The Enghsh Moral Plays 323 
what guard have we to insure our liberty, what battle-line can best 
withstand the furies that have penetrated our hearts? For you, 
good Leader, have not exposed Christians to destroying vices without 
giving them great virtues and courage to endure. You yourself 
order the defending hosts to fight in the besieged body; you your- 
self arm the spirit with strength to contend powerfully in your be- 
half, and to overcome the lusts that battle in the heart. 
The actual combat then begins in a way natural to the fourth 
century, when heresy and sedition still menaced Christianity, and 
to an author familiar with the burning appeals of Tertullian. It is 
Faith who first takes the field, neglecting in her eagerness for glory 
in new battles to arm herself with the javelin, or cover her un- 
protected shoulders with a corslet. Idolatry at once assails her, 
but Faith smites the hostile head bound with crime, bearing to the 
ground the bleeding mouth, and trampling on the glazed eyes. 
Her victorious retinue, recruited from the thousand martyrs, exults, 
while Faith rewards all, according to their deserts, with floral wreaths 
and purple robes. 
Next Chastity in gleaming armor meets on the grassy field the 
attack of Sodomite Lust, who tries to smirch her face and blind 
her eyes with the black smoke of her pitchy torch. But the unter- 
rified virgin strikes the torch from Lust’s hand with a stone, and 
with her sword cuts the throat of the disarmed courtesan. Black 
vapors rising from the bloody wound pollute the air, while over 
the lifeless body of the great tempter—‘“ vexatrix hominum ”—the 
victorious queen, after the copious epic fashion, exults in her triumph, 
which she likens to that of Judith. 
At once attention is drawn to Patience, as she stands unmoved 
in the midst of the tumult and slaughter of battle. Wrath sees 
her from afar, the “ Martis spectatrix libera nostri,” and with ugly 
threats hurls his spear. It falls, however, harmless from the breast- 
plate that the provident goddess has put on, and Patience remains 
undisturbed, a living embodiment of the virtue that Tertullian had 
so exalted. Then Wrath grasps his sword, and smites her helmet; 
but the blade is shattered, and in the fury of defeat Wrath slays 
himself with a spear which he snatches from the ground. Well, 
then, may Patience boast that, in her own peaceful way, without 
resort to weapons, she has triumphed over her foe. Meanwhile, 
her faithful supporter Job ceases from combat—such slight hints 
suggest the struggle raging about the protagonists—and together 
they pass through the army and leave the field. 
In spite of these reverses, the vices continue to force the fighting. 
Trans. Conn. Acap., Vol. XIV. 22 Marcu, 1910. 
