HAFI.
And yet the stake
Was not a nut-shell.
NATHAN.
Money here or there
Matters but little. Not to listen to thee,
And on a point of such importance, Hafi,
There lies the rub. Not even to admire
Thine eagle eye—thy comprehensive glance—
That calls for vengeance:—does it not, Al-Hafi?
HAFI.
I only tell it to thee that thou mayst see
How his brain’s formed. I bear with him no longer.
Here I’ve been running to each dirty Moor,
Inquiring who will lend him. I, who ne’er
Went for myself a begging, go a borrowing,
And that for others. Borrowing’s much the same
As begging; just as lending upon usury
Is much the same as thieving—decency
Makes not of lewdness virtue. On the Ganges,
Among my ghebers, I have need of neither:
Nor need I be the tool or pimp of either—
Upon the Ganges only there are men.
Here, thou alone art somehow almost worthy
To have lived upon the Ganges. Wilt thou with me?
And leave him with the captive cloak alone,
The booty that he wants to strip thee of.
Little by little he will flay thee clean.
Thins thou’lt be quit at once, without the tease
Of being sliced to death. Come wilt thou with me?
I’ll find thee with a staff.
NATHAN.
I should have thought,
Come what come may, that thy resource remained:
But I’ll consider of it. Stay.
HAFI.
Consider—
No; such things must not be considered.