Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem

Front matter

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING. From the German of Adolf Stahr. By E. P. Evans, Ph.D., Late Professor of Modern Languages and Literature in the University of Michigan. 2 vols. 8vo, $5.00.

" A work of permanent value. It is the best of the many books which have been written and compiled for the purpose of portraying the character and career of one of the most illustrious scholars and thinkers that even Germany has ever produced. It combines judicious selection with ample information, criticism with narration, and presents, with comparative brevity, an outline of labors, the benefits of which the world is now enjoying in almost every department of learning and culture." — Nation.

HENRY HOLT

Scene I. Hall in Nathans House

Nathan reluming from a journey. Daja meeting hinu

Daja.

Tis he ; 'tis Nathan ! God be ever praised That you're returned to us again at last !

Nathan.

Ay, Daja ; God be praised ! But why " at last ?" Was it my purpose to have come before ? Could I have come before ? for Babylon Is from Jerusalem, as I was forced To travel, turning oft to right and left, A good two hundred leagues. Collecting debts, Besides, is not a work to be dispatched In haste, or easily turned off.

Daja.

Oh, Nathan, What misery, what misery meanwhile Might have befallen you here ! Your house —

Nathan.

Took fire, That have I heard already. God but grant I've heard the whole !

Daja.

And might have easily Been leveled with the ground.

Nathan.

Then had we built Another and a better.

Daja.

True ; but Recha,

Within a hair's breadth was she burned to death.

Nathan.

Burned ! — who ? — my Recha ? That I had not

heard.

Why, then, a house I should no more have needed. Within a hair's breadth burned to death ! She was— Was burned to death ! Speak out — speak out, I say I Slay me and torture me no longer ! Yes, She has been burned to death !

Daja.

And if she were, Should I be telling it ?

Nathan.

Why fright me then?

O Recha ! O my Recha !

Daja.

Yours — your Recha ?

Nathan.

God grant I ne'er may have to unlearn the use

Of calling her my child !

Daja.

And call you all That you possess, with equal right your own ?

Nathan.

Naught with a greater. All I else possess Has been bestowed by Nature and by Fortune. This is the only gift I owe to Virtue.

Daja.

O Nathan, what a price you make me pay For all your kindness ! if aught exercised From such a motive can be called a kindness.

Nathan.

From such a motive ? What ?

Daja.

My conscience —

Nathan.

Daja, Let me but tell you first —

Daja.

I say my conscience —

*

Nathan.

What stuffs in Babylon I bought for you ! So precious and so tasteful. Recha's own Are scarcely fairer.

Data.

All in vain. My conscience, I tell you, will no more be lulled to sleep.

Nathan.

And how you will delight in all the jewels, The rings, the clasps, the ear-rings, and the chains, That in Damascus I selected for you, I'm eager to behold.

Data.

How like yourself !

You must be always giving, always giving.

Nathan.

Take gladly, as I give you, and — be silent !

Data.

Be silent ! Doubts there any one that Nathan Is honor, generosity itself?

And yet —

Nathan.

I'm but a Jew. Is that your meaning ?

Data.

You know my meaning better.

Nathan.

Then be silent.

Daja. 1 will be silent. What of guilt grow hence In sight of God, which I cannot prevent, I cannot change — cannot, — fall on your head.

Nathan.

Fall on my head ! But tell me where she is. Where tarries she ? Ah, should you have deceived

me!

Knows she I'm here ?

Daja.

I might retort the question.

Her every nerve still trembles with affright Her fancy colors with a glow of fire Whate'er it paints. In sleep her spirit wakes ; Awake, it sleeps : inferior now to brutes, Superior now to angels.

Nathan.

Ah, poor child !

What are we men !

Daja.

This morning long she lay, With eyelids closed, as she were dead. Then quick Sprang up, cried, "Hark, my father's camels come! Hark, his own gentle voice !" Then drooped again Her eyelids, and, the arm's support withdrawn,

Her head once more fell back upon the pillows. I hasted through the gate, and, lo ! 'twas you — 'Twas you, indeed, approaching ! And what wonder?

For her whole soul has since been but with you — And him.

Nathan.

And him ! What him ?

Data.

Who from the fire Preserved her.

Nathan.

Who was that ? Where is he now ? Who was it that preserved my Recha for me ?

Data.

A Templar, who, some days before a prisoner, Was hither brought, and pardoned by the Sultan.

Nathan.

A Templar granted life by Saladin ? Could no less miracle have saved my Recha ? God!

Data.

But for him who boldly risked again His unexpected boon, she had been lost.

Nathan. .

Where is this noble man ? Where is he, Daja ?

Conduct me to his feet. Whatever treasure Was left you, you bestowed on him at once ; Gave all ; with promises of more — much more?

Data.

How could we ?

Nathan.

Did you not ?

Data.

He came, but whence None knew ; he went, and whither none could tell. A stranger to the house, his ear alone To guide him, onward through the smoke and

flame, With outstretched mantle, fearlessly he pressed Toward the voice that cried to us for help. Already had we given him up for lost, When suddenly, from out the smoke and flame, He stood before us, bearing her aloft In his strong arms. By our exultant thanks Unmoved, he laid his burden on the ground, Pressed through the multitude his way, and vanished.

Nathan.

But not, I hope, forever.

Data.

Many days We saw him yonder, walking to and fro Beneath the palms that shade the sepulchre

IO NATHAN THE WISE.

Of our ascended Lord. I went to him

With rapture; thanked him, praised, commanded,

begged He would but once behold the grateful girl, Who could not rest till at her savior's feet She'd wept her thanks.

Nathan.

Well?

Data.

Useless ; he was deaf To our entreaties, and he poured, besides, Such scorn upon me —

Nathan.

You were frightened off.

Data.

Nay ; anything but that. Day after day I went to him again ; day after day Let him again insult me. There is nothing I've not end'ared from him ; nothing that gladly I'd not have still endured. But long he's ceased To walk beneath the palms that shade the grave Of our ascended Lord, and no one knows His dwelling-place. — You are amazed; you ponder?

Nathan.

I ponder the effect this must produce Upon a mind like Recha's. To be scorned

NATHAX THE WISE. II

By one whom she is bound to prize so highly : To be at once repelled and yet attracted. *Twixt head and heart long contest must ensue, If sorrow or misanthropy shall conquer. Xt neither triumphs, and imagination Becoming party in the strife, creates A dreamer, in whom now the head usurps The place of heart, and now the heart plays head Sad interchange ! If I mistake not Recha, The latter is her fate. She yields to fancies.

Data.

But then so pure, so lovely !

Nathan.

Fancies still.

Data.

Above the rest, one — fancy, if you will —

She cherishes. Her Templar, as she deems,

Is not a mortal being, not of earth.

One of the angels, to whose guardian care,

Her little heart from childhood fondly thought

Itself intrusted, stepped from out the cloud

Beneath w r hose veil he hitherto had hovered

About her even in the fire, and stood

Revealed as Templar. — Do not smile ! Who knows ?

At least, if smile you must, do not destroy

A fancy shared alike by Christian, Jew,

And Mussulman, — so beautiful a fancy.

12 NATHAN TUB WISE.

Nathan, And beautiful to me. — Go, trusty Daja, See how she is — if I may speak with her. Then I will seek this freakish guardian angel ; - And if it be his pleasure still to dwell Among us on the earth, and wear the guise Of so unmannerly a knight, doubt not I shall discover and conduct him hither.

Daja.

You promise much.

Nathan.

Should then this sweet conceit Be changed to sweeter truth — for, trust me, Daja, To human heart more dear is man than angel — You'll surely not with me — with me — be vexed If so this angel-dreamer shall be cured.

Daja.

How good you are, and yet how bad withal ! I go. But hark ! but see I She comes herselfl

Scene II. Recha and the preceding

Recha.

Is it in very truth yourself, my father ? I thought you had but sent your voice before.

Where tarry you? What deserts or what mountains, What rivers, separate us now ? We breathe Beneath one roof, and yet you hasten not. To clasp your Recha, who was burned meanwhile ! Poor Recha ! Almost, only almost burned. Nay, shudder not ! Oh, 'tis an ugly death To die by fire 1

Nathan.

My child ! my darling child !

Recha.

You had to cross the Euphrates, Tigris, Jordan, — W^ho knows how many more ? Oft for your life I trembled till the fire enveloped me ; But since the fire enveloped me, to die By water seems refreshment, solace, balm. But you have not been drowned, nor I been burned. We will rejoice, and give God thanks. He bore Your boat and you upon the unseen wings Of angels over all the faithless streams : He bade my angel visibly unfold His snowy wings, and bear me through the fire.

Nathan. (His snowy wings ! Ah, yes ; the Templar's mantle, Outstretched and white.)

Recha.

Ay ; visibly to bear me

From out the flames, fanned backward by his wings. Thus have I seen an angel face to face— My guardian-angel.

Nathan.

Recha would be worth An angel's visiting, and would in him See naught more fair than he in her.

Recha {smiling).

My father, Whom flatter you — the angel or yourself?

Nathan.

Had but a human being, such a man As Nature daily grants, this service rendered, He must for you have been an angel ; ay, He must and would.

Recha.

Not such an angel. No ; This was in truth, in very truth an angel. Have you yourself not taught me to believe That angels are ; that God for them that love Him Can yet work miracles ? I love Him.

Nathan.

Yes ; And He loves you ; and hourly miracles For you, and such as you, is working now ; From all eternity has worked them for you.

Recita.

I love to hear it.

Nathan.

Natural it sounds And commonplace to have a Templar save you ; But is it therefore less a miracle ? The greatest miracle of all is this : That-true and genuine miracles become Of no significance. Without that wonder Scarce would a thoughtful man bestow the name On things that only children should admire, Who, gaping, follow what is new and strange.

Data (Jo Naihaii).

Would you to bursting strain her o'erwrought brain With all your subtleties ?

Nathan.

Trust her to me !

Were it not miracle enough for Recha To be delivered by a human being, Himself by no small miracle first saved ? Not small indeed ! Who ever heard before Of Templar being spared by Saladin — Of Templar asking to be spared, or hoping — Or offering more for freedom than the girth That holds his sword, or, at the most, his dagger ?

Recha.

That proves for me. my father. For that reason He was no actual Templar — only seemed it.

Since never to Jerusalem there came A captive Templar save to certain death ; Since none e'er walked Jerusalem so free, How could one voluntarily, at night, Have come to save me ?

Nathan. .

Most ingenious, Recha ! — Speak, Daja : 'twas from you I learned he came A prisoner hither ; you must know yet more.

Daja.

So runs the story. It is said, besides,

That Saladin preserved the Templar's life

Because of the resemblance that he bore

A favorite brother. But as twenty years

Have passed away since this dear brother's death-

His name I know not — know not where he died-

It sounds so — so incredible the whole

May be but fiction.

Nathan.

Wherefore, Daja, sounds it Incredible, but that you would believe — As is the case — things more incredible ? Why should not Saladin, whose family Are all so dear to him, in younger days Have loved one brother with peculiar love ? Look not two countenances oft alike ? Are old impressions, therefore, vanished ones?

NATHAN THE WISE. I7

Works the same cause no longer one effect? Since when ? Where lies in this the incredible ? I grant you, Daja, it were then for you No more a miracle. Your miracles Alone demand — deserve, I mean — belief.

Daja.

You laugh at me.

Nathan.

Laughed you not too at me ?— Thus was your rescue still a miracle, Dear Recha, possible alone to Him Who oft is pleased to guide, by feeble threads, The set decrees and purpose absolute Of kings — his toys, if not his scorn.

Recha.

♦My father, If I am wrong, not willingly I err.

Nathan.

Willingly rather learn. See now — a forehead Arched thus, or so ; the outline of a nose Drawn this way more than that ; brows curving so. Or so, according as the bone is sharp Or round ; a line, crease, angle, spot, a nothing Upon the face of one wild European — And you are rescued from the fire in Asia ! Is that no miracle, ye wonder-seekers ? What need to trouble an angel with it then ?

2* j8 NATHAN TEE WISE.

Daja.

What harm — if I may speak — in the belief An angel rather than a man has saved us ? Feel we not so much nearer brought to Him Of the deliverance the mysterious cause ?

Nathan.

Pride, Daja, naught but pride ! The iron pot Would have itself be lifted from the fire By silver tongs, that it may deem itself A silver pot. Pah ! What the harm, you ask ? What harm? What good, I might retort. 'Tis

nonsense, Or blasphemy, this " feeling nearer God." But harm it does — ay, actual harm ; for listen : To your deliverer, be he man or angel, Would you not both, and you especially, Desire to render great and various service ? But how perform such service to an angel ? Thank him you can, and sigh to him and pray ; Can melt away in ecstasies before him ; Can keep a fast upon his sacred day ; Can give your charities ; — all that is naught. Your neighbor and yourself are more the gainers, It seems to me, than he. He grows not fat By all your fasting ; all your charities Make him not rich ; no greater is his glory For all your ecstasies ; his power no greater For all your faith ; is it not so ? But man —

NATHAN THE WISE. jg

Daja.

A man indeed more opportunity Had given to serve him. What our readiness, God knows. But he was so above all wants, Was in and for himself so all-sufficient, As only angels are or angels can be.

Recha.

And when at last he vanished —

Nat h ax.

Vanished ! How ?

No longer showed himself beneath the palms ? Or have you really further searched for him ?

Daja, That we have not.

Nathan.

Not, Daja ? See what harm !

You cruel enthusiasts ! What if this angel Had been — been sick ?

Recha.

Sick!

Daja.

Sick ! He cannot be !

Recha, A shudder chills me. Daja, feel — my brow, So warm but now, is turned to ice 1

Nathan.

A Frank He is, a stranger to our climate ; young; To all the hard requirements of his Order — To hunger, watching, unaccustomed.

Recha.

Sick!

Data.

He only means, that it were possible.

Nathan.

See, there he lies, without a friend, or gold To purchase friends —

Recha.

Alas ! my father 1

Nathan.

Iks Without attendance, counsel, sympathy- — A prey to sorrows, and perhaps to death.

Recha.

Where ? Where ?

Nathan. ' He who for one he never knew Nor saw — enough it was a human being — Had leaped into the flames —

Data.

Oh, spare her, Nathan 1

Nathan.

Who would not know more nearly, would not see What he had saved, that he might not be thanked—

Data.

Oh, Nathan, spare her — spare her I

Nathan.

Had no wish To see again, unless a second time He might deliver ; for enough for him It was a human being —

Data.

Hush ! Ah, see !

Nathan.

He, dying, has no other solace, none, Besides the memory of his deed.

Data.

Hush! hush!

You're killing her.

Nathan.

And so did you kill him ; Or so you might have killed him. Recha ! Recha I Tis medicine, not poison, that I give you ! He lives I Come, be yourself ! He is not sick — Not even sick !

Recha.

Quite sure ? Not dead ? Not sick ?

zz nathan the wise.

Nathan.

Not surely dead ; for God rewards even here The good that here is done. But have you learned That pious ecstasies are easier far Than virtuous deeds ; how gladly idleness, Concealing its true motive from itself, Would stand excused from virtuous deeds, and plead Its pious ecstasies instead ?

Recha.

My father, Leave, leave your Recha nevermore alone ! — He has but left Jerusalem perhaps ?

Nathan.

Assuredly. — Yonder a Mussulman, With curious eye, observes my loaded camels. Look ! Know you him ?

Daja.

It is your dervise.

Nathan.

Who?

Daja.

Your dervise ; your antagonist at chess.

Nathan.

Al-Hafi ! That Al-Hafi !

Daja.

Treasurer now OfSaladin.

Nathan.

Dream you again ? Al-Hafi ! — Tis he— 'tis he indeed ! He comes toward us. Quick, back into the house ! — What will he tell me?