FIRST PHYSICIAN. My lord, your majesty shall soon perceive,
An if she pass this fit, the worst is past.

TAMBURLAINE. Tell me, how fares my fair Zenocrate?

ZENOCRATE. I fare, my lord, as other empresses,
That, when this frail and<86> transitory flesh
Hath suck'd the measure of that vital air
That feeds the body with his dated health,
Wane with enforc'd and necessary change.

TAMBURLAINE. May never such a change transform my love,
In whose sweet being I repose my life!
Whose heavenly presence, beautified with health,
Gives light to Phoebus and the fixed stars;
Whose absence makes<87> the sun and moon as dark
As when, oppos'd in one diameter,
Their spheres are mounted on the serpent's head,
Or else descended to his winding train.
Live still, my love, and so conserve my life,
Or, dying, be the author<88> of my death.

ZENOCRATE. Live still, my lord; O, let my sovereign live!
And sooner let the fiery element
Dissolve, and make your kingdom in the sky,
Than this base earth should shroud your majesty;
For, should I but suspect your death by mine,
The comfort of my future happiness,
And hope to meet your highness in the heavens,