ABSTRACT
The first line of the Ludus Coventriae play de muliere in adulterio deprehensa is 'Nolo mortem peccatoris'. It should be unnecessary to say this, since the scribe of the manuscript has already done so, but as in the last few years at least two scholars have declined his instruction it seems necessary to restate it as a fact. Nolo mortem peccatoris is then the ideal phrase for Lent. It offers mercy to sinners through penitence; it emphasizes God's natural inclination to mercy, so that none need despair, but it also emphasizes that the act of mercy must be provoked, so that all must repent – 'revertimini et vivite'. Augustine's interpretation brings the story of the woman and Nolo mortem peccatoris into almost perfect accord; in fact the Ezechiel passage traces the fortunes of the story with almost literal exactness, as well as containing within itself the general implications of mercy and penitence.
