Hrotsvitha

“ FORTUNATUS. Quick, then! We'll go to the tomb.
CALLIMACHUS. You cannot go quickly enough for me.
SCENE VII
FORTUNATUS. There lies the body. The face is not like the face of a corpse. The limbs show no sign of decay. You can take her to your heart.
CALLIMACHUS. O Drusiana, Drusiana, I worshipped you with my whole soul! I yearned from my very bowels to embrace you! And you repulsed me, and thwarted my desire. Now you are in my power, now I can wound you with my kisses, and pour out my love on you.
FORTUNATUS. Take care! A monstrous serpent! It is coming towards us! ”

“ The wages of sin are no material for good works.
PAPHNUTIUS. You are right. What then do you propose to do with your possessions?
THAIS. Give them to the flames! Burn them to ashes!
PAPHNUTIUS. For what reason?
THAIS. That they may no longer exist in the world. Each one was acquired at the cost of an injury to the goodness and beauty of the Creator. Let them burn.
PAPHNUTIUS. How you are changed! Grace is on your lips! Your eyes are calm, and impure passions no longer burn in them. Oh, miracle! Is this Thais who was once so greedy for gold? Is this Thais, who seeks so humbly the feet of God? ”

“ PAPHNUTIUS. Good mother, I am already weary of delay. What if her lovers should pursue her? What if she be drawn back into the abyss? I am impatient to see her enclosed.
ABBESS. Nothing stands in the way of your enclosing her now. The cell which you told us to prepare is ready.
PAPHNUTIUS. Then enter, Thais! This is just such a refuge as we spoke of on our journey. It is the very place for you. There is room and more than room here for you to weep over your sins.
THAIS. How small it is! How dark! How can a delicate woman live in such a place? ”

“ SAPIENTIA. Walk with me bravely, children, and persevere with one mind in the faith. Think only of the happiness before you—of the martyr's palm.
HOPE. We are ready. And He is with us for Whose love we are to be led to death.
HADRIAN. The three days' respite which of our clemency we granted you is over. If you have profited by it, obey our commands.
SAPIENTIA. We have profited by it. It has strengthened our determination not to yield.
ANTIOCHUS. It is beneath your dignity to bandy words with this obstinate woman. Have you not had enough of her insolence and presumption? ”

“ TRIBUNES. Surrender.
GALLICANUS. Apollo forbid!
TRIBUNES. By Pollux, we must surrender! See, we are surrounded on every side—we are being mown down—we perish!
GALLICANUS. Ye gods! What will happen if the tribunes refuse to obey me, and surrender?
JOHN. Promise you will become a Christian, and you will conquer.
GALLICANUS. I swear! And I will keep my vow.
ONE OF THE ENEMY. Woe to us, King Bradan! Fortune, who but now promised us victory, was mocking us. Our men are weakening, their strength is exhausted—they have lost heart and are giving up the struggle. ”

“ JOHN. This is why we must not grudge the grace of God to anyone. It is no merit of ours if it abounds in ourselves.
CALLIMACHUS. Your rebuke makes me ashamed.
JOHN. Yet it is not for me to oppose you. Drusiana, inspired by God Himself shall raise this man.
DRUSIANA. Divine Essence without material form, Who hast made man in Thine own image and breathed into this clay the spirit of life, bring back the vital heat to the body of Fortunatus, that our triple resurrection may glorify the adorable Trinity.
JOHN. Amen.
DRUSIANA. Fortunatus, awake, and in the name of Christ burst the bonds of death. ”

“ ANTIOCHUS. The boiling fire has burst the cauldron! It has overflowed and consumed every man near it. Only the vile witch who caused the disaster has escaped unhurt.
HADRIAN. It seems we are worsted.
ANTIOCHUS. Yes, we can do nothing.
HADRIAN. She must be beheaded like the other.
ANTIOCHUS. By the sword only can she be destroyed.
HOPE. Charity, my dear, my only sister, have no fear of the tyrant's threats, and do not wince at the thought of suffering. Be strong in faith, and strive to follow the example of your sisters who are going before you to the palace of heaven. ”

“ FORTUNATUS. If it is as you say, if Drusiana has restored me to life and Callimachus believes in Christ, I reject life and choose death. I would rather not exist than see them swelling with grace and virtue!
JOHN. Oh, incredible envy of the devil! Oh, malice of the old serpent, who since he made our first parents taste death has never ceased to writhe at the glory of the righteous! Oh, Fortunatus, brimful of Satan's bitter gall, how much do you resemble the rotten tree that, bearing only bad fruit, must be cut down and cast into the fire! ”

“ THAIS. No, father, leave me here. This place with all its uncleanness is best for me.
PAPHNUTIUS. The time has come for you to cast away your fear, and hope for life! God wishes your penance to end.
THAIS. Let the angels praise Him! He has not despised the love of a humble sinner.
PAPHNUTIUS. Thais, would you rejoice if now you were called upon to lay aside this body?
THAIS. Oh, father, my soul longs to escape from this earth.
PAPHNUTIUS. Thais, you have finished your course here. In fifteen days you will, by God’s grace, pass straight to Paradise. ”

“ HOPE. Here is the only clemency for which I long—here the only mercy I crave.
ANTIOCHUS. Sapientia, what are you murmuring there, standing with uplifted eyes by the body of your dead child?
SAPIENTIA. I am imploring Almighty God to give Hope the same firm courage that He gave Faith.
HOPE. Oh, mother, mother! How wonderful are your prayers! Even as you prayed the uplifted hands of the panting executioners became powerless. I have not felt a twinge of pain.
HADRIAN. So you do not mind scourging! We will try some sharper torture.
HOPE. The most savage and deadly you can invent! ”

“ JULIAN. Return and force Gallicanus to quit the realm or sacrifice to the gods.
SCENE III
GALLICANUS. Do not waste your breath, fellows. Your advice is useless. I hold all that exists beneath the sun as nothing compared with eternal life. Banished for Christ's sake, I shall retire to Alexandria, where I hope to win the martyr's crown.
SCENE IV
SOLDIERS. Gallicanus, exiled by your orders, fled to Alexandria. He was arrested in that city by the Governor, Ratianus, and has perished by the sword.
JULIAN. That is well.
SOLDIERS. But John and Paul still defy you. ”

“ ANDRONICUS. What astonishes me most is that the Divine Voice should have promised the resurrection of him who planned the crime, and not of him who was only an accomplice. Maybe it is because the one, blinded by the passion of the flesh, knew not what he did, while the other sinned of deliberate malice.
JOHN. With what wonderful exactness the Supreme Judge examines the deeds of men! How even the scales in which He weighs the merits of each individual man! None can understand, none explain. Human wisdom cannot grasp the subtlety of the divine judgment. ”

“ Will you release from the fetters of death this evil creature, this traitor, who led me away and persuaded me to venture on that horrible deed?
JOHN. You should not wish to deprive him of divine mercy, my son.
CALLIMACHUS. He tried to ruin me! He is not worthy of resurrection!
JOHN. We are taught by our faith that man must forgive his fellow-man if he would be forgiven by God.
ANDRONICUS. That is true.
JOHN. Remember that when the only Son of God, the Virgin’s first-born, the one man born without a stain, came into this world, He found us all bowed under the heavy weight of sin. ”

“ ARTEMIA. We do not question this. You will find us eager to obey you in all things, but never so eager as when you exhort us to confess our faith and keep our vow of purity.
CONSTANCE. That is a good answer, and one worthy of a noble mind. I see that through divine grace you already have the faith.
ARTEMIA. How could we poor idolators have any good thought if light had not been given us from above?
CONSTANCE. The strength of your faith makes me hope that Gallicanus too will believe some day.
ARTEMIA. He has only to be taught. Then he must believe.
CONSTANCE. Send for John and Paul. ”

“ SAPIENTIA. Oh, Charity, lovely offspring of my womb, the one hope of my bosom, do not disappoint your mother who expects you to win this last fight! Despise safety now, and you will attain the same glory which shines on your sisters, and, like them, wear the crown of unspotted virginity.
CHARITY. Support me with your holy prayers, mother. Pray that I may be worthy to share their joy.
SAPIENTIA. Stand fast in the faith to the end, and your reward will be an everlasting holiday.
HADRIAN. Now, little Charity. Your sisters' insolence has exhausted my patience and exasperated me. ”

“ PAPHNUTIUS. No, I am in good health.
ANTONY. That’s well! I am glad of it.
PAPHNUTIUS. Brother Antony, it is three years since my peace was broken and disturbed by the persistent vision of a soul in peril. I heard a voice calling me night and day. But I stopped my ears—fearing my weakness. I thought “She calls me to ruin me.” “No, no,” the voice said. “I call you to save me.”
ANTONY. A woman’s voice!
PAPHNUTIUS. Before my vision it was well known to us all that in the great town on the edge of the desert there was a harlot called Thais, through whom many were destroyed body and soul. ”

“ THAIS. I suppose that the merits of each man are weighed in the balance, and that we shall be punished or rewarded according to our deeds.
PAPHNUTIUS. O Christ! How wondrous is Thy patience! How wondrous is Thy love! Even when those who believe in Thee sin deliberately, Thou dost delay their destruction!
THAIS. Why do you tremble? Why do you turn pale? Why do you weep?
PAPHNUTIUS. I shudder at your presumption. I weep for your damnation. How, knowing what you know, can you destroy men in this manner and ruin so many souls, all precious and immortal? ”

“ Why did you desert me? Why did you not tell me of your fall? Then dear brother Ephrem and I could have done a worthy penance.
MARY. Once I had committed that sin, and was defiled, how could I dare come near you who are so holy?
ABRAHAM. Oh, Mary, has anyone ever lived on earth without sin except the Virgin’s Son?
MARY. No one, I know.
ABRAHAM. It is human to sin, but it is devilish to remain in sin. Who can be justly condemned? Not those who fall suddenly, but those who refuse to rise quickly. ”

“ She consented to be enclosed in a narrow cell. She accepted her penance with sweetness and humility.
ANTONY. I am rejoiced by what you have told me! All the blood in my old veins exults and rejoices!
PAPHNUTIUS. That is because you are a saint.
ANTONY. Brother, you cannot mean that you are sad?
PAPHNUTIUS. I rejoice immeasurably in her conversion. Yet at times I am uneasy. I fear that the penance may have been too long and severe for a woman of such delicate frame.
ANTONY. That does you no wrong. Where true love is, loving compassion is not wanting.
PAPHNUTIUS. I came to beg yours for Thais. ”

“ Oh, Mary, do not let apathy prevent your seizing the moment for repentance. It matters not how wickedness has flourished. Divine grace can flourish still more abundantly!
MARY. If there were the smallest hope of forgiveness, surely I should not shrink from doing penance.
ABRAHAM. Have you no pity for me? I have sought you out with so much pain and weariness! Oh shake off this despair which we are taught is the most terrible of all sins. Despair of God’s mercy—for that alone there is no forgiveness. Sin can no more embitter His sweet mercy than a spark from a flint can set the ocean on fire. ”

“ IRENA. Better far that my body should suffer outrage than my soul.
SISINNIUS. When you are dishonoured and forced to live among harlots, you can no longer be numbered among the virgins.
IRENA. The wage of sin is death; the wage of suffering a crown. If the soul does not consent, there is not guilt.
SISINNIUS. In vain I try to spare her, and show pity to her youth!
SOLDIERS. We could have told you as much. She is not to be frightened, and nothing can make her worship the gods.
SISINNIUS. I will show her no more mercy.
SOLDIERS. That is the only way to deal with her. ”