An Unremarked Source for the Towneley <i>Judgment Play</i>

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