Mitridanes envies the generosity of Nathan and sets out to kill him. Nathan receives Mitridanes without making himself known, informs him how he may be killed, [and] meets him in a wood as arranged, to the shame of Mitridanes, who becomes his friend.
After reading the story, I realized that Nathan's name is significant. As Nathan explains to Mitridanes, "Since I have been of age and desirous to do the same thing that you have undertaken, nobody ever entered my house whom I did not endeavour to satisfy as far as I could in anything he asked of me. You came wanting my life. I did not want you to be the only person who ever went away from here without receiving what he asked for, so when I heard you ask for it I immediately determined to give it to you." Nathan's defining feature is his generosity in giving to others (even to the point of giving his own life to Mitridanes), and his name reflects this since it's derived from the Hebrew verb נָתַן, which means "to give."
