Chapter X.

Let us pass on now to theatrical exhibitions, which we have already shown have a common origin with the circus, and bear like idolatrous designations—even as from the first they have borne the name of “Ludi,” and equally minister to idols.  They resemble each other also in their pomp, having the same procession to the scene of their display from temples and altars, and that mournful profusion of incense and blood, with music of pipes and trumpets, all under the direction of the soothsayer and the undertaker, those two foul masters of funeral rites and sacrifices. So as we went on from the origin of the “Ludi” to the circus games, we shall now direct our course thence to those of the theatre, beginning with the place of exhibition. At first the theatre was properly a temple of Venus; and, to speak briefly, it was owing to this that stage performances were allowed to escape censure, and got a footing in the world. For ofttimes the censors, in the interests of morality, put down above all the rising theatres, foreseeing, as they did, that there was great danger of their leading to a general profligacy; so that already, from this accordance of their own people with us, there is a witness to the heathen, and in the anticipatory judgment of human knowledge even a confirmation of our views.  Accordingly Pompey the Great, less only than his theatre, when he had erected that citadel of all impurities, fearing some time or other censorian condemnation of his memory, superposed on it a temple of Venus; and summoning by public proclamation the people to its consecration, he called it not a theatre, but a temple, “under which,” said he, “we have placed tiers of seats for viewing the shows.” So he threw a veil over a structure on which condemnation had been often passed, and which is ever to be held in reprobation, by pretending that it was a sacred place; and by means of superstition he blinded the eyes of a virtuous discipline. But Venus and Bacchus are close allies. These two evil spirits are in sworn confederacy with each other, as the patrons of drunkenness and lust. So the theatre of Venus is as well the house of Bacchus: for they properly gave the name of Liberalia also to other theatrical amusements—which besides being consecrated to Bacchus (as were the Dionysia of the Greeks), were instituted by him; and, without doubt, the performances of the theatre have the common patronage of these two deities. That immodesty of gesture and attire which so specially and peculiarly characterizes the stage are consecrated to them—the one deity wanton by her sex, the other by his drapery; while its services of voice, and song, and lute, and pipe, belong to Apollos, and Muses, and Minervas, and Mercuries. You will hate, O Christian, the things whose authors must be the objects of your utter detestation. So we would now make a remark about the arts of the theatre, about the things also whose authors in the names we execrate. We know that the names of the dead are nothing, as are their images; but we know well enough, too, who, when images are set up, under these names carry on their wicked work, and exult in the homage rendered to them, and pretend to be divine—none other than spirits accursed, than devils. We see, therefore, that the arts also are consecrated to the service of the beings who dwell in the names of their founders; and that things cannot be held free from the taint of idolatry whose inventors have got a place among the gods for their discoveries. Nay, as regards the arts, we ought to have gone further back, and barred all further argument by the position that the demons, predetermining in their own interests from the first, among other evils of idolatry, the pollutions of the public shows, with the object of drawing man away from his Lord and binding him to their own service, carried out their purpose by bestowing on him the artistic gifts which the shows require. For none but themselves would have made provision and preparation for the objects they had in view; nor would they have given the arts to the world by any but those in whose names, and images, and histories they set up for their own ends the artifice of consecration.

CAPUT X.

Transeamus ad scenicas res, quarum et originem communem, et titulos pares secundum ipsam ab initio ludorum appellationem et administrationem conjunctam cum re equestri jam ostendimus. Apparatus etiam ex ea parte consortes, quae ad scenam spectat: nam a templis et aris, et illa infelicitate thuris et sanguinis inter tibias et tubas itur, duobus inquinatissimis arbitris, funerum et sacrorum, designatore et haruspice. Ita cum de originibus ludorum ad circenses transimus, inde nunc ad scenicos ludos dirigimus, a loci vitio . Theatrum proprie sacrarium Veneris est. Hoc denique modo id 0642B genus operis in saeculo evasit. Nam saepe Tumultuaria Romae olim fuisse theatra certissimum est: lege namque cautum erat, ne perpetua essent, propter morum corruptelam. Theatra quippe Tertulliano nostro Apolog. c. 6. stuprandis moribus orientia dicuntur. Idem apud Athenienses observatum fuisse nemo ambigere potest: antequam enim stabilia fuerint, tumultuaria dicebantur, id enim ἰκρία significat. Sic. Ὣστ᾽ εὐθὺς εἰσίοντες, ἀπὸ τῶν ἰκρίων ὑποβλέπουσ᾽ ἡμᾶς.Aristoph. in Τεσμ. LE PR.] censores renascentia cum maxime theatra destruebant, moribus consulentes, quorum scilicet periculum ingens de lascivia providebant, ut jam hinc ethnicis in testimonium cedat sententia ipsorum nobiscum faciens, et nobis in exaggerationem disciplinae etiam humanae praerogativa. Itaque Pompeius Magnus solo theatro suo minor, cum illam arcem omnium turpitudinum exstruxisset, veritus quandoque memoriae suae censoriam animadversionem, Veneris aedem superposuit, et ad dedicationem edicto populum vocans, non theatrum, sed Veneris templum nuncupavit: Cui subjecimus, inquit, gradus spectaculorum: 0643A ita damnatum et damnandum opus templi titulo praetexuit, et disciplinam superstitione delusit. Sed Veneri et Libero convenit. Duo ista daemonia conspirata et conjurata inter se sunt, ebrietatis et libidinis. Itaque theatrum Veneris, Liberi quoque domus est. Nam et alios ludos scenicos Liberalia proprie vocabant, praeterquam Libero devotos, quod sunt Dionysia penes Graecos, etiam a Libero institutos. Et est plane in artibus quoque scenicis Liberi et Veneris patrocinium, quae privata et propria sunt scenae, de gestu et corporis fluxu. Nam mollitiam Veneri et Libero immolabant : illi per sexum , illi per fluxum , dissoluti . Quae vero voce et modis et organis et lyris transiguntur, Apollines et Musas et Minervas et Mercurios mancipes habent. Oderis, 0643B christiane, quorum auctores non potes non odisse. Jam nunc volumus suggerere de artibus, et de his, quorum auctores in nominibus exsecramur. Scimus nihil esse nomina mortuorum, sicut nec ipsa simulacra eorum. Sed non ignoramus, qui sub istis nominibus et institutis simulacris operentur et gaudeant, et divinitatem mentiantur, nequam spiritus scilicet daemones. Videmus igitur etiam artes eorum honoribus dicatas esse, qui nomina incolunt auctorum earum , nec ab idololatria vacare, quarum institutores etiam propterea dii habentur. Imo quod ad artes pertinet, altius praescripsisse debemus, daemonas ab initio prospicientes sibi inter caetera idololatriae etiam spectaculorum inquinamenta, quibus hominem 0643C a Deo avocarent, et suo honori obligarent, ejusmodi quoque artium ingenia inspirasse. Neque 0644A enim ab aliis praeoccupatum fuisset, quod ad illos perventurum esset. Nec per alios tunc homines edidissent, quam per ipsos, in quorum nominibus et imaginibus et historiis fallaciam consecrationis sibi negotium acturae constituerant .