L4TXH
27
LATIN
extent the language of poetry, and it was only on the
advent of the Renaiasance that daseioal Latin re-
vived and flourished in the writings of the neo-Latinists,
as it does even to-day though to a more modest ex-
tent. To present to the reader an account of Latin
poetry in a manner at once methodical and clear is
not an easy task; a strict adherence to chronology
interferes with clearness of treatment, and an ar-
rangement according to the different kinds of poetry
womd demand a repeated haudling of some of the
poets. However, the latter method is preferable be-
cause it enables us to trace the historical development
of this literature.
A. The iKxbin Drama, — Both in its inception and its subsequent development Latin dramatic poetry dis- plays a peculiar character. *' In no domam of litera- ture", says W. Creizenach in the opening sentence of his well-known work on the history of the drama, " do the Middle Ages show so complete a suspension of the tradition of classical antiquity as in the drama. Terence was indeed read and tausht in the schools of the Middle Ages, but the true dramatic art of the Roman poet was misunderstood. Nowhere do we find evidence that any of his comedies were placed on the stage in schools or. elsewhere; for this an ade- quate conception of classical stage-craft was wanting. The very knowledge of the metres of Terence was lost in the Middle Ages, and, just as the difference between comedy and tragedy was misunderstood, so also the difference between these and other kinds of {poetical composition was no longer understood. It is thus clear why we can speak of imitations of the Roman writer only in rare and completely isolated cases, for example, m the case of the nun Hroswitha of Gander- sheim in the tenth century. But even she shared the mistaken views of her age concerning the comedies of Terence, having no idea that these works were written for the stage nor indeed any conception of the dra- matic art. Her imitations therefore can be regarded only as literary dramas on spiritual subjects, which exercised no influence whatever on the subsequent development of the drama (see Hroswitha). Two centimes later we find an example of how Plautus far^ at the hands of his poetical imitators. The fact that, like Seneca, Plautus is scarcelv ever mentioned among the school-texts of the Middle Ages makes it easier to understand how at the close of the twelfth century Vitahs of Blois came to recast the Amphi- truo" and the ** Querulus", a later sequel to the " Au- lularia", into satirical epic poems.
That the drama might therefore never have devel- oped in the Middle Ages were it not for the effective stimulus supplied by the ecclesiastical liturgy is quite conceivable. Liturgy began by assuming more solemn forms and finally gave rise to the religious drama which was at first naturally composed in the liturgical Latin language, but subseouently degen- erate into a mixture of Latin and the vernacular, until it finally assumed an entirely vernacular form. The origin of the drama may be traced to the so-called Easter celebrations which came into life when the strictly ecclesiastical liturgy was developed into a dramatic scene by the introduction of hymns and se- quences in a dialogue form. A further step in the de- velopment was reached when narration in John, xx, 4 sqq., was translated into action and the Apostles Peter and John were represented as hastening to the tomb of the risen Saviour. This form appears in a Paschal celebration at St. Lambrecht ana another at Au^burg, both dating back to the twelfth century. This expansion of the Easter celebration by the intro- duction of scenes participated in by the Apostles spread from Germany over Holland and Italy, but seems to have found a less sympathetic reception in France. The third and final step in the development of the Easter celebrations was the inclusion of the apparition of the risen Christ. Among others a Nu-
remberg antiphonary of the thirteenth century eon-
tains all three scenes, joined together so as to give
unity of action, thus possessing the character of a
little drama. Of such Paschal celebrations, which
still formed a part of the ecclesiastical liturgy, 224
have been already discovered: 159 in Germany, 52 in
France, and the remainder in Italy, Spain, and Hol-
land. The taste for dramatic representations, awak-
ened in the people by the Easter celebrations, was
fostered by the ciergy, and by bringing out the human
side of such characters as Pilate, Judas, the Jews, and
the soldiers, a true drama was gradually created.
That the Easter plays were orieinally composed in Latin is proved by numerous still existing examples, such as those of "Benediktbeuren'*, "Klostemeu- burg", and the "Mystery of Tours"; gradually, how- ever, passages in the vernacular were mtroduced, and finally this alone was made use of. Passion-plays were first produced in connexion with the EEtster plays, but soon developed into independent dramas, generally in the mother-tongue. As late as 1537 the passion-play "Christus Xylonicus" was written in Latin by Barth^lemy de Loches of Orleans. As the Easter plays developed from the Easter celebrations, so Christmas plavs develojjed from the ecclesiastical celebrations at Christmas. In these the preparatory' season of Advent also was symlx)lized in the predic- tions of the Prophets. Similarly the plays of the Three Kings origmated in connexion with the Feast of the Epiphany; there the person of Herod and the Massacre of the Innocents are the materials for a very effective drama. It was but natural that all the plays dealing with the Christmas season should be brought together into a connected whole or cycle, beginning with the play of the Shepherds, continuing in that c« the Three Kings, and ending with the Massacre of the Innocents. That this combination of plays actually existed we have abundant manuscript evidence; par- ticularly famous is the Freising cycle.
The transition to the so-called eschatological plays — the climax of the history of the Redemption — ^was easy. Two such plays enjoy a special celebrity, "The Wise and Foolish Virgins", which appeared in France in the twelfth century, and "The Appearance and Dis- appearance of Antichrist", written by a German p)oet about 1160. The latter, which is also entitled "The Roman Emperor of the German Nation and Anti- christ", has also been regarded as an Easter play, be- cause the arrival of Antichrist was expected at Eioster. The second title agrees better with the contents of the play. The poet, who must have been a learned scholar, drew his inspiration from the politico-reli- gious constitution of the Roman Empire as it existed . in the golden period of Frederick Barbarossa, and from the Crusades. This ambitious play with its mi- nute directions for representation is divided into two main actions — the realization of a Christian world- empire under the German nation, and the doings of Antichrist and his final overthrow by the Kingdom of Christ. The unity and conception of the two parts is indicated by the fact that the nations appearing in the first part suggest to the spectator what will be tneir at- titucle towards Antichrist. The drama was intended to convey the impression that the German people alone could fulfil the world-wide office of the Roman Empire and that the Church needed such a protector.
The extension of the ecclesiastical plays by the in- troduction of purely worldly elements led gradually to the disappearance of spiritual influence, the decay of which may also be gathered from the gradual adop- tion of the vernacular for these plays. While the firet bloom of the neo-Latin drama is thus attributable to the influence of the Church, its second era of prosper- ity was purely secular in character and began with the laDours of the so-called Humanists in Italy, who called into life the literary drama. Numerous as they were, we do not meet with a single genuine dramatist amon^
