The Complete Plays (36 page)

10  So many censures is now come at last

To have your princely ears. Grace you him; then

You crown the action and renown the pen.

We know not how our play may pass this stage,

But by the best of
*
poets in that age

The
Malta Jew
had being, and was made,

And he then by the best of
*
actors played.

In
Hero and Leander
,
one did gain

A lasting memory; in
Tamburlaine,

This
Jew
, with others many, th' other wan

The attribute of peerless, being a man

Whom we may rank with (doing no one wrong)

Proteus for shapes and Roscius for a tongue,

10   So could he speak, so vary; nor is't hate

To merit in
*
him who doth personate

Our Jew this day, nor is it his ambition

To exceed, or equal, being of condition

More modest. This is all that he intends,

And that, too, at the urgence of some friends:

To prove his best, and if none here gainsay it,

The part he hath studied, and intends to play it.

[
Enter
]
MACHEVIL
.

MACHEVIL

Albeit the world think Machevil is dead,

Yet was his soul but flown beyond the Alps,

And, now
the Guise
is dead, is come from France

To view
this land
and frolic with his friends.

To some perhaps my name is odious,

But such as love me
guard me from
their tongues,

And let them know that I am Machevil,

And
weigh
not men, and therefore not men's words.

Admired I am of those that hate me most.

10   Though some speak openly against my books,

Yet will they read me and thereby attain

To
Peter's chair
, and, when they cast me off,

Are poisoned by my climbing followers.

I count religion but a childish toy

And hold there is no sin but ignorance.

Birds
of the air will tell of murders past!

I am ashamed to hear such fooleries.

Many will talk of title to a crown;

What right had
Caesar
to the empery?

20   Might first made kings, and laws were then most sure

When, like
the Draco's
, they were writ in blood.

Hence comes it that a strong-built
citadel

Commands much more than letters can import;

Which maximé had
Phalaris
observed,

He'd never bellowed in a brazen bull

Of
great ones' envy. O'th'poor
petty wights
,

Let
me be envied and not pitiéd!

But whither am I bound? I come not, I,

To read a lecture here in
Britainy
,

But to present the tragedy of a Jew,

30   Who smiles to see how full his bags are crammed,

Which money was not got without my means.

I crave but this: grace him as he deserves,

And let him not be entertained the worse

Because he
favours
me.

[
Exit.
]

Enter
BARABAS
in his counting-house, with heaps of gold before him.

BHRABAS

So that
of thus much that return was made,

And, of the third part of the Persian ships,

There was the venture
summed and satisfied
.

As for those
Samnites
and the men of Uz,

That bought my Spanish oils and wines of Greece,

Here have I pursed their paltry silverlings.

Fie, what a trouble ‘tis to count this trash!

Well fare
the Arabians, who so richly pay

The things they traffic for with wedge of gold,

10   Whereof a man may easily in a day

Tell
that which may maintain him all his life.

The needy groom that never fingered groat

Would make
a miracle of thus much coin;

But he whose steel-barred coffers are crammed full,

And all his lifetime hath been tired,

Wearying his fingers' ends with telling it,

Would in his age be loath to labour so,

And for a pound to sweat himself to death.

Give me the merchants of the Indian mines,

20   That trade in metal of the purest mould;

The wealthy
Moor, that in the
eastern rocks

Without control can pick his riches up,

And in his house heap pearl like pebble-stones,

Receive them free, and sell them by the weight –

Bags of fiery opals, sapphires, amethysts,

Jacinths, hard topaz, grass-green emeralds,

Beauteous rubies, sparkling diamonds,

And seld-seen costly stones of so great price,

As one of them,
indifferently rated
,

30   And of a carat of this quantity,

May serve in peril of calamity

To ransom great kings from captivity.

This is the ware wherein consists my wealth;

And thus methinks should men of judgement
frame

Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade,

And as their wealth increaseth, so
enclose

Infinite riches in a little room.

But now, how stands the wind?

Into what corner
peers
my
halcyon's bill
?

40   Ha, to the east? Yes. See, how stands the vanes?

East and by south. Why then, I hope my ships

I sent for Egypt and the bordering isles

Are gotten up by Nilus' winding banks;

Mine argosy from Alexandria,

Loaden with spice and silks, now under sail,

Are smoothly gliding down by Candy shore

To Malta, through our Mediterranean Sea.

But who comes here?

Enter
[FIRST] MERCHANT.

How now?

FIRST MERCHANT
                     Barabas,

Thy ships are safe,
riding
in Malta road;

50   And all the merchants with other merchandise

Are safe arrived, and have sent me to know

Whether yourself will come and
custom them
.

BARABAS

The ships are safe, thou say'st, and richly fraught?

FIRST MERCHANT

They are.

BARABAS
 Why then, go bid them come ashore

And bring with them their bills of entry.

I hope our credit in the custom-house

Will serve as well
as I
were present there.

Go send 'em threescore camels, thirty mules,

And twenty wagons to bring up the ware.

60   But art thou master in a ship of mine,

And is thy credit not enough for that?

FIRST MERCHANT

The very custom barely
comes to more

Than many merchants of the town are worth,

And therefore far exceeds my credit, sir.

BARABAS

Go tell 'em the Jew of Malta sent thee, man.

Tush, who amongst 'em knows not Barabas?

FIRST MERCHANT
I go.

BARABAS

So then,
there's somewhat come
.

Sirrah, which of my ships art thou master of?

FIRST MERCHANT

Of the
Speranza,
sir.

70 
BARABAS
         And saw'st thou not

Mine argosy at Alexandria?

Thou couldst not come from Egypt or by Caire,

But at the entry there into the sea,

Where Nilus
pays his tribute to the main,

Thou needs must sail by Alexandria.

FIRST MERCHANT

I neither saw them nor inquired of them.

But this we heard some of our seamen say:

They wondered how you durst with so much wealth

Trust such a
crazèd
vessel, and so far.

BARABAS

80   Tush,
they are wise
! I know her and her strength.

But go, go thou thy ways; discharge thy ship,

And bid my factor bring his
loading
in.

[
Exit
FIRST MERCHANT.]

And yet I wonder at this argosy.

Enter a
SECOND MERCHANT.

SECOND MERCHANT

Thine argosy from Alexandria,

Know, Barabas, doth ride in Malta road,

Laden with riches and exceeding store

Of Persian silks, of gold, and orient pearl.

BARABAS

How chance you came not with those other ships

That sailed by Egypt?

SECOND MERCHANT
Sir, we saw 'em not.

BARABAS

90   Belike
they coasted
round by Candy shore

About their oils, or other businesses.

But 'twas ill done of you to come so far

Without
the aid or conduct of their ships.

SECOND MERCHANT

Sir, we were
wafted
by a Spanish fleet

That never left us till within a league,

That had the galleys of the Turk in chase.

BARABAS

O, they were going up to Sicily. Well, go

And bid the merchants and my men dispatch

And come ashore, and see the fraught discharged.

SECOND MERCHANT
I go.

100   

Exit
[SECOND MERCHANT].

BARABAS

Thus trolls our fortune in by land and sea,

And thus are we on every side enriched.

These are
the blessings
promised to the Jews,

And herein was old Abram's happiness.

What more may heaven do for earthly man

Than thus to pour out plenty in their laps,

Ripping the bowels of the earth for them,

Making the sea their servant, and the winds

To drive their
substance
with
successful blasts
?

110   Who hateth me but for my
happiness
?

Or who is honoured now but for his wealth?

Rather had I, a Jew, be hated thus

Than pitied in a Christian poverty;

For I can see no
fruits
in all their faith

But malice, falsehood, and excessive pride,

Which methinks fits not their
profession
.

Haply
some
hapless
man hath conscience,

And for his conscience lives in beggary.

They say we are a
scattered nation;

120   I cannot tell, but we have
scambled up

More wealth by far than those that brag of faith.

There's
Kirriah Jairim
, the great Jew of Greece,

Obed
in
Bairseth
,
Nones
in Portugal,

Myself in Malta, some in Italy,

Many in France, and wealthy every one –

Ay, wealthier far than any Christian.

I must confess we come not to be kings.

That's not our fault. Alas, our number's few,

And crowns come either by succession,

130   Or urged by force; and nothing violent,

Oft have I heard tell, can be permanent.

Give us a peaceful rule; make Christians kings,

That thirst so much for principality.

I have no
charge
, nor many children,

But one sole daughter, whom I hold as dear

As Agamemnon did his Iphigen;

And all I have is hers. But who comes here?

Enter
THREE JEWS.

FIRST JEW

Tush, tell not me, 'twas done
of policy
.

SECOND JEW

Come, therefore, let us go to Barabas,

140  For he can counsel best in these affairs;

And here he comes

BARABAS
                Why, how now, countrymen?

Why flock you thus to me in multitudes?

What accident's betided to the Jews?

FIRST JEW

A fleet of warlike galleys, Barabas,

Are come from Turkey, and lie in our road;

And
they
this day sit in the council-house

To entertain them and their embassy.

BARABAS

Why, let 'em come, so they come not to war;

Or let 'em war, so we be conquerors.

150  (
Aside
) Nay, let 'em combat, conquer, and kill all,

So they spare me, my daughter, and my wealth.

FIRST JEW

Were it for confirmation of a league,

They would not come in warlike manner thus.

SECOND JEW

I fear their coming will afflict us all.

BARABAS

Fond men, what dream you of their multitudes?

What need they treat of peace that are in league?

The Turks and those of Malta are in league.

Tut, tut, there is some other matter in't.

FIRST JEW

Why, Barabas, they come for peace or war.

BARABAS

160  Haply for neither, but to pass along

Towards Venice by the Adriatic Sea,

With whom
they have
attempted
many times,

But never could effect their stratagem.

THIRD JEW

And very wisely said; it may be so.

SECOND JEW

But there's a meeting in the senate-house,

And all the Jews in Malta must be there.

BARABAS

Umh. All the Jews in Malta must be there?

Ay, like enough. Why then, let every man