The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing Part 122

SALADIN (_earnestly_).

Peace, Christian!

TEMPLAR.

What! peace, Christian? Wherefore so?

Shall Jew and Mussulman be free to boast Their creeds, and shall the Christian be ashamed To own his faith?

SALADIN (_more earnestly_).

Peace, Christian!

TEMPLAR (_calmly_).

Yes, I feel What weight of blame lies in your calm reproof-- In that one word p.r.o.nounced by Saladin.

Oh! that I knew what a.s.sad would have done Had he but fill'd my place!

SALADIN.

He had not done Much better; nay, perhaps, had been more warm.

Where did you learn to bribe me with a word?

And yet, in truth, if all has happened so As you narrate, it is not much like Nathan.

But Nathan is my friend, and of my friends One must not quarrel with the other. So Take counsel, act with prudence. Do not loose On him the fanatics among your race.

Keep silence. All the clergy of your sect Would call to me for vengeance upon him With far more show of right than I could wish.

Let not revenge impel you to become A Christian to the Jew or Mussulman.

TEMPLAR.

Thanks to the Patriarch's bloodthirsty rage, Your counsel almost comes too late; and I Had nearly proved his cruel instrument.

SALADIN.

How so? and did you see the Patriarch Before you came to me?

TEMPLAR.

Yes, in the storm Of pa.s.sion--in the whirl of doubt----Forgive me.

I fear you will no longer find in me One feature of your a.s.sad.

SALADIN.

Yes, that fear Is like him. But, methinks, I know full well The weaknesses from which our virtues spring: Attend to these--the former cannot hurt.

But go, seek Nathan, as he sought for you, And bring him hither. Be but reconciled.

Are you in earnest, Knight, about this maid?

Be calm--she shall be yours. Nathan shall feel That without swines-flesh he has dared to rear A Christian child. Now, Templar, leave me. Go!

(_Exit the_ Templar. Sittah _leaves the sofa_.)

Scene V.

Saladin _and_ Sittah.

SITTAH.

'Tis strange, indeed.

SALADIN.

What say you now, my Sittah?

Was not our a.s.sad once a handsome youth?

SITTAH.

If this were like him, and 'twere not the knight Who had his portrait taken. But, dear brother, How could you ever so forget yourself As not to make inquiry for his parents?

SALADIN.

And more especially about his mother?

That was your meaning--eh?

SITTAH.

You are too quick.

SALADIN.

But nothing is more possible; for he, My brother a.s.sad, was so favoured by The Christian ladies--handsome Christian ladies-- That a report once spread----But 'tis not right We should refer to that. We'll be content That he is here again, with all his faults, The faults and wildness of his gentle heart-- That he is here again. Oh, Nathan must Give him the maid. What think you?

SITTAH.

What, to him?

SALADIN.

Ay! for what claim has Nathan to the girl If he is not her father? He, who saved Her life, may properly a.s.sume the rights Of him who gave existence to the maid.

SITTAH.

Then might not Saladin lay claim to her, Withdrawing her from the unrightful owner?

SALADIN.

There is no need of that.

SITTAH.

No actual need, But female curiosity suggests That counsel to me. There are certain men Of whom I feel impatient till I know What maidens they can love.