The Jew of Malta

“ They hop'd my daughter would ha' been a nun; But she's at home, and I have bought a house As great and fair as is the governor's: And there, in spite of Malta, will I dwell, Having Ferneze's hand; whose heart I'll have, Ay, and his son's too, or it shall go hard. I am not of the tribe of Levi, I, That can so soon forget an injury. We Jews can fawn like spaniels when we please; And when we grin we bite; yet are our looks As innocent and harmless as a lamb's. I learn'd in Florence how to kiss my hand, Heave up my shoulders when they call me dog, And duck as low as any bare-foot friar ”

“ FERNEZE. No, Jew, thou hast denied the articles, And now it cannot be recall'd. [Exeunt OFFICERS, on a sign from FERNEZE] BARABAS. Will you, then, steal my goods? Is theft the ground of your religion? FERNEZE. No, Jew; we take particularly thine, To save the ruin of a multitude: And better one want for a common good, Than many perish for a private man: Yet, Barabas, we will not banish thee, But here in Malta, where thou gott'st thy wealth, Live still; and, if thou canst, get more. BARABAS. Christians, what or how can I multiply? Of naught is nothing made. ”

“ ABBESS. 48 The better; for we love not to be seen: 'Tis thirty winters long since some of us Did stray so far amongst the multitude. FRIAR JACOMO. But, madam, this house And waters of this new-made nunnery Will much delight you. ABBESS. It may be so.—But who comes here? [ABIGAIL comes forward.] ABIGAIL. Grave abbess, and you happy virgins' guide, Pity the state of a distressed maid! ABBESS. What art thou, daughter? ABIGAIL. The hopeless daughter of a hapless Jew, The Jew of Malta, wretched Barabas, Sometimes 49 the owner of a goodly house, Which they have now turn'd to a nunnery. ”

“ BELLAMIRA. Musician, hast been in Malta long? BARABAS. Two, three, four month, madam. ITHAMORE. Dost not know a Jew, one Barabas? BARABAS. Very mush: monsieur, you no be his man? PILIA-BORZA. His man! ITHAMORE. I scorn the peasant: tell him so. BARABAS. He knows it already. [Aside.] ITHAMORE. 'Tis a strange thing of that Jew, he lives upon pickled grasshoppers and sauced mushrooms. 175 BARABAS. What a slave's this! the governor feeds not as I do. [Aside.] ITHAMORE. He never put on clean shirt since he was circumcised. BARABAS. O rascal! I change myself twice a-day. ”

“ ITHAMORE. The meaning has a meaning. Come, let's in: To undo a Jew is charity, and not sin. [Exeunt.]
ACT V. Enter FERNEZE, 179 KNIGHTS, MARTIN DEL BOSCO, and OFFICERS. FERNEZE. Now, gentlemen, betake you to your arms, And see that Malta be well fortified; And it behoves you to be resolute; For Calymath, having hover'd here so long, Will win the town, or die before the walls. FIRST KNIGHT. And die he shall; for we will never yield. Enter BELLAMIRA and PILIA-BORZA. BELLAMIRA. O, bring us to the governor! FERNEZE. Away with her! she is a courtezan. ”

“ And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies.
The Passionate Shepherd to his Love.
Infinite riches in a little room.
The Jew of Malta. Act i.
Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness.
The Jew of Malta. Act i.
Now will I show myself to have more of the serpent than the dove; [41:2] that is, more knave than fool.
The Jew of Malta. Act ii.
Love me little, love me long. [41:3]
The Jew of Malta. Act iv.
When all the world dissolves,
And every creature shall be purified,
All places shall be hell that are not heaven. ”

“ FRIAR BARNARDINE. I will not say that by a forged challenge they met. BARABAS. She has confess'd, and we are both undone, My bosom inmate! 129 but I must dissemble.— [Aside to ITHAMORE.] O holy friars, the burden of my sins Lie heavy 130 on my soul! then, pray you, tell me, Is't not too late now to turn Christian? I have been zealous in the Jewish faith, Hard-hearted to the poor, a covetous wretch, That would for lucre's sake have sold my soul; A hundred for a hundred I have ta'en; And now for store of wealth may I compare With all the Jews in Malta: but what is wealth? ”

“ But I thank you heartily for the poem. Not having anything of my own to send you in return,—though, to tell truth, I am at work upon something which, if I were to cut away and garble, perhaps I might send you an extract or two that might not displease you; but I will not do that; and whether it will come to anything, I know not, for I am as slow as a Fleming painter when I compose anything. I will crave leave to put down a few lines of old Christopher Marlowe's; I take them from his tragedy, "The Jew of Malta." The Jew is a famous character, quite out of nature ”

“ Tush, send not letters to 'em, goe thy selfe,
And let me see what mony thou canst make;
Here is my hand that I'le set Malta free:
And thus we cast it: To a solemne feast
I will invite young Selim-Calymath,
Where be thou present onely to performe
One stratagem that I'le impart to thee,
Wherein no danger shall betide thy life,
And I will warrant Malta free for ever. ”

“ These silly men mistake the matter cleane.
Long to the Turke did Malta contribute;
Which Tribute all in policie, I feare,
The Turkes have let increase to such a summe,
As all the wealth of Malta cannot pay;
And now by that advantage thinkes, belike,
To seize upon the Towne: I, that he seekes.
How ere the world goe, I'le make sure for one,
And seeke in time to intercept the worst,
Warily garding that which I ha got. ”

“ For late upon the coast of Corsica, Because we vail'd not 62 to the Turkish 63 fleet, Their creeping galleys had us in the chase: But suddenly the wind began to rise, And then we luff'd and tack'd, 64 and fought at ease: Some have we fir'd, and many have we sunk; But one amongst the rest became our prize: The captain's slain; the rest remain our slaves, Of whom we would make sale in Malta here. FERNEZE. Martin del Bosco, I have heard of thee: Welcome to Malta, and to all of us! But to admit a sale of these thy Turks, We may not, nay, we dare not give consent, By reason of a tributary league. ”

“ There is a familiar saying among the English residents in the island to the effect that "a Gibraltar Jew starves alongside of a Maltese tradesman;" and still another, quite as significant, to this effect: "It takes seven Jews to cheat one Maltese."
It is well to remember one characteristic of the mode of doing business here. As in most of the Eastern bazaars, and also in the shops of Spain and Italy, the local merchant does not expect the purchaser of his goods to pay the first price which he names for them. It is often the case that he is quite prepared to sell at fifty per cent. ”

“ BARABAS. May all good fortune follow Calymath! [Exeunt CALYMATH and BASSOES.] And now, as entrance to our safety, To prison with the governor and these Captains, his consorts and confederates. FERNEZE. O villain! heaven will be reveng'd on thee. BARABAS. Away! no more; let him not trouble me. [Exeunt TURKS with FERNEZE and KNIGHTS.] Thus hast thou gotten, 190 by thy policy, No simple place, no small authority: I now am governor of Malta; true,— But Malta hates me, and, in hating me, My life's in danger ”

“ Alleyne, being a Tragedian and one of the original actors in many of the celebrated Shakespear’s plays, in one of which he played a Demon, with six others, and was in the midst of the play surpriz’d by an apparition of the Devil, which so work’d on his Fancy, that he made a Vow, which he perform’d at this Place’.
The Jew of Malta, c. 1589
S. R. 1594, May 17. ‘The famouse tragedie of the Riche Jewe of Malta.’ Nicholas Ling and Thomas Millington (Arber, ii. 650) . [On 16 May ‘a ballad intituled the murtherous life and terrible death of the riche Jew of Malta’ had been entered to John Danter.] ”

“ There's Kirriah Jairim, the great Jew of Greece, Obed in Bairseth, Nones in Portugal, Myself in Malta, some in Italy, Many in France, and wealthy every one; Ay, wealthier far than any Christian. I must confess we come not to be kings: That's not our fault: alas, our number's few! And crowns come either by succession, Or urg'd by force; and nothing violent, Oft have I heard tell, can be permanent. Give us a peaceful rule; make Christians kings, That thirst so much for principality. I have no charge, nor many children, But one sole daughter, whom I hold as dear As Agamemnon did his Iphigen ”

“ That the general opinion of the Jew continued to be anything but a favourable one, is implied by casual references in various plays, and is manifestly proved by the delineation of the Jewish character in Marlowe’s Jew of Malta and in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Marlowe’s Barabas and Shakespeare’s Shylock260 are both replicas of the Jew as conceived by mediaeval imagination: a money-monger fabulously rich, ineffably tender to his own people, incredibly cruel to the Christian. ”

“ I'll carry't to the nuns with a powder. BARABAS. And the horse-pestilence to boot: away! ITHAMORE. I am gone: Pay me my wages, for my work is done. [Exit with the pot.] BARABAS. I'll pay thee with a vengeance, Ithamore! [Exit.] Enter FERNEZE, 116 MARTIN DEL BOSCO, KNIGHTS, and BASSO. FERNEZE. Welcome, great basso: 117 how fares Calymath? What wind drives you thus into Malta-road? BASSO. The wind that bloweth all the world besides, Desire of gold. FERNEZE. Desire of gold, great sir! That's to be gotten in the Western Inde: In Malta are no golden minerals. ”

“ And now, you men of Malta, look about, And let's provide to welcome Calymath: Close your port-cullis, charge your basilisks, 119 And, as you profitably take up arms, So now courageously encounter them, For by this answer broken is the league, And naught is to be look'd for now but wars, And naught to us more welcome is than wars. [Exeunt.] Enter FRIAR JACOMO 120 and FRIAR BARNARDINE. FRIAR JACOMO. O brother, brother, all the nuns are sick, And physic will not help them! they must die. FRIAR BARNARDINE. The abbess sent for me to be confess'd: O, what a sad confession will there be! ”

“ FIRST JEW. A fleet of warlike galleys, Barabas, Are come from Turkey, and lie in our road: And they this day sit in the council-house To entertain them and their embassy. BARABAS. Why, let 'em come, so they come not to war; Or let 'em war, so we be conquerors.— Nay, let 'em combat, conquer, and kill all, So they spare me, my daughter, and my wealth. [Aside.] FIRST JEW. Were it for confirmation of a league, They would not come in warlike manner thus. SECOND JEW. I fear their coming will afflict us all. BARABAS. Fond 27 men, what dream you of their multitudes? ”

“ Marlowe's "Jew of Malta" appeared about 1589. As the author announces in the prologue, it is based upon Machiavel's theory of life—pure selfishness. The Jew makes war upon all the world, for the gratification of his passion for revenge ”

“ And if you like them, drinke your fill and dye:
For so I live, perish may all the world.
Now Selim-Calymath returne me word
That thou wilt come, and I am satisfied.
Now sirra, what, will he come?
Enter Messenger.
Mess.
He will; and has commanded all his men
To come ashore, and march through Malta streets,
That thou maist feast them in thy Citadell. ”

“ BELLAMIRA. What shall we do with this base villain, then? [Aside to PILIA-BORZA.] PILIA-BORZA. Let me alone; do but you speak him fair.— [Aside to her.] But you know 152 some secrets of the Jew, Which, if they were reveal'd, would do him harm. ITHAMORE. Ay, and such as—go to, no more! I'll make him 153 send me half he has, and glad he scapes so too: I'll write unto him; we'll have money straight. PILIA-BORZA. Send for a hundred crowns at least. ITHAMORE. Ten hundred thousand crowns.— [writing] MASTER BARABAS,— PILIA-BORZA. Write not so submissively, but threatening him. ”

“ Jew.
Who carried that challenge?
Ith.
I carried it, I confesse, but who writ it?
Marry even he that strangled Bernardine, poyson'd the
Nuns, and his owne daughter.
Gov.
Away with him, his sight is death to me.
Bar.
For what, you men of Malta, heare me speake;
Shee is a Curtezane and he a theefe,
And he my bondman, let me have law,
For none of this can prejudice my life:
Gov. ”

“ In Malta here, that I have got my goods,
And in this City still have had successe,
And now at length am growne your Governor,
Your selves shall see it shall not be forgot:
For as a friend not knowne, but in distresse,
I'le reare up Malta now remedilesse.
Gov.
Will Barabas recover Malta's losse?
Will Barabas be good to Christians?
Bar.
What wilt thou give me, Governor, to procure
A dissolution of the slavish Bands
Wherein the Turke hath yoak'd your land and you? ”

“ And thus methinks should men of judgment frame Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade, And, as their wealth increaseth, so inclose Infinite riches in a little room. But now how stands the wind? Into what corner peers my halcyon's bill? 21 Ha! to the east? yes. See how stand the vanes— East and by south: why, then, I hope my ships I sent for Egypt and the bordering isles Are gotten up by Nilus' winding banks; Mine argosy from Alexandria, Loaden with spice and silks, now under sail, Are smoothly gliding down by Candy-shore To Malta, through our Mediterranean sea.— But who comes here? ”

“ Oh they were going up to Sicily: well, goe
And bid the Merchants and my men dispatch
And come ashore, and see the fraught discharg'd.
Merch.
I goe.Exit.
Jew.
Thus trowles our fortune in by land and Sea,
And thus are wee on enery side inrich'd:
These are the Blessings promis'd to the Jewes,
And herein was old Abrams happinesse:
What more may Heaven doe for earthly man
Then thus to powre out plenty in their laps,
Ripping the bowels of the earth for them,
Making the Sea their servants, and the winds
To drive their substance with successefull blasts? ”