The English Moral Plays S17 
Even when the champions of good and evil have actually met in 
pairs, Pride with Meekness, Wrath ‘with Patience, Envy with 
Charity, and so on, the sermon obscures the narrative. In response 
to Pride’s threats, Meekness comments on the cause of Lucifer’s 
fall and on the humility of Christ, garnishing her discourse with the 
Psalmist’s reflections on the fate of the proud. So, too, Patience, 
in utter disregard of the “styffe stonys” with which Wrath pelts 
her, draws a moral from Christ’s example: 
whanne he stod meker panne a chylde, 
& lete boyes hym betyn & bynde: 
& zyt, to deyen he was glad, 
us, pacyens to techyn & lerne. (2128—38) 
And against Envy’s threat, 
let Mankynde cum to us doun, 
or I schal schetyn to pis castel town 
a ful fowle defamacyon, (2157—59) 
Charity replies: 
pou pou speke wycke & falsé fame, 
be wers schal I neuere do my dede. 
who-so peyryth falsly a-noper mans name, 
Cristys curs he schal haue to mede: 
ve homini illi per quem scandalum venit. 
(Matt. 18. 7.) 
who-so wyl not hys tunge tame,— 
take it sothé, as mes crede,— 
wo, wo, to hym, & mekyl schame! 
In holy wrytte pis I rede; 
for euere bou art a schrewe. (2161—69) 
Thus the battle becomes ecclesiastic exposition, with no headway 
in action. The second assault would have failed as the first did, 
had not the enticements of Covetise finally drawn Mankind, in spite 
of Generosity’s earnest pleadings, again to forsake his friends for 
illicit pleasures with his carnal enemies. 
Mankind’s second experience in the toils of sin needs no analysis. 
Since he has been endowed by God with freedom of the will, he 
must be left, the virtues declare, to suffer the punishment of his ill- 
advised choice. The time, however, is short in which he can 
enjoy the wealth that Covetise gives him; for “drery Dethe” soon 
appears to call him to judgment. The bringing of this summons 
