Latin Literature in Christianity (Sixth to Twentieth Century)

During the Middle Ages the so-called church Latin was to a great 
extent the language of poetry, and it was only on the advent of 
the Renaissance that classical Latin revived and flourished in the 
writings of the neo-Latinists as it does even today though to a 
more modest extent. To present to the reader an account of Latin 
poetry in a manner at once methodical and clear is not an easy 
task; a strict adherence to chronology interferes with clearness 
of treatment, and an arrangement according to the different kinds 
of poetry would demand a repeated handling of some of the poets. 
However, the latter method is preferable because it enables us to 
trace the historical development of this literature. 

A. The Latin Drama 

Both in its inception and its subsequent development Latin 
dramatic poetry displays a peculiar character. "In no domain of 
literature", says W. Creizenach in the opening sentence of his 
well-known work on the history of the drama "do the Middle Ages 
show so complete a suspension of the tradition of classical 
antiquity as in the drama." Terence was indeed read and taught in 
the schools of the Middle Ages, but the true dramatic art of the 
Roman poet was misunderstood. Nowhere do we find evidence that any 
of his comedies were placed on the stage in schools or elsewhere; 
for this an adequate conception of classical stagecraft was 
wanting. The very knowledge of the metres of Terence was lost in 
the Middle Ages, and, just as the difference between comedy and 
tragedy was misunderstood, so also the difference between these 
and other kinds of poetical composition was no longer understood. 
It is thus clear why we can speak of imitations of the Roman metre 
only in rare and completely isolated cases, for example, in the 
case of the nun Hroswitha of Gandersheim in the tenth century. But 
even she shared the mistaken views of her age concerning the 
comedies of Terence, having no idea that these works were written 
for the stage nor indeed any conception of the dramatic art. Her 
imitations therefore can be regarded only as literary dramas on 
spiritual subjects, which exercised no influence whatever on the 
subsequent development of the drama. Two centuries later we find 
an example of how Plautus fared at the hands of his poetical 
imitators. The fact that, like Seneca, Plautus is scarcely ever 
mentioned among the school-texts of the Middle Ages makes it 
easier to understand how at the close of the twelfth century 
Vitalis of Blois came to recast the "Amphitruo" and the 
"Querulus", a later sequel to the "Aulularia", into satirical epic 
poems. 

That the drama might therefore never have developed in the Middle 
Ages were it not for the effective stimulus supplied by the 
ecclesiastical liturgy is quite conceivable. Liturgy began by 
assuming more solemn forms and finally gave rise to the religious 
drama which was at first naturally composed in the liturgical 
Latin language, but subsequently degenerated into a mixture of 
Latin and the vernacular until it finally assumed an entirely 
vernacular form. The origin of the drama may be traced to the so-
called Easter celebrations which came into life when the strictly 
ecclesiastical liturgy as developed into a dramatic scene by the 
introduction of hymns and sequences in a dialogue form. A further 
step in the development was reached when narration in John, xx, 4 
sqq., was translated into action and the Apostles Peter and John 
were represented as hastening to the tomb of the risen Saviour. 
This form appears in a Paschal celebration at St. Lambrecht and 
another at Augsburg, both dating back to the twelfth century. This 
expansion of the Easter celebration by the introduction of scenes 
participated in by the Apostles spread from Germany over Holland 
and Italy, but seems to have found a less sympathetic reception in 
France. The third and final step in the development of the Easter 
celebrations was the inclusion of the apparition of the risen 
Christ. Among others a Nuremberg antiphonary of the thirteenth 
century contains all three scenes, joined together so as to give 
unity of action, thus possessing the character of a little drama. 
Of such Paschal celebrations, which still formed a part of the 
ecclesiastical liturgy, 224 have been already discovered: 159 in 
Germany, 52 in France, and the remainder in Italy, Spain, and 
Holland. The taste for dramatic representations, awakened in the 
people by the Easter celebrations, was fostered by the clergy, and 
by bringing out the human side of such characters as Pilate, 
Judas, the Jews, and the soldiers, a true drama was gradually 
created. 

That the Easter plays were originally composed in Latin is proved 
by numerous still existing examples, such as those of 
"Benediktbeuren", "Klosterneuburg ", and the "Mystery of Tours"; 
gradually, however, passages in the vernacular were introduced, 
and finally this alone was made use of. Passion-plays were first 
produced in connection with the Easter plays but soon developed 
into independent dramas, generally in the mother-tongue. As late 
as 1537 the passion-play "Christus Xylonicus" was written in Latin 
by Barthelemy de Loches of Orleans. As the Easter plays developed 
from the Easter celebrations, so Christmas plays developed from 
the ecclesiastical celebrations at Christmas. In these the 
preparatory season of Advent also was symbolized in the 
predictions of the Prophets. Similarly the plays of the Three 
Kings originated in connection with the Feast of the Epiphany; 
there the person of Herod and the Massacre of the Innocents are 
the materials for a very effective drama. It was but natural that 
all the plays dealing with the Christmas season should be brought 
together into a connected whole or cycle, beginning with the play 
of the Shepherds, continuing in that of the Three Kings, and 
ending with the Massacre of the Innocents. That this combination 
of plays actually existed we have abundant manuscript evidence, 
particularly famous is the Freising cycle. 

The transition to the so-called eschatological plays -- the climax 
of the history of the Redemption -- was easy. Two such plays enjoy 
a special celebrity, "The Wise and Foolish Virgins", which 
appeared in France in the twelfth century, and "The Appearance and 
Disappearance of Antichrist , written by a German poet about 1160. 
The latter, which is also entitled "The Roman Emperor of the 
German Nation and Antichrist", has also been regarded as an Easter 
play, because the arrival of Antichrist was expected at Easter. 
The second title agrees better with the contents of the play. The 
poet, who must have been a learned scholar, drew his inspiration 
from the politico-religious constitution of the Roman Empire as it 
existed in the golden period of Frederick Barbarossa, and from the 
Crusades. This ambitious play with its minute directions for 
representation is divided into two main actions -- the realization 
of a Christian world empire under the German nation, and the 
doings of Antichrist and his final overthrow by the Kingdom of 
Christ. The unity and conception of the two parts is indicated by 
the fact that the nations appearing in the first part suggest to 
the spectator what will be their attitude toward Antichrist. The 
drama was intended to convey the impression that the German people 
alone could fulfil the world-wide office of the Roman Empire and 
that the Church needed such a protector. 

The extension of the ecclesiastical plays by the introduction of 
purely worldly elements led gradually to the disappearance of 
spiritual influence, the decay of which may also be gathered from 
the gradual adoption of the vernacular for these plays. While the 
first bloom of the neo-Latin drama is thus attributable to the 
influence of the Church, its second era of prosperity was purely 
secular in character and began with the labours of the so-called 
Humanists in Italy, who called into life the literary drama. 
Numerous as they were, we do not meet with a single genuine 
dramatist among them; still many sporadic attempts at play-writing 
were made by them. The pagan classics were naturally adopted as 
model -- Seneca for tragedy as is shown b the plays of Mussato, 
Loschi, or Dati, and especially the "Progne" of Corraro. On the 
other hand Plautus and Terence found more numerous imitators, 
whose works did not degenerate into ribaldry, as is seen from the 
attempts of Poggio, Beccadelli, Bruni, Fidelfo, etc. These 
humanistic attempts attained a measure of success in the school 
drama. A beginning was made with the production of the ancient 
dramas in the original text; such productions were introduced into