amongst us men, there is some difference
Of actions termèd by us good or ill:
As he that doth his father recompence
Differs from him that doth his father kill.
And yet I think, think others* what they will,
* what they will,That parricides*, when death hath given them rest,
, when death hath given them rest,Shall have as good a part as have the best.
.And that’s just nothing, for as I suppose
In Death’s void* kingdom reigns eternal Night,
,Secure of evil and secure of foes,
Where nothing doth the wicked man affright,
affright,No more than him that dies in doing right*.
Then since in death nothing shall to us fall,
Here while I live I’ll have a snatch* at all.
at all.And that can never, never be attained,
Unless old Bajazeth do die the death.
For long enough the graybeard now hath reigned
And lived at ease, while others lived uneath*.
And now it’s time he should resign his breath.
’Twere good for him if he were pressèd out;
Twould bring him rest and rid him of his gout*.
Resolved to do it, cast to compass it
Without delay or long procrastination.
It argueth an unmanurèd wit*,
wit*,When all is ready for so strong invasion,
To draw out time; an unlooked for mutation*
May soon prevent us if we do delay.
Quick speed is good, where wisdom leads the way.
—Occhiali?
2.Sp3Selimus
Lo, fly boy to my father Bajazeth,
And tell him Selim, his obedient son,
Desires to speak with him and kiss his hands*;
Tell him I long to see his gracious face
And that I come with all my chivalry*
To chase the Christians from his seigniory*.
In any wise, say I must speak with him.
Exit Occhiali.Now, Sinam, if I speed.
2.Sp5Selimus
What then? Why, Sinam, thou art nothing worth.
I will endeavor to persuade him, man,
To give the empire over unto me;
Perhaps I shall attain it at his hands.
If I cannot, this right hand is resolved
To end the period* with a fatal stab.
2.Sp6Sinam Bassa
My gracious lord, give Sinam leave to speak.
If you resolve to work your father’s death,
You venture *life: think you the Janissaries
Will suffer you to kill him in their sight
And let you pass free without punishment?
2.Sp7Selimus
If I resolve? As sure as heaven is heaven,
I mean to see him dead or myself king.
As for the bassas, they are all my friends,
And I am sure would pawn their dearest blood
That Selim might be Emperor of Turks.
2.Sp9Selimus
Sinam, if they, or twenty such as they,
Had twenty several armies in the field,
If Selimus were once your emperor,
I’d dart abroad the thunderbolts of war
2.Sp11Selimus
Exeunt all.
Tush, Sinam, these are school conditions*,
To fear the devil or his cursèd dam.
Thinkest thou I care for apparitions,
Of Sisyphus* and of his backward stone,
And poor Ixion’s* lamentable moan?
No, no, I think the cave of damnèd ghosts
, I think the cave of damnèd ghostsIs but a tale to terrify young babes,
Like devils’ faces scored on painted posts*
Or feignèd circles in our astrolabes*.
Why, there’s no difference when we are dead,
And death once come, then all alike are sped.
Or if there were, as I can scarce believe,
A heaven of joy and hell of endless pain,
Yet, by my soul, it never should me grieve
So I might on the Turkish Empire reign,
To enter hell and leave fair heaven’s gain.
fair heaven’s gain.An empire, Sinam, is so sweet a thing,
As I could be a devil to be a king.
But go we, lords, and solace* in our camp
’Til the return of young Occhiali,
And if his answer be to thy desire,
Selim, thy mind in kingly thoughts attire*.
Scene 3
Enter Bajazeth, Mustaffa, Cherseoli, Occhiali, and the Janissaries*.3.Sp1Bajazeth
Even as the great Egyptian crocodile,
Wanting* his prey, with artificial tears
And feignèd plaints his subtle tongue doth file
T’entrap the silly wandering traveler
And move him to advance his footing near,
That when he is in danger of his claws,
He may devour him with his famished jaws,
So playeth crafty Selimus with me*:
His haughty thoughts still wait on diadems*
And not a step but treads to majesty*.
The Phoenix* gazeth on the sun’s bright beams;
The echeneis* swims against the streams;
Nought but the Turkish scepter can him please,
And there I know lieth his chief disease.
He sends his messengers to crave access
And says he longs to kiss my agèd hands:
But howsoever he in show profess,
His meaning with his words but weakly stands*.
And sooner will the Syrtis’ boiling sands*
Become a quiet road for fleeting ships,
Than Selimus’s heart agree with Selim’s lips.
Too well I know the crocodile’s feignèd tears
Are but the nets wherein to catch his prey:
wherein to catch his prey:Which whoso moved with foolish pity hears
Will be the author of his own decay.
Then hie* thee, Bajazeth, from hence away.
A fawning* monster is false Selimus,
Whose fairest words are most pernicious.
Young man, would Selim come and speak with us?
What is his message to us, canst thou tell?
3.Sp2Occhiali
He craves, my lord, another seigniory*,
Nearer to you and to the Christians,
That he may make them know that Selimus
Is born to be a scourge* unto them all.
3.Sp3Bajazeth
He’s born to be a scourge to me and mine;
He never would have come with such an host,
Unless he meant my state to undermine.
What though in word he bravely seem to boast
The foraging of all the Christian coast,
Yet we have cause to fear when burning brands*
Are vainly given into a madman’s hands.
Aside*Well, I must seem to wink at his desire,
*Well, I must seem to wink at his desire,Although I see it plainer than the light.
My lenity adds fuel to his fire,
Which now begins to break in flashing bright.
Then, Bajazeth, chastize his stubborn spirit,
,Lest these small sparkles grow to such a flame
As shall consume thee and thy house’s name.
Alas, I spare* when all my store is gone
And thrust my sickle where the corn is reaped;
In vain I send for the physician,
When on the patient is his grave dust heaped.
In vain, now all his veins in venom steeped
Break out in blisters that will poison us,
We seek to give him an antidotus*.
He that will stop the brook must then begin
When summer’s heat hath drièd up his spring
And when his pittring* streams are low and thin.
For let the winter aid unto him bring,
bring,He grows to be of watry floods the king.
And though you dam him up with lofty ranks*,
Yet will he quickly overflow his banks*.
—Messenger*, go and tell young Selimus
We give to him all great Samandria*,
Bord’ring on Belgrade of Hungaria*,
Where he may plague those Christian runagates
And salve the wounds that they have given our states.
Cherseoli*, go and provide a gift,
and provide a gift,A royal present* for my Selimus,
And tell him, messenger, another time
He shall have talk enough with Bajazeth.
Exeunt Cherseoli and Occhiali.And now what counsel gives Mustaffa to us?
I fear this hasty reck’ning* will undo us.
3.Sp4Mustaffa
Make haste, my lord, from Adrianople* walls,
And let us fly to fair Byzantium*,
Lest if your son before you take* the town,
He may with little labor win the crown.
3.Sp5Bajazeth
Exeunt all.
Then do so, good Mustaffa; call our guard
And gather all our warlike Janissaries.
Our chiefest aid is swift celerity*.
Then let our wingèd coursers* tread the wind,
And leave rebellious Selimus behind.
Scene 4
Enter Selimus, Sinam Bassa, Occhiali, Ottrante, and their soldiers*.4.Sp1Selimus
Exeunt.
And is his answer so, Occhiali?
Is Selim such a corsive* to his heart
That he cannot endure the sight of him?
Forsooth, he gives thee all Samandria,
From whence our mighty Emperor Mahomet
Was driven to his country back with shame*.
No doubt thy father loves thee, Selimus,
To make thee regent of so great a land
Which is not yet his own: or if it were,
What dangers wait on him that should it steer*?
Under the conduct of some foreign prince
To fight in honor of his crucifix!
Here the Hungarian with his bloody cross
Deals blows about to win Belgrade again*.
And after all, forsooth Basilius*,
The mighty Emperor of Russia
Sends in his troops of slave-born *Muscovites,
And he will share with us or else take all.
In giving such a land so full of strife,
His meaning is to rid me of my life.
Now by the dreaded name of Termagant*
And by the blackest brook in loathsome hell,
Since he is so unnatural to me,
I will prove as unnatural as he.
Thinks he to stop my mouth with gold or pearl*?
Or rusty jades fetched from Barbaria*?
from Barbaria*?No, let his minion, his philosopher,
Acomat and Corcut*, be enriched with them.
, be enriched with them.I will not take my rest ’til this right hand
Hath pulled the crown from off his coward’s head
And on the ground his bastards*’ gore-blood shed.
Nor shall his flight to old Byzantium
Dismay my thoughts which never learned to stoop.
March, Sinam. March in order after him.
Were his light steeds as swift as Pegasus*
as swift as Pegasus*And trod the airy pavement with their heels,
Yet Selimus would overtake them soon.
And though the heavens ne’er so crossly frown,
In spight of heaven shall Selim wear the crown.
Scene 5
Alarum within*. Enter Bajazeth, Mustaffa, Cherseoli, and the Janissaries at one door; Selimus, Sinam Bassa, Ottrante*, Occhiali, and their soldiers at another.5.Sp1Bajazeth
Is this thy duty, son, unto thy father,
So impiously to level* at his life?
Can thy soul, wallowing in ambitious mire,
Seek for to reave that breast with bloody knife,
that breast with bloody knife,From whence thou hadst thy being, Selimus?
Was this the end for which thou joinst thy self
With that mischievous traitor Ramirchan*?
Was this thy drift to speak with Bajazeth?
Well hopèd I (But hope, I see, is vain)
Thou wouldst have been a comfort to mine age,
A scourge and terror to mine enemies,
That this thy coming with so great an host
Was for no other purpose and intent
Than for to chastise those base Christians
Which spoil my subjects’ wealth with fire and sword*.
Well hopèd I the rule of Trebisond
Would have increased the valor of thy mind
To turn thy strength upon the Persians*.
strength upon the Persians*.But thou, like to a crafty polypus,
Dost turn thy hungry jaws upon thyself*.
For what am I, Selimus, but thyself?
When courage first crept in thy manly breast,
And thou beganst to rule the martial sword,
How oft said thou the sun should change his course,
Water should turn to earth, and earth to heaven,
Ere thou wouldst prove disloyal to thy father.
O Titan*, turn thy breathless coursers back,
And enterprise thy journey from the West*.
.Blush, Selim, that the world should say of thee,
That by my death thou gainst the empiry.
5.Sp2Selimus
Exit Selimus and his company.
Now let my cause be pleaded, Bajazeth,
For father I disdain to call thee now.
I took not arms to seize upon thy crown,
For that, if once thou hadst been laid in grave,
Should sit upon the head of Selimus
I took not arms to take away thy life:
The remnant of thy days is but a span*,
And foolish had I been to enterprise*
That which the gout and death would do for me.
I took not arms to shed my brothers’ blood
Because they stop my passage to the crown.
For while thou livst, Selimus is content
thou livst, Selimus is contentThat they should live, but when thou once art dead
Which of them both dares Selimus withstand?
I soon should hew their bodies in piecemeal*
As easy as a man would kill a gnat.
But I took arms unkind* to honor thee
And win again the fame that thou hast lost.
And thou thoughtst scorn* Selim should speak with thee,
But had it been your darling Acomat,
You would have met him half the way your self.
I am a prince, and though your younger son,
Yet are my merits better than both theirs.
But you do seek to disinherit me
And mean t’invest Acomat with your crown,
So he shall have a prince’s due reward*
That cannot show a scar received in field.
We that have fought with mighty Prester John*
And stripped th’Egyptian Soldan of his camp*,
Venturing life and living to honor thee,
For that same cause shall now dishonored be.
Art thou a father? Nay, false Bajazeth,
Disclaim the title which thou dost not merit.
A father would not thus flee from his son,
As thou dost fly from loyal Selimus.
A father would not injure thus his son,
As thou dost injure loyal Selimus.
Then, Bajazeth, prepare thee to the fight;
Selimus, once thy son but now thy foe,
Will make his fortunes by the sword and shield*,
,And since thou fearst* as long as I do live,
I’ll also fear, as long as thou dost live.
5.Sp3Bajazeth
Exit Bajazeth and his company.
My heart is overwhelmed with fear and grief;
What dismal comet blazèd at my birth,
Whose influence makes my strong unbridled* son,
,Instead of love, to render hate to me?
Ah, bassas*, if that ever heretofore
Your emperor ought* his safety unto you,
Defend me now gainst my unnatural son:
Non timeo mortem: mortis mihi displicet auctor*.
.
Scene 6
Alarum. Enter Mustaffa and Selimus at diverse doors. Mustaffa beats Selimus in, then Ottrante and Cherseoli enter at diverse doors.*
6.Sp1Cherseoli
Yield thee, Tatarian, or thou shalt die.
Upon my sword’s sharp point standeth pale death
6.Sp2Ottrante
Art thou that knight that like a lion fierce,
Tiring* his stomach on a flock of lambs,
Hast broke our ranks* and put them clean to flight?
6.Sp4Ottrante
They fight. Ottrante killeth Cherseoli and flieth.
Nay, I have matched* a braver knight than you:
Strong Alemshae, thy master’s eldest son,
Leaving his body naked on the plains*.
And Turk, the selfsame end for thee remains.
Scene 7
Alarum. Enter Selimus.7.Sp1Selimus
Exit Selimus.
Shall Selim’s hope be buried in the dust,
And Bajazeth triumph over his fall?
Then O, thou blindful mistress of mishap*,
Chief patronness of Rhamnus’ golden gates*,
I will advance my strong revenging hand
And pluck thee from thy ever-turning wheel*.
Or whosoe’er you are that fight gainst me,
Come and but show your selves before my face,
And I will rend* you all like trembling reeds.
Well, Bajazeth, though Fortune smile on thee
And deck thy camp with glorious victory,
Though Selimus, now conquerèd by thee,
Is fain* to put his safety in swift flight,
Yet so he flies, that like an angry ram,
He’ll turn more fiercely than before he came.
Scene 8
Enter Bajazeth, Mustaffa, the Janissaries, a soldier with the body of Cherseoli*, and Ottrante prisoner.8.Sp1Bajazeth
Thus have we gained a bloody victory,
And though we are the masters of the field,
Yet have we lost more than our enemies.
Ah, luckless fault of* my Cherseoli,
As dear and dearer wert thou unto me
Than any of my sons, than mine own self.
When I was glad, thy heart was full of joy,
And bravely hast thou died for Bajazeth.
And though thy bloodless body here do lie,
Yet thy sweet soul in heaven forever blest
Among the stars enjoys eternal rest.
What art thou, warlike man of Tatary,
Whose hap it is to be our prisoner?
8.Sp5Bajazeth
Exeunt all.
Off with his head and spoil* him of his arms,
And leave his body for the airy birds.
Exit one with Ottrante.The unrevengèd ghost of Alemshae
Shall now no more wander on Stygian banks*
Mustaffa and you worthy men-at-arms
That left not Bajazeth in greatest need,
When we arrive at Constantine’s great tower*,
,You shall be honored of your emperor.
Scene 9
Enter Acomat, Visir, Regan, and a band of soldiers.9.Sp1Acomat
Perhaps you* wonder why prince Acomat,
Delighting heretofore in foolish love,
Hath changed his quiet to a soldier’s state
Into Bellona*’s horrible outcries.
You think it strange, that whereas I have lived
Almost a votary* to wantonness,
To see me now lay off effeminate robes
lay off effeminate robesAnd arm my body in an iron wall*.
I have enjoyed quiet for long enough*
A field of dainties* I have passèd through
Now, since this idle peace hath wearied me,
I’ll follow Mars and war another while
And dye my shield in dolorous vermeil*.
My brother Selim, through his manly deeds,
Hath lifted up his fame unto the skies,
While we, like earthworms lurking in the weeds,
Do live inglorious in all men’s eyes.
What lets me from this vain slumber rising
And by strong hand achieve eternal glory
That may be talked of in all memory*?
And see how Fortune favors mine intent*:
Heard you not, lordings, how prince Selimus
Against our royal father armèd went,
And how the Janissaries made him flee
To Ramir*, Emperor of Tatary?
This his rebellion greatly profits me,
For I shall sooner win my father’s mind
To yield me up the Turkish empiry,
Which if I have, I am sure I shall find
Strong enemies to pull me down again
That fain would have prince Selimus to reign.
Then civil discord and contentious war
Will follow Acomat’s coronation.
Selim, no doubt, will broach seditious jar*,
And Corcut, too, will seek for alteration.
Now, to prevent all sudden perturbation*,
We thought it good to muster up our power
That danger may not take it unprovided*.
9.Sp2Visir
I like your highness’ resolution well,
For these should be the chief arts of a king:
of a king:To punish those that furiously rebel
And honor those that sacred counsel bring;
To make good laws, ill customs to expel;
To nourish peace from whence your riches spring*;
And when good* quarrels call you to the field,
T’excel your men in handling spear and shield.
Thus shall the glory of your matchless name
Be registered up in immortal lines*.
Whereas that prince that follows lustful game*,
Shall never ’pass* the temple of true fame,
Whose worth is greater than the Indian mines*.
But is your grace assurèd certainly
That Bajazeth doth favor your request?
Perhaps you may make him your enemy;
You know how much your father doth detest
Stout obedience* and obstinancy.
and obstinancy.I speak not this as if I thought it best
Your highness should your right in it neglect,
But that you might be close and circumspect*.
9.Sp3Acomat
We thank thee, Visir, for thy loving care.
As for my father Bajazeth’s affection,
Unless his holy vows* forgotten are,
I shall be sure of it by his election*.
But after Acomat’s erection*,
after Acomat’s erection*,We must forecast what things be necessary,
Lest that our kingdom be too momentary.
9.Sp4Regan
First let my lord be seated in his throne,
Installèd by great Bajazeth’s consent.
As yet your harvest is not fully grown
But in the green and unripe blade is pent:
:But when you once have got the regiment*,
Then may your lords more easily provide
Against all accidents that may betide.
9.Sp5Acomat
Exeunt all.
Then set we forward to Byzantium,
That we may know what Bajazeth intends.
Aside* Advise thee, Acomat, what’s best to do.
, what’s best to do.The Janissaries favor Selimus,
And they are strong undaunted enemies,
Which will in arms gainst thy election rise.
Then will* them to thy will with precious gifts
them to thy will with precious giftsAnd store of gold: a timely largition*
largition*The steadfast persons from their purpose lifts.
But then beware lest Bajazeth’s affection
Change into hatred by such premunition*,
*,And imitate my brother Selimus.
Besides, a prince his honor doth debase
That begs the common soldiers’ suffrages*,
And if the bassas knew I sought their grace,
It would the more increase their insolence*.
.To resist them were overhardiness*,
And worse it were to leave my enterprise.
Well, howsoe’er, resolve to venture it;
Fortune doth favor every bold assay*,
,And ’twere a trick of an unsettled wit*,
Because the bees have stings with them alway*,
To fear our mouths in honey to embay*.
our mouths in honey to embay*.Then resolution for me leads the dance*,
And thus resolved, I mean to try my chance.
Scene 10
Enter Bajazeth, Mustaffa, Cali Bassa, Hali Bassa, and the Janissaries.10.Sp1Bajazeth
Music within*.
What prince soe’er trusts to his mighty pow’r,
Ruling the reins of so many* nations,
nations,And thinks his kingdom free from alterations*.
If he were in the place of Bajazeth,
He would but little by his scepter set.
For what hath rule that makes it acceptable*?
Rather, what hath it not worthy of hate?
First of all is our state still mutable
And our continuance at the people’s rate*,
So that it is a slender thread whereon
Depends the honor of a prince’s throne*.
Then do we fear, more than the child newborn,
Our friends, our lords, our subjects, and our sons.
Thus is our mind in sundry pieces torn
By care, by fear, suspicion, and distrust.
In wine, in meat, we fear pernicious poison;
At home, abroad, we fear seditious treason.
Too true that tyrant Dionysus
tyrant DionysusDid picture out the image of a king
When Damocles was placèd in his throne,
And o’er his head a threatning sword did hang,
Fastened up only by a horse’s hair*.
Our chiefest trust is secretly distrust,
For whom have we whom we may safely trust,
If our own sons, neglecting awful* duty,
Rise up in arms against their loving fathers?
Their heart is all of hardest marble wrought
That can lay wait* to take away their breath,
My heart is heavy, and I needs must sleep.
Bassas, withdraw yourselves from me awhile
That I may rest my overburdened soul.
They stand aside while the curtains* are drawn.Eunuchs* play me some music while I sleep.
10.Sp2Mustaffa
Good Bajazeth, who would not pity thee,
Whom thine own son so vilely persecutes?
persecutes?More mildly do th’unreasonable beasts
beastsDeal with their dams than Selimus with thee.
10.Sp3Hali Bassa
Mustaffa, we are princes of the land
And love our emperor as well as thou:
Yet will we not for pitying his estate,
Suffer our foes our wealth to ruinate*.
If Selim have played false with Bajazeth,
And overslipped* the duty of a son,
Why, he was moved by just occasion.
Did he not humbly send his messenger
To crave access unto his majesty?
And yet he could not get permission
To kiss his hands and speak his mind to him.
Perhaps he thought his agèd father’s love
Was clean estranged from him, and Acomat
Should reap the fruit that he had labored for*.
’Tis lawful for the father to take arms,
Ay, and by death chastise his rebel son.
Why should it be unlawful for the son
To levy arms gainst his injurious sire?
10.Sp4Mustaffa
You reason, Hali, like a sophister*,
As if ’twere lawful for a subject prince*
To rise in arms against* his sovereign
his sovereignBecause he will not let him have his will,
Much less is’t lawful for a man’s own son.
If Bajazeth had injured Selimus,
Or sought his death, or done him some abuse,
Then Selim’s* cause had been more tolerable.
cause had been more tolerable.But Bajazeth did never injure him,
Nor sought his death, nor once abusèd him,
Unless because he gives him not the crown,
Being the youngest of his highness’ sons.
Gave he not him an empire for his part,
The mighty empire of great Trebisond*?
So that if all things rightly be observed,
Selim had more than ever he deserved.
I speak not this because I hate the prince,
For by the heavens I love young Selim*,
,Better than either of his brethren,
But for I owe allegiance to my king
And love him much that favors me so much.
Mustaffa, while old Bajazeth doth live,
Will be as true to him as to himself.
10.Sp5Cali Bassa
Why, brave Mustaffa, Hali and myself
Were never false unto his majesty.
Our father Hali died in the field
Against the Sophy in his highness’ wars,
And we will never be degenerate*.
Nor do we take part with Prince Selimus
Because we would depose old Bajazeth,
But for because we would not Acomat
That leads his life still in lascivious pomp*,
Nor Corcut, though he be a man of worth,
Should be commander of our empire.
.For he that never saw his foeman’s* face
But always slept upon a lady’s lap,
Will scant endure to lead a soldier’s life.
And he that never handled but his pen*
Will be unskillful at the warlike lance.
Indeed, his wisdom well may guide the crown*
And keep that safe his predecessors got:
But being given to peace as Corcut is,
He never will enlarge the empire,
,So that the rule and power over us
Is only fit for valiant Selimus.
10.Sp6Mustaffa
Sound within. A Messenger enters. Curtains are opened. Bajazeth
awaketh.
Princes*, you know how mighty Bajazeth
Hath honorèd Mustaffa with his love.
He gave his daughter, beauteous Solyma,
To be the sovereign mistress of my thoughts*.
He made me captain of the Janissaries,
And too unnatural should Mustaffa be
To rise against him in his dying age.
Yet know, you warlike peers, Mustaffa is
, Mustaffa isA loyal friend unto Prince Selimus,
And ere his other brethren get the crown,
For his sake, I myself will pull them down.
I love, I love them dearly, but the love
Which I do bear unto my country’s good
Makes me a friend to noble Selimus*,
Only let Bajazeth while he doth live
Enjoy in peace the Turkish diadem.
When he is dead and laid in quiet grave,
Then none but Selimus our help shall have.
10.Sp7Bajazeth
How now*, Mustaffa; what news have we there?
Is Selim up in arms gainst me again?
Or is the Sophy* entered our confines?
Hath the Egyptian snatched his crown again?*
Or have the uncontrollèd Christians
Unsheathed their swords to make more war on us?
Such news or none will come to Bajazeth.
10.Sp10Regan
Mighty commander of the warlike Turks,
Acomat, Soldan of Amasya*,
Greeteth your grace by me his messenger.
He gives him a letter.And ’gratulates* your highness’ good success,
Wishing good fortune may befall you still.
10.Sp11Bajazeth.
Mustaffa, read.
He gives the letter to Mustaffa and speaks the
rest to himself.Aside* Acomat craves thy promise, Bajazeth,
To give the empire up into his hands
And thou shalt have it*, lovely Acomat,
For I have been encumbered long enough
And vexèd with the cares of kingly rule.
Now, let the trouble of the empiry
Be buried in the bosom* of thy son.
Ah, Acomat, if thou have such a reign
So full of sorrow as thy father’s was,
Thou wilt accurse the time, the day, and hour
In which thou was established emperor.
Sound. Enter a messenger from Corcut*.—Yet more news?
10.Sp12Messenger
Long live the mighty Emperor Bajazeth.
Corcut, the Soldan of Magnesia,
Hearing of Selim’s worthy overthrow
And of the coming of young Acomat,
Doth certify* your majesty by me
How joyful he is of your victory.
And therewithal* he humbly doth require
Your grace would do him justice in his cause.
His brethren both, unworthy such a father,
Do seek the empire while your grace doth live,
And that by indirect sinister means.
But Corcut, mind free from ambitious thoughts
from ambitious thoughtsAnd trusting to the goodness of his cause,
Joinèd unto your highness’ tender love,
Only desires your grace should not invest*
Selim nor Acomat in the diadem,
Which appertaineth unto him by right*,
But keep it to yourself the while you live.
And when it shall the great creator please,
Who hath the spirits of all men in his hands,
Shall call your highness to your latest home,
Then will he also sue to have his right.
10.Sp13Bajazeth
Whom waves do toss one way and winds another,
Both without ceasing, even so my poor heart
Endures a combat betwixt love and right*.
love and right*.The love I bear to my dear Acomat
Commands me give my suffrage unto him,
But Corcut’s title, being my eldest son,
Bids me recall my hand and give it him.
Acomat, he would have it in my life,
But gentle Corcut, like a loving son,
Desires me live and die an emperor
And at my death bequeath my crown to him*.
Ah, Corcut, thou I see lovst me indeed;
Selimus sought to thrust me down by force,
And Acomat seeks the kingdom in my life,
And both of them are grieved thou liv’st so long.
But Corcut numbreth not my days as they;
Oh, how much dearer loves he me then they.
—Bassas, how counsel you your emperor*?
10.Sp14Mustaffa
My gracious lord, myself will speak for all,
For all, I know, are minded as I am.
Your highness knows the Janissaries’ love,
How firm they mean to cleave to your behest,
As well you might perceive in that sad fight
When Selim set upon you in your flight.
Then we do all desire you on our knees
To keep the crown and scepter to your self.
How grievous will it be unto your thoughts,
If you should give the crown to Acomat,
To see the brethren disinherited*
To flesh their anger* one upon another
And rend the bowels of this mighty realm*.
.Suppose that Corcut would be well content,
Yet thinks your grace, if Acomat were king,
That Selim ere long would join league with him?
Nay, he would break from forth his Trebisond
And waste the empire all with fire and sword.
Ah, then too weak would be poor Acomat
Or save himself from his enhancèd* hand,
While Ismael and the cruel Persians
And the great Soldan of th’Egyptians
Would smile to see our force dismembered so.
Ay, and perchance the neighbor Christians
the neighbor ChristiansWould take occasion to thrust out their heads*.
All this may be prevented by your grace,
If you will yield to Corcut’s just request
And keep the kingdom to you while you live.
Meantime, we that your grace’s subjects are
May make us strong to fortify* the man
Whom at your death your grace shall choose as king.
10.Sp15Bajazeth
Exeunt all.
O, how thou speakest ever like thyself,
Loyal Mustaffa: well were Bajazeth
If all his sons did bear such love to him.
Though loth* I am longer to wear the crown,
Yet for I see it is my subjects’ will,
Once more will Bajazeth be emperor.
But we must send to pacify our son,
Or he will storm as erst did Selimus*.
Come, let us go unto our counsel, lords,
,And there consider what is to be done.
Scene 11
Enter Acomat, Regan, Visir, and his soldiers. Acomat reads letter and then rents it.*
11.Sp1Acomat
Thus will I rend the crown from off thy head*,
False-hearted and injurious Bajazeth,
To mock thy son that lovèd thee so dear.
What?* For because the head-strong Janissaries
Would not consent to honor Acomat,
And their base bassas, vowed to Selimus,
Thought me unworthy of the Turkish crown?
Should he be ruled and overruled by them,
Under pretence of keeping it himself,
To wipe me clean forever* being king?
Doth he esteem so much the bassas’ words
And prize* their favor at so high a rate
That for to gratify their stubborn minds
He casts away all care and all respects
Of duty, promise, and religious oaths*?
Now by the holy prophet Mahomet,
Chief president* and patron of the Turks,
I mean to challenge* now my right by arms
And win by sword that glorious dignity
Which he injuriously detains* from me.
Haply*, he thinks because that Selimus,
Rebutted by his warlike Janissaries,
Was fain to fly in haste from whence he came
That Acomat, by his example moved,
Will fear to manage arms against his sire.
Or that my life, forepassed* in pleasure’s court,
Promises weak resistance in the fight.
But he shall know that I can use my sword
And like a lion seize upon my prey.
If ever Selim moved him heretofore,
Acomat means to move him ten times more.
11.Sp3Acomat
Exeunt all.
Visir, I am impatient of delay,
And since my father hath incensed me thus,
I’ll quench those kindled flames with his heart blood.
Not like a son but a most cruel foe
Will Acomat henceforth be unto him.
unto him.March to Natolia*; there we will begin
And make a preface to* our massacres.
My nephew Mahomet, son to Alemshae,
Departed lately from Iconium*,
Is lodgèd there, and he shall be the first
Whom I will sacrifice unto my wrath*.
Scene 12
Enter the young Prince Mahomet, the Beylerbey of Natolia, and one or two soldiers*.12.Sp1Mahomet
Lord Governor, what think you best to do?
If we receive the Soldan Acomat,
Who knoweth not but his bloodthirsty sword
Shall be embowellèd* in our countrymen.
You know he is displeased with Bajazeth
And will rebel, as Selim did tofore*,
And would to God with* Selim’s overthrow.
You know his angry heart hath vowed revenge
On all the subjects of his father’s land.
12.Sp2Beylerbey
Young prince, thy uncle seeks to have thy life
Because by right* the Turkish crown is thine.
Save thou thyself by flight or otherwise,
And we will make resistance as we can.
Like an Armenian tiger* that hath lost
Her lovèd whelps, so raveth Acomat:
And we must be subject unto his rage,
his rage,But you may live to venge* your citizens.
Then fly, good prince, before your uncle come.
12.Sp3Mahomet
Exeunt all.
Nay, good my lord, never shall it be said
That Mahomet, the son of Alemshae,
Fled from his citizens for fear of death,
But I will stay and help to fight for you,
And if you needs must die, I’ll die with you.
And I among the rest with forward* hand
Will help to kill a common enemy.
Scene 13
Enter Acomat, Visir, Regan, and soldiers.
13.Sp1Acomat
Enter all to a parley, Mahomet, the Beylerbey of Natolia, and soldiers
on the walls*.Now, fair Natolia, shall thy stately walls
Be overthrown and beaten to the ground*.
My heart within me for revenge still calls.
Why, Bajazeth, thoughtst thou that Acomat
Would put up* such a monstrous injury?
Then had I brought my chivalry in vain
And to no purpose drawn my conquering blade,
Which now unsheathed shall not be sheathed again
’Til it a world of bleeding souls hath made.
Poor Mahomet, thou thoughtst thyself too sure*
In thy strong city of Iconium
To plant thy forces in Natolia,
Weakened so much before by Selim’s sword*.
Summon a parley* to the citizens
That they may hear the dreadful words I speak
And die in thought before they come to blows.
13.Sp3Acomat
That thou and all the city yield themselves,
Or by the holy rites of Mahomet,
You all shall die: and not a common death,
But e’en* as monstrous as I can devise.
as monstrous as I can devise.13.Sp4Mahomet
Uncle, if I may call you by that name,
Which cruelly hunt for your nephew’s blood,
You do us wrong thus to besiege our town
That ne’er deserved such hatred at your hands*,
Being your friends and kinsmen as we are.
13.Sp9Acomat
Wilt thou? Then know assuredly from me,
I’ll seal the resignation with thy blood:
Though Alemshae, thy father, loved me well,
Yet Mahomet, his son, shall down to hell.
son, shall down to hell.13.Sp17Acomat
Alarum. They scale *the walls. Exit all above. ReenterBeshrew* me, but you be the wiser, Mahomet,
For if I do but catch you, boy, alive,
’Twere better for you run through Phlegethon*.
Sirs, scale the walls and pull the caitiffs down!
I give to you the spoil of all the town.
Acomat,
Visir, and Regan with Mahomet.
13.Sp18Acomat
Now youngster, you that bravst us on the walls,
And shook your plumèd crest* against our shield,
What wouldst thou give, or what wouldst thou not give,
That thou wert far enough from Acomat?
How like the villain is to Bajazeth*.
Well, nephew, for* thy father loved me well,
I will not deal extremely with his son:
Then hear a brief compendium* of thy death.
Regan, go cause a grove of steelhead spears
Be pitchèd thick under the castle wall,
And on them let this youthful captain fall*.
fall*.13.Sp19Mahomet
Exit Regan with Mahomet.
Alarum. Enter a soldier with Zonara*, sister to
Mahomet.
Thou shalt not fear* me, Acomat, with death,
Nor will I beg my pardon at thy hands.
But as thou givst me such a monstrous death,
So do I freely leave to thee my curse.
13.Sp23Zonara
If ever pity enterèd thy breast,
Or ever thou wast touched with woman’s love,
Sweet uncle, spare wretched Zonara’s life.
Thou once wast noted for a quiet prince,
Soft-hearted, mild, and gentle as a lamb.
Ah, do not prove a lion unto me.
13.Sp29Zonara
Thou art not, false groom*, son to Bajazeth;
He would relent to hear a woman weep,
But thou wast born in desert Caucasus*,
And the Hyrcanian* tigers gave thee suck,
Knowing thou wert a monster like themselves.
13.Sp30Acomat
Exeunt all.
Let you her thus to rate* us? Strangle her.
They strangle her*.Now scour the streets, and leave not one alive
To carry these sad news to Bajazeth,
That all the citizens may dearly say
This day was fatal to Natolia.
Scene 14
Enter Bajazeth, Mustaffa, Aga, and the Janissaries.*
14.Sp1Bajazeth
Mustaffa, if my mind deceive me not,
Some strange misfortune is not far from me.
I was not wont to tremble in this sort.
Methinks I feel a cold run through my bones,
As if it hastened to surprise my heart.
Methinks some voice still whispereth in my ears*
And bids me to take heed of Acomat.
14.Sp2Mustaffa
Enter two soldiers with the Beylerbey of Natolia in a chair*, and the bodies of Mahomet and Zonara in two coffins*.
’Tis but your highness’ overchargèd mind,
Which feareth most the things it least desires.
14.Sp3Bajazeth
Ah, sweet Mustaffa, thou art much deceived;
My mind presages me* some future harm,
And lo, what doleful exequy* is here.
Our chief commander of Natolia?
What caitiff hand is it hath wounded thee?
And who are these covered in tomb-black hearse*?
14.Sp4Beylerbey
Bajazeth falls in a swoon*These are thy nephews*, mighty Bajazeth,
The son and daughter of good Alemshae,
Whom cruel Acomat hath murderèd thus.
These eyes beheld when from an ayrie* tower
* towerThey hurled the body of young Mahomet,
Whereas a band of armèd soldiers,
Received him falling on their spears’ sharp points.
His sister, poor Zonara, luckless maid*,
,Entreating life and not obtaining it,
Was strangled by his barbarous soldiers.
and then recovers.
14.Sp5Bajazeth
Oh, you dispensers of our hapless breath*,
Why do you glut your eyes* and take delight
To see sad pageants of men’s miseries?
Wherefore have you prolonged my wretched life,
To see my son, my dearest Acomat,
To lift his hands against his father’s life?
Ah, Selimus, now do I pardon thee,
For thou didst set upon me manfully,
And moved by an occasion*, though unjust.
But Acomat, injurious Acomat,
Is ten times more unnatural to me.
Hapless Zonara, hapless Mahomet,
The poor remainder of my Alemshae,
Which of you both shall Bajazeth most wail?
Ah, both of you are worthy to be wailed.
Happily dealt the froward* Fates with thee,
Good Alemshae, for thou didst die in field,
And so prevented* this sad spectacle,
this sad spectacle,Pitiful spectacle of sad dreariment*,
Pitiful spectacle of dismal death.
But I have lived to see thee, Alemshae,
By Tatar pirates all in pieces torn*,
To see young Selim’s disobedience,
To see the death of Alemshae’s poor seed*,
And last of all to see my Acomat
Prove a rebellious enemy to me.
14.Sp6Beylerbey
He dies.
Ah, cease your tears, unhappy Emperor,
And shed not all for your poor nephews’ death.
death.Six thousand of true-hearted citizens
In fair Natolia Acomat hath slain.
And I escaped with this poor company,
Bemangled and dismembered* as you see,
To be the messenger of these sad news.
And now mine eyes, fast swimming in pale death,
Bid me resign my breath unto the heavens;
Death doth stand before, ready for to strike.*
Farewell, dear Emperor, and revenge our loss,
As ever thou dost hope for happiness.
14.Sp7Bajazeth
Exeunt all.
From whence the damnèd ghosts do often creep
Back to the world to punish wicked men,
Black Demogorgon*, grandfather of night,
Send out thy Furies* from thy fiery hall,
The pitiless Erinyes* armed with whips,
And all the damnèd monsters of black hell
To pour their plagues on cursèd Acomat*.
How shall I mourn, or which way shall I turn
To pour my tears upon my dearest friends?
Couldst thou* induce false-hearted Acomat
false-hearted AcomatTo kill thy nephew and his sister thus,
sister thus,And wound to death so valiant a lord?
And will you not, you all-beholding heavens,
Dart down on him your piercing lightning brand*,
Enrolled* in sulphur and consuming flames?
Ah, do not Jove*; Acomat is my son
And may perhaps by counsel be reclaimed
And brought to filial obedience.
Go thou and talk with my son Acomat
And see if he will any way relent*.
Speak him fair*, Aga, lest he kill thee too.
And we, my lords, will in and mourn awhile
Over these princes’* lamentable tombs.
Scene 15
Enter Acomat, Visir, Regan, and their soldiers.15.Sp1Acomat
Enter Aga and one with him*.
As Tityus* in the country of the dead,
With restless cries doth call upon high Jove,
The while the vulture tireth* on his heart,
So, Acomat, revenge still gnaws thy soul.
I think my soldiers’ hands have been too slow
In shedding blood and murd’ring innocents.
innocents.I think my wrath hath been too patient,
Since civil* blood quencheth not out the flames
Which Bajazeth hath kindled in my heart.
15.Sp4Aga
Great Prince, thy father mighty Bajazeth
Wonders why your grace, whom he loved so much*
And thought to leave possessor of the crown*,
Would thus requite his love with mortal hate*,
To kill thy nephews with revenging sword
And massacre his subjects in such sort.
15.Sp5Acomat
Aga, my father, traitorous Bajazeth,
Detains the crown injuriously from me,
Which I will have if all the world say nay.
I am not like the unmanurèd land,
Which answers not his Honor’s* greedy mind.
greedy mind.I sow not seeds upon the barren sand:
A thousand ways can Acomat soon find
To gain my will, which if I cannot gain,
Then purple blood my angry hands shall stain*.
15.Sp7Acomat
Tush, Aga, Selim was not wise enough
To set upon the head at the first brunt*.
He should have done as I do mean to do:
Fill all the confines* with fire, sword, and blood,
Burn up the fields and overthrow whole towns,
And when he had endamagèd that way
Then tear the old man piecemeal with his teeth*
And color his strong hands* with his gore-blood.
with his gore-blood.15.Sp8Aga
Oh see, my lord, how fell* ambition
Deceives your senses and bewitches you:
Could you unkind* perform so foul a deed
As kill the man that first gave life to you*?
Do you not fear the people’s adverse fame*?
15.Sp9Acomat
It is the greatest glory of a king
When, though his subjects hate his wicked deeds,
Yet are they forced to bear them all with praise.
15.Sp10Aga
Whom fear constrains to praise their prince’s deeds,
That fear eternal hatred in them feeds*.
15.Sp11Acomat
That loves to be great in his people’s grace*:
The surest ground for kings to build upon
Is to be feared and cursed of everyone.
What though* the world of nations me hate?
15.Sp12Aga
Where there’s no shame, no care of holy law,
No faith, no justice, no integrity,
That state is full of mutability.
15.Sp15Acomat
’Tis lawful, graybeard*, for to do to him
What ought not to be done unto a father.
Hath he not wiped* me from the Turkish crown?
Preferred he not the stubborn Janissaries
And did hear* the bassas’ stout petitions
the bassas’ stout petitionsBefore he would give ear to my request*?
As sure as day, mine eyes shall ne’er taste sleep
Before my sword have riven his perjured breast.
15.Sp17Acomat
Yes, thou shalt live but never see that day,
Wanting the tapers* that should give thee light:
Acomat pulls out his eyes*.Thou shalt not see so great felicity*,
When I shall rend out Bajazeth’s dim eyes*
And by his death install myself a king.
15.Sp18Aga
Ah, thou cruel tyrant and unmerciful,
More bloody than the anthropophagi*
That fill their hungry stomachs with man’s flesh,
Thou shouldst have slain me, barbarous Acomat,
Not leave me in so comfortless a life
To live on earth and never see the sun.
15.Sp19Acomat
Nay, let him die that liveth at his ease*;
Death would a wretched caitiff greatly please*.
15.Sp20Aga
And thinkst thou then to scape unpunishèd?
No, Acomat, though both mine eyes be gone,
Yet are my hands left on to murder thee.
15.Sp21Acomat and puts them in.
’Twas well remembered: Regan cut them off.
They cut off his hands* and give them to Acomat.Now, in that sort* go tell thy emperor
That if himself had but been in thy place
I would have used him crueller than thee.
Here take thy hands: I know thou lovst them well.
Acomat opens Aga’s bosom and puts them in.Which hand is this? Right? Or left? Canst thou tell?
15.Sp22Aga
I know not which it is, but ’tis my hand.
But O, thou supreme architect of all,
First mover of those tenfold crystal orbs*,
Where all those moving and unmoving eyes
Behold thy goodness everlastingly,
See, unto thee I lift these bloody arms,
For hands I have not for to lift to thee;
And in thy justice dart thy smold’ring flame*
Upon the head of cursèd Acomat.
O, cruel heavens and injurious Fates,
Even the last refuge of a wretched man
Is took from me: for how can Aga weep
Wanting the watry* cisterns of his eyes?
Come, lead me back again to Bajazeth*,
The woefullest and saddest ambassador
That ever was dispatched to any king.
15.Sp23Acomat
Exeunt all.
And would I had my doting father here,
I would rip up his breast and rend his heart,
Into his bowels thrust my angry hands*,
As willingly, and with as good a mind,
As I could be the Turkish emperor.
And by the clear declining vault* of heaven,
Whither the souls of dying men do flee,
Either I mean to die the death myself
Or make that old false faitour* bleed his last,
For death no sorrow could unto me bring,
So Acomat might die the Turkish king.
Scene 16
Enter Bajazeth, Mustaffa, Cali Bassa, Hali Bassa, and Aga, led by a soldier and kneeling before Bajazeth and holding his legs.16.Sp1Aga
Is this the body of my sovereign?
Are these the sacred pillars* that support
The image of true magnanimity?
Ah, Bajazeth, thy son false Acomat
Is full resolved to take thy life from thee.
’Tis true; ’tis true; witness these handless arms.
Witness these empty lodges* of mine eyes.
Witness the gods that from the highest heaven
Beheld the tyrant with remorseless heart
Pull out mine eyes and cut off my weak hands.
out mine eyes and cut off my weak hands.Witness that sun, whose golden-colored beams
Your eyes do see, but mine can ne’er behold.
Witness the earth that suckèd up my blood,
Streaming in rivers from my trunkèd* arms.
Witness the present that he sends to thee.
Open my bosom; there you shall it see.
Mustaffa opens Aga’s bosom and takes out his hands.Those are the hands which Aga once did use
To toss the spear and in a warlike gyre*
To hurtle* my sharp sword about my head.
Those sends he to the woeful emperor,
woeful emperor,Why is my sovereign silent all this while?
16.Sp2Bajazeth
Ah, Aga, Bajazeth fain would speak to thee,
But sudden sorrow eateth up my words.
Bajazeth, Aga, fain would weep for thee,
But cruel sorrow drieth up my tears.
Bajazeth, Aga, fain would die for thee,
But grief hath weakened my poor agèd hands.
How can he speak, whose tongue sorrow hath tied?
How can he mourn, that cannot shed a tear?
How shall he live, that full of misery
Calleth for death which will not let him die?
16.Sp3Mustaffa
Let women weep*, let children pour forth tears,
And cowards spend time in bootless* moan.
We’ll load the earth with such a mighty host
Of Janissaries, stern-born sons of Mars*,
That Phoeb’* shall fly and hide him in the clouds
For fear our javelins thrust him from his wain*.
Old Aga was a prince* among your lords;
His counsels always were true oracles,
And shall he thus unmanly be misused
And he unpunishèd that did the deed?
Shall Mahomet and poor Zonara’s ghosts
And the good governor of Natolia
Wander in Stygian meadows* unrevenged?
Good Emperor, stir up thy manly heart,
And send forth all thy warlike Janissaries
To chastise that rebellious Acomat.
Thou knowst we cannot fight without a guide,
And he must be one of the royal blood,
Sprung from the loins of mighty Ottoman*.
And who remains now but young Selimus*?
So please your grace to pardon his offence,
And make him captain of th’imperial host.
16.Sp4Bajazeth
Exeunt all.
Ay, good Mustaffa, send for Selimus,
So I may be revenged I care not how.
The worst that can befall me is but death;
’Tis that would end my woeful misery.
would end my woeful misery.Selimus, he must work me this good turn.
I cannot kill myself*; he’ll do’t for me.
Come, Aga. Thou and I will weep the while:
Thou for thy eyes and loss of both thy hands,
I for th’unkindness of my Acomat.
Scene 17
Enter Selimus and a messenger with a letter from Bajazeth.17.Sp1Selimus
Exit*Will Fortune* favor me yet once again?
And will she thrust the cards* into my hands?
Well, if I chance but once to get the deck,
To deal about and shuffle as I would,
Let Selim never see the daylight spring,
Unless I shuffle out myself a king*.
Friend, let me see thy letter once again
That I may read these reconciling lines*.
Reads the letter.Thou hast a pardon, Selim, granted thee.
Mustaffa and the forward Janissaries
Have sued to thy father Bajazeth
That thou mayst be their captain general*
Against th’attempts of Soldan Acomat.
Why, that’s the thing that I requested most:
requested most:That I might once th’imperial army lead.
And since it’s offered me so willingly,
Beshrew me but I’ll take their courtesy*.
Soft, let me see, is there no policy*
T’entrap poor Selimus in this device*?
It may be that my father fears me yet,
Lest I should once again rise up in arms,
And, like Antaeus quelled by Hercules*,
Gather new forces by my overthrow;
And therefore sends for me under pretence
Of this and that: but when he hath me there,
He’ll make me sure* for putting him in fear.
Distrust is good when there’s cause of distrust.
Read it again; perchance thou dost mistake.
Read.Oh, here’s Mustaffa’s signet* set thereto.
Then, Selim, cast all foolish fear aside,
For he’s a prince that favors thy estate
And hateth treason worse than death itself.
And hardly* can I think he could be brought,
If there were treason, to subscribe his name.
Come, friend; the cause* requires we should be gone.
Now, once again have at* the Turkish throne.
both.
Scene 18
Enter Bajazeth leading Aga, Mustaffa, Hali Bassa, Cali Bassa, Selimus, and the Janissaries.18.Sp1Bajazeth
Come, mournful Aga*; come and sit by me.
Thou hast been sorely grieved* for Bajazeth,
Good reason then that he should grieve for thee.
Give me thy arm. Though thou hast lost thy hands
And livst as a poor exile in this light*,
Yet hast thou won the heart of Bajazeth.
18.Sp2Aga
Your grace’s words are very comfortable,
And well can Aga bear his grievous loss,
Since it was for so good a prince’s sake.
18.Sp3Selimus
Father, if I may call thee by that name,
Whose life I aimed at with rebellious sword,
In all humility* thy reformèd son
Offers himself into your grace’s hands
And at your feet layeth his bloody sword,
Which he advanced against your majesty.
He lays down his sword.If my offence do seem so odious
That I deserve not longer time to live,
Behold, I open unto you my breast*,
Ready prepared to die at your command.
He bares his breast.But if repentance in an unfeignèd* heart
And sorrow for my grievous crime forepassed
May merit pardon at your princely hands,
Behold where poor inglorious* Selimus
Upon his knees begs pardon of your grace.
18.Sp4Bajazeth
Stand up, my son. I joy to hear thee speak
But more to hear thou art so well reclaimed.
Thy crime was ne’er so odious unto me,
But thy reformèd life and humble thoughts
Are thrice as* pleasing to my agèd spirit.
Selim, we here pronounce thee by our will
Chief general of the warlike Janissaries.
Go lead them out against false Acomat,
Which hath so grievously rebelled gainst me.
Spare him not, Selim. Though he be my son,
Yet do I now clean disinherit him
As common* enemy to me and mine.
18.Sp5Selimus
Exit Selimus with all the rest, save Bajazeth and Aga.
May Selim live to show how dutiful
And loving he will be to Bajazeth.
Aside* So now doth Fortune smile on me again,
So now doth Fortune smile on me again,And in regard of* former injuries,
Offer to me* millions of diadems.
* millions of diadems.I smile to see how that the good old man
Thinks Selim’s thoughts are brought to such an ebb*
As he hath cast off all ambitious hope.
But soon shall that opinion be removed,
For if I once get mongst the Janissars*,
Then on my head the golden crown shall sit.
Well, Bajazeth, I fear me thou wilt grieve,
That e’er thou didst thy feigning son believe.
18.Sp6Bajazeth
Now, Aga, all the thoughts that troubled me
Do rest within the center of my heart*,
And thou shalt shortly joy as much with me,
When Acomat by Selim’s consuming* sword
Acomat by Selim’s consuming* swordShall leese* that ghost which made thee lose thy sight.
ghost which made thee lose thy sight.18.Sp7Aga
Sound within. "Long live Selimus, Emperor of Turks!"
Enter Mustaffa*.
Ah, Bajazeth, Aga looks not for revenge
But will pour out his prayers to the heavens
That Acomat may learn by Selimus
To yield himself up to his father’s grace*.
18.Sp9Mustaffa
Enter Cali Bassa, Selimus, Hali Bassa, Sinam Bassa, and the
Janissaries.
Ah, gracious lord, the captains of the host
With one assent have crowned Prince Selimus*,
And here he comes with all the Janissaries
To crave his confirmation at thy hands.
18.Sp10Sinam Bassa
Bajazeth, we, the captains of thy host*,
Knowing thy weak and too unwieldy* age
Unable is longer to govern us,
Have chosen Selimus, thy younger* son,
That he may be our leader and our guide
Against the Sophy and his Persians*,
Gainst the victorious Soldan Tonombey*.
There wants but thy consent, which we will have
Or hew thy body piecemeal with our swords.
18.Sp11Bajazeth
Bajazeth sets it on his head*.
Needs must I give what is already gone.
He takes off his crown.Here, Selimus, thy father Bajazeth,
Wearied with cares that wait upon a king,
Resigns the crown as willingly to thee
As e’er my father gave it unto me*.
18.Sp13Bajazeth
Exit Bajazeth and Aga.
Live thou a long and a victorious reign
And be triumpher of thine enemies.
Aga and I will to Dimoticum*
And live in peace the remnant of our days.
18.Sp14Selimus
When, after he had all his monsters quelled*,
He was received in heaven ’mongst the gods
And had fair Hebe* for his lovely bride.
As many labors Selimus hath had
And now at length attainèd* to the crown.
This* is my Hebe, and this is my heaven.
Bajazeth goeth to Dimoticum,
And there he purposes to live at ease,
But, Selimus, as long as he’s* on earth,
on earth,Thou shalt not sleep in rest without some broil*,
For Bajazeth is unconstant as the wind.
Bajazet hath with him a cunning Jew,
Professing physic*, and so skilled therein,
As if he had pow’r over life and death.
That he will venture any thing for gold.
This Jew with some intoxicated* drink
Shall poison Bajazeth and that blind lord;
Go some and fetch here* Abraham the Jew.
Exit one* for Abraham. Abraham the Jew.Corcut, thy pageant* next is to be played,
For though he be a grave philosopher,
Given to read Mahomet’s dreaded laws*,
Yet he may have a longing for the crown.
Besides, he may by devilish necromancy*
Procure my death or work my overthrow;
The devil* still is ready to do harm.
Hali, you and your brother presently
Shall with an army to Magnesia;
There you shall find the scholar at his book.
Exeunt Hali Bassa and Cali Bassa.Corcut once dead, then Acomat remains,
Whose death will make me certain of the crown.
These heads of Hydra are the principal;
When these are off, some other will arise,
As Amurath and Aladin, sons to Acomat,
My sister Solyma, Mustaffa’s wife.
Rather than Selim will be drowned himself.
Enter Abraham the Jew*.Jew, thou art welcome unto Selimus.
I have a piece of service for you, sir,
But on your life* be secret in the deed.
Get a strong poison, whose envenomed taste
May take away the life of Bajazeth
Before he pass forth of Byzantium.
18.Sp15Abraham
Exit Abraham.
I warrant you, my gracious sovereign,
He shall be quickly sent unto his grave,
For I have potions of so strong a force
That whosoever touches them shall die.
Speaks aside.And would your grace would once but taste of them,
I could as willingly afford them you*,
As to your agèd father Bajazeth.
agèd father Bajazeth.To SelimusMy lord, I am resolved to do the deed.
18.Sp16Selimus
Exeunt all.
So this is well: for I am none of those
That make a conscience* for to kill a man.
For nothing is more hurtful to a prince,
Than to be scrupulous and religious.
I like Lysander’s counsel* passing well:
If that I cannot speed with lion’s force,
To clothe my complots* in a fox’s skin.
For th’only things that wrought* our empiry
Were open* wrongs and hidden treachery.
Oh, they’re two wings wherewith I use to fly
two wings wherewith I use to flyAnd soar above the common sort.
If any seek our wrongs to remedy,
With these I’ll make his meditation* short,
his meditation* short,And one of these shall still maintain my cause:
Or fox’s skin or *lion’s rending paws.
Scene 19
Enter Bajazeth and Aga in mourning cloaks, Abraham the Jew with a cup*.19.Sp1Bajazeth
Come, Aga, let us sit and mourn awhile*,
For Fortune never showed herself so cross*
To any prince as to poor Bajazeth.
They sit.That woeful emperor, first of my name,
Whom the Tatarians locked in a cage*
*To be a spectacle to all the world,
Was ten times happier than I am now.
For Tamburlaine, the great scourge* of nations,
* of nations,Was he that pulled him from his kingdom so*.
But mine own sons expel me from the throne.
Ah, where shall I begin to make my moan?
Or what shall I first reckon in my plaint*?
From my youth up I have been drowned in woe,
And to my latest hour I shall be so.
You swelling seas of never-ceasing care,
Whose waves my weather-beaten ship do toss,
Your boisterous billows* too unruly are
And threaten still my ruin and my loss:
Like hugy* mountains do your waters rear
Their lofty tops and my weak vessel cross.
Alas, at length allay your stormy strife
Or else my feeble bark cannot endure
Your flashing buffets* and outragious blows.
But while thy foamy flood doth it immure*,
It shall soon be wracked on sandy shallows.*
*But, without stars*, gainst tide and wind he rows
And cares not, though upon some rock we split,
A restless pilot for the charge unfit.
And can alone this raging tempest stent*,
Will never blow a gentle gale of ease
But suffer my poor vessel to be rent*.
Then O, thou blind procurer of mischance*
That stayst* thyself upon a turning wheel,
Thy cruel hand, even when thou wilt, enhance*
And pierce my poor heart with thy thrillant steel*.
steel*.19.Sp2Aga
Cease, Bajazeth. Now, it is Aga’s turn.
Rest thou awhile and gather up more tears,
The while* poor Aga tells his tragedy.
When first my mother brought me to the world*,
Some blazing comet rulèd* in the sky,
Portending miserable chance to me.
My parents were but men of poor estate*,
And happy yet had wretched Aga been,
If Bajazeth had not exalted him*.
Poor Aga, had it not been much more fair*
T’have died among the cruel Persians*
Than thus at home by barbarous tyranny
To live and never see the cheerful day
And to want hands wherewith to feel the way?
19.Sp3Bajazeth
Leave weeping, Aga. We have wept enough.
And utter curses to the concave sky,
Which may infect the regions of the air*
And bring a general plague on all the world*.
Night*, thou most ancient grandmother of all,
First made by Jove for rest and quiet sleep,
When cheerful day is gone from th’earth’s wide hall,
And clothe the world in darkness infernal.
Suffer not once the joyful daylight peep,
But let thy pitchy steeds*, ay, draw thy wain,
And coal-black silence* in the world still reign.
Curse on my parents that first brought me up
And on the cradle wherein I was rocked.
Curse on the day when first I was created
The chief commander of all Asia.
Curse on my sons that drive me to this grief.
Curse on myself that can find no relief.
And curse on him, an everlasting curse,
That quenched those lamps of ever-burning light*
And took away my Aga’s warlike hands.
And curse on all things under the wide sky.
19.Sp4AbrahamSteps forward.
I have a drink, my lords, of noble worth*,
Which soon will calm your stormy passions
And glad your hearts if so you please to taste it.
19.Sp8Abraham
He drinks.
And have not many months to live on earth;
I care not much* to end my life with him.
He sits.To Bajazeth and Aga Here’s to you, lordings, with a full carouse.
19.Sp9Bajazeth
Here, Aga, woeful Bajazeth drinks to thee.
Abraham, hold the cup to him while he drinks.
Bajazeth and Aga drink.19.Sp10Abraham
He dies.
Now know, old lords, that you have drunk your last:
This was a potion which I did prepare
To poison you, by Selimus’ instigation,
And now it is dispersèd through my bones,
And glad I am that such companions
Shall go with me down to Proserpina*.
19.Sp11Bajazeth
He dies.
Ah, wicked Jew. Ah, cursèd Selimus.
How have the Destins* dealt with Bajazeth
That none should cause my death but mine own son?
If Ismael and his warlike Persians
Piercèd my body with their iron spears*,
Or had the strong unconquered Tonombey
With his Egyptians took me prisoner
And sent me with his valiant Mamelukes*
To be prey unto the crocodilus*,
It never would have grieved me half so much.
But welcome death, into whose calmy* port
My sorrow-beaten soul joys to arrive.
And now farewell my disobedient sons,
Unnatural sons unworthy of that name.
Farewell, sweet life, and Aga now, farewell,
’Til we shall meet in the Elysian fields.
19.Sp12Aga
He dies*
What greater grief had mournful Priamus
Than that he lived to see his Hector die,
His city burnt down by revenging flames,
And poor Polites slain before his face*?
Aga, thy grief is matchable to his,
For I have lived to see my sovereign’s death,
Yet glad that I must breath my last with him.
breath my last with him.And now, farewell, sweet light, which my poor eyes
These twice six months never did it behold*.
.Aga will follow noble Bajazeth
And beg a boon* of lovely Proserpina,
That he and I may in the mournful fields
Still weep and wail our strange calamities.
Scene 20
Enter Bullithrumble the shepherd, running* in haste and laughing to himself.20.Sp1Bullithrumble
Eats. While he is eating, enter Corcut and his Page*, disguised
like mourners*.
Ha, ha, ha! Married, quoth you? Marry*, an* Bullithrumble were to
begin the world again*, I would set a tap abroach* and
not live in daily fear of the breach* of my wife’s ten
commandments*. I’ll tell you what. I thought myself as
proper* a fellow at wasters* as any in all our village, and yet
when my wife begins to play club’s trump* with me, I am fain to sing*:
* Bullithrumble were to
begin the world again*, I would set a tap abroach* and
not live in daily fear of the breach* of my wife’s ten
commandments*. I’ll tell you what. I thought myself as
proper* a fellow at wasters* as any in all our village, and yet
when my wife begins to play club’s trump* with me, I am fain to sing*:For she hath given me many a blow.
And how to please her, alas, I do not know.
Sometime she laughs; sometime she cries:
When from abroad I do come in,
Sir knave*, she cries, where have you been?
Thus please, or displease, she lays it on my skin*.
Then do I crouch, then do I kneel,
And wish my cap were furred with steel
To bear the blows that my poor head doth feel.
But our Sir John*, beshrew thy heart,
Sir John*, beshrew thy heart,For thou hast joined* us; we cannot part,
And I, poor fool, must ever bear the smart.
I’ll tell you what*. This morning while I was making me ready, she came with a
holly wand* and so blessed* my shoulders that I was fain to run through a whole
alphabet of faces*. Now at the last, seeing she was so cammock* with me, I began to
swear all the criss-cross row* over, beginning at great A, little a, til I came to
w, x, y, and snatching up my sheephook and my bottle and my bag, like a desperate
fellow, ran away. And here now I’ll sit down and eat my meat.
with me, I began to
swear all the criss-cross row* over, beginning at great A, little a, til I came to
w, x, y, and snatching up my sheephook and my bottle and my bag, like a desperate
fellow, ran away. And here now I’ll sit down and eat my meat.20.Sp2Corcut
Bullithrumble spies them and puts up his meat.
O hateful hellish snake of Tartary*
That feedest on the soul of noblest men,
Damned ambition, cause of all misery,
Why dost thou creep from out thy loathsome fen*
And, with thy poison, animatest* friends,
Who gape and long, one for the other’s ends*?
and long, one for the other’s ends*?Selimus, couldst thou not content thy mind
With the possession of the sacred throne,
Which thou didst get by father’s death unkind,
Whose poisoned ghost before high God doth groan,
But thou must seek poor Corcut’s overthrow
That never injured thee so nor so*?
Of barded* horse were sent from Selimus
To take me prisoner in Magnesia,
And death, I am sure, should have befell me*,
*,If they had once but set their eyes on me.
So thus disguisèd*, my poor page and I
We meant t’await th’arrival of some ship
But see how Fortune crossed* my enterprise.
Bostangi Bassa, Selim’s son-in-law,
son-in-law,That if we had but ventured on the sea,
I presently had been his prisoner.
These two days have we kept us in the cave,
Eating such herbs as the ground did afford.
And now through hunger are we both constrained,
Like fearful snakes, to creep out step by step
And see if we may get us any food.
And in good time*, see, yonder sits a man,
20.Sp3Bullithrumble
20.Sp5Bullithrumble
20.Sp7Bullithrumble*
My name, sir, oho lord yes, and if you will not believe me, I
will bring my godfathers and godmothers*, and they shall swear it upon the
font-stone and upon the church book*, too, where it is written. Aside* Mass*, I think he be some justice of peace,
ad quorum and omnium
populorum*. How he famines me*.To Corcut A Christian,
yes, marry am I, sir; yes, verily, and do believe*: an it please you**, I’ll go
forward in my catechism*.
* Mass*, I think he be some justice of peace,
ad quorum and omnium
populorum*. How he famines me*.To Corcut A Christian,
yes, marry am I, sir; yes, verily, and do believe*: an it please you**, I’ll go
forward in my catechism*.20.Sp8Corcut
Then, Bullithrumble, by that blessèd Christ
And by the tomb where he was burièd,
By sovereign* hope which thou conceiv’st in him,
Whom dead, as ever living thou adorest
20.Sp10Corcut
By all the joys thou hopst to have in heaven,
Give some meat to poor hunger-starvèd men.
20.Sp11Bullithrumble
20.Sp13Bullithrumble
20.Sp15Bullithrumble
Exeunt Corcut and Bullithrumble.
Then come on and follow me. We will have a hog’s cheek and a
dish of tripes*, and a society* of puddings, and to field: a society of puddings,
did you mark that well used metaphor? Another would have said a company of
puddings. If you dwell with me long, sirs, I shall make you as eloquent as our
parson himself.
20.Sp16Page
Exit Page.
Now is the time when I may be enriched.
The brethren* that were sent by Selimus
To take my lord Prince Corcut prisoner,
Finding him fled, proposèd large rewards
To them that could declare where he remains.
Faith, I’ll to them and get the portagues*,
Though by the bargain Corcut lose his head.
Scene 21
Enter Selimus*, Sinam Bassa, the corses* of Bajazeth* and Aga with
funeral pomp*, Mustaffa and the Janissaries.
21.Sp1Selimus
* the Temple of Mahomet.
Exeunt all.
And strain his own to weep for Bajazeth.
When thus they see me with religious pomp*
To celebrate his tomb-black mortuary*.
*.And though my heart, cast in an iron mold,
Cannot admit the smallest dram* of grief,
Yet that I may be thought to love him well
I’ll mourn in show, though I rejoice indeed.
Selimus speaks to the corses.Thus after he hath five long ages lived,
The sacred Phoenix* of Arabia
Loadeth his wings with precious perfumes
And, on the altar of the golden sun,
Offers himself a grateful sacrifice.
Long didst thou live triumphant, Bajazeth,
A fear unto thy greatest enemies,
And now that death, the conqueror of kings,
Dislodgèd hath thy never-dying soul
To flee unto the heavens from whence she came
And leave her frail, earth pavilion*,
Thy body, in this ancient monument*,
Where our great predecessors sleep in rest,
Bajazeth placed in* the Temple of Mahomet.Thy woeful son Selimus thus doth place.
Thou wert the Phoenix of this age of ours*
And didst thou die* wrapped in the sweet perfumes
* wrapped in the sweet perfumesOf thy magnific* deeds, whose lasting praise
Mounteth highest heaven* with golden wings.
* with golden wings.Princes*, come bear your emperor company
In, till the days of mourning be o’erpassed,
And then we mean to rouse false Acomat
And cast him forth of Macedonia*.
Scene 22
Enter Hali Bassa, Cali Bassa, Corcut’s Page, and one or two soldiers*.22.Sp1Page
My lords, if I bring you not where Corcut is, then let me be
hanged. But if I deliver him up into your hands, then let me have the reward* due to so good a deed.
good a deed.22.Sp2Hali Bassa
Enter Corcut and Bullithrumble.
Page, if thou show us where thy maister is,
Be sure thou shalt be honored for the deed
And high exalted* above other men.
22.Sp4Corcut
The sweet content that country life affords*
Passeth the royal pleasures of a king:
For there* our joys are interlaced with fears,
But here no fear nor care is harborèd*
But a sweet calm of a most quiet state.
Ah, Corcut, would thy brother Selimus
But let thee live, here shouldst thou spend thy life,
Feeding thy sheep among these grassy lands.
But sure* I wonder where my page is
gone.
22.Sp7Hali Bassa
Hali, the governor of Magnesia*.
Poor prince, thou thoughtst in these disguisèd weeds
To mask unseen; and happily thou mightst,
But that thy page betrayèd thee to us.
And be not wrath* with us, unhappy prince,
If we do what our sovereign commands.
’Tis for thy death that Selim sends for thee.
22.Sp8Corcut
Thus I, like poor Amphiaraus, sought
By hiding my estate in shepherd’s coat
T’escape the angry wrath of Selimus.
But as his wife false Eriphyle did
Betray his safety for a chain of gold,
So my false page hath vilely dealt with me.
Pray God that thou mayst prosper so as she*.
Hali, I know thou sorrowst* for my case,
for my case,But it is bootless. Come and let us go.
Corcut is ready, since it must be so.
.22.Sp12Bullithrumble
Exeunt all, but Bullithrumble stealing from them closely*
away*.
22.Sp14Bullithrumble
Exit, running away*.
Scene 23
Enter Selimus, Sinam Bassa, Mustaffa, and the Janissaries.23.Sp1Selimus
Sinam, we hear our brother Acomat
Is fled away from Macedonia
To ask for aid of Persian Ismael
And the Egyptian Soldan, our chief foes*.
23.Sp2Sinam Bassa
Herein, my lord, I like his enterprise,
For if they give him aid, as sure they will
Being your highness’ vowèd enemies,
You shall have just cause for to war on them
For giving succor* gainst you to your foe.
You know they are two mighty potentates*
And may be hurtful neighbors to your grace,
And to enrich the Turkish diadem
With two so worthy kingdoms as they are
Would be eternal glory to your name.
23.Sp3Selimus Enter Cali Bassa and Hali Bassa with Corcut and his Page.
By heavens, Sinam, th’art a warrior
And worthy counselor unto a king.
Sound within. Enter Cali Bassa and Hali Bassa with Corcut and his Page.How now, what news?
23.Sp4Cali Bassa
My gracious lord, we here present to you
Your brother Corcut, whom in Smyrna coasts,
Feeding a flock of sheep upon a down*,
of sheep upon a down*,His traitorous page betrayèd to our hands.
23.Sp5Selimus
Thanks, ye bold* brethren, but for that false part,
Let the vile page be famishèd to death.
23.Sp7Selimus
O sir, I love the fruit that treason brings,
But those that are the traitors, them I hate.
But Corcut, could not your philosophy*
Keep you safe from my Janissaries’ hands?
We thought you had old Gyges’ wond’rous ring*,
That so you were invisible to us.
23.Sp8Corcut
Selim, thou deals unkindly with thy brother,
To seek my death and make a jest* of me.
Upbraidst* thou me with my philosophy?
Why this I learned by studying learnèd arts:
That I can bear my fortune as it falls
And that I fear no whit* thy cruelty,
Since thou wilt deal no otherwise* with me
Than thou hast dealt with agèd Bajazeth.
23.Sp12Corcut
Selimus strangles him*.Then, Selim, hear thy brother’s dying words,
And mark them well, for ere thou die thyself,
Thou shalt perceive all things will come to pass
That Corcut doth divine* before his death.
Since my vain flight from fair Magnesia,
Selim, I have conversed with Christians*
And learned of them the way to save my soul
And please* the anger of the highest god.
the anger of the highest god.’Tis he that made this pure crystalline vault*
Which hangeth over our unhappy heads,
From thence he doth behold each sinner’s fault.
And though our sins under our feet he treads*
And for a while seems for to wink* at us,
for to wink* at us,But it is* to recall us from our ways.
to recall us from our ways.But if we do, like headstrong sons, neglect
To hearken* to our loving father’s voice,
Then in his anger will he us reject
And give us over to our wicked choice*.
Selim, before his dreadful majesty,
There lies a book written with bloody lines,
Where our offences* all are registered,
Which if we do not hastily repent,
We are reserved to lasting punishment.
Thou, wretched Selimus, hast greatest need
To ponder these things in thy secret thoughts,
If thou consider what strange massacres
And cruel murders thou hast caused to be done.
Think on the death of woeful Bajazeth.
Doth not his ghost still haunt thee for revenge?
Selim, in Chiurlu* didst thou set upon
Our agèd father in his sudden flight.
In Chiurlu shalt thou die a grievous death.*
And if thou wilt not change thy greedy mind,
Thy soul shall be tormented in dark hell,
Where woe, and woe, and never-ceasing woe
Shall sound about thy ever-damnèd soul.
Now, Selim, I have spoken. Let me die.
I never will entreat thee for my life.
Selim, farewell. Thou God of Christians,
Receive my dying soul into thy hands.
23.Sp13Selimus
Exit Selimus, Sinam Bassa, and the Janissaries, all save
Mustaffa and a Janissary*.What, is he dead? Then Selimus is safe
And hath no more corrivals* in the crown.
For as for Acomat, he soon shall see
His Persian aid* cannot save him from me.
Now, Sinam, march to fair Amasya’s walls,
Where Acomat’s stout queen immures herself*,
And girt* the city with a warlike siege.
For since her husband is my enemy,
I see no cause why she should be my friend.
They say young Amurath and Aladin,
Her bastard* brood, are come to succor her.
But I’ll prevent this their officiousness*
And send their souls* down to their grandfather.
* down to their grandfather.Mustaffa, you shall keep* Byzantium,
While I and Sinam girt Amasya*.
23.Sp14Mustaffa Amurath and Aladin.
It grieves my soul* that Bajazeth’s fair line
Should be eclipsèd* thus by Selimus,
Whose cruel soul will never be at a rest
’Til none remain of Ottoman’s fair race*
But he himself. Yet for* old Bajazeth
Loved Mustaffa dear* unto his death,
I will show mercy to his family.
And bid them, as they mean to save their lives,
To fly in haste from fair Amasya*,
Exit one to Amurath and Aladin.And now, Mustaffa, prepare thou thy neck,
For thou art next to die by Selim’s hands.
Stern Sinam Bassa grudgeth still at thee,
And crabbèd* Hali stormeth at thy life.
All repine* that thou art honorèd so
To be the brother of their emperor*.
Enter Solyma*.But wherefore comes my lovely Solyma?
23.Sp15Solyma
Mustaffa, I am come to seek thee out.
If ever thy distressèd Solyma
Found grace* and favor in thy manly heart,
Fly hence with me unto some desert land,
For if we tarry here we are but dead.
This night, when fair Lucinae’s shining wain*
Was past the chair of bright Cassiopeia*,
Methought, Mustaffa, I beheld thy neck,
So often folded in my loving arms,
In foul disgrace of bassa’s fair degree*,
With a vile halter* basely compassèd.
And while I poured my tears on thy dead corpse,
A greedy lion with wide gaping throat
Seized on my trembling body with his feet,
Fly, sweet Mustaffa, or we be but dead.
23.Sp16Mustaffa
Exeunt.
Why should we fly, beauteous Solyma,
Moved by a vain* and a fantastic dream?
Or if we did fly, whither should we fly?
If to the farthest part of Asia,
Knowst thou not, Solyma, kings have long hands?
Come, come, my joy, return again with me,
And banish hence these melancholy thoughts.
Scene 24
Enter Aladin, Amurath, and a messenger.
24.Sp1Aladin
Messenger, is it true that Selimus
Is not far hence encampèd with his host?
And means he to disjoin* the hapless sons
From helping our distressèd mother’s town?
24.Sp2Messenger
’Tis true, my lord, and if you love your lives,
Fly from the bounds* of his dominions.
For he, you know, is most unmerciful.
24.Sp3Amurath
Exeunt.
Here, messenger, take this* for thy reward.
Exit messenger.But we, sweet Aladin, let us depart*
Now in the quiet silence of the night,
We may be far enough from Selimus.
I’ll to Aegyptus*.
Scene 25
Enter Selimus, Sinam Bassa, Hali Bassa, Cali Bassa, and the Janissaries.25.Sp2Hali Bassa
Certain, my lord. I met the messenger
As he returnèd from young Aladin
And learned of him* Mustaffa was the man
Mustaffa was the manThat certified* the princes of your will.
25.Sp3Selimus
It is enough. Mustaffa shall abye*
At a dear price his pitiful* intent.
Hali, go fetch Mustaffa and his wife.
Exit Hali Bassa.For though she be sister to Selimus,
Yet loves she him* better than Selimus,
So that if he do die at our command,
And she should live, soon would she work a mean*
To work revenge for her Mustaffa’s death.
Enter Hali Bassa, Mustaffa, and Solyma.False of thy faith and traitor to thy king,
Did we so highly always honor thee,
And dost thou thus requite our love with treason?
For why shouldst thou send to young Aladin
And Amurath, the sons of Acomat,
To give them notice of our secrecies*,
Knowing they were my vowèd enemies?
25.Sp4Mustaffa
I do not seek to lessen my offence,
my offence,Great Selimus, but truly do protest
I did it not for hatred of your grace,
So help me God and holy Mahomet*,
Of worthy Bajazeth fall to decay;
Therefore, I sent the princes both away.
Your highness knows Mustaffa was the man
That saved you in the battle of Chiurlu,
When I and all the warlike Janissaries
Had hedged* your person in a dangerous ring.
Yet I took pity on your danger* there
But those your bassas have incensèd you,
Repining at Mustaffa’s dignity*.
Stern Sinam grinds his angry teeth at me.
And are aggrievèd that Mustaffa hath
Showèd himself a better man than they.
And yet the Janissars do mourn* for me;
for me;They know Mustaffa never provèd false.
Ay, I have been as true to Selimus
As ever subject* to his sovereign,
So help me God and holy Mahomet.
25.Sp5Selimus
You did it not because you hated us
But for you loved the sons of Acomat.
Sinam, I charge thee, quickly strangle him;
He loves not me that loves mine enemies.
As for your holy protestation*,
It cannot enter into Selim’s ears:
For why, Mustaffa? Every merchantman*
Will praise his own ware*, be it ne’er so bad.
25.Sp6Solyma
For Solyma’s sake, mighty Selimus,
Spare my Mustaffa’s life, and let me die.
Or if thou wilt not be so gracious*,
Yet let me die before I see his death.
25.Sp7Selimus
Sinam Bassa strangles Mustaffa.
Nay Solyma, yourself shall also die
Because you may be in the selfsame* fault.
Why stayst thou, Sinam? Strangle him I say.
25.Sp8Solyma
Ah, Selimus, he made thee emperor*,
And wilt thou thus requite his benefits*?
Thou art a cruel tiger and no man
That couldst endure to see before thy face
So brave a man as my Mustaffa was
Cruelly strangled for so small a fault.
25.Sp9Selimus
Exeunt*.
Thou shalt not after live* him, Solyma.
* him, Solyma.’Twere pity thou shouldst want the company
Of thy dear husband*. Sinam, strangle her.
Sinam Bassa strangles Solyma.And now to fair Amasya let us march.
Acomat’s wife and her unmanly* host
Will not be able to endure our sight,
Much less make strong resistance in hard fight.
Scene 26
Enter Acomat, Tonombey, Visir, Regan, and their soldiers.26.Sp1Acomat
The crown whereof by right* is due to me,
Though Selim, by the Janissaries’ choice
Through usurpation, keeps the same from me.
You know, contrary to my father’s mind,
And, after his installing, wickedly
By poison made good Bajazeth to die*,
These injuries we come for to revenge
And raise* his siege from fair Amasya’s walls.
26.Sp2Tonombey
Prince of Amasya and the rightful heir
Unto the mighty Turkish diadem,
With willing heart great Tonombey hath left
Egyptian Nilus* and my father’s court
To aid thee in thy undertaken war.
And by the great Usumcasane*’s ghost,
Companion unto mighty Tamburlaine,
From whom my father lineally descends*,
But we will thrust Selimus from his throne
And revest* Acomat in the empiry.
26.Sp3Acomat
Exeunt all.
But let us haste us to Amasya
To succor my besiegèd citizens.
None but my queen is overseer there,
And too too weak is all her policy*
Against so great a foe as Selimus.
Scene 27
Enter Selimus, Sinam Bassa, Hali Bassa, Cali Bassa, and the Janissaries.27.Sp1Selimus
A parley: Enter the Queen of Amasya and her soldiers on the
walls*.Summon a parley, sirs, that we may know
Whether these mushrooms* here will yield or no.
27.Sp2Queen
What cravest thou, bloodthirsty parricide*?
Is’t not enough that thou hast foully slain
Thy loving father, noble Bajazeth,
And strangled Corcut thine unhappy brother,
Slain brave Mustaffa and fair Solyma
Because they favored my unhappy sons,
But thou must yet seek for more massacres?
Go, wash thy guilty hands in lukewarm blood*.
Enrich thy soldiers with your robberies*.
*.Yet do the heavens still bear an equal* eye,
And vengeance follows thee, even at the heels.
27.Sp4Queen
First shall the overflowing Euripus
Of swift Euboea* stop his restless course
And Phoeb’s* bright globe bring the day from the west
And quench his hot flames in the Eastern sea*.
Thy bloody sword, ungracious* Selimus,
Sheathed in the bowels of all thy dearest friends,*
Thy wicked guard which still attends on thee,
Fleshing* themselves in murder, lust, and rape,
What hope of favor? What security*?
Rather, what death* do they not promise me?
Then think not, Selimus, that we will yield,
But look for strong resistance at our hands.
27.Sp5Selimus
Alarum. Selimus beats them off the walls.
Alarum. Exeunt.Why then, you never daunted Janissaries,
Advance your shields and uncontrollèd spears,
Your conquering hands in foemen’s blood embay,
For Selimus himself will lead the way.
Scene 28
Enter Selimus, Sinam Bassa, Hali Bassa, Cali Bassa, and the Janissaries, with Acomat’s Queen prisoner.28.Sp1Selimus
Now, sturdy* dame, where are your men of war
To guard your person from my angry sword?
Like to that Amazonian Melanippe,
Leaving the banks of swift-streamed Thermodon
To challenge combat with great Hercules*,
Yet Selimus hath plucked your haughty plumes*.
Nor can your spouse, rebellious Acomat,
Nor Aladin or Amurath, your sons,
Deliver you from our victorious hands.
28.Sp2Queen
Selim, I scorn thy threatnings as thyself.
And though ill hap hath given me to thy hands,
Yet will I never beg my life of thee.
Fortune may chance to frown as much on thee.
And Acomat, whom thou dost scorn so much,
As well as thou hast took his loyal queen.
Thou hast not Fortune tièd in a chain*,
Nor dost thou, like a wary pilot*, sit
Thou art a man as those whom thou hast slain,
And some of them were better far than thou.
28.Sp3Selimus
Exeunt all.
Strangle her, Hali. Let her scold* no more.
Hali Bassa strangles her.Now let us march to meet with Acomat.
He brings with him that great Egyptian bug*,
Strong Tonombey, Usumcasane’s* son.
But we shall soon with our fine-tempered* swords
Engrave our prowess on their burgonets*,
Were they as mighty and as fell* of force
As those old earth-bred brethren*, which once
Heaped hill on hill to scale the starry sky*,
When Briareus*, armed with a hundred hands,
Flung forth a hundred mountains at great Jove,
And when the monstrous giant Monichus*
Hurled mount Olympus at great Mars his targe*
Scene 29
Alarum. Enter Selimus, Sinam Bassa, Cali Bassa, Hali Bassa, and the Janissaries at one door, and Acomat, Tonombey, Regan, Visir, and their soldiers at another.29.Sp1Selimus
What, are the urchins* crept out of their dens,
Under the conduct of this porcupine*?
Dost thou not tremble, Acomat, at us,
To see how courage masketh in our looks*
Sprung from great Tamburlaine the Scythian thief*,
Who bade thee enterprise* this bold attempt,
To set thy feet within the Turkish confines
Or lift thy hands against our majesty?
29.Sp2Acomat
And broad-mouthed* terms can never conquer us.
We come resolved to pull the Turkish crown,
Which thou dost wrongfully detain* from me,
By conquering sword from off thy coward crest*.
29.Sp4Tonombey
Should he accept the combat of a boy,
Whose unripe* years and far unriper wit,
Like to the bold, foolhardy Phaeton*
That sought to rule the chariot of the sun,
to rule the chariot of the sun,Hath moved thee t’undertake* an empiry?
29.Sp5Selimus
Alarum. Tonombey beats Hali Bassa and Cali Bassa in.
Selimus beats Tonombey in. Alarum. Reenter Tonombey. Exeunt all but Tonombey.*To call him boy that scorns to cope with* thee.
But thou canst better use thy bragging* blade
Than thou canst thy overflowing* tongue.
Soon shalt thou know that Selim’s mighty arm
Is able to overthrow poor Tonombey.
29.Sp6Tonombey
Exit Tonombey.
The field is lost, and Acomat is taken.
Ah, Tonombey, how canst thou show thy face
To thy victorious sire* thus conquerèd.
A matchless knight is warlike Selimus,
And, like a shepherd mongst a swarm of gnats,
Twice I encountered with him hand to hand
And twice returnèd foilèd and ashamed.
For never yet since I could manage arms
Could any match with mighty Tonombey,
But this heroic emperor Selimus.
Why stand I still and rather do not fly
The great occision* which the victors make?
which the victors make?Scene 30
Alarum. Enter Selimus, Sinam Bassa with Acomat prisoner*, Hali Bassa, Cali Bassa, and the Janissaries.30.Sp1Selimus
Thus, when the coward Greeks fled to their ships,
The noble Hector, all besmeared in blood,
Returned in triumph to the walls of Troy*.
A gallant* trophy, bassas, have we won,
Beating the never-foilèd* Tonombey
And hewing passage through the Persians,
As when a lion, raving for* his prey,
for* his prey,Falleth upon a drove* of hornèd bulls
And rends them strongly in his kingly paws.
Or Mars, armed in his adamantine* coat,
Mounted upon his fiery shining wain*,
Scatters the troops of warlike Thracians
And warms cold Hebros with hot streams of blood*.
Brave Sinam, for thy noble prisoner,
Thou shalt be general of my Janissaries
And Beylerbey of fair Natolia*.
Now Acomat, thou monster of the world,
Why stoopst thou not with rev’rence* to thy king?
to thy king?30.Sp2Acomat
Selim, if thou have gotten victory,
Then use it to thy contentation*.
If I had conquered, know assuredly
I would have said as much and more to thee.
Know I disdain them* as I do thyself
And scorn to stoop or bend my lordly knee
To such a tyrant as is Selimus.
Thou slewst my queen without regard or care
Of love or duty or thine own good name*.
Then, Selim, take that which thy hap doth give;
Disgraced, displaced, I longer loath to live.
30.Sp3Selimus
Exeunt.
Then, Sinam, strangle him. Sinam Bassa Strangles Acomat. Now he is dead,
Now he is dead,Who doth remain to trouble Selimus?
Now am I king alone and none but I.
For since my father’s death until this time
I never wanted* some competitors.
Now, as the weary wandering traveler
That hath his steps guided through many lands,
Through boiling soil of Africa and Ind*,
When he returns unto his native home
Sits down among his friends and with delight
Declares the travels he hath overpassed,
So mayst thou, Selimus, for thou hast trod*
The monster-garden paths that lead to crowns*.
paths that lead to crowns*.Ha, ha. I smile to think how Selimus,
Like the Egyptian ibis, hath expelled
Those swarming armies of swift-wingèd snakes
That sought to overrun my territories*.
From forth the fens of venemous Africa
The generation of those flying snakes
Do band* themselves in troops and take their way
To Nilus’ bounds: but those industrious birds,
Those ibises, meet them in set array*
And eat them up like to a swarm of gnats,
Preventing such a mischief from the land.
But see how unkind nature deals with them*:
From out their eggs rises the basilisk*,
Whose only sight kills millions of men.
When Acomat lifted ungracious hands*
Against my agèd father Bajazeth,
They sent for me, and I, like Egypt’s bird,
Have rid* that monster and his fellow mates.
But as from ibis springs the basilisk,
Whose only touch burneth up stones and trees,
So Selimus hath proved a cockatrice*
And clean consumèd* all the family
Of noble Ottoman, except himself.
And now to you, my neighbor emperors*,
That durst lend aid to Selim’s enemies,
Sinam, those soldans of the Orient,
Egypt and Persia, Selimus will quell*,
Or he himself will sink to lowest hell*.
This winter will we rest and breathe ourselves.
Shall greatly creep over the flow’ry meads*,
creep over the flow’ry meads*,We’ll have a fling* at the Egyptian crown
And join it unto ours, or lose our own.
Epilogue
Enter Conclusion*.Epi.Sp1Conclusion
Exit Conclusion.
Thus have we brought victorious Selimus
Unto the crown of great Arabia*.
Next* shall you see him with triumphant sword
Dividing kingdoms into equal shares,
If this first part, Gentles, do like you well*,
The second part shall greater murders tell.
Annotations
Prologue
Speaking Prologue characters can be found in a number of plays from the period.
See, for example, the beginning of The True Tragedy of Richard III and David and Bethsabe.
No … reward.
These fourteen lines constitute a sonnet rhymed ababbcbcdedeff, like the prologue
in Romeo and Juliet.
No … view
Compare with the prologue in The Three Ladies of London and in 1 Tamburlaine:
From iygging vaines of riming mother wits, / And such conceits as clownage keepes in pay, / Weele lead you to the stately tent of War(A3r).
toy
a foolish idle tale (OED n.3)
forgèd
fabricated, made up (OED adj.3)
last age
the early sixteenth century
character
imprint, reproduce
implacable
not appeasable
obstant lets
opposing barriers
Bajazeth
Bajazethrefers to the historical Bayezid II, Ottoman Emperor ruling from 1481 to 1512. He was the eldest son of Mehmed II.
The form here of
Bajazeth,as opposed to
Bajazetin other modern editions, is taken from Marlowe’s Tamburlaine plays, first published by Richard Jones in 1590.
Janissaries
The first standing army in Europe, the Janissaries were elite infantry troops conscripted
to serve the household of the Ottoman Emperor. Established in the mid 14th century,
they were a formidable force, often wielding significant political power.
Exeunt all but Bajazeth
As McMillin and MacLean point out, the exit of such a large group immediately after
its entrance underscores the symbolic importance of this procession.
So … are.
These lines are organized into a sestain stanza rhyming ababcc.
So … breast
Compare to Shute where Bajazeth’s ruminations are mainly sparked by premonitions of
his own mortality (N1v).
unrip
open, unseal
descry
describe
regiment
rule or governance (OED adj.1)
Why … evermore.
These lines are the first instance in the play of ottava rima (abababacc), a verse
stanza form associated in England with the epic poetry of Boccaccio, Ariosto, and
Tasso.
The rest of Bajazeth’s speech (Sc1 Sp2) along with much of the rest of the scene is divided into this heightened language.
scruple
doubt, hesitation
make extent
make an assessment (as property)
northern bears
the northern constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor
mantle
loose sleeveless cloak (OED n.)
cark
burden of responsibility (OED n.)
bark
small sailing vessel
He knows … thing.
In 1600, the booksellers Nicholas Ling, Cuthbert Burby, and Thomas Hayes published
an octavo edition of Robert Allott’s England’s Parnassus, an extensive collection of quotations from the drama and poetry of the time. This
and five other passages are taken from Selimus; each is ascribed to Robert Greene.
Compare with the version of these lines in England’s Parnassus:
He knowes not what it is to be a King, / That thinkes a Scepter is a pleasant thing(L7r).
Latona’s son
Apollo, son of Jupiter (Zeus) and god of the sun. His mother, Latona, is goddess of
the moon.
Bajazeth has been Ottoman Emperor for thirty years.
Compare with 1 Tamburlaine:
Or as Latonas daughter bent to armes, / Adding more courage to my conquering mind(F2r).
Twice fifteen … Since I began
It has been 30 years since I became emperor.
It is 1511. Bayezid II became Ottoman emperor in May 1481.
Cynthia
Greek personifying name for the moon goddess
adamant
incredibly hard rock
The Persian Sophy, mighty Ismael
A title for the supreme ruler of Persia.
The next seven lines closely follow Ashton F7v-8v.
Mighty Ismaelrefers to the Persian Emperor Ismael Safi, ruler of what was a new, eponymous Safavid state, who rose to power at the end of the fifteenth century as a teenager and ruled until 1524.
Ismael was an active supporter of the minority Shia branch of Islam in opposition
to the Ottoman’s Sunni branch. Historically, Bayezid II had sympathy with Ismael’s
more mystical brand of Islam, even while Selim waged constant battles with Ismael
from his adjoining province of Trabzon (i.e. Trebisond). According to Çipa, these
campaigns made Selim a hero among the common people and soldiers alike (Çipa 36–37). At the same time, Ahmed (i.e. Acomat in the play) saw Selim’s actions as insubordination
in the face of his more nonconfrontational father, and he used these to gradually
turn Bayezid II against Selim.
Did take the Levant clean away from me
The Levant is a region of the Eastern Mediterranean that today together consists of
Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine.
Bajazeth here alludes to the early-sixteenth-century rise of Ismael as leader of the
new Safavid state.
Ashton describes Ismael’s early successful military encroachments upon the Levant
beginning in a short section dedicated to Ismael (Ashton H8v-I1r).
Did take
Metrically, the addition of
Didregularizes the pentameter line.
Caraguis Bassa
Caraguis Bassa here refers to Goragnes Bassa, the Ottoman commander and governor of
Karaman, a city in south central Turkey.
It is from Ashton that the play derives Bajazeth’s description of Ismael’s defeat
and execution of Caraguis Bassa (Ashton G3r-v).
Hali Bassa
Hali Bassa here refers to the Turkish statesman and commander Hadim Ali Pasha; he
is the father of the play’s Hali Bassa.
Hadim Ali Pasha was a strong supporter of Ahmed, and he died in 1511 while leading
a force against a Shia uprising inspired by Ismael’s religious teachings.
Charactering
stamping
Ramirchan
Vitkus (144) has suggested that Ramirchan might refer to Ramazan-oghlu, a Turkoman leader.
Tatarian
(of the
Tatars) nomadic horsemen-warriors supporting Selimus (Vitkus 144)
hapless
unlucky
and there … slain
This account of the death of Bayezid II’s eldest son is neither in Ashton, Shute,
nor Whetstone. As it contains over a dozen references to Alemshae and his fate, the
play may possibly be drawing from another unknown source.
Well … grave
The Christian … peace
Bayezid II signed a peace treaty with the Hungarians in 1495, this after losing campaigns
and territory in Belgrade, Transylvania, and Croatia (Riad 95). He also suffered setbacks against Venetian forces during his sultanship.
As Dimmock has pointed out (Dimmock 171), though, Bajazeth’s lament about his losses to Christian forces is greatly overstated
here.
assays
trials
victorious father
Mehmet II (i.e.
Mehmet the Conqueror) who ruled from 1444 to 1446 and then from 1451 to 1481.
Throughout his reigns, Mehmet II led a series of successful campaigns against Christian
forces, including the defeat of Byzantium (then renamed
Istanbul) and the Byzantine Empire in 1453.
uncontrollèd
undisputed (OED adj.3).
garrisons
body of soldiers positioned for defensive purposes
die
singular form of dice
Corcut … laws
These descriptions of Corcut and Acomat closely follow Ashton G5r-v, I4v-I5r. In Shute, Ahmed is described as
a man of no trauayle nor vnderstandinge of the warres(Ashton O2v).
Historically, Korkud (i.e. Corcut in the play) was in fact an active Ottoman general
like his brothers, leading a number of military campaigns for his father.
Selim
Metrically, the shortened form of the name is preferable.
Magnesia
southeastern area of the Thessaly region in central Greece
Mahound’s
Mahomet’s (Muhammed’s).
Mahound’s dreaded lawsrefers to the strictly observed religious beliefs and practices of Islam.
Acomat … pause
Historically, Ahmed was in fact an active general like his brothers, leading a number
of military campaigns before turning against his father.
Compare with Ashton which describes Acomat as
delighting more in ease & pleasure then in battaill(Ashton G5r).
For I … Acomat
In 1510, Bayezid II planned to abdicate in favor of Ahmed.
The Janissaries … smart
In Ashton, the Janissaries recoil from the
quiet kynde of lyfe of Selimus’s brothers(Ashton G5v); whereas in Shute, Selimus actively wins the Janissaries over with
liberalitie and actiuitie(Shute N2v).
chivalry
men-at-arms (OED n.1)
Then … crown
Compare with The True Tragedy of Richard III:
Or ile make them hop without their crownes that denies me(B4r).
runagate
can refer to an apostate, a vagabond, or a deserter (OED n.1–3)
bassas
Turkish officers of high rank, as military commanders or provincial governors (OED n.1). Variously rendered as
bashawsor pashas.
law of nature
love of family
peers
Members of a rank of hereditary nobility (OED n.4).
This is not a term used to describe the Ottoman elite and thus, like the play’s use
of
seigniory,betrays a particularly English perspective on the play’s social hierarchy.
tenebrious
dark
holt
hold, as in the interior cavity of a ship of vessel
occident
the west
steeds
horses pulling the chariot of the sun, as often represented in Greek and Roman mythology
against Persians’ tent
the forces of Ismael, the Persian Sophy
his
Ismael’s, the Persian Sophy
ruinate
destroy, reduce to ruins
great Nero’s fen
low lying swampy area surrounding Rome, here being associated with the Roman Emperor
Nero
that first nourished them.
It was proverbial that new-born snakes consumed their own mother after birth. Bajazeth
frequently effeminizes himself in the play. It is ironic that he identifies himself
here with the despot Nero.
eld
old age
battellous
warlike, bellicose, pugnacious (OED adj.)
’gins to prick
begins to spur on
Soldan
supreme ruler of a Muslim state, often spelled
sultan
great Trebisond
Trabzon, an empire running along the southeastern coast of the Black Sea.
Historically, Bayezid II appointed Selimus governor of this distant province in 1487.
The great distance between Trabzon and Istanbul strongly suggests that Bayezid II
was trying to keep Selim from obtaining the Ottoman emperorship after he died.
In 2 Tamburlaine, the
King of Trebizonis a supporter of Callapine against Tamburlaine.
Tatary
An exonym for a region comprised of land that includes parts of what is now known
as Siberia and northeastern China.
Ashton recounts Selimus marrying the daughter of the Tatar king (Ashton G3v-G4r).
Selim’s
Metrically, the shortened form
Selim'sregularizes the pentameter line.
he is a sea
To which
Metrically, the shortened
To whichregularizes the pentameter line.
luckless messenger
a messenger not bringing luck
Does Selim … of Tatary?
Both Ashton and Whetstone mention this marriage (Ashton G4r, Whetstone E6r).
Ramir
Ramirchan. See Sc1 Sp2.
besprent
besprinkle, connoting wastefulness (OED besprent, v.)
misconsters
misreads
forward
ardent, spirited, eager, zealous (OED adj.6c)
reaches
ploys
complots
designs of a covert nature (OED n.)
Perhaps, my lord, Selimus
It makes more sense that Mustaffa is addressing Bajazeth here with
my lordthan calling Selimus his
lord.
prologue
beginning
meditated
calculated
plaudity
approval
unacquainted
with whom Bajazeth is unaquainted
to whom … Trebisond,
See Sc1 Sp6 n.
recomfort
sooth, console, or comfort (OED v.1)
Now, Selimus, consider who thou art:
As pointed out by many commentators, this long Machiavellian monologue and Selimusʼs
comments to his followers thereafter are reminiscent of a number of speeches in other
professional plays of the period.
Compare with Richard III’s opening soliloquy in Richard III, the Prologue in The Jew of Malta, and Tamburlaine’s
sweet fruition of an earthly crownspeech in 1 Tamburlaine B5v. In Shute, the machinations of Selimus come later, directly inspired by Acomat visiting with Bajazeth (Shute N2r).
Aside
This is the first of many unmarked asides in the play. Here, Selimus is directing
this long speech to himself. As McMillin and MacLean point out, the large processional
entrance here (
and the soldiers) is used to signify Selimus’s power at this point. That the entrance is immediately followed by an aside underscores its symbolic importance.
Selimus … thy desire
Compare with Doctor Faustus’s opening soliloquy in Doctor Faustus, Barabas’s opening soliloquy in The Jew of Malta, the Guise’s soliloquy at the end of the second scene in The Massacre at Paris, and Richard III’s opening soliloquy in Richard III. Each of these long speeches launches the arc of a dominant and destructive tragic
hero.
Think … merit.
These lines constitute the first instance in the play of rhyme royal (ababbcc). The
rest of Selimus’s speech (Sc2 Sp1) is divided into stanzas of this rhyme scheme.
to thee there is no worse reproach
there is no worse reproof to be directed at him
abroach
flowing freely, as from a broached cask (OED adv.1)
Mahound’s laws
Muhammad’s laws, the tenets of Islam
be locked up in their case
Selimus here imagines that a copy (or copies) of the Quran can be locked up, presumably either by a binding clasp or in a trunk or a press (i.e.
cupboard).
Ophir
an area referenced by the Old Testament as renowned for its gold
He means to … give.
See Sc1 Sp2 n.
votaries
people bound or devoted to religious lives (OED n.1)
my forward mind
reck not of
do not worry or care about
And … catch overgone
Occasion was sometimes personified as a woman with a lock of hair hanging down from
the front of her forehead while otherwise bald; in order to catch her by the hair,
you needed to act quickly before she passed you by (Vitkus 69).
that virtue … mold.
Selimus is reminded that some see virtue as being like a mirror by which one can both
see one’s failings and fashion one’s self virtuously within it along the lines of
ancientwisdom.
Perhaps you think … prattling shade.
After
digging deep with learning’s wonder-working spade,Selimus’s imagined interlocutor now rests with him (the
grave wizard) and
prattles(talks foolishly or gossips) in the shadows.
forsooth
truly
Avaunt
an order to leave, here to leave such virtue-seeking
glassesbehind
seigniory
Lordship.
This is a term often associated with feudalism and thus not one usually applied to
the Ottoman empire.
Faith
In faith, truly
bookish ordinance
an authoritative moral decree derived from books
stand on a sententious guard
be armed with a tight argument (Riad 295)
without far-fetched cicumstance
Without hollow excuses.
An almost identical version of the following lines (76–138) appeared in two 1603 manuscripts
entitled
Certaine hellish verses devysed by that Atheist and traitor Ralegh.They were likely recorded around the same time as Sir Walter Ralegh’s arrest for treason in July.
Some have argued that these lines were derived from an original, now-lost poem by
Ralegh, others that they were derived from the play and falsely attributed to Ralegh.
Selimus’s articulation of a Golden Age myth here has been connected with similar passages
in Hesiod’s Works and Days and to Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
circled round, this building fair
Earth.
Also,
circled roundconnotes an amphitheatre playhouse.
dition
rule, sway, jurisdiction, command (OED n.1)