Plays

Plays
By Roswitha of Gandersheim.
Translated by Christopher St. John.




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Translator’s Note
The works consulted include the following:


Hrotsvithae Opera: Edited by Paul Winterfeld.


Hrotsvithae Opera: Edited by  H. L. Schurzfleisch.


Hrotsvithae Opera: Edited by Conrad Celtes (Nurnberg, 1 501).


Patrologiae Cursus Completus:  J. P. Migne (vol. 137).


Abraham: Translated into French by  C. Cuzin, with critical preface.


Theatre de Roswitha: Charles Magnin.


Origines du theatre Moderne: Charles Magnin.


Antiquitates Gandersheimensis: Leuckfeld.


Six Medieval Women: Alice Kemp Welch.



I am much indebted to Dame Laurentia McLachlan,  O.S.B., Superioress of Stanbrook Abbey, and to the Reverend Paul Bonnet of Lyons University, for assistance in the work of translation.




Dedication
To Gerberg

Illustrious Abbess, venerated no less for uprightness and honesty than for the high distinction of a royal and noble race, Roswitha of Gandersheim, the last of the least of those fighting under your ladyship’s rule, desires to give you all that a servant owes her mistress.
O my Lady, bright with the varied jewels of spiritual wisdom, your maternal kindness will not let you hesitate to read what, as you know, was written at your command! It was you who gave me the task of chronicling in verse the deeds of the Emperor, and you know that it was impossible to collect them together from hearsay. You can imagine the difficulties which my ignorance put in my way while I was toiling over this work. There were things of which I could not find any written record, nor could I elicit information by word of mouth which seemed sufficiently reliable. I was like a person in a strange land wandering without a guide through a forest where the path is concealed by dense snow. In vain he tries to follow the directions of those who have shown the way. He wanders from the path, now by chance strikes it again, until at last, penetrating the thickness of the wood, he reaches a place where he may take a long-desired rest, and sitting down there, does not proceed further until someone overtakes him, or he discovers the footprints of one who has gone before. Even so have I, obeying the command to undertake a complete chronicle of great deeds, gone on my way, trembling, hesitating, and vacillating, so great was the difficulty of finding a path in the forest of these royal achievements.
And now, worn out by the journey, I am holding my peace and resting in a suitable place. I do not propose to go further without better guidance. If I could be inspired by the eloquent words of learned folk (either already set down or to be set down in the future) I might perhaps find a means of glozing my uncouth workmanship. At present I am defenceless at every point, because I am not supported by any authority. I also fear I shall be accused of temerity in presuming to describe in my humble uncultured way matters which ought to be set forth with all the ceremony of great learning. Yet if my work is examined