The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 2 (of 3) — John Shaqi
The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 2 (of 3)Marlowe, Christopher
General
The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Marlowe, Christopher
English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600
_Bar._ What tell you me of Job? I wot his wealth
Was written thus: he had seven thousand sheep,
Three thousand camels, and two hundred yoke
Of labouring oxen, and five hundred
She-asses: but for every one of those,
Had they been valued at indifferent rate,
I had at home, and in mine argosy,
And other ships that came from Egypt last,
As much as would have bought his beasts and him,
And yet have kept enough to live upon: 190
So that not he, but I may curse the day,
Thy fatal birth-day, forlorn Barabas;
And henceforth wish for an eternal night,
That clouds of darkness may inclose my flesh,
And hide these extreme sorrows from mine eyes:
For only I have toiled to inherit here
The months of vanity and loss of time,
And painful nights, have been appointed me.
_2 Jew._ Good Barabas, be patient.
_Bar._ I, I; pray leave me in my patience. 200
You that were[27] ne'er possessed of wealth, are pleased with want;
But give him liberty at least to mourn,
That in a field amidst his enemies
Doth see his soldiers slain, himself disarmed,
And knows no means of his recovery:
I, let me sorrow for this sudden chance;
'Tis in the trouble of my spirit I speak;
Great injuries are not so soon forgot.
_1 Jew._ Come, let us leave him; in his ireful mood
Our words will but increase his ecstasy. 210
_2 Jew._ On, then; but trust me 'tis a misery
To see a man in such affliction.--
Farewell, Barabas!
[_Exeunt._
_Bar._ I, fare you well.
See the simplicity of these base slaves,
Who, for the villains have no wit themselves,
Think me to be a senseless lump of clay
That will with every water wash to dirt:
No, Barabas is born to better chance,
And framed of finer mould than common men,
That measure naught but by the present time. 220
A reaching thought will search his deepest wits,
And cast with cunning for the time to come:
For evils are apt to happen every day--
But whither wends my beauteous Abigail?
_Enter_ ABIGAIL, _the Jew's daughter_.
O! what has made my lovely daughter sad?
What, woman! moan not for a little loss:
Thy father hath enough in store for thee.
_Abig._ Nor [not?] for myself, but agèd Barabas:
Father, for thee lamenteth Abigail:
But I will learn to leave these fruitless tears, 230
And, urged thereto with my afflictions,
With fierce exclaims run to the senate-house,
And in the senate reprehend them all,
And rend their hearts with tearing of my hair,
Till they reduce[28] the wrongs done to my father.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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