Plays, Roswitha of Gandersheim [readera ebook reader TXT] 📗

not worth pity, yet you have shown me no harshness; you have led me to repent not by threats but by gentleness and love. Abraham I ask only one thing, Mary. Be faithful to God for the rest of your life. Mary With all my strength I will persevere, and though my flesh may fail, my spirit never will. Abraham You must serve God with as much energy as you have served the world. Mary If His will is made perfect in me it will be because of your merits. Abraham Come, let us hasten on our way. Mary Yes, let us set out at once. I would not stay here another moment. 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. He alone mourned with me when you were lost, and he must rejoice with me now that you have been found. Mary Of course. Scene IX Ephrem Well, brother! If I am not mistaken, you bring good news. Abraham The best in the world. Ephrem You have found your lost lamb? Abraham I have, and, rejoicing, have brought her back to the fold. Ephrem Truly this is the work of divine grace. Abraham That is certain. Ephrem How is she spending her days? I should like to know how you have ordered her life. What does she do? Abraham All that I tell her. Ephrem That is well. Abraham Nothing is too difficult for her⁠—nothing too hard. She is ready to endure anything. Ephrem That is better. Abraham She wears a hair shirt, and subdues her flesh with continual vigils and fasts. She is making the poor frail body obey the spirit by the most rigorous discipline. Ephrem Only through such a severe penance can the stains left by the pleasures of the flesh be washed away. Abraham Those who hear her sobs are cut to the heart, and the tale of her repentance has turned many from their sins. Ephrem It is often so. Abraham She prays continually for the men who through her were tempted to sin, and begs that she who was their ruin may be their salvation. Ephrem It is right that she should do this. Abraham She strives to make her life as beautiful as for a time it was hideous. Ephrem I rejoice at what you tell me. To the depths of my heart. Abraham And with us rejoice phalanxes of angels, praising the Lord for the conversion of a sinner. Ephrem Over whom, we are told, there is more joy in heaven than over the just man who needs no penance. Abraham The more glory to Him, because there seemed no hope on earth that she could be saved. Ephrem Let us sing a song of thanksgiving⁠—let us glorify the only begotten Son of God, Who of His love and mercy will not let them perish whom He redeemed with His holy blood. Abraham To Him be honour, glory, and praise through infinite ages. Amen. Paphnutius Argument

The conversion of Thais by the hermit Paphnutius. Obedient to a vision, he leaves the desert, and, disguised as a lover, seeks out Thais in Alexandria. She is moved to repent by his exhortations and, renouncing her evil life, consents to be enclosed in a narrow cell, where she does penance for three years. Paphnutius learns from a vision granted to Anthony’s disciple Paul that her humility has won her a place among the blessed in Paradise. He brings her out of her cell and stays by her side until her soul has left her body.

Characters

Paphnutius

Thais

The Abbess

Lovers fo Thais

Disciples of Paphnutius

Antony

Paul

Paphnutius Scene I Disciples9 Why do you look so gloomy, father Paphnutius? Why do you not smile at us as usual? Paphnutius When the heart is sad the face clouds over. It is only natural. Disciples But why are you sad? Paphnutius I grieve over an injury to my Creator. Disciples What injury? Paphnutius The injury His own creatures made in His very image inflict on Him. Disciples Oh, father, your words fill us with fear! How can such things be? Paphnutius It is true that the impassible Majesty cannot be hurt by injuries. Nevertheless, speaking in metaphor, and as if God were weak with our weakness, what greater injury can we conceive than this⁠—that while the greater world is obedient, and subject to His rule, the lesser world resists His guidance? Disciples What do you mean by the lesser world? Paphnutius Man. Disciples Man? Paphnutius Yes. Disciples What man? Paphnutius Every man. Disciples How can this be? Paphnutius It has pleased our Creator. Disciples We do not understand. Paphnutius It is not plain to many. Disciples Explain, father. Paphnutius Be attentive, then. Disciples We are eager to learn. Paphnutius You know that the greater world is composed of four elements which are contraries, yet by the will of the Creator these contraries are adjusted in harmonious arrangement. Now, man is composed of even more contrary parts. Disciples What can be more contrary than the elements? Paphnutius The body and the soul. The soul is not mortal like the body, nor the body spiritual as is the soul. Disciples That is true. But what did you mean, father, when you spoke of “harmonious arrangement”? Paphnutius I meant that as low and high sounds harmoniously united produce a certain music, so discordant elements rightly adjusted make one world. Disciples It seems strange that discords can become concords. Paphnutius Consider. No thing is composed of “likes”⁠—neither can it be made up of elements which have no proportion among themselves, or which are entirely different in substance and nature. Disciples What is music, master? Paphnutius One of the branches of the “quadrivium” of philosophy, my son.