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Nathan the Wiseby Gotthold Ephraim LessingTranslatedom the GermanNathan der Weiseby Stephanie Clennell and Robert Philip

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Walton HallMilton KeynesUnited KingdomMK? 6AA 1992 The Open University Reprinted 1994-, 1999All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced orutilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, nowknown or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in anyinformation storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from thepublishers, or under licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited.Further details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may beobtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited, of 90 Tottenham CourtRoad, London WIP QHE.ISBN U 7492 1112 1

AcknowledgementsFrentispieee Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. (Mansell Collection)Edited, designed and typeset by The Open University.This book forms part of an Open University course A206 The Entightenwnent.

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IntroductionAct IAct HAct IHAct IVAct V

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worldly interest. Indeed to strict Lutherans the theatre was anathema (apoint briey referred to in Nathan the Wise). Lessing respected hisparents views, and he remained, in his way, a dutiful son; He did not seehis developing independence of thought as a revolt against them, butrather wanted to make them understand his own changing outlook,including his wish to give up the study of -theology. This need to come toterms with his own and other peoples views on religion lasted all his life,as you will nd when you read Nathan the Wise.

lhhth his fathers reluctant approval Lessing changed to the study ofmedicine and philology. He did not complete his studies in Leipzig,because he had to make a quick escape. The Neuber theatre companywas in debt and disbanded. Lessing had imprudently acted as surety forsome of the actors; he was in no position to provide any money, andwent secretly to the University of 1/Vittenberg. For the rst and only timein his life he was guilty of a dishonourable action said H.B. Garland(1962, p.9).

Lessing enrolled as a medical student in Wittenberg, but fell ill,and gave up his studies after a few months and went to Berlin. He haddecided that he would try to live as a writer in Berlin. There would be forhim no respectable career as a pastor or university teacher, as his parentshad hoped; instead he would face hardship, insecurity and poverty. Buthe would be independent.

The spread ofEnlightenmentIn 1748 it was just possible to make a living by writing. _]oh-nson inEngland, and Diderot in France, are notable examples of this. There wasa growing demand for literary works to which publishers responded. Inthe German states, periodicals, the so-called moral weeklies, began toappear in the 1720s, following the example of the English Tatlei; Spectator;and Guardian. There were hundreds of these periodicals by the 1760s,although the life-span of each was short (about three years). Morespecialized periodicals also appeared, such as learned journals (whichhad appeared in Latin in the seventeenth century) and literary and pol-itical periodicals. It was through these that the process of the enlighten-ment as an overall movement began, according to Aner (1929, p_30).

Lessing was well equipped to take part in this movement. He hadhad a sound academic training and people like him could earn a littlemoney by writing, editorial work, private teaching or translation. Lessingwidened his own knowledge of works, especially contemporary ones, inEnglish, French and Spanish, as well as German. He had a talent forpublicity. He made the most of speedy and frequent publication, so thathis writings and his ideas spread quickly among the enlightened elites inthe various German states. From 1751 he was an editor of the BerlinGazette (the Berliner prioiligierte Zeitung) and its monthly supplements,

he was fable to carry on a campaign for enlightened ideas. As this stagethis meant questioning, analysing and criticizing existing ideas andworks. He was relentlessly critical of Professor johann Christoph Gott-scheds attempts to improve German literature, particularly drama, byinsisting on close imitation of French classical literature of the seven-teenth century. Instead Lessing put forward other models, such asShakespeare, -and introduced new works and ideas to the reading publicin Germany. For example, Rousseaus essay the Discourse on the Arts andSciences appeared in 1750, and Lessing reviewed this work (and ques-tioned its assumptions) just a few months later, in April 1751.

Lessing was ready to take risks, stir up trouble, and criticize theeminent. As a critic he was intent on raising standards, as someone who... does not deny the truth in order to atter, is convinced that a warn-ing about a bad book is a service which one renders to the public, onewhich is more worthy of an honest man than a servile facility for barter-ing praise for praise (Letters on rnodern literature, Briee die neueste Litteraturlletreffend, 1759).

His attacks were specic and the most eminent contemporarieswere not spared. ... and Voltaires Zaire? How inferior it is to the Moor ofVenice (Othello) of which it is a poor copy.5 Lessings contacts with Vol-taire (Frederick the Greats guest in Berlin from 1750-53) were mainlyunfortunate. He had done some translation for Voltaire, notably of hisHistory of the Crusades. A friend, Richier de Louvain, Voltaire s secretary,had lent the proofs of Voltaires Age of Louis XIV (Sieele de Louis XIV) toLessing, who carelessly took them with him when he went to Wittenbergin 1751. Voltaire was outraged, suspected a pirating attempt, and com-plained to Frederick, who did not forget the incident. *

Lessings reason for returning to Wittenberg was to get his Mastersdegree. He was successful, and returned to Berlin in 1752 to work againfor the Berliner prioiligierte Zeitung.

Friends and alliesBerlin was now an important centre of serious literary criticism. Therewas relative freedom of expression (except in writing about politics and

" A new critic has appeared here whose work you will be able to judge from theenclosed review of The Messiah (Klopstocks epic poem). He just seems a littleyoung. _]._]. Sulzer to ].]. Bodmer (in R. Daunicht (1971) Lessing int Gesprdeh,Mfmchen.

4 Gottsched (1700-66) Versueh einer Critischen Diehtkunst ftir die Deutsehen (Essayon the Art ofPoet1y for Germans, 1730).

5 Letters on rnodern literature No.17, 1759.

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or triends among writers, booksellers and publishers. In 1754 hornet twomen who became his lifelong friends and with whom he worked closelyin Berlin. They were Friedrich Nicolai (1733-1311), a writer and book-seller, and Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86), whom he rst met as a chess-player. In October 1754 Lessing wrote of Mendelssohn: [He] is actuallya jew, aged about 20, who, without any education, has a remarkablegrasp of languages, mathematics, philosophy and poetry. I expect him tobecome an honour to his nation, if he is allowed to develop fully, unlikethose of his religion who are always driven by a terrible spirit of per-secution.

Moses Mendelssohn was the son of a public scribe in Dessau. Hehad been taught by a rabbi, and when the rabbi went to Berlin, Moses, atthe age of 14, followed him there, determined to educate himself andlive as best he could by copying and teaching. As ajew he had very fewrights even in Frederick the Greats Prussia. jews still had a separate andsubordinate legal status. Some few had a special status as protected jews(Sehutzjuden). In 1753 Frederick revised the regulations about jews, butmainly in order to make use of a small number of wealthy Jews as manu-facturers and bankers. In 1749 Lessing had already written a play Thejews (Die juden, published in 1754) in which he deplored anti-Semiticprejudice, but his friendship with Mendelssohn was his rst close contactwith ajew. As Lessing hoped, Mendelssohn's intellect and integrity wererecognized and he became an eminent philosopher, who believed thatthe essential principles of his own religion could be reconciled withmodern enlightened secular learning. In Nathan the Wise Nathan is suchan enlightenedjew, and although the character, Nathan, is not a portraitof Moses Mendelssohn, Mendelssohn probably had a considerable inu-ence on Lessings conception of the role.

The article Philosophe in the Entyclopedie (Texts,,I p.9) speaks of:This love of society, which is so essential to the philosophe. Lessing andhis friends were like the French philosophes in this respect. They had littlemoney, little time for frivolity, but meetings, clubs, long conversationsand discussions, and correspondence, were their life-blood.

" Letter from Lessing to Friederich Nicolai, 25 August 1769 in document 45 inTents, I, Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, Letters and Documents, p.63.

T See footnote 6.

" Moses Mendelssohn was the grandfather of the composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. -

" To the G-ottingen theologian and orientalist johann David Michaelis.(Lachmann-Muncker, Vol. XVII No.34).

.I.

Lessingalready had a considerable reputation as a writer when he was inhis twenties. He had published poems, fables, literary criticism, studies intheological history, and ve plays: The Young Scholar; Danton, or TrueFriendship, The Old Maid, The jews, and The Freethinher: The plays were allcomedies, but all had a moral content. Lessings ideas about open-mind-edness in religion and his criticism of prejudice and intolerance areclearly seen in Thejaws and The Freethinhet In Thefetus a baron is rescuedfrom robbers by a stranger whom he welcomes to his home as a worthyand cultivated man. The baron, who has anti-Semitic prejudices, thinksthat his attackers were Jews, but it turns out that they were his own ser-vants in disguise, and that his rescuer is a noble-minded jew.

In 1755 Lessing and Moses Mendelssohn collaborated on an essay:Pope - a Jvletaphysitiani (Pope - ein Metaphysiherl). The Berlin Academy ofSciences had offered a prize for an essay on Popes proposition in theEssay on Man whatever is, is right. Their joint essay on this subject wasscathing about any claim that Pope, as a poet, might have to a grasp ofphilosophy; but they were not critical of Leibniz, as Voltaire was shortlyto be in his poem on the Lisbon disaster (1756) and Candide (1759). TheBerlin Academy did not favour Leibnizs views. Lessing and Mendelssohndid not enter for the prize, but published their essay anonymously, wellaware that they were dealing with a contentious issue of the Enlighten-ment.

The theory of drama was important too; it was not enough to for-mulate rules for drama, as Boileau had done in seventeenth-centuryFrance, followed by Gottsched in Germany, in 1730. The fundamentalnature and purpose of drama had to be re-examined. Lessing, like somany of his enlightened contemporaries, had a deep respect for theAncients. He had himself translated Plautus and studied Aristot1es the-ory of drama. He shared this interest in drama with Nicolai and Men-delssohn, with both of whom he -conducted a correspondence ontragedy, while Lessings own articles on the drama appeared in a series ofpublications in the 1750s. The most important work was Letters on ModernLiterature, which appeared in sections between 1759-and 1760. Diderothad said: Everything must be brought to light boldly, without excep-tions, and unsparingly (Texts, I, p.9). These three young men practisedwhat Diderot preached. The articles on the theatre condemned adher-ence to French classical models, and praised Shakespeare and Lessinghimself approved of the sentimental comedy appearing in England and

Boileau (Despreaux) Nicolas (1636-1711), French critic and poet and authorof LArt potique (The Art ofPoet1y, 1674).

" Titus Maccius Plautus (e.25418-4 BC) Roman writer of comic plays.

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plays in The Theatre ofMr Diderot (1760).Practice had even more impact than theory. In I755 Lessing had

published his play Miss Sara Sampson, rst produced in Frankfurt on theOder with great success the audience was in oods of tears at each per-formance. Theplay was much inuenced by George Lillos The LondonMerchant; or; the History of George Barn-wet! (1731) and by Richardsons nov-els. A tragedy about a seduced girl, in a contemporary everyday setting,was an affront to those who believed that all tragedy should be in highstyle and noble. A bourgeois tragedy! My God what is to become ofus? was Lessings own ironic comment. '

About this time too Lessing had been studying WinckelmannsThoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture (1755)and his History of the Art ofAntiquity (1764). In 1755 he had translated duBoss Critical Reections on Poetry and Painting. Lessings own work onaesthetics was Laokoon, or the Limits ofPainting and Poetry, in 1766, a workwhich came to be considered as one of the most important works on aes-thetics in the eighteenth century. Winckelmann himself was impressed byLessings style of writing, though critical of his knowledge of the subject.

In the meantime there had been changes in Lessing's way of life.His one chance to go to England, in 1756, as travelling companion to ayoung businessman, Gottfried Winkler, was frustrated by the outbreak ofthe Seven Years War. In 1760 he accepted the position of secretary toGeneral Bogislaw Friedrich von Tauentzien, who was Prussian comman-dant in Breslau. Lessing wrote to his friends with no particular enthusi-asm about the kind of life he led, but for a while his nancial positionimproved. He could even indulge a little his love for gambling, which hecould seldom afford, but in which he found excitement. Lessing fell seri-ously ill in Breslau and left his job before the end of the war. He hadbeen proposed for the job of librarian in the Royal Library in Berlin, butFrederick, no doubt remembering Voltaires complaints about Lessing,refused to consider him.

In his essay On German Literature (I780), Frederick the Great madeno mention of Lessing and made only unfavourable general commentson German drama. Lessings next work makes this omission even morestriking. In 1767 appeared Minna von Barnhelin, a contemporary comedy,in which the action takes place at the end of the Seven Years War.Goethe called it: The truest product of the Seven Years War, the rst

'2 Eighteenth-century views of sentiment are discussed in the Introduction toPart E of the course.

H 26 April I755 in the Berlin Gazette. '

H Abbe jean-Baptiste du Bos (1670-1742) Reexions critiques sur ta poesie et lapeinture (I719).

content,15 It was seen at the time, and can still be seen now, as the bestmodern comedy of the century in German. It was an instant success onthe stage, rst in Hamburg, then in Berlin.

Lessing then took part in one of the most interesting experimentsin the theatre of the time. A consortium of affluent citizens of the freecity of Hamburg launched a national theatre. Lessing was invited tobecome resident critic and adviser. He accepted. In this role heproduced a work of lasting importance: The Ha:-*nbuigDrainatu1gjy (1767).This is a collection of his reviews and commentaries. He soon had to giveup writing about performances, as the actors were touchy about genu-inely critical reviews, but the work continued as essays on the drama. Theproject failed. The directors quarrelled and there were nancial prob-lems. Lessing himself lost money heavily in a printing venture, had to sellhis library, and consider what to do next.

He had made good friends in Hamburg, among them the son anddaughter of Hermann Samuel Reimarus, philologist and orientalist, anda silk merchant. Engelbert Konig, and his wife, Eva. Englebert Kcinigdied suddenly at the end of 1769, and Lessing had promised to lookafter his wife and children a promise which he kept, although he hadto leave Hamburg, as he had just accepted the position of Librarian atWolfenbiittel.

Woenbuttel -- controversial LibrarianIn accepting the post of Librarian in the great library of the Duke ofBrunswick in Wolfenbiittel, Lessing was giving in at last and acceptingpatronage. As a scholar he found the work rewarding and discoveredsome vaiuable manuscripts, (including an eleventh-century manuscriptof Berengar de Tours, the discovery of which made an important contri-bution to church history). Yet he was lonely, isolated in a gloomy, emptycastle, since the Dukes court had moved to Brunswick. He had a secureposition, but he was still poor, even though he was now eminent as awriter. Mlinna -oon Barnhelrn was being performed with great success, andhis new play, a tragedy, Emilia Galotti, was rst performed in Brunswick in1772, and highly praised.

For Lessing personal plans became most important. Slowly hisfriendship with Eva Konig became love, and they decided to marry; butEva, who was a woman of courage, charm and intelligence, had had totake over her late husbands business affairs, which involved lengthyjourneys and long stays in Vienna. Over the years it was a friendship,then courtship by correspondence, with rare meetings. Eventually, Less-ing managed to secure from the Duke of Brunswick a higher salary and a

1* Goethe, Dichturtg unol Wahrheit (Poetry and Truth), Part II Book 7.

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house in Wolfenbiittel. They married in 1776. For one year of his lifeLessing was perfectly happy; but at the end of the year Eva had a childwho died, and shortlyafterwards she too died. Lessing found only oneway to cope with his personal tragedy, and that was to work, and workmeant ghting and ghting about fundamental religious issues whichhad concerned him all his life.

A few months after his wifes death, Lessing became involved in avery bitter and very public controversy. It came to a head in 1778,although it had started some years before. Publication of really contro-versial views on religion was still hazardous. One notable man with rad-ical views was Professor Reimarus (1694-1768) of Hamburg, the father ofLessings two friends. He had written an Apologia or Plea for the RationalWorshippers of God (Apologie oder Schutzschri lr die oernulnigen VerehrerGottes, 1778). He did not venture to publish it in his lifetime. Lessing hadacquired the manuscript (and was carefully evasive about how he haddone so) and used his right as Wolfenbftttel Librarian to publish extractsas Fragments of an Anonymous Author in 1774 and 1777. Hostile commentscame from critics of modest standing, to which Lessings most notablereply was the essay eine Duplih (A Rejoinder); but then more imposingcritics joined in. Lessings main opponent was Johann Melchior Goeze(1717-86), Chief Pastor of the Katherinenkirche in Hamburg, an ortho-dox Lutheran theologian and scholar. For some months in 1778 thebattle was conducted, through a series of pamphlets, about criticism ofrevealed religion and the right to express such views. Lessingsopponents succeeded in persuading the Duke of Brunswick to withdrawthe Librarians right to publish papers, and Lessing was forbidden topublish anything more on religion. His response was to put his ideas intothe play Nathan the I/Ihse, which made a suong case for the unprejudicedpursuit of religious truth and for tolerationd

In 1778 Lessing had published the rst part of his Gesprdche ftlr Frey-mdurer (Ernst and Falh: Dialogues on Freemasonry), and in 1780 he pub-lished The Education of the Human Race (Die Erziehung des Menschengesch-lechts). By then he was exhausted and ill, and wrote no more majorworks. He died in Brunswick in 1781.

Chronological outline ofLessingfs le and main works1729 born 22]anua1y in Karnenz, Saxony.1741-6 At St Afra electoral school in Meissen.1746-8 Student at University of Leipzig.1748 The Young Scholar performed by the Neuber company.

15 There is a detailed discussion of the religious controversy in Lessing andReligion in Religion and Humanity: Lessingis Nathan the Wise (Studies, II).

174817491750

17511752

In Wittenberg. At the end of the year goes to Berlin.Writes The jezos.Journalist for the Berlin Gazette with his cousin johann GhristlobMylius.Translation of Voltaires Minor Historical Works.In Wittenberg obtains Masters degree.

1753-5 Publication of collected works in six volumes.I75317541754175517551755175517561757

Translates Marignys History of the Arabs.Thejaws and The Young Scholar published.Meets Friedrich Nicolai and Moses Mendelssohn.Pope - a Metaphysician! written with Mendelssohn.The Freethinher published.Translation of du Boss Critical Reections on Poetry and Painting.Miss Sara Sampson performed and published.journey to England interrupted by the Seven Years War.In Leipzig.

1758-60 In Berlin.17591759

1760

Letters on Modern Literature.Philotas - a tragedy.FablesThe Theatre ofMr Diderot.

1760-5 In Breslau as secretary to General von Tauentzien.1 764 Serious illness in Breslau.1765-7 In Berlin.17661767

Laohdon or the Limits ofPainting and Poetry.Minna -oon Barnhelm. I

1767-70 In Hamburg as critic and adviser for the Hamburg theatre.17671769

177017711772

Hamburg Dramatuvgy.Antiquarian Letters.The Ancients View ofDeath.Friendship with the Reimarus and Konig families.Librarian of the ducal library in Wolfenbtittel.Engagement to Eva Konig.Emilia Galotti.

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1774 Publishes rst Fragments of an Anonymous Author.1775 Journey to Leipzig, Dresden, Vienna.

Journey to Italy with Prince Leopold of Brunswick.1776 Marriage to Eva Konig.1777 Journey to Mannheim. Refuses offer to direct Mannheim

theatre.1778 Death of his wife Eva.1778 Dispute with Chief Pastor Goeze. Anti-Goeze pamphlets.1778 Ernst and Falh - dialogues for freemasons.1779 Nathan the Wise.I780 The Education of the Human Race.1781 15 February, died in Brunswick.

Nathan the Wise

The setting of the playThe scene of the play is given as Jerusalem. The action takes place dur-mg an armistice [I1 the Crusades. The year therefore must be 1192 at theend of the Third Crusade which lasted from 1189 to 1192. There are ref-erences in the play to Richard I (Coeur de Lion) and Philippe August IIof France who were both in Palestine in 1191, and to Emperor FrederickI Barbarossa, who also took part in the Crusade and was drowned inArmenia in 1190.

The Crusades were military expeditions, fostered by the Papacy,Eigdertaken fromjthe eleventh to the thirteenth centuries by European

risuans. The -aim was to gain the Christian holy places in Palestine,then under Muslim occupation. After some successful military oper-ations the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established and had then to bedefended. In 1187 =Sultan Saladin recaptured Jerusalem. The aim of theThird Crusade, led by the English and French kings and the Germanemperor, was to regain Jerusalem. The Europeans did not succeed in

I6 Nathan the Wise

""1A Lay Brother Lay brothers were not ordained, took only a vow oobedience, and carried out humbler tasks in monasteries.

An Em.rrAn independent Muslim ruler.Mamelahes Members of the Sultans bodyguard.

The oerseform and translationLessing chose to use blank verse, that is unrhymed iambic pentameters.Up to this time blank verse had been rarely used in German, but soon,in the plays of Goethe and Schiller and other dramatists, it became theverse form most often used in German drama.

Lessing was a master of vigorous, incisive prose and of dramaticlanguage. His use of the verse in Nathan the l/lhse seems almost casual: it isclearly subordinated to the needs of- the drama. It uses everyday, evencolloquial language, appropriate to the different characters: the directand simple language of the Lay Brother, the Patriarchs pious cliches, thesometimes romantic language of the Templar, the changing styles ofNathan himself in different contexts. Lessings friends pointed, to muchthat was incorrect in the early drafts, such as many lines with six or fourfeet instead of ve. Lessing eliminated some of these, but gave priority tomeaning and dramatic effect. Frequent enjarnbernents are necessary, forthe sake of the dialogue; in long sentences over many lines predicateand subject may be separated, pronouns or adverbs may not be used inthe same line as the words with which they are associated. But Lessinghad his own good reasons for this use of language, and remained in con-trol. A more obviously poetic feature in the play is its imagery, therecurring images of re and water, trees and owers images intendedto stimulate ideas and establish connections in the mind of the reader.There are biblical references or allusions, possibly more familiar to Less-ings contemporaries than to present-day readers. In the play as a whole,the flexibility of the verse, even its uneven rhythms, contribute to theintensity of its forward-moving ideas.

lnevitably much is lost in translation. The translation conveys Less-ings meaning as faithfully as possible, in a verse form which has somecorrespondence with Lessings own. Complex German constructionshave been simplied where this does not distort the meaning; the playon words in which Lessing delighted emerges in somewhat muted form;his juxtapositions and play on the sound of words tend to get lost, andepigrammatic phrases lose force. But.the plays pace, concentrated flowof ideas, its fairly colloquial style, its general informality and humourperhaps emerge.

enjambement - in verse, the carrying on the sense of a line or couplet intothe next.

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Publication and performanceLessing wrote Nathan the l/lhse in 1779. He arranged for it to be publishedand sold on subscription. Editions were then produced and sold by thepublisher Voss.

There were no performances in Lessings lifetime. The rst per-formance was given in Berlin in 1783 by the company run by a well-known actor-manager, Dobbelin, who played the part of Nathan.

It was performed in Lbeck in 1788 and in Hamburg in 1789, andlater established a place in the theatre repertoire.

Nathan the Vlhse was rst translated into Erench in 1783 and intoEnglish by William Taylor of Norwich in 1790 (privately printed, andlater issued for sale in 1805). ,

Title and epigraphLessing called Nathan the Wse a dramatic poem. Voltaire had used thisdescription for his play The Ghebers or Tolerance (Les G/aelrres on la tolerance)in 1769. Despite Lessings criticism of Voltaire there are features ofNathan the Vi/Ese which have something in common with the theme of thisplay and others by Voltaire, Zaire (1732) and Mahos-net (1742).

On the title page appears the epigraph:Introite, nam et heic Dii suntl

APUD GELLIUMEnter, for here too are gods

From the works of GelliusThe reference is to the preface to Nootes Atticae (Attic or AthenianNights) of Aulus Gellius,who lived e.AD 130--175.

References

Aner, K. (1929) The Theology of the Age of Lessing (Die Theotogle tier Lessingzeit),Halle.Garland, H. B. (1962) Lessing The Founder of Modern German Literature, 2nd edn.,London.

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Nathan the WiseA dramatic poem in ve acts

Introite, nam et heic Dii sunt!Apud Gelliurn

by .Gotthold Ephraim Lessing1 779

Dramatis Personae

Sultan SaladinSittah, his sisterNathan, a rich jew in jerusalemRecha, his adopted daughterDaja, a Christian but living in the house of the jew, as Rechas companionAyoung TemplarA DervishThe Patriarch ofJerusalem 'A Lay BrotherAn Emirand Mamelukes of Saladin

The scene is jerusalem at the end of the twelfth century.

[Note. The lines have been numbered to correspond with those of theGerman text. In a few-cases where the English translation is shorter, anadjustment has been made, and this is indicated against the lines inquestion.]

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Gotthold Ephraim LessingNathan the Wise

Act I

Scene 1Nathan and Daja

(Scene: A hall in Nathanis house. Nathan comes in from his journey. Daja meetsAm)DAJA

NATHAN

DA]A

NATHAN

oA3ANATHAN

1:-AJA

NATHAN

WI-

Hes here! Its Nathan! God be praisedThat you have come back home at last.Yes, Daja, God be praised. But why at last?Did I intend to come home any sooner?Could I if Id wished to? BabylonIs from Jerusalem at least two hundred milesAway along the route I wasObliged to take, with detours right and left.Collecting in of debts is not a jobThat makes a journey shorter, not somethingThat is rushed, or quickly set aside.

Oh Nathan,When I think how wretched youd have beenIf you had stayed at home. Your house

Was burnt.Yes, that I have already learned God grantThat they have really told me everything.And it was nearly totally destroyed.Then, Daja, wed have simply built ourselvesAnother and a better one.

Thats true.Yet Recha was so very nearly burntTo death

My Recha, burnt to death? My Recha?I had not heard that. Well then I would notHave needed any house. So she was nearlyBurnt to death! You mean its really true?Shes burnt to death! ]ust tell me now straight out!Admit it! - kill me: torture me no longer. Yes, shes burnt to death!

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Nathan the Wise

DAJA

NATHAN

DAJANATHAN

DAJA

NATHAN

IJAJA

NATHAN

DAJANATHAN

nA]ANATHAN

DAJA

NATHAN

DAJA

NATHANDAJA

If that were soWould .you be hearing it from me?lNhy do you terrify me then? -- O RechaO, my Recha.

Yours? Your Recha?If ever I no longer were allowedTo call this child my own!

Can you call everythingThat you possess with equal right :Your own?

Nothing with greater right. All elseThat I possess has been bestowed on meBy nature or good fortune. This aloneI owe to virtue.d Nathan, what a price _You make me pay for all your kindness.If kindness carried out with such intentCan still deserve that name.

With what intent?With such intent?

My conscienceDaja, first

Of all, just let me tell you what I boughtI cant ignore my conscience

What lovely clothI bought for you in Babylon. So richAnd yet so elegant as well. RechaHerself will scarce have any ner.

No use. For my conscience I must tell you,Ml] not be silenced for much longer now.I wonder how youll like the bracelets, earrings

Its

Necklace and the ring which I selectedjust for you when I was in Damascus.I really long to know.

Thats so like you!Only content if you can give and give!Take gladly, as I give - and say no more!No more! Who questions, Nathan, that theres noneMore honest and more generous than you.And yet!

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22 __ __ Nathan the Wise

NATHAN

tr-AJA

NATHANoA]A

NATHAN

DAJA -

NATHAN1:-AJA

NATHAN

oA]A

NATHAN

And yet Imjust ajew Is thatIhfhat you want to say!

You know much betterWhat I want to say.

Well then be quiet!Very well.

I/Vl1at happens here, thats unacceptableTo God I can neither alter nor prevent. 60So be it on your head!

Yes, be it on my head!But where is she then? just tell me! Daja,Are you deceiving me? Does she not knowThat I have come back home?

How can you ask?Still terror shakes her, every nerve in her, 65In her fantasy she still imagines reIn all she sees. Her minds awake when shes asleep,And sleeps when shes awake now lowerThan the beasts, now higher than the angels.Poor child! Thats only human.

This morning 70She lay so long with tight shut eyes and wasAs dead. Then started up and cried out listen!My fathers camels are arriving home!Listen, I hear his gentle voice! And thenHer eyes grew dim and then her head, which now 75Was not supported by her arm, fell backOnto the pillow. I went to the gate!And saw you there. You really had come home.Can you wonder at it? Her entire soulWas all this time with you and him -

Him? 80I/Vho is he?

The man who rescued herFrom the re.

Who was he? Who? I/Vhere is he?Who saved my Recha for me, who was it?

" Matthew 27:25. Then answered all the people and said. His blood be on usand on our children.

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Nathan the Wise

DAJA

NATHAN

DAJA

NATHAN

DAJANATHANDAJA

NATHANDAJA

NATHANoA]A

Ayoung Knight Templar who, not many daysAgo was brought here as a captive, thenWas pardoned by the Sultan Saladin.What? Saladin has spared a Templar s life?A Templars le?. Only such a miracleCould save my Recha? Oh God!

WithoutThis man who boldly risked his life againVilhich he had just regained, she would have died.lhlhere is he, Daja, wheres this noble man?I/Vhere is he? Let me go and kneel to him.I hope you gave him rst of all, those treasuresWhich I left you? Gave him everything?And promised more, much more?

How could we?You did not?

He came, no one knows from where,He went, and no one knows where to withoutA knowledge of the house, and guided justBy what he heard, he rushed with cloak outspreadBoldly through ame and smoke to reach the voiceOf someone crying Help! By then we thoughtHe must be lost But from the smoke and ameHe suddenly appeared. In his strong armsHe held her safe. Coldly and quite unmovedBy all our praise and thanks, he set her down,Forced his way through the crowd who waited there -And disappeared.

Not for ever, I should hope.Afterwards for several days we sawHim walking up and down beneath the palmsWhich shade the Holy Sepulchre.I went up to him with rapture, thanked him.Praised him, implored, besought him just once moreTo see the gentle pious girl whoCannot now nd rest, until shes thanked himWith many tears, kneeling at his feet.And then?

In vain! Deaf to our requestHe poured such bitter scorn on me especially

The grave of the resurrected Christ.

24 Nathan the Wise

NATHANDAJA

NATHAN

DAJA

NATHANDA]:-1

NATHAN

That you were frightened oft?. Quite the contrary!Every day I went to him againAnd every day again he taunted me.How much I bore from him! Much more I wouldHave gladly borne! But for a long time nowHe has not come to walk beneath the palmsWhich cast their shade upon the Holy Sepulchre.And no one knows where he has gone.Youre amazed? and thoughtful?

I was thinkingWhat impression on a mind like RechasThis must surely have. To nd herselfDisdained by one whom she feels bound toEsteem; to be rejected and yet soAttracted by him. Truly heart and head lMust long have argued whether bitternessOr sorrow now should dominate.Often neither wins; and fantasyWhich joins the conict too, makes dreamers.Sometimes their head may rule their heart, sometimesAgain their heart may rule their head - a choiceOf evils! If I know her well, this mustBe Rechas case: she dreams.

But so devout.So lovable!

A dreamer none the less!She has one dream a fancy, if you like,Most dear to her. Its that her Templar isNo mortal man, no son of mortal man,But one of the angels, whom her young heartFrom childhood onwards loved to think of asHer own protector. Stepping from the cloudWhich veiled him, hovering round her even inThe re, he suddenly appeared in TemplarsForm dont smile at her! Who knows? or ifYou smile, let her at least emjoy a dreamWhere Christian, jew and Muslim can uniteAs one a dream that is so sweet!

SweetTo me as well! go, honest Daja, goSee what shes doing whether I can speakTo her. And then Ill nd this wild capriciousGuardian angel. If it pleases him

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26 N-when the We Nathan the Wise

REGHA

NATHAN

RECHA

NATHAN

RECHA

NATHAN

RECHANATHAN

DA]:-K (TOrvaraaxs

NATI-LAN

Visibly, visiblyHe bore me through the re, protected byHis wings. And so I saw an angel, andI saw him face to face; He was my ownAngel.

Worthy of my Recha. AndTheres nothing fairer she would see in himThan he in her.(smiling)

_ VVhom do you flatter, father,The angel, or yourself?

Yet if he wereA huinan such as nature shows us every day,Who rendered you this service, he would seemTo you an angel. He must and so he would.Not that kind of angel, no! A real one:He was, Im sure, a real one! Havent youTaught me yourself that angels really couldExist, and miracles are worked by GodTo benet all those who love him truly?I do love him.

Yes, and he loves youAnd hourly he works miracles for youAnd those like you. So has he done for allEternity.

That makes me happy.Why?

It might sound natural and commonplaceIf he who saved you were a real TemplarKnight; but surely that would be no less aMiraclel The greatest miraclels that those miracles which are both real and trueCan and do become so commonplace to us.Without this universal miracle - "No thinking person would call miraclesThose things which only seem so to a child,Who stares at and pursues the strangest things,Struck only by their novelty.

Are youIntending to destroy" her mind, alreadySo inamed, with all this subtlety?Patience! For my Recha isnt it aMiracle enough that she was rescued

27

RECHA

NATHAN

DAJA

NATHAN

By a human being who himself was earlierSaved by no small miracle. IndeedA miracle! Vilhoever heard of anyTemplar Knight reprieved by Saladin?Or any Templar who has asked or hopedThat he would spare him? Or who offered moreTo him for freedom than the leather beltWhich holds his sword, or at most his dagger?Father that proves my point, that he was notA Templar Knight. He merely looked like one -No Templar who was captured ever comesInto jerusalem except to certain death;No Templar walks so freely in jerusalemzHow could any Templar have been freeTo save me in the dark?

T/Vhy, thats well argued,Now, Daja, tell us. For it was from youThat I have heard that he was sent here asA prisoner. Im sure you must know more.

Well yes thats what they say - but theyAlso say that Saladin has pardonedHim because he looks so like one ofHis brothers, one whom he loved dearly.But as its more than twenty years ago nowSince this brother was alive and I dontKnow his name - and dont know where he died,It all just sounds so so incredible,I dare say that theres nothing in it.Daja, Vilhy should such a thing be soIncredible? Surely not becauseYouve chosen to believe in something moreIncredible, as others do? SaladinLoves all his family. He might indeedHave loved one of his brothers in particularWhen he was young. And youll agree its trueTwo faces often look alike - areImpressions lost because theyre old? And doesntThe same cause produce the same effect?It must. That is incredible in this?But I suppose, wise Daja, that youd not

230

235

240

245

250

255

260

265

ll The belt in fact was of linen not leather, but if a Templar gave up his belt, herenounced his adherence to the order.

28 Nathan the Wise

DAJANATHAN

RECHA

NATHAN

nay.

Na'ruAN

Consider that a miracle -- your miraclesNeed faith or rather, should I say, deserve it.You're mocking me.

Because you're mocking me.But even so, Recha, youre rescue was 270A miracle, achieved by him who guides,With slenderest of threads, the rm resolves,The boldest plans of kings, as if it wereHis sport, if not his mockery.

' FatherlIf Im wrong, you know Im wrong against 275My will.

I know youre eager to be taught.Look! A forehead with a certain arch,A nose whose bridge is shaped in one way ratherThan another, eyebrows curving inA particular way along a broad or narrow 280Ridge of bone a line, a mark, a curveA fold, an angle, insignicant detailsOn a wild Europeans face -And you escape the burning re in Asia.If youre hungering for miracles, 285That is a miracle. Why conjure upAn angel too?

But Nathan, if youll let me speak,Whats the harm in thinking youve been rescuedBy an angel rather than a humanBeing? Cant it make you feel much closer 290To the mysterious rst cause of your rescue?Pride! Nothing but pride! The iron potWants to be lifted from the re with silverTongs, in order to imagine its a potOf silver. Ha! What folly! \Vheres the harm 295In that, you ask me, Wl1eres the harm in it?Whats the use of it, I might reply.For your Feeling so much nearer to GodIs either nonsense or else blasphemy.And there is harm in it, there really is. 300Now listen. Is it true that both of you,But Recha above all, want to repayYour rescuer, whether hes an angel orA human being, by doing some great service?You do? Well, to an angel, what service, 305What great service could you hope to give?

Nathan the Wise 29

DAJA

RECI-IANATHAN

napsNATI-LAN

RECHADAJARECHA

NATHAN

arenasagaNATHAN

RECHA

You might give thanks, and sigh and pray to him;You might dissolve in tears of ecstasy;You might celebrate his festivals 'By fasting, or give alms - but all that's nothing. 310It strikes me that your dear ones and yourselvesGain far more by all this than he. He wontGet fat from all your fasting, or get richFrom your donations; he wont gain in splendourFrom your ecstasy, he wont be mightier 315By your faith. But if he were a man!Yes, if he were a man there would' be greaterOpportunity to do something.And God knows, we were eager to serve him.But he wanted nothing, needed nothing 320From us; in himself, and with himselfHe was content, as angels are, and onlyAngels can be. _

Vilhen at last he vanishedVanished? - Really vanished? You no longerSaw him walk beneath the palms? But have 325You really made a thorough search for him?Well, no, we havent.

Hows that possible?VtThats the harm, you say you cruel dreamers! -Suppose this angel now had fallen ill?Ill?

Ill! Hes surely not!A cold chill makes 330

Me shudder. Daja! feel my face. It wasSo warm and now its just like ice.

HesA Frank,22 whos unaccustomed to our climate.Hes young, not hardened to the rigours ofHis order, to the hunger, sleeplessness. 535Ill!

Nathan only means he might be.Lying there, with neither friends nor goldTo buy himself some friends.

Oh father, no!

22 Since the first Crusade (1996-99), which started in France, Frank was used inthe Middle East to denote all European Christians.

30 Nathan the Woe

NATHAN

RECHA

NATHAN

DAJANATHAN

DAJANATHAN

DAJANATHAN

DAJA

NATI-IAN

REC}-LA

NATHAN

RECI-IA

NATHAN

DAJANATHAN

He lies bereft of nursing, sympathy,Or help, a prey to suffering and death! 340Where? Vifhere?

For someone he had never knownOr seen - simply for a human being,He rushed into the re

Nathan, spare her!He did not want to know the one hed saved,Nor see her any more, he only wanted 345To avoid her thanks

Spare her, Nathan!He Had no wish to see her any more unlessHe had to rescue her a second timeEnough, it was a human being

Stop!His only consolation as he dies 350Is his awareness of this deed!

_ Stop!Youre killing her!

And you have killed him! orYou could have done so. - Recha, Recha, I amOffering you medicine not poison.Hes alive calm down! - hes probably not ill; 355Not even ill.

Really? Not dead? Not ill?Really, Hes not dead! For God rewards usIn this world for doing good. Now,See, how rapturous dreaming is much easierThan doing good. The weakest people like 360To indulge in pious rapture - even thoughTheyre often unaware of why they do it -Simply to avoid the work of doing _Good.

Father, dont ever leave your RechaOn her own again You think perhaps 365Hes only gone away?

Yes, yes, Of course -Butl can see a Muslim with enquiringEyes examining my laden camels.Do you know who he is?

Ah! your dervish.Who?

Nathan the Wise BI

DAJANATHANDAJA

NATHAN

Scene 3

Your dervish. Your old chess companion.Al-Ha? Thats Al-Ha?

Hes becomeThe Sultan s Treasurer.

Is this a dreamAgain? It is Al-Ha, coming here!Quick, go in. What has he got to say?

Nathan and the DervishDERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISI-I

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHAN

Open your eyes, as wide as they can go!Is it you? Or isnt it? In such ne clothes,A dervish!

Well? Thy not then? Do you thinkA dervish cant make something of. himself?Well, yes, of course, But I was thinking thatA dervish thats a real dervish - choosesTo make nothing of himself.

By the ProphetfaIt may well be that I am no real dervish,But if one must

Must! Dervish! A dervish must?No-one must must? and a dervish must.What must he then?

What he is rightly asked to doAnd knows is good - thats what a dervish must.By our God! You speak the truth - Let meEmbrace you, man I hope youre still my friend?And you don't ask rst what I have become?In spite of that!

But what if Id becomeA state ofcial in ne robes, one whoseFriendship could be awkward?

If your heartIs still a dervishs, Ill take the risk.The state ofcia1s robes are just your dress.

370

375

380

385

390

H i.e. by Mohammed! equivalent of by God!

H Kein Mensch muss miissen in the German text.

32 Nathan the Wise

DERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHANDERVISH

NATHAN 'DERVISH

NATHANDERVISH

NATHANDERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHANDERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

NAIFHAN

But even that commands respect. What do 395You think? What would I be at your court?

justA dervish nothing more. Though now I comeTo think about it, probably the cook.

' Oh yes? _Id soon forget my skill in your house. Cook!Why not the butler? See how SaladinAppreciates me better Ive becomeHis treasurer.

You? For him?.. Of

The lesser treasury his father managesThe greater. I control the household treasury.His house is great. .

And greater than you think; 405For every beggar is a part of it.But Saladins the enemy of beggars Hes intenton getting rid of them,Root and branch - even if he then himselfBecomes a beggar.

Bravo! Thats my view. 410Hes very near to being one by now.Each day by dusk his treasury becomesMuch emptier than empty.-For the tideWhich ows in high each morning by middayHas owed away -

d For channels drain away 415A part of it, and theres no way to llOr seal them up again.

Exactly.Understood. -

Of course its bad enoughIf princes are like vultures among carrion.But if theyre carrion among vultures 420That is ten times worse.

Oh" no, dervish!Not so!

Its no use wasting words. So let us seeThat would you offer me if I give upMy post to you? _

What do you earn?

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Nathan the Wee 33

DERVISI-I

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHANDERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATI-LAN

DERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

Me?Not much. But you could make a handsome prot.Vtihen the treasures at its lowest ebb You open up your oodgates - make advances,And claim any rate of interest.And interest on the interest too?

Of course.Until my capital is nothing moreThan interest.

It doesnt tempt you? ThenYou'd better write a farewell letter toOur friendship. I was really counting on you.Really? How?

I thought that you might help meCarry out my ofce with some honour.That I could use you as a source of funds You shake your head?

Lets understand each other.A distinction must be made. For you, Al-Ha,Why not? Im always ready to do anythingTo help my friend the dervish. ButAl-Ha, treasurer to Saladin,To such a man

I thought as much. Youre stillAs good as you are shrewd, and as shrewdAs you are wise! Be patient. Soon the twoAl-Has you distinguish will be separateAgain. Look at this robe from SaladinBefore its worn out, and reduced to rags,I/Vhich are the proper clothing of a dervish,Ill hang it on a peg here in jerusalem,And go off to the Ganges where, with lightAnd naked feet, Ill tread the hot sands withMy teachers.

Just like you!And I'll play chess

Iwifith them.Your highest bliss!

VVhat tempted me -The prospect that my begging days were over?

425

430

435

440

445

450

25 The holy river of the Hindus.

34 Nathan the Wise

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHAN

DERVISH

A chance to play the rich man to the beggars? 455The ability to transform in a ash -The richest beggar to a poor rich man?Not that, Im sure.

No, even more banal;The new experience of being flattered;Flattered by the Sultans generous caprice. 460Which was?

Only a beggar knows how beggarsFeel; only a beggar knows, from hisExperience, just how to give to beggars.Your predecessor was too cold, he said,Too harsh. He was so grudging when he gave: 465I-Ie asked so many awkward questions rstAbout the recipient. Although he knewThere was a need, he wasnt satisedUnless he knew the cause of need. And soThe gift was meanly balanced with the cause. 470Al-Ha wont do that. And SaladinVilith Ha"s help wont seem so niggardly.Al-Ha wont be like those blocked-up water pipesVlfhich spew out frothing and uncleanThe water which came in so clear and still. 475Al-Ha thinks, Al-Ha feels as I do!So sweetly trilled the fowlers pipe untilThe bird was in the net! - Oh what a foolI am! A fool of fools!

Gently, my dervish.Gently!

A Isnt it plain folly, when 480A hundred thousand people are oppressed,Impoverished, despoiled, tortured, slaughtered,To play philanthropist to individuals?Isnt it foolishness to simulateThe Almightys mercy, which he casts impartially 485On good and bad, on eld and desert, bothIn sunshine and in rain to simulate it,But without the hand of the AlmightyWhich is always full. Don-t tell me thatsNot folly.

Thats enough, Al-Ha!~ And 490

My folly. just consider that! lsnt

Nathan the ltlise 35

NATHAN

DERVISH

NATHAN

Scene 4

In this foolishness, and just becauseOf one good element, to take a partIn all this foolishness myself? Well?Isnt that the truth?

Al-I-Ia - you mustGo back to your desert. If you stayAmong the human race you might forgetTo be a human.

Thats what I fear.Farewell. ,

But why are you in such a hurry? 500Wait, Al-Ha! Will your desert runAway? If hed just listen! Hey, AlHa, stop! Hes gone; I really should have liked to askHim all about our Templar. I imagineHe must know him.

Daja and NathanDAJA

NATI-LQN

DAJA

NATHANDAJANATHAN

DAJA

NATHANDAJA

(hurrying in)Nathan, Nathan!

Well?VVhat is it now?He has appeared again! He hasAppeared again!

Who, Daja? I-Who?He! He!

He? He? - When hasnt He appearedlg -- Ah yes,For you, theres just one He. - He shouldnt be!Not even if he were an angel!Hes strolling up and down under thePalms; and he picks dates from time to time.And eats them too? - as if he were a Templar?Why tease me? - Rechas eager eyes caught sightOf him between the dense rows of the palmsAnd followed him intently now she asks you -Pleads with you -- to go and see him right away. 'Hurry! Shell signal from the windowIf hes coming up this way or turningBack. Please hurry!

495

510

5

EIt folly to detect a trace of goodness For Nathan He means God.

36 Nathan the W538

NATHAN just as Ive dismounted 520From my camel? - Would that be proper? You goQuickly to him; tell him Ive returned.It was only in my absence thatThe gentleman would not come to my house.I-Iell gladly come when Rechas father sends 525An invitation. Go, and say that IRequest him, cordially

DAJA No use! He wontCome to you in short; he wont come to ajew.

NATHAN Well go in any case; at least detain him;Qr failing that, just use your eyes to follow 530Him. Now go, and Ill come after you.

(Nathan goes quickly indoors and Daja goes out)

Soeru-25 -Templar and Lay Brother

Scene: An open space with paint trees, under which the Templar is walkingup and down.

A Lay Brother is fotiowing him at some distance at the side tooking as Q hewants to speak to him.TEMPLAR He cant be following me for nothing! '

See how he keeps glancing at his hands!Good brother Or should I call you Father?

LAY BROTHER just brother, -- a lay brother, at your service. 535TEMPLAR Yes, good brother, if Id anything

To give you. But God knows that I have nothing -LAY BROTHER Even so, my warmest thanks. God give you

Thousandfold what you would like to give.For it is the will and not the gift that makes 540The giver. And it wasn't for almsThat I was sent to nd you, sir.

TEMPLAR But youWere sent to nd me?

LAY BROTHER Yes, sir, from the monastery.

2? The Templar thinks that this suggests that the Lay Brother wants to ask foralms.EB Monks were addressed as pater (Father).

Nathan the Wise 3 7

TEMPLAR Where I was hoping now to nd a modestPilgrims meal?

LAY BROTHER ' The tables were already 545Full; but come back with me now, sir.

TEMPLAR Why?I havent eaten meat for some time now.Theres no need anyway. The dates are ripe.

LAY BROTHER Take care, sir, when you eat this sort of fruit.It doesnt do to eat too much, it blocks 550The spleen, and makes for melancholy blood.

TEMPLAR And what if Im inclined to melancholy?But it wasnt just to warn me about thisThat you were sent to me?

LAY BROTHER Oh no! Imjust supposed to nd out more about you, 555Sound you out.

TEMPLAR You tell me that yourself?LAY BROTHER Why not?TEMPLAR (A cunning brother, this) - And has

The monastery more like you?LAY BROTHER Dont l(DOW.

I must obey, good sir.TEMPLAR And so you just _

Obey and dont ask many questions then? 560LAY BROTHER Sir, would I be obedient otherwise?TEMPLAR (That shows simplicity is always in

The right!) Are you allowed to tell me whoIt is who wants to know me better? I wouldSwear its not yourself.

LAY BROTHER " Would it be tting 565Or of use for me?

TEMPLAR So who thinks it. Fitting and of use to be so curious?

LAY BROTHER The Patriarch, I think. He sent me hereTo look for you.

TEMPLAR The Patriarch? SurelyHe knows the Templars white cloak with the red cross 570Better than that!

LAY BROTHER I do!TEMPLAR Well then, brother

I am a Templar and a prisoner

38 Nathan the Wne

Ill add that I was captured at the fortOf Tebninfg which we should have liked to takeBefore the ending of the armistice, 575And then advance on Sidonfn furthermoreOf twenty of us captured I aloneWas spared by Saladin; and that is allThe Patriarch should need to know, in factMore than he needs. -

LAY BROTHER Though hardly more than he 580Already knows. Hed also like to knowWhy Saladin has pardoned you, and youAlone, sir.

Do I know myself? AlreadyI was kneeling on my cloak, my neck bare,Waiting for the blow, when Saladin 585Looked closely at me, stepped near, gave a sign.Then I was helped up; I was unbound; and II/shed to thank him. There were tears inHis eyes. He was silent, so was I.And then he left. I stayed; What all this means 590The Patriarch can puzzle out.

TEMPLAR

LAY BROTHER He thinksThat God has destined you to undertakeThe greatest deeds.

TEMPLAR The greatest deeds! LikeRescuing ajewish girl from death by re!Acting as a guide on pilgrimage 595To Sinai?! more like that.

LAY BROTHER There willBe greater things. So far youve not done badly,The Patriarch himself already hasFar more important business for you, sir.

TEMPLAR Really? Do you think so, brother? Has he 600Told you something?

29 A fortress near Acre, taken from the Crusaders in 1187.'4

m Sidon, on the Mediterranean coast belonged to the Crusaders since 1111, butwas captured by Saladin in 1187.

51 Sinai was said to be the mountain where Moses received the Ten Command-ments. Christian pilgrims were allowed to go there.

Nathan the Wise 39

LAY BROTHER Yes, he has,Im told to sound you out, sir, and to seeIf youre the man he wants,

TEMPLAR Well, sound me out!(lll see what form this sounding takes) - Well?

LAY BROTHER The quickest way will be to tell you, sir 605Exactly what the Patriarchs wishes are.

TEMPLAR What are they?LAY BROTHER He would like you to deliver

A short letter for him, sir.TEMPLAR Me? Im

Not a messenger - ls this the gloriousDeed, more glorious than rescuing 610Ajewish girl from re?

LAY BROTHER It must be. For- The contents of this letter, says the Patriarch,

Are vital to the whole of Christendom.The safe delivery of this letter saysThe Patriarch - will be rewarded by 515Our Father with a special crown in Heaven.No-one says the Patriarch - is worthierTo wear this crown than you, sir.

TEMPLAR I?LAY BROTHER There s hardly anybody - says the Patriarch -

I/Vhos better qualied to earn {-320This crown than you, good sir.

TEMPLAR . Than I?LAY BROTHER You re free

Here; you can look around you everywhere;You understand how to attack or toDefend a town; youre well placed - says the Patriarch To assess the strength and weakness of 525The inner second wall which SaladinHas just had built. You could describe it toThe warriors of God in detail, saysThe Patriarch.

TE-MPLAR Good brother, could you tell meMore about the contents of this letter? 530

LAY BROTHER Well, I don t know very much about itBut it is a letter to King Philip.

5!th Philippe II (1165-1223), King of France, who had returned to France aftere capture of Acre.

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40 Nathan the Wise

The Patriarch ;.. Ive often asked myselfHow such a holy man, who dedicatesHis life to Heaven, at the same time can 635Demean himself to be so well informedOf worldly things. It must be hard for him!

TEMPLAR Well then? The Patriarch? LAY BROTHER He has precise

And certain knowledge, how and where, and inWhat strength, and from which quarter, Saladin 640Will open his campaign, if war breaks outAgain.

TEMPLAR 1 He knows that?LAY BROTHER Yes-, and he would like

To let King Philip know about it too; '" To enable him to calculate

How serious a danger there might be, 645And judge if it is better to renew,At any cost, the truce with SaladinWhich your courageous Order brokeS0 recently.

TEMPLAR Some Patriarch! -I see;The dear brave man is asking me to be _ 650Not just a messenger; he wants a spy! -Good brother, kindly tell your Patriarch,As far as you can sound me out, I amThe wrong man for this job. I am obligedTo look upon myself as prisoner. 655The single duty of the Templar isTo wield his sword with valour on the battleeld,Not espionage!

LAY BROTHER ]ust as I thought! -And I cant blame you much for that, sir.Yet the best is still to come, - The Patriarch 660Has got to know the name, and the location,Of the fortress in the Lebanon,I/Vhere those enormous sums are stored, whichSa.ladins farsighted father uses ITo nance the army and-equipment 665For the war. Now, Saladin from timeTo time visits this fortress, travellingAlong deserted roads with little escort Youre with me?

as The German text refers to Mount Lebanon.

Nathan the Wise 41

TEMPLAR Never that!LAY BROTHER What could be

Simpler? All you have to do is capture 670Saladin, And make an end of him.You shudder? But already there are two

- Godfearing Maronites who have preparedTo risk the deed; they only need a trustyMan to lead them there.

TEMPLAR And so the Patriarch 675Has chosen me to be this trusty man?

LAY BROTHER He thinks likely, from a base in AcreKing Philip would be better able toAssist our cause. '

TEMPLAR You ask me this? Me?Did you not hear me, brother, when I told 680You what a debt of gratitude I oweTo Saladin?

LAY BROTHER - Indeed I heard.TEMPLAR And yet?LAY BROTHER The Patriarch says, Thats all very well:

But God and the Order

TEMPLAR They change nothing! TheyCant order me to villainyi

LAY BROTHER N0. 685But - says the Patriarch whats VillainyTo human eyes may not be villainy to God.

TEMPLAR I owe my life to Saladin. And nowI should take his?

LAY BROTHER But, says the Patriarch,Saladin is still an enemy 690Of Christianity who cannot everEarn the right to be your friend.

TEMPLAR My friend?Because I cannot be a villain to him?An ungrateful villain?

H Maronites were members of the Syrian Christian Church, since 1181associated with the Roman Church.

H Acre was conquered by Saladin in 1187, and besieged for three years by theCrusaders.

42 Nathan the Wise

LAY BROTHER Why of course! -But - says the Patriarch we owe no thanks, 695In sight of God or humankind, if whatWas done to us was not done for our sake.There is a rumour says the Patriarch -That Saladin has only pardoned youBecause he nds a trace of something in 700Your looks and bearing not unlike his brother

TEMPLAR And the Patriarch knows this as well?And what.if it were true? Ah Saladin!If nature made one feature in me, whichSuggested a resemblance to your brother, 705Could nothing in my soul then echo it?And how could I suppress that echo justTo be obliging to a Patriarch? Nature, you do not lie! And in His worksGod does not contradict himself. Go, brother, 710

' Dont provoke my anger! G01 Go!LAY BROTHER Ill go, and I1l go happier than I came.

But do forgive me, sir. We in the cloisterAre bound to obey the orders of our masters.

Seene6The Tesnplar and Daja, who has been watching the Temptarmn a distancefor awhile, and new comes up to him.DAJA It seems to me the Brother did not leave 715

Him in the best of moods. And yet I haveTo risk my message now.

Oh wonderful!The proverb tells the truth, that monk and womanAre the two claws of the devil! AndToday Im hurled from one claw to the other. 720

oaga Is it? Noble knight, its you? Thank God,A thousand thanks to God. But where have youBeen hiding all this time? I trust youve notBeen ill?

TEMPLAR NO.

TEMPLAR

Nathan the Wise 43

DAJATEMPLARDAJA

TEMPLARDAJA

TEMPLARDAJA

TEMPLAR

DAJA

TEMPLARDAJATEMPLAR

DA]A

And just returned today?Yesterday.

Rechas father came back home today.So now may Recha have some hope?

Of what?Of the request she often sends to you.Her father will invite you soon himselfMost pressingly. I-Ies come from BabylonWith twenty fully laden camels, bearingEvery costly thing you could imagine:Noble spices, precious stones and cloth,From India and Persia, SyriaAnd even China.

Im not buying anything.He is honoured by his people asA prince. And yet Ive often wondered whyThey call him ltllise Nathan and not NathanThe Rich.

Perhaps to people of his raceWise and rich mean just the same.

But aboveAll, he should be called The Good by them.You cant conceive at all how good he is.When he found out what Recha owed to youThere was nothing at that moment he wouldNot have done for you, or given you!

Oh!just come and see yourself.

See what? How quicklySuch a moment vanishes?

If heWere not so good, would I have been preparedTo stay so long with him? Do you think I haveNo feeling for my own worth as a Christian?No song at my cradle prophesiedThat I'd accompany my husband here

730

735

740

745

750

DAJATEMPLARnaja

TEMPLARnaps.TEMPLAR

So youre in good health?Yes.

We really were quite seriously concerned 725About you.

Oh!You must have gone away? ,

Correct.

To Palestine with no more purpose than 755To educate ajewish girl. You see,My husband served as horse soldierIn Emperor Fredericks35 army -

55 Emperor Frederick I (1121-90) (Frederick Barbarossa) drowned in the riverSaleph in Armenia in 1190.

44 Nathan the Wise

TEMPLAR

DAjATEMPLAR

DAjATEMPLAR

DAJATEMPLARDAJA

TEMPLARDAJA

TEMPLAR

DAJA

Yes, a SwissBy birth, who was vouchsafed the honour andThe privilege of drowning in a riverVtlith his Imperial Majesty Yes, woman!How often have you told me this before?How much longer will you persecute me?

760

Persecute? Dear God!Yes, persecute.

I refuse to see or hear you anyMore. I will not be reminded constantlyOf something which I did without a thoughtAnd which remains a mystely to meWhen I think about it. Not that IAm anxious to regret it. But you see,Should such a thing occur again, youd beTo blame, if I were not so quick to act,If I asked questions rst, and left to burnWhatever was in the ames.

765

770

God save us!From

775Now on, do me the favour of ignoringMe. Thats all I ask. And get the fatherOff my back. A]ews ajew. And I'mA blunt young Swabian. The image ofThe girl has long since left my mind, if everIt was there.

But yours still lives in hers. 780What good can come of it? What good?

I was knows?People are not always what they seem.But seldom any better. (He walks away)

Wait! Why doYou rush away?

Woman, dont make me hateThese palm trees, in whose shade Ive often walked. 785Go away, you German bear, just go But I must not lose track of this wild beast.(She follows him at a distance)

5? Swabia is in south-west Germany.

Nathan the Wise 45

ActH

Scene 1Saladin and Sittah

(Scene: The Sattanis Palace. Saladin and Stttah are playing chess)SITTAI-I Saladin, wake up! Whats happened to your game?

SALADIN No good? I thought it was.SITTAH Not even for me.

Take that move back again.sataom But why?SITTAH Your knight 790

Is unprotected.SALADIN Oh True. There then!SITTAI-I Now I can

Play a fork.3B

SALADIN Tl1ats true again, so check!SITTAII What good is that? I now move out; and you

Are as you were.SALADIN I see Im in a trap

I cant escape without some sacrice.Oh well! just take the knight.

SITTAH I dont want himI shall go past.

795

SALADIN That gives me nothing. ForYour strategy involves more than my knight.

SITTAII Maybe.SALADIN Dont start counting chickens before

Theyre hatched. There now! How's that? Thats not what you 800Expected?

SITTAH No of course. How could I haveExpected that youd grown so tired ofYour queen?

SALADIN Tired of my queen, you say?

is A move in which one chess piece threatens two opposing ones.

"3 A threat to take the King.

46 Nathan the Wise __ Nathan the Wise

SITTAH

SALADIN

SITTAH

SALADIN

STITAH

SALADIN

SITTAH

SALADIN

SITTAH

SALADIN

SITTAH

SALADIN

SITTAH

SALADIN

I see. Today Ill only win my thousandDinarsfw Not a single Nasarin more.How so? '

How can you ask? Because youre tryingTo lose, with all your might. But my accountDoes not gain anything. Besides the factThat theres no pleasure in a game like this,Have I not always won more from you whenI lost? When I have lost a game, you alwaysHave consoled me afterwards by payingDouble what you really owe me.I see: So now lve beaten you its you whosLost the game on purpose, little sister?At least, dear little brother, it may beThat we should blame your generosityIf Ive not learned to play chess any better.But we neglect our game. Lets nish it.As you were? Check! And double check!I admit I never noticed thisDiscovered check, which also takes awayMy queen. -

Could you have stopped it happening?Lets see.

No, no; just take the queen away.I wasnt really happy with this piece.just with that piece? .

Away with it! It doesntMatter. Every piece is covered onceAgain.

My brother has instructed meToo well how courteously one must behaveTo queens. (She leaves the piece)

Then take it or dont take it! ItsThe only one I have.

sso i

In A Dinar was an Arabian gold coin. { H

it A Nasarin was a small silver coin.

SITTAI-I

SALADIN

SITTAH

SALADIN

SITTAH

SALADIN

SITTAI-I

SALADIN

SITTAI-I

SALADIN

No need to take it.Check! Check!

Go on then.Check! and check! and check!

Checkmate!Not quite; your knight can move between

Them; or whatever else you like. It won'tMake any difference.

Quite right, Youive won:Al-Ha pays. Let him be called! At once!Sittah, you werent far wrong; I wasn't concentratingOn the game: I was preoccupied.And who keeps giving us this set of facelessPieces? One cant memorize them, they areCharacterless. Have I been playing againstThe Imam? But a loss must seek excuses.I admit the shapeless pieces didnt _Make me lose; it was your skill, the greaterCalm and sharpness of your judgement

NowYou want to blunt the sting of your defeat.Its just that you were more preoccupiedThan even I was.

What preoccupied your mind?Not your preoccupation! Saladin,Vlrhen shall we have a serious game again?Well play it yet morekeenly when we do!You mean because the war restarts? Let it!I was not the rst to take up arms;I wish we could extend the truce again.And at the same time Id have liked so muchTo give my Sittah a good husbandThis must be Richard's brother;4E' after allHe is Richardir brother.

*3 The Koran forbids the use of images, so that strict Muslims would play withmarked stones.

The Imam, as the leader in a mosque, would be strict on this point.

_ *" Richardl (1157-99) (Coeur de Lion).42 Saladin had allowed Queen Sybille to visit her captured husband, Guy de E _ _Lugignan King []fJgfu5a]|g[[1_ PI.'lI1CEJOhI1, later Klgjh

II!

!l

llit

i

.

43 Nathan the Wise

SITTAH How you love to praiseYour Richard!

SALADIN And if Richards sisterHad become our brother Meleks*I wife, 860Then what a dynasty that would have made!The rst and best of all the world's great dynastiesYou hear, Im quite prepared to praise myselfAs well; I think Im worthy of my friends,What men and women would have sprung from that! 865

SITTAH Have I not also smiled at this fair dream?You cannot, will not, understand the Christians.Th_eir pride is: to be Christian, but not human.Even that mixture of humanityAnd superstition, which their founder gave to them, 870They love not for its human values,But because Christ teaches it, Christ did it.Its well for them he was so good a humanBeing. And its well for them that theyCan take his virtue in good faith. And yet 875What virtue? Not his virtue; its his nameThat must be spread throughout the world, that mustDishonour and devour the names of allGood people. For the name, the name alone,Is everything to them.

SALADIN You mean to say, 880Why else would they demand of you and MelekThat each of you should bear the name of ChristiansIf you want to love a Christian as a spouse?

SITTAH Yes. As if that love, which our CreatorGranted every man and woman, could 885Be expected only of a Christian?

SALADIN Christians believe in such absurditiesThat they could easily believe in that.But all the same, youre wrong. The Templars, notThe Christians are to blame; They are to blame 890As Templars, not as Christians, ]ust becauseOf them, the whole plan fails. They want Acre,Which Richards sister was to bring as dowryTo our brother Melek, and they will not

II In 1192 Richard I agreed on a threoyear armistice with Saladin. The marriageplan was to consolidate this.

is A condition was that Melek should convert to Christianity.

Nathan the Wise

Let it go. In order not to loseThe advantage of the knight, they play the monk,The foolish monk. And they could hardly waitUntil the ending of the armisticeTo try their luck with a surprise attack.How splendid! Carry on dear gentlemen,just carry on! It's all the same to me.If only other things went as they ought.

SITTAH Oh?What else has disconcerted you? VVhat elseHas put you out of humour so?

SALADIN The sameThat always put me out of humour inThe past. I was in Lebanon with father.He is overwhelmed with problems.

SITTAH ' Oh dear!SALADIN I-Ie cannot cope; hes hemmed in everywhere,

He lacks so much.SITTAH Hemmed in? What does he lack?SALADIN What I cannot bring myself to name,

Which, when I have it, seems superuous,And if I don't, seems indispensable.Where is AlHa then? Has no one goneTo nd him? Wretched and accursed money!Ha! Good! Im glad youre here.

Scene 2The dervish Al-Ha, Saladin and SittahM-"HAITI _ The money

Has arrived from Egypt, I suppose.I hope theres plenty of it.

SAL?-DIN Have you news?AL-HAFI Ip

I havent. I was thinking Id receiveSome news from you.

SALADIN i p Pay Sittah a thousandDinars. (Wathzng up and dawn thinking)

ALFI-IAFI Pay instead of being paid!just ne! thats something even less than nothing.To Sittah? once again to Sittah? AndYouve lost? You have lost at chess again? Is thisThe game here still?

50 Nathan the Wise - Nathan the Wise 51

srrran At least you Inustadmit _ SALADIN (to Sittah)My luck.

AL-HAFI (looking at the game)Admit what? But surely you know ..

SITTAH (signals to him)Sh! Ha! Sh!

AL-HAFI (still looking at the game)Youre too quick off the mark! _' 1""'kL'HAFl

srrran A1-Ha! Sh!AL-ILAFI (to Sittah)

And you called check?SITTAH He hasnt heard, thank God.AL-HAFI " Now its his move?SITTAH (going np to him)

Just say to SaladinThat I can have my money.

AL-HAFI (still absorbed the game)

You shall receive it, as you always doSITTAH What, are you mad?ALHAFI The game s not over yet. 5' MIHAFI

You really havent lost it, Saladin.SALADIN (hanlh: listening)

_]ust pay! just Pay!AL-HAF1 Pay! Pay!

Your queen is still in place.SALADIN (as before)

It makes no odds; - 935It isnt in the game now.

SITTAH Oh come on!

So you were playing white? SITTAH

Yes, of course 930 . 31TTAH

' Whats that he says?" SITTAH (making signs t0_Al-Ha from time to time)

. 925 ' You know him, how he bristles, likes to beConsulted, a bit envious perhaps.

.! SALADIN Surely not of you? Not of my sister? 945" Whats this, Al-Ha? Envious? You?

Perhaps,Perhaps! I think Id rather have her brain;Id rather be as good as her. -

But evenSo, hes always paid the right amount,And he will pay today as well. just leave him! 950Go, Al.-Ha, go. Ill send out forThe money later.

-" AL-I1AFI _ No. I wont keep upThis farce with you. He must be told the truth

. Sometime. 'SALADIN lhlho? Told what truth?

P Al-Ha!Is this your promise? Do you keep your word 955To rne like this? .

How could I know, that itWould go so far.

3'_ sscsnm And am I to be toldNothing?

Al-Ha, do please be discreet." SALADIN But this is very strange. Just what could Sittah

Want to beg so solemnly and fervently 960From a foreigner, and from a dervish,Rather than from me, from her own brother.

E Al-Ha, I command you now. Speak, dervish.Brother, dont let a trie of this kind

- strrsn

just say that I can have t.he money now. SITTAH -ALHAFI (still absorbed by the game)

Thats understood, as usual All the same,Even if the queen is not in play, itsNot yet checkmate.

SALADIN (steps fonuard and ooerthrews the beard)Yes it is. Thats how 940

I want it.AL-HAFI Yes, your game is like her winnings! __

Paid as it was won.

- Concern you more than it deserves. 965You know, that several times Ive won the sameAmount from you when we played chess. Well then,Because I have no urgent need of it,And as the funds in Has coffers arentExactly overowing, just because 970Of this, the sums have not been paid. Dont worly,Im not intending to donate them to you,Brother, nor to Ha, nor the coffers.

-E - sonnet Yes, but thats not all!

52 Nathan the Wise i Nttthtl flit Witt 53

H

SITTAH And Othr Sums Achieve? One horse, one coat, one sword, I still975

AL-HAFI

SALADIN

ALILKFI

SITTAH

ALFHAFI

SALADIN

ALI-LA.Fl

SALAIJIN

SITTAH

AL-HAFI

SALADIN

SITTAI-I

SALADIN

Like that; they too are still unpaid. And alsoYour allowance to me has remainedUntouched for several months.

Thats stillNot all.

Not all? Speak out! just tell me then!While weve been waiting for the gold from Egypt,She has(to Saladin)

Why listen to him? Shes not only 980

Taken nothingGood girl! She has helped out

With advances, hasnt she?Maintained

The whole court; covered your expenses single-Handed.

Ah, how like my own dear sister!(embraces her)And who has made me rich enough to do 985This, but my brother?

Soon hell make a pauperOf her once again, just like he isHimself.

I, poor? Your brother, poor? But whenHave I had more? And when have I had less?One coat, one sword, one horse, one God! What more 990Do I need if I have as much as this?And yet, Al-Ha, Ive a mind to scold you.Brother, dont scold. I only wish I couldRelieve our father in his troubles too.Ah! Now at once you have destroyed my cheerful 995Mood again. Though I need nothing forMyself, and can need nothing, he is inGreat need and through him we are too. So whatAm I to do? Perhaps nothing will comeFrom Egypt for a long time. Why that is, 1000God knows. For all is peaceful there. I canReduce, retrench, economise, and do itWith a will, if it affects no-oneBut me, just me alone, andno one elseIs made to suffer. And yet what can that ' 1005

Must have. And I cant gain by bargainingWith God. For he asks very little ofMe just my heart. All I was counting onWas any surplus from your treasury,Al-Ha.

AL-HAFI Surplus? Tell me, would you notHave had me run-through, or at least have hadMe strangled, if you had discovered thatI had been holding back a surplus] NoId rather risk embezzlement than that.

SALADIN But what are we to do then? Could you not

SITTAH

Have borrowed rst from someone else insteadof Sittah? -

Do you think Id let him takeThis privilege away from me, my brother?And I still insist on it. Im notQuite bankrupt yet.

SALADIN Not quite? Thats the last straw!

AL-HAFI

SITTAH

AL-PLAFI

SITTAH

AL-HAFI

SITTAH

G0 off at once, Al-Ha, make a start.Take from anyone you can; and how you can.Go, borrow, promise. But dont borrow fromThe people I made rich. For borrowingFrom them might seem like taking back a gift.Go to the greatest misers; theyre the onesWl'1oll gladly lend to me. They understandHow well their money prospers in my hands.I know no one like that.

It just occursTo me that I have heard, AlHa, thatYour friend has come back.(disconcerted)

Friend? My friend? And whoMight that be?

The jew you highly praised.Ajew I praised? And highly?

To whom God

I010

1015

1020

I025

1030

I still remember clearly the expression 1035Which you used about him once to whomHis God has granted both the smallest andThe greatest of the treasures of this worldIn full measure.

54 Nathan the Wise

ADHAFI

SITTAH

AL-HAFI

SITTAH

AL-I-IAFI

SITTAH

AL-HAFI

SITTAH

AL-I-IAFI

SITTAI-I

ALHAFI

Did I say that? Vlfhat didI mean by that?

The smallest riches. AndThe greatest wisdom.

What? About ajew?Could I have said all that about ajew?You said of your Nathan, didnt you?Oh yes! Of him! Of Nathan! He just didntSpring to mind. So is it really true?Hes come back home again at last? Well! HeCannot be badly off in that case. YoureQuite right: the people once called him the Vilise,The Rich as well.

The Rich now, even moreThan ever. All the town resounds with talkOf all the precious things, the treasures heHas brought back.

. Well, if hes the Rich again,Hes probably the Wise again as well.Al-Ha, do you think you could approach him?But for what? You cant mean for a loan?You dont know him. He wont lend. His wisdomIs that he will never lend to anyone.But you gave me quite a different viewOf him before.

If necessary, heWill lend you goods. But money? Never, NoHes quite unlike the usual kind of jew.He possesses understanding, hesWell mannered, plays good chess. But he stands outAmong all otherjews in bad ways justAs much as good. You really cannot countOn him. He certainly gives money toThe poor, perhaps as much as Saladin,Or if not quite as much, as willingly.Without discrimination too;jew, Christian,Muslim, Parsee, they are all alikeTo him.

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49 Parsee

Nathan the Wise 55

SITTAHSALADIN

SITTAI-I

AL-HAFI

SITTAHSALADIN

Scene 3

And such a manHow can it be

That I have never heard about this man?Would he refuse to lend to Saladin,Tho needs it on behalf of others, notHimself?

But here you see the Jew again,The common jew. Believe me, he is jealousOf your generosity. He enviesYou! In all the world, when ever someoneSays God reward you, he would like it toBe said to him. Thats why he doesnt lend,So that he always has enough to give.Because his law commands him to be charitableBut does not order him to be obliging.Charity makes him the least obligingFellow in the world. For quite a while nowMy relations with him have been somewhatStrained. But just because of that, you mustntEver think that I dont do him justice.He is good for everything, except for this;For this he really is no good. Ill goAnd knock on other doors at once. I knowA Moor, Ive just remembered, who is richAnd miserly, Ill go. Ill go and see him.Whats the hurry, -I-Iafi?

Let him go!

Sittah and SaladinSITTAH

SALADIN

SITTAH

Hes rushing off as if hes glad to getAway from me. Why? Has he been deceivedBy Nathan, or are we the ones he wishes toDeceive?

Why do you ask me? I hardly knowWho you were talking of. Until todayI never heard a thing about this jewOf yours, this Nathan.

Can it be that suchA man is still unknown to you? They sayHe has explored the tombs of Solomon

1075

1080

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1100

5|]- Indian follower of Zoroaster, founder of the Persian cult of re. r The Mosaic 1;.1w_

56 Nathan the Wise

SALADIN

SITTAH

SALADIN

SITI$.H

SALADIN

SITTAH

SALADIN

SITTAH What do you meanBy force? With re and sword? Of course not. With

51And David, and he knows a mighty magicWord with which he can remove their seals.From them he brings out to the light of dayFrom time to time those untold riches whichCould not have come from any other source.If this man took his riches out of tombsThey certainly were not from Solomonsor Davids tombs. Fools must be buried there!Or scoundrels! And in any caseHis source of riches is more fruitful, andMore inexhaustible, than a mere tomb,Full of Mammon.i

II-

Hes a merchant then.His camels travel on all roads, and goAcross all deserts. Nathans ships are toBe found in every harbour. I was told thatBy A1-Ha. And he added withDelight how great and noble was the useHis friend made of the wealth which he acquiredVth skill and energy. How nothing wasToo small, how free his mind was from all prejudice,How open was his heart to every virtue,And how he was attuned to every beauty.But Al-Ha spoke of him so coldly, soUncertainly.

Not coldly, more embarrassed,As if he thought it dangerous to praise him,But did not want to be unjustly critical.Or could it be that, even though he isThe best of all his people he cannotHelp being one of them? Perhaps Al-HaFeels ashamed of him in this respect.Well, be that as it may. It doesnt matterIf the jew is more or less like otherjews. Hes rich, and thats enough for us.But surely, sister, you do not intendTo take whats his by force?

ll05

1110

1115

1120

1125

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A reference to a legend that treasures were buried in these graves.52 Mammon-riches.

|I-

...._,,._...._-,-_.-..,.-

Nathan the Wise i7

Scene 4

The weak the only kind of force one needsIs their own weakness. Nowjust come with meTo hear a singer in my harem whomI purchased only yesterday. PerhapsMeanwhile I can work out a strategyI have for dealing with this Nathan. Come!

Recha, Nathan and Daja (Scene: Inont t;fNathanTs house, where it meets the palm trees. Recha and

Nathan some oat. Daja joins them.) 'RECI-IA

NATHAN

REGHA

NATI-IAN

RECHA

NATHAN

RECHA

NATHAN

RECHA

NATHAN

RECI-IA

NATHAN

Father, you have been so long. Theres littleChance of meeting him by now.

Well, well;If weve missed him here, beneath the palms,Well see him somewhere else. Be calm now. Look!Is that not Daja coming to us?

SheWill surely have lost sight of him by now.I doubt it.

Then she would be walking faster.Probably she hasnt seen us.

NowShes seen us.

Look, shes coming twice as fast.So just calm down.

You wouldnt really wantA daughter who was calm at such a moment?Who did not want to know to whose good deedShe owes her life? Her life which she loves onlyBecause she owes it rst of all to you.I wouldnt want you different from whatYou are; not even if I understandThat something new is stirring in your soul.What, father?

You ask me so shyly? ThatWhich now develops in your inmost heartIs innocence and nature. Let it cause youNo distress. It causes none to me.But promise one thing to me; if your heartDeclares itself more openly, dont hideIts wishes from me.

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ii

I

|

ls

l

44t

1

It

!!!2:

58 Nathan the Wise

REOHA I tremble at the veryThought that I might hide my heart from you.

NATI-IAN No more about this, it is settled nowAnd for all time. But here is Daja. Well?

Daja Hes still here, walking in the palm-grove. SoonHell come out from behind that wall. Look,Here he comes!

RECHA Ah! I-le looks undecided.Where now? Further on? Or back? Or to the right?Or left?

Daja No, no. Hes sure to take a few more turnsAround the monastery. And after that,lm sure hell pass us here.

REGHA Thats right! But didYou speak to him? How did he seem?

DAJA As always.NATHAN Make sure he doesnt know that you are here.

Go further back. Or better still go rightInside.

RECHA just one more look! Oh, no, the hedgels hiding him from me.

DAJA Come on. Your fatherIs quite right. If he should see you, heMight turn back straight away.

RECHA That hedge again!NATI~IAN And if he comes out from behind it suddenly,

He is bound to see you. He cant help it. SoHurry, go!

DAJA Come on; I know a windowWhere we can see what they are doing.

REGHA Yes?(Both go inside)

Scene 5Nathan soon joined by the TemplarNATHAN I'm almost frightened of this strange young man.

His rugged virtue almost makes me hesitate.But how can one man make another feelSo ill at ease? Ah! Here he comes. By God,H_es certainly a manly youth. I like

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Nathan the Vlhse 59

TEMPLAR

NATHAN

TEMPLAR

NATHAN

TEMPLAR

NATHAN

TEMPLAR

NATHAN

TEMPLAR

NATHAN

TEMPLAR

I-Iis good, deant look, and his rm step.However bitter is his shell, the kernelCannot be. Vllhere have I seen his like?Forgive me, noble Frank.

What?Please allow me.

What, jew, what?To venture to address you.

How can I prevent it? But you'd betterMake it short.

_ Please wait. Dont rush awaySo proudly and contemptuously fromA man who is forever in your debt.Hows that? Ah, I believe I know. You areMy name