334 Elbert N. S. Thompson 
plain in detail how the allegory of Prudentius influenced the church’s 
understanding of one of the corner-stones of its faith, will gather 
together all that has been thus far said of the influence of the 
Psychomachia, and of the alliance between the pulpit and the stage. 
Very curiously, it may seem to the modern mind, the seven 
petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, like the first seven Beatitudes, were 
connected with Isaiah’s vision: “And the spirit of the Lord shall 
rest upon him,, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit 
of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the 
spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him.”!? Augustine explains 
how the petitions of the Pater Noster call for this “sevenfold 
operation of the Holy Ghost,” beginning with the last, which as 
the lowest in rank is the first for man to acquire, and leading up 
to those that concern the heavenly life.2, The thought was universally 
adopted by the church, to be incorporated into such widely in- 
fluential encyclopedias of doctrine as the G/ossa Ordinaria, and 
such treatises as the Speculum Ecclesiae.* Thus the separate clauses 
of the prayer came to stand very definitely for seven spiritual traits ; 
but, in view of this, they could not fail to be regarded also as 
antithetic to the seven deadly sins. Churchmen taught that the 
first petition was a call for protection against pride, the second 
against envy, and the others in order pleas against wrath, sloth, 
avarice, gluttony, and lust. Accordingly, the figures of these seven 
virtues and seven vices hovered before the eyes of the children 
of the church, suggesting more or less vividly, according to the 
personal equation, the battle of Prudentius’ poem. Here, then, one 
finds how directly the influence of the Psychomachia inspired the 
interpretation of one of the most fundamental portions of Christian 
instruction. 
Even this superficial synopsis of medieval commentary will il- 
lustrate the nature and origin of the earliest known morality plays 
both in England and France. In 1384 Wiclif mentioned “ be pater- 
noster in englizsch tunge, as men seyen in pe pley of York.”® 
This piece is described by the records of the gild that had its per- 
formance in charge as “a play, setting forth the goodness of the 

‘ Tsaiah 11. 2. I translate from the Vulgate. 
* Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Bk.1, chaps. 3, 4; Bk. 2, chaps. 10, 11. 
3 Strabo, Glossa Ordinaria, Patr. Lat., 114. 100—08. Spec. Fecl. Tbid., 
172. 819. 
* Hugo deS. Victor, Allegoriae in Novum Testamentum, Patr. Lat., 175. T4— 
87. Lib. 2, chaps. 3-14. 
5 York Plays, Xxviii—xxix. 
