Scene.—The Place of Palms.
The Templar walking and agitated.
TEMPLAR.
Here let the weary victim pant awhile.—
Yet would I not have time to ascertain
What passes in me; would not snuff beforehand
The coming storm. ’Tis sure I fled in vain;
But more than fly I could not do, whatever
Comes of it. Ah! to ward it off—the blow
Was given so suddenly. Long, much, I strove
To keep aloof; but vainly. Once to see her—
Her, whom I surely did not court the sight of,
To see her, and to form the resolution,
Never to lose sight of her here again,
Was one—The resolution?—Not ’tis will,
Fixt purpose, made (for I was passive in it)
Sealed, doomed. To see her, and to feel myself
Bound to her, wove into her very being,
Was one—remains one. Separate from her
To live is quite unthinkable—is death.
And wheresoever after death we be,
There too the thought were death. And is this love?
Yet so in troth the templar loves—so—so—
The Christian loves the Jewess. What of that?
Here in this holy land, and therefore holy
And dear to me, I have already doffed
Some prejudices.—Well—what says my vow?
As templar I am dead, was dead to that
From the same hour which made me prisoner
To Saladin. But is the head he gave me
My old one? No. It knows no word of what
Was prated into yon, of what had bound it.
It is a better; for its patrial sky
Fitter than yon. I feel—I’m conscious of it,
With this I now begin to think, as here
My father must have thought; if tales of him
Have not been told untruly. Tales—why tales?
They’re credible—more credible than ever—
Now that I’m on the brink of stumbling, where
He fell. He fell? I’d rather fall with men,
Than stand with children. His example pledges
His approbation, and whose approbation
Have I else need of? Nathan’s? Surely of his
Encouragement, applause, I’ve little need
To doubt—O what a Jew is he! yet easy
To pass for the mere Jew. He’s coming—swiftly—
And looks delighted—who leaves Saladin
With other looks? Hoa, Nathan!
Nathan and Templar.
NATHAN.
Are you there?
TEMPLAR.
Your visit to the sultan has been long.
NATHAN.