imitation of the Saints. Even in the treatment of purely secular subjects, the plot was always of a spiritually serious, deeply tragic, and morally important nature. The aim of the comic drama was to strike at the puerilities and ineptitudes, which could be treated on the stage without any detriment to the moral conscience. Vulgar jokes and low comedy were once and for all excluded, and the Jesuit authorities were indefatigable in thus guarding the moral prestige of the plays. In general, only such plays were written and produced as were in harmony with the moral ends and moral limits of dramatic art itself: a meritorious achievement in an age when every sentiment of moral delicacy, every prescription of social decorum, every dictate of ordinary modesty – both in the school and on the stage – was being outraged. Arid this fact produced a healthy reaction in favor of all the fine arts in general. The intermittent efforts of Jesuit dramatists could not, it is true, completely stem the tide of public degeneracy, could not even remain altogether unscathed by the time-serving fashions and foibles of the age: from the grosser and more revolting aberrations they were happily preserved.[1]
The subjects of Jesuit dramas were frequently biblical or allegorical: as "The Prodigal Son" (Heiligenstadt 1582), "Joseph in Egypt" (Munich 1583), "Christ as Judge", "Saul and David" (Graz 1589-1600), "Naboth" (Ratisbon 1609), "Elias" (Prague 1610). Or historical subjects were chosen: "Julian the Apostate" (Ingolstadt 1608), "Belisarius" (Munich 1607), "Godfrey de Bouillon" (Munich 1596), "St. Ambrose", "St. Benno", "St. Henry the
- ↑ Janssen, vol. VII, pp. 120-121.
