Nathan the Wise | Page 9

a second time to save her -
Enough for him he is a man -
DAYA.
Stop, look!
NATHAN.
He--he, in death, has nothing to console him, But the remembrance of
this deed.
DAYA.
You kill her!
NATHAN.
And you kill him--or might have done at least - Recha 'tis medicine I
give, not poison. He lives--come to thyself--may not be ill - Not even
ill -
RECHA.
Surely not dead, not dead.
NATHAN.
Dead surely not--for God rewards the good Done here below, here too.
Go; but remember How easier far devout enthusiasm is Than a good
action; and how willingly Our indolence takes up with pious rapture,
Tho' at the time unconscious of its end, Only to save the toil of useful
deeds.
RECHA.
Oh never leave again thy child alone! - But can he not be only gone a
journey?
NATHAN.
Yes, very likely. There's a Mussulman Numbering with curious eye my
laden camels, Do you know who he is?
DAYA.
Oh, your old dervis.
NATHAN.
Who--who?
DAYA.
Your chess companion.
NATHAN.

That, Al-Hafi?
DAYA.
And now the treasurer of Saladin.
NATHAN.
Al-Hafi? Are you dreaming? How was this? In fact it is so. He seems
coming hither. In with you quick.--What now am I to hear?
NATHAN and HAFI.
HAFI.
Aye, lift thine eyes in wonder.
NATHAN.
Is it you? A dervis so magnificent! -
HAFI.
Why not? Can nothing then be made out of a dervis?
NATHAN.
Yes, surely; but I have been wont to think A dervis, that's to say a
thorough dervis, Will allow nothing to be made of him.
HAFI.
May-be 'tis true that I'm no thorough dervis; But by the prophet, when
we must -
NATHAN.
Must, Hafi? Needs must--belongs to no man: and a dervis -
HAFI.
When he is much besought, and thinks it right, A dervis must.
NATHAN.
Well spoken, by our God! Embrace me, man, you're still, I trust, my
friend.
HAFI.
Why not ask first what has been made of me?
NATHAN.
Ask climbers to look back!
HAFI.
And may I not Have grown to such a creature in the state That my old
friendship is no longer welcome?
NATHAN.
If you still bear your dervis-heart about you I'll run the risk of that. Th'
official robe Is but your cloak.
HAFI.

A cloak, that claims some honour. What think'st thou? At a court of
thine how great Had been Al-Hafi?
NATHAN.
Nothing but a dervis. If more, perhaps--what shall I say--my cook.
HAFI.
In order to unlearn my native trade. Thy cook--why not thy butler too?
The Sultan, He knows me better, I'm his treasurer.
NATHAN.
You, you?
HAFI.
Mistake not--of the lesser purse - His father manages the greater still -
The purser of his household.
NATHAN.
That's not small.
HAFI.
'Tis larger than thou think'st; for every beggar Is of his household.
NATHAN.
He's so much their foe -
HAFI.
That he'd fain root them out--with food and raiment - Tho' he turn
beggar in the enterprize.
NATHAN.
Bravo, I meant so.
HAFI.
And he's almost such. His treasury is every day, ere sun-set, Poorer
than empty; and how high so e'er Flows in the morning tide, 'tis ebb by
noon.
NATHAN.
Because it circulates through such canals As can be neither stopped,
nor filled.
HAFI.
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.
NATHAN.
And interest upon interest of the interest -
HAFI.
Certainly.
NATHAN.
Till my capital becomes All interest.
HAFI.
How--that does not take with thee? Then write a finis to our book of
friendship; For I have reckoned on thee.
NATHAN.
How so, Hafi?
HAFI.
That thou wouldst help me to go thro' my office With credit, grant me
open chest with thee - Dost shake thy head?
NATHAN.
Let's understand each other. Here's a distinction to be made. To you, To
dervis Hafi, all I have is open; But to the defterdar of Saladin, To that
Al-Hafi -
HAFI.
Spoken like thyself! Thou hast been ever no less kind than cautious.
The two Al-Hafis thou distinguishest Shall soon be parted. See this coat
of honour, Which Saladin bestowed--before 'tis worn To rags, and
suited to a dervis' back, - Will in Jerusalem hang upon the hook; While
I along the