Opening the library…

Home Bible Corpus Discover You

Search the Bible

The Shows, or De Spectaculis

Tertullian

Chapter 26

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Why may not those who go into the temptations of the

‹ Chapter 25 Chapter 27 ›

show

become

accessible

also

to

evil

spirits

?

We

have

the

case

of

the

woman

—

the

Lord

Himself

is

witness

—

who

went

to

the

theatre

,

and

came

back

possessed

.

In

the

outcasting

,

accordingly

,

when

the

unclean

creature

was

upbraided

with

having

dared

to

attack

a

believer

,

he

firmly

replied

,

“

And

in

truth

I

did

it

most

righteously

,

for

I

found

her

in

my

domain

.

”

Another

case

,

too

,

is

well

known

,

in

which

a

woman

had

been

hearing

a

tragedian

,

and

on

the

very

night

she

saw

in

her

sleep

a

linen

cloth

—

the

actor’s

name

being

mentioned

at

the

same

time

with

strong

disapproval

—

and

five

days

after

that

woman

was

no

more

.

How

many

other

undoubted

proofs

we

have

had

in

the

case

of

persons

who

,

by

keeping

company

with

the

devil

in

the

shows

,

have

fallen

from

the

Lord

!

For

no

one

can

serve

two

masters

.

What

fellowship

has

light

with

darkness

,

life

with

death

?

Notes

1
[The exorcism. For the exorcism in Baptism, see Bunsen, Hippol. iii. 19.]
2
See Neander’s explanation in Kaye, p. xxiii. But, let us observe the entire simplicity with which our author narrates a sort of incident known to the apostles. Acts xvi. 16.]
3
Matt. vi. 24.
4
2 Cor. iv. 14.