Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

“ NATHAN.
Illusions though.
DAYA.
Yes: and the one, her bosom
Clings to most fondly, is, that the brave templar
Was but a transient inmate of the earth,
A guardian angel, such as from her childhood
She loved to fancy kindly hovering round her,
Who from his veiling cloud amid the fire
Stepped forth in her preserver’s form. You smile—
Who knows? At least beware of banishing
So pleasing an illusion—if deceitful
Christian, Jew, Mussulman, agree to own it,
And ’tis—at least to her—a dear illusion.
NATHAN.
Also to me. Go, my good Daya, go,
See what she’s after. Can’t I speak with her? ”

“ NATHAN.
Let me manage.—
And is it not enough then for my Recha
To owe her preservation to a man,
Whom no small miracle preserved himself.
For whoe’er heard before that Saladin
Let go a templar; that a templar wished it,
Hoped it, or for his ransom offered more
Than taunts, his leathern sword-belt, or his dagger?
RECHA.
That makes for me; these are so many reasons
He was no real knight, but only seemed it.
If in Jerusalem no captive templar,
Appears alive, or freely wanders round,
How could I find one, in the night, to save me?
NATHAN.
Ingenious! dextrous! Daya, come in aid. ”

“ TEMPLAR.
May I ask,
Nathan, who ’twas now left you?
NATHAN.
Did you know him?
TEMPLAR.
Was’t that good-hearted creature the lay-brother,
Whom the hoar patriarch has a knack of using
To feel his way out?
NATHAN.
That may be. In fact
He’s at the patriarch’s.
TEMPLAR.
’Tis no awkward hit
To make simplicity the harbinger
Of craft.
NATHAN.
If the simplicity of dunces,
But if of honest piety?
TEMPLAR.
This last
No patriarch can believe in.
NATHAN.
I’ll be bound for’t
This last belongs to him who quitted me.
He’ll not assist his patriarch to accomplish
A vile or cruel purpose. ”

“ Thou hast it.
NATHAN.
I know it well.
HAFI.
Nathan, ’tis woeful doing
When kings are vultures amid caresses:
But when they’re caresses amid the vultures
’Tis ten times worse.
NATHAN.
No, dervis, no, no, no.
HAFI.
Thou mayst well talk so. Now then, let me hear
What wouldst thou give me to resign my office?
NATHAN.
What does it bring you in?
HAFI.
To me, not much;
But thee, it might indeed enrich: for when,
As often happens, money is at ebb,
Thou couldst unlock thy sluices, make advances,
And take in form of interest all thou wilt. ”

“ And have I found in thee one more, to whom
It is enough to be a man?
TEMPLAR.
That hast thou.
Nathan, by God, thou hast. Thy hand. I blush
To have mistaken thee a single instant.
NATHAN.
And I am proud of it. Only common souls
We seldom err in.
TEMPLAR.
And uncommon ones
Seldom forget. Yes, Nathan, yes we must,
We will be friends.
NATHAN.
We are so. And my Recha—
She will rejoice. How sweet the wider prospect
That dawns upon me! Do but know her—once.
TEMPLAR.
I am impatient for it. Who is that
Bursts from your house, methinks it is your Daya. ”

“ And hear to-day, for the first time, of Nathan.
SITTAH.
Is’t possible the man were hid from thee,
Of whom ’tis said, he has found out the tombs
Of Solomon and David, knows the word
That lifts their marble lids, and thence obtains
The golden oil that feeds his shining pomp?
SALADIN.
Were this man’s wealth by miracle created,
’Tis not at David’s tomb, or Solomon’s,
That ’twould be wrought. Not virtuous men lie there.
SITTAH.
His source of opulence is more productive
And more exhaustless than a cave of Mammon.
SALADIN.
He trades, I hear.
SITTAH.
His ships fill every harbour ”

“ By God, ’tis something beautifully wise
To be so circumspect.
SALADIN.
Come, come, forgive
Something to age. His lingerings cannot last.
He is not going to require of thee
First to turn Jew.
TEMPLAR.
Who knows?
SALADIN.
Who? I, who know
This Nathan better.
TEMPLAR.
Yet the superstition
In which we have grown up, not therefore loses
When we detect it, all its influence on us.
Not all are free that can bemock their fetters.
SALADIN.
Maturely said—but Nathan, surely Nathan—
TEMPLAR.
The worst of superstitions is to think
One’s own most bearable. ”

“ It is a templar who eggs on your patriarch?
FRIAR.
It scarcely can be other, for a templar
Talked with him just before, and what I heard
Agreed with this.
NATHAN.
But there is only one
Now in Jerusalem; and him I know;
He is my friend, a noble open youth.
FRIAR.
The same. But what one is at heart, and what
One gets to be in active life, mayn’t always
Square well together.
NATHAN.
No, alas, they do not.
Therefore unangered I let others do
Their best or worst. O brother, with your book
I set all at defiance, and am going
Straight with it to the Sultan.
FRIAR.
God be with you! ”

“ SALADIN.
Time shall be when none of us will come back,
And then who knows? It is not death alone
That balks the hopes of young men of his cast,
Such have far other foes, and oftentimes
The strongest like the weakest is o’ercome.
Be as it may—I must compare this picture
With our young templar, to observe how much
My fancy cheated me.
SITTAH.
I therefore brought it;
But give it me, I’ll tell thee if ’tis like.
We women see that best.
SALADIN (to a slave at the door) .
Ah, who is there?
The templar? let him come.
SITTAH (throws herself on a sofa apart and drops her veil) . ”

“ At strife for thee, quit both, and take a third,
And take me for thy father.
SITTAH.
Do it, do it.
SALADIN.
I will be a kind father—but methinks
A better thought occurs, what hast thou need
Of father upon father? They will die,
So that ’tis better to look out by times
For one that starts fair, and stakes life with life
On equal terms. Knowst thou none such?
SITTAH.
My brother,
Don’t make her blush.
SALADIN.
Why that was half my project.
Blushing so well becomes the ugly, that
The fair it must make charming—I have ordered
Thy father Nathan hither, and another,
Dost guess who ’tis? ”

“ The race is not to be despised: but hold,
Spare me my pedigree; I’ll spare thee thine.
Not that I doubt thy genealogic tree.
O, God forbid! You may attest it all
As far as Abraham back; and backwarder
I know it to my heart—I’ll swear to it also.
NATHAN.
Knight, you grow bitter. Do I merit this?
Have I refused you ought? I’ve but forborne
To close with you at the first word—no more.
TEMPLAR.
Indeed—no more? O then forgive—
NATHAN.
’Tis well.
Do but come with me.
TEMPLAR.
Whither? To thy house?
No? there not—there not: ’tis a burning soil.
Here I await thee, go. ”

“ Our Saviour was a Jew.
NATHAN.
You, my good brother,
Shall be my advocate, when bigot hate
And hard hypocrisy shall rise upon me—
And for a deed—a deed—thou, thou shalt know it—
But take it with thee to the tomb. As yet
Has vanity ne’er tempted me to tell it
To living soul—only to thee I tell it,
To simple piety alone; for it
Alone can feel what deeds the man who trusts
In God can gain upon himself.
FRIAR.
You seem
Affected, and your eye-balls swim in water. ”

“ SITTAH.
Then difficulties cease. A snare concerns
The avaricious, cautious, fearful Jew;
And not the good wise man: for he is ours
Without a snare. Then the delight of hearing
How such a man speaks out; with what stern strength
He tears the net, or with what prudent foresight
He one by one undoes the tangled meshes;
That will be all to boot—
SALADIN.
That I shall joy in.
SITTAH.
What then should trouble thee? For if he be
One of the many only, a mere Jew,
You will not blush to such a one to seem
A man, as he thinks all mankind to be. ”

“ Wish to appear so cold.
TEMPLAR.
In this same world
All things have many sides, and ’tis not easy
To comprehend how they can fit each other.
SALADIN.
Cling ever to the best—Give praise to God,
Who knows how they can fit. But, my young man,
If thou wilt be so difficult, I must
Be very cautious with thee, for I too
Have many sides, and some of them perhaps
Such as mayn’t always seem to fit.
TEMPLAR.
That wounds me;
Suspicion usually is not my failing.
SALADIN.
Say then of whom thou harbour’st it, of Nathan?
So should thy talk imply—canst thou suspect him? ”

“ Nathan and Templar.
TEMPLAR.
What?
NATHAN.
Give me leave.
TEMPLAR.
Well, Jew, what wouldst thou have?
NATHAN.
The liberty of speaking to you!
TEMPLAR.
So—
Can I prevent it? Quick then, what’s your business?
NATHAN.
Patience—nor hasten quite so proudly by
A man, who has not merited contempt,
And whom, for evermore, you’ve made your debtor.
TEMPLAR.
How so? Perhaps I guess—No—Are you then—
NATHAN.
My name is Nathan, father to the maid
Your generous courage snatched from circling flames,
And hasten—
TEMPLAR.
If with thanks, keep, keep them all. ”

“ To do, it is my part to hear of thee,
And not to take for granted. But, O Sultan,
To lay loud protestations at thy feet
Of gratitude for a life spared, agrees
Not with my station or my character.
At all times, ’tis once more, prince, at thy service.
SALADIN.
Only forbear to use it against me.
Not that I grudge my enemy one pair more
Of hands—but such a heart, it goes against me
To yield him. I have been deceived with thee,
Thou brave young man, in nothing. Yes, thou art
In soul and body Assad. I could ask thee,
Where then hast thou been lurking all this time? ”

“ SALADIN.
Well, and the judge, I’m eager now to hear
What thou wilt make him say. Go on, go on.
NATHAN.
The judge said, If ye summon not the father
Before my seat, I cannot give a sentence.
Am I to guess enigmas? Or expect ye
That the true ring should here unseal its lips?
But hold—you tell me that the real ring
Enjoys the hidden power to make the wearer
Of God and man beloved; let that decide.
Which of you do two brothers love the best?
You’re silent. Do these love-exciting rings
Act inward only, not without? Does each
Love but himself? ”

“ Where, to the sultan’s?
NATHAN.
Was ’t not he who sent thee?
HAFI.
Me? No. And has he sent already?
NATHAN.
Yes.
HAFI.
Then ’tis all right.
NATHAN.
What’s right?
HAFI.
That I’m unguilty.
God knows I am not guilty, knows I said—
What said I not of thee—belied thee—slandered—
To ward it off.
NATHAN.
To ward off what—be plain.
HAFI.
That them art now become his defterdar.
I pity thee. Behold it I will not.
I go this very hour—my road I told thee.
Now—hast thou orders by the way—command,
And then, adieu. Indeed they must not be
Such business as a naked man can’t carry. ”

“ Thy father shall remain to thee.
RECHA.
None, none.
TEMPLAR.
None, none—then I’m deceived. What we don’t fear
To lose, we never fancied, never wished
Ourselves possessed of. But ’tis well, ’tis well.
Nathan, this changes all—all. Saladin,
At thy command we came, but I misled thee,
Trouble thyself no further.
SALADIN.
Always headlong;
Young man, must every will then bow to thine,
Interpret all thy meanings?
TEMPLAR.
Thou hast heard,
Sultan, hast seen. ”

“ That any Jew could learn to be no Jew—
For dreaming it awake.
SALADIN.
Out with this dream.
TEMPLAR.
Thou know’st of Nathan’s daughter, sultan. What
I did for her I did—because I did it;
Too proud to reap thanks which I had not sown for,
I shunned from day to day her very sight.
The father was far off. He comes, he hears,
He seeks me, thanks me, wishes that his daughter
May please me; talks to me of dawning prospects—
I listen to his prate, go, see, and find
A girl indeed. O, sultan, I am ashamed—
SALADIN.
A shamed that a Jew girl knew how to make
Impression on thee, surely not. ”

“ SALADIN.
How comes it then
I never heard of him?
SITTAH.
Should be unwilling
To lend to Saladin, who wants for others,
Not for himself.
HAFI.
Aye, there peeps out the Jew,
The ordinary Jew. Believe me, prince,
He’s jealous, really envious of your giving.
To earn God’s favour seems his very business.
He lends not that he may always have to give.
The law commandeth mercy, not compliance:
And thus for mercy’s sake he’s uncomplying.
’Tis true, I am not now on the best terms
With Nathan, but I must entreat you, think not
That therefore I would do injustice to him. ”

“ A lasting one—have given to my Sittah
A husband worthy of her, Richard’s brother.
SITTAH.
You love to talk of Richard.
SALADIN.
Richard’s sister
Might then have been allotted to our Melek.
O what a house that would have formed—the first—
The best—and what is more—of earth the happiest!
You know I am not loth to praise myself;
Why should I?—Of my friends am I not worthy?
O we had then led lives!
SITTAH.
A pretty dream.
It makes me smile. You do not know the Christians.
You will not know them. ’Tis this people’s pride
Not to be men, but to be Christians. ”