ACT III.
SCENE.âA Room in Nathanâs House.
RECHA and DAYA.
RECHA. What, Daya, did my father really say
I might expect him, every instant, here?
That meantânow did it not? he would come soon.
And yet how many instants have rolled by!â
But who would think of those that are elapsed?â
To the next moment only Iâm alive.â
At last the very one will come that brings him.
DAYA. But for the sultanâs ill-timâd message, Nathan
Had brought him in.
RECHA. And when this moment comes,
And when this warmest inmost of my wishes
Shall be fulfillâd, what then? what then?
DAYA. What then?
Why then I hope the warmest of my wishes
Will have its turn, and happen.
RECHA. âStead of this,
What wish shall take possession of my bosom,
Which now without some ruling wish of wishes
Knows not to heave? Shall nothing? ah I shudder.
DAYA. Yes: mine shall then supplant the one fulfillâdâ
My wish to see thee placâd one day in Europe
In hands well worthy of thee.
RECHA. No, thou errestâ
The very thing that makes thee form this wish
Prevents its being mine. The country draws thee,
And shall not mine retain me? Shall an image,
A fond remembrance of thy home, thy kindred,
Which years and distance have not yet effacâd,
Be mightier oâer thy soul, than what I hear,
See, feel, and hold, of mine?
DAYA. âTis vain to struggle
The ways of heaven are the ways of heaven.
Is he the destinâd saviour, by whose arm
His God, for whom he fights, intends to lead thee
Into the land, which thou wast born forâ
RECHA. Daya,
What art thou prating of? My dearest Daya,
Indeed thou hast some strange unseemly notions.
âHis Godâfor whom he fightsââwhat is a God
Belonging to a manâneeding another
To fight his battles? And can we pronounce
For which among the scatterâd clods of earth
You, I was born; unless it be for that
On which we were produced. If Nathan heard theeâ
What has my father done to thee, that thou
Hast ever sought to paint my happiness
As lying far remote from him, and his.
What has he done to thee that thus, among
The seeds of reason, which he sowâd unmixâd,
Pure in my soul, thou ever must be seeking
To plant the weeds, or flowers, of thy own land.
He wills not of these pranking gaudy blossoms
Upon this soil. And I too must acknowledge
I feel as if they had a sour-sweet odor,
That makes me giddyâthat half suffocates.
Thy head is wont to bear it. I donât blame
Those stronger nerves, that can support it. Mineâ
Mine it behooves not. Latterly thy angel
Had made me half a fool. I am ashamâd,
Wheneâer I see my father, of the folly.
DAYA. As if here only wisdom were at homeâ
Follyâif I darâd speak.
RECHA. And darâst thou not?
When was I not all ear, if thou beganst
To talk about the heroes of thy faith?
Have I not freely on their deeds bestowâd
My admiration, to their sufferings yielded
The tribute...