Hrotsvitha

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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? ”

“ The soul may be willing, but that fastidious mind, that delicate body used to luxury, how can we expect them to submit?
PAPHNUTIUS. Have no fear. We know that grave sin demands a grave remedy.
ABBESS. That is true, yet are we not told also to hasten slowly?
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! ”

“ 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. Now blessed be the only Son of God, Who made Himself partaker of our frailty, and showed you mercy, my son Callimachus, by striking you down with the death which has brought you to the true life. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Scene VIII
ABRAHAM. Courage, Mary! You see how swiftly we have made the difficult and toilsome journey.
MARY. Everything is easy when we put our hearts into it.
ABRAHAM. There is your deserted little cell.
MARY. God help me! It was the witness of my sin. I dare not go there.
ABRAHAM. It is natural you should dread the place where the enemy triumphed.
MARY. Where, then, am I to do penance?
ABRAHAM. Go into the inner cell. There you will be safe from the wiles of the serpent.
MARY. Most gladly as it is your wish.
ABRAHAM. Now I must go to my good friend Ephrem. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Scene V
HADRIAN. Antiochus, bring the Greek prisoners before us.
ANTIOCHUS. Step forward, Sapientia. The Emperor has asked for you and your daughters.
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. ”

“ FORTUNATUS. Take care! A monstrous serpent! It is coming towards us!
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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ ABRAHAM. Mary! Mary! my adopted child! Mary, whom I cared for so lovingly and taught with all my skill for ten years! Mary—
EPHREM. Well, what is it?
ABRAHAM. Oh God! She is lost!
EPHREM. Lost? What do you mean?
ABRAHAM. Most miserably. Afterwards she ran away.
EPHREM. But by what wiles did the ancient enemy bring about her undoing?
ABRAHAM. By the wiles of false love. Dressed in a monk’s habit, the hypocrite went to see her often. He succeeded in making the poor ignorant child love him. She leapt from the window of her cell for an evil deed. ”

“ CONSTANCE. The Lover of virginal purity and the Author of all good resolutions made you renounce me because He had already claimed me for His own. May He Who has separated us in the body on earth unite us in the joys of eternity.
GALLICANUS. So be it! So be it!
CONSTANTINE. And now, since we are united in the bond of Christ’s love, you shall live with us in our palace, and be treated with as much honour as though you were our own son.
GALLICANUS. What temptation is to be feared more than the lust of the eyes? ”

“ Grant that the soul, given from on high, may soar into light and joy, and that the body may be cherished peacefully in the soft lap of the earth until that day when, the ashes being brought together again, and the life-giving sap restored to the veins, this same Thais may rise again, a perfect human being as before, and take her place among the glorious white flock who shall be led into the joy of eternity! Grant this, O Thou Who alone art what Thou art—Who livest and reignest and art glorious in the Unity and perfect Trinity through infinite ages! ”

“ PAPHNUTIUS. Grace is the free gift of God and does not depend on our merits. If it did, it could not be called grace.
THAIS. For this let the choirs of heaven praise Him, and all the little twigs and fresh green leaves on earth, all animals, and the great waters. He is patient with us when we fall! He is generous in His gifts when we repent.
PAPHNUTIUS. He loves to be merciful. From all eternity He has preferred pardon to punishment. ”

“ PAPHNUTIUS. Thais.
DISCIPLES. Thais! Thais, the harlot!
PAPHNUTIUS. Yes—she.
DISCIPLE. Everyone has heard of her and her wickedness.
PAPHNUTIUS. It is no wonder, for she is not satisfied to ruin herself with a small band of lovers. She seeks to allure all men through her marvellous beauty, and drag them down with her.
DISCIPLES. What a woeful thing!
PAPHNUTIUS. And it is not only fools and wastrels who squander their substance with her. Citizens of high standing and virtue lay precious things at her feet, and enrich her to their own undoing. ”

“ Thou Who before time began wast born of God the Father, and in the fullness of time wast born again true man, of a mother’s womb—I implore Thee, true Wisdom, co-eternal with the Father, the Creator, Upholder and Governor of the Universe, to grant my prayer! May Gallicanus, who seeks to gain the love which I can give only to Thee, be turned from his unlawful purpose. Take his daughters to Thyself, and pour the sweetness of Thy love into their hearts that they may despise all carnal bonds, and be admitted to the blessed company of virgins who are consecrated to Thee! ”

“ HOPE. The blessed Trinity will give you back your three children.
SAPIENTIA. Courage, my child! The executioner comes towards us with drawn sword.
HOPE. Welcome, sword! Do Thou, O Christ, receive my soul driven from its bodily mansion for the confession of Thy Name.
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. ”

“ HADRIAN. Let these women be taken to the prison near our palace, and give them three days to reflect.
ANTIOCHUS. Soldiers, see that these women are well guarded and given no chance of escape.
Scene IV
SAPIENTIA. Oh, my dearest ones! My beloved children! Do not let this narrow prison sadden you. Do not be frightened by the threat of sufferings to come.
FAITH. Our weak bodies may dread the torture, but our souls look forward with joy to the reward.
SAPIENTIA. You are only children, but your understanding is ripe and strong. It will triumph over your tender years. ”

“ I rejoice from the depths of my soul that the God through Whose grace alone I am what I am should be praised in me, but I am afraid of being thought greater than I am. I know that it is as wrong to deny a divine gift as to pretend falsely that we have received it. So I will not deny that through the grace of the Creator I have acquired some knowledge of the arts. ”

“ 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. ”

“ JOHN. O God, the world cannot contain nor the mind of man comprehend the wonders of Thy incalculable unity, Thou Who alone art what Thou art! 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! ”

“ DISCIPLES. She would not receive a hermit.
PAPHNUTIUS. What if I were to go in the disguise of a lover?
DISCIPLE. If that thought is from God, God will give you strength to accomplish it.
PAPHNUTIUS. I will set out immediately. I shall need your best prayers. Pray that I may not be overcome by the wiles of the serpent. Pray that I may be able to show this soul the beauty of divine love.
DISCIPLE. May He Who laid low the Prince of Darkness give you the victory over the enemy of the human race.
Scene II
PAPHNUTIUS. I am bewildered in this town. I cannot find my way. ”

“ ANTIOCHUS. You must protect yourself.
HADRIAN. That stands to reason. Let the woman be brought before me, and I will examine her and see what can be done.
ANTIOCHUS. You wish me to summon her?
HADRIAN. I have said it.
Scene II
ANTIOCHUS. Foreign woman, what is your name?
SAPIENTIA. Sapientia.
ANTIOCHUS. The Emperor Hadrian orders you to present yourself at the palace.
SAPIENTIA. I am not afraid to go. I have a noble escort in my daughters. Nor do I tremble at the thought of meeting your scowling Emperor face to face.
ANTIOCHUS. It is the way of you Christian rabble to defy authority. ”