Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/291

 POPULAR POETRY 279 the point of his satire. Both cities were open to the reproach of dishonesty in trade, and so we see bakers, cobblers, tailors, innkeepers, weavers and butchers coming forward and confessing their peccadilloes to the Devil. In cutting irony the author makes them beg forgiveness of him, as though he were the judge on the Last Day and had power to absolve them. The satire is principally directed against the Ger- mans, inasmuch as it is in the German and not in the Slavonic States that the Devil is represented as seeking for souls. Lucifer speaks German to the devils and to sinners. Addressing Satan, he says : ' Don't you under- stand German better — do you think that I am a Slav ? ' Satan brings in a priest whom he has sur- prised indulging in worldly thoughts while reading the service, but the priest makes hell so intolerable to the devils that he is obliged to seek refuge in a neighbouring marsh. Satan complains, but Lucifer mocks him, and tells him that he should have left the priest in peace. The latter's threats of the Final Judgment make no im- pression on Lucifer, for it is so far away, and in the meantime hell can be filled. The proposed end of the author is to warn his audience against presumption. Lucifer sends forth frightful screams, he knows no peace, and his hate for mankind urges him to follow them with constant temptations ; to men of goodwill alone is peace promised, and the prayer for the dead, ' Give them, Lord, eternal peace ! ' closes the play. In the prose and poetry as well as in the sculp- ture of the Middle Ages we find the punishment of ecclesiastical dignitaries a fruitful field of satire We often see the Devil tying priests, monks, and