Hrotsvitha

“ CALLIMACHUS. A curse on me! And on you, Fortunatus, who led me on and urged me to this infamy. Wretch, may you die from the serpent's bite! Terror and remorse are killing me.
SCENE VIII
JOHN. Come, Andronicus, let us go to Drusiana's tomb, and commend her soul to Christ in prayer.
ANDRONICUS. It is like your holiness not to forget one who trusted in you.
JOHN. Behold! The invisible God appears to us, made visible in the form of a beautiful youth. ”

“ CALLIMACHUS. I truly repent my foul deed.
JOHN. Again that is well.
CALLIMACHUS. I am filled with such remorse that I have no desire to live unless I can be born again in Christ and changed.
JOHN. I do not doubt that heavenly grace is at work in you.
CALLIMACHUS. Oh, hasten then to help a man in dire need! Give me some comfort! Help me to throw off the grief which crushes me! Show me how a Pagan may change into a Christian, a fornicator into a chaste man! Oh, set my feet on the way of truth! Teach me to live mindful of the divine promises! ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ This day shall be kept as a festival in thanksgiving for the wonderful conversion of Callimachus. Men shall long speak of it, and of his resurrection from the dead, and of Drusiana, on whom his love brought misery. Let us give thanks to God, that just and penetrating Judge Who alone can search the heart and reins and reward or punish fairly. ”

“ O Thou Who by mingling different elements canst create man, and by separating those elements again canst dissolve him, grant that the spirit and the body of this Callimachus may be joined once more, and that he may rise again wholly as he was, so that all looking on him may praise Thee, Who alone canst work miracles! ”

“ JOHN. The man who is the victim of one is the victim of the other, for they have no separate existence.
ANDRONICUS. Please explain.
JOHN. The proud are envious, and the envious are proud. A jealous man cannot endure to hear others praised, and seeks to belittle those who are more perfect. ”