Anachronisms are not regarded, and the prophets and apostles appear side by side on the same stage. Although the plot was essentially always the same, its development and treatment were infinitely varied. The protagonist is Man, but under the most diversified forms, from abstract man to Psyche or Eurydice, representatives of the human soul. The essential idea of man’s fall and salvation is entwined with all manner of subjects taken from history, mythology, and romance. The first contributed _The Conversion of Constantine_, the second a host of plays like _The Divine Jason_, _Cupid and Psyche_, _Andromeda and Perseus_, _The Divine Orpheus_, _The True God Pan_, _The Sacred Parnassus_, _The Sorceries of Sin_ (Ulysses and Circe). Romance contributed the fables of _Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers_, etc. It is almost needless to say that the most important sources of the _autos_ are the Scriptures and Biblical traditions. Examples of the former are: _The Brazen Serpent_, _The First and Second Isaac_, _Baltassar’s Feast_, _The Vineyard of the Lord_ (S. Matt. xx. 1). _Gedeon’s Fleece_, _The Faithful Shepherd_, _The Order of Melchisedech_, _Ruth’s Gleaning_, etc. An interesting example of the use of tradition is the _auto_ of _The Tree of the Best Fruit_ (_El Arbol del Mejor Fruto_), embodying the legend that the cross on which Christ died was produced from three seeds of the tree of the forbidden fruit planted on the grave of Adam. There yet remains a large number of plays which cannot be referred to any of the above-mentioned classes. These are the inventions of the poet’s brain, some of them but a recast of secular plays already popular;[11] others are fresh creations, and are among the most interesting of the autos. Among these are _The Great Theatre of the World_ (_El Gran Teatro del Mundo_, partly translated by Dean Trench), _The Poison and the Antidote_ (_El Veneno y la Triaca_, partly translated by Mr. MacCarthy), etc. No idea, however, can be formed of the _autos_ from a mere statement of their form and subjects; they must be examined in their entirety, and the reader must transport himself back to the spirit of the times in which they were written. What this spirit was, and how the _autos_ are to be regarded, is admirably expressed by Schack, in his _History of the Spanish Drama_ (iii. p. 251), and of which Mr. MacCarthy has given the following spirited translation: