Young—Ordo Prophet arum. 
39 
to the view of Magnin. On the other hand it may be said that a 
liturgical play may normally be expected to end with a rubric of 
some kind. For the present one may well withhold judgment . 105 
It is clear, in summary, that however uncertain we may be as to 
external matters of production and liturgical relationship, we must 
certainly recognize in the Limoges version a notable advance in the 
literary treatment of the Ordo Prophetarum. Most noteworthy 
are the elimination of the narrative and expository element of the 
lectio, and the versifying of both summonses and responses. In 
addition one must commend the force and aptness of the opening 
stanzas, seen here for the first time . 106 
V 
Although the advance shown by the Limoges version in literary 
form is marked, the approach of this production toward acted 
drama is, as we have seen, a matter of uncertainty, because of the 
absence of rubrics indicating impersonation. We may proceed, 
then, to a play of the thirteenth century from the Cathedral of 
Laon, in which impersonation and specific dramatic action are un¬ 
mistakable i 1 
105 Sepet (pp. 24-26, 84) undoubtedly exaggerates the significance of the 
rubric Hie incoant Benedicamus. He not only considers this rubric and the 
subsequent lines as organically related to the preceding dramatic text, but he 
also regards the dramatic text itself as a trope of the Benedicamus. As a 
matter of fact, we cannot be sure that the dramatic text is to be connected 
with the Benedicamus; and even if the dramatic text was performed imme¬ 
diately before the Benedicamus, only by exaggeration can it be called "un 
trope du Benedicamus” (p. 25). L». Gautier (Les Tropes, Paris, 1886, p. 2) has 
ably defined a trope as an extra-liturgical addition to a traditional liturgical 
piece, by way of preface, interpolation, or conclusion. By an exaggerated 
application of this definition every liturgical play may, of course, be regarded 
as a trope, since every such play must take a place before or after some 
liturgical element. But the exaggeration in calling Hilarius’ Daniel, for ex¬ 
ample, a trope of the Te Deum or of the Magnificat is obvious (See DuMeril, 
pp. 241-254). When a dramatic piece has sufficient complexity and complete¬ 
ness for maintaining itself as an independent production, one may safely cease 
regarding it as a trope of the liturgical element that happens to precede or 
follow it. 
108 The opening stanzas ( Omnes gentes congaudentes . . . pellite cal- 
liginem) are found also as part of a longer composition Gloriosi et famosi to be 
considered below, pp. 41, 78. 
1 Laon, BibliothSque de la Ville, Ms. 263, Troparium-Hymnarium Laudunense 
ssec. xiii, fol. 147v-149r. The manuscript is briefly described in Catalogue 
