How the slave jeers at him! [Aside.]
BARABAS. Will't please thee, mighty Selim Calymath, To ascend our homely stairs?
CALYMATH. Ay, Barabas.-- Come, bassoes, ascend.(204)
FERNEZE. [coming forward] Stay, Calymath; For I will shew thee greater courtesy Than Barabas would have afforded thee.
KNIGHT. [within] Sound a charge there! [A charge sounded within: FERNEZE cuts the cord; the floor of the gallery gives way, and BARABAS falls into a caldron placed in a pit.
Enter KNIGHTS and MARTIN DEL BOSCO.(205)
CALYMATH. How now! what means this?
BARABAS. Help, help me, Christians, help!
FERNEZE. See, Calymath! this was devis'd for thee.
CALYMATH. Treason, treason! bassoes, fly!
FERNEZE. No, Selim, do not fly: See his end first, and fly then if thou canst.
BARABAS. O, help me, Selim! help me, Christians! Governor, why stand you all so pitiless?
FERNEZE. Should I in pity of thy plaints or thee, Accursed Barabas, base Jew, relent? No, thus I'll see thy treachery repaid, But wish thou hadst behav'd thee otherwise.
BARABAS. You will not help me, then?
FERNEZE. No, villain, no.
BARABAS. And, villains, know you cannot help me now.-- Then, Barabas, breathe forth thy latest fate, And in the fury of thy torments strive To end thy life with resolution.-- Know, governor, 'twas I that slew thy son,-- I fram'd the challenge that did make them meet: Know, Calymath, I aim'd thy overthrow: And, had I but escap'd this stratagem, I would have brought confusion on you all, Damn'd Christian(206) dogs, and Turkish infidels! But now begins the extremity of heat To pinch me with intolerable pangs: Die, life! fly, soul! tongue, curse thy fill, and die! [Dies.]
CALYMATH. Tell me, you Christians, what doth this portend?
FERNEZE. This train(207) he laid to have entrapp'd thy life; Now, Selim, note the unhallow'd deeds of Jews; Thus he determin'd to have handled thee, But I have rather chose to save thy life.
CALYMATH. Was this the banquet he prepar'd for us? Let's hence, lest further mischief be pretended.(208)
FERNEZE. Nay, Selim, stay; for, since we have thee here, We will not let thee part so suddenly: Besides, if we should let thee go, all's one, For with thy galleys couldst thou not get hence, Without fresh men to rig and furnish them.
CALYMATH. Tush, governor, take thou no care for that; My men are all aboard, And do attend my coming there by this.
FERNEZE. Why, heard'st thou not the trumpet sound a charge?
CALYMATH. Yes, what of that?
FERNEZE. Why, then the house was fir'd, Blown up, and all thy soldiers massacred.
CALYMATH. O, monstrous treason!
FERNEZE. A Jew's courtesy; For he that did by treason work our fall, By treason hath deliver'd thee to us: Know, therefore, till thy father hath made good The ruins done to Malta and to us, Thou canst not part; for Malta shall be freed, Or Selim ne'er return to Ottoman.
CALYMATH. Nay, rather, Christians, let me go to Turkey, In person there to mediate(209) your peace: To keep me here will naught advantage you.
FERNEZE. Content thee, Calymath, here thou must stay, And live in Malta prisoner; for come all(210) the world To rescue thee, so will we guard us now, As sooner shall they drink the ocean dry, Than conquer Malta, or endanger us. So, march away; and let due praise be given Neither to Fate nor Fortune, but to Heaven. [Exeunt.]
(1) Heywood dedicates the First Part of THE IRON AGE (printed 1632) "To my Worthy and much Respected Friend, Mr. Thomas Hammon, of Grayes Inne, Esquire."
(2) Tho. Heywood] The well-known dramatist.
(3) censures] i.e. judgments.
(4) bin] i.e. been.
(5) best of poets] "Marlo." Marg. note in old ed.
(6) best of actors] "Allin." Marg. note in old. ed.--Any account of the celebrated actor, Edward Alleyn, the founder of Dulwich College, would be superfluous here.
(7) In HERO AND LEANDER, &c.] The meaning is--The one (Marlowe) gained a lasting memory by being the author of HERO AND LEANDER; while the other (Alleyn) wan the attribute of peerless by playing the parts of Tamburlaine, the Jew of Malta, &c.--The passage happens to be mispointed in the old ed.