On the Shows 28 · Sophia Scriptura

Latin text · CSEL 20:27

Saginentur eiusmodi dulcibus conuiuae sui: et loca et tempora et inuitator ipsorum est. nostrae coenae, nostrae nuptiae nondum sunt. non possumus cum illis discumbere, quia nec illi nobiscum: uicibus disposita res est. nunc illi laetantur, nos conflictamur. saeculum, inquit, gaudebit, uos tristes eritis. lugeamus ergo, dum ethnici gaudent, ut, quum lugere coeperint, gaudeamus, ne pariter nunc gaudentes tunc quoque pariter lugeamus. delicatus es, Christiane, si et in saeculo uoluptatem concupiscis, immo nimium stultus, si hoc existimas uoluptatem. philosophi quidam hoc nomen quieti et tranquillitati dederunt, in ea gaudent, in ea auocantur, in ea etiam gloriantur. tu mihi metas et scaenam et puluerem et harenam suspiras. dicas uelim: non possumus uiuere sine uoluptate, qui mori cum uoluptate debemus. nam quod est aliud uotum nostrum quam quod et apostoli, exire de saeculo et recipi apud dominum? hic uoluptas, ubi et uotum.

English · Claude translation

Let such sweets fatten their own guests: they have their places and their times and their host. Our banquets, our wedding feasts, are not yet. We cannot recline at table with them, because they cannot recline with us either; the matter is arranged by turns. Now they rejoice, and we are afflicted. “The world,” he says, “will rejoice; you will be sorrowful.” Let us mourn, then, while the heathen rejoice, so that when they begin to mourn, we may rejoice; lest, if we rejoice with them now, we should then mourn with them too. You are too fastidious, Christian, if you want pleasure in this world as well; nay, you are too foolish, if you think this is pleasure. Some philosophers gave this name to rest and tranquillity; in it they rejoice, in it they find their diversion, in it they even glory. You sigh for the turning-posts, and the stage, and the dust, and the sand! I would have you say: “We cannot live without pleasure”; we who ought to die with pleasure! For what other wish have we than the apostle's, to depart from the world and be received by the Lord? Here is our pleasure, where our wish is.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 20:27 · 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

John 16:20 · quotation, high confidence
Phil 1:23 · allusion, high confidence
Rev 19:9 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Eschatology, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

The quotation is John 16:20; the apostle's wish is Phil 1:23. “Our wedding feasts” recalls the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray letter and punctuation in the digital text): tnam quod, est → nam quod est.

Cite this passage

Tertullian, Spect. 28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-spectaculis/28/).

Plain text

Tertullian, Spect. 28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-spectaculis/28/).