(By oft repeating instances) to draw My sword for him: But when he found my soul Tam. Wisely the tyrant strove to prop his cause I could as well restore that fair one's freedom, Back to thy arms: till that be past, since war Mon. Let Bajazet Bend to his yoke repining slaves by force; Tam. Haste, my Axalla, to dispose with safety My glowing breast, and fires my soul to arms, TANAIS, ZAMA, MIRVAN, and ATTENDANTS. Ar. The battle calls, and bids me haste to leave thee; Oh, Selima!- -But let destruction wait. Are there not hours enough for blood and slaughter? Sel. Young and unskilful in the world's false arts, I suffer'd love to steal upon my softness, And warm me with a lambent guiltless flame: But, oh! 'tis past; and I will charge remembrance Ax. Is it possible ! Hate is not in thy nature; thy whole frame Is harmony, without one jarring atom. Why dost thou force thy eyes to wear this coldness ? It damps the springs of life. Oh! bid me die, Much rather bid me die, if it be true That thou hast sworn to hate me. Sel. Let life and death Wait the decision of the bloody field; Ar. Oh, name it! say! Sel. Forego your right of war, And render me this instant to my father. Ar. Impossible!The tumult of the battle, That hastes to join, cuts off all means of commerce Betwixt the armies. Sel. Swear then to perform it, Which way soe'er the chance of war determines, Ax. By the sacred majesty Of Heaven, to whom we kneel, I will obey thee; Of my soul's vow'd devotion; But is there nothing, No small return that honour can afford For all this waste of love? What! not one kind look ? Then thou art chang'd indeed. [Trumpets.] Hark, I am summon'd, And thou wilt send me forth like one unbless'd; Nor is life or fame Worthy my care, since I am lost to thee. Sel. Ha! goest thou to the fight? Ax. I do. Farewell! [Going. Sel. What! and no more! A sigh heaves in my breast, And stops the struggling accents on my tongue, And made our parting softer. Ax. Give it way. The niggard honour, that affords not love, Forbids not pity If it were possible my heart could stray, Sel. Where is my boasted resolution now? [Sinking into his Arms. Alas! Axalla, say— dost thou not pity My artless innocence, and easy fondness? Ar. Oh, doubt not but his life shall be my care; Ev'n dearer than my own Sel. Guard that for me too. Ar. O, Selima! thou hast restor❜d my quiet. The noble ardour of the war, with love Returning, brightly burns within my breast, And bids me be secure of all hereafter. [Exeunt, GUARDS following. ACT THE SECOND SCENE I. The Inside of a Magnificent Tent. Symphony of Warlike Music. Enter TAMERLANE, AXALLA, PRINCE OF TANAIS, ZAMA, MIRVAN, SOLDIERS, and other ATTENDANTS. Ar. From this auspicious day the Parthian name Shall date its birth of empire, and extend Ev'n from the dawning east to utmost Thule, Prince. Nations unknown, Where yet the Roman eagles never flew, 1* Shall pay their homage to victorious Tamerlane; And own, that conquest is not given by chance, 2 Tam. It is too much: you dress me Like an usurper, in the borrow'd attributes Of injur'd Heaven. Can we call conquest ours? Shall man, this pigmy, with a giant's pride, Vaunt of himself, and say, " Thus have I done this? Oh, vain pretence to greatness! Like the moon, We borrow all the brightness which we boast, Dark in ourselves, and useless. ́ ́ If that hand, That rules the fate of battles, strike for us, Crown us with fame, and gild our clay with honour, 'Twere most ungrateful to disown the benefit, And arrogate a praise which is not ours. Ax. With such unshaken temper of the soul To bear the swelling tide of prosp'rous fortune, Is to deserve that fortune: Enter OMAR. Omar. Honour and fame [Bowing to TAMERLANE. For ever wait the emperor: may our prophet Give him ten thousand thousand days of life, And every day like this. The captive sultan, Fierce in his bonds, and at his fate repining, Attends your sacred will. Tam. Let him approach. Enter BAJAZET, and other Turkish Prisoners, in Chains, ve with a Guard of Soldiers. When I survey the ruins of this field, The wild destruction, which thy fierce ambition |