On the Shows 14 · Sophia Scriptura

Latin text · CSEL 20:16

Nunc interposito nomine idololatriae, quod solum subiectum sufficere debet ad abdicationem spectaculorum, alia iam ratione tractemus ex abundanti, propter eos maxime qui sibi blandiuntur quod non nominatim abstinentia ista praescripta sit. quasi parum etiam de spectaculis pronuntietur, cum concupiscentiae saeculi damnantur. nam sicut pecuniae uel dignitatis uel gulae uel libidinis uel gloriae, ita et uoluptatis concupiscentia est; species autem uoluptatis etiam spectacula. opinor, generaliter nominatae concupiscentiae continent in se et uoluptates, aeque generaliter intellectae uoluptates specialiter et in spectacula disseruntur.

English · Claude translation

Now, having set forth the name of idolatry, which alone ought to be ground enough for renouncing the shows, let us treat the matter by another line of reasoning, over and above, chiefly for the sake of those who flatter themselves that this abstinence is not prescribed by name. As if too little were said about the shows when the lusts of the world are condemned! For just as there is lust for money, or rank, or gluttony, or sex, or glory, so there is also lust for pleasure; and the shows are a kind of pleasure. Lusts named in general, I think, include pleasures within them; likewise pleasures, understood in general, are also specifically divided out into the shows.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 20:16 · 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

1 John 2:16 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Ethics

Notes

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (misread letter in the digital text; word split in the digital text): blandiumtur → blandiuntur; uolupta tis → uoluptatis.

Cite this passage

Tertullian, Spect. 14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-spectaculis/14/).

Plain text

Tertullian, Spect. 14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-spectaculis/14/).