TEMPLAR.
Thou know’st of Nathan’s daughter, sultan. What
I did for her I did—because I did it;
Too proud to reap thanks which I had not sown for,
I shunned from day to day her very sight.
The father was far off. He comes, he hears,
He seeks me, thanks me, wishes that his daughter
May please me; talks to me of dawning prospects—
I listen to his prate, go, see, and find
A girl indeed. O, sultan, I am ashamed—
SALADIN.
A shamed that a Jew girl knew how to make
Impression on thee, surely not.
TEMPLAR.
But that
To this impression my rash yielding heart,
Trusting the smoothness of the father’s prate,
Opposed no more resistance. Fool—I sprang
A second time into the flame, and then
I wooed, and was denied.
SALADIN.
Denied! Denied!
TEMPLAR.
The prudent father does not flatly say
No to my wishes, but the prudent father
Must first inquire, and look about, and think.
Oh, by all means. Did not I do the same?
Did not I look about and ask who ’twas
While she was shrieking in the flame? Indeed,
By God, ’tis something beautifully wise
To be so circumspect.