d from their perilous position by a fisherman
who, passing near by, and hearing sounds of distress, goes to their
aid. Their deliverer, finding them faint with hunger and cold, lights
a fire with the flint he carries in his wallet, and cooks some small
fish, the only food he has to offer them. Once more they start on
their way, and eventually reach Canossa. But hardly do they gain
admittance, ere the castle is surrounded by the soldiery of the
outwitted and wrathful Berengarius. A knight, carrying a message from
the Emperor Otho of promised deliverance, essays to enter the castle,
but finding this impossible owing to the hostile troops encamped
around, he fastens the letter to an arrow, and shoots it over the
wall. A strong force sent by Otho is near at hand, and speedily puts
the enemy to flight. Adelheid is rescued, and is brought with
rejoicing to Pavia, her dower city, which had already opened its gates
to the Emperor, and she and the Emperor enter the city together in
triumph. Much has been written of the illustrious Adelheid, but
perhaps she would best like to be remembered by the eulogy of her
confessor--the saintly Odilo--that she never forgot a kindness, or
remembered an injury.

It is in a spirit far different from that of her panegyric on the
emperor Otho that Roswitha writes her dramas. Fear and mental
perplexity no longer possess her. Though humbly begging the reader not
to "despise these strains drawn from a fragile reed," she has no
misgiving, for she feels that herein lies her mission. She explains
her reason for using the dramatic form, and for taking Terence as her
model. There are many, she says,--and she does not entirely exonerate
herself,--who, beguiled by the elegant diction of the Classics, prefer
them to religious writings, whilst there are others who, though
generally condemning heathen works, eagerly peruse the poetic
creations of Terence because of the special beauty of his language.
She further expresses the hope that by trying to imitate his manner,
and by at the same time dramatising legends calculated to edify, she
may induce readers to turn from the "godless contents of his works" to
the contemplation of virtuous living. Emboldened by this pious hope,
Roswitha shrinks from no difficulties or details, details which might
well have made her hesitate, and which, betraying a knowledge of the
world, have raised the question as to whether she made her profession
as early as was customary. Thi