Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Beginning at line 558 of the Towneley Judgment play, the character of the Primus demon utters the following Latin words: ‘qui vero mala/In ignem eternum.’1 The sentence can be translated as ‘those that have done evil [will go into] everlasting fire’. Piers Plowman scholars know these words well because Piers, at Passus VII.112, reveals them to be what is written on his secretive and unconventional pardon. In terms of ascribing a source for lines 558–9, the modern editors of the Towneley Mystery cycle, Garett Epp, in his Middle English Text Series edition, and Martin Stevens and A.C. Cawley, in their Early English Text Society edition, annotate the words of the Primus demon as originating from Matthew 25:41, ‘where the damned are sent to hell, “into everlasting fire”’.2 The annotation is not misleading insofar as Matthew 25:41 does supply an important analogue to lines 558–9 of Judgment (bolded for emphasis): tunc dicet et his qui a sinistris erunt discedite a me maledicti in ignem æternum qui paratus est diabolo et angelis eius3 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels4 However, the immediate source of the lines should be corrected and instead attributed to the Athanasian Creed. In fact, the only difference between the excerpt from the Athanasian Creed and lines 558–9 of the Towneley Judgment is the former’s very minor deviation of using a diagraph of ‘æ’ in aeternum which is characteristic of ecclesiastical Latin: Et qui bona egerunt, ibunt in vitam aeternam: qui vero mala, in ignem aeternum. Haec est fides Catholica, quam nisi quisque fideliter firmiterque crediderit, salvus esse non poterit. And shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire. This is the catholic faith; which except a man believe truly and firmly, he cannot be saved.5 The insertion of an excerpt from the Athanasian Creed comes at a crucial moment in the Towneley Judgment play. It appears just prior to the character of Jesus declaring at line 566 that Judgment Day is near: ‘Commen is the day of Iugemente’. Although the urgent pan-sectarian warning shares the same scriptural sentiment as Matthew 25:41—evil doers will spend their eternity in Hell—this note submits that the Towneley Master is almost certainly indebted to Saint Athanasius for lines 558–9.6
Source: Notes and Queries
Author: David Sharp
Institution: Carleton University
Language: English
Subfield: Classics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,296
OpenAlex ID: W4409481194
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