TAMERLANE.
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Tam.Yet e'er thou rashly urge my Rage too far,I warn thee to take heed; I am a Man,And have the Frailties common to Man's Nature;The fiery Seeds of Wrath are in my Temper,And may be blown up to so fierce a Blaze,As Wisdom cannot rule. Know, thou has toucht meEv'n in the nicest, tenderest part, my Honour.My Honour! which, like Pow'r, disdains being question'd;Thy Breath has blasted my fair Virtue's Fame,And mark'd me for a Villain, and a Tyrant.
Arp.And stand I here an idle Looker on?To see my Innocence murder'd and mangledBy barbarous Hands? Nor can revenge the Wrong.[To Baj.Art thou a Man, and dar'st thou use me thus?Hast thou not torn me from my native Country?From the dear Arms of my lamenting Friends?From my Soul's Peace, and from my injur'd Love?Hast thou not ruin'd, blotted me for ever,And driv'n me to the brink of black Despair?And is it in thy Malice yet, to addA Wound more deep, to sully my white Name,My Virtue?———
Baj.Yes, thou hast thy Sexes Virtues,Their Affectation, Pride, Ill Nature, Noise,Proneness to change, ev'n from the Joy, that pleas'd 'em:So gracious is your Idol, dear Variety,That for another Love you would forgoAn Angel's Form, to mingle with a Devil's;Through every State, and Rank of Men you wander;Till ev'n your large Experience takes in allThe different Nations of the Peopled Earth.
Arp.Why sought'st thou not from thy own Impious TribeA Wife, like one of these; for such, thy Race(If human Nature brings forth such) affords.Greece, for chast Virgins fam'd, and pious Matrons,Teems not with Monsters, like your Turkish Wives;Whom guardian Eunuchs, haggard and deform'd,Whom Walls and Bars make honest by constraint.
Know,
