The English Moral Plays 325 
are saved by reason from total subjection; but easily, by concealing 
her dread countenance under the guise of Moderation, she draws 
the unsuspecting soldiers into her toils. Rendered thus uncertain 
as to friend and foe, they give way, until Charity, although unarmed, 
attacks her. The virtue strangles her opponent, and stripping the 
booty from the corpse, gives it to the poor. 
Having thus slain the parent of so many evils, Charity expounds 
the lesson which man should learn from the sparrows’ simple trust 
in God. Immediately all care leaves the virtues, as the terrors of 
war vanish; the sword rests in its scabbard, and the field shines in 
the purple light of liquid day. The victors, led by Concord, return 
to camp singing joyful hymns, such as Israel sang when their pur- 
suers were swallowed up in the Red Sea. The victory, apparently, 
has been won. But just as Concord is about to enter the strong- 
hold, an enemy that has been lurking in the crowd of soldiers 
suddenly strikes her with his sword. The assailant is Discord, or 
Heresy, who has followed with murderous intent. Her attempt is 
foiled by the virtue’s armor, and it only remains for Faith, the queen 
of virtues and the first combatant, to pierce the tongue of the blas- 
phemer with her spear, and to deliver her to the soldiers to be 
torn to pieces and thrown to the dogs and birds of prey. The poem 
then closes with addresses by Faith and Concord, and by a prayer 
of thanks to Christ for his aid, and a look forward to his second 
coming, when sin shall be finally vanquished. 
The literary value of this poem and its relation to classical epics, 
need not concern the student of the moral plays. To what degree 
and in what manner, though, it expressed the ethical ideas of the 
fourth century, and what its influence was on the late Middle Ages, 
are of great importance. In the first place, its conception of the 
virtues and the vices was very characteristic ofits time. The struggle 
of Paganism against Christianity was as yet unfinished, and con- 
sequently the first of the theological virtues plays the leading role. 
It is Faith, remember, who begins the combat, and brings it to a 
close. The conception of Patience, moreover, corresponds closely 
to Tertullian’s ; and Charity, in accordance with the prevailing theo- 
logy, is depicted both as almsgiving and as love of God. In the second 
place, Prudentius gave these personifications a symbolic realism that 
kept them long alive in letters and art. The final ascent of Hope to 
heaven; the hooked hand of Avarice; the unruffled self-control of Pa- 
tience ; the pomp of Luxury—all were too truly suggestive to be for- 
gotten. They became the common property of poets and theologians, 
and proved readily adaptable to the needs of sculptors and painters. 
