On the Shows 26 · Sophia Scriptura

Latin text · CSEL 20:25–26

Cur ergo non eiusmodi etiam daemoniis penetrabiles fiant? nam et exemplum accidit domino teste eius mulieris, quae theatrum adiit et inde cum daemonio rediit. itaque in exorcismo cum oneraretur immundus spiritus, quod ausus esset fidelem aggredi, constanter: et iustissime quidem, inquit, feci: in meo eam inueni. constat et alii linteum in somnis ostensum eius diei nocte, qua tragoedum audierat, cum exprobratione nominato tragoedo nec ultra quintum diem eam mulierem in saeculo fuisse. quo utique et alia documenta cesserunt de his qui cum diabolo apud spectacula communicando a domino exciderunt. nemo enim potest duobus dominis seruire. quid luci, cum tenebris? quid uitae et morti?

English · Claude translation

Why, then, should such people not also become open to demons? For there has been an example, the Lord being witness, of the woman who went to the theatre and came back from there with a demon. So in the exorcism, when the unclean spirit was rebuked for having dared to attack a believer, it answered firmly: “And I did it quite rightly, for I found her on my own ground.” It is well known too that to another woman a linen shroud was shown in her sleep on the night of the day on which she had heard a tragic actor, and the actor was named in rebuke; and that woman was not in this world beyond the fifth day. Surely other proofs too have come about concerning those who, by keeping company with the devil at the shows, have fallen away from the Lord. For no one can serve two masters. What has light to do with darkness? What has life to do with death?

About this passage

Source

CSEL 20:25–26 · August Reifferscheid and Georg Wissowa, eds., Quinti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani Opera, Pars 1, CSEL 20 (Prague: Tempsky; Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1890), 1–29 · Latin text: August Reifferscheid and Georg Wissowa (CSEL 20), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in CSEL 20. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 20; made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Matt 6:24 · quotation, high confidence
2 Cor 6:14 · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

The quotations are Matt 6:24 and 2 Cor 6:14.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (letter lost in the digital text; misread letters in the digital text): Cur ego non → Cur ergo non; illde cum → inde cum.

Cite this passage

Tertullian, Spect. 26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-spectaculis/26/).

Plain text

Tertullian, Spect. 26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-spectaculis/26/).