The Complete Plays (46 page)

Whither now, fiddler?

BARABAS
Par donnez-moi
, monsieur, me be no well.

Exit
[BARABAS].

80   
PILIA-BORZA
Farewell, fiddler. One letter more to the Jew.

BELLAMIRA Prithee, sweet love, one more, and write it sharp.

ITHAMORE
No, I'll send by word of mouth now. [
To
PILIA-BORZA
] Bid him deliver thee a thousand crowns, by the same token that the nuns loved rice, that Friar Barnardine slept in his own clothes – any of 'em will do it.

PILIA-BORZA
Let me alone to urge it, now I know
the meaning
.

ITHAMORE

The meaning has a meaning. Come, let's in.

To undo a Jew is charity, and not sin.

Exeunt.

Enter
[FERNEZE
the
]
Governor,
KNIGHTS, MARTIN DEL

BOSCO
[
and
OFFICERS
].

FERNEZE

Now, gentlemen, betake you to your arms,

And see that Malta be well fortified.

And it behoves you to be resolute,

For Calymath, having
hovered here
so long,

Will win the town or die before the walls.

FIRST KNIGHT

And die he shall, for we will never yield.

Enter
[BELLAMIRA
the
]
Courtesan
[
and
]
PILIA-BORZA.

BELLAMIRA

O, bring us to the governor.

FERNEZE

Away with her! She is a courtesan.

BELLAMIRA

Whate'er I am, yet, governor, hear me speak.

I bring thee news by whom thy son was slain:

10             Mathias did it not, it was the Jew.

PILIA-BORZA
Who, besides the slaughter of these gentlemen, poisoned his own daughter and the nuns, strangled a friar, and I know not what mischief beside.

FERNEZE

Had we but proof of this!

BELLAMIRA

Strong proof, my lord. His man's now at my lodging

That was his agent; he'll confess it all.

FERNEZE

Go fetch him straight.

[
Exeunt
OFFICERS
.]

I always feared that Jew.

Enter
BARABAS
[
and
]
ITHAMORE
[
guarded by some
OFFICERS
].

BARABAS

I'll go alone, dogs, do not hale me thus.

20   
ITHAMORE
Nor me neither. I
cannot out-run
you, constable. O, my belly!

BARABAS
[
aside
]

One dram of powder more had made all sure.

What a damned slave was I!

FERNEZE

Make fires, heat irons, let the rack be fetched.

FIRST KNIGHT

Nay, stay, my lord, 't may be he will confess.

BARABAS

Confess? What mean you, lords, who should confess?

FERNEZE

Thou and thy Turk: 'twas you that slew my son.

ITHAMORE
Guilty, my lord, I confess. Your son and Mathias
were both contracted unto Abigall; he forged a counterfeit

30    challenge.

BARABAS
Who carried that challenge?

ITHAMORE
I carried it, I confess, but who writ it? Marry, even he that strangled Barnardine, poisoned the nuns, and his own daughter.

FERNEZE

Away with him! His sight is death to me.

BARABAS

For what? You men of Malta, hear me speak.

She is a courtesan, and he a thief,

And he my bondman. Let me have law,

For none of this can prejudice my life.

FERNEZE

40    Once more, away with him! You shall have law.

BARABAS

Devils, do your worst,
I'll
live in spite of you.

As these have spoke, so be it to their souls.

[
Aside
] I hope the poisoned flowers will work anon.

Exeunt
[OFFICERS
with
BARABAS, ITHAMORE,

BELLAMIRA
and
PILIA-BORZA
].
Enter
KATHERINE.

KATHERINE

Was my Mathias murdered by the Jew?

Ferneze, 'twas thy son that murdered him.

FERNEZE

Be patient, gentle madam, it was he.

He forged the daring challenge made them fight.

KATHERINE

Where is the Jew? Where is that murderer?

FERNEZE

In prison, till the law has
passed
on him.

Enter
[
an
]
OFFICER.

OFFICER

My lord, the courtesan and her man are dead;

50      So is the Turk, and Barabas the Jew.

FERNEZE
Dead?

OFFICER

Dead, my lord, and here they bring his body.

[
Enter
OFFICERS,
carrying
BARABAS
as dead
.]

DEL BOSCO

This sudden death of his is very strange.

FERNEZE

Wonder not at it, sir, the heavens are just.

Their deaths were like their lives, then think not of 'em.

Since they are dead, let them be buried.

For the Jew's body, throw that o'er the walls,

To be a prey for vultures and wild beasts.

[
OFFICERS
throw down the body.
]

60   So, now away, and fortify the town.

Exeunt
[;
BARABAS
remains
].

BARABAS
[
rising
]

What, all alone?
Well fare, sleepy drink
!

I'll be revenged on this accursed town,

For by my means Calymath shall enter in.

I'll help to slay their children and their wives,

To fire the churches, pull their houses down,

Take my goods too, and seize upon my lands.

I hope to see the governor a slave,

And, rowing in a galley, whipped to death.

Enter
CALYMATH, BASHAWS,
[
and
]
TURKS.

CALYMATH

Whom have we there, a spy?

BARABAS

70     Yes, my good lord, one that can spy a place

Where you may enter and surprise the town.

My name is Barabas, I am a Jew.

CALYMATH

Art thou that Jew whose goods we heard were sold

For tribute-money?

BARABAS
          The very same, my lord;

And since that time they have hired a slave, my man,

To accuse me of a thousand villainies.

I was imprisoned, but escaped their hands.

CALYMATH

Didst break prison?

BARABAS

No, no,

80    I drank of
poppy
and cold mandrake juice,

And, being asleep, belike they thought me dead,

And threw me o'er the walls. So, or how else,

The Jew is here, and rests at your command.

CALYMATH

'Twas bravely done. But tell me, Barabas,

Canst thou, as thou reportest, make Malta ours?

BARABAS

Fear not, my lord, for here against the
sluice

The rock is hollow and of purpose digged

To make a passage for the running streams

And common channels of the city.

90     Now, whilst you give assault unto the walls,

I'll lead five hundred soldiers through the
vault
,

And rise with them i'th'middle of the town,

Open the gates for you to enter in,

And by this means the city is your own.

CALYMATH

If this be true, I'll make thee governor.

BARABAS

And if it be not true, then let me die.

CALYMATH

Thou'st doomed thyself. Assault it presently.

Exeunt.

Alarms
. Enter
[CALYMATH,] TURKS,
[
and
]
BARABAS,

[
with
]
FERNEZE
and
KNIGHTS
prisoners.

CALYMATH

Now vail your pride, you captive Christians,

And kneel for mercy to your conquering foe.

Now where's the hope you had of haughty Spain?

Ferneze, speak. Had it not been much better

To keep thy promise than be thus surprised?

FERNEZE

What should I say? We are captives and must yield.

CALYMATH

Ay, villains, you must yield, and under Turkish yokes

Shall groaning bear the burden of our ire.

And, Barabas, as erst we promised thee,

For thy desert we make thee governor.

10    Use them at thy discretion.

BARABAS
          Thanks, my lord.

FERNEZE

O, fatal day, to fall into the hands

Of such a traitor and unhallowed Jew!

What greater misery could heaven inflict?

CALYMATH

'Tis our command; and Barabas, we give,

To guard thy person, these our janizaries;

Entreat them well, as we have usèd thee.

And now, brave bashaws, come, we'll walk about

The ruined town and see the wrack we made.

20     Farewell, brave Jew, farewell, great Barabas.

BARABAS

May all good fortune follow Calymath!

Exeunt
[
CALYMATH
and
BASHAWS
].

And now, as
entrance
to our safety,

To prison with the governor and these

Captains, his consorts and confederates.

FERNEZE

O villain, heaven will be revenged on thee!

BARABAS

Away, no more! Let him not trouble me.

Exeunt
[
TURKS
with
FERNEZE
and
KNIGHTS
].

Thus hast thou gotten, by thy policy,

No simple place, no small authority.

I now am governor of Malta. True,

30    But Malta hates me, and, in hating me,

My life's in danger; and what boots it thee,

Poor Barabas, to be the governor,

Whenas
thy life shall be at their command?

No, Barabas, this must be looked into;

And since by wrong thou got'st authority,

Maintain it bravely by firm policy,

At least unprofitably lose it not.

For he that liveth in authority,

And neither gets him friends nor fills his bags,

40    Lives like the ass that Aesop speaketh of,

That labours with a load of bread and wine

And leaves it off to
snap
on
thistle tops
.

But Barabas will be more circumspect.

Begin betimes;
Occasion's bald behind;

Slip not thine opportunity, for fear too late

Thou seek'st for much but canst not compass it.

[
Calling offstage
]

Within, there!

Enter
FERNEZE,
with a
GUARD
[
of
TURKISH JANIZARIES
].

FERNEZE
My lord?

BARABAS
[
aside
]

Ay, ‘lord'; thus slaves will learn.

[
To him
] Now, governor.

[
To the
GUARD]         
Stand by, there.

50   

Wait within.

    [
Exit
GUARD
.]

This is the reason that I sent for thee:

Thou seest thy life and Malta's happiness

Are at my arbitrament, and Barabas

At his discretion may dispose of both.

Now tell me, governor, and plainly too,

What think'st thou shall become of it and thee?

FERNEZE

This, Barabas: since things are in thy power,

I see no reason but of Malta's wrack,

Nor hope of thee but extreme cruelty,

Nor fear I death, nor will I flatter thee.

60   
BARABAS

Governor, good words, be not so furious.

'Tis not thy life which can avail me aught.

Yet you do live, and live
for me
you shall;

And as for Malta's ruin, think you not

'Twere slender policy for Barabas

To dispossess himself of such a place?

For sith, as once you said, within this isle,

In Malta here, that I have
got my goods
,

And in this city still have had success,

And now at length am grown your governor,

70    Yourselves shall see it shall not be forgot.

For, as a friend not known but in distress,

I'll rear up Malta, now
remediless
.

FERNEZE

Will Barabas recover Malta's loss?

Will Barabas be good to Christians?

BARABAS

What wilt thou give me, governor, to procure

A dissolution of the slavish bands