Plays

Do not touch me. You can tear my garments, but you shall not touch me. Lovers Cruel Thais, speak to us! Before you go, speak to us! Thais I have sinned with you. But now is the end of sin, and all our wild pleasures are ended. Lovers Thais, do not leave us! Thais, where are you going? Thais Where none of you will ever see me again! Lovers What monstrous thing is this? Thais, glory of our land, is changed! Thais, our delight, who loved riches and power and luxury⁠—Thais, who gave herself up to pleasure day and night, has destroyed past remedy gold and gems that had no price! What monstrous thing is this? Thais, the very flower of love, insults her lovers and scorns their gifts. Thais, whose boast it was that whoever loved her should enjoy her love! What monstrous thing is this? Thais! Thais! this is a thing not to be believed.

Scene V

Thais	Paphnutius, my father, I am ready now to obey you, command what you will.
Paphnutius	Thais, I have been uneasy during your absence. I feared you had been caught in the world’s snare. I feared you would not return.
Thais	You need not have been afraid. The world does not tempt me now. My possessions are ashes. I have publicly renounced my lovers.
Paphnutius	Oh, happy guilt that has brought such happy penitence! Since you have renounced your earthly lovers, you can now be joined to your Heavenly Lover.
Thais	It is for you to show me the way. Be a lantern to me, for all is obscure night.
Paphnutius	Trust me, daughter. Follow me.
Thais	I can follow you with my feet. Would that I could follow you with my deeds!

Scene VI

Thais	Oh, I am weary!
Paphnutius	Courage! Here is the monastery where a famous community of holy virgins live. I am anxious for you to pass the time of penance here if you will consent.
Thais	I do not resist. I wish to obey you. I trust you.
Paphnutius	I will go in, and persuade the Abbess who is the head of the community to receive you.
Thais	And what shall I do meanwhile? Do not leave me alone.
Paphnutius	You shall come with me. But look! The Abbess has come out to meet us. I wonder who can have told her so promptly of our arrival.
Thais	Rumour, Father Paphnutius. Rumour never delays.

Scene VII

Paphnutius	You come opportunely, illustrious Abbess. I was just seeking you.
Abbess	You are most welcome, venerated Father Paphnutius. Blessed is your visit, beloved of the Most High.
Paphnutius	May the grace of Him Who is Father of all pour into your heart the beatitude of everlasting peace!
Abbess	And what has brought your holiness to my humble dwelling?
Paphnutius	I need your help.
Abbess	Speak but the word. You will find me eager to do all in my power to carry out your wishes.
Paphnutius	Oh, Abbess, I have brought you a little wild gazelle who has been snatched half dead from the jaws of wolves. Show it compassion, nurse it with all your tenderness, until it has shed its rough goatskin and put on the soft fleece of a lamb.
Abbess	Explain yourself further.
Paphnutius	You see this woman. From her youth she has led the life of a harlot. She has given herself up to base pleasures⁠—
Abbess	What misery!
Paphnutius	She cannot offer the excuse that she was a Pagan to whom such pleasures bring no remorse of conscience. She wore the baptismal robes of a child of God when she gave herself to the flames of profane love. She was not tempted. She chose this evil life. She was ruined by her own will.
Abbess	She is the more unfortunate.
Paphnutius	Yet such is the power of Christ, that at His word, of which my poor mouth was the instrument, she has fled from the surroundings which were her damnation. Obedient as a child, she has followed me. She has abandoned lust and ease and idle luxury. She is resolved to live chastely.
Abbess	Glory to the Author of the marvellous change!
Paphnutius	Amen. But since the maladies of the soul, like those of the body, need physic for their cure, we must minister to this soul diseased by years of lust. It must be removed from the foul breath of the world. A narrow cell, solitude, silence⁠—these must be her lot henceforth. She must learn to know herself and her sins.
Abbess	You are right. Such a penance is necessary.
Paphnutius	Will you give orders for a little cell to be made ready as soon as possible?
Abbess	Yes, my father. It shall be done as quickly as we can.
Paphnutius	There must be no entrance, no opening of any kind, except a small window through which she can receive the food that will be brought her on certain days at certain fixed hours. A pound of bread, and water according to her need.
Abbess	Forgive me, dear father in God, but I fear she will not be able to endure such a rigorous life. The soul may be willing, but that fastidious mind, that delicate body used to luxury, how can we expect them to submit?
Paphnutius	Have no fear. We know that grave sin demands a grave remedy.
Abbess	That is true, yet are we not told also to hasten slowly?
Paphnutius	Good mother, I am already weary of delay. What if her lovers should pursue her? What if she be drawn back into the abyss? I am impatient to see her enclosed.
Abbess	Nothing stands in the way of your enclosing her now. The cell which you told us to prepare is ready.
Paphnutius	Then enter, Thais! This is just such a refuge as we spoke of on our journey. It is the very place for you. There is room and more than room here for you to weep over your sins.
Thais	How small it is! How dark! How can a delicate woman live in such a place?
Paphnutius	You are not pleased with your new dwelling! You shudder at the thought of entering! Oh, Thais, have