Untitled

SUNDRY RELIGIOUS PLAYS 207
Abelard, and the author of two other dramas in the same manuscript,
later to be noted. Hilarius and his goliard companions undoubtedly
acted these plays themselves. They are wholly in verse, very com
petent, and varied rhythmically in accordance with the emotional
demands. It is all the more to be regretted that no musical setting is
given, although there is no doubt that everything was sung.
Another New Testament subject treated in the Fleury play-book is
the Conversion of St. Paul, 1 probably performed on the feast day
of the saint, and (to judge by the Te Deum at the close) probably at
Matins. Once again the rubrics are very generous. A large area is
apparently needed, for on one side is the station which represents
Jerusalem, with sedes (seats) for the High Priest and Saul with his
soldiers. On the other side is Damascus, and between, in quaint
realism, the bed of the reclining Ananias, awaiting the vision.
A further interesting rubric concerns the lowering of Saul in a basket,
4
quasi a muro *
(as though from a wall). There are elaborate directions
at every stage of the story, which follows the course of the narrative
of Acts ix fairly closely, with some few minor improvised expansions.
The text, wholly in verse, is disappointingly uniform and dull; no
rhythmic variation breaks its steady monotony. The music, however,
shows greater variety, going almost to the opposite extreme from that
of "The Raising of Lazarus'. True, the first two verses sung by Saul,
are to the same melody, beginning:
Ex. 72 0)
Pro-pa-la-re vo-bis non va-le-o