Excerpt from Nathan Der Weise: Ein Dramatisches Gedicht in Funf Aufzugen To Elise Reimarus Lessing wrote that he was going to try whether they would permit him to preach undis turbedly from his old pulpit, the stage. To his brother and Moses Mendelssohn he wrote that he had come upon the sketch Of an Old play made by him years ago, and that he was going to finish it in order to play a better joke upon the theologians with this play than he could with ten Fragments more. His friends naturally expected something very severe and satirical, until he undeceived them. 'nathan' has a twofold connection with the theological quarrels. Lessing had attacked his enemies most keenly and mercilessly. Now he heaped coals of fire upon their heads by writing a work that breathes the Spirit of toleration and love throughout a strange revenge! Not that it was looked upon in that light, except by a very few. Again, on account of his disinterested love of the truth and of fair play, exhibited during the controversies, Lessing was in danger Of losing his position and livelihood. A note Of three hundred thalers became due, and he must have money. Therefore he wrote Nathan, ' and published it by subscription. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.