The time may come for more important tasks: Perhaps the Patriarch has already planned Some mighty business for you. TEMPLAR. Think you so? Has he already given you a hint? FRIAR. Yes--but my task is first to sift a little, To see if you are one to undertake---- TEMPLAR. Well--sift away? (We'll see how this man sifts). FRIAR. The better course will be to name at once What is the Patriarch's desire. TEMPLAR. It is----? FRIAR. To make you bearer of a letter. TEMPLAR. Me? I am no carrier. Is that the office More meritorious than to save from death A Jewish maid? FRIAR. So, truly, it would seem. The Patriarch says that this little note Involves the general weal of Christendom, And that to bear it to its destined hand, Safely, will merit a peculiar crown From Heaven--and of that crown, the Patriarch Says none can worthier be than you. TEMPLAR. Than I! FRIAR. You have your liberty--can look around; You understand how cities may be stormed, And how defended, says the Patriarch; You know the strength and weakness of the towers, And of the inner rampart lately reared By Saladin, and you could point out all To the Lord's champions fully. TEMPLAR. May I know Exactly the contents of this same letter? FRIAR. Of that I am not quite informed myself. 'Tis to King Philip; and our Patriarch-- I often wonder how that holy man, Whose every thought would seem absorbed by Heaven, Can stoop to earthly things, and how his mind Can be so deeply skilled in human lore---- TEMPLAR. Well, then, your Patriarch---- FRIAR. Exactly knows From secret sources, how, and with what force, And in what quarter, should the war break out, The foe and Saladin will take the field. TEMPLAR. Knows he so much? FRIAR. Ay, truly! and he longs To send the urgent tidings to King Philip, That he may better calculate if now The danger be so great, as to demand At every hazard that he should renew The truce so boldly broken by the Templars. TEMPLAR.