Was the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 a comedy? A theory of ancient drama usingmetaphorical terminology in the correspondence of Luther and Melanchthon

During the Diet of Augsburg Luther and Melanchthon discussed th political a nd religious developments in their extensive correspondence between Augsbur g and Coburg. Strikingly, they used a complex metaphorical system of termin ology, which is otherwise known only from the theory of ancient drama (come dy and tragedy). After explaining the terminology and its significance in i ts original context of dramatic theory (above all Donatus/Euanthius as the ancient inventor of the theory, but also Melanchthon himself in his comment aries on Terentius), the article analyzes Luther's and Melanchthon's use of the terminology. All in all, the terminology reflects a surprisingly clear view of the expec tations of each of the correspondents in the course of events. While Luther uses all the terms of the concept of comedy (which means that he expected a "happy ending"), Melanchthon seems to organize his expectations around a concept of tragedy (which means that he feared an "unhappy ending" and did not want to be the "tragic hero" who makes the crucial mistake that leads t o disaster). Only when some hope arises that things might still turn out we ll, does Melanchthon switch to the terminology of comic theory. From all th is we can see that there was a highly developed system of communication, wh ich was derived from the theory of drama and by which the correspondents co uld precisely express their views about the quality of a single event in th e context of a whole course of events. In order to understand Luther's and Melanchthon's views and feelings about what was going on and to judge their behaviour, it is indispensable to have a clear understanding of the lingui stic and intellectual concepts that were underlying their approach to the w orld. One of these concepts was the ancient theory of drama.