Re-enter FRIAR JACOMO.
FRIAR JACOMO. O brother, all the nuns are dead! let's bury them.
FRIAR BARNARDINE. First help to bury this; then go with me, And help me to exclaim against the Jew.
FRIAR JACOMO. Why, what has he done?
FRIAR BARNARDINE. A thing that makes me tremble to unfold.
FRIAR JACOMO. What, has he crucified a child?(124)
FRIAR BARNARDINE. No, but a worse thing: 'twas told me in shrift; Thou know'st 'tis death, an if it be reveal'd. Come, let's away. [Exeunt.]
ACT IV.
Enter BARABAS(125) and ITHAMORE. Bells within.
BARABAS. There is no music to(126) a Christian's knell: How sweet the bells ring, now the nuns are dead, That sound at other times like tinkers' pans! I was afraid the poison had not wrought, Or, though it wrought, it would have done no good, For every year they swell, and yet they live: Now all are dead, not one remains alive.
ITHAMORE. That's brave, master: but think you it will not be known?
BARABAS. How can it, if we two be secret?
ITHAMORE. For my part, fear you not.
BARABAS. I'd cut thy throat, if I did.
ITHAMORE. And reason too. But here's a royal monastery hard by; Good master, let me poison all the monks.
BARABAS. Thou shalt not need; for, now the nuns are dead, They'll die with grief.
ITHAMORE. Do you not sorrow for your daughter's death?
BARABAS. No, but I grieve because she liv'd so long, An Hebrew born, and would become a Christian: Cazzo,(127) diabolo!
ITHAMORE. Look, look, master; here come two religious caterpillars.
Enter FRIAR JACOMO and FRIAR BARNARDINE.
BARABAS. I smelt 'em ere they came.
ITHAMORE. God-a-mercy, nose!(128) Come, let's begone.
FRIAR BARNARDINE. Stay, wicked Jew; repent, I say, and stay.
FRIAR JACOMO. Thou hast offended, therefore must be damn'd.
BARABAS. I fear they know we sent the poison'd broth.
ITHAMORE. And so do I, master; therefore speak 'em fair.
FRIAR BARNARDINE. Barabas, thou hast--
FRIAR JACOMO. Ay, that thou hast--
BARABAS. True, I have money; what though I have?
FRIAR BARNARDINE. Thou art a--
FRIAR JACOMO. Ay, that thou art, a--
BARABAS. What needs all this? I know I am a Jew.
FRIAR BARNARDINE. Thy daughter--
FRIAR JACOMO. Ay, thy daughter--
BARABAS. O, speak not of her! then I die with grief.
FRIAR BARNARDINE. Remember that--
FRIAR JACOMO. Ay, remember that--
BARABAS. I must needs say that I have been a great usurer.
FRIAR BARNARDINE. Thou hast committed--
BARABAS. Fornication: but that was in another country; And besides, the wench is dead.
FRIAR BARNARDINE. Ay, but, Barabas, Remember Mathias and Don Lodowick.
BARABAS. Why, what of them?
FRIAR BARNARDINE. I will not say that by a forged challenge they met.
BARABAS. She has confess'd, and we are both undone, My bosom inmate!(129) but I must dissemble.-- [Aside to ITHAMORE.] O holy friars, the burden of my sins Lie heavy(130) on my soul! then, pray you, tell me, Is't not too late now to turn Christian? I have been zealous in the Jewish faith, Hard-hearted to the poor, a covetous wretch, That would for lucre's sake have sold my soul; A hundred for a hundred I have ta'en; And now for store of wealth may I compare With all the Jews in Malta: but what is wealth? I am a Jew, and therefore am I lost. Would penance serve [to atone] for this my sin, I could afford to whip myself to death,--
ITHAMORE. And so could I; but penance will not serve.
BARABAS. To fast, to pray, and wear a shirt of hair, And on my knees creep to Jerusalem. Cellars of wine, and sollars(131) full of wheat, Warehouses stuff'd with spices and with drugs, Whole chests of gold in bullion and in coin, Besides, I know not how much weight in pearl Orient and round, have I within my house; At Alexandria merchandise untold;(132) But yesterday two ships went from this town, Their voyage will be worth ten thousand crowns; In Florence, Venice, Antwerp, London, Seville, Frankfort, Lubeck, Moscow, and where not, Have I debts owing; and, in most of these, Great sums of money lying in the banco; All this I'll give to some religious house, So I may be baptiz'd, and live therein.