ACT III, Scene 6

Nathan (alone) H’m, h’m. A strange request. Where do I stand? What will the Sultan with me ... what? I come Prepared for money, and he asks for ... Truth! And this he needs must have as bare and bright As if the truth were coin!... Aye, were it coin, Old, well-worn coin, that men tell out by weight, Such might I find him! But new-minted coin— The stamp’s enough: you fling it on the board And there’s an end—not thus can Truth be told! Doth he conceive that truth is to be poured From head to head like gold into a bag? Who’s here the Jew, I or the Sultan?... Yet Suppose in very truth he asks for Truth? How then? And verily it were too little, Too paltry a suspicion, to believe He used the truth but as a snare.... Too little! Ah, what is then too little for the great? Why should he break into my house? A friend Would surely knock and listen at the door Before he entered. I must tread with care. But how? but how? To play the stolid Jew, That ne’er will pass ... still less, no Jew at all; For ’then’ he’ll say, ’why not a Musalman?’ Let me think.... Ha! I have it now. That saves me! Not children only can one satisfy With fables.... He is coming. Let him come! Enter Saladin. Saladin I have not come too quickly? Thou hast brought Thy meditation to an end? Then speak! None hears but I. Nathan Nay, all the world may hear For aught I care! Saladin So clear and confident Is Nathan in his wisdom? Ha! this I deem To be a sage indeed! Nothing to hide, Never to palter—but to stake his life, His blood, his goods, and all, upon the truth! Nathan Yea ... if need were ... and if the truth were served.... Saladin One of my titles, Betterer of the World And of the Law, I hope from this day forth To bear with right. Nathan Truly, a noble title! Yet, Sultan, ere I trust myself with thee, Wholly and unreserved, I ask thee first To hear a fable from me. Saladin Wherefore not? From childhood I have ever loved to hear Fables, well told. Nathan Well told? ah, that indeed Is scarce a quality of mine! Saladin Again So proudly modest? Well, speak on, speak on! Nathan In the grey morn of Time, there lived i’ the East A man, who owned a ring of priceless worth, Gift of a well-loved hand. For stone it bore An opal, where a hundred lovely tints Played, and where dwelt the magic power to make Well-pleasing in the sight of God and man Whoever wore it in this faith—What wonder It never left the owner’s hand? what wonder He made provision to retain it ever In his own House, an heirloom for all time? Thus did he order it: He left the Ring First to his best-belovèd son, ordaining That he in turn should leave it to the son He dearliest loved; and so to the dearest ever. And still the owner of the Ring, apart From precedence of birth, by that alone Should bear the sway.... Sultan, you follow me? Saladin I follow thee. Proceed! Nathan And so the Ring Descended, till at length it came to one Who had three sons, all dutiful alike, Whom therefore he, perforce, must love alike; Only, from time to time the first would seem Most worthy of the Ring, and then the next, And then again the third,—as each he found Alone with him, the other two not by To share his overflowing love. To each His heart’s fond weakness made him pledge the Ring. Thus all went smoothly ... while it could. But now His time to die draws near, and, sore perplexed, The good man rues that two of the three sons That trusted in his word, must soon be left Deceived, affronted.... Mark, now, his device! All secretly he summons to his aid A cunning craftsman, and commands him fashion After the pattern of his Ring, two others; No cost, no labour to be spared, to make them Like to the first, in every point alike. And so ’tis done; and when the craftsman brings The finished work, not even the father’s eye Can tell his own ring from the copies. Now Joyfully doth he summon to his side His three sons, one by one, and, one by one, Gives each his blessing—and a ring—and dies. Sultan, thou hearest me? Saladin Yes, yes, I hear! Come, will thy fable soon be told? Nathan ’Tis told Already, for the rest is evident. Scarce is the father dead when comes each son Bearing his ring, and claims to be the lord And ruler of the house! What follows then? Examinations, quarrellings, complaints— In vain! Among the rings, the one true Ring Remains for all eyes indistinguishable.— [After a pause in which he waits for the Sultan’s reply. Well-nigh as indistinguishable, Sultan, As here, for us, to-day, the one true Faith. Saladin How? This shall be thine answer to my question? Nathan Nay, this shall but excuse me, if I trust not My judgment to decide among the rings, Made by the Father to the very intent That they should never be distinguished. Saladin Yea, The rings!... Thou playest with me! I had deemed The three religions, whereof question is, Were easily distinguished, even to points Of food, and drink, and clothing! Nathan Only not In this one thing—their proofs. All rest alike On history, or written or handed down. And history we take—is it not so?— On faith and trust alone. Whose faith, whose truth, Shall we confide in most? Surely in those Of our own folk, whose blood we are, whose proofs Of love were given us from our childhood up, Who ne’er deceived us, saving when, perchance, ’Twere better for our weal. If this be so, How can I less in my forefathers trust Than thou in thine? Or take the other side: Can I demand from thee that thou shouldst charge Thine ancestors with lying, but for this, That mine be justified? Again, the Christian To both of us may plead the like defence. Art thou not answered? Saladin (aside) By the living God The man is right! I must be dumb. Nathan Now turn we Back to our rings again.—I said, the sons Made their complaints: each one before the Judge Made oath that from his father’s very hand He had the Ring—and so in truth he had— After his father’s promise, long before, That one day he should own the Ring and all Its rights—and this no less was true. The father, Each one averr’d, could ne’er have played him false. Rather than credit this—rather than nurse Against so loved a father, such a thought, How fain soever he had been to think Nothing but good of them, he must believe His brothers guilty of foul treachery. But surely one day he would find a way To unmask the villains—he would be avenged! Saladin And now, the Judge? I am intent to hear What thou wilt put into his mouth. Speak on! Nathan On this wise spake the Judge: “Either ye bring Right soon your father here before me, else I spurn you from my seat. What! think ye I Am here to answer riddles? Or do ye wait Until the true Ring find a tongue and speak? Yet stay! ’Tis said that in the true Ring lives A magic gift, to make the owner loved— Well-pleasing before God and man. So good, This shall decide the cause; for never, surely, In this the false can emulate the true. Which of the three of ye is best beloved By the other twain? Marry, speak out! Ye are dumb! Mysterious power, that only backward works, Not outward from within! Lo, each of you Loves best of all—himself! So are ye all Deceived, and all deceivers. All your rings Are manifestly false. Belike the true Was irrecoverably lost; and so Your father, to conceal the loss, made three In place of one.” Saladin Excellent, excellent! Nathan “And so,” the Judge continued, “if ye now Are bent on Law, on that alone, and counsel Such as I can, will none—I bid you hence. But, if I counselled you, my rede were this: Take ye the matter simply as it lies. Each from your father had his ring—let each Be well persuaded that the ring he holds Is the true Ring. It may be that your father Was minded to maintain the tyranny Of the one Ring no longer. And ’tis certain He loved you all, and loved you each alike. Would not have one exalted, one oppressed. Mark that! and be it yours to emulate His great impartial love. Strive, each of you, To show the Ring’s benignant might his own; Yea, help the mystic power to do its kind, With gentleness, with loving courtesy, Beneficence to man, and unto God The deep devotion of the inmost soul. And when, full many a generation hence, Within your children’s children’s children’s hearts The mystery of the Ring is manifest, Lo! in a thousand thousand years, again Before this judgment-seat I summon you, Where one more wise than I shall sit and speak. Now go your ways.” So spake the modest Judge. Saladin God! God! Nathan And now, O Saladin, if thou Art confident that thou indeed art he, The wise, the promised Judge.... Saladin I? dust! I? nothing! O God! Nathan What moves the Sultan? Saladin Nathan, Nathan, The thousand thousand years are not yet done! Not mine that judgment-seat! Enough—farewell! But henceforth be my friend.