Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts

Scene.—The Sultan’s Palace.  A Room in Sittah’s Apartment

Sittah and RechaSITTAHHow I am pleased with thee, sweet girl!  But doShake off this perturbation, be not anxious,Be not alarmed, I want to hear thee talk—Be cheerful.RECHA   Princess!SITTAH      No, not princess, child.Call me thy friend, or Sittah, or thy sister,Or rather aunt, for I might well be thine;So young, so good, so prudent, so much knowledge,You must have read a great deal to be thus.RECHAI read—you’re laughing, Sittah, at your sister,I scarce can read.SITTAH   Scarce can, you little fibber.RECHAMy father’s hand or so—I thought you spokeOf books.SITTAH   Aye, surely so I did, of books.RECHAWell really now it puzzles me to read them.SITTAHIn earnest?RECHA   Yes, in earnest, for my fatherHates cold book-learning, which makes an impressionWith its dead letters only on the brain.SITTAHWhat say you?  Aye, he’s not unright in that.So then the greater part of what you know—RECHAI know but from his mouth—of most of itI could relate to you, the how, the where,The why he taught it me.SITTAH   So it clings closer,And the whole soul drinks in th’ instruction.RECHA      Yes,And Sittah certainly has not read much.SITTAHHow so?  Not that I’m vain of having read;But what can be thy reason?  Speak out boldly,Thy reason for it.RECHA   She is so right down,Unartificial—only like herselfAnd books do seldom leave us so; my fatherSays.SITTAH   What a man thy father is, my Recha.RECHAIs not he?SITTAH   How he always hits the mark.RECHADoes not he?  And this father—SITTAH      Love, what ails thee?RECHAThis father—SITTAH   God, thou’rt weepingRECHA      And this father—It must have vent, my heart wants room, wants room.SITTAHChild, child, what ails you, Recha?RECHA      And this fatherI am to lose.SITTAH   Thou lose him, O no, never:Arise, be calm, how so?  It must not be.RECHASo shall thy offer not have been in vain,To be my friend, my sister.SITTAH      Maid, I am.Rise then, or I must call for help.RECHA      Forgive,My agony made me awhile forgetfulWith whom I am.  Tears, sobbing, and despair,Can not avail with Sittah.  Cool calm reasonAlone is over her omnipotent;Whose cause that pleads before her, he has conquered.SITTAHWell, then!RECHAMy friend, my sister, suffer notAnother father to be forced upon me.SITTAHAnother father to be forced upon thee—Who can do that, or wish to do it, Recha?RECHAWho?  Why my good, my evil genius, Daya,She, she can wish it, will it—and can do it.You do not know this dear good evil Daya.God, God forgive it her—reward her for it;So much good she has done me, so much evil.SITTAHEvil to thee—much goodness she can’t have.RECHAO yes, she has indeed.SITTAH   Who is she?RECHA      Who?A Christian, who took care of all my childhood.You cannot think how little she allowed meTo miss a mother—God reward her for it—But then she has so teased, so tortured me.SITTAHAnd about what?  Why, how, when?RECHA      The poor woman,I tell thee, is a Christian—and she mustFrom love torment—is one of those enthusiastsWho think they only know the one true roadTo God.SITTAH   I comprehend thee.RECHA   And who feelThemselves in duty bound to point it outTo every one who is not in this path,To lead, to drag them into it.  And indeedThey can’t do otherwise consistently;For if theirs really be the only roadOn which ’tis safe to travel—they cannotWith comfort see their friends upon anotherWhich leads to ruin, to eternal ruin:Else were it possible at the same instantTo love and hate the same man.  Nor is ’t thisWhich forces me to be aloud complainant.Her groans, her prayers, her warnings, and her threats,I willingly should have abided longer—Most willingly—they always called up thoughtsUseful and good; and whom does it not flatterTo be by whomsoever held so dear,So precious, that they cannot bear the thoughtOf parting with us at some time for ever?SITTAHMost true.RECHA   But—but—at last this goes too far;I’ve nothing to oppose to it, neither patience,Neither reflection—nothing.SITTAH      How, to what?RECHATo what she has just now, as she will have it,Discovered to me.SITTAH   How discovered to thee?RECHAYes, just this instant.  Coming hitherwardWe past a fallen temple of the Christians—She all at once stood still, seemed inly struggling,Turned her moist eyes to heaven, and then on me.Come, says she finally, let us to the rightThro’ this old fane—she leads the way, I follow.My eyes with horror overran the dimAnd tottering ruin—all at once she stopsBy the sunk steps of a low Moorish altar.—O how I felt, when there, with streaming tearsAnd wringing hands, prostrate before my feetShe fellSITTAH   Good child—RECHA      And by the holy Virgin,Who there had hearkened many a prayer, and wroughtMany a wonder, she conjured, intreated,With looks of heartfelt sympathy and love,I would at length take pity of myself—At least forgive, if she must now unfoldWhat claims her church had on me.SITTAH      Ah!  I guessed it.RECHAThat I am sprung of Christian blood—baptised—Not Nathan’s daughter—and he not my father.God, God, he not my father!  Sittah, Sittah,See me once more low at thy feet.SITTAH      O Recha,Not so; arise, my brother’s coming, rise.Saladin, Sittah, and RechaSALADIN (entering)What is the matter, Sittah?SITTAH      She is swooned—God—SALADIN   Who?SITTAH      You know sure.SALADIN      What, our Nathan’s daughter?What ails her?SITTAH   Child, come to thyself, the sultan.RECHANo, I’ll not rise, not rise, not look uponThe Sultan’s countenance—I’ll not admireThe bright reflection of eternal justiceAnd mercy on his brow, and in his eye,Before—SALADIN   Rise, rise.RECHA      Before he shall have promised—SALADINCome, come, I promise whatsoe’er thy prayer.RECHANor more nor less than leave my father to me,And me to him.  As yet I cannot tellWhat other wants to be my father.  WhoCan want it, care I not to inquire.  Does bloodAlone then make the father? blood alone?SALADIN (raising her)Who was so cruel in thy breast to shedThis wild suspicion?  Is it proved, made clear?RECHAIt must, for Daya had it from my nurse,Whose dying lips intrusted it to her.SALADINDying, perhaps delirious; if ’twere true,Blood only does not make by much the father,Scarcely the father of a brute, scarce givesThe first right to endeavour at deservingThe name of father.  If there be two fathersAt strife for thee, quit both, and take a third,And take me for thy father.SITTAH   Do it, do it.SALADINI will be a kind father—but methinksA better thought occurs, what hast thou needOf father upon father?  They will die,So that ’tis better to look out by timesFor one that starts fair, and stakes life with lifeOn equal terms.  Knowst thou none such?SITTAH      My brother,Don’t make her blush.SALADINWhy that was half my project.Blushing so well becomes the ugly, thatThe fair it must make charming—I have orderedThy father Nathan hither, and another,Dost guess who ’tis? one other.—Sittah, youWill not object?SITTAH   Brother—SALADIN      And when he comes,Sweet girl, then blush to crimson.RECHA      Before whom—Blush?SALADIN   Little hypocrite—or else grow pale,Just as thou willst and canst.  Already there?SITTAH (to a female slave who comes in)Well, be they ushered in.  Brother, ’tis they.Saladin, Sittah, Recha, Nathan, and TemplarSALADINWelcome, my dear good friends.  Nathan, to youI’ve first to mention, you may send and fetchYour monies when you will.NATHAN   Sultan—SALADIN      And nowI’m at your service.NATHAN   Sultan—SALADIN      For my treasuresAre all arrived.  The caravan is safe.I’m richer than I’ve been these many years.Now tell me what you wish for, to achieveSome splendid speculation—you in tradeLike us, have never too much ready cash.NATHAN (going towards Recha)Why first about this trifle?—I beholdAn eye in tears, which ’tis far more importantTo me to dry.  My Recha thou hast wept,What hast thou lost?  Thou art still, I trust, my daughter.RECHAMy father!NATHAN   That’s enough, we are understoodBy one another; but be calm, be cheerful.If else thy heart be yet thy own—if elseNo threatened loss thy trembling bosom wringThy father shall remain to thee.RECHA      None, none.TEMPLARNone, none—then I’m deceived.  What we don’t fearTo lose, we never fancied, never wishedOurselves 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.SALADIN   Aye, ’twas a little awkwardNot to be certain of thy cause.TEMPLAR      I nowDo know my doom,SALADIN   Pride in an act of serviceRevokes the benefit.  What thou hast savedIs therefore not thy own, or else the robber,Urged by his avarice thro’ fire-crumbling halls,Were like thyself a hero.  Come, sweet maid,[Advances toward Recha in order to lead her up to the Templar.Come, stickle not for niceties with him.Other—he were less warm and proud, and hadPaused, and not saved thee.  Balance then the oneAgainst the other, and put him to the blush,Do what he should have done—own thou thy love—Make him thy offer, and if he refuse,Or o’er forgot how infinitely moreBy this thou do for him than he for thee—What, what in fact has he then done for theeBut make himself a little sooty?  That(Else he has nothing of my Assad in him,But only wears his mask) that was mere sport,Come, lovely girl.SITTAH   Go, go, my love, this stepIs for thy gratitude too short, too trifling.[They are each taking one of Recha’s hands when Nathan with a solemn gesture of prohibition says,NATHANHold, Saladin—hold, Sittah.SALADIN      Ha! thou too?NATHANOne other has to speak.SALADIN   Who denies that?Unquestionably, Nathan, there belongsA vote to such a foster-father—andThe first, if you require it.  You perceiveI know how all the matter lies.NATHAN   Not all—I speak not of myself.  There is another,A very different man, whom, Saladin,I must first talk with.SALADIN   Who?NATHAN   Her brother.SALADIN      Recha’s?NATHANYes, her’s.RECHA   My brother—have I then a brother?[The templar starts from his silent and sullen inattention.TEMPLARWhere is this brother?  Not yet here?  ’Twas hereI was to find him.NATHAN   Patience yet a while.TEMPLAR (very bitterly)He has imposed a father on the girl,He’ll find her up a brother.SALADIN   That was wanting!Christian, this mean suspicion ne’er had pastThe lips of Assad.  Go but on—NATHAN      Forgive him,I can forgive him readily.  Who knowsWhat in his place, and at his time of life,We might have thought ourselves?  Suspicion, knight,[Approaching the templar in a friendly manner.Succeeds soon to mistrust.  Had you at firstFavoured me with your real name.TEMPLAR      How? what?NATHANYou are no Stauffen.TEMPLAR   Who then am I?  Speak.NATHANConrade of Stauffen is no name of yours.TEMPLARWhat is my name then?NATHAN   Guy of Filnek.TEMPLAR   How?NATHANYou startle—TEMPLAR   And with reason.  Who says that?NATHANI, who can tell you more.  Meanwhile, observeI do not tax you with a falsehood.TEMPLAR   No?NATHANMay be you with propriety can wearYon name as well.TEMPLAR   I think so too.  (God—GodPut that speech on his tongue.)NATHAN   In fact your mother—She was a Stauffen: and her brother’s name,(The uncle to whose care you were resigned,When by the rigour of the climate chased,Your parents quitted Germany to seekThis land once more) was Conrade.  He perhapsAdopted you as his own son and heir.Is it long since you hither travelled with him?Is he alive yet?TEMPLAR   So in fact it stands.What shall I say?  Yes, Nathan, ’tis all right:Tho’ he himself is dead.  I came to SyriaWith the last reinforcement of our order,But—but what has all this long tale to doWith Recha’s brother, whom—NATHAN   Your father—TEMPLAR      Him,Him did you know?NATHANHe was my friend.TEMPLAR      Your friend?And is that possible?NATHAN   He called himselfLeonard of Filnek, but he was no German.TEMPLARYou know that too?NATHAN   He had espoused a German,And followed for a time your mother thither.TEMPLARNo more I beg of you—But Recha’s brother—NATHANArt thouTEMPLAR   I, I her brother—RECHA      He, my brother?SITTAHSo near akin—RECHA (offers to clasp him)   My brother!TEMPLAR (steps back)      Brother to her—RECHA (turning to Nathan)It cannot be, his heart knows nothing of it.We are deceivers, God.SALADIN (to the templar)   Deceivers, yes;All is deceit in thee, face, voice, walk, gesture,Nothing belongs to thee.  How, not acknowledgeA sister such as she?  Go.TEMPLAR (modestly approaching him)   Sultan, SultanO do not misinterpret my amazement—Thou never saw’st in such a moment, prince,Thy Assad’s heart—mistake not him and me.[Hastening towards Nathan.O Nathan, you have taken, you have given,Both with full hands indeed; and now—yes—yes,You give me more than you have taken from me,Yes, infinitely more—my sister—sister.[Embraces Recha.NATHANBlanda of Filnek.TEMPLAR   Blanda, ha! not Recha,Your Recha now no longer—you resign her,Give her her Christian name again, and thenFor my sake turn her off.  Why Nathan, Nathan,Why must she suffer for it? she for me?NATHANWhat mean you?  O my children, both my children—For sure my daughter’s brother is my child,So soon as he but will it![While they embrace Nathan by turns, Saladin draws nigh to Sittah.SALADIN   What sayst thouSittah to this?SITTAH   I’m deeply moved.SALADIN      And IHalf tremble at the thought of the emotionStill greater, still to come.  Nathan, a word[While he converses with Nathan, Sittah goes to express her sympathy to the others.With thee apart.  Wast thou not saying alsoThat her own father was no German born?What was he then?  Whence was he?NATHAN      He himselfNever intrusted me with that.  From himI knew it not.SALADINYou say he was no Frank?NATHANNo, that he owned: he loved to talk the Persian.SALADINThe Persian—need I more?  ’Tis he—’twas he!NATHANWho?SALADIN   Assad certainly, my brother Assad.NATHANIf thou thyself perceive it, be assured;Look in this book—[Gives the breviary.SALADIN (eagerly looking.)   O ’tis his hand, his hand,I recollect it well.NATHAN   They know it not;It rests with thee what they shall learn of this.SALADIN (turning over the breviary.)I not acknowledge my own brother’s children,Not own my nephew—not my children—ILeave them to thee?  Yes, Sittah, it is they,[Aloud.They are my brother’s and thy brother’s children.[Rushes to embrace them.SITTAHWhat do I hear?  Could it be otherwise?[The like.SALADIN (to the templar)Now, proud boy, thou shalt love me, thou must love me,[To Recha.And I am, what I offered to become,With or without thy leave.SITTAH   I too—I too.SALADIN (to the templar.)My son—my Assad—my lost Assad’s son.TEMPLARI of thy blood—then those were more than dreamsWith which they used to lull my infancy—Much more.[Falls at the Sultan’s feet.SALADIN (raising him.)   Now mark his malice.  Something of itHe knew, yet would have let me butcher him—Boy, boy![During the silent continuance of reciprocal embraces the curtain falls.