No More Learning

No finite being ever saw God's thoughts:
Yet I have been found worthy from afar,
From an obscure dimension of created
And but finite understanding, to extend
My view into Divine Infinitude!
O with what feelings of creation new,
Divine Messiah, those redeemed by Thee--
With what surpassing transport they will see
Thee on Thy everlasting throne of glory!
How they will then behold those radiant wounds,
The splendid testimonies of Thy love
To Adam's race! How they will shout Thy praise
In never-ceasing songs and alleluias!
Ah, then the angel Death's tremendous trump
Will nevermore be heard, nor thunders, then,
O'er Thy redeemed from the Throne will roll,
The depths will bow before Thee, and the heights
To Thee, the Judge, will folded hands uplift.
The last of days will evanescent die
Before the throne, lost in eternity.
And Thou wilt gather all the righteous souls
Around Thee, that they, face to face, may see
Thy glory and behold Thee as Thou art. "

Now the Messiah from the crimsoned dust
Rose victor, and the heavens sang aloud--
The third heaven, of the great Messiah's most
Transcendent sufferings which brought endless life
To precious souls, as now gone over Him.
So sang the heavens.


_IV. --Pilate's Wife Bewails the Saviour's Sufferings_

The Messiah is seized and bound. The assembled priests are seized
with consternation, but their fears are removed by the arrival of
successive messengers. Jesus being taken before Annas, Philo goes
thither and brings Him to Caiaphas. Portia, Pilate's wife, comes to
see Jesus. She approaches from the Procurator's palace near the hall
of assembly, by an arcade lit by lamps.

Impelled by curiosity at last
The great and wondrous Prophet to behold,
She to the high-priest's palace came in haste,
Only few attendants being with her.
And Portia saw Him Who awoke the dead,
And Who serenely bore the hellish rage
And malice of indignant priests, and now,
With wondrous magnanimity stood forth
Resolved to act with greatness, unadmired,
To beings so degenerate still unknown.
With fervid expectation and with joy
She stood and gazed upon the Holy Man,
And saw how He, sublime with dignified
Serenity, His base accusers faced.

On false evidence of suborned witnesses Jesus is condemned. Eloah and
Gabriel discourse on the Saviour's sufferings.

GABRIEL: Eloah! He at whose command the dead
Of the renewed creation shall arise,
The tempest of the resurrection shaking
The earth around, that she with bearing throes
Will yield the dust at His almighty call.
He then with thunders and attendant hosts
Of angels and in terrors clad, that stars
Before Him sink, will judge that sinful world.

ELOAH: He said, Let there be light! And there was light.
Thou, Gabriel, sawest how at His command
Effulgent beams rushed forth! With thought profound
He still advanced: and lo, at His right hand
Ten thousand times ten thousand beings bright
Collected, and an animating storm
Advanced before Him. Then the suns
Rolled in their orbits! Then the harmony
Of morning spheres resounded round the poles.
And then the heavens appeared!

GABRIEL: And at His word
Eternal night sank far below the heavens!
Thou sawest, Eloah, how He stood on high
O'er the Profound. He spake again, and, lo,
A hideous mass inanimate appeared
And lay before Him, seeming ruins vast
Of broken suns, or of a hundred worlds
To chaos crushed. He summoned then the flame,
And the nocturnal blaze rushed in the fields
Of everlasting death. Then misery
Existed, which from the depths ascended
In cries of anguish and despondency.
Then was created the infernal gulf!

Thus they communed. Portia no longer could
The Blessed Saviour's sufferings behold,
And lone ascended to the palace roof.
She stood and wrung her hands, her weeping eyes
To heaven uplifted, while she thus express'd
The agitated feelings of her heart:
"O Thou, the First of Gods, who didst create
This world from night of darkness, and who gav'st
A heart to man! Whatever be Thy name--
God, Jupiter, Jehovah, Romulus?
Or Abraham's God? Not of chosen few,
Thou art the Judge and Father of us all!
May I before Thee, Lord, with tears display
The feelings of my heart, and rend my soul?
What is the crime of this most peaceful man?
Why should He thus be barbarously used
And persecuted even unto death
By these inhuman and relentless men?
Dost Thou delight from Thine Olympus, Lord,
To look on suffering virtue? Is to Thee
The object sacred? To the heart of men,
That is not of humanity devoid,
It is most awful, wondrous, and endearing;
But He who formed the stars, can He admire
And wonder? No, far too sublime is He
To admiration ever scope to give!
Yet th' object must e'en to the God of Gods
Be sacred, else He never could permit
That thus the good and guiltless be oppress'd.
My tears of pity and compassion flow,
But thou discernest suffering virtue's tears
That flow in secret and to Thee appeal.
Great God of Gods, reward and if Thou canst,
Admire the magnanimity He shows. "

Peter, in deep distress, tells John he has denied his Master, then
departs and deplores his guilt.


_V. --The Day of Oblation_

Eloah welcomes the returning morn with a hymn, and hails the Day of
the Atonement, precious, fair day of oblation, sent by Love Divine.

The Messiah is led to Pilate, and is accused by Caiaphas and Philo.
Judas, in despair, destroys himself. Jesus is sent to Herod, who,
expecting to see a miracle, is disappointed. After being treated with
derision, Jesus is sent back to Pilate, who seeks to save Him, but is
persuaded to release Barabbas. Jesus is scourged, arrayed in a purple
robe, crowned with thorns, and delivered to the priests, who cause Him
to be led to crucifixion. Eloah descends from the throne and proclaims
that the Redeemer is led to death, on which the angels of the earth
form a circle round Mount Calvary. Jesus is nailed to the cross. One
of the two thieves crucified with Him is converted. Uriel places a
planet before the sun to obscure the dreadful scene on Calvary, and
then conducts to earth the souls of all future generations of mankind.

The Angel of Death descends to address Jesus, Who dies. The earth
shakes, the veil of the Temple is rent, the Old Testament saints are
raised. The converted thief dies. Joseph of Arimathea begs the body
of Jesus, and he and Nicodemus wrap it in spices and perform the
interment. Mary and some devout women meet in John's house, to which
Nicodemus brings the crown of thorns taken from the body at burial.
The interment is solemnised by choirs of risen saints and angels.


FOOTNOTES:

[R] Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, who was born at Quedlinburg
on July 2, 1724, and died on March 14, 1803, was one of Germany's
most famous eighteenth century poets. While studying theology at Jena
University, he conceived the idea of a great spiritual epic, and
actually planned in prose the first three cantos of "The Messiah,"
which he afterwards finished at Leipzig. These were published
anonymously in the _Bremische Beitrage_ in 1748, the remaining five
appearing in 1773. Although the poem perhaps lacks in unity of
conception and precision of style, it contains many noble passages
that are admitted by critics to mark a very high order of lyrical
genius. One of the chief distinctions of Klopstock was that he was
the real inaugurator of the emancipation of the German intellect from
the superficialism of French literary ascendancy. This distinction
was generously acknowledged by Goethe, who rejoiced at Klopstock's
success in first striking the keynote of intellectual freedom in
the Fatherland. Various odes, Biblical dramas, tragedies, and hymns
constitute his other works. The "Messiah" was translated into both
English prose and verse by G. Egerstorff, his work being published at
Hamburg in 1821.




GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING[S]




Nathan the Wise


_Persons in the Drama_

SALADIN, _the Sultan_
SITTAH, _his sister_
NATHAN, _a rich Jew_
HAFI, _a Dervish_
RECHA, Nathan's _adopted daughter_
DAYA, _a Christian woman, companion to_ Recha
CONRADE, _a young Templar_
ATHANASIOS, _Patriarch of Palestine_
BONAFIDES, _a friar_


ACT I

SCENE I. --_Jerusalem. A hall in_ NATHAN'S _house_. NATHAN, _in
travelling dress_. DAYA _meeting him_.

DAYA: 'Tis he, 'tis Nathan, thanks to God, returned,
At last!

NATHAN: Yes, Daya, thanks; but why "at last"?
'Tis far to Babylon, and gathering in
One's debts makes tardy journeying.

DAYA: Oh, Nathan! How near you came to misery; when afar,
The house took fire, and Recha, 'mid the flames,
Had all but perished.

NATHAN: Recha, O my Recha!

DAYA: Your Recha, _yours_? My conscience bids me speak----

NATHAN: See what a charming silk I bought for you
In Babylon, and these Damascus jewels.

DAYA: I shall be silent.

NATHAN: Say, does Recha know I am arrived?

DAYA: This morn of you she dreamed; Her thoughts have only been with
you and him Who saved her from the fire.

NATHAN: Ah, who is he?

DAYA: A young knight Templar lately captive ta'en,
But pardoned by the sultan. He it was
Who burst through flame and smoke; and she believes
Him but a transient inmate of the earth--
A guardian angel! Stay, your daughter comes!

[_Enter_ RECHA.

RECHA: My very father's self! Oh, how I feared
Perils of flood for thee, until the fire
Came nigh me. Now, I think it must be balm
To die by water! But you are not drowned:
I am not burned! We'll praise the God Who bade
My angel _visibly_ on his white wing
Athwart the roaring flame----

NATHAN (_aside_): White wing? Oh, ay.
The broad white fluttering mantle of the Templar.

RECHA: Yes, visibly he bore me through the fire
O'ershadowed by his pinions--face to face
I've seen an angel, father, my own angel!

NATHAN: A man had seemed an angel in such case!

RECHA: He was no real knight; no captive Templar
Appears alive in wide Jerusalem.

DAYA: Yet Saladin granted this youth his life,
For his great likeness to a dear dead brother.

NATHAN: Why need you, then, call angels into play?

DAYA: But then he wanted nothing, nothing sought;
Was in himself sufficient, like an angel.

RECHA: And when at last he vanished----

NATHAN: Vanished! Have you not sought him?
What if he--
That is, a Frank, unused to this fierce sun--
Now languish on a sick-bed, friendless, poor?

RECHA: Alas, my father!

NATHAN: What if he, unfriended,
Lies ill and unrelieved; the hapless prey
Of agony and death; consoled alone
In death by the remembrance of this deed.

DAYA: You kill her!

NATHAN: You kill him.

RECHA: Not dead, not dead!

NATHAN: Dead, surely not, for God rewards the good
E'en here below. But ah, remember well
That rapt devotion is an easier thing
Than one good action. Ha! What Mussulman
Numbers my camels yonder? Why, for sure,
It's my old chess companion, my old Dervish,
Al Hafi!

DAYA: Treasurer now to Saladin.

[_Enter_ HAFI.

Ay, lift thine eyes and wonder!

NATHAN: Is it you?
A Dervish so magnificent?

HAFI: Why not?
Is Dervish, then, so hopeless? Rather ask
What had been made of me. I'm treasurer
To Saladin, whose coffers ever ebb
Ere sunset; such his bounty to the poor!
It brings me little, truly; but to thee
'Twas great advantage, for when money's low
Thou couldst unlock thy sluices; ay, and charge
Interest o'er interest!

NATHAN: Till my capital
Becomes all interest?

HAFI: Nay, but that's unworthy,
My friend; write _finis_ to our book of friendship
If that's thy view. I count on thee for aid
To quit me of my office worthily.
Grant me but open chest with thee. What, no?

NATHAN: To Hafi, yes; but to the treasurer
Of Saladin, Al Hafi, nay!

HAFI: These twain
Shall soon be parted: by the Ganges strand
I'll with my Dervish teachers wander barefoot,
Or play at chess with them once more!

NATHAN: Al Hafi,
Go to your desert quickly. Among men
I fear you'll soon unlearn to be a man. [_Goes out_.
What? Gone? I could have wished to question him
About our Templar. Doubtless he will know him.
DAYA (_bursting in_): Nathan, the Templar's yonder, 'neath the palms.
Recha hath spied him, and she conjures you
To follow him most punctually. Haste!

NATHAN: Take him my invitation.

DAYA: All in vain.
He will not visit Jews.

NATHAN: Then hold him there
Till I rejoin you. I shall not be long.


SCENE II. --_A place of palms. Enter the_ TEMPLAR, _followed by a_
FRIAR.

TEMPLAR: This fellow does not follow me for pastime.

FRIAR: I'm from the Patriarch: he is fain to learn
Why you alone were spared by Saladin.

TEMPLAR: My neck was ready for the blow, when he
Had me unbound. How all this hangs together
Thy Patriarch may unravel.

FRIAR: He concludes
That you are spared to do some mighty deed.

TEMPLAR: To save a Jewish maid?

FRIAR: A weightier office!
He'd have you learn the strengths and weaknesses
Of Saladin's new bulwark!

TEMPLAR: Play the spy!
Not for _me_, brother!

FRIAR: Nay, but there is more.
It were not hard to seize the Sultan's person,
And make an end of all!

TEMPLAR: And make of me
A graceless scoundrel! Brother, go away;
Stir not my anger!

FRIAR: I obey, and go.

[_Exit. Enter_ DAYA.

DAYA: Nathan the Wise would see you; he is fain
To load you with rewards. Do see him--try him!

TEMPLAR: Good woman, you torment me. From this day
Pray know me not; and do not send the father!
A Jew's a Jew, and I am rude and bearish.
I have forgot the maiden; do not make
These palm-trees odious where I love to walk!

DAYA: Then farewell, bear. But I must track the savage.

[_Exeunt. _


ACT II


SCENE I. --_The palace. _ SALADIN _and his sister_ SITTAH, _playing
chess. _

SITTAH: Check!

SALADIN: And checkmate!

SITTAH: Nay, nay; advance your knight.

SALADIN: The game is yours. Al Hafi pays the stake.

[_Enter_ HAFI, _who examines the board. _

HAFI: The game's not over yet; why, Saladin,
Your queen can move----

SITTAH: Hush, hush! There, go, Al Hafi!
I'll send to fetch my money.

HAFI: She hath never
Claimed aught of what you lose; it lies with me.
While we wait the treasure out of Egypt,
Your sister hath maintained the state alone.

SALADIN: Was there none else could lend me, save my sister?

HAFI: I know none such.

SITTAH: What of thy friend, the Jew?
The town is ringing with the news of gems
And costly stuffs he hath brought home with him.

HAFI: He would not lend to Saladin. Ah, Prince,
He's envious of your generosity.
That is the Jew! I'll knock at other doors.

[_Exit. _


SCENE II. --_The place of palms. _ DAYA _and_ RECHA _with_ NATHAN.

DAYA: He's still beneath the palms.

RECHA: Just one peep more.

NATHAN: Don't let him see you with me. Best go in.
[_Exeunt_ DAYA _and_ RECHA. _Enter the_ TEMPLAR.
Forgive me, noble Frank.

TEMPLAR: Well, Jew; your will?

NATHAN: I'm Nathan, father to the maid you saved.
In what can I be useful? I am rich. Command me.

TEMPLAR: Nay, your wealth is naught to me.
Yet, this, a coin or cloth for a new mantle,
When this is done. Don't quake; it's strong and good
To last awhile; but here it's singed with flame.

NATHAN: This brand. Oh, I could kiss it! Would you send
This mantle to my daughter that her lips
May cling to this dear speck?

TEMPLAR: Remember, Jew,
My vows, my Order, and my Christian faith!

NATHAN: All lands produce good men. Are we our nation's?
Were Jews and Christians such ere they were men?
And I have found in thee one more who stands
A man confest.

TEMPLAR: Nathan, thy hand; I blush
To have mistaken thee. We will be friends.
Hark you, the maid, your daughter, whom I saved,
Makes me forget that I am partly monk.
How say you; may I hope?

NATHAN: Your suit, young man,
Must be considered calmly. Give me time
To know your lineage and your character.
A parent must be careful of his child. [_Enter_ DAYA.

DAYA: The sultan sends for thee in haste.

NATHAN: I'll go.
Knight, take it not amiss.

TEMPLAR: I'll quit you first.
Farewell! [_Exit. _

NATHAN: 'Tis not alone my Leonard's walk,
But even his stature and his very voice.
Filnek and Stauffen--I will soon know more.


SCENE III. --_A room in_ NATHAN'S _house_. RECHA _and_ DAYA. _A slave
shows in the_ TEMPLAR.

RECHA: 'Tis he, my saviour! Ah!

TEMPLAR: Thou best of beings,
How is my soul 'twixt eye and ear divided.

RECHA: Well, knight, why thus refuse to look at me?

TEMPLAR: Because I wish to hear you.

RECHA: Nay, because
You would not have me notice that you smile
At my simplicity.

TEMPLAR: Ah, no; ah, no.
How truly said thy father, "Do but know her. "
Yet now I must attend him. There is danger.


SCENE IV. --SALADIN'S _audience chamber_. SALADIN _and_ NATHAN.

SALADIN: Draw nearer, Jew. Your name is Nathan?

NATHAN: Yea.

SALADIN: Nathan the Wise?

NATHAN: Ah, no.

SALADIN: Of modesty
Enough, your words and bearing prove you wise.
Now, since you are so wise, tell me which law
Appears to you the better.

NATHAN: Once on a time, eastward, there dwelt a man
Who prized a ring, set with a wondrous opal
That made the owner loved of God and man.
This ring he willed should ever more remain
The heirloom of his house; and to the son
He loved the best bequeathed it, binding him
To leave it also to his best beloved,
And forward so. At length the ring descended
To one who had three sons he loved alike.
To each in turn the doting father promised
The ring, and on his death-bed, sorely grieving
To disappoint two heirs, he had two rings
Made like the first, so close that none could tell
The model from the copies. These he gave
To his three sons in secret, and so passed.
The sequel may be guessed, the strifes, complaints--
For the true ring no more could be distinguished
Than now can--the true faith. Each to the judge
Swore that he had the bauble from his father,
And called his brother forger. Quoth the judge:
"Which of you do his brothers love the best?
You're silent all. You're all deceived deceivers!
None of your rings is true, the true is gone.
Your father sought to end its tyranny.
Let each believe his own the real ring
And vie with others to display its virtue.
And if its power a thousand thousand years
Endure in your descendants, let them then
Before a wiser judge than I appear,
And he'll decide the cause. "

SALADIN: Even God Himself!

NATHAN: Art thou, O Saladin, this wiser judge?

SALADIN: Not yet have sped the thousand thousand years.
His judgment seat's not mine. Go, go, but love me.

NATHAN: Hath Saladin no further need of me?
Perchance my stores might furnish forth thy wars.

SALADIN: Is this Al Hafi's hint? I'll not disown
My object was to ask----

NATHAN: Thou shouldst have all
But that I owe a weighty debt to one--
The Templar thou didst spare.

SALADIN: I had forgot him.

NATHAN: He saved my daughter from the flames.

SALADIN: Ah, so? He looked a hero. Bring him hither;
Sittah must see our brother's counterfeit.

NATHAN: I'll fetch him. For the rest, we are agreed.


SCENE V. --_The Place of Palms_. DAYA _and the_ TEMPLAR.

DAYA: Knight, swear to me that you will make her yours;
Make both her present and eternal welfare.
Listen. She is a Christian, and no child
Of Nathan's.

TEMPLAR: Are you sure of what you say?

DAYA: It cost me tears of blood. She does not know
She is a Christian born.

TEMPLAR: And Nathan reared
Her in this error, and persists in it?
Oh, it confounds me--go; and let me think.

_[Exeunt_.


ACT III

SCENE I. --_The cloisters of a convent_. ATHANASIOS _the Patriarch_,
_and the_ TEMPLAR.

ATHANASIOS: Heaven keep you in your valour, good Sir Knight!
You seek my counsel? It is yours; say on.

TEMPLAR: Suppose, my reverend father, that a Jew
Brought up a Christian child, in ignorance
Of her own faith and lineage, as his daughter,
What then?

ATHANASIOS: Is this mere supposition, sir?
If in our diocese such impious act
Were done in truth, the Jew should die by fire.
You will not name the man? I'll to the sultan,
Who will support us.

TEMPLAR: I'll to Saladin,
And will announce your visit.

ATHANASIOS: Was it then
A problem merely? Nay, this is a job
For Brother Bonafides. Here, my son!

[_Exit_ ATHANASIOS, _talking with the friar_.


SCENE II. --_A room at the palace of_ SALADIN. _Slaves bring in
money-bags to_ SALADIN _and_ SITTAH.

SALADIN (_to_ Sittah): Here, pay yourself with that.
And look, I found
This portrait 'midst the heap of plate and jewels.
It is our brother Assad. I'll compare
The likeness with our Templar. Ah, who's there?
The Templar? Bid him enter.

[_Enter the_ TEMPLAR.

TEMPLAR: Saladin,
Thy captive, sire, who's life is at thy service!

SALADIN: Ah, brave young man, I'm not deceived in thee.
Thou art indeed, in soul and body, Assad!
Came Nathan with thee?

TEMPLAR: Who?

SALADIN: Who? Nathan

TEMPLAR (_coldly_): No.

SALADIN: Why so cold?

TEMPLAR: I've nothing against Nathan,
But I am angry with myself alone
For dreaming that a Jew could be no Jew.
He was so cautious of my suit that I,
In swift resentment, though unwitting, gave
Him over to the Patriarch's bloody rage.
Sultan, the maiden is no child of his;
She is a Christian whom the Jew hath reared
In ignorance of her faith. The Patriarch
Foredooms him to the stake.

SALADIN: Go to, go to.
The case is scarcely hopeless. Summon Nathan,
And I shall reconcile you. If indeed
You're earnest for the maid, she shall be thine.


SCENE III. --_The hall in_ NATHAN'S _house_. NATHAN _and the friar,_
BONAFIDES.

BONAFIDES: The Patriarch hath ever work for me,
And some I like not. Listen. He hath heard
That hereabouts there dwells a certain Jew
Who hath brought up a Christian as his child.

NATHAN: How?

BONAFIDES: Hear me out. I fear me that I gave
Occasion for this sin, when I, a squire,
Brought you, full eighteen years ago, the babe,
The orphan babe of Leonard, Lord of Filnek.
He fell at Askalon.

NATHAN: Ay so; and I,
Bereft by Christians of my wife and sons,
Received the infant as a gift from Heaven,
And made it mine. And now, belike, I suffer
For this my charity. But tell me now,
Was not the mother sister to a Templar,
Conrade of Stauffen?

BONAFIDES: Let me fetch a book,
In Arabic, I had from my dead lord.
'Tis said to tell the lineage of the babe.

NATHAN: Go, fetch it quickly. [_Exeunt. _


SCENE IV. --_A place of palms. _ NATHAN _and the_ TEMPLAR.

NATHAN: Who hath betrayed me to the Patriarch?

TEMPLAR: Alas! 'twas I. You took my suit so coldly
That when from Daya I had learned your secret,
I fancied you had little mind to give
A Christian what from Christians you had taken.
I thought to use my knowledge as a lever,
And so, not having you, I put the matter
In problem-wise before the Patriarch.
Suppose he find you out. What then? He cannot
Seize Recha, if she be no longer yours.
Ah! give her then, to me, and let him come.

NATHAN: Too late! You are too late, for I have found
Her kinsfolk. Hark you, Recha has a brother.

TEMPLAR: Well, he's the man to fit her with a husband.
Of thee and me she'll have no longer need.


SCENE V. --SALADIN'S _palace_. SALADIN _and his sister_, SITTAH, _are
talking with_ RECHA.

SITTAH: Ah! I guessed it.