The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing Part 84

Is it you?

A Dervise so magnificent!

DERVISE.

Why not?

Can you make nothing of a Dervise, Nathan?

 

NATHAN.

Ay, surely, but I've still been wont to think A Dervise--I would say a thorough Dervise-- Will ne'er let anything be made of him.

DERVISE.

Well, by the Prophet! though it may be true That I'm no thorough Dervise, yet one must----

NATHAN.

_Must_, Hafi! You a Dervise! No man _must_---- And least of all a Dervise.

DERVISE.

Nay, he must, When he is much implored and deems it right.

NATHAN.

Well spoken, Hafi! Let us now embrace.

You're still, I trust, my friend.

DERVISE.

Why not ask first What has been made of me?

NATHAN.

I take my chance, In spite of all that has been made of you.

DERVISE.

May I not be a servant of the state Whose friends.h.i.+p is no longer good for you?

NATHAN.

If you but still possess your Dervise heart I'll run the risk of that. The stately robe Is but your cloak.

DERVISE.

And yet it claims some honour.

But, tell me truly, at a court of yours What had been Hafi's rank?

NATHAN.

A Dervise only-- Or, if aught else--perhaps my cook.

DERVISE.

Why yes!

That I might thus unlearn my native trade, Your cook! why not your butler? But the Sultan-- He knows me better--I'm his treasurer.

NATHAN.

What, you?--his treasurer?

DERVISE.

Mistake me not, I only bear his lesser purse; his father Still manages the greater, and I am The treasurer of his house.

NATHAN.

His house is large!

DERVISE.

Far larger than you think--all needy men Are of his house.

NATHAN.

Yet Saladin is such A foe to beggars!

DERVISE.

That he'd root them out, Though he turned beggar in the enterprise.

NATHAN.

Bravo! I meant as much.

DERVISE.

He's one already.

His treasury at sunset every day Is worse than empty; and although the tide Flowed high at morn, 'tis ebb before the noon.

NATHAN.

Because it flows through channels such as we Can neither stop nor fill.

DERVISE.

You hit the truth.