The Complete Plays (40 page)

BARABAS

70   Good sir,

Your father has deserved it at my hands,

Who, of mere charity and Christian ruth,

To bring me to religious purity,

And as it were
in catechizing sort
,

To make me mindful of my mortal sins,

Against my will, and whether I would or no,

Seized all I had, and thrust me out o' doors,

And made my house a place for nuns most chaste.

LODOWICK

No doubt your soul shall reap the fruit of it.

BARABAS

80   Ay, but, my lord, the harvest is far off;

And yet I know the prayers of those nuns

And holy friars, having money for their pains,

Are wondrous – (
aside
) and indeed do no man good.

[
To him
]And seeing they are not idle, but still
doing
,

'Tis likely they in time may reap some fruit–

I mean in fullness of perfection.

LODOWICK

Good Barabas,
glance not at
our holy nuns.

BARABAS

No, but I do it through a burning zeal,

(
aside
) Hoping ere long to set the house afire;

90   For though they do a while increase and multiply,

I'll
have a saying to
that nunnery.

[
To him
] As for the diamond, sir, I told you of,

Come home, and there's
no price
shall make us part,

Even for your honourable father's sake.

(
Aside
) It shall go hard but I will see your death.

[
To him
] But now I must be gone to buy a slave.

LODOWICK

And, Barabas, I'll bear thee company.

BARABAS
Come then, here's the marketplace. What's the price
of this slave? Two hundred crowns? Do the Turks weigh so much?

100        

FIRST OFFICER
Sir, that's his price.

BARABAS

What, can he steal, that you demand so much?

Belike he has some
new trick
for a purse.

An if he has, he is worth three hundred plates,

So
that, being bought, the town seal might be got

To keep him for his lifetime from the gallows.

The sessions
day is critical to thieves,

And few or none 'scape but by
being purged
.

LODOWICK
Ratest thou this Moor but at two hundred plates?

110 
FIRST OFFICER
No more, my lord.

BARABAS
Why should this Turk be dearer than that Moor?

FIRST OFFICER
Because he is young and has more qualities.

BARABAS
[
to the Turkish
SLAVE]
What, hast the
philosopher's stone
? An thou hast, break my head with it; I'll forgive thee.

FIRST SLAVE
No, sir, I can cut and shave.

BARABAS
Let me see, sirrah. Are you not an old
shaver
?

FIRST SLAVE
Alas, sir, I am a very
youth
.

BARABAS
A youth? I'll buy you, and marry you to Lady Vanity if you do well.

120 
FIRST SLAVE
I will serve you, sir.

BARABAS
Some wicked trick or other. It may be under
colour
of shaving thou'lt cut my throat for my goods. Tell me, hast thou thy health well?

FIRST SLAVE
Ay, passing well.

BARABAS
So much the worse; I must have one that's sickly,
an't be
but for sparing victuals. 'Tis not a stone of beef a day will maintain you in these chops. Let me see one that's somewhat leaner.

FIRST OFFICER
[
pointing to
ITHAMORE
] Here's a leaner. How like you him?

130   

BARABAS
[
to
ITHAMORE]
Where was thou born?

ITHAMORE
In Thrace. Brought up in Arabia.

BARABAS

So much the better. Thou art
for my turn
.

An hundred crowns? I'll have him; there's the coin. [
Gives money
.]

FIRST OFFICER

Then
mark
him, sir, and take him hence.

BARABAS
[
aside
]

Ay,
mark
him, you were best, for this is he

That by my help shall do much villainy.

[
To
LODOWICK]

My lord, farewell.

[
To
ITHAMORE]
Come, sirrah, you are mine.

[
To
LODOWICK] AS
for the diamond, it shall be yours.

140   I pray, sir, be no stranger at my house;

All that I have shall be at your command.

Enter
MATHIAS
[
and his
] Mother [
KATHERINE
].

MATHIAS
[
aside
]

What makes the Jew and Lodowick so private?

I fear me 'tis about fair Abigall.

[
Exit
LODOWICK
.]

BARABAS
[
aside to
ITHAMORE]

Yonder comes Don Mathias, let us stay.

He loves my daughter, and she holds him dear,

But I have sworn to frustrate both their hopes

And be revenged upon the governor.

KATHERINE

This Moor is comeliest, is he not? Speak, son.

MATHIAS

No, this is the better, mother. View this well.

BARABAS
[
aside to
MATHIAS]

150   Seem not to know me here before your mother,

Lest she mistrust the match that is in hand.

When you have brought her home, come to my house.

Think of me as thy father. Son, farewell.

MATHIAS
[
aside to
BARABAS
]

But wherefore talked Don Lodowick with you?

BARABAS
[
aside to
MATHIAS
]

Tush, man, we talked of diamonds, not of Abigall.

KATHERINE

Tell me, Mathias, is not that the Jew?

BARABAS
[
aloud to
MATHIAS
]

As for the
comment on
the Maccabees,

I have it, sir, and 'tis at your command.

MATHIAS
[
to
KATHERINE
]

Yes, madam, and my talk with him was

160   About the borrowing of a book or two.

KATHERINE

Converse not with him, he is cast off from heaven.

[
To
OFFICER]

Thou hast thy crowns, fellow. Come, let's away.

MATHIAS
Sirrah Jew, remember the book.

BARABAS
Marry will I, sir.

Exeunt
[MATHIAS, KATHERINE
and a
SLAVE
].

FIRST OFFICER

Come, I have made a reasonable market, let's away.

[
Exeunt
OFFICERS
with the rest of the
SLAVES, BARABAS
and
ITHAMORE
remain
.]

BARABAS

Now let me know thy name, and therewithal

Thy birth,
condition
, and profession.

ITHAMORE
Faith, sir, my birth is but mean, my name's

Ithamore, my profession what you please.

BARABAS

170   Hast thou no trade? Then listen to my words,

And I will
teach thee that
shall stick by thee.

First, be thou void of these affections:

Compassion, love, vain hope, and heartless fear.

Be moved at nothing; see thou pity none,

But to thyself smile when the Christians moan.

ITHAMORE

O brave, master, I worship
your nose
for this!

BARABAS

As for myself, I walk abroad a-nights

And kill sick people groaning under walls;

Sometimes I go about and
poison wells;

180   And now and then, to
cherish
Christian thieves,

I am content to lose some of my crowns,

That I may, walking in my gallery,

See 'em go pinioned along by my door.

Being young, I studied physic, and began

To practise first upon the Italian;

There I enriched the priests with burials,

And always kept the sexton's arms
in ure

With digging graves and ringing dead men's knells.

And after that was I an engineer,

190   And in the
wars
'twixt France and Germany,

Under pretence of helping Charles the Fifth,

Slew friend and enemy with my stratagems.

Then after that was I an usurer,

And with extorting, cozening,
forfeiting
,

And tricks belonging unto
brokery
,

I filled the gaols with bankrupts in a year,

And with
young orphans planted hospitals,

And every
moon
made some or other mad,

And now and then
one hang
himself for grief,

200   Pinning upon his breast a long great scroll

How I
with interest
tormented him.

But mark how I am blest for plaguing them:

I have as much coin as will buy the town.

But tell me now, how hast thou spent thy time?

ITHAMORE

Faith, master,

In setting Christian villages on fire,

Chaining of eunuchs, binding galley slaves.

One time I was an ostler in an inn,

And in the night-time secretly would I steal

210   To travellers' chambers and there cut their throats.

Once at Jerusalem, where the pilgrims kneeled,

I strewed powder on the marble stones,

And therewithal their knees would rankle so

That I have laughed
a-good
to see the cripples

Go limping home to Christendom on stilts.

BARABAS

Why, this is something. Make account of me

As of thy fellow; we are villains both.

Both circumcisèd, we hate Christians both.

Be true and secret, thou shalt want no gold.

220   But stand aside, here comes Don Lodowick.

Enter
LODOWICK.

LODOWICK

O, Barabas, well met.

Where is the diamond you told me of?

BARABAS

I have it for you, sir; please you
walk in with me
.

What ho, Abigall! Open the door, I say.

Enter
ABIGALL
[
with letters
].

ABIGALL

In good time, father, here are letters come

From Ormus, and the post stays here within.

BARABAS

Give me the letters. Daughter, do you hear?

Entertain Lodowick, the governor's son,

With all the courtesy you can afford–

230   (Aside [
to her
]) Provided that you keep your maidenhead.

Use him as if he were a
Philistine
.

Dissemble, swear, protest, vow to love him;

He is not of the seed of Abraham.

[
Aloud
] I am a little busy, sir, pray pardon me.

Abigall, bid him welcome for my sake.

ABIGALL

For your sake and his own he's welcome hither.

BARABAS

Daughter, a word more. [
Aside to her
]

Kiss him, speak him fair,

And like a cunning Jew so cast about

That ye be both
made sure
ere you come out.

ABIGALL
[
aside to
BARABAS]

240   O, father, Don Mathias is my love!

BARABAS
[
aside to her
]

I know it; yet, I say, make love to him.

Do, it is requisite it should be so.

[
Aloud
] Nay, on my life, it is my
factor's hand
.

But go you in, I'll think upon the account.

[
Exeunt
LODOWICK
and
ABIGALL.]

The account is made
, for Lodowick dies.

My factor sends me word a merchant's fled

That owes me for a hundred tun of wine.

I weigh it thus much. I have wealth enough.

For now by this has he kissed Abigall,

250   And she vows love to him, and he to her.

As sure as heaven rained
manna
for the Jews,

So sure shall he and Don Mathias die.

His father was my chiefest enemy.

Enter
MATHIAS.

Whither goes Don Mathias? Stay a while.

MATHIAS

Whither but to my fair love Abigall?

BARABAS

Thou know'st, and heaven can witness it is true,

That I intend my daughter shall be thine.

MATHIAS

Ay, Barabas, or else thou wrong'st me much.

BARABAS
[
pretending to weep
]

O, heaven forbid I should have such a thought!

260   Pardon me though I weep. The governor's son

Will, whether I will or no, have Abigall.

He sends her letters, bracelets, jewels, rings.

MATHIAS

Does she receive them?

BARABAS

She? No, Mathias, no, but sends them back,