And yet have kept enough to live upon.”
What is there left to him to live for or upon? He likens himself to a general
“That in a field amidst his enemies
Doth see his soldiers slain, himself disarmed,
And knows no means of his recovery:
Ay, let me sorrow for this sudden chance.”
However, Barabas lies. He is not quite so destitute as he would make us believe. He hints that his genius had foreseen the possibility of such a mishap and provided against it. While he is mourning his misery in loneliness, there enters his lovely daughter Abigail, just turned out of her home by the nuns, lamenting her father’s misfortunes. He tries to calm her:
“Be silent, daughter, sufferance breeds ease,
And time may yield us an occasion
Which on the sudden cannot serve the turn.