# On the Shows - Author: [Novatian](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/novatian/) - Latin title: *De spectaculis* - Date: mid-3rd cent. (disputed) (disputed) - Source: Wilhelm von Hartel, ed., S. Thasci Caecili Cypriani Opera omnia, Pars 3, CSEL 3.3 (Vienna: Gerold, 1871) (Latin text: W. von Hartel (CSEL 3.3, 1871), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-spectaculis/ - Passages: 10 ## On the Shows 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-spectaculis/1/#p-1 - Source: CSEL 3.3:3–4 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The writer explains why he is writing: some Christians are defending attendance at the pagan shows, even from Scripture, and he wants to warn the faithful. ### Latin text CVPRIANVS PLEBI IN EVANGELIO STANTI S. Vt me satis contristat et animum nostrum grauiter affligit cum nulla mihi scribendi ad uos porrigitur occasio, detrimentum est enim meum uobiscum non colloqui, ita nihil mihi tantam laetitiam hilaritatemque restituit quam cum adest rursus occasio. uobiscum me esse arbitror, cum uobis per litteras loquor. quamquam igitur ita se haec habere quae dico certos uos esse sciam nec quicquam de uerborum meorum ueritate dubitare, tamen etiam argumentum sinceritatem rei asserit: nam cum nulla prorsus praeteritur occasio, probatur affectio, quamuis ergo certus sim uos non minus esse in uitae actu graues quam in sacramento fideles: tamen, quoniam non desunt uitiorum assertores blandi et indulgentes patroni qui praestant uitiis auctoritatem et quod est deterius censuram scripturarum caelestium in aduocationem criminum conuertunt, quasi sine culpa innocens spectaculorum ad remissionem animi appetatur uoluptas – nam et eo usque eneruatus est ecclesiasticae disciplinae uigor et ita omni langore uitiorum praecipitatur peius ut non iam uitiis excusatio sed auctoritas detur — placuit paucis uos non nunc instruere, sed instructos admonere, ne quia male sunt uincta uulnera sanitatis obductae perrumpant cicatricem. nullum enim malum difficilius extinguitur quam quod faciles reditus habet, dum et multitudinis consensu asseritur et excusatione blanditur. ### English translation (Claude) Cyprian to the people standing firm in the gospel, greetings. Just as it saddens me and weighs heavily on my spirit when no occasion of writing to you is offered me (for it is my loss not to converse with you), so nothing restores to me such joy and cheerfulness as when an occasion comes again. I think I am with you when I speak to you by letter. Although, then, I know that you are sure these things are as I say, and have no doubt about the truth of my words, yet the fact itself also confirms their sincerity: for when no occasion at all is passed over, affection is proved. Although, therefore, I am sure that you are no less earnest in the conduct of your life than faithful to the sacrament, yet since there is no lack of flattering advocates of vices and indulgent patrons who lend authority to vices and, what is worse, turn the censure of the heavenly Scriptures into a defense of crimes, as though the pleasure of the shows might be sought innocently, without fault, for the relaxation of the mind (for the vigor of the church's discipline has been so far weakened, and it sinks so much lower into every languor of vice, that vices are now given not an excuse but authority), I have decided in a few words not to instruct you now, but to admonish you who are already instructed, so that wounds badly bound may not break open the scar of health that has closed over them. For no evil is harder to extinguish than one that has an easy way back, while it is both championed by the consent of the multitude and made attractive by excuses. ### Translation notes - The letter circulated among Cyprian's works under his name (the heading “Cyprian to the people standing firm in the gospel”); modern scholarship generally assigns it to Novatian, writing to his community during a time of separation from it. - “Faithful to the sacrament”: sacramentum, probably the baptismal pledge. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian (Novatian?), Spect. 1 (CSEL 3.3:3–4; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/novatian-spectaculis/1). ## On the Shows 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-spectaculis/1/#p-2 - Source: CSEL 3.3:4–5 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The writer reports the defenders' arguments from Scripture (Elijah's chariot, David's dancing, Paul's athletic images) and says they misread the texts. ### Latin text Non pudet, inquam, non pudet fideles homines et christiani sibi nominis auctoritatem uindicantes superstitiones uanas gentilium cum spectaculis mixtas de scripturis caelestibus uindicare et diuinam, auctoritatem idololatriae conferre. nam quando id quod in honore alicuius idoli ab ethnicis agitur a fidelibus christianis spectaculo frequentatur, et idololatria gentilis asseritur et in contumeliam Dei religio uera et diuina calcatur. pudor me tenet praescriptiones eorum in hac causa et patrocinia referre. ubi, inquiunt, scripta sunt ista, ubi prohibita? alioquin et auriga est Israel Helias et ante aream Dauid ipse saltauit. nabla cynaras aera tympana tibias citharas choros legimus. apostolus quoque dimicans caestus et colluctationis nostrae aduersus spiritalia nequitiae proponit certamen. rursus cum de stadio sumit exempla, coronae quoque collocat praemia. cur ergo homini christiano fideli non liceat spectare quod licuit diuinis litteris scribere? hoc in loco non immerito dixerim longe melius fuisse istis nullas litteras nosse quam sic litteras legere. uerba enim et exempla quae ad exhortationem euangelicae uirtutis posita sunt ad uitiorum patrocinia transferuntur: quoniam non ut spectarentur ista scripta sunt, sed ut animis nostris instantia maior excitaretur in rebus profuturis, dum tanta est apud ethnicos in rebus non profuturis. ### English translation (Claude) Are they not ashamed, I say, are they not ashamed, these faithful people who claim for themselves the authority of the Christian name, to defend from the heavenly Scriptures the empty superstitions of the Gentiles mixed up with the shows, and to confer divine authority on idolatry? For when what the heathen perform in honor of some idol is frequented as a show by faithful Christians, the idolatry of the Gentiles is upheld, and the true and divine religion is trampled on, to the insult of God. Shame keeps me from reporting their pleas and defenses in this matter. “Where,” they say, “is this written? Where is it forbidden? Besides, Elijah is the charioteer of Israel, and David himself danced before the ark. We read of psalteries, lyres, cymbals, timbrels, pipes, harps, and dances. The apostle too, in his fight, sets before us the contest of boxing and of our wrestling against the spiritual forces of wickedness. Again, when he takes his examples from the stadium, he also sets out the prize of a crown. Why then should a faithful Christian not be allowed to watch what the divine writings were allowed to write about?” At this point I might not unjustly say that it would have been far better for such people to know no writings at all than to read the writings like this. For words and examples set down to exhort to the virtue of the gospel are being turned into defenses of vice: these things were written not so that they might be watched, but so that a greater zeal might be roused in our minds for things that will profit us, seeing how great a zeal there is among the heathen for things that will not profit them. ### Scripture references - 2 Kgs 2:12: allusion, high confidence - 2 Sam 6:14: allusion, high confidence - Ps 150:3–5: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 9:26: allusion, high confidence - Eph 6:12: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 9:24–25: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The defenders cite 2 Kgs 2:12 (Elijah “the chariot of Israel”), 2 Sam 6:14–16 (David dancing before the ark), the instruments of the Psalms (e.g. Ps 150:3–5), and Paul's athletic imagery (1 Cor 9:24–27; Eph 6:12). - The instrument names (nabla, cinyra, aera, tympana, tibiae, citharae) are rendered by approximate English equivalents. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian (Novatian?), Spect. 2 (CSEL 3.3:4–5; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/novatian-spectaculis/2). ## On the Shows 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-spectaculis/1/#p-3 - Source: CSEL 3.3:5–6 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Scripture's images of athletes and music do not license the shows; Scripture forbids some things by modestly leaving them unsaid, and conscience should do the rest. ### Latin text Argumentum est ergo excitandae uirtutis, non permissio siue libertas spectandi gentilis erroris, ut per hoc animus plus accendatur ad euangelicam uirtutem propter diuina praemia, cum per omnium laborum et dolorum calamitatem concertatur peruenire ad terrena compendia. nam quod Helias auriga est Israelis non patrocinatur spectandis circensibus: in nullo enim circo cucurrit. et quod Dauid in conspectu Dei choros egit nihil adiuuat in theatro sedentes christianos fideles: nulla enim obscoenis motibus membra distorquens desaltauit Graecae libidinis fabulam. nabla cynarae tibiae tympana et citharae Deum cecinerunt, non idolum. non igitur praescribetur ut spectentur illicita. diabolo artifice ex sanctis in illicita mutata sunt. praescribat igitur istis pudor, etiamsi non possunt sanctae litterae. quaedam enim scriptura magis prouidet in praecipiendo: uerecundiam passa plus interdixit quia tacuit, ueritas ne si ad haec usque descenderit, pessime de fidelibus suis sensisset: nam et plerumque in praeceptis quaedam utilius tacentur. admonent saepe dum interdicuntur. ita etiam tacentur dum diuinis litteris scripta sunt, et praeceptorum loco seueritas loquitur et ratio [docet] quae scriptura conticuit. secum tantummodo unusquisque deliberet et cum persona professionis suae loquatur, nihil umquam indecorum geret: plus enim ponderis habebit conscientia. quae nulli se alteri debebit nisi sibi. ### English translation (Claude) It is therefore an argument for rousing virtue, not a permission or license to watch Gentile error: its purpose is that the mind may be kindled the more to the virtue of the gospel for the sake of the divine rewards, when it sees people strive through the misery of every toil and pain to win earthly gains. For the fact that Elijah is the charioteer of Israel is no defense for watching the circus races: he did not race in any circus. And the fact that David led dances in the sight of God does nothing to help faithful Christians sitting in the theater: for he did not twist his limbs in obscene movements and dance out a tale of Greek lust. Psalteries, lyres, pipes, timbrels, and harps sang to God, not to an idol. It must not be argued, then, that unlawful things may be watched: by the devil's craft, holy things have been turned into unlawful ones. Let shame answer these people, then, even if the holy writings cannot. For in some things Scripture shows greater foresight in the way it commands: out of respect for modesty it forbade more by keeping silent, lest the truth, had it stooped so low, should seem to have thought very badly of its faithful. For often in precepts some things are more usefully left unsaid: they often suggest themselves when they are forbidden. So these things too are passed over in silence even where the divine writings have written, and in place of precepts it is severity that speaks, and reason, where Scripture has kept silent. Let each person simply deliberate with himself and speak with the character of his profession, and he will never do anything unseemly: for conscience will carry more weight, since it will owe itself to no one but itself. ### Scripture references - 2 Kgs 2:12: allusion, high confidence - 2 Sam 6:14: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The editor deletes “teaches” (docet) after “reason”; without it, “reason” is a second subject of “speaks”. - The sentence “So these things too are passed over in silence even where the divine writings have written” (ita etiam tacentur dum diuinis litteris scripta sunt) is obscure in the transmitted text; it is translated as it stands. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian (Novatian?), Spect. 3 (CSEL 3.3:5–6; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/novatian-spectaculis/3). ## On the Shows 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-spectaculis/1/#p-4 - Source: CSEL 3.3:6–7 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: All the shows descend from idolatry and are the devil's inventions, so a baptized Christian who attends them goes back on his renunciation of the devil. ### Latin text Quid scriptura interdixit? prohibuit enim spectari quod prohibet geri. omnia, inquam, ista spectaculorum genera damnauit, quando idololatriam sustulit ludorum omnium matrem, unde haec uanitatis et leuitatis monstra uenerunt. quod enim spectaculum sine idolo, quis ludus sine sacrificio, quod certamen non consecratum mortuo? quid inter haec christianus fidelis facit: si idololatriam fugit, quid loci ei? quid qui iam sanctus sit de rebus criminosis uoluptatem capit? quid contra Deum superstitiones probat quas amat dum spectat? ceterum sciat haec omnia inuenta daemoniorum esse, non Dei. impudenter in ecclesia daemonia exorcizat quorum uoluptates in spectaculis laudat: et cum semel illi renuntians rescissa sit res omnis in baptismate, dum post Christum ad diaboli spectaculum uadit, Christo tamquam diabolo renuntiat. idololatria, ut iam dixi, ludorum omnium mater est, quae ut ad se christiani fideles ueniant blanditur illis per oculorum et aurium uoluptatem. Romulus Conso quasi consilii deo ob rapiendas Sabinas circenses primus consecrauit, ceteri reliquis. dum urbem fames occupasset, ad aduocationem populi adquisiti sunt ludi scenici et Cereri et Libero dicati postmodum reliquisque idolis et mortuis. graeca illa certamina uel in cantibus uel in fidibus uel in uocibus uel in uiribus praesides suos habent uaria daemonia: et quidquid est aliud quod spectantium aut oculos mouet aut delinit aures, si cum sua origine et institutione quaeratur, causam praefert aut idolum aut daemonium aut mortuum. ita diabolus artifex quia idololatriam per se nudam sciebat horreri, spectaculis miscuit, ut per uoluptatem posset amari. ### English translation (Claude) What has Scripture forbidden? It has forbidden the watching of what it forbids the doing of. It condemned all these kinds of shows, I say, when it did away with idolatry, the mother of all the games, from which these monsters of vanity and frivolity have come. For what show is there without an idol, what game without a sacrifice, what contest not consecrated to a dead man? What is a faithful Christian doing among these things? If he flees idolatry, what place does he have there? Why does one who is already holy take pleasure in criminal things? Why does he approve, against God, superstitions that he loves while he watches them? Let him know, moreover, that all these things are inventions of demons, not of God. Shameless is the man who exorcises demons in the church while he praises their pleasures at the shows; and though, once he renounced the devil, the whole account was cancelled in baptism, when after Christ he goes to the devil's show, he renounces Christ as he once renounced the devil. Idolatry, as I have already said, is the mother of all the games, and to draw faithful Christians to herself she flatters them through the pleasure of eyes and ears. Romulus first consecrated the circus games to Consus, as the god of counsel, for the seizing of the Sabine women; others consecrated the rest. When famine had gripped the city, stage plays were introduced to gather the people, and were afterward dedicated to Ceres and Liber and to the other idols and the dead. Those Greek contests, whether in songs or in strings or in voices or in strength, have various demons as their patrons; and whatever else moves the eyes or charms the ears of spectators, if it is traced back to its origin and institution, shows as its cause either an idol or a demon or a dead man. So the devil, a skilled craftsman, knowing that idolatry by itself, naked, is shuddered at, mixed it with the shows, so that through pleasure it might be loved. ### Translation notes - The baptismal renunciation of the devil is in view. - Consus: an old Roman god of the stored harvest, here explained as a god of counsel (consilium); the story of the Sabine women at his festival is from Roman legend (e.g. Livy 1.9), not cited by name. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian (Novatian?), Spect. 4 (CSEL 3.3:6–7; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/novatian-spectaculis/4). ## On the Shows 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-spectaculis/1/#p-5 - Source: CSEL 3.3:7–8 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The writer describes the bloodshed and the idle fanaticism of the games, and a Christian who carries the Eucharist through the brothel district on his way to the circus. ### Latin text Plura prosequi quid est necesse uel sacrificiorum in ludis genera monstruosa describere, inter quae nonnumquam et homo fit hostia latrocinio sacerdotis, dum cruor etiam de iugulo calidus exceptus spumanti patera, dum adhuc feruet, et quasi sitienti idolo in faciem iactatus crudeliter propinatur, et inter uoluptates spectantium quorundam mors erogatur, ut per cruentum spectaculum saeuire discatur, quasi parum sit homini priuata sua rabies, nisi illam et publice discat. in poenam hominis fera rabida nutritur in deliciis, ut sub spectantium oculis crudelius insaniat. erudit artifex belluam, quae clementior fortasse fuisset, si non illam magister crudelior saeuire docuisset. ergo ut taceam quicquid latius idololatria probat, quam uana sunt ipsa. certamina, lites in coloribus, contentiones in curribus, fauores in honoribus, gaudere quod equus uelocior fuerit, maerere quod pigrior, annos pecoris computare, consules nosse, aetates discere, prosapiam designare, auos ipsos atauosque memorare. quam hoc totum otiosum negotium, immo quam turpiter ignominiosum? hunc, inquam, memoriter totam equini generis sobolem computantem et sine offensa hunc locum magna uelocitate referentem, parentes Christi si perroges, nescit, aut infelicior si scit. quem si rursus perrogem quo ad illud spectaculum itinere peruenerit, confitebitur per lupanarium, per prostitutarum nuda corpora, per lubricam libidinem, per dedecus publicum, per uulgarem lasciuiam, per communem omnium contumeliam. cui ut non obiciam quod fortasse commisit, uidit tamen quod committendum non fuit et oculos ad idololatriae spectaculum per libidinem duxit: ausus secum sanctum in lupanar ducere, si potuisset, qui festinans ad spectaculum dimissus e dominico et adhuc gerens secum ut assolet eucharistiam inter corpora obscoena meretricum Christi sanctum corpus infidelis iste circumtulit plus damnationis meritus de itinere quam de spectaculi uoluptate. ### English translation (Claude) What need is there to go further, or to describe the monstrous kinds of sacrifices in the games? Among them sometimes even a man becomes the victim, by the priest's butchery, while his blood, caught warm from the throat in a foaming bowl, is thrown while still seething into the face of the idol, as though it were thirsty, and cruelly offered it to drink; and amid the pleasures of the spectators death is dealt out to some, so that savagery may be learned through a bloody show, as though a man's private rage were too little for him unless he learned it in public too. A wild beast is fed on delicacies for a man's punishment, so that under the spectators' eyes it may rage more cruelly. A trainer instructs the beast, which would perhaps have been gentler had not a crueler master taught it to rage. So, to say nothing of all that idolatry sanctions more widely, how empty are the contests themselves: quarrels over colors, rivalries over chariots, partisanship over honors; rejoicing because a horse was faster, grieving because it was slower; counting the years of the animals, knowing the consuls, learning their ages, tracing their descent, recalling even their grandsires and great-great-grandsires! How idle this whole business is, or rather how shamefully disgraceful! Ask this man, I say, who counts from memory the whole progeny of the equine race and recites this subject at great speed without a slip, who Christ's parents were: he does not know, or he is the more unhappy if he knows. And if I ask him again by what road he reached that show, he will confess: through the brothels, through the naked bodies of prostitutes, through slippery lust, through public disgrace, through vulgar lewdness, through the common shame of all. Not to charge him with what he perhaps committed, he nevertheless saw what should not have been committed, and led his eyes through lust to the show of idolatry. He would have dared, had he been able, to take the Holy One with him into a brothel: hurrying to the show, dismissed from the Lord's house and still carrying the Eucharist with him, as is the custom, this unbeliever carried the holy body of Christ about among the obscene bodies of harlots, deserving more condemnation for his road than for the pleasure of the show. ### Translation notes - “Knowing the consuls”: that is, the years in which the horses raced. - “Still carrying the Eucharist with him, as is the custom”: the practice of taking the consecrated bread home after the Sunday assembly; the writer calls the man “unbeliever” (infidelis) for his conduct. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian (Novatian?), Spect. 5 (CSEL 3.3:7–8; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/novatian-spectaculis/5). ## On the Shows 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-spectaculis/1/#p-6 - Source: CSEL 3.3:8–9 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The stage plays and pantomimes teach adultery and shamelessness in public, so a Christian who may not even think of vice cannot watch them. ### Latin text Sed ut ad scenae iam sales inuerecundos transitum faciam, pudet referre quae dicuntur, pudet etiam accusare quae fiunt, argumentorum strophas, adulterorum fallacias, mulierum impudicitias, scurriles iocos, parasitos sordidos, ipsos quoque patres familias togatos modo stupidos modo obscoenos, in omnibus stolidos, certis nominibus inuerecundos. et cum nulli hominum aut generi aut professioni ab improbis isto sermone parcatur, ab omnibus tamen ad spectaculum conuenitur. commune dedecus delectat uidelicet uel recognoscere otia uel discere. concurritur in illud pudoris publici lupanarium, ad obscoenitatis magisterium, ne quid secreto minus agatur quam quod in publico discitur: et inter ipsas leges docetur quicquid legibus interdicitur. quid inter haec christianus fidelis facit cui uitia non licet nec cogitare, quid oblectatur simulacris libidinis, ut in ipsis deposita uerecundia audacior fiat ad crimina? discit et facere dum consuescit uidere. illas tamen quas infelicitas sua in seruitutem prostituit libidinis publicae occultat locus et dedecus suum de latebris consolantur: erubescunt uideri etiam quae pudorem uendiderunt. at istud publicum monstrum omnibus uidentibus geritur et prostitutarum transitur obscoenitas: quaesitum est quomodo adulterium ex oculis admitteretur. huic dedecori condignum dedecus superducitur, homo fractus omnibus membris et uir ultra muliebrem mollitiem dissolutus, cui ars sit uerba manibus expedire: et propter unum nescio quem nec uirum nec feminam commouetur ciuitas tota ut desaltentur fabulosae antiquitatum libidines. ita amatur quicquid non licet ut quae etiam aetas absconderat, sub oculos memoria reducat. ### English translation (Claude) But to pass now to the shameless wit of the stage: it is shameful to report what is said there, shameful even to accuse what is done: the twists of plots, the tricks of adulterers, the unchastity of women, buffoonish jokes, filthy parasites, even heads of households in their togas, now stupid, now obscene, foolish in everything, shameless under well-known names. And though no class or profession of men is spared by wicked people in this kind of talk, yet everyone gathers to the show. Evidently the common disgrace delights them, either to recognize their own pastimes or to learn them. People flock to that brothel of public shame, to that school of obscenity, so that nothing less may be done in secret than what is learned in public; and in the midst of the laws is taught whatever the laws forbid. What is a faithful Christian doing among these things, who may not even think of vices? Why does he take delight in images of lust, so that, once he has laid aside his modesty in them, he may become bolder for crimes? He learns to do them while he grows used to seeing them. Yet the women whom their misfortune has prostituted into slavery to public lust are at least hidden by the place, and they console their disgrace with concealment: even those who have sold their modesty blush to be seen. But that public monstrosity is performed with everyone watching, and it surpasses the obscenity of prostitutes: a way has been devised for adultery to be committed through the eyes. To this disgrace a matching disgrace is added: a man broken in every limb, a male dissolved beyond a woman's softness, whose art is to express words with his hands; and for one I know not what, neither man nor woman, the whole city is stirred, so that the fabled lusts of antiquity may be danced out. So loved is whatever is unlawful that memory brings back before the eyes even what time had hidden. ### Scripture references - Matt 5:28: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - “Adultery committed through the eyes” echoes Matt 5:28. - The pantomime dancer, who acted mythological stories in dance and gesture, is in view at the end. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian (Novatian?), Spect. 6 (CSEL 3.3:8–9; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/novatian-spectaculis/6). ## On the Shows 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-spectaculis/1/#p-7 - Source: CSEL 3.3:9–10 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Even musical and dramatic performances not tied to idols are too vain for Christians to attend. ### Latin text Non est libidini satis malis suis uti praesentibus, nisi suum de spectaculo faciant in quo etiam aetas superior errauerat. non licet, inquam, adesse christianis fidelibus, non licet omnino nec illis quos ad delinimenta aurium ad omnes ubique Graecia instructos suis uanis artibus mittit. clangores tubae bellicos alter imitatur raucos, alter lugubres sonos spiritu tibiam inflante moderatur, alter cum choris et cum hominis canora uoce contendens spiritu suo quem de uisceribus suis superioribus nitens hauserat tibiarum foramina modulatur: nunc effuso et nunc intus recluso ac represso nunc certis foraminibus emisso atque in aerem profuso, item in articulos sonum frangens, loqui digitis elaborat, ingratus artifici qui linguam dedit. quid loquar comicas inutiles curas, quid illas magnas tragicae uocis insanias, quid neruos cum clamore commissos? haec etiam si non essent simulacris dicata, obeunda tamen et spectanda non essent christianis fidelibus: quoniam etsi non habebant crimen, habent in se maximam et parum congruentem fidelibus uanitatem. ### English translation (Claude) It is not enough for lust to use the evils of the present unless people make their own, through the show, the evils in which an earlier age too had gone astray. It is not lawful, I say, for faithful Christians to be present; it is not lawful at all, not even at the performances of those whom Greece, having trained them in its empty arts, sends everywhere to soothe the ears. One imitates the hoarse war blasts of the trumpet; another governs mournful sounds with his breath blowing into the pipe; another, competing with choirs and with the tuneful voice of a man, modulates the holes of the pipes with the breath he has drawn up by straining from his inner parts, now pouring it out, now shutting it in and holding it back, now letting it out through certain holes and spreading it into the air, or again breaking the sound into measures; he labors to speak with his fingers, ungrateful to the Maker who gave him a tongue. Why should I speak of the useless cares of comedy, of those great ravings of the tragic voice, of strings plucked amid shouting? Even if these things were not dedicated to idols, faithful Christians still ought not to attend and watch them, since, even if they carried no crime, they have in themselves a very great vanity, little fitting for the faithful. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian (Novatian?), Spect. 7 (CSEL 3.3:9–10; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/novatian-spectaculis/7). ## On the Shows 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-spectaculis/1/#p-8 - Source: CSEL 3.3:10–11 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Boxing, wrestling, and athletics are displays of gluttony and shamelessness, and Christians must guard their eyes and ears from them. ### Latin text Nam illa altera reliquorum dementia est manifesta otiosis hominibus negotiatio: in iniuriam suam pinguescit in sagina corpus ut robustius aut feriat aut uapulet, et prima uictoria est ultra modum, humani uentris esurire potuisse, super titulo coronae edacis flagitiosae nundinae: ictibus infelix facies locatur, ut infelicior uenter saginetur. quam foeda praeterea ipsa luctamina, uir infra uirum iacens amplexibus inhonestis et nexibus implicatur. in tali certamine stare. uiderit quis uincat, pudor uictus est. ecce tibi alter nudus salit, alter orbem aeneum contentis in aerem uiribus iactat. haec gloria est dementiae. denique remoue spectatorem, reddideris uanitatem. fugienda sunt ista christianis fidelibus, ut iam frequenter diximus, tam uana, tam perniciosa, tam sacrilega spectacula: et oculi nostri sunt et aures custodiendae. cito in hoc assuescimus quod audimus, celere in id quod uidemus. nam cum mens hominis ad uitia ipsa ducitur, sibi quid faciet, si habuerit exempla? natura corporis lubrica quae sponte corruit quid faciet, si fuerit impulsa? auocandus est animus ab istis. ### English translation (Claude) For that other madness of the rest is plainly a trade for idle men: the body is fattened by feeding, to its own injury, so that it may strike or be beaten more sturdily; and the first victory is to have been able to eat beyond the measure of the human belly: a shameful market of gluttony, for the title of a crown. The unhappy face is hired out to blows so that a more unhappy belly may be fattened. How foul, besides, are the wrestling bouts themselves: a man lying under a man is tangled in shameful embraces and holds. Let whoever will see who wins in such a contest: modesty has lost. Look, one leaps about naked; another hurls a bronze disk into the air with all his strength. This is the glory of madness. In short, remove the spectator, and you have exposed its vanity. Christians must flee these shows, as we have often said already, shows so empty, so ruinous, so sacrilegious; our eyes and our ears must be guarded. We quickly grow used to what we hear, and faster still to what we see. For since the human mind is drawn to vices anyway, what will it do if it has examples? What will the slippery nature of the body, which falls of its own accord, do if it is pushed? The mind must be called away from these things. ### Translation notes - “To eat beyond the measure of the human belly”: the text reads esurire (“to hunger”); translated by sense. - “In such a contest” renders in tali certamine stare, where stare (“to stand”) does not construe clearly; the phrase is translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian (Novatian?), Spect. 8 (CSEL 3.3:10–11; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/novatian-spectaculis/8). ## On the Shows 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-spectaculis/1/#p-9 - Source: CSEL 3.3:11–12 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The Christian has better shows in the beauty of creation, which no theater can match. ### Latin text Habet christianus spectacula meliora, si uelit, habet ueras et profuturas uoluptates, si se recollegerit: et ut omittam illa quae nondum contemplari potest, habet istam mundi pulcritudinem quam uideat atque miretur, solis ortum aspiciat, rursus occasum mutuis uicibus dies noctesque reuocantem, globum lunae temporum cursus incrementis suis detrimentisque signantem, astrorum micantes choros et assidue de summa mobilitate fulgentes, anni totius per uices membra diuisa et dies ipsos cum noctibus per horarum spatia digestos et terrae molem libratam cum montibus et profusa flumina cum suis fontibus, extensa maria cum suis fluctibus atque litoribus, interim constantem pariter summa conspiratione nexibusque concordiae extensum aerem medium tenuitate sua cuncta uegetantem, nunc imbres contractis nubibus profundentem, nunc serenitatem refecta raritate reuocantem et in omnibus istis incolas proprios, in aere auem, in aquis piscem, in terra hominem. haec, inquam, et alia item opera diuina sint christianis fidelibus spectacula. quod theatrum humanis manibus exstructum istis operibus poterit comparari? magnis licet lapidum molibus exstruatur, cristae sunt montium altiores, et auro licet tecta laquearia reluceant, astrorum fulgore uincentur: numquam humana opera mirabitur quisquis se recognouerit filium Dei. deicit se de culmine generositatis suae qui admirari aliquid post Deum potest. ### English translation (Claude) The Christian has better shows, if he wants them; he has true and profitable pleasures, if he collects himself. To say nothing of those things he cannot yet behold, he has this beauty of the world to look at and admire. Let him look on the sun's rising, and again its setting, bringing back day and night by turns; the globe of the moon marking the course of the seasons by its waxing and waning; the twinkling choirs of the stars, shining constantly from the highest heaven in their motion; the members of the whole year divided by turns, and the days themselves with the nights arranged in the spaces of the hours; the mass of the earth poised with its mountains, and the flowing rivers with their springs, the wide seas with their waves and shores; and meanwhile the air spread out between, holding firm in perfect harmony and in the bonds of concord, quickening all things by its fineness, now pouring out rain when the clouds are gathered, now bringing back clear skies when it thins again; and in all these their own inhabitants: the bird in the air, the fish in the waters, man on the earth. Let these, I say, and other divine works be the shows of faithful Christians. What theater built by human hands can be compared with these works? Though it be built of great masses of stone, the crests of the mountains are higher; and though gilded ceilings shine, they will be outdone by the brightness of the stars. Whoever has recognized himself as a son of God will never marvel at human works. He casts himself down from the height of his noble birth who can admire anything after God. ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian (Novatian?), Spect. 9 (CSEL 3.3:11–12; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/novatian-spectaculis/9). ## On the Shows 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/novatian-spectaculis/1/#p-10 - Source: CSEL 3.3:12–13 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The Scriptures offer the Christian the true shows: creation, the flood, the exodus, the martyrs' faith, the raising of the dead, and the devil defeated under Christ's feet. ### Latin text Scripturis, inquam, sacris incumbat christianus fidelis: ibi inueniet condigna fidei spectacula. uidebit instituentem Deum mundum suum et cum ceteris animalibus homines illam admirabilem fabricam melioremque facientem. spectabit mundum in delictis suis, iusta naufragia, piorum praemia impiorumque supplicia, maria populo siccata et de petra rursus populo maria porrecta. spectabit de caelo descendentes messes, non ex areis aratro impressas: inspiciet flumina transitus siccos refrenatis aquarum agminibus exhibentia: uidebit in quibusdam fidem cum igne luctantem, religione superatas feras et in mansuetudinem conuersas: intuebitur et animas ab ipsa iam morte reuocatas: considerabit etiam de sepulcris admirabiles ipsorum consummatorum iam uitas corporum redactas. et in his omnibus iam maius uidebit spectaculum, diabolum illum qui totum detriumphauerat mundum sub pedibus Christi iacentem. quam hoc decorum spectaculum, fratres, quam iocundum, quam necessarium? intueri semper spem suam et oculos aperire ad salutem suam. hoc est spectaculum quod uidetur etiam luminibus amissis. hoc est spectaculum quod non exhibet praetor aut consul, sed qui est solus et ante omnia et super omnia, immo ex quo omnia, pater Domini nostri Iesu Christi, cui laus et honor in saecula saeculorum. opto uos, fratres, bene ualere. ### English translation (Claude) Let the faithful Christian, I say, devote himself to the sacred Scriptures: there he will find shows worthy of faith. He will see God establishing his world, and making, along with the other living things, that wonderful and better workmanship, man. He will watch the world in its sins, the just shipwrecks, the rewards of the godly and the punishments of the ungodly, seas dried up for a people and seas brought forth from a rock for a people. He will watch harvests coming down from heaven, not pressed out by the plow on the threshing floors; he will look on rivers that, their marching waters reined in, offered dry crossings; he will see in some people faith wrestling with fire, wild beasts overcome by devotion and turned to gentleness; he will gaze on souls called back from death itself; he will consider also the wonderful lives of bodies already consumed brought back from their very tombs. And in all these he will see a still greater show: the devil, who had triumphed over the whole world, lying under the feet of Christ. How fitting a show this is, brothers, how delightful, how necessary: always to look on one's hope and to open one's eyes to one's salvation! This is a show that is seen even when sight has been lost. This is a show that no praetor or consul puts on, but he who alone is before all things and above all things, or rather from whom are all things, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and honor for ever and ever. I wish you good health, brothers. ### Scripture references - Gen 1:26–27: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 7:21–23: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 14:21–22: allusion, high confidence - Exod 17:6: allusion, high confidence - Exod 16:4: allusion, high confidence - Josh 3:16–17: allusion, high confidence - Dan 3:25: allusion, medium confidence - Dan 6:22: allusion, medium confidence - John 11:43–44: allusion, low confidence - Matt 27:52–53: allusion, low confidence - Rom 16:20: echo, low confidence - 1 Cor 8:6: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Allusions: creation of man (Gen 1:26–27), the flood (Gen 7), the Red Sea (Exod 14:21–22), water from the rock (Exod 17:6), manna (Exod 16:4), the Jordan (Josh 3:16–17), the three young men in the fire (Dan 3), Daniel and the lions (Dan 6:22), the dead raised (e.g. John 11:43–44; Matt 27:52–53), the devil under Christ's feet (Rom 16:20; Ps 110:1), “from whom are all things” (1 Cor 8:6). ### Citation (SBL) Ps.-Cyprian (Novatian?), Spect. 10 (CSEL 3.3:12–13; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/novatian-spectaculis/10).