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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) SCENE V. - The Works of Christopher Marlowe, vol. 2
SCENE V. - Christopher Marlowe, The Works of Christopher Marlowe, vol. 2 [1593]Edition used:The Works of Christopher Marlowe, ed. A.H. Bullen (London: John C. Nimmo, 1885). Vol. 2.
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SCENE V.
EnterBarabas, reading a letter.
Bar.
- “Barabas, send me three hundred crowns.”
- Plam Barabas: O, that wicked courtesan!
- He was not wont to call me Barabas.
- ” Or else I will confess: “ay, there it goes:
- But, if I get him, coupe de gorge for that.
- He sent a shaggy tottered staring slave,
- That when he speaks draws out his grisly beard,
- And winds it twice or thrice about his ear;
- Whose face has been a grindstone for men's swords;
- His hands are hacked, some fingers cut quite off;
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- Who, when he speaks, grunts like a hog, and looks
- Like one that is employed in catzerie
- And crossbiting, —such a rogue
- As is the husband to a hundred whores:
- And I by him must send three hundred crowns!
- Well, my hope is, he will not stay there still;
- And when he comes: O, that he were but here!
- EnterPilia-Borsa.
Pilia.- Jew, I must have more gold.
Bar.- Why, want'st thou any of thy tale?
Pilia.- No; but three hundred will not serve his turn.
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Bar.
Pilia.- No, sir; and, therefore, I must have five hundred more.
Bar.
Pilia.- O good words, sir, and send it you were best; see, there's his letter.
- [Gives letter.
Bar.- Might he not as well come as send; pray bid him come and fetch it; what he writes for you, ye shall have straight.
Pilia.- Ay, and the rest too, or else—
30
Bar.- I must make this villain away.
- [Aside.
- Please you dine with me, sir;—and you shall be most heartily poisoned.
- [Aside.
Pilia.- No, God-a-mercy. Shall I have these crowns?
Bar.- I cannot do it, I have lost my keys.
Pilia.- O, if that be all, I can pick ope your locks.
Bar.- Or climb up to my counting-house window: you know my meaning.
Pilia.- I know enough, and therefore talk not to me of your counting-house. The gold, or know, Jew, it is in my power to hang thee.
41
Bar.- I am betrayed.
- [Aside.
- 'Tis not five hundred crowns that I esteem,
- I am not moved at that: this angers me,
- That he who knows I love him as myself,
- Should write in this imperious vein. Why, sir,
- You know I have no child, and unto whom
- Should I leave all but unto Ithamore?
Pilia.- Here's many words, but no crowns: the crowns!
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Bar.- Commend me to him, sir, most humbly,
- And unto your good mistress, as unknown.
Pilia.- Speak, shall I have 'em, sir?
Bar.- Sir, here they are.
- O, that I should part with so much gold!
- [Aside.
- Here, take 'em, fellow, with as good a will—
- As I would see thee hang'd [Aside]; O, love stops my breath:
- Never loved man servant as I do Ithamore.
Pilia.
Bar.- Pray, when, sir, shall I see you at my house?
Pilia.- Soon enough, to your cost, sir. Fare you well.
60 - [Exit.
Bar.- Nay, to thine own cost, villain, if thou com'st.
- Was ever Jew tormented as I am?
- To have a shag-rag knave to come,—
- Three hundred crowns,—and then five hundred crowns!
- Well, I must seek a means to rid 'em all,
- And presently; for in his villainy
- He will tell all he knows, and I shall die for't
- I have it:
- I will in some disguise go see the slave,
- And how the villain revels with my gold.
70 - [Exit.
- “A lean-faced writhen knave,
- Hawk-nosed and very hollow-eyed,
- With mighty furrows in his stormy brow,
- Long hair down his shoulders curled;
- His chin was bare, but on his upper lip
- A mutchado which he wound about his ear.”
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