Round these two objects, “his girl and his gold,” all the emotions of Barabas centre, and he is happy.
But, alas! Fortune is fickle. At the very moment when Barabas is congratulating himself on his prosperity, calamity is at the door. A Turkish fleet has arrived in the harbour to demand from the Knights of Malta “the ten years’ tribute that remains unpaid.” At this emergency the Knights hurriedly hold a consultation among themselves, and, of course, decide that the Jews shall pay the debts of their Christian masters. The scapegoats are summoned to the senate-house, and the decision is announced to them, by one of the Knights, who candidly tells Barabas:
“Thou art a merchant and a moneyed man
And ’tis thy money, Barabas, we seek.
Barabas. How, my lord! my money?
Ferneze, Governor of Malta: Thine and the rest.”
It is in vain that the Hebrews plead poverty. They are told that they must contribute their share to the welfare of the land in which they are allowed to get their wealth. Nor will their share be the same as that of the faithful. The Christians, in suffering them to live in their country, commit a sin against their God, and the present distress is a punishment for it:
“For through our sufferance of your hateful lives,
Who stand accursed in the sight of Heaven,
These taxes and afflictions are befallen,