The English Moral Plays 357 
of Sapience, who says that man can be redeemed only by his 
Creator, and that of the members of the Godhead the Son is the 
fittest for the task.! Here the dispute ends. But in a poem of 
such vast dimensions as Gréban’s, this, the central incident, as it is 
represented, of human history, could not be at this point finally 
dropped. As Christ prays in the garden that the cup may be 
taken from him, God begs the four virtues to reopen the case and 
find some milder form of atonement. Here, though, Justice remains 
obdurate to Mercy’s entreaties, and the original verdict is carried 
to its fulfillment—the Passion. Finally, after the Resurrection and 
the Ascension, God summons the sisters for the last time, reviews 
the cause of the dispute, and gets their admission that full recompense 
has been rendered by the Son.? 
Thus the miracle-plays and the Passion plays introduced the al- 
legory as the forerunner of the redemption. It formed the basis, 
for example, for the pageant of Zhe Salutation and Conception in 
the so-called Coventry cycle. There Contemplacio calls upon God to 
end speedily for prophet and patriarch the long imprisonment in 
hell. But against the Father’s inclination to forgive, Truth brings ob- 
jection, and the. debate results. Peace effects a reconciliation, and 
Filius, at her suggestion, offers himself as the required sacrifice.? 
The debate was adopted also by the authors of the English moral 
plays, but in a different manner. The miracle-plays accepted the 
incident as an historical fact, the precursor of the central point in 
the world’s history. The homilists of the moralities, on the con- 
trary, who to an erring humanity held out the hope of salvation, 
brought the theme forward from its historical setting in the past 
to the present, in order to exhibit it in its eternal significance. 
They regarded it not as a single occurrence, but as the ever 
recurring ordeal that decides the destiny of every mortal man. In 
this way the English moral play suited the allegory to its purpose. 
The dispute between Mercy, Truth, Righteousness, and Peace 
appears in three extant English moral plays, but only once in its 
true form. FRespublica removes it from its true setting, and strips it 
of its inherent beauty, to render it serviceable in a political drama 
whose interests were largely secular. In response to Respublica’s 
prayers for help against her civil enemies, Mercy is sent to earth 

1741-3378. > 18812 ff. and 34088 ff. 
* Reprinted by Manly, in part by Pollard, and also in the edition of 
the cycle. 
*'The three French moralities, which I have not seen, treat it as a 
separate incident. 
