On the Shows 21
Summary: Pagans judge good and evil inconsistently: modest and gentle in daily life, they applaud nakedness, filth, violence, and killing at the shows.
Latin text · CSEL 20:21–22
Omnia autem penes ueritatem dei fixa sunt. ethnici, quos penes nulla est ueritatis plenitudo, quia nec doctor ueritatis deus, malum et bonum pro arbitrio et libidine interpretantur: alibi bonum quod alibi malum, et alibi malum quod alibi bonum. sic ergo euenit, ut qui in publico uix necessitate uesicae tunicam leuet, idem in circo aliter non exuet, nisi totum pudorem in faciem omnium intendit, ut et qui filiae uirginis ab omni spurco uerbo aures tuetur, ipse eam in theatrum ad illas uoces gesticulationesque deducat, et qui in plateis litem manu agentem aut compescit aut detestatur, idem in stadio grauioribus pugnis suffragium ferat, et qui ad cadauer hominis communi lege defuncti exhorret, idem in amphitheatro derosa et dissipata et in suo sanguine squalentia corpora patientissimis oculis desuper incumbat, immo qui propter homicidae poenam probandam ad spectaculum ueniat, idem gladiatorem ad homicidium flagellis et uirgis compellat inuitum, et qui insigniori cuique homicidae leonem poscit, idem gladiatori atroci petat rudem et pilleum praemium conferat, illum uero confectum etiam oris spectaculo repetat, libentius recognoscens de proximo quem uoluit occidere de longinquo, tanto durior, si non ualuit.
English · Claude translation
But all things are fixed with the truth of God. The heathen, who have no fullness of truth, because God is not their teacher of truth, interpret evil and good by their own discretion and whim: good in one place what is evil in another, and evil in one place what is good in another. So it happens that the man who in public will scarcely lift his tunic for the needs of the bladder will in the circus strip it off only in such a way as to thrust all his shame before the faces of everyone; that the man who guards his virgin daughter's ears from every filthy word himself takes her to the theatre to hear those words and see those gestures; that the man who in the streets either restrains or deplores a quarrel carried on with fists will in the stadium applaud heavier blows; that the man who shudders at the corpse of one who died by the common law of nature will in the amphitheatre lean over, with most patient eyes, bodies gnawed, torn apart, and fouled in their own blood; nay, that the one who comes to the show to approve the punishment of a murderer will drive an unwilling gladiator to murder with lashes and rods; and that the one who demands the lion for every more notorious murderer will ask the wooden sword of discharge for a savage gladiator and grant him the cap of freedom as a reward, while he calls back the one who has been dispatched in order to view his face, inspecting more gladly close at hand the man he wanted killed at a distance, and all the more hardened if he did not want it.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The last clause (tanto durior, si non ualuit) is obscure; the rendering is approximate.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (doubled syllable in the digital text; letter lost in the digital text; misread letters in the digital text; stray letter in the digital text; word split in the digital text): non t exuet → non exuet; patientissmis → patientissimis; homicidaecidae → homicidae; gladia torem → gladiatorem; lonquinquo → longinquo.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Spect. 21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-spectaculis/21/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Spect. 21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-spectaculis/21/).
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