How, how, is that
To be the answer to my query?
NATHAN.
No,
But it may serve as my apology;
If I can’t venture to decide between
Rings, which the father got expressly made,
That they might not be known from one another.
SALADIN.
The rings—don’t trifle with me; I must think
That the religions which I named can be
Distinguished, e’en to raiment, drink and food,
NATHAN.
And only not as to their grounds of proof.
Are not all built alike on history,
Traditional, or written. History
Must be received on trust—is it not so?
In whom now are we likeliest to put trust?
In our own people surely, in those men
Whose blood we are, in them, who from our childhood
Have given us proofs of love, who ne’er deceived us,
Unless ’twere wholesomer to be deceived.
How can I less believe in my forefathers
Than thou in thine. How can I ask of thee
To own that thy forefathers falsified
In order to yield mine the praise of truth.
The like of Christians.
SALADIN.
By the living God,
The man is in the right, I must be silent.
NATHAN.