Bar. Why did you yield to their extortion? You were a multitude, and I but one: And of me only have they taken all. 1 Jew. Yet, brother Barabas, remember Job. She-asses but for every one of those, : Had they been valued at indifferent rate, I had at home, and in mine argosy, And other ships that came from Egypt last, As much as would have bought his beasts and him, And yet have kept enough to live upon : So that not he, but I may curse the day, For only I have toiled to inherit here The months of vanity and loss of time, And painful nights, have been appointed me. 2 Jew. Good Barabas, be patient. Bar. I, I; pray leave me in my patience. 180 190 200 You that were 11 ne'er possessed of wealth, are pleased with want; But give him liberty at least to mourn, That in a field amidst his enemies Doth see his soldiers slain, himself disarmed, 1 Probably we should read-" You, ne'er possessed," etc. And knows no means of his recovery: 1 Jew. Come, let us leave him; in his ireful mood Our words will but increase his ecstasy. 2 Jew. On, then; but trust me 'tis a misery To see a man in such affliction. Farewell, Barabas! Bar. I, fare you well. See the simplicity of these base slaves, Who, for the villains have no wit themselves, Enter ABIGAIL, the Jew's daughter. O! what has made my lovely daughter sad? Thy father hath enough in store for thee. 210 [Exeunt. Abig. Nor [not?] for myself, but agèd Barabas : Father, for thee lamenteth Abigail : But I will learn to leave these fruitless tears, And, urged thereto with my afflictions, 220 230 With fierce exclaims run to the senate-house, And in the senate reprehend them all, And rend their hearts with tearing of my hair, Are hardly cured with exclamations. Be silent, daughter, sufferance breeds ease, Which on the sudden cannot serve the turn. 240 Besides, my girl, think me not all so fond Ten thousand portagues,2 besides great pearls, Fearing the worst of this before it fell, I closely hid. Abig. Where, father? Bar. In my house, my girl. Abig. Then shall they ne'er be seen of Barabas : For they have seized upon thy house and wares. 250 Bar. But they will give me leave once more, I trow, To go into my house. Abig. That may they not: For there I left the governor placing nuns, Displacing me; and of thy house they mean To make a nunnery, where none but their own sect 1 Dyce proposed "redress." 2 Portuguese gold coins. 3 3 Steevens (on 2 Henry IV. ii. 4, l. 42) quotes several passages where "' sect" is used for "sex." Bar. My gold! my gold! and all my wealth is gone! You partial heavens, have I deserved this plague? What, will you thus oppose me, luckless stars, We ought to make bar of no policy. Abig. Father, whate'er it be to injure them That have so manifestly wrongèd us, What will not Abigail attempt? Bar. Why, so; Then thus, thou told'st me they have turned my house Into a nunnery, and some nuns are there? Abig. I did. Bar. Then, Abigail, there must my girl Entreat the abbess to be entertained. Abig. How, as a nun? Bar. I, daughter, for religion Hides many mischiefs from suspicion. Abig. I, but, father, they will suspect me there. 260 270 280 As they may think it done of holiness. Entreat 'em fair, and give them friendly speech, Abig. Thus, father, shall I much dissemble. As good dissemble that thou never mean'st, A counterfeit profession is better Than unseen hypocrisy. Abig. Well, father, say [that] I be entertained, What then shall follow? Bar. This shall follow then; There have I hid, close underneath the plank Bar. No, Abigail, in this It is not necessary I be seen: For I will seem offended with thee for 't: Be close, my girl, for this must fetch my gold. 290 300 [They draw back. Enter Friar 2 JACOMO, Friar BERNARDINE, Abbess, and a Nun. F. Jac. Sisters, we now are almost at the new-made nunnery. 1 The passage is no doubt corrupt. Cunningham reads "unforeseen," and explains the meaning to be "a steady consistent piece of acting is better than having to put on the hypocrite at a moment's warning." 2 Old ed. "Enter three Fryars and two Nuns." |