lessing Author:Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: III. Turning now to his works, we will notice that one which best represents him, — his last drama, "Nathan the Wise." Its scene is Jerusalem, at the close... more » of the twelfth century, during the truce which followed the third crusade. The leading characters are the Mohammedan Saladin, the famous sultan known for his friendly spirit and tolerance; Nathan, a wealthy Jewish merchant, whose just and liberal spirit had won for him the name of " The Wise;" and a brave young Knight Templar captured by Saladin and unexpectedly spared from death on account of his resemblance to Saladin's youngest brother, who had unaccountably disappeared many years before. Thus three able men, representatives of Mohammedanism, Judaism, and Christianity respectively, have met. The Jew has known all the bitterness of persecution. His wife and seven young sons had been burned by a party of Christian fanatics, in the house of his brother, whither they had taken refuge. Three days Nathan had wept in the dust, cursing the world and hating the Christians. Then the voice of reason and the spirit of gentleness, by which he had accustomed himself to be ruled, awoke within him. He said to himself, " Even this is God's decree. Come, exercise what thou hast professed, and which is so much harder to practise than to comprehend." His loyal soul responded, " I will." As he rose from the earth, a knight approached on horseback, and, dismounting, brought to him a little infant girl, child of Christian parents who had perished. The knight asked Nathan to take her as his own. Yielding to the voice of pity and compassion which bade himdo good to his enemies, he conquers his sense of grief and wrong, and takes the child to his heart. She becomes his own, receiving all the sevenfold love which had belonged to his sons. ...« less