The English Moral Plays 309 
Two religious treatises of the second century may be taken to 
illustrate how quickly the allegorical method was absorbed into 
Christian literature. The more important, perhaps, is 7he Pastor of 
Hermas, a strange piece of apocalyptic literature which for three 
centuries enjoyed a popularity that seemed destined to fulfil the 
hopes of its unknown author, who wrote in order that erring 
Christians might be reclaimed. In the first vision the dreamer sees, 
among other things, seven women, who are introduced by the ex- 
positor as the seven Christian virtues, Faith, Self-Restraint, Sim- 
plicity, Innocence, Moderation, Knowledge, and Love. Some of these 
same personifications appear again, with others, in a later vision, 
where they seek to build on the solid rock, the Son of God, the 
high tower that typifies the Church. Other women, representing 
vices, comely in form, but dressed in black, and with disheveled 
hair, carry away the imperfect stones, while the virtues stand guard 
in the completed structure... The apocalyptic element of 7he Pastor 
of Hermas predominates over the allegorical; but the interpretation 
of the visions gives a suggestion of material abundant enough to 
form an extensive and vigorous piece of allegorical narrative. 
The same device of depicting the Christian virtues as young 
women was employed by Tertullian. Among the several treatises 
that he wrote on such abstract themes as modesty, idolatry, and 
penitence, that on patience, De Patentia, is the most significant. 
Towards its close the author draws the likeness of his subject. 
“Her countenance is tranquil and peaceful; her brow serene, con- 
tracted by no wrinkle of sadness or of anger; her eyebrows evenly 
relaxed in gladsome wise, with eyes downcast in humility, not in 
unhappiness; ... her clothing, moreover, about her bosom white and 
well fitted to her person, as being neither inflated nor disturbed.”? 
This suggests no complete allegory, as the Pastor of Hermas does; 
but, elaborating pictorially one allegorical conception, is of equal 
importance. Both works forecast plainly what was to come. 
The tendency toward allegory found in these two treatises 
soon became dominant in Christian literature. The Christian al- 
legorist devised many forms for the expression of his imaginings. 
Virtues and vices appeared as living beings, and the progress of the 
soul in righteousness or unrighteousness was unfolded as a material 
history, marked by crises, sudden reversals of fortune, and eventual 
defeat or victory. In the telling of this story, certain episodes. 

1 Part 3, Similitude 9, especially chaps. 9 and 15. 
2 Cf. Philosophy in Boethius. 
