On the Shows 25
Summary: No one can think of God at the shows, which stir lust and passion; the hands and mouth used in worship should not applaud actors and gladiators.
Latin text · CSEL 20:25
An ille recogitabit eo tempore de deo positus illic ubi nihil est de deo? pacem, opinor, habebit in animo contendens pro auriga, pudicitiam ediscet attonitus in mimos. immo in omni spectaculo nullum magis scandalum occurret quam ille ipse mulierum et uirorum accuratior cultus. ipsa consensio, ipsa in fauoribus aut conspiratio aut dissensio inter se de commercio scintillas libidinum conflabellant. nemo denique in spectaculo ineundo prius cogitat nisi uideri et uidere. sed tragoedo uociferante exclamationes ille alicuius prophetae retractabit et inter effeminati tibicines modos psalmum secum comminiscetur, et cum athletae agent, ille dicturus est repercutiendum non esse. poterit ergo et de misericordia moneri defixus in morsus ursorum et spongias retiariorum. auertat deus a suis tantam uoluptatis exitiosae cupiditatem! quale est enim de ecclesia dei in diaboli ecclesiam tendere, de caelo, quod aiunt, in caenum? illas manus quas ad deum extuleris postmodum laudando histrionem fatigare? ex ore, quo Amen in Sanctum protuleris, gladiatori testimonium reddere, εἰς αἰῶνας ἀπ αἰῶνος alii omnino dicere nisi deo et Christo?
English · Claude translation
Will a man think about God at such a time, when he is placed where there is nothing of God? He will have peace in his mind, I suppose, while he is shouting for a charioteer; he will learn chastity while he gapes at the mimes! Indeed, at every show nothing will cause him to stumble more than that very over-careful dress of women and men. The very sharing of feeling, the very agreement or disagreement among them in their cheering, fans the sparks of lust through their dealings with one another. In short, no one going to a show thinks of anything first but to see and be seen. But while the tragic actor bawls, he will be recalling the exclamations of some prophet; and amid the measures of an effeminate flute-player he will be composing a psalm for himself; and when the athletes are at work, he will say that one must not strike back! He will also be able to be moved to mercy, with his eyes fixed on the bites of bears and the sponges of the net-fighters! May God turn away from his own people so great a craving for deadly pleasure! For what sort of thing is it to go from the church of God to the church of the devil, from heaven, as they say, into the mud? To weary those hands, which you have lifted up to God, afterwards in applauding an actor? From the mouth with which you have spoken the Amen over what is holy, to bear witness to a gladiator? To say “for ever and ever” to anyone else at all but God and Christ?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The Greek words are “for ever and ever,” a liturgical acclamation. “The Amen over what is holy” (Amen in Sanctum) probably refers to the response in the eucharistic liturgy. The sponges of the net-fighters are those used to wipe their blood.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Spect. 25 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-spectaculis/25/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Spect. 25 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-spectaculis/25/).
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