Young—Officium Pastorum. 
347 
chorus: Ratum vidimus in clioro angelorum Salvatorem 
Dominum. 
The peculiar aptness of the question presented by the soloist is 
apparent in the plural Pastores, which is dramatically applic¬ 
able to the several persons of the chorus. 
That the dramatic value of this dialogue was felt by the 
writers of liturgical drama can be definitely shown in con¬ 
nection with the office of Lauds, of which the first antiphon is 
normally 1 the following: 
ahtiphoha : Quern vidistis, Pastores, dicite ? Annuntiate 
nobis in terris quis apparuit ? hlatum vidimus in choro 
angelorum Salvatorem Pominum, alleluia, alleluia . 2 
In the course of the Officium Padorum as produced in the 
cathedral of Rouen, we find this antiphon treated as follows: 
ARCHIEPISCOPUS UEL ALIUS SACERDOS UERSUS AD PASTORES 
dicat : Quern uidistis, Pastores, dicite ? annunciate no¬ 
bis in terris quis apparuit ? 
PASTORES RESPOXDEANT : 
ISTatum uidimus, et cetera , et totam antiphonam finiant . 3 
As a matter of fact, however, the available evidence indi¬ 
cates that this promising dramatic element was neither widely 
used nor extensively developed in liturgical drama. A (side 
from its modest part in the Offcium Pastorum of Rouen, it 
seems to have played no role in the true drama of the Christ¬ 
mas liturgy. To be sure, it has been suggested 4 that the dia¬ 
logue form of the Lauds antiphon (Quern vidistis ), quoted 
above, may have influenced the formation of the trope Quern 
quaertis in praesepe , the development of which has been traced 
1 There are, of course, exceptions. In Bibl. Nat., MS. lat. 783, 
Breviarium Lemovicense saec. xiv. fol. 58 r , for instance, the first 
antiphon of Christmas lauds is: Antiphona: Natus est nobis hodie 
Saluator, quid e'st Xpistus Dominus in ciuitate Dauid. 
2 Migne, Pat. lat., Vol. LXXVIII, col. 735. 
3 Rouen, Bibl. de la Ville, MS. 384 (Y. 110), Ordinarium Rothoma- 
gense saec. XIV, fol. 23r, printed above, p. 332. Cf. Bibl. Nat., MS. 
lat. 904, Graduate Rothomagense saec. XIII, fol. 13 v , printed above, 
p. 326. The delivery of this dialogue was popularly called chanter 
la Pastourelle. See Grenier, p. 390. 
4 Anz, pp. 37-38. 
