Plays

you not wandered long enough without restraint? Is it not right that you should now be confined in this narrow, solitary cell, where you will find true freedom?

Thais
I have been so long accustomed to pleasure and distraction. My mind is still a slave to the senses.


Paphnutius
The more need to rein it, to discipline it, until it ceases to rebel.


Thais
I do not rebel⁠—but my weakness revolts against one thing here.


Paphnutius
Of what do you speak?


Thais
I am ashamed to say.


Paphnutius
Speak, Thais! Be ashamed of nothing but your sins.


Thais
Good father, what could be more repugnant than to have to attend to all the needs of the body in this one little room.⁠ ⁠… It will soon be uninhabitable.


Paphnutius
Fear the cruel punishments of the soul, and cease to dread transitory evils.


Thais
My weakness makes me shudder.


Paphnutius
The sweetness of your guilty pleasures was far more bitter and foul.


Thais
I know it is just. What grieves me most is that I shall not have one clean sweet spot in which to call upon the sweet name of God.


Paphnutius
Have a care, Thais, or your confidence may become presumption. Should polluted lips utter so easily the name of the unpolluted Godhead?


Thais
Oh, how can I hope for pardon! Who will pity me⁠—who save me! What shall I do if I am forbidden to invoke Him against Whom only I have sinned! To whom should I pray if not to Him.


Paphnutius
You must indeed pray to Him, but with tears, not with words. Let not a tinkling voice, but the mighty roar of a contrite heart sound in the ear of God.


Thais
I desire His pardon. Surely I may ask for it?


Paphnutius
Oh, Thais, the more perfectly you humble yourself, the more swiftly you will win it! Let your heart be all prayer, but let your lips say only this: “O God Who made me, pity me!”


Thais
O God, Who made me, pity me! He alone can save me from defeat in this hard struggle!


Paphnutius
Fight manfully, and you will gain a glorious victory.


Thais
It is your part to pray for me! Pray I may earn the victor’s palm.


Paphnutius
You need not remind me.


Thais
Give me some hope!


Paphnutius
Courage! The palm will soon be in this humble hand. It is time for me to return to the desert. I owe a duty to my dear disciples. I know their hearts are torn by my absence. Yes. I must go. Venerable Abbess, I trust this captive to our charity and tenderness. I beg you to take the best care of her. Sustain her delicate body with necessaries. Refresh her soul with the luxuries of divine knowledge.


Abbess
Have no anxiety about her, for I will cherish her with a mother’s love and tenderness.


Paphnutius
I go then.


Abbess
In peace.


Scene VIII



Disciples
Who knocks there?


Paphnutius
It is I⁠—your father.


Disciples
It is the voice of our father Paphnutius!


Paphnutius
Unbolt the door.


Disciple
Good father, welcome.


All
Welcome, father! Welcome!


Paphnutius
A blessing on you all!


Disciple
You have given us great uneasiness by your long absence.


Paphnutius
It has been fruitful.


Disciple
Your mission has succeeded? Come, tell us what has happened to Thais.


Paphnutius
All that I wished.


Disciple
She has abandoned her evil life?


Paphnutius
Yes.


Disciple
Where is she living now?


Paphnutius
She weeps over her sins in a little cell.


Disciples
Praise be to the Supreme Trinity!


Paphnutius
A little narrow cell, no wider than a grave. Blessed be His Terrible Name now and forever.


Disciples
Amen.





Scene IX



Paphnutius
Three years of her penance are over, and I cannot tell whether her sorrow has found favour with God. For some reason He will not enlighten me. I know what I will do. I will go to my brother Antony and beg him to intercede for me. God will make the truth known to him.





Scene X



Antony
Who comes this way? By his dress it is some brother-dweller in the desert. My old eyes do not recognize you yet, friend. Come nearer.


Paphnutius
Brother Antony! Do you not know me?


Antony
This is joy indeed! What pleasures God sends us, when we resign ourselves to have none! I did not think to see my brother Paphnutius again in this world. Is it indeed you, brother?


Paphnutius
Yes, it is I.


Antony
You are welcome, very welcome. Your coming gives me great joy.


Paphnutius
I am no less rejoiced to see you.


Antony
But what is the cause? What has brought Paphnutius from his solitary retreat? He is not sick, I trust? He has not come to old Antony for healing?


Paphnutius
No, I am in good health.


Antony
That’s well! I am glad of it.


Paphnutius
Brother Antony, it is three years since my peace was broken and disturbed by the persistent vision of a soul in peril. I heard a voice calling me night and day. But I stopped my ears⁠—fearing my weakness. I thought “She calls me to ruin me.” “No, no,” the voice said. “I call you to save me.”


Antony
A woman’s voice!


Paphnutius
Before my vision it was well known to us all that in the great town on the edge of the desert there was a harlot called Thais, through whom many were destroyed body and soul.


Antony
It was she who called you!


Paphnutius
Brother Antony, it was God who called me. My disciples opposed me; nevertheless I went to the town to see Thais and wrestle with the demon.


Antony
A perilous enterprise.


Paphnutius
I went to her in the disguise of a lover, and began by flattering her with sweet words. Then I threw off the mask and brought terror to her soul with bitter reproaches and threats of God’s punishment.


Antony
A prudent course. Hard words are necessary when natures have grown soft and can no longer distinguish between good and evil.


Paphnutius
I was disarmed by her docility. Truly, brother Antony, my heart melted like wax when she spurned her ill-gotten wealth and abandoned her lovers.


Antony
But you hid your tenderness?


Paphnutius
Yes, Brother Antony.


Antony
What followed?


Paphnutius
She chose to live in chastity. She consented