Page:Plays of Roswitha (1923) St. John.djvu/29

Rh disciple, that the repentance of the sinner has caused that joy in heaven which exceeds all the joy that can be given by the righteous. Paphnutius alone among Roswitha's plays has stood the test of stage representation in modern times, and come through it triumphantly, although the miraculous swiftness of Thais's conversion was considered most "unnatural" by the critics who witnessed the performance.

Roswitha, it must be remembered, believed in miracles. The average Englishman is sceptical. As Mr. Chesterton has pointed out, he will not swear to the possibility of a thing he has not seen, although he is quite ready to swear to the impossibility of a thing he has seen. In the foreword which Mr. Chesterton wrote for the programme of the first performance of Paphnutius he compared Roswitha's treatment of the story of Thais's conversion with Anatole France's in his well-known novel "Thais." "This very strong and moving play (Paphnutius) was written by a person about as different from the author of 'Thais' as could be capable of wearing the human form, a devout woman, vowed to a restricted life, and writing in the light of a Latin that was gradually going out like a shortening candle. It is inevitable that such darkness should breed dangerous and even savage things, and that