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A NEW TRANSLATION 
VOLUME 40 



THE FA THERS 
OF THE CHURCH 

A NEW TRANSLATION 



EDITORIAL BOARD 



ROY JOSEPH DEFERRARI 

The Catholic University of America 
Editorial Director 



RUDOLPH ARBESMANN, O.S.A. BERNARD M. PEEBLES 

Fordham University The Catholic University of America 

STEPHAN KUTTNER ROBERT P. RUSSELL, O.S.A. 

The Catholic University of America Villanova University 

MARTIN R. P, McGumE ANSELM STRITTMATTEII, O&B. 

The Catholic University of America St. Anselm's Priory 

JAMES EDWARD TOBIN 
Queens College 



TERTULLIAN 

DISCIPLINARY, MORAL 
AND ASCETIC AL WORKS 



Translated by 

RUDOLPH ARBESMANN, O.S.A. 

SISTER EMILY JOSEPH DALY, C.S J. 

EDWIN A. QUAIN, S.J. 



New York 

FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, INC. 
1959 



NIHIL OBSTAT: 

JOHN A, GOODWINE 

Ce-nsor librorum 



IMPRIMATUR: 

FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN 

Archbishop of New York 



June 29, 1959 



Copyright 1959 by 

FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, ING. 
475 Fifth Avenue, New York 17, K Y 

All rights reserved 



Lithography by Bishop Litho, Incv 
U.S.A. 



CONTENTS 



FOREWORD 7 

TO THE MARTYRS 

Introduction 13 

Text 17 

SPECTACLES 

Introduction 33 

Text 47 

THE APPAREL OF WOMEN 

Introduction * . . Ill 

Book I . 117 

Book II . ... . . . . . . 129 

PRAYER 

Introduction . . . . . ' ' . . 153 

Text 157 

PATIENCE 

Introduction . 191 

Text . . . . . ... . . . 193 



.... ; ' . ; . : .... ... , v . -J t x> L i J ii \ A !\ / 

6604340 



THE CHAPLET 

Introduction 225 

Text 231 

FLIGHT IN TIME OF PERSECUTION 

Introduction 271 

Text 275 

INDEX 3H 



FOREWORD 



This volume contains seven of Tertullian's works which 
deal with disciplinary, moral, and ascetical questions. 1 The 
first five (To the Martyrs, Spectacles, The Apparel of Women, 
Prayer, and Patience) belong to the author's Catholic period; 
the two remaining (The Chaplet; Flight in Time of Persecu- 
tion} were written after he had broken with the Church and 
given his intellectual adhesion to Montanism. 

Considering Tertullian's moral writings as a whole, we 
cannot help admiring the sincerity, earnestness, and zeal 
with which he sets forth the ideals of Christian life. The 
imitation of God and Christ is, as it were, the leitmotif of 
his moral teachings. All that .man is and possesses is a free 
gift of God's grace; having lost his supernatural union with 
God through the fall of the first parents, he was restored 
to (Sod's friendship and love by the Redemption. The thought 

1 Volume 10 of this series contains a selection of Tertullian's apologeti- 
cal works. Since its publication in 1950, the task of the translator 
has been made easier by the appearance of the critical edition of 
Tertullian's opera omnia in the Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina, 
vols. 1-2 (Turnhout, Belgium, 1954) . Special mention must also be 
made of the second volume of J. Quasten's Patrology (Westminster, 
Md, 1953) which, in its section on Tertullian (pp. 246-340) , contains 
a comprehensive and detailed bibliography on this African writer 
and his works. 



8 TERTULLIAN 

of God's infinite mercy and of the Redemption must impel 
the Christian to bear witness to God and Christ in the world, 
without himself being of the world. No compromise, there- 
fore, is allowed with idolatry. For, this would mean forsaking 
God and Christ again, and giving allegiance to God's rival, 
the perverter of man and all things created by God, Satan. 
The trials of life must be borne with patience whose origin 
is found in God, the Creator Himself and Christ being the 
prototypes of this virtue. Even martyrdom is a gift of God, 
a noble contest whose crown is eternal life, a storm that 
separates the chaff from the wheat. The Christian should 
be spurred on by the exceeding joy awaiting him in the 
life to come. Being of predominantly practical disposition, 
Tertullian is not content with stating general principles. 
He is always eager to give minute rules not only for the 
Christian's behavior in daily life, especially in his contacts 
with the pagan world, but also for such minute liturgical 
details as the tone, the gestures, and the attitudes to be 
observed in prayer. 

In view of Tertullian's uncompromising attitude toward 
everything that, in his opinion, was related to idolatry, it 
is hardly surprising that his treatise, Spectacles, contains an 
out-and-out indictment of the performances given in the 
circus, theater, stadium and amphitheater, such entertain- 
ments being absolutely incompatible with the faith and 
moral discipline of Christianity. Equally strong language 
is found in his two books on The Apparel of Women. There 
is a certain serenity in the treatises, Prayer and Patience, 
and a gentle and tender charity in the address To the Martyrs. 
But, at times, even there the harshness of his asceticism 
pierces through, rejecting what seems to him a compromise 
or even a toleration. 



FOREWORD 



After his contact with Montanism, this harshness increases 
steadily and brings him into conflict with the authorities 
of the Church. Exasperated by this opposition, he stubbornly 
clings to his own private judgment, pushing his principles 
to the extreme and trying to convince by the pressure of 
invective rather than by the attraction of an ideal. In the 
treatise, The Chaplet, he declares unlawful not only military 
service, but also the acceptance of any public office. In the 
treatise, Flight in the Time of Persecution, he brands as 
disguised apostasy every attempt to elude persecution. Bishops 
who, in time of persecution, govern their dioceses from a 
place of safety are to him not shepherds of their flocks, 
but hirelings who flee when the wolf comes and attacks 
the sheep. The Catholic brethren who place themselves 
beyond the reach of the persecutors he calls moral cowards 
who are afraid of losing the comforts of life. To be sure, 
Montanism did not bring about a radical change in Ter- 
tullian's moral teaching, because his asceticism was marked 
with a certain rigor and inflexibility from the beginning. 
Since his contact with Montanism, however, this rigor in- 
creased in strength until the ideal of austere virtue which 
he wanted to impose on the faithful as a whole became 
more Stoic than Christian. 

We may well wonder how a man of so rare intelligence 
as Tertullian, a man, in addition, who had defended so 
vigorously the concept of tradition and stressed so much 
the apostolic succession of the Catholic hierarchy, could 
turn his back upon the Church and be led astray by an 
Oriental sect whose frenzied excesses could hardly attract 
him. Once he saw himself rebuffed in his demands for a 
severer and more rigid asceticism, he discovered in the 
Montanist tenets some ideas that appealed to him. In the 



10 TERTULLIAN 

feverish expectation of the imminent end of the world and 
in preparation for it, Montanus and his associates, the 
prophetesses Maximilla and Prisca (or Priscilla), had de- 
manded the most severe asceticism. Second marriages were 
forbidden, and virginity strongly recommended; longer and 
stricter fasts were made obligatory, and only dry foods 
permitted; flight from persecution was disapproved, and 
the joyful acceptance of martyrdom advocated; reconcilia- 
tion was denied to all those who had committed capital 
sins. Here, then, Tertullian found a moral code that satisfied 
his own desires for a more perfect and purer life. He could 
give his adhesion all the more easily as it was divine authority, 
the 'Paraclete' who, as Montanus claimed, spoke through 
him and his prophetesses. 

The memory of a brilliant man who had served the 
Church so well and then became her bitter enemy is always 
sorrowful. The ideal Tertullian sought outside the Church 
proved to be a mirage. He died a disillusioned and embittered 
man. 

ROY J. DEFERRARI 



TO TEE MARTYRS 



Translated by 

RUDOLPH ARBESMANN, O.S.A., Ph.D. 

Fordham University 




INTRODUCTION 



JHE REIGN OF the African Septimius Severus (193- 
211) was not a time of peace for the Church in 
his native land where popular hatred intermittently 
led to sudden and violent outbursts against the Christians. 
The crises which persecution brought on for the Church 
called forth the remarkable pieces of apologetical literature 
which Tertullian, a recent convert to the faith, wrote in 
defense of his harassed brethren. From 197 he threw him- 
self vigorously into the Christian cause, protesting against 
the lack of legal fairness in the treatment of Christians, who 
were simply condemned as such without previous examina- 
tion of their morals and beliefs, and exhorting confessors 
in prison to face death courageously. To the year 197 belong 
his two books To the Heathen (Ad nationes) and his master- 
piece, the Apology. A number of scholars are of the opinion 
that the short address To the Martyrs (Ad martyr as} dates 
from the same year. They interpret Tertullian's phrase 'our 
present days' in the closing paragraph of the small work 
(Ch. 6.2) as the time of liquidation and purge following 
the slaughter of the army of Clodius Albinus, Serverus' last 
and most powerful rival to the throne, in the battle of Lyons 
on February 19, 197. Other scholars, finding the reference 

13 



14 TERTULLIAN 

too vague, prefer to assign the treatise to the year 202. They 
think that Tertullian's addressees are the group of catechu- 
mens whose martyrdom at Carthage in that year is so 
touchingly recounted in the Passion of Saints Perpetua and 
Felidtas. 

However this may be, the exhortation To the Martyrs, 
distinguished by simplicity of style and great warmth of 
feeling, belongs to Tertullian's earliest works. It is gentle 
in persuasion and quiet in tone. The unrestrained fire of 
the author's later writings seems under control. He is a 
man sympathetic with human frailty; he shows understanding 
of suffering; he exhibits no harshness. With the exception, 
perhaps, of his condemnation of the world (2.1-3), he 
holds no extreme view. He warmly approves of the solicitude 
of 'Lady Mother the Church 9 and individual brethren who 
provide for the bodily sustenance of the confessors who are 
kept in prison and will soon die for the faith (1.1; 2.7). He 
also seems to recommend the intercession of these confessors 
in behalf of penitent apostates (1.6). These views are quite 
different from those manifested in some of his Montanist 
writings in which he strongly condemns both practices 
(see Ch. 1 nn. 3,8). 

In the opening sentence of his address, Tertullian says 
that he hopes to speak words which will sustain the spirit 
of the confessors while they suffer imprisonment. Through- 
out, even to the conclusion, he seeks to strengthen and 
encourage them in the face of trials and hardships, which, 
if bravely borne, will remove fear of martyrdom and inspire 
courage for the great act to come. The first three chapters 
are enlivened by graphic pictures, some of them likening 
the present sufferings of the confessors to the privations 
endured by athletes during their rigid training preceding 



TO THE MARTYRS 15 

a contest and to the hardships soldiers have to undergo in 
the field. In the three remaining chapters Tertullian produces 
a long array of examples, showing that men and women 
did not shrink from the most painful sufferings and even 
sacrificed their lives for the sake of inordinate ambition and 
vanity, or died by accident and fate, while the confessors 
suffer in the cause of God. 

The text of the treatise was handed down in a group 
of rather late manuscripts, all belonging to the fifteenth 
century. The first printed edition by Beatus Rhenanus ap- 
peared at Basel in 1521. The present translation is based 
on the critical text of E. Dekkers in Corpus Christianorum, 
Series Latina 1 (Turnholti 1954) 1-8. 



16 TERTULLIAN 

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Texts: 



T. H. Bindley, Qui'nti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani De praescriptione 
haereticorum, Ad martyras. Ad Scapulam, edited with intro- 
duction and notes (Oxford 1893) . 

E. Dekkers, Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 1 (Turnholti 1954) 
1-8, 



Translations: 

S. Thelwall, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers (American reprint of 

the Edinburgh edition) 3: Latin Christianity. Its Founder, 

Tertullian (New York 1903) 693-696. 
K. A. H. Kellner, in Tertullians private und katechetische Schriften 

(Bibliothek der Kirchenvater. Tertullians ausgewahlte Schriften 

1; Kempten and Munich 1912) 215-223. 



Secondary Sources: 

O. Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur 2 (2nd ed 
Freiburg i. B. 1914) 415. ' 

J. Quasten, Patrology 2 (Westminister, Md. 1953) 290-292. 

G. D. Schlegel, 'The Ad Martyras of Tertullian and the Circum- 
stances of Its Composition,' Downside Review 63 (1945) 12-128. 




TO THE MARTYRS 



Chapter 1 

JLESSED MARTYRS ELECT/ along with the nourishment 
for the body which our Lady Mother the Church 2 
from her breast, as well as individual brethren 
from their private resources, furnish you in prison, 3 accept 
also from me some offering that will contribute to the 
sustenance of the spirit. For it is not good that the flesh 

1 'Blessed* (benedicti) was an appellation given especially to catechu- 
mens and neophytes. The addressees are headed for martyrdom, hence 
Tertullian calls them 'martyrs elect' (martyres designati) ; the more 
common title for those awaiting martyrdom was 'confessors/ 

2 The notion of the Church as a mother occurs here for the first 
time in early Latin Christian literature. Two earlier instances 
of 'Mother' as a direct appellative for the Church are found in 
Greek Christian literature, namely, in a letter written in 177 or 
the year following by the Christian communities of Lyons and 
Vienne to their brethren in Asia Minor and Phrygia (Eusebius, 
Hist, eccl. 5.1.1-2.8) . Cf. J. Plumpe, Mater Ecclesia. An Inquiry 
into the Concept of the Church as Mother in Early Christianity 

(Washington, D. C. 1943)35-62. 

3 In his Montanist period Tertullian bitterly denounced the custom 
of sending food to brethren awaiting martyrdom in prison, on 
the ground that this practice only weakened their preparedness 
for the final conflict. Cf. De ieiunio 12.2-3. 

17 



18 TERTULLIAN 

be feasted while the spirit goes hungry. Indeed, if care 
is bestowed on that which is weak, there is all the more reason 
not to neglect that which is still weaker. 4 (2) Not that I 
am specially entitled to exhort you. Yet, even the most 
accomplished gladiators are spurred on not only by their 
trainers and managers but also from afar by people inex- 
perienced in this art and by all who choose, without the 
slightest need for it, with the result that hints issuing from 
the crowd have often proved profitable for them. 

(3) In the first place, then, O blessed, 'do not grieve the 
Holy Spirif 5 who has entered prison with you. For, if He 
had not accompanied you there in your present trial, you 
would not be there today. See to it, therefore, that He 
remain with you there and so lead you out of that place 
to the Lord. 6 (4) Indeed, the prison is the Devil's house, 
too, where he keeps his household. But you have come to 
the prison for the very purpose of trampling upon him 7 
right in his own house. For you have engaged him in battle 
already outside the prison and trampled him underfoot. 
(5) Let him, therefore, not say: 'Now that they are in my 
domain, I will tempt them with base hatreds, with defections 
or dissensions among themselves.' Let him flee from your 
presence, and let him, coiled and numb, like a snake that 
is driven out by charms or smoke, hide away in the depths 

4 Cf. Matt. 26.41; Mark 14.38. 

5 Eph. 4.30. 

6 In early Christian literature death is often referred to as a going 
to the Lord (migratio ad Dominum) . Cf. A. C: Rush, Death and 
Burial in Christian Antiquity (Washington, D.C. 1941) 54-71. 

7 Cf. Passio SS. Perpetuae et Felicitatis 4, where Perpetua describes 
her first vision. In her ascent to heaven on a golden ladder on 
the sides of which there were fixed all kinds of instruments of 
torture, she saw a dragon crouching under the first step and 
frightening those who ascended, but, invoking the Lord Jesus 
Christ, she 'trampled upon the dragon's head* and went up. 



TO THE MARTYRS 1 9 

of his den. Do not allow him the good fortune in his own 
kingdom of setting you against one another, but let him 
find you fortified by the arms of peace among yourselves, 
because peace among yourselves means war with him. (6) 
Some, not able to find this peace in the Church, are ac- 
customed to seek it from the martyrs in prison. For this 
reason, too, then, you ought to possess, cherish and preserve 
it among yourselves that you may perhaps be able to bestow 
it upon others also. 8 

Chapter 2 

(1) Other attachments, equally burdensome to the spirit, 
may have accompanied you to the prison gate; so far your 
relatives, too, may have escorted you. From that very moment 
on you have been separated from the very world. How 
much more, then, from its spirit and its ways and doings? 
Nor let this separation from the world trouble you. For, 
if we reflect that it is the very world that is more truly a 
prison, we shall realize that you have left a prison rather 
than entered one. (2) The world holds the greater dark- 

8 During persecution a number of Christians had denied the faith 
in the face of torture. To be sure, many had done so only to 
save their property, life, and freedom, and at heart had wished 
to remain Christians. But readmission to the communion of the 
Church was not so easy, since the then existing penitential discipline 
demanded a life-long penance for apostasy. The universal respect 
accorded to the martyrs, however, induced some bishops to recognize 
letters of recommendation (libelli pads) , written by confessors on 
the eve of martyrdom in behalf of penitent apostates, as availing 
to shorten the length of canonical penance. In the above passage 
Tertullian refers to such a speedier restoration to the communion 
of the Church through the intercession of the martyrs. There is no 
doubt that the exaggerated honors paid to martyrdom occasionally 
led to abuses. However this may be, in his Montanist period Ter- 
tullian strongly condemns these letters of martyrs recommending 
lapsed brethren to the bishop's consideration (cf. De pudicitia 22) . 



20 TERTULUAN 

ness, blinding men's hearts. The world puts on the heavier 
chains, fettering the very souls of men. The world breathes 
forth the fouler impurities human lusts. (3) Finally, the 
world contains the larger number of criminals, namely, the 
entire human race. In fact, it awaits sentence not from 
the proconsul but from God. (4) Wherefore, O blessed, 
consider yourselves as having been transferred from prison 
to what we may call a place of safety. Darkness is there, but 
you are light; 1 fetters are there, but you are free before 
God. It breathes forth a foul smell, but you are an odor of 
sweetness. 2 There the judge is expected at every moment, 
but you are going to pass sentence upon the judges them- 
selves. 8 (5) There sadness may come upon the man who 
sighs for the pleasures of the world. The Christian, however, 
even when he is outside the prison, has renounced the world, 
and, when in prison, even prison itself. It does not matter what 
part of the world you are in, you who are apart from the 
world. (6) And if you have missed -some of the enjoyments 
of life, remember that it is the way of business to suffer 
some losses in order to make larger profits. 

I say nothing yet about the reward to which God invites 
the martyrs. Meanwhile, let us compare the life in the 
world with that in prison to see if the spirit docs not gain 
more in prison than the flesh loses there. (7) In fact, owing 
to the solicitude of the Church and the charity of the 
brethren, the flesh does not miss there what it ought to have, 
while, in addition, the spirit obtains what is always beneficial 
to the faith: 4 you do not look at strange gods; you do not 

1 Cf. Matt. 5.14; Eph. 5.8; 1 Thess. 55. 

2 Cf. fczech. 20.41; Eph. 55. 

3 Cf. Wisd. 3.8; 1 Cor. 63. 

4 In the following Tcrtullian enumerates those features of pagan 
life which, because of their idolatrous or immoral character, the 
Christians found especially revolting. Cf. a similar account in 
his Apology 35. 



TO THE MARTYRS 21 

chance upon their images; you do not, even by mere physical 
contact, participate in heathen holidays; you are not plagued 
by the foul fumes of the sacrificial banquets, not tormented 
by the noise of the spectacles, nor by the atrocity or frenzy 
or shamelessness of those taking part in the celebrations; 
your eyes do not fall on houses of lewdness; you are free 
from inducements to sin, from temptations, from unholy 
reminiscences, free, indeed, even from persecution. 

(8) The prison now offers to the Christian what the 
desert once gave -to the Prophets. 5 Our Lord Himself quite 
often spent time in solitude to pray there more freely, 6 
to be there away from the world. In fact, it was in a secluded 
place that He manifested His glory to His disciples. 7 Let 
us drop the name 'prison 3 and call it a place of seclusion^ 
(9) Though the body is confined, though the flesh is de- 
tained, there is nothing that is not open to the spirit. In 
spirit wander about, in spirit take a walk, setting before 
yourselves not shady promenades and long porticoes but 
that path which leads to God. As often as you walk that 
path, you will not be in prison. (10) The leg does not feel 
the fetter when the spirit is in heaven. The spirit carries 
about the whole man and brings him wherever he wishes. 
And where your heart is, there will your treasure be also. 8 
There, then, let our heart be where we would have our 
treasure. 



5 Cf. 3 Kings 19.4. 

6 Cf. Mark 1.35. 

7 Cf. Matt. 17.1,2; Mark 9.1,2; Luke 9.28,29; 2 Peter 1.16,17. 

8 Cf. Matt. 6. 21 



22 TERTULLIAN 

Chapter 3 

(1) Granted now, O blessed, that even to Christians the 
prison is unpleasant yet, we were called to the service in 
the army of the living God in the very moment when we 
gave response to the words of the sacramental oath. 1 No 
soldier goes out to war encumbered with luxuries, nor does 
he march to the line of battle from the sleeping chamber, 
but from light and cramped tents where every kind of 
austerity, discomfort, and inconvenience is experienced. (2) 
Even in time of peace soldiers are toughened to warfare by 
toils and hardships: by marching in arms, by practising 
swift maneuvers in the field, by digging a trench, by joining 
closely together to form a tortoise-shield. 2 Everything is set 
in sweating toil, lest bodies and minds be frightened at 
having to pass from shade to sunshine, from sunshine to 
icy cold, from the tunic to the breastplate, from hushed 
silence to the warcry, from rest to the din of battle. 3 

1 In military language, the term sacramentum was used to denote 
the military oath of allegiance. It is in this sense that Tertullian 
employs the word here, referring to the baptismal vows of the 
Christian. 

2 In military language, the term 'tortoise-shield' (testudo) denoted 
a shelter used in attacking ramparts or walls. The soldiers inter- 
locked their shields over their heads, thus forming a protective 
cover like the shell of a tortoise. 

3 A reminiscence of this passage is found in St. Jerome's letter to 
Heliodorus (Ep. 14.2.1-2) . Jerome reproaches Heliodorus for having 
gone back from the perfect way of the ascetic life: 'What are you, 
dainty soldier, doing in your father's house? Where are your 
ramparts and trenches? When have you spent a winter in the 
camp? ... Do you intend to march straight from the sleeping 
chamber to the line of battle, from the shade into the heat of 
the sun? A body used to a tunic cannot endure a heavy breastplate, 
a head that has worn a cap refuses a helmet, a hand made tender 
by disuse is galled by the hard handle of a sword.' 



TO THE MARTYRS 23 

(3) In like manner, O blessed, consider whatever is hard 
in your present situation as an exercise of your powers of 
mind and body. You are about to enter a noble contest 4 in 
which the living God acts the part of superintendent and 
the Holy Spirit is your trainer, a contest whose crown is 
eternity, whose prize is angelic nature, citizenship in heaven 
and glory for ever and ever. (4) And so your Master, Jesus 
Christ, who has anointed you with His Spirit 5 and h^s 
brought you to this training ground, has resolved, before 
the day of the contest, to take you from a softer way of 
life to a harsher treatment that your strength may be in- 
creased. For athletes, too, are set apart for more rigid 
training that they may apply themselves to the building 
up of their physical strength. They are kept from lavish 
living, from more tempting dishes, from more pleasurable 
drinks. They are urged on, they are subjected to torturing 
toils, they are worn out: the more strenuously they have 
exerted themselves, the greater is their hope of victory. (5) 
And they do this, says the Apostle, to win a perishable 
crown. We who are about to win an eternal one 6 recognize 
in the prison our training ground, that we may be led 
forth to the actual contest before the seat of the presiding 
judge well practised in all hardships, because strength is 
built up by austerity, but destroyed by softness. 

4 Cf. 1 Tim. 6.12. 

5 Cf. 1 John 2.20. This anointing of the Christian with the Holy 
Spirit Tertullian compares to the use of oil to anoint the bodies of 
athletes in the palaestra. 

6 Cf. 1 Cor. 9.25. 



24 TERTULLIAN 

Chapter 4 

(1) We know from our Lord's teaching that, while the 
spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. 1 Let us, however, not 
derive delusive gratification from the Lord's acknowledg- 
ment of the weakness of the flesh. For it was on purpose 
that He first declared the spirit willing: He wanted to 
show which of the two ought to be subject to the other, 
that is to say, that the flesh should be submissive to the 
spirit, the weaker to the stronger, so that the former may 
draw strength from the latter. (2) Let the spirit converse 
with the flesh on their common salvation, no longer thinking 
about the hardships of prison but, rather, about the struggle 
of the actual contest. The flesh will perhaps fear the heavy 
sword and the lofty cross and the wild beasts mad with 
rage and the most terrible punishment of all death by 
fire and^ finally, all the executioner's cunning during the 
torture. (3) But let the spirit present to both itself and 
the flesh the other side of the picture: granted, these 
sufferings are grievous, yet many have borne them patiently, 
nay, have even sought them on their own accord for the 
sake of fame and glory; and this is true not only of men 
but also of women so that you, too, O blessed women, 
may be worthy of your sex. 

(4) It would lead me too far were I to enumerate each 
one of those who, led by the impulse of their own mind, 
put an end to their lives by the sword. Among women 
there is the well-known instance of Lucretia. A victim of 
violence, she stabbed herself in the presence of her kins- 
folk to gain glory for her chastity. 2 Mucius burnt his right 

1 Cf. Matt. 26.41; Mark 14.38. 

2 Lucretia, the Roman model of womanly conduct, killed herself after 



TO THE MARTYRS 25 

hand on the altar that his fair fame might include this 
deed. 3 (5) Nor did the philosophers act less courageously: 
Heraclitus, for instance, who put an end to his life by 
smearing himself with cow dung; 4 Empedocles, too, who 
leaped down into the fires of Mt. Etna; 5 and Peregrinus who 
not long ago threw himself upon a funeral pile. 6 Why, 
even women have despised the flames: Dido did so in 
order not to be forced to marry after the departure of the 

having been violated by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of King L. Tar- 
quinius Superbus. According to Roman tradition, this misdeed brought 
about the overthrow of the monarchy in Rome. Cf. Livy 1.58-59; 
Cicero, De re publica 2.25.46; Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta mem- 
orabilia 6.1.1. 

3 According to Roman tradition, C. Mucius Scaevola, a Roman youth, 
was caught in the attempt to assassinate Porsenna, the Etruscan king 
of Clusium, who had made war upon Rome in order to restore the 
monarchy of the Tarquinian family. Threatened with torture, he 
burned off his right hand over a brazier to show his courage, and 
hence received the surname Scaevola, i.e., Left-handed. Cf. Livy 
2.12; Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta memor. 3.3.1. Tertullian cites 
this example also in his Apology 50.5. 

4 Very little is known about the life of Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 500 
B.C.) . Of his death we have the unsupported story, told by Diogenes 
Laertius in his Lives of the Philosophers (9.1.3) , which runs as 
follows. Attacked by dropsy and challenging the physicians he 
had consulted first, Heraclitus covered himself with cow dung, 
hoping that the warmth thus produced would cause the excess of 
water in his body to evaporate. The experiment, however, ended 
fatally. 

5 A popular story in antiquity, but likewise unworthy of credence, 
related that Empedocles of Acragas (c. 500-430 B.C.) , committed 
suicide by leaping into the fiery mouth of Mt. Etna so that he 
might die without leaving a trace behind him, and thereby confirm 
his divinity. Cf. Diogenes Laertius 8.2.69. Tertullian cites this 
example also in his Apology 50.5. 

6 Finding his -popularity waning, Peregrinus Proteus, a wandering 
Cynic philosopher, decided to immolate himself on a funeral 
pile at the celebration of the Olympic Games in A.D. 165 to set an 
example of contempt of death. In his On the Death of Peregrinus, 
Lucian of Samosata, the second-century Greek sophist and satirist, 
tells us the story, asserting that he was an eye-witness of the event. 



26 TERTULLIAN 

man she had loved most dearly; 7 the wife of Hasdrubal, 
too, with Carthage in flames, cast herself along with her 
children into the fire that was destroying her native city, 
that she might not see her husband a suppliant at Scipio's 
feet. 8 (6) Regulus, a Roman general, was taken prisoner 
by the Carthaginians, but refused to be the only Roman 
exchanged for a large number of Carthaginian captives. 
He preferred to be returned to the enemy, and, crammed 
into a kind of chest, suffered as many crucifixions as nails 
were driven in from the outside in all directions to pierce 
him. 9 A woman voluntarily sought out wild beasts, namely, 
vipers, serpents more horrible than either bull or bear, 

7 This refers to the well-known legend of Dido, the mythical found- 
ress of Carthage, and Aeneas. After various adventures during hi: 
wanderings, Aeneas and his men were driven by a storm upon the 
coast of Africa, near the site of Carthage. There they were hospitably 
received by Dido, whom Venus caused to fall violently in love 
with Aeneas. When, after a stay of a few months, Aeneas was 
ordered by Jupiter to leave, Dido in despair at his departure 
killed herself. Cf. Virgil, Aeneid 4.504ff. The example is also cited 
by Tertullian in his Apology 50.5 and Ad nationes 1.18.3. 

8 In the Third Punic War (149-146 B.C.) Carthage had stood a siege 
of four years, when at last the Roman legions forced their way 
over the walls of the unhappy city. Fighting in the streets continued 
for several days, until Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian commander, 
with a few surviving defenders at last surrendered to the Roman 
general, Scipio the Younger. But Hasdrubal's wife, upbraiding 
her husband for his cowardice, slew her two boys and cast herself 
with them from the top of a burning temple into the ruins. Cf. 
Florus, Epitome 1.31 (2.15) .17; Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta 
memor. 3.2 ext. 8. Tertullian cites this example also in his Ad 
nationes 1.18.3. 

9 M. Atilius Regulus, a Roman consul, was taken prisoner during 
the First Punic War (264-241 B.C.). According to tradition, he 
was sent to Rome on parole to negotiate a peace, but urged the 
Senate to refuse the proposals of the Carthaginians; on his return 
to Carthage he was tortured to death. Cf. Cicero, De officiis 3.26.99; 
Horace, Odes 3.5; Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta memor. 1.1.14; 
Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 7 (6) .4. Tertullian cites this example 
also in his Apology 50.6 and Ad nationes 1.18.3. 



TO THE MARTYRS 27 

which Cleopatra let loose upon herself as not to fall into 
the hands of the enemy. 10 

(7) You may object: 'But the fear of death is not so 
great as the fear of torture.' Did the Athenian courtesan 
yield on that account to the executioner? For, being privy 
to a conspiracy, she was subjected to torture by the tyrant. 
But she did not betray her fellow conspirators, and at last 
bit off her own tongue and spat it into the tyrant's face 
to let him know that torments, however prolonged, could 
achieve nothing against her. 11 (8) Everybody knows that 
to this day the most important festival of the Lacedaemonians 
is the 6ia^aoTlycoaic;, that is, The Whipping. In this sacred 
rite all the noble youth are scourged with whips before the 
altar, while their parents and kinsfolk stand by and exhort 
them to perseverance. For they regard it as a mark of 
greater distinction and glory if the soul rather than the 
body has submitted to the stripes. 12 

(9) Therefore, if earthly glory accruing from strength 

10 After their defeat by Octavian at Actium in 31 B.C., Cleopatra and 
Mark Antony escaped to Egypt. When Octavian landed there, 
Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra tried in vain to entice Octavian 
by her charms and, according to the common tradition, put an 
end to her life by applying an asp to her bosom. Cf. Florus, 
Epitome 2.21 (4.11) .11; Horace, Odes 1.37.25-28. The example is 
also found in Tertullian's Ad nationes 1.18.3. 

11 The story of the Athenian courtesan is told by Pliny, Naturalis 
Historic, 7.23.87 and Pausanias, Descriptio Graeciae 1.23.1-2. The 
courtesan's name was Leaena, and Harmodius and Aristogiton were 
the conspirators. Tertullian cites this example of female fortitude 
also in his Apology 50.8 and in Ad nationes 1.18.4. 

12 This test of endurance in pain, which formed an element in the 
rigorous training of the Spartan youth, took place at the festival 
of Artemis Orthia. The original meaning of the ceremony is obscure. 
Some scholars have thought to recognize in this practice the blow 
with the sacred bough, whereby its power is communicated to man. 
Tertullian mentions this example of endurance in pain also in 
his Apology 50.9 and in Ad nationes 1.18.11. 



28 TERTULLIAN 

of body and soul is valued so highly that one despises 
sword, fire, piercing with nails, wild beasts and tortures 
for the reward of human praise, then I may say the sufferings 
you endure are but trifling in comparison with the heavenly 
glory and divine reward. If the bead made of glass is 
rated so highly, how much must the true pearl be worth? 
Who, therefore, does not most gladly spend as much for 
the true as others spend for the false? 



Chapter 5 

(1)1 omit here an account of the motive of glory. For 
inordinate ambition among men as well as a certain morbidity 
of mind have already set at naught all the cruel and torturing 
contests mentioned above. How many of the leisure class are 
urged by an excessive love of arms to become gladiators? 
Surely it is from vanity that they descend to the wild beasts 
in the very arena, and think themselves more handsome be- 
cause of the bites and scars. Some have even hired themselves 
out to tests by fire, with the result that they ran a certain 
distance in a burning tunic. Others have pranced up and 
down amid the bullwhips of the animal-baiters, unflinchingly 
exposing their shoulders. 1 (2) All this, O blessed, the Lord 
tolerates in the world for good reason, that is, for the sake of 
encouraging us in the present moment and of confounding 
us on that final day, if we have recoiled from suffering for 
the truth unto salvation what others have pursued out of 
vanity unto perdition. 

1 Tertullian mentions these degrading practices also in Ad nationes 
1.18.8-11. 



TO THE MARTYRS 29 

Chapter 6 

( 1 ) Let us, however, no longer talk about those examples 
of perseverance proceeding from inordinate ambition. Let 
us, rather, turn to a simple contemplation of man's ordinary 
lot so that, if we ever have to undergo such trials with forti- 
tude, we may also learn from those misfortunes which some- 
times even befall unwilling victims. For how often have people 
been burned to death in conflagrations! How often have 
wild beasts devoured men either in the forests or in the 
heart of cities after escaping from their cages! How many 
have been slain by the sword of robbers ! How many have even 
suffered the death of the cross at the hands of enemies, after 
having been tortured first and, indeed, treated with every 
kind of insult! (2) Furthermore, many a man is able to suffer 
in the cause of a mere human being what he hesitates to 
suffer in the cause of God. To this fact, indeed, our present 
days may bear witness. How many prominent persons have 
met with death in the cause of a man, though such a fate 
seemed most unlikely in view of their birth and their rank, 
their physical condition and their age! Death came to them 
either from him, if they had opposed him, or from his 
enemies, if they had sided with him. 1 

1 This may refer to the destruction of the army of Clodius Albinus, 
the most powerful rival of Septimius Severus for the throne of 
the Caesars, near Lyons, in A.D. 197 and to the still more terrible 
massacre of Albinus' partisans throughout the empire. At Rome 
the victor wreaked vengeance especially upon a number of senators 
who had sided with his opponents. 



SPECTACLES 



Translated by 

RUDOLPH ARBESMANN, O.S.A., Ph.D. 
Fordham University 




INTRODUCTION 



IN THE TIME of the emperors the Roman world knew 
and enjoyed especially four kinds of public amuse- 
ment: the chariot-races of the circus; the gladia- 
torial combats and hunting spectacles of the amphitheater; 
the performance of farces, such as mimes and pantomimes, 
in the theater; and the athletic contests of the stadium. The 
omnipotent rulers saw in these amusements the best means 
for purchasing popular favor, keeping the masses contented, 
and making them forget their own insignificance. Each 
emperor tried to outdo his predecessor in the frequency and 
splendor of his spectacles, so that, under some emperors, 
almost one half of the days of the year were given to public 
exhibitions. The Roman poet Juvenal (Sat. 10.81) summed 
up the desires of the people in the often-quoted words 
panem et cir censes ( e bread and races'). Still worse, every 
art was employed on such occasions to intoxicate the senses 
of the spectators and quiet their moral scruples. Thus it is 
not surprising to find a number of passages in the works 
of pagan authors, cautioning against the degrading influences 
of the spectacles. Yet the adverse judgment of these writers 
was not primarily evoked by those very features which, 

33 



34 TERTULUAN 

because of their moral perversity, justly deserved condem- 
nation: the wholesale destruction of life, human and animal, 
in the arena for the amusement of spectators, or the crude 
coarseness and frivolous obscenity of the mimes and panto- 
mimes which had long displaced the tragedies and comedies 
of old. Their criticisms are rather philosophical common- 
places, emphasizing some evil effects of the spectacles on 
men. Dio Chrysostom, for instance, disapproves of the un- 
dignified behavior of the spectators in the circus, theater, 
and stadium (Orat. 32.41-43); Libanius takes exception 
to the races in the circus because they keep men from study- 
ing rhetoric (Orat. 35.13), or he finds fault with people 
going to the theater because this pastime leads to idleness 
(Orat. 41,7). Only the philosopher Seneca, speaking of the 
crude slaughter in the amphitheater (Ep. 7.2ff.)> finds words 
of condemnation which, to some extent at least, express 
our own thought and feeling concerning these inhuman 
delights. Unlike the pagan authors, the Christian writers^ 
beginning with the early Greek apologists, are uncompromis- 
ing in their attitude toward the spectacles. They do not 
content themselves with merely censuring the brutalizing 
effects of the circus, theater, athletic contests, and gladiatorial 
encounters on the minds and souls of the spectators. They 
rather attack the very nature of these amusements and 
find them incompatible with the idea of God as Creator 
of the world and with man's right and dignity. Accordingly, 
they assert that it is the stern duty of all men to absent 
themselves from such pastimes. Weaning the Roman world 
from its long-cherished amusements was a long and painful 
process. Legislation, both ecclesiastical and imperial, had 
to be added to the untiring efforts of Christian writers and 
preachers to stamp out the last vestiges of the pagan spec- 



SPECTACLES 



35 



tacles. Even so, it lasted centuries, until the race courses, 
theaters, amphitheaters, and gymnasia, whose walls had 
begun to crumble and fall into decay, were finally abandoned. 

In view of Tertullian's fiery, irascible and intolerant dis- 
position, it is hardly surprising that none of the early Christian 
authors has attacked the pagan spectacles so relentlessly and 
violently as this aggressive and headstrong African writer. 
He missed no opportunity to demonstrate and expose their 
deceitful character. Hence, longer or shorter passages con- 
demning one or the other kind of these amusements can be 
found in several places of his works (Apology 6.3; 15.1-6; 
38.4; 42.7;^ De cultu feminarum 1.8.4-5; Scor place 6.2-5; 
De corona 6.3; De pudicitia 7.15). Moreover, he considered 
the question whether a Christian was allowed to attend the 
performances in the circus, theater, amphitheater, and sta- 
dium so important that he wrote a special treatise on this 
subject, entitled De spectaculis. In Tertullian's day some 
Christians evidently held rather broad views concerning the 
lawfulness of frequenting the pagan spectacles. Catechumens, 
still only slightly familiar with the demands of Christian 
life, or too ready to elude them, seem to have thought these 
amusements permissible, as long as they were, at least for- 
mally, still pagans. But a number of baptized Christians, too, 
apparently found it difficult to give up entertainments they 
had greatly enjoyed in their former life. 

It was, then, for very practical pastoral reasons that Ter- 
tullian addressed this treatise to both catechumens and 
baptized Christians, reminding them of their most solemn 
responsibility as to faith and morals, and telling them 
categorically that participation in pagan spectacles under 
whatever form was incompatible with the tenets of Chris- 
tianity and, therefore, forbidden under any circumstances. 



36 TERTULLIAN 

His argumentation can briefly be summed up as follows. 
Since the spectacles are idolatrous in their very origin and 
spirit, a Christian cannot take part in them without making 
himself guilty of idol worship and without injury to his own 
faith (Ch. 4-13). Moreover, frequenting these amusements 
necessarily undermines moral discipline, since they rouse 
the most violent passions (Ch. 14-27). Of the arguments 
produced by Tertullian to prove the unlawfulness of fre- 
quenting the spectacles, those based on the charge of idolatry 
are of special interest. To be sure, Tertullian is not the first 
Christian author to point out the idolatrous character of the 
spectacles, since the idea appears a few years earlier in St. 
Irenaeus' work Adversus haereses 1.1.12 (ed. W. W. Harvey 
[2 vols., Cambridge 1857] 1.55-56). There the bishop of 
Lyons upbraids the Valentinian Gnostics for 'being the first 
to assemble at every festival amusement of the heathen, 
taking place in honor of the idols, some of them going even 
so far as not to keep away from that bloody spectacle, hateful 
both to God and men, in which men fight with wild beasts 
or engage each other in single combat.' While, then, Ter- 
tullian cannot be credited with introducing the idea of idolatry 
into the literary feud against the spectacles, he has developed 
the arguments based on it in great detail. As a matter of 
fact, the charge of idolatry is the main theme of the anti- 
quarian part of the treatise (Ch. 5-13), whose purpose is 
to prove the idolatrous character of the various kinds of 
spectacles from their origin, names, founders and equip- 
ment, from the deities to whom they are dedicated, the 
superstitions observed in them, the places where they are 
held, and the arts displayed in them. 

Tertullian's out-and-out indictment of the spectacles comes 
hardly as a surprise. In the question of conformity and non- 



SPECTACLES 37 

conformity to worldly pleasures, this 'first great Puritan of 
the West/ as some have called him, refuses any compromise. 
Whatever savors of paganism is hateful to him, because it 
belongs to 'the pomp of the Devil' which the Christian has 
solemnly renounced in baptism (Ch. 24). He cannot tolerate 
anything which has even the slightest appearance of guilt 
in matters of faith and moral discipline. He believes that 
there exists a clear line of demarcation between the world 
and Christ (26.4). Though he acknowledges that there are 
some features worthy of praise in dramatic art, he is quick 
to point out that, because of the idolatrous and immoral 
character of the theater, these features are but 'drippings 
of honey from a poisoned cake' (27.5). In his eagerness to 
define rigidly every single thing by authority, he forbids 
participation in the pagan spectacles in the name of holy 
Scripture (Ch. 3), giving a most fanciful interpretation of 
Ps. 1.1 : 'Happy is the man who has not gone to the gathering 
of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of the sinners, nor 
sat in the chair of pestilence.' It is only fair to point out 
that Tertulliaii was not the only Christian author to refer 
to this scriptural passage, while attacking the pagan spec- 
tacles. We also find it quoted by his contemporary Clement 
of Alexandria in his Paedagogus 3.11.76.3, and similarly 
in his Stromata 2.15.68.1. In the latter passage Clement 
states that he had heard this interpretation from a learned 
man, most probably a member of the catechetical school of 
Alexandria. From there, in some way unknown to us, this 
interpretation must have found its way to Tertullian, and 
later (about 400) into the Apostolic Constitutions 2.61.1-2. 
It also occurs in St. John Chrysostom, De poenitentia, horn. 
6.1. While, however, Clement merely alludes to the scrip- 
tural passage (see below, Ch. 3 n. 2), Tertullian devotes 



38 TERTULLIAN 

an entire chapter to its interpretation, straining and twisting 
its meaning to make the sacred text speak on his behalf, 
and maintaining that the rules of the Gospel must be re- 
ferred to, as suitable to all the experiences of those who 
embrace it. It is especially the last chapter (30) in which 
we can well discern the real character of Tertullian. It 
contains an impressive and truly poetical description of the 
Last Judgment, and the thoughtful reader cannot fail to 
be struck by the intense earnestness and absolute sincerity 
of the writer. But is also reveals his greatest weakness, which 
is a regrettable lack of moderation. He is not able to curb 
the passionate fire of his nature, the hatred of everything 
pagan that burns in his soul and makes him gloat over 
the punishment of the wicked. Carried away by his cause, 
he marshals all the resources of his brilliant mind and 
vast erudition: his profound knowledge of the past and its 
literature, his superb mastery of the Latin language, his 
rhetorical and dialectical skill, his extraordinary gift of wit 
and sarcasm. 

De spectaculis is one of Tertullian's most interesting and 
original works. It not only throws revealing light on his 
peculiar character as a writer and his attitude as regards 
pagan society and certain forms of the civilization of his 
day, but also holds a unique position in ancient literature 
inasmuch as it is the only comprehensive treatise on the 
subject which has come down to us. Suetonius' Historia 
ludicra, listed as Spectacles and Games among the Romans 
in the rather long catalogue of Suetonian works preserved in 
Suidas, is lost. So are the writings of Varro in this 
field (especially the section of his Antiquities of Things 
Human and Divine which deals with the subject) and 
similar works by the grammarian Sinnius Capito and King 



SPECTACLES 39 

Juba II of Mauretania. Mention must also be made of 
a small tract, likewise entitled De spectaculis, which, on 
insufficient grounds, has been claimed for St. Cyprian and 
is now generally assigned to Novatian. It is, however^ con- 
siderably briefer than the treatise of Tertullian and, with 
regard to contents, sinks into insignificance in comparison 
with the wealth of information offered by Tertullian. In 
addition, its author has made ample use of Tertullian's 
work. This being the situation, the latter's treatise gains 
in importance. As a matter of fact, without it our literary 
sources on the subject would amount only to a number 
of passages found here and there in the works of ancient 
authors, leaving us with lamentable blanks in our knowledge 
about the various kinds of spectacles in antiquity. We 
mention especially Tertullian's rather minute description 
of the circus (Ch. 8), which supplements our other main 
source of information, namely, archaeological material. 

Tertullian's familiarity with the past and its literature 
has been mentioned before. In the antiquarian part of De 
spectaculis he quotes the following ancient authors: Ti- 
maeus, Varro, Piso, Tranquillus Suetonius (Ch. 5); Her- 
mateles (Ch. 8) ; Stesichorus and Virgil, though the latter not 
by name ( Ch. 9 ) . There is, however, no need for supposing 
that Tertullian had a first-hand knowledge of all these 
authors. Timaeus, for instance, was hardly his direct source 
for the information on the origin of the Etruscans. As a 
matter of fact, he himself points to the secondary source 
he used in this case, namely, one of the 'many authors who 
have published treatises on the subject' (5.2.) The same 
holds true concerning the Roman annalist L. Calpurnius 
Piso and Stesichorus, a Greek lyric poet of the sixth century 
B. c. Finally, in quoting Hermateles, Tertullian apparently 



40 TERTULLIAN 

made a slip, since a \vriter by this name seems to be unknown. 
Considering the method ancient writers followed in using 
and quoting sources, it is best to assume that Tertullian 
used mainly one of the works that had been written on 
spectacula, and in which he found the quotations from 
ancient authors on the subject. Varro and Suetonius suggest 
themselves as such main authorities. Of the two Suetonius 
is the more probable, because Tertullian mentions some 
things which did not yet exist at Varro's time: for instance, 
the obelisk in the Circus Maximus (Ch. 8), placed there 
by Augustus in 10 B. c.; the four 'factions' of the circus 
(Ch. 9), of which the Greens and the Blues arose only at 
the beginning of the Empire; the agones (Ch. 11), which 
were likewise introduced into Rome under the emperors. 
Moreover, Tertullian refers those of his readers who want 
to have more particulars on the spectacles to Suetonius 
explicitly (5.8). All this, of course, does not exclude the 
possibility that, on a number of questions, he also consulted 
Varro, one of Suetonius' main sources, and added some 
more material from his own considerable knowledge of 
ancient literature. Nor were the works of the Greek apologists 
strangers to him, though, in borrowing a number of thoughts 
from them, he never lost his rugged independence and 
originality. Thus, in the treatise De spectaculis, he developed 
the arguments based on the charge of idolatry at great length, 
while his Greek predecessors censured the spectacles almost 
exclusively on moral grounds. Finally, mention must be made 
of the great number of texts from Scripture which he quotes, 
interprets, and paraphrases with remarkable skill, having 
only one thought in his eager and stubborn mind, namdy, 
to convince. 
The composition of the treatise shows a careful arrange- 



SPECTACLES 



41 



ment of the material. Several times Tertullian himself calls 
attention to the plan of his work (for instance, 4.4; 8.1; 
9.1; 10.1; 10.13; 12.1; 12.5; 13,1; 14.1). The arrangement 
of the material in his antiquarian part according to origin, 
names, places, etc., may possibly go back to his main source, 
Suetonius. How Tertullian followed a well-contrived plan 
we may see from the following outline of the treatise. 

Introduction. 

1. Statement of subject: It is impossible for a Christian 
to attend the spectacles. 

Part I (2-4) : 

2. Refutation of the objection that everything used in 
the spectacles comes from God and hence is good. 

3. A condemnation of the spectacles can also be found 
in holy Scripture. 

4. The Christian is bound by his baptismal vows to shun 
the spectacles because of their idolatrous character. 

Part II (5-13): 

5. The idolatrous character of the spectacles is evident 
from their very origin. 

6. Likewise, from their names. 

7. The same is true concerning all the equipment used 
in them. 

8. Also, the place where they are performed (the circus) 
is defiled by idolatry. 

9. In like manner, the arts displayed in the circus. 

10. The theater is likewise related to idol worship (origin, 
name, equipment, place, arts displayed are dealt with in 



42 TERTULLIAN 

one chapter; the same applies to the discussion of the agones 
and the amphitheater). 

11. -Likewise, the agones and 

12. The amphitheater. 

13. Recapitulation of the arguments based on the charge 
of idolatry. 

14. Leading to Part III, Tertullian proposes to discuss 
the spectacles from another point of view, namely, 'lust 
of pleasure.' 

Part III (15-27): 

15. The spectacles are incompatible with true Christian 
spirit. 

16. Frenzy and similar passions rule supreme in the circus. 

17. The performances in the theater are noted for im- 
morality and obscenity. 

18. The gymnastic contests in the stadium are objection- 
able because of their moral worthlessness. 

19. The various gladiatorial encounters in the amphi- 
theater are detestable because of their inhuman cruelty 
and brutality. 

20. Rejection of the objection that the sun and God 
Himself look on at the spectacles without being defiled. 

21. At the shows the spectator does things which he 
loathes in ordinary life. 

22. The wicked nature of the spectacles is also proved 
by the social and legal infamy attached to the profession 
of charioteer, actor, athlete and gladiator. 

23. The conduct of the performers at the spectacles 
displeases God. 

24. The pagans know the true Christian by his absence 
from the spectacles. 



SPECTACLES 43 

25. The behavior of the spectators at the shows is in- 
consistent with the Christian way of life. 

26. At times, God inflicts sudden punishment on Christians 
for attending the spectacles. 

27. Also, the apparently innocuous features of the spec- 
tacles are but enticements of the Devil. 

Conclusion (28-30). 

28. The pagans may enjoy themselves in this world, 
the Christian looks forward to the life to come. 

29. Moreover, also in this life the Christian can find 
many exquisite pleasures given by God which amply com- 
pensate him for foregoing the pleasures of the world. 

30. Lastly, for the Christian there are still greater spec- 
tacles to come: the second coming of the Lord to establish 
the kingdom of the just, and, finally, the greatest spectacles 
of all: the conflagration of the created world and the Last 
Judgment. 

Tertullian himself refers to his De spectaculis in three 
of his later writings: De cultu feminarum 1.8.4, De idololatria 
13,1, and De corona 6.3. While the third of these works 
definitely belongs to the Montanistic period of his life 
(written probably about 211), the first, showing no trace 
of Montanism, must have been composed during the first 
years of his literary activity and is thought to have appeared 
between 197 and 201. Accordingly, the treatise De spec- 
taculis belongs to the period between 197 and 200. Tertullian, 
who wrote with equal facility in Latin and Greek, mentions 
(De corona 6.3) that he also published the treatise in Greek. 
Nothing more is known of this edition. 

The text of the treatise came down in a single manu- 



44 TERTULLIAN 

script of the ninth century, the Codex Parisinus Latinus 
1622, called Agobardinus after its owner, Agobard, Bishop 
of Lyons, who died in 840. The manuscript is generally 
reliable, though in some parts difficult to read and marred 
by a number of lacunae and mistakes made by the scribe 
in the process of copying. Hence, some recently discovered 
fragments and the two older editions are especially important 
for the reconstruction of the text: the edition by Martinus 
Mesnartius (Paris 1545) who, besides the Agobardinus, used 
another tradition and gave divergent readings in the margin; 
and the edition by Jacobus Pamelius (Antwerp 1579), who 
made use of the now lost Codex of Joannes Clemens Anglus. 
Mention must also be made of Isidore of Seville, who>, in 
some parts of his Origines (especially Book 18 entitled De 
hello et ludis}) sometimes incorporates verbatim passages 
from the antiquarian part of Tertullian's treatise. The text 
followed in the present translation is that of E. Dekkers in 
Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 1 (Turnholti 1954) 
225-253. The editions by A. Reifferscheid and G. Wissowa 
(CSEL 20.1-29) and A. Boulanger (Paris 1933) were 
consulted throughout. The English version by T. R. Glover 
in the Loeb Classical Library, and the German version by 
K. A. H. Kellner in the Bibliothek der Kirchenvater, have 
proved helpful. Some parts of the introduction and a number 
of footnotes are especially indebted to J. Biichner's excellent 
commentary on the treatise. 



SPECTACLES 45 

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Texts: 



A. Reifferscheid and G. Wissowa, CSEL 20 (1890) 1-29. 
A. Boulanger, Tertullien. De spectaculis (Paris 1933) . 
E. Dekkers, Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 1 (Turnholti 1954) 

225-253. 
J. Marra, Q. Septimii Tertulliani De spectaculis, De Fuga in per- 

secutione, De pallio (Corpus Scrip torum Latinorum Paravianum; 

Turin 1954) . 



Translations: 

S. Thelwall, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers (American reprint of 

the Edinburgh edition) 3: Latin Christianity. Its Founder, 

Tertullian (New York 1903) 79-91. 
K. A. H. Kellner, in Tertullians private und katechetische Schriften 

(Bibliothek der Kirchenvater. Tertullians ausgewahlte Schriften 

1; Kempten and Munich 1912) 101-136. 
T. R. Glover, Tertullian. De spectaculis f in Loeb Classical Library 

(London and New York 1931) 229-301. 



Secondary Sources: 

O. Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur 2 (2nd 
ed., Freiburg i.B. 1914) 416. 

M. Bieber, The History of the Greek and Roman Theater (Prince- 
ton 1939). 

J. Buchner, Quint. Sept. Flor. Tertullian de spectaculis. Kommen- 
tar (Wiirzburg 1935) . 

E. K. Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage 1 (Oxford 1903) 1-22. 

R. M. Chase, 'De spectaculis,' Classical Journal 23 (1927) 107-120. 

W. W. Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic 
(London 1916) . 

L. Friedlander, Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire 
(Engl. trans, of 7th German edition by J. H. Freese and L. A. 
Magnus, 4 vols.; London 1908-1913) 2.1-130. 



46 TERTULLIAN 

J. Kohne, Die Schrift Tertullians 'Ueber die Schauspiele' in kultur- 

und religionsgeschichtlicher Beleuchtung (Breslau 1929) . 
P. de Labriolle, History and Literature of Christianity from Ter- 

tullian to Boethius, trans. H. Wilson (New York 1925) 50-105. 
G. I. Lieftinck, 'Un fragment de de spectaculis de Tertullien prov- 

enant d'un manuscrit du neuvieme siecle,' Vigiliae Christianae 

5 (1951) 193-203. 

E. Lofstedt, Zur Sprache Tertullians (Lund and Leipzig 1920) . 
J. Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung 3 (2nd ed. by G. Wis- 

sowa, Leipzig 1885) 482-566. 
J. Morgan, The Importance of Tertullian in the Development of 

Christian Dogma (London 1928) . 

J. Quasten, Patrology 2 (Westminister, Md. 1953) 292-294. 
M. Schanz, C. Hosius and G. Kriiger, Geschichte der romischen 

Literatur, Handbuch der Altertumswiss&nschaft VIII 3 (3rd ed., 

Munich 1922) 283,284. 
H. F, Soveri, De ludorum memoria, praecipue Tertullianea (Diss., 

Helsingfors 1912). 
J. H. Waszink, 'Varro, Livy and Tertullian on the History of 

Roman Dramatic Art/ Vigilae Christianae 2 (1948) 224-242. 




SPECTACLES 



Chapter 1 

| EARN, o YOU SERVANTS of God who are just now 
entering upon His service, and you who have 

already solemnly sworn allegiance to Him recall 1 

what principle of faith, what reason inherent in truth, what 
rule in our way of life 2 forbid, along with the other errors 
of the world, also the pleasures of the spectacles, lest by 
ignorance or self-deception anyone fall into sin. 3 (2) For 
so strong is the appeal of pleasure that it can bring about 
a prolongation of ignorance with a resulting facility for 

1 Tertullian addresses not only the general body of the faithful, 
but also the catechumens. While the catechumens are still going 
through a special course of preparation in order to learn the real 
meaning of Christianity and its doctrines, those already initiated in 
the Christian faith have only to recall their baptismal vows and the 
obligations they have taken upon themselves. 

2 This figure of climax gives at the same time a general outline of the 
contents of the treatise. (1) The spectacles are forbidden not only 
by the Christian faith in particular, but, generally, by every religious 
faith that acknowledges God as the Creator of the world (Ch. 2) . 

(2) They are also forbidden by a reason that follows from the truth 
revealed by God and found in holy Scripture (Ch. 3, where 
Tertullian attempts to prove that the spectacles are condemned by the 
Bible) . (3) They are, finally, forbidden by the Christian way of life, 
and it is to arguments based on Christian faith and morals that 
Tertullian devotes almost the entire remaining part of his treatise 
(Ch. 4-27) . 

3 The introductory sentence shows strong rhetorical influence. There 
are not only balance of phrase and figure of climax, but also anti- 
thesis: by going to the spectacles, the catechumens fall into sins 
through ignorance, the baptized Christians through self-deception. 
The same is true of the following sentence, which gives an additional 
explanation of the preceding thought. 

47 



48 TERTULLIAN 

sin, or a perversion of conscience leading to self-deception. 
(3) In addition, some may perhaps be allured to either 
error by the opinions of the heathens who commonly use 
the following arguments against us in this matter: such 
comforting and merely external pleasures of the eyes and 
ears are not opposed to religion which is founded in man's 
mind and conscience; neither is God offended by a man's 
enjoying himself, nor is taking delight in such enjoyment 
in its proper time and place a sin as long as the fear of 
God and God's honor remain unimpaired. (4) But this 
is precisely what we intend to prove: that these things 
are not compatible with true religion and true obedience 
to the true God. (5) There are some who think that the 
Christians, a sort of people ever ready to die, 4 are trained 
in that stubbornness of theirs that they more easily despise 
life, once its ties have been cut, as it were, and lose their 
craving for that which, as far as they themselves are con- 
cerned, they have already made empty of everything desir- 
able; and thus it is considered a rule laid down by human 
design and forethought rather than by divine command. 
(6) It would, indeed, be loathsome for people continuing 
in the enjoyment of such delightful pleasures to die for 
God. 5 On the other hand, if what they say were true, 

4 In those days everyone knew that, by embracing the Christian faith, 
he became a sort of outlaw, exposing himself to the danger of the 
heaviest penalties-usually, death. This readiness of the Christians to 
die for their faith is a commonplace with the Christian apologists- 
see, for instance, Tertullian, Apology 41.5: 'Nevertheless we in no 
way suffer harm; in the first place, because nothing is of importance 
to us in the world, except to leave it as quickly as possible . . . 

5 A cutting remark against the enthusiastic devotees of the spectacles 
who shun, of course, the lofty ideal of the early Christians, i.e., the 
steadfast confession of faith and hence martyrdom, because they do 
not want to part from such alluring pleasures of the world. 



SPECTACLES 49 

stubbornness in a rule of life so strict as ours might well 
submit to a plan so apt. 6 



Chapter 2 

(1) Moreover, there is no one of our adversaries who 
will not offer this excuse, too: that all things have been 
created by God and handed over to man just as we 
Christians teach and that they are undoubtedly good, as 
coming from a good Creator; and among them we must 
count all the various components that make up the spec- 
tacles, the horse, for instance, and the lion, the strength 
of body and the sweetness of voice. 1 Accordingly, they 
say that a thing which exists by God's creation cannot be 
considered either foreign or opposed to God, nor must 
a thing which is not opposed to God, because it is not 
foreign to Him, be considered opposed to God's worshipers. 
(2) Obviously, they continue, the very structures of the 
places the squared stones, unhewn stones, marble slabs 
and columns 2 also are all the handiwork of God who 
gave them to furnish the earth; indeed, the performances 
themselves take place under God's heaven. 

6 For epigrammatic effect, Tertullian uses the rhetorical figure of 
oxymoron, a witty saying which is pointedly paradoxical (stubborn- 
ness . . . might well submit) . 

1 Tertullian mentions one example for each of the four kinds of 
spectacles in Roman antiquity: the horse for the circus with its 
horse-races; the lion for the amphitheater where, besides gladiatorial 
games, hunts of wild beasts (vcnationes) took place; the strength of 
body for the stadium with its athletic games; and the sweetness of 
voice for the theater where the effect depended especially on the 
actor's voice. 

2 The squared and unhewn stones represent the raw material for the 
structure, while the marble slabs and columns are used for the facing 
of the walls and the adornment of the building respectively. 



50 TERTULLIAN 

How clever in adducing proofs does human ignorance 
think itself, especially when it is afraid of losing some of 
these delights and enjoyments of the world! (3) Accordingly, 
you will find more people turned away from our religion 
by the danger to their pleasures than by the danger to 
their lives. For of death even a fool is not particularly 
afraid, feeling that it is a debt he owes to nature; but 
pleasure, inasmuch as it is born with man, even a sage 
does not despise, since both fool and sage have no other 
gratification in life but pleasure. (4) No one denies 
because everyone knows what nature of its own accord 
tells us that God is the Creator of the universe, and that 
this universe is good and has been made over to man by 
its Creator. (5) But because they have no real knowledge 
of God knowing Him only by natural law and not by 
right of friendship, knowing Him only from afar and not 
from intimate association it is inevitable that they prove 
ignorant of His commands regarding the use of His crea- 
tion. Likewise, must they be unaware of the rival power 3 
that by its hostile actions seeks to pervert to wrong uses 
the things of divine creation. For with such defective knowl- 
edge of God one cannot know either His will or His 
adversary. (6) We must, then, consider not only by whom 
all things were created, but also by whom they were 
perverted. For in this way it will become clear for what 
use they were created, once it is evident for what use they 
were not. (7) The state of corruption differs vastly from 
that of innocence, because there is an enormous difference 
between the Creator and the perverter. 

Why, every form of evil-doing misdeeds which also the 

3 The rival power is Satan, as Tertullian explains especially in the 
concluding section of this chapter. 



SPECTACLES 51 

heathens forbid and punish as such comes from things 
created by God. (8) You see murder committed by iron 
dagger, poison, or magic incantation: 4 but iron, poisonous 
herbs, demons are all equally creatures of God. Yet, did 
the Creator design those creatures of His for man's destruc- 
tion? Certainly not. He forbids man-slaying by the one 
summary commandment: Thou -shall not kill. 95 (9) In 
like manner, gold, brass, silver, ivory, wood, and any other 
material used in the manufacture of idols who has brought 
them into the world i not God, the Maker of the world? 
Yet, has He done this that they may be made into objects 
of worship set up in opposition to Himself? Certainly not. 
For the most grievous sin in His eyes is idolatry. What is 
there that offends God and is not His own? But, when it 
offends God, it has ceased to be His; and when it has 
ceased to be His, it offends Him. (10) Man himself, the 
perpetrator of every kind of villainy, is not only the work 
of God, but also His likeness 6 yet, both in body and spirit 
he has fallen away from his Creator. For we did not receive 
the eyes for gratifying carnal appetite, the tongue for speak- 
ing evil, the ears for listening to slander, the gullet for 
indulging in the sin of gluttony, the belly to be the gullet's 
partner, the organs of sex for immodest excesses, the hands 

4 The idea that a person could be killed by the magic power of 
imprecations was very common in Graeco-Roman antiquity. This 
passage leaves no doubt that Tertullian, too, was convinced that a 
person could be destroyed by magic. As it is clear from the 
immediately following sentence, he thought that this could be 
accomplished with the help of demons (Tertullian says angeli, but 
it is clear from the context that these 'angels' are evil spirits, demons) . 
It must be borne in mind that early Christianity found itself in an 
environment in which demonism was widespread. Thus it is hardly 
surprising that some of the earliest ecclesiastical writers, among them 
Tertullian, were not very happy in their treatment of this topic. 

5 Exod. 20.13; Matt. 5.21. 

6 Cf. Gen. 1.27. 



52 TERTULLIAN 

for committing acts of violence, and the feet to lead a 
roving life; nor was the spirit implanted in the body that 
it might become a workshop for contriving acts of treachery 
and fraud and injustice. I think not. (11) For if God, who 
demands innocence of us, hates all wickedness, even if it 
be only in thought, then it is certain beyond all doubt that 
it was never His intention in creation that whatever He 
created should lead to acts He condemns, even if those acts 
are done through the medium of His handiwork. The whole 
reason for condemnation is, rather, the misuse of God's 
creation by God's creatures. 

(12) We, therefore, in coming to know the Lord, have 
also looked upon His rival, and in learning the Creator, 
we have likewise detected the perverter; we ought, then, 
to feel neither surprise nor doubt. For man himself, God's 
handiwork and image, the lord of the whole universe, was 
hurled down in the very beginning from his state of in- 
nocence by the power of that angel, perverter of God's 
creation and His rival; at the same time, that same per- 
verter corrupted along with man the whole material world, 
man's possession, created like man for innocence, and turned 
it against the Creator. And in his anger that God had given 
it to man and not to him he intended to make man in this 
very possession guilty before God as well as establish his 
own power in it. 



Chapter 3 

(1) Armed with this knowledge against heathen opinion, 
let us now turn, instead, to the same excuses put forward 
by people in our own ranks. For there are some brethren 



SPECTACLES 53 

who, being either too naive or overparticular in their faith, 
demand a testimony from holy Scripture, when faced with 
giving up the spectacles, and declare the matter an open 
question, because such a renunciation is neither specifically 
nor in so many words enjoined upon the servants of God. 
(2) Now, to be sure, nowhere do we find it laid down 
with the same precision as Thou shalt not kill/ Thou shalt 
not worship an idol,' Thou shalt not commit adultery,' 
Thou shalt not commit fraud 31 nowhere do we find it thus 
clearly declared: Thou shalt not go to the circus,' Thou 
shalt not go to the theater,' Thou shalt not watch a con- 
test or show of gladiators.' (3) But we do find that to this 
special case there can be applied that first verse of David, 
where he says: c Happy is the man who has not gone to the 
gathering of the ungodly, nor stood in the ways of sinners, 
nor sat in the chair of pestilence.' 2 (4) For, even though 

1 Exod. 20.13; 4; 14; 15. 

2 Ps. 1.1. The train of thought of this chapter is characteristic of 
Tertullian and of a number of early Christian apologists. They are 
under the influence of the sophistic methods of argumentation, 
taught in the schools of rhetoric of the day: everything is capable of 
proof, if one is clever enough to twist the meaning of words. Since 
some Christians, who are 'either too naive or overparticular in their 
faith,' look for evidence in holy Scripture concerning the question of 
the spectacles, Tertullian sets out to provide them with such a proof. 
Though he cannot find a scriptural passage which explicitly forbids 
going to the spectacles, he thinks that Psalm 1.1 is applicable to the 
case, and does not shrink from straining and distorting the meaning 
of the text. He is not the only apologist who finds a relationship 
between Ps, 1.1 and the spectacles. Thus we read in Clement of 
Alexandria, Paedagogus 3.11.76.3: 'As for the theater, the Educator 
certainly does not lead us there; one could not unreasonably call the 
stadium and theater "seats of pestilence"/ While Clement mentions 
the scriptural passage only by way of allusion, Tertullian comments on 
it at full length with special emphasis on the structural features of the 
buildings in which tne spectacles take place, devoting the entire 
chapter to the interpretation of the passage in order to drive home 
his point. 



54 TERTULLIAN 

David seems to have praised that well-known just man, 
because he took no part in the gathering and meeting of 
the Jews deliberating on the killing of the Lord, 3 divine 
Scripture admits always a broader interpretation wherever 
a passage, after its actual sense has been exhausted, serves 
to strengthen discipline. So, in this case, too, the verse of 
David is not inapplicable to the prohibition of spectacles. 
(5) For, if then he called a mere handful of Jews 'a gathering 
of the ungodly/ how much more such a vast crowd of 
heathen people? Are the heathens less ungodly, less sinners, 
less the enemies of Christ that the Jews were then? 

(6) Moreover, the other details also fit in well. For at 
the spectacles there is both sitting 'in the chair 5 [in cathedra] 
and standing 'in the way' [in via]. For 'ways' [viae] they 
term both the gangways that run round the girding walls 
and the aisles that slope down the incline and divide the 
seats of the populace; 4 in like manner is the very place for 

3 Tertullian means Joseph of Arimathea; cf. Luke 23.50-51. 

4 The semicircular space set apart for the audience in a Roman 
theater was usually divided into three ranks, the lowest of which was 
reserved for the magistrates and other persons of distinction, while 
the middle and uppermost were assigned to the great masses of 
citizens and the lowest classes of the population respectively. The 
ranks were separated from each other by a wall which ran completely 
around the auditorium, like a belt, and was hence called balteus 
(Tertullian) or praednctio (Vitruvius, De architectura 5.3.4) . Along 
this dividing wall ran a curved level gangway, called cardo 
(Tertullian) or Her (Vitruvius, ibid.) . Such a dividing wall with its 
gangway is preserved, for instance, in the theater of Timgad, in 
North Africa (see M. Bieber, The History of the Greek and Roman 
Theater [Princeton 1939], p. 363, Fig. 471). Each rank was again 
divided into wedge-shaped blocks or sections by aisles which ran 
transversely to the direction of the seats. Tertullian's description 
obviously presupposes a theater building in which only the upper 
ranks, i.e., those for the common people, were divided by aisles into 
wedge-shaped sections, while the seats of honor formed an unbroken 
semi-circle. This structural feature appears in theaters which have 
been excavated in Tertullian's native land, for instance in Timgad 



SPECTACLES 55 

chairs in the curving gallery called 'chair' [cathedra]* (7) 
And so, to take the converse of the verse of David, c he is 
unhappy who has gone to any gathering whatsoever of the 
ungodly, stood in any way at all of sinners, and sat in any 
chair of pestilence. 96 

Let us take, then, the general application, even when, 
besides the general, a special interpretation is conceded. For 
some things that are said with special intent have also a 
general meaning. (8) When God reminds the Israelites of 
discipline and upbraids them, His words apply undoubtedly 

and Dugga (see Bieber, op. dt. pp. 362-364, Figs. 470, 471, 473, and 474) . 
Though both the gangways along the girding walls of the several 
ranks and the aisles within the latter served primarily as approaches 
to the tiers (Tertullian calls both viae 'ways') , they could also be 
used as a standingplace by those who were unable to secure seats. 
The circus and amphitheater had a similar layout, with the excep- 
tion that the seats of the spectators did not form a semicircle, but 
encompassed the central arena. 

5 The cathedra was a comfortable chair, equipped with a sloping back 
and intended especially for women. Since women used such chairs 
also at the spectacles, the name was accordingly transferred to the 
seats reserved: for women in the theater and amphitheater, as we 
learn from Calpurnius, Bucolica 7.23-27, who adds that these seats 
were located at the top of the building, i.e., in the 'curving gallery* 
of Tertullian. The assignment of separate space to women in the 
theater and amphitheater seems to have been carried through at the 
order of Augustus (see J. Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung 
3 [2nd ed. by G. Wissowa, Leipzig 1885] 534-535). There was no 
such separation, however, in the circus (ibid. 507). Tertullian finds, 
therefore, three points of relationship between the spectacles and 
the scriptural passage he cited: 'the vast crowd of heathen 
people* at the spectacles and 'the gathering of the ungodly' in the 
psalm; the via* 'ways' in the theater buildings and 'the ways of 
sinners' mentioned by the Psalmist; finally, there is also a special space 
for the spectators, called cathedra 'chair/ that agrees with 'the chair 
of pestilence' in Scripture. 

6 After Tertullian has shown that there exists a relationship between 
the scriptural passage and the spectacles, he tries to prove that such 
an interpretation of the verse is quite justified. For this purpose he 
changes the originally affirmative sentence into a negative clause, 
inserts quite imperceptibly a few indefinite pronouns, and thus has a 



56 TERTULLIAN 

to all men; and when He threatens destruction to Egypt 
and Ethiopia, He certainly cautions every sinful nation 
against judgment to come. Thus, if we reason from a special 
case to the general type that every sinful nation is an Egypt 
and Ethiopa, in the same manner we reason from the 
general class to a special case that every spectacle is a 
gathering of the ungodly. 



Chapter 4 

(1) Lest anyone think that I am avoiding the point in 
question, I shall now appeal to the prime and principal 
authority of our 'seal' 1 itself. When we step into the water 
and profess the Christian faith in the terms prescribed by 
its law, we bear public witness that we have renounced 
the Devil and his pomp and his angels. (2) What, how- 
ever, shall we call the chief and foremost manifestation by 
which the Devil and his pomp and his angels are recognized, 
if not idolatry? From this source, in a few words because 
I will not dwell any longer on this subject comes every 
unclean and evil spirit. (3) So, if it shall be proved true 

generally applicable and valid proposition. His whole method of 
argumentation shows how strongly he is influenced by the schools of 
rhetoric of his day. The same is true concerning the remaining part 
of the chapter, which abounds in pointed antitheses, all based on 
the idea that scriptural passages admit, besides the particular, a 
general interpretation. Thus, Israel upbraided by the Lord for its 
unbelief and Ethiopia threatened with punishments for its sins are 
the representatives of all rebellious and sinful nations. 

1 The 'seal 1 (signaculum) is often simply the sign of the cross, which 
the Christian draws with the hand on his forehead, but here it 
means the sacrament of baptism, at which the candidate renounces 
publicly, before the whole Christian congregation, 'the Devil and his 
pomp and his angels 1 , i.e., paganism, its worship, and lax morality. 



SPECTACLES 



57 



that the entire apparatus of the spectacles originates from 
idolatry, we will have reached a decision in advance that 
our profession of faith in baptism refers also to the spectacles, 
since they belong to the Devil and his pomp and his angels 
because of the idolatry involved. 

(4) We shall, therefore, set forth the origins of the various 
spectacles, explaining in what nurseries they grew up; next 
in order, the titles of some of them, that is, the names by 
which they are called; then their equipment and the super- 
stitions observed in them; thereafter the places and the 
presiding spirits to whom they are dedicated; and finally 
the arts employed in them and the authors to whom they 
are ascribed. If, among these, we find anything that is not 
related to an idol, we shall declare it to be free from the 
stain of idolatry and, as a result, to have no connection with 
our renunciation. 



Chapter 5 

(1) Concerning the origins of the spectacles, which are 
somewhat obscure and, therefore, unknown among most of 
our people, we had to make a rather thorough investigation, 
our authority being none other than the works of pagan 
literature. 

(2) There are many authors who have published treatises 
on the subject. They give the following report on the origin 
of the games. 1 The Lydians migrated from Asia and settled 
in Etruria, according to the account of Timaeus, under the 

I Ludi (Games) is a general term which includes the scenic exhibitions 
in the theater (ludi scaenici) as well as the races in the circus (ludi 
circenses) , the gladiatorial displays in the amphitheater (munera) , 
and the athletic and musical contests (agones) . 



58 TERTULLIAN 

leadership of Tyrrhenus, who, in the struggle for the king- 
ship, had succumbed to his brother. 2 In Etruria, then, they 
also introduced, along with their other superstitious customs, 
the spectacles in the name of religion. 

From that place, in turn, the Romans invited the per- 
formers, borrowing also the name, so that the 'performers* 
[ludii] were so called from the 'Lydians' [Lydii]* (3) And 
though Varro derives ludii from ludus* that is, from lusus 

2 The origin of the Etruscans has been a matter of dispute since 
ancient times. Many modern scholars share the opinion of Herodotus 
(c. 484-425 B.C.) that they came over the sea from Asia Minor. In 
his history of the Persian Wars (1.94) , this Greek historian tells us 
that, leaving their original homes in Lydia under the leadership of 
Tyrrhenus, they finally settled in Etruria, Italy (north of the Tiber 
River, in what is now called Tuscany) , laid aside their former name 
of Lydians, and called themselves after the name of their leader, 
Tyrrhenians. The Western or Latin name for this people is 
Etruscans. A number of later ancient authors agree with Herodotus. 
Though Tertullian gives one of them, Timaeus (c. 345-250 B.C.), 
as his authority, the latter is hardly his direct source; he probably 
took his information from one of the works on spectacula, mentioned 
at the beginning of the chapter, whose authors in turn had quoted 
Timaeus. The account that Tyrrhenus left his native land, after 
having been defeated by his brother in the struggle for the ancestral 
throne, is found only in Tertullian. The coming of the Etruscans to 
Italy is in all probability connected with the invasion of south- 
eastern Europe and Asia Minor by powerful invaders of Indo- 
European stock in the later part of the second millennium B.C. The 
entire area remained full of unrest and disturbed for a long time. 
Many earlier inhabitants were driven out from their old abodes, 
among them the later Etruscans who, in their search for a new home, 
finally settled in Italy. 

3 In a well-known chapter of his history (7.2) , Livy describes how in 
364 B.G. Etruscan actors came to Rome. Concerning the etymology 
ludii from Lydii, see A. Walde and J. B. Hermann, Lateinisches 
etymologischcs Worterbuch (3rd ed., Heidelberg 1938-1956), s. v. 
ludius. The powerful influence of Etruscan on Roman civilization 
appears not only in the fields of politics and economic life, but is 
especially noticeable in the realm of religion, in which the games, 
being originally religious ceremonies, played an important role. 

4 Concerning this etymology, see Walde and Hofmann, loc. tit. and 
s.v. Indus. 



SPECTACLES 



59 



[ e the play 5 ], as they used to call also the Luperci ludii, be- 
cause, as ludendo ['in play 3 ] indicates, they ran to and fro, 
this play of the youths belongs in his view to festal days, 
temples, and religious ceremonies. 5 (4) But it is, after all, 
not the name that matters; the real issue is idolatry. For, 
since the games also went under the general name of Lib- 
eralia, they clearly proclaimed the honor of Father Liber. 6 
They were first held in honor of Liber by the country folk 
because of the blessing which they say he bestowed upon 

5 The ceremony which Tertullian has in mind belonged to the Roman 
Lupercalia, originally a festival of shepherds, held on February 15. 
Youthful runners, chosen from the priesthood of the Luperci, ran 
about the bounds of the old Palatine city, striking at all the ^omen 
who came near them, with strips cut from the hides of the sacrificial 
goats. It was a form of simple and old-fashioned fertility magic com- 
bined with the ritual beating of the bounds and with purificatory 
rites. The ritual performance of the Luperci was in a way akin to 
that of the Salii, the dancing priests of Mars, who went through the 
city in the month of March, dancing solemnly in measured time. 
Virgil (Aeneid 8.663), for instance, mentions in the same breath 
'the dancing Salii and the naked Luperci.' Moreover, quoting the 
first book of Varro's work De vita populi Romani, Nonius (De 
compdndiosa doctrina, p. 851 Lindsay) informs us that boys who 
acted as leaders in the dances at the games were called ludii. Thus 
we may understand that the Luperci also were termed ludii. 

6 Liber, an old Italic deity of vegetation, is often identified with the 
Greek god Dionysus. Similarity in character and ritual no doubt 
facilitated such an identification. Moreover, ancient Latin authors 
sometimes use the term Liberalia to denote the Greek Dionysia, the 
Attic festivals in honor of Dionysus (thus Tertullian himself; see 
below, 10.7) . Here, however, where the author discusses the very 
beginnings of the games in Rome, he means the old festivals 
celebrated by the country folk in honor of the native deity Liber. 
This is quite clear from the context. In the immediately following 
sentence Tertullian speaks of the old vintage festivals, and proceeds 
to give an account of the institution of the Consualia and Ecurria, 
both festivals which point to Rome as their place of origin. The first 
games, and at that early period the only ones which were held in 
Rome, were just those rural festivals in honor of Liber. Hence it 
can easily be understood that in those early times the games were 
called by the common name Liberalia. 



60 TERTULLIAN 

them by making known to them the delicious taste of wine. 
(5) Then came the games called Consualia, which orig- 
inally were celebrated in honor of Neptune, because he is 
also called Consus. 7 After that, Romulus consecrated the 
Ecurria, derived from equi [horses], to Mars, 8 though they 
claim the Consualia as well for Romulus on the ground that 
he consecrated them to Consus, the .god, as they will have 
it, of counsel, to- wit, of that very counsel by which he 
arrived at the scheme of carrying off the Sabine girls to be 
wives for his soldiers. 9 (6) A noble counsel, indeed, even 
now considered just and lawful among the Romans them- 
selves, not to say in the eyes of a god! For, also, this tends 
to stain their origin, lest you think something good that had 
its origin in evil, in shamelessness, violence and hatred, in a 
founder who was a fratricide and the son of Mars. 10 

7 The Consualia were celebrated twice a year (August 21 and Dec- 
ember 15) in honor of the god Consus. The name of this deity is 
connected with the verb condere, to store. He is the god of the store- 
bin or other receptacles for the garnered grain. The horse races held 
on his festivals and the occurrence of horses in the cult of Poseidon, 
the Greek equivalent of Neptune, may have led to his identification 
with Neptune. 

8 Two festivals of horse-racing (Ecurria or Equirria) were held in honor 
of Mars, the first on February 27, the second on March 14. The races 
were appropriately run in the Field of Mars (Campus Martius) . Why 
there should be two festivals of horse-racing at such short intervals is 
not known. They may, perhaps, be explained as preparation for the 
campaigning season, with performance of rites to benefit the horses. 

9 Another tradition ascribed the institution of the Consualia to Romulus 
and, by a false etymology which explained the god Consus as deus 
consiliorum, the god of counsel, connected the festival with the famous 
story of the rape of the Sabine women, told by a number of ancient 
authors, for instance, Livy (1.9) . According to this tradition, Consus 
gave Romulus the counsel to carry off the women, when the Sabines 
attended the games held in honor of the same god. 

10 According to one story, Rhea Silvia (otherwise known as Ilia) , a 
Vestal Virgin, met Mars while fetching water for the sacred rites, and 
became by him the mother of the twins Romulus and Remus. In the 
struggle for the kingship Romulus slew his brother for contemptuously 
leaping over the rising wall of Rome. 



SPECTACLES . 61 

(7) Even now, at the first goal posts in the Circus, there is an 
underground altar dedicated to that Census with an in- 
scription that reads as follows: CONSUS MIGHTY IN COUN- 
SEL, MARS IN WAR, THE LARES AT THE CROSSROAD." Sacri- 
fice in offered on this altar on the seventh day of July by 
the priests of the state, 12 and on the twenty-first of August 
by the Flamen of Quirinus 18 and the Vestal Virgins. 

(8) On a later date, the same Romulus instituted games 
in honor of Jupiter Feretrius at the Tarpeian Rock, which, 
according to the tradition handed down by Piso, were called 
Tarpeian and Capitoline Games. 14 After him,NumaPompilius 
initiated games in honor of Mars and Robigo for they 

11 That Census, the deity who presided over the storing of the harvest, 
had an altar underground, may be due to the fact that corn was often 
stored underground. The inscription is known through Tertullian 
only. The Latin text as we have it now reads: 'Consus consilio Mars 
duello Lares 4. coillo potentes' A. von Blumenthal ('Die Inschrift des 
Consusaltares im Circus Maximus,' Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft 
33 [1936] 384-385) takes coillo as a synonym of compito (the cross- 
road) since the Lares were especially worshiped at crossroads. Consilio 
he considers a misreading of consivio, an old neuter, meaning 'the 
gathering of the harvest/ so that the first part of the inscription 
would read: 'Consus mighty at the gathering of the harvest.' The 
altar being underground, the inscription was no doubt hard to read. 

An error could, therefore, easily creep in when the text was copied by 
Varro or some other Roman antiquarian. However this may 'be, from 
the context in which the inscription occurs in Tertullian, it is clear 
that he himself found the reading consilio, 'counsel, 1 in his source-in 
all probability Suetonius, whom he mentions at the end of the chapter. 

12 The priesthood of the pontiffs who were in charge of the worship of 
the native Roman gods. 

13 The special priest of Quirinus, a very ancient deity, probably the god 
of the Sabine settlement on the Quirinal Hill. When this settlement 
was united with the Latin settlement on the Palatine to form the city 
of Rome, Quirinus became a Roman god. The ancients looked on him 
as a war god. 

14 The Tarpeian Rock is a part of the Capitoline Hill; hence, 'on the 
Tarpeian Rock' is. here synonymous with 'on the Capitoline Hill.' This 
agrees with the tradition handed down by Varro (De lingua latino, 
5.41) , according to which the Capitol was formerly called the Tarpeian 



62 TERTULLIAN 

invented also a goddess of robigo [mildew]. 15 Later still came 
Tullus Hostilius, then Ancus Martius and, in their order, the 
other founders of games. 

As to the idols in whose honor they instituted these games, 
information is found in Tranquillus Suetonius or in his 
sources. 16 But this will suffice to prove the guilty origin of 
the games in idolatry. 

Hill. Thus 'Tarpeian' is equivalent to 'Capitoline.' 'The Tarpeian 
citadel' (Virgil, Aen. 8.652) is the Capitoline citadel. The Capitoline 
Jupiter is called 'the Tarpeian Thunderer' by Ovid (Ex Ponto 2.2.44) 
and 'the Tarpeian Father' by Propertius (Eleg. 4[5].1.7) . Similarly, 
the Capitoline Games could also be called the Tarpeian Games. The 
origin of these games is obscure. According to Livy (5.50.4 and 52.11) , 
for instance, they were instituted only after the withdrawal of the 
Gauls from Rome (c. 387 B.C.) . However this may be, they were con- 
nected rather with the cult of Jupiter Capitolinus than with that of 
Jupiter Feretrius. Feretrius was another surname of Jupiter, in whose 
honor Romulus erected a small temple on the Capitol after defeating 
the people of Caenina and capturing their city (Livy 1.10) . The 
direct source of Tertullian is, of course, not the Roman annalist 
L. Calpurnius Piso (consul in 133 B.C.) , but a later work, dealing 
with spectacles (spectacula) , in which he found whatever earlier 
authors had said on the subject. 

15 Robigus, or Robigo (there was some difference of opinion as to the 
sex of the deity) , was a Roman god or goddess to whom prayers were 
offered during a solemn procession on April 25 to protect the crops 
against mildew (robigo) from which he or she took his or her name. 
In the early days of Rome when the population lived on corn grown 
in the immediate neighborhood of the city, the Robigalia were a 
festival of very real meaning, since at times the red mildew was a 
terrible scourge, causing heavy damage to the crops. A note in the 
Praenestine calendar tells that games were held by runners, both men 
and boys. 

16 Tertullian's account of the origin of the games is rather meager and 
becomes continually terser. As a matter of fact, the reprehensible 
origin of the Consualia alone is discussed in more detail. Then, after 
mentioning rather cursorily the Equirria and the games of Mars and 
Robigo, Tertullian confines himself to naming some kings as 'founders 
of games.' As for the rest, he refers his readers to his direct source, a 
work of C. Suetonius Tranquillus on the History of the Games 
(Historia ludicra) , or 'his sources.' 



SPECTACLES 63 

Chapter 6 

( 1 ) The testimony of antiquity is confirmed by that of the 
succeeding generations. For the titles by which the games 
still go today betray the nature of their origin. In these 
titles there is clearly expressed for what idol and for what 
superstition of one kind or other they were designed. (2) For 
instance, the games of the Great Mother and Apollo, and 
also those of Ceres, Neptune, Jupiter Latiaris, and Flora are 
general festivals; 1 the remaining trace their superstitious ori- 

1 In his enumeration of the ludi, Tertullian does not aim at complete- 
ness. Since his sole interest lies in pointing out their connection with 
idolatry, he mentions only four of the six great 'public games/ namely, 
the ludi Megalenses, Apollinares, Cereales and Florales, and omits the 
two most important ones, the ludi Romani and ludi Plebei. The 
institution of the ludi Megalenses, the Games of the Great Mother 
(finally seven days, April 4-10) , is connected with the introduction of 
the cult of Cybele, known as the Great Mother of the gods, at Rome 
in 204 B.C. The ludi Apollinares, the Games of Apollo (under the 
Empire, July 6-13) , were vowed after the battle of Cannae to insure 
victory over Hannibal, and given for the first time in 212 B.C. They 
became a fixed annual festival in 208 B.C. Like all Greek cults, the 
cult of Apollo increased especially after the second Punic war. The 
precise date of the institution of the ludi Cereales is unknown. From 
Livy (30.39.8) it appears that they were an annual festival in 202 B.C. 
(under the Empire, April 12-19) . Though they were simply called 
ludi Cereales, two other deities of vegetation, Liber and Libera, shared 
the festival with Ceres. Though the ludi Florales were instituted as 
early as 238 B.C., they were made annual only in 173 B.C. They were 
finally extended to six days, April 28 through May 3. Flora, too, was a 
deity of vegetation. The two remaining games mentioned by Tertullian 
do not belong to the category of the great public games. The old 
Roman calendar lists a festival in honor of the Italic Neptune 
(Neptunalia) on July 23. Games on this festival, however, were intro- 
duced only later under Greek influence. From the calendar of Philoca- 
lus it appears that they were still held in A.D. 354. Concerning games 
on the festival of Jupiter Latiaris, originally the festival of the allied 
Latins (feriae Latinae) , Pliny (Nat. hist. 27.6.45) reveals that a 
chariot race took place on the Capitol in Rome. The feriae Latinae 
belonged to the movable festivals of the Roman calendar. 



64 TERTULLIAN 

gin back to birthdays and commemorative celebrations of the 
emperors, to happy political events, and municipal feasts. 2 
(3) Among them are also the funeral games, established by 
bequests to render honor to the memory of private persons. 3 
This, too, is in accordance with ancient custom. For from the 
very beginning two kinds of games were distinguished: sacred 
and funereal; that is, games in honor of pagan deities and 
those in honor of dead persons. (4) But in the question of 
idolatry, it makes no difference to us under what name and 
title they are exhibited, as long as the matter concerns the 
same spirits that we renounce. Whether they exhibit these 
games in honor of their dead or in honor of their gods, they 
render the very same honor to their dead as to their gods. On 
either side you have one and the same situation: it is one and 
the same idolatry on their part, and one and the same 
renunciation of idolatry on our part. 



2 Besides the birthday of the reigning emperor, there were comme__ 
ated annually his accession to the throne, memorable events in his 
life (for instance, the adoption of Antoninus Pius by Hadrian) , and 
great accomplishments of his reign (for instance, Trajan's victory over 
the Parthians, in remembrance of -which the ludi Parthici were 
instituted) . To these festival days which were observed throughout 
the Empire must be added numerous festivals with games, which owed 
their origin either to a local cult or to important events in the history 
of a community. The passion of the provincials for games and 
theatrical performances was hardly less than that of the population 
of Rome witness the ruins of theaters and amphitheaters in all parts 
of the Roman Empire. 

3 Reports of funeral games among the Romans are numerous; for 
instance, Livy 23.30.15: 'In honor of M. Aemilius Lepidus who had 
been consul and augur, his three sons, Lucius, Marcus and Quintus, 
exhibited funeral games and twenty-two pairs of gladiators for three 
days in the Forum.' 



SPECTACLES 65 

Chapter 7 

(1) Both kinds of games, then, have a common origin; 
common, too, are their names, inasmuch as the reasons for 
their being held are the same. Therefore, also, their equip- 
ment must be the same because of the common guilt of idol- 
atry which founded them. 

(2) Somewhat greater pomp, however, is displayed in the 
spectacles in the circus to which the term is properly applied. 
The pompa 'procession' which comes first, proves in itself 
to whom it belongs, with the long line of idols* the unbroken 
train of images, the cars and chariots and conveyances for 
carrying them, the portable thrones and garlands and the at- 
tributes of the gods. (3) Moreover, how many sacred rites 
are observed, how many sacrifices offered at the beginning, in 
the course, and at the end of the procession, how many 
religious corporations, furthermore, how many priesthoods, 
how many bodies of magistrates are called upon to march in 
it each is known to the inhabitants of that city where all the 
demons have gathered and taken up their abode. 1 

(4) And if in the provinces less care is given to manage- 

1 Tertullian describes here the religious ceremony that preceded the 
Circensian Games, namely, the solemn procession which, starting from 
the Capitol, passed through the Forum and the Velabrum by the 
Tuscan Street to the Cattle Market, and from there entered the Circus 
Maximus, which it traversed from end to end. A fuller description 
of this procession, which was no doubt modeled after the triumphal 
procession of a victorious general, is found in Dionysius of Halicar- 
nassus' Roman Antiquities (7.72) . It differs in a number of points 
from the account given by Tertullian. The variance is probably due 
to the fact that Tertullian was not interested in giving the exact 
marching order of the festive procession, but in singling out particular 
features under the aspect of idolatry. Tertullian is the only ancient 
author who speaks of the offering of sacrifices at the beginning of the 
procession. Sacrifices after the procession are mentioned by Dionysius 
of Halicarnassus (7.72.15). 



66 TERTULLIAN 

ment of the games because of less ample funds, all the spec- 
tacles in the circus everywhere must be considered as belong- 
ing to the model from which they are copied, and are con- 
taminated by the source from which they are drawn. For, 
also, the small brook from its spring, and the tiny shoot from 
its stem, contain in them the nature of their origin. 

(5) Let splendor and frugality look to it where they come 
from. The pomp of the circus, whatever its nature, offends 
God. Even if there be carried but a few idols in procession, 
it takes only one to have idolatry; even if there be driven but 
one chariot, it is Jupiter's car; every kind of idolatry, even 
one meanly or moderately equipped, is still rich and splendid 
because of its sinful origin. 



Chapter 8 

(1) In accordance with my plan, I shall deal next with 
the places. The circus is primarily consecrated to the Sun. 1 
His temple stands in the middle of it, and his image shines 
forth from the pediment of the temple. 2 For they did not 
think it proper to worship beneath a roof a god whom they 
see above them in the open. 3 (2) Those who maintain that 
the first circus show was exhibited by Circe in honor of the 
Sun, her father, as they will have it, conclude also that the 
name is derived from her. 4 Plainly, the sorceress undoubtedly 

1 Probably because the Sun, supposed to ride a car to which four horses 
were yoked, was the patron of the quadriga. 

2 That the sun god had an old shrine in the Circus Maximus is also 
reported by Tacitus (Annales 15.74) . 

3 See the similar explanation concerning the god Consus, p. 61, above. 

4 The derivation of the word 'circus' from Circe, the ancient sorceress 
and lady-poisoner par excellence, has all the earmarks of popular 
etymology. It fits Tertullian's purpose, since it connects the circus 
with idolatry. Circus means originally a circular line, then the circular 
race course. 



SPECTACLES 67 

transacted the business in behalf of those whose priestess she 
was, namely, the demons and evil spirits. 5 How many evi- 
dences of idol worship do you recognize accordingly in the 
decoration of the place? (3) Every ornament of the circus is 
a temple by itself. The eggs are regarded as sacred to Castor 
and Pollux by people who do not feel ashamed to believe the 
story of their origin from the egg made fertile by the swan, 
Jupiter. 6 The dolphins spout water in honor of Neptune; 7 
the columns bear aloft images of Seia, so called from semen- 
tatio ['sowing']; of Messia, so called as deity of messis ['reap- 
ing']; and of Tutulina, so called as 'tutelary spirit' of the 
crops, 8 (4) In front of these are seen three altars for the 
triple gods: the Great, the Potent, the Prevailing. They think 

5 By angeli evil spirits are meant (see above, p. 51 n.4) . 

6 On the spina, a low wall which ran down the middle of the course, 
special stands carried seven egg-like objects, one of which was taken 
down after every round made in the course. In this way the spectators 
were able to follow the progress of the chariot race, which consisted 
of the seven rounds of the course. These 'eggs' in the circus are 
associated with the well-known legend according to which the twins 
Castor and Pollux were hatched from an egg, laid by Leda, whom 
Jupiter visited in the form of. a swan. Tertullian's main aim is again 
to show the connection between circus and idolatry. 

7 Seven dolphins, placed on high columns, served as a supplement to 
the counting-apparatus of the 'eggs.' Like the latter, they were taken 
down, or perhaps simply turned around, according to the number of 
rounds completed. In some circuses, dolphins also served as gargoyles 
for basins. It is to such that Tertullian seems to refer here. 

8 Instead of the form Tutulina, Tutilina or Tutelina appear elsewhere. 
A goddess Messia is mentioned only here. But a number of ancient 
authors describe a similar triad of agrarian deities whose spheres of 
influence are strictly defined. See, for instance, Augustine, City of God 
4.8: 'They could not even find a single goddess Segetia to whom alone 
they might entrust all the crops, but for the sown seed, as long as it 
lay underground, they would have a goddess Seia, and, from the 
moment it sprouted to the time of its harvest, a Segetia to act as 
guardian. When the wheat was gathered and garnered, a Tutilina was 
to keep it safe.' See also Macrobius, Saturn. 1.16.8 and Pliny, Nat. hist, 
18.2.8. The latter confirms Tertullian's statement that the statues of 
these three deities could be seen in the Circus Maximus. 



68 TERTULLIAN 

these deities are Samothracean. 9 (5) The huge obelisk, 10 as 
Hermateles 11 maintains, has been set up in honor of the Sun. 
Its inscription which, like its origin, is Egyptian, contains a 
superstition. The gathering of the demons would be dull with- 
out their Great Mother, so she presides there over the ditch. 12 
(6) Gonsus, as we have mentioned, keeps in hiding under- 
ground 13 at the Murcian Goals. The latter are also the work 

9 'The triple gods' must belong to the same category of agrarian deities 
as the above-mentioned three tutelary spirits of the crops. Their 
statues and altars respectively were, therefore, remainders of an ex- 
tremely old cult that was once paid to these deities of the earth and 
of fertility in the valley of the Circus Maximus. With this conclusion 
there agrees the worship of Census in the same locality. The identifi- 
cation of the triple gods with the Samothracean deities an identifi- 
cation based on their names goes back to the learned speculation of 
Varro (see De lingua latina 5.58) . 

10 Tertullian refers to the obelisk which Augustus transported from 
Heliopolis to Rome in 10 B.C. to adorn the spina of the Circus 
Maximus, the first Egyptian obelisk brought to Rome. Pope Sixtus V 

(1585-1590) removed it to its present place on the Piazza del Popolo. 
It bears an inscription in hieroglyphs celebrating the glories of King 
Rameses II. 

11 A writer by the name of Hermateles seems to be unknown. This is 
not the only case where Tertullian makes a slip in quoting a name. 
Scholars have made several suggestions. Tertullian may have meant 
Demoteles who, according to Pliny (Nat. hist. 36.12.79 and 13.84) , 
wrote on Egypt; or Hermapion from whose work Ammianus Marcel- 
linus (Res gestae 17.4.17) transcribes the inscription of the obelisk. 
Unfortunately, both Demoteles and Hermapion also are very much 
unknown. 

12 For the safety of the spectators Caesar ordered a water ditch to be 
dug about the arena (Suetonius, Divus Julius 39) . It was removed by 
Nero to gain seats for the knights (Pliny, Nat. hist. 8.7.21) . Later, 
basins fed by gargoyles (or dolphins) were set up on the spina. Finally, 
the word 'ditch' (euripus) was applied to the entire spina, as by 
Tertullian here and in Adversus Hermogenem 31.3. With this agrees 
the phrase that Cybele, the Great Mother of the gods, 'presides* over 
the ditch, i.e., the spina. For the goddess is not infrequently repre- 
sented as riding on a dashing lion close by the obelisk, i.e., about in 
the middle of the spina. 

13 See above, p. 61. 



SPECTACLES 69 

of an idol. For Murcia, as they will have it, is a goddess of 
love to whom they have dedicated a temple in that part [of 
the valley]. 14 

(7) Take note, O Christian, how many unclean deities 
have taken possession of the circus. You have nothing to do 
with a place which so many diabolic spirits have made their 
own. Speaking of places, this is the appropriate occasion for 
throwing more light on the subject in order to anticipate a 
question that some may raise. (8) What will happen, you 
say, if I enter the circus at some other time? Shall I be then, 
too, in danger of contamination? There is no law laid down 
with regard to places as such. For not only these places where 
people gather for the spectacles but also the temples may be 
entered by the servant of God without peril to his rule of life, 
provided that he do so for an urgent and honest reason 
which has no connection with the business and function 
proper of the place. 

(9) Moreover, there is no place whether streets or mar- 
ketplace or baths or taverns or even our own homes that is 
completely free of idols: Satan and his angels have filled the 
whole world. (10) Yet, it is not by our being in the world 
that we fall away from God, but by taking part in some sins 
of the world. Therefore, if I enter the temple of Jupiter on the 
Capitol or that of Serapis as a sacrificer or worshiper, I shall 

14 In Ch. 5.7 the Murcian Goals are called 'the first goal posts/ They 
were, therefore, the first which the charioteers had to round. Murcia 
was an early Roman deity whose very nature was no longer known in 
historical times. Roman antiquarians advanced the most fanciful 
etymologies to explain her name. Finally, they related Murcia to 
Murtea or Myrtea, an epithet of Venus, said to be taken from the 
myrtle which was sacred to her, and identified Murcia with Venus 
Murtea, Tertullian's 'goddess of love.' The existence of a shrine of 
Murcia in the Circus Maximus is confirmed by Varro (De lingua 
latino, 5.154) . 



70 TERTULLIAN 

fall away from God, just as I do if I enter the circus or 
theater as a spectator. It is not the places in themselves that 
defile us, but the things done in them, by which the places 
themselves, as we have contended, are defiled; it is by the 
defiled that we are defiled. 

(11) It is for this reason that we remind you who are 
those to whom places of this kind are dedicated to prove that 
what takes place in them is the work of those to whom the 
very places are sacred. 



Chapter 9 

(1) Next let us consider the arts displayed in the circus 
games. In times past, equestrian skill was simply a matter of 
riding on horseback, and certainly no guilt was involved in 
the ordinary use of the horse. But when this skill was pressed 
into the service of the games, it was changed from a gift of 
God into an instrument of the demons. (2) Accordingly, this 
kind of exhibition is regarded as sacred to Castor and Pollux, 
to whom horses were allotted 'by Mercury, as Stesichorus 
tells us. 1 Also, Neptune is an equestrian deity, since the Greeks 

1 Castor and Pollux, the patrons of horsemanship, were well-known 
figures to the Romans who were familiar with the old tales according 
to which the divine twins had appeared on two occasions (after the 
battle at the Lake Regillus in 497 B.C. and the battle of Pydna in 
168 B.C.) at the pool of the water-nymph Juturna in the Roman 
Forum, riding white horses and bringing news of victory. The divine 
horsemen were a favorite motif of ancient sculptors. It is highly 
improbable that Tertullian took directly from Stesichorus, a Greek 
lyric poet of the sixth century B.C., the story according to which the 
twins received their horses from Mercury. The passage is found in a 
number of ancient glossaries. Tertullian may have taken it from some 
chrestoraathy or from some similar work. 



SPECTACLES 71 

call him Hippios [ c Lord of Steeds 5 ]. 2 (3) Moreover, concern- 
ing the chariot, the four-horse team was consecrated to the 
Sun; the two-horse team, to the Moon. 3 But we also read: 

Erichthonius first dared to yoke four steeds to the car 
And to ride upon its wheels with victorious swiftness. 4 

This Erichthonius, a son of Minerva and Vulcan, fruit of lust, 
in truth, that fell to earth, is a demon-monster, or, rather, the 
Devil himself, not a mere snake. 5 (4) If, however, the 
Argive Trochilus is the inventor of the chariot, he dedicated 
this work of his in the first place to Juno. And if, at Rome, 
Romulus was the first to display a four-horse chariot, he, too, 
in my view, has been enrolled among the idols himself, pro- 
vided that he is identical with Quirinus. 6 

2 In Ch. 5.5 the same Neptune is identified with Census; here he is 
considered the same as the Greek Poseidon. Though the latter's most 
prominent function was that of sea god, he was also credited with the 
creation of the horse. When, according to a local Attic legend, 
Poseidon and Athena competed for the land of Attica, Poseidon 
produced the first horse and Athena, whom the judges pronounced 
victor in the contest, planted an olive tree. 

3 The Sun was supposed to ride in a four-horse, the Moon in a two- 
horse, chariot (Anthologia latina 1 nr. 197.17) . Both motifs occur 
frequently in ancient art. 

4 Virgil, Georgica 3.113-114. 

5 The story runs as follows. Hephaestus (Vulcan) desired to wed 
Athena (Minerva) . The latter, however, refused and defended herself 
with her spear. In the ensuing struggle, Hephaestus' seed fell on the 
earth which was thus fertilized and, in due time, brought forth the 
semi-serpentiform Erichthonius. The latter's parentage (his mother is 
Ge, the Earth) and semi-serpent shape show clearly that he was an 
old spirit of the fertility of the soil. His partly serpentine form may 
have contributed to Tertullian's belief that Erichthonius was an 
incarnation of 'the Devil himself/ This belief would also explain 
Tertullian's scornful and abusive description of the deity. 

6 Not satisfied with only one tradition concerning the invention of the 
chariot, Tertullian adds two more versions. One of them makes 
Trochilus, the son of the first priestess of Hera (Juno) at Argos, the 
inventor of the chariot. This may have been the sacred car in which 



72 TERTULLIAN 

(5) The chariots having been produced by such inventors, 
it was only fitting that they clad their drivers in the colors 
of idolatry. For at first there were only two colors : white and 
red. White was sacred to Winter because of the whiteness of 
its snow; red, to Summer because of the redness of its sun. 
But afterwards, when both love of pleasure and superstition 
had grown apace, some dedicated the red to Mars, others 
the white to the Zephyrs, the green to Mother Earth or 
Spring, the blue to Sky and Sea or Autumn. 7 (6) Since, how- 
ever, every kind of idolatry is condemned by God, this con- 
demnation certainly applies also to that kind which is im- 
piously offered to the elements of nature. 



Chapter 10 

(1) Let us pass on to the exhibitions on the stage. We 
have already shown that they have a common origin with 
those in the circus, that they bear identical titles, inasmuch 
as they were called ludi ['games'] and were exhibited together 

the priestess rode from the city of Argos to the temple. The second 
version ascribes the invention to Romulus, probably because of his 
instituting the Consualia with its horse-races. The identification of 
Romulus, the deified founder of the city, with the ancient god 
Quirinus can be traced back as far as the Ciceronian age. Tertullian 
is not interested in the credibility of one or the other tradition, but, 
putting them side by side, by this very accumulation aims at 
demonstrating the idolatrous character of the circus races. 
7 In the course of time the business of providing drivers and horses for 
the races had been taken over by capitalists or owners of stud-farms. 
The proverbial Roman passion for races, however, was especially due 
to the organization of 'parties' or 'factions' (factiones) , the drivers 
wearing the colors of the several parties. The original parties were the 
Whites and the Reds; the Greens and Blues arose under the Empire. 
The idolatrous character of the colors is seen by Tertullian in the 
worship which, through them, is offered to the elements of nature. 



SPECTACLES 73 

with equestrian displays. 1 (2) The pageantry is likewise the 
same, inasmuch as a procession is held to the theater from 
the temples and altars, with that whole wretched business of 
incense and blood, to the tune of flutes and trumpets, under 
the direction of the two most polluted masters of ceremonies 
at funerals and sacrifices: the undertaker and soothsayer. 2 

(3) And so, as we passed from the origins of the games to 
the spectacles in the circus, now we will turn to the perform- 
ances on the stage. Because of the evil character of the place, 
the theater is, strictly speaking, a shrine of Venus. 8 It was 
in that capacity, after all, that this type of structure gained 
influence in the world. (4) For many a time the censors 
would tear down theaters at the very moment they began to 
rise. In their solicitude for public morals, they foresaw, no 

1 Besides the circus games (ludi circenses) which had originally been 
everything, all the great Roman festivals show an increasing measure 
of dramatic performances (ludi scaenici) . While Tertullian devotes 
five chapters (5-9) to the discussion of the circus, there is only one 
chapter each on the theater (10) , agon (11) and amphitheater (12) . 
In each case he follows the arrangement of the material he has 
announced in Ch. 4.4: origin, titles, equipment, places, and presiding 
deities, finally the arts employed, though the space alloted to each of 
these subdivisions is rather arbitrary. In the chapter on the theater, 
for instance, origin, titles, and equipment are disposed of rather 
cursorily, while the places and the arts employed are discussed more 
fully. 

2 According to this passage, 'the master of ceremonies at funerals' was 
also in charge of organizing and directing the pompa (solemn pro- 
cession) to the theater. Because of his profession, the undertaker was 
held in low esteem. The soothsayer (the haruspex who foretold the 
will of the deity by inspecting the entrails of victims killed in 
sacrifice) took part in the sacrifices before the procession, and was 
considered by Tertullian as the embodiment of idolatry. Many 
religious rites, for instance, sacrifices and processions, were 
accompanied by the music of flutes and trumpets. 

3 Cf. Salvian, De gubernatione dei 6.11.60 (CSEL 8.142) : 'Minerva is 
worshiped and honored in the gymnasia, Venus in the theater, 
Neptune in the circuses, Mars in the arenas, Mercury in the palaestras.' 



74 TERTULLIAN 

doubt, the great danger arising from the theater's lascivious- 
ness. 4 In this occurrence already, then, the heathens have 
their own opinion coinciding with ours as evidence, and we 
have the foreboding situation of a merely human code of 
morality giving additional strength to our way of life. 

(5) So, when Pompey the Great, a man who was sur- 
passed only by his theater in greatness, had erected that cita- 
del of all vile practices, he was afraid that some day the cen- 
sors would condemn his memory. He therefore built on top 
of it a shrine of Venus, and when he summoned the people by 
edict to its dedication, he termed it not a theater, but a 
temple of Venus, 'under which,' he said, c we have put tiers of 
seats for viewing the shows.' (6) In this way he misrepres- 
ented the character of a building, condemned and worthy of 
condemnation, with a temple's name, and employed super- 
stition to make sport of morality. 

Venus and Liber [Bacchus], however, are close compan- 
ions. The two demons of lust and drunkenness have banded 
together in sworn confederacy. (7) Therefore, the temple of 
Venus is also the house of Liber. For they appropriately gave 
the name of Liberalia also to other stage performances which, 

4 We know of only one such instance. Livy (Epitome 48 fin.) tells us 
that P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica prevented the building of a stone 
theater, begun by the censors of 154 B.C., as being harmful to the 
morals of the people. Concerning the resistance to the erection of a 
stone theater, we must keep in mind the original connection of the 
dramatic performances with the cult, the god himself being thought 
to attend the scenic performances that were given in his honor. The 
ludi Mcgalenses, for instance, took place before the temple of the 
Great Mother on the Palatine. A wooden stage was erected for the 
actors and torn down again after the performance. A stone theater, 
as a permanent site for dramatic performances, would have severed 
their connection with the god, his cult and temple. In the section 
immediately following, Tertullian tells how, in building the first 
stone theater at Rome (55 B.C.) , Pompey met this prejudice by 
erecting a shrine of Venus Victrix on the highest point of the 
auditorium. 



SPECTACLES 75 

besides being dedicated to Liber (and called Dionysia among 
the Greeks), were also instituted by him. 5 (8) And, quite 
obviously, the arts of the stage are under the patronage of 
Liber and Venus. Those features which are peculiar to, and 
characteristic of, the stage, that wantonness in gesture and 
posture, they dedicate to Venus and Liber, deities both dis- 
solute : the former by sex perversion, the latter by effeminate 
dress. (9) And all else that is performed with voice and 
melodies, instruments and script, belongs to the Apollos and 
the Muses, the Minervas and Mercuries. 6 

You will hate, O Christian, the things whose authors you 
cannot help but hate. 

(10) At this point we intend to make a few remarks con- 
cerning the arts and things whose authors we utterly detest in 
their very names. 7 We know that the names of dead men are 
nothing, even as their images are nothing. But we are not 
unaware of the identity of those who are at work behind those 

5 The festivals in honor of Dionysus, the Greek god of vegetation, more 
especially of the vine, were devoted to dramatic performances. Since 
Tertullian uses the term Liberalia as an equivalent of Dionysia, he 
must have in mind not the -original Liberalia (see above, p. 59), but 
the pre-eminently scenic Cerealia which were celebrated in honor of 
Ceres, Liber and Libera, a triad of deities identified with the Greek 
Demeter, Dionysus and Kore (see p. 63 n.l) . 

6 Tertullian mentions additional patron gods of the theater. Apollo, 
the god of music in general, is called the patron of the human voice; 
the Muses are in charge of the melodious music at the dramatic 
performances; Minerva, who was said to have made the first flute and 
trumpet, is the guardian of the musical instruments; Mercury, who 
was given credit for having invented letters, is the tutelary god of the 
script, i.e., the text of the play to be performed. 

7 In the remaining part of the chapter, Tertullian makes a digression 
which is typical of his rigoristic views. Considering the arts only from 
the point of view of their connection with idolatry, he finds them 
objectionable on the whole, because they were invented by the 
demons to seduce and destroy men. It is the demons, too, who inspire 
the artists. 



76 TERTULLIAN 

displayed names and images, who exult in the homage paid to 
them and pretend to be divine, namely, the evil spirits, the 
demons. (11) We see then, also, that the arts are consecrated 
to the honor of those who appropriate the names of the 
inventors of those arts, and that they are not free from the 
taint of idolatry when their inventors for that very reason are 
considered gods. (12) Even more, as far as the arts are 
concerned, we ought to have gone further back and taken 
exception to all further arguments, on the ground that the 
demons, from the very beginning looking out for themselves, 
contrived, along with the other foul practices of idolatry, also 
those of the shows in order to turn man from the Lord and 
bind him to their glorification, and gave inspiration to men of 
genius in these particular arts. (13) For no one else but the 
demons would have contrived what was going to redound to 
their advantage, nor would they have produced the arts at 
that time through the agency of anyone except those very men 
in whose names and images and fables they accomplished that 
fraud of consecration which would work out to their 
advantage. 

To follow our plan, let us now begin the treatment of the 
contests [agones']. 



SPECTACLES 77 

Chapter 11 

( 1 ) Their orgin is akin to that of the games. 1 As a result, 
they, too, are instituted either as sacred or as funereal, and are 
performed in honor either of the gods of the Gentiles or of the 
dead. 2 Accordingly, you have such titles as the Olympian 
contests in honor of Jupiter (these are called the Capitoline at 
Rome), 3 the Nemean in honor of Hercules, the Isthmian in 
honor of Neptune; 4 the rest are various contests to honor the 
dead. (2) What wonder is it, then, if the whole paraphernalia 
of these contests are tainted with idolatry with unholy 
crowns, priestly superintendents, assistants from the sacred 
colleges, 5 and last, but not least, with the blood of bulls? 6 
(3) To add a supplementary remark concerning the place: as 
you may expect from a place where the arts of the Muses, of 
Minerva, of Apollo, and even of Mars meet in common, with 
contest and sound of trumpet they endeavor to equal the 

1 The athletic and musical contests (agones) of Greece, not common 
under the Republic, became popular under the Empire. Note how 
Tertullian here also follows carefully the arrangement proposed in 
Ch. 4.4: origin, titles, equipment, places and presiding deities, finally 
the arts employed. 

2 Again, Tertullian applies the same division to the agones as to the 
ludi in general: sacred or in honor of deities, and funereal or in honor 
of the dead. Of the sacred agones he names some. of the most impor- 
tant, while the funereal are mentioned in general only. 

3 In A.D. 86 Domitian instituted the Capitoline Agon as a Roman 
counterpart to the quadrennial Olympian Agon in Greece. Its impor- 
tance may be seen from the fact that it survived to the end of 
antiquity. The prize (an oak wreath) for Greek and Latin poetry at 
this Agon was a poet's highest ambition throughput the Empire. 

4 Nothing is known about Roman counterparts to the Nemean and 
Isthmian agones. 

5 Suetonius' account of the institution of the Capitoline Agon 

(Domitianus 4) is an excellent parallel to Tertullian 's description. 
He, too, mentions the crowns and priestly colleges. 

6 A sacrifice of bulls is reported only of the Neronian Agon (Suetonius, 
Nero 12) . 



78 TERTULLIAN 

circus in the stadium, which is no doubt a temple, too I 
mean of the very idol whose festival is celebrated there. 
(4) The gymnastic arts also had their origin in the teachings 
of the Castors and Herculeses and Mercuries. 7 



Chapter 12 

(1) It still remains to examine the most prominent and 
most popular spectacle of all. It is called munus [ c an 
obligatory service'] from being an officium [ e a duty 9 ]. For 
munus and officium are synonyms. The ancients thought they 
were performing a duty to the dead by this sort of spectacle, 
after they had tempered its chara