THEBAID
561
THEBAID
is impossible to pursue the subject here. We have
an Italian tragedy, the "Sofonisba", by G. Trissino,
acted before Pope Leo X in 1515, while the early come-
dies (Boiardo's "Timone" was presented before 1494)
were introduced gradually in the wake of improvised
burlesques to which the arlccchino (harlequin) con-
tributed a thread of unity but which still savoured
something of the earliest moralities. In any case it
is to be noted that no sooner had a j)opular drama
established itself independently of ecclesiastical influ-
ence than the licentious excesses of such WTiters as
Ariosto, IMacchiavelli, and Ai-etino (Leonardo Bruni)
forced the Church back into much the same attitude
of uncompromising hostility to the stage which existed
under the Roman Empire. The representation of
sacred and moral dramas and sometimes of classical
plays was indeed encouraged in colleges and similar
institutions. The plays, mostly in Latin, which were
\\Titten and acted in the Jesuit schools, form quite
a literature by themselves (See e. g. Bahlmann,
"Jesuiten-Dramen d. niedcrrhcin. Ordensprov.",
189G). But apart from such scholastic exercises the
public theatres, on account of the laxity of morals
which as a rule prevails at such representations, are
nearly everywhere forbidden to the clergy by the
decrees of provincial and diocesan synods (see the
"Collectio Lacensis", passim). It is maintained by
some that these prohibitions have only force to bind
the clergy belonging to the diocese or province in
which they are issued whilst they remain within the
limits of the diocese, but the point is at best doubtful.
No authoritative decision has ever been given which
would allow clerics who come from a diocese in which
attendance at the theatre is forbidden, when passing
through another diocese in which it is equally for-
bidden, to regard themselves as free to visit the theatre
at will. To assist at i)erformances which are grossly
improper is of course forbidden both to clergy and
laity alike, both on account of the proximate danger of
sin as also of the scandal which may thereby be given
to others. Finally we may note that in the Papal
States no permanent public theatre was allowed to be
constructed until 1691 and the theatre which was then
opened by permission of Alexander VIII at Tor di
Nona was subsequently dismantled by his successor
Innocent XII. But in the course of the eighteenth
century several theatres were built in Rome with
papal sanction, though they were subjected to a very
strict censorship and were closed at sacred seasons.
The Church and the Theatre. — Stara. Zur WUndigung der
kirrh. AnschauiinQpn iibrr der Theaterwesen in Theol. Quartal'
tchrifl. LXIX (1887), S32-666; Hefele, Ueber den Rioorismus,
etr. in Theol. Quartalschnft. XXUI (1841). 396 seq.. afterwards
reprinted in his Beilrdge (1864); Mohler, Symbolik.Gth ed.,
512 ff.; BossUET, Maximes et reflexions sur la eomedie (Pang,
1693); Plcmptbe, in Did. Christ. Ant., s. v. Actors; Mayor,
lac. cil. a. v. Theatre: Prynne, Histriomas'ix (London, 1672).
Medieval Drama. — A vast literature has grown up about this subject especially of late years. Only a few leading works can be mentioned here. E. K. Chambers, The Mediicval Stage (2 vols.. Oxford, 1903) : Creizenach, Geschichte des neueren Dramas, I (Halle. 1873): Petit de Julleville. Le^ Mysth-es (2 vols.. Paris. 1880): D'.-iNCONA. Origini del Teatro Italiano (2nd ecL. 2 vols., Turin, 1891); .\. W. Ward, History of Eng. Dramatic Literature, I (2 ed.. London, 1899); Gaylet, Plays of our Forefathers, New York, 190S: W, Meyer, Fragments Burana (Gottingen, 1901); Davidson, English Mystery Plays (London, 1892): Du Meril. Orinines latines du Thedtre moderne (Caen, 1849); CoussEMAKER, Drames liturgiques du moyen Age (Paris, 1860); with music (Paris, 1896); Milchsack. £)ie Os(er- uiW Passionsspidc (Wolfenbiittcl, 1880); Ca8t£. Les drames litur- giques lie la cnth'drale de Rouen (Evreujt, 1893); R. Froninq, Das Drama des MiltrlnUcrs (3 vols.. Stuttgart. 1891); Lanoe, Die latnnischen Osterfeiern (Munich, 1887); Wechssler, Die romanischen Mnrienklagen (Halle, 1893i: ScHoNBACH. Die Marirnklagen (Graj. I87.i) ; Cohen, Histoire de la mise-en-scint dans le thc6tre religieux fran<;ais du moyen Age (Paris, 1906); Sepet. Les Prophites du Christ in Bib. de VEcole des Charles, XXVIII, and published separately (Paris. 1878); Idem. Le drame chrHien au moyen Age (Paris, 1878) ; Idem, Origines cath- oliques du theAtre mndcrne (Paris, 1878): Wirth, Die Oster- und Passionsspiele his zum XVI. jahrhundert; Fronino, Das Drama des Reformntionszcil (iiliittgaTt, 1910): Hartmann, Uiberdasalt- spanische Dreikonig-spiel (Iveipzig. 1679): Anz. Die lateirtisrben magier-spiele (Leipzig, 190.5); Pollard. English Miracle Plays (2nd ed., London, 1898); Cadt, Liturgical Basis of ToumeUy
XIV.— 36
Mysteries in Publications of Modern Lang. A'n of America. XXIV
(Baltimore. 1909), 419-69: K. Yodng, Some Texts of Liturg.
Plays in Publications of Modern Lang. .A'n, XXIV (Baltimore,
1909), 294-332 and other papers in the same periodical;
K. YouNO, The 'Harrowing of Hell' in Liturgical Drama in
Trans, of Wisconsin Academy, XVI, pt. 2, 1909; R\ND, Sermo de
Confusione Diaboli in Modern Philolony, II (1904); Frerk,
The Winchester Troper (Henry Bradsh.-iw Society, Lond., 1878;
Ward and others in Cambridge History of English Literature,
V, i-iii.
Herbert Thurston.
Thebaid. — The valley of the Nile, under Roman domination, was divided into four provinces: Lower and Upper Egypt, Lower and Upper Thebaid. The last two comprised the upper part of the valley. During the fourth and fifth centuries it was the chosen land of the monks, who by their sanctity and by the form they impressed on the monastic sy.stem greatly influenced the East and the West. Their mona.sterie3 may be divided into several groups. The best known is the Pachomian group, founded and legislated for by St. Pachomius. They formed a real religious order with Tabenna as a mother-house and its superior as their general. Besides Tabenna there were Peboou, Schenesit, Akhmin, Esnch, Monchosis, Thebaid, Tes- mine, Hermopolis, and Armoutim. Saint Pachomius governed this group till his death (346), and was suc- ceeded by Abbot Orcisius, and then by Abbot Theo- dore. There was a community of women, governed by Pachomius's sister, following the same rule as the men. The hfe of the holy founder and the rule he drew up reveal the interior organization of these monasteries and the congregation. It has all the essential characteristics of cenobitic religious life. Vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, a dress dis- tinct from that of secular persons, lengthy psalmodies, manual work, and penitential exercises. The monks lived in huts scattered in groups. The groups were enclosed by a wall and formed the monasterv. The superior general had absolute authority over each house and over its superior. He held a general as- sembly of all the religious twice a year. Bgol founded at Atripe a group distinct from that of Tabenna. We know of it from the hfe of his suc- cessor Schnoudi. The monks even increased the austerities prescribed by St. Pachomius and could change from the cenobitic to the eremitical life. Schnoudi died about 452 at the age of 118. His re- form had only a mediocre success.
The eremitical life was introduced into the Lower Thebaid by St. Anthony. Bom in 251, he embraced the ascetic life at the age of twenty; then impelled by a love of solitude he buried himself in the desert. After twenty years of complete isolation the fame of his sanctity drew around him disciples who imitated his mode of life. Like him they were hermits though re- maining under his authority. Their solitude was relative. Those more advanced in years had one or more disciples, whom they instructed in the paths of perfection. Others had companions or neighbours. They visited one another. Grottoes or huts like those of the fellaheen served them as cells. The rules called by St. Anthony's name are not his composition; but his biography, compiled by his admirer and friend St. Athanasius in 365, preserves the memory of his vir- tues and his teaching. The author wished to illus- trate what the life of a monk should be. It influenced the development of eastern and western monachism very consider.ably. Most of the Egj'ptian monks of that period were more or less directly connected with the school of St. Anthony, for instance the two Macarii, Isidore, Heraclides, and Pambo, who are looked upon as the founders of the group of Nitria. The group of Scete derives its origin from the same school. They were numerous fervent centres of a partly cenobitic.al, p.artly eremiticallife. The "His- torica Lausiaca" of Palladius gives us the details of the ordinary life of the Nitrian monks; the "Apoph- thegmata patrum" and the "Vitae patrum" tell ua
