The Jew of Malta Christopher Marlowe (top non fiction books of all time txt) 📖
- Author: Christopher Marlowe
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An Hebrew born, and would become a Christian!
Cazzo, diabolo. Enter Friar Jacomo and Friar Barnadine. Ithamore
Look, look, master; here come two religious caterpillars.
BarabasI smelt ’em ere they came.
IthamoreGod-a-mercy, nose! come, let’s begone.
Friar BarnadineStay, wicked Jew, repent, I say, and stay.
Friar JacomoThou hast offended, therefore must be damned.
BarabasI fear they know we sent the poisoned broth.
IthamoreAnd so do I, master; therefore speak ’em fair.
Friar BarnadineBarabas, thou hast—
Friar JacomoAy, that thou hast—
BarabasTrue, I have money, what though I have?
Friar BarnadineThou art a—
Friar JacomoAy, that thou art, a—
BarabasWhat needs all this? I know I am a Jew.
Friar BarnadineThy daughter—
Friar JacomoAy, thy daughter—
BarabasO speak not of her! then I die with grief.
Friar BarnadineRemember that—
Friar JacomoAy, remember that—
BarabasI must needs say that I have been a great usurer.
Friar BarnadineThou hast committed—
BarabasFornication—but that was in another country;
And besides, the wench is dead.
Ay, but, Barabas,
Remember Mathias and Don Lodowick.
Why, what of them?
Friar BarnadineI will not say that by a forged challenge they met.
BarabasShe has confessed, and we are both undone,
My bosom inmate! but I must dissemble.—Aside.
O holy friars, the burden of my sins
Lie heavy on my soul; then pray you tell me,
Is’t not too late now to turn Christian?
I have been zealous in the Jewish faith,
Hard-hearted to the poor, a covetous wretch,
That would for lucre’s sake have sold my soul;
A hundred for a hundred I have ta’en;
And now for store of wealth may I compare
With all the Jews in Malta; but what is wealth?
I am a Jew, and therefore am I lost.
Would penance serve to atone for this my sin,
I could afford to whip myself to death—
And so could I; but penance will not serve.
BarabasTo fast, to pray, and wear a shirt of hair,
And on my knees creep to Jerusalem.
Cellars of wine, and sollars63 full of wheat,
Warehouses stuffed with spices and with drugs,
Whole chests of gold in bullion, and in coin,
Besides I know not how much weight in pearl,
Orient and round, have I within my house;
At Alexandria merchandise unsold:
But yesterday two ships went from this town,
Their voyage will be worth ten thousand crowns.
In Florence, Venice, Antwerp, London, Seville,
Frankfort, Lubeck, Moscow, and where not,
Have I debts owing; and, in most of these,
Great sums of money lying in the banco;
All this I’ll give to some religious house.
So I may be baptized, and live therein.
O good Barabas, come to our house.
Friar BarnadineO no, good Barabas, come to our house;
And, Barabas, you know—
I know that I have highly sinned:
You shall convert me, you shall have all my wealth.
O Barabas, their laws are strict.
BarabasI know they are, and I will be with you.
Friar BarnadineThey wear no shirts, and they go barefoot too.
BarabasThen ’tis not for me; and I am resolved
You shall confess me, and have all my goods. To Friar Barnadine.
Good Barabas, come to me.
BarabasYou see I answer him, and yet he stays;
Rid him away, and go you home with me.
I’ll be with you to-night.
BarabasCome to my house at one o’clock this night.
Friar JacomoYou hear your answer, and you may be gone.
Friar BarnadineWhy, go, get you away.
Friar JacomoI will not go for thee.
Friar BarnadineNot! then I’ll make thee go.
Friar JacomoHow! dost call me rogue?
They fight. IthamorePart ’em, master, part ’em.
BarabasThis is mere frailty: brethren, be content.
Friar Barnardine, go you with Ithamore:
You know my mind, let me alone with him. Aside to Friar Barnadine.
Why does he go to thy house? let him be gone.
BarabasI’ll give him something, and so stop his mouth.
Exit Ithamore with Friar Barnardine.I never heard of any man but he
Maligned the order of the Jacobins:
But do you think that I believe his words?
Why, brother, you converted Abigail;
And I am bound in charity to requite it,
And so I will. O Jacomo, fail not, but come.
But, Barabas, who shall be your godfathers?
For presently you shall be shrived.
Marry, the Turk64 shall be one of my godfathers,
But not a word to any of your covent.65
I warrant thee, Barabas.
Exit. BarabasSo, now the fear is past, and I am safe,
For he that shrived her is within my house;
What if I murdered him ere Jacomo comes?
Now I have such a plot for both their lives
As never Jew nor Christian knew the like:
One turned my daughter, therefore he shall die;
The other knows enough to have my life,
Therefore ’tis not requisite he should live.
But are not both these wise men to suppose
That I will leave my house, my goods, and all,
To fast and be well whipt? I’ll none of that.
Now, Friar Barnardine, I come to you,
I’ll feast you, lodge you, give you fair words,
And, after that, I and my trusty Turk—
No more, but so: it must and shall be done.
Ithamore, tell me, is the friar asleep?
IthamoreYes; and I know not what the reason is
Do what I can he will not strip himself,
Nor go to bed, but sleeps in his own clothes;
I fear me he mistrusts what we intend.
No; ’tis an order which the friars use:
Yet, if he knew our meanings, could he ’scape?
No, none can hear him, cry he ne’er so loud.
BarabasWhy, true, therefore did I place him there:
The other chambers open towards the street.
You loiter, master; wherefore stay we thus?
O, how I long to see him shake his heels!
Come
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